Breakfast at Home Hotel consisted of two eggs, sunny side up with ham, bread, and some kind of berry juice that was really good. The server works really hard to speak English and she did a good job but we could tell she was a little embarrassed about it. All the staff here speaks English with some degree of success. They are much better at English than we are at Russia. We should do better.
After breakfast we headed to Talitsa. This city of about 30,000 people has been on our church's prayer list. We want to help plant a church in the city, which is Russia's equivalent of a county seat town. The drive was extra long because we usually stay in Kamishlov, a city about halfway between Ekaterinburg and Talitsa. But we didn't plan the trip that way this time. Add to that the construction detour and we were in the car about 4 hours each way. But the drive was worth it!
Our prayer for the last year or so has been that God would raise up a leader through whom God would work to plant the church. We feel it's important for the leadership to be Russian so that the church is Russian, not American. We may have met him today. His name is Vadim and he is the pastor of Spiritual Renewal Baptist Church in Troitsky. Troitsky is Talitsa's neighbor and apparently the two communities almost consider themselves to be one. The church is small, 12 years old this week, and has survived some turmoil. Vadim pastored the church a few years ago and has been back for one year. So we had never met him. The turmoil happened while he was away. He feels God has led him and his family back to this church in order to reach the community.
It seems that about the time I think I have God's plan figured out for Talitsa, I learn something that changes everything. That's how I feel today after meeting Vadim. I believe he is the man God will work through to reach the Talitsa area. I'm pretty excited about this! Will you pray with me about three things Vadim emphasized in our conversation?
- Pray that the church will regain a standing with the city officials so that they can have more freedom to minister.
- Pray that the church's members will continue to grow spiritually.
- Pray that the church will be evangelistic as they engage the community.
Let me expose some thoughts to you. On the drive to Talitsa I was praying asking God to help me understand what I've been calling "Reaching Talitsa." Should we continue? Is it time to move on? So I'm ready to partner with Vadim and lead our churches to partner together to reach Talitsa and the communities nearby. God is good and he's up to something really good!
No comments:
Post a Comment