Maxim is an evangelist and church planter in Siberia. He travels regularly each month to various cities and villages in the Irkutsk region of Siberia to share the gospel with the lost and meet with small groups of believers where he preaches and encourages them in the Word. As a result of his work, some of these groups have grown and are in need of more leadership. It is his desire to become the pastor of one of these groups and plant a church. Recently, the need has come to a head in not just one but two of these places. Please read through the following report from Maxim and pray for him and his young family.
[LEFT] Maxim teaching the Scriptures to a small group of people in a Siberian village.
Thanks be to God for His amazing ways and for His mercy! He often acts unexpectedly for us. Several events surprised us this month and are a cause for much prayer.
MAXIM
Haratirgen
This trip was fairly normal except Anna wasn’t able to come to the meetings for various reasons this month. But we thank God that a man whose name is Nickone came for the first time. He was invited by Rita and Tanya. He was at two of the meetings, and it seems that the Lord is working in his life. I preached twice and was able to talk with him personally for quite some time. I gave him a New Testament and he is now reading through it.
Also Lord led us to one house in Alexandrovskoye where an old friend of Sasha (a man from our church) lives. She recently broke her backbone in an accident. Last month, we visited her in the hospital and this time at her house. During thise visit we were able to talk with her parents – we sang hymns and told with them about Christ and His death. We then tried to witness to two men on the street. Since they were drunk we did not talk much with them but gave them CDs of sermons to listen to later. We pray that the Lord will give mercy to them!
Tulun
Vera (my wife) and I went to Tulun as soon as we learned that the pastor had been removed from the ministry. This is actually a good thing because the pastor of the church in Tulun was corrupt and damaging the work there. I know this church personally and used to help them a lot. I almost stayed to become there pastor, but this corrupt man ruined all of that some time ago. So, after hearing the news, I went to help them once again: to preach the Word and to see the situation first-hand. Perhaps they wanted to invite me to the ministry again.
I arrived in Tulun on Friday and met together with the church right away. I preached and discussed matters with them. I also preached again on Sunday and gave much counsel. Soon after, I learned that the church desires to invite me to serve them as pastor. I asked them to take such a decision to the membership meeting and call me with the desicion, and then we will consider this issue in our church.
On Sunday we had a surprise. The former pastor disrupted the meeting of the church in Tulun. He was unwilling to admit his sins and invited some other false teachers to preach against the church and their attempt to restore order there. I don’t know all the details of what has transpired since. We now pray and wait to see what will happen next – whether the Lord will permit us to move there or not. Please pray for the church Tulun, and pray for us also.
Cheremkhovo
Change is also taking place in Cheremkhovo. There is a group of about ten people who are asking for our help in starting a church. They have recently come out of apostate church and are meeting together for fellowship and edification. I visited them this past month and held two different meetings. Things there seem to be going quite well, but they very much need a pastor, someone to lead them. Before, I thought the road to Cheremkhovo would soon be closed, but it seems now it has opened even more. It’s possible that there will be a need for my family and I to move there and help.
In general it is unclear where the Lord will send us, but there is great need in Tulun and Cheremkhovo. Pray for us in this matter.
