Zavolzha Churchplant Update

On Friday November 18, we visited Eduard and Vadim at Vadim’s home in a village on the edge of Zavolzha. We met for the first time, Vadim’s wife Tatiana and their two children. Vadim lives in a typical village home, constructed of logs and then trimmed with wooden siding. The main house is two rooms; a large kitchen and dining area, and a living room/bedroom combination. The house is heated by forced hot water. They have running cold water, but no actual hot water heater, so they heat all their cleaning water on the small stove. By Russian village standards they live pretty well. They have a small garden and the house has several storage areas and as well they have several small storage buildings on their lot. The bathroom facilities consist of an unattached outhouse.

Our meeting was quite encouraging. These folks are really excited about the coming church plant. They are working diligently to evangelize their town. Both brothers visit local hospitals and orphanages to distribute literature and pray for people. Eduard openly shares the Gospel with those that he works with. Recently Eduard was appointed to a commission to study the city’s response in case of a natural or man made disaster. At the end of the meeting Eduard told the attendees, “all this planning is good, but we need to remember that ultimately it is God who is our source of protection!”

Eduard and Vadim also write and distribute a two page Christian journal in town. This month’s journal was devoted to an article describing the dangers of non-Christian sects. This was an important article as in Russia, anything that is not part of the Orthodox Church is usually consider a sect or cult. They have also spent some time witnessing to local teens and discussing with them the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Last month we were able to purchase $100.00 worth of literature for distribution in Zavolzha. Eduard and Vadim have asked for more as they have nearly distributed everything that was purchased. Next month we will purchase a new guitar for the church plant and another $100.00 worth of literature. We are working on a budget proposal for the outreaches we plan in late January. Our plan is to rent a small hall, do some advertising in the local newspaper and bus-stop billboards and then show evangelistic movies and have a guest speaker. We are also looking into the possibility of having several Christian music groups help with a concert or two in Zavolzha.

Please pray with us that this church plant will be succesful in reaching the city of Zazolzha.