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Sunday, May 03, 2009

An Incredible Month of Life and Death!

We have been back home in Russia now for just over one month. What an incredible month it has been!

In Cornerstone Church we have seen over 30 people pray a prayer of repentance in the Sunday afternoon services and we have seen nearly one dozen people graduate from the drug rehabilitation program. Despite the graduations the rehabilitation center remains full. We have seen at least twelve other young men and women enter rehab during the same time period.

Praying to Receive Christ on Easter Sunday
Graduates for the Second Course of Rehabilitation
These men were hard core addicts and criminals
In our own personal ministry we have begun two house groups which meet weekly. One house group is for engaged couples preparing to marry and the other group is for married couples. Both house groups center on relational issues from a Christian perspective.

In addition to this we have a regular schedule of teaching each week at both the drug rehabilitation center and the social center for homeless people. We are also meeting each week with a team of church planters in the city of Dzerzhinsk, about 30 kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod. We will begin a regular teaching session with them this week.

Recent Graduates of the
First Course of Rehabilitation

On a sad note we continue to see suicide and overdoses taking the life of young people in our city. Every week we see several people who have O.D.'ed and several who have killed themselves, usually by throwing themselves out a window or off a balcony.

The spiritual fight in this place is real. We fight for people to be free from addiction's destructive behavior. The only way for this to happen is through the life changing power of the Good News of the Gospel. Thank you for standing with us as we live and work here among the people we love.

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