April 12 National Cosmonaut day

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin( Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин) 9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968), Hero of the Soviet Union, On April 12 1961 he became the first human in outer space and the first to orbit the Earth Yuri was born in the village of Klushino near Smolensk Russia. His parents worked on a collective farm. The famous statement that Yuri was said to have made while he was in space as he looked out his window “ I don’t see any God up here” was never said by Yuri.  According to his earth to space conversation and Colonel Valentin Petrov a close friend of Yuri, Yuri never said such a statement from space.One of his recorded quotes from space was “The Earth is blue..How wonderful. It is amazing” Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

Greetings!!!

Greetings from Moscow everyone,  first of all we as a fellowship want to thank all of you that have prayed for us and have taken the time to view our blog. Last Sunday as a fellowship we joined with believers all over Russia and the world to celebrate the reality that Jesus Christ the Son of God conquered the greatest enemy of mankind. As with many holidays they come and go in 24 hours. The decorations are put away for the next year. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one holiday that can be celebrated every day.
Lamentations 3:22-23: "Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." For the believer every new day is a reminder that we have a citizenship that is not of temporal earth, but is of the Kingdom of God. Php 3:20: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." As we see the world in a state of crisis it should be as a reminder to all believers - this is not our home. This earth has been in crisis from the Garden of Eden, what else is new under the Sun? This world is not our home address, heaven is. Don’t be disappointed if things are not going the way we'd like. Hold lightly to the things of this world, for as believers God tells us we are just passing through. As the days become more and more the way Jesus predicted, let us “Seek First the Kingdom” So as this world under the watchful eye of our mighty God is coming undone, recognize it as a fulfillment of "Your Kingdom come Your will be done!" We serve a God who has conquered death and has given us eternal life!

Sorry for the LATE post! CC Pastors conference 2010

The 2010 Calvary Chapel Russian Pastors conference saw over 70 pastors and assistants come together for teaching worship and fellowship and of course tasty meals! What impressed me during the conference was to look around and see many new faces but to also see so many guys that have been faithful as pastors year after year, step by step, doing the work of the ministry. Many churches have been planted over the last 17 years here in Russia and 99% of them our still alive and still moving along! 

Mt 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

Moscow sorrows

As a grim reminder that we live in a fallen world on March 29 over 40 innocent metro riders lost their lives and dozens were injured as two separate bombings occurred during the busy early morning commute. Many of us depend on the metro for our daily transportation needs. Over 6.6 million travel the metro daily. It is the 2 heaviest traveled Metro in the world. Jesus Himself  said: "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may and that they may have it more abundantly."  John 10:10                    

Friends for all eternity

Ernan (left) just returned to his home in Bogotá, Colombia. Ernan is a strong believer. Please, pray for his future as he returns home after a 9 year absence. Cladio moved to Russia when he was 16 from Cuba. Please, pray for his wife and son as to where the Lord would have them to live. Cladio is a very unique believer and speaks 3 languages. Hernondo is also from Cuba, he came here many years ago to go to school. Please, pray for Hernondo and the many challenges that are before him. He has an amazing testimony of the work the Lord has done in his life. Dale (right) as many of you know, has been a long term missionary here in Moscow for over 16 years. Please pray for Dale and His daughter Dasha as they visit family back in Minnesota in June. Dale has had an influence on Ernan and Cladio in their Christian walk.

"Above my own"

Nikita, Artom and Nastya have a rock group called “Above my own” The name is very appropriate for the times we live in, in a world whose mantra (if I can use the word) preaches that "me, myself and I" should be above everything, that “ first seek ye my kingdom” is the thinking of our day. In our modern world today the emergence of spirituality has become very fashionable, with it’s message "that we recognize our god potential. That we are little gods." It is just the same boring old lie of satan in the Garden of Eden, when he told Eve that she could be like God.

Please, pray for Nikita, Artom and Nastya as they have different opportunities to play in various clubs in Moscow. I attended one of their concerts a few months back and they were far and away the most popular band that played that night. Pray that the Lord would use them to influence a generation of “me, myself and I”

Oleg the linguist learns a new language

Over the last year and a half I have had the opportunity to get to know Oleg Rakito. Oleg is a retired linguist that during the Soviet times was heavily involved with foreign students specifically from Africa. Oleg had a radio program that would broadcast into Africa. Oleg speaks multiple languages: French, Hungarian several different African dialects and even Swahili. Over the last year and a half Oleg has added yet another language, the language of the word of God. He always has some insightful questions about this new language he is learning. Please pray for Oleg that he would continue to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that Oleg would be bold with the God News of Jesus Christ among friends and former colleagues. One of Oleg’s interesting stories is that his name appeared in the memoirs of former president Bill Clinton.

Bill  Clinton as a young Rhodes Scholar student writes of the time when as a young university student he came to Moscow. Oleg admits that he does not remember meeting him, because he would have been one of the many foreign students he had contact with at Patrice Lumumba University. Bill Clinton writes...

 "One night I took a bus out to Lumumba University (in Moscow) to have dinner with Nikki and some of her friends. One of them was a Haitian woman named Helene whose husband was studying in Paris." On the bus back home Clinton says there was only one other passenger, Oleg Rakito, who "spoke better English than I did and asked me lots of questions and told me he worked for the government, virtually admitting he was assigned to keep an eye on me".

Please pray for Oleg that he would be bold in his witness to his friends and former colleagues...and also for his several heath issues, thank you!

Letters from some of the Bible students behind bars

Most of you know about the ministry here in Moscow of Spiritual Freedom Russia. For over17 years Spiritual Freedom Russia has supplied biblical resources to prisoners here in Russia and the former CSI countries. Over 80,000 students behind prison bars have participated in bible correspondence school. Please pray for the ministry as we are at a time where can only wait on the Lord. In human terms we are really waiting on the financal resources to come in. But in reality  God tells us that we should wait not on the financal resoures, but wait on Him alone.

Isa 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

The word God chose to illustrate the word wait comes from the word bind as would be in a  rope with multiple  strands. As we yield (wait) our way to the Lord and look to  Him as our source, as the One who knows the next step we are to take. We then can take comfort as we rest in Him. Bound by the Father, bound by the Son and bound by the Holy Spirit. We are then pulled by His perfect plan, we no longer are a single strand trying to stand. We are surrounded by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Ec 4:12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Thank you for your prayer support for Spiritual Freedom Russia.

Recent letters from our Bible Students behind bars..........

April 6, 2010
The greatest decision in any humans life is when the person receives Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Savior
from sins. I have a joy to share with you. One of my inmates once came up to me and without saying a word took my book “The Good News” Bible study and started to read it. He told that he also wants to study the Bible. A few weeks ago he was a furious, violent atheist, but today he reads Bible every day. Learning the Bible he has come to Christ and received Salvation.
I’m humbly grateful, thanks to all of you.
Arthur, prisoner
Krasnodar City

March 31, 2010 
Dear brothers and sisters, greetings with great holiday of Resurrection of Christ.
Your books helped me a lot. They stimulated me to study the Bible and I am very thankful for that.
I am sending you a list of people (20 people) from my cell block. They want to study too.
Evgeny Footin, prisoner
Pr. #15, Kopeysk city .

March 15, 2010
Hello to all of you at our most esteemed Spiritual Freedom!
We recently requested from you some literature and Bible correspondence studies from the servants of God Alexander and Dmitry (Staff of SFM)
We want to thank all Spiritual Freedom workers for the literature, which you’ve sent us, and to wish you and your organization only the best .We, as soon as we received your packages were very happy and thanked God for He has heard us. Because this prison is in such a remote place we are far away from any fellowship and there is nobody to talk about the Bible. On the very first day, my friend Alexander and I, have started to work on our first lessons. We will be praying for all of you at Spiritual freedom.
Sincerely and warmly in our hearts, servants of God, Dmitry & Alexander
prisoners, Omsk city