We should never forget what Jesus went through to purchase our freedom from sin. The price was high. But without his shedding His blood we would not have forgiveness. Without His suffering we would not have joy. And if we do not want to depreciate the value of His sacrifice in our hearts it is a good thing for us to recall His suffering and His cross.

This sacrifice is not easy to be reminded of. It was hard. It was bloody. It was above everything a human could stand. Even to think of His suffering is too painful. That is why the first part of our church Easter celebration was not very light-hearted.

But what would the death of Christ be without His resurrection?!! The other essential part of the Gospel is that He not only died for our sins but rose again. And God was faithful to remind us of that too. At the end of the service there was a real outpouring of the Holy Spirit that brought such freedom that people danced and sang and even did the improvised round dance around the meeting place to Jewish tunes that set hearts on fire. I wish you could be there with us!

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Sunday April 9 was a special occasion for Pastor Vyatcheslav "Slava" and Lyudmila Piskunov, who celebrated their 14th Anniversary. This wonderful Christian family has been faithful ministers for many years. They have two daughters, Anya and Aelya. The congregation’s congratulations took the Piskunovs by surprise, for they did not expect anything of this kind. But a greater surprise was the sermon on the Unity in Marriage and Receiving your Spouse as a Gift from your Creator, delivered by the guest speaker Fred burckbuchler. Fred himself was taken by surprise when told about the anniversary before the service, for he had no idea about it when he had chosen this topic about 3 weeks before, when he was first asked to preach in our church. This obviously was a divine appointment (-: In the end the congregation greeted the Piskunovs and prayed a special prayer of blessing over the coulpe kneeling on the floor. This was a both exciting and deeply moving moment. The celebration continued after the service in a nearby cafe.

The third Million Leaders Mandate Conference was held in Vladivostok on April 7-8. This program launched by the EQUIP ministry lead by Dr.John K. Maxwell, a well known Christian author and expert in leadership training and development, is aimed at training 1,000,000 Christian leaders worldwide by helping them to improve leadership skills and build a Chrislike character and style of leadership. (You can read more at www.iequip.org). In Russia, MLM is hosted by 7 cities. Vladivostok conference was attended by about 300 pastors and leaders from about 100 churches and denominations from all Russia’s Far East.

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After the Sunday service in church we try to spend time together somehow instead of starting off in different dirrections. Certainly, all of us have something to do at home, like chores to be done, dinner to be cooked, clothes to be washed and homework due on Monday. Yet God wants us to learn how to be a church family, and as we just spend some time together on weekend it seems to help in this area.

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March 2 to 5 God granted us another opportunity to visit our brothers and sisters in the church of Plastun. Victor Korotkov, assistant pastor, gives his first-hand account on the journey.

I took the morning bus to Plastun planning to reach the destination at 10 p.m. I preferred it to the option of taking the next bus at 3.30 p.m arriving at Plastun at 6 a.m. The idea of jogging in the bus all night did not  appeal to me very much.

So, on March 2 at 7.30 a.m. sharp, the South-Korean Grandbird headed the north to Plastun. With the almost 15 hours’ journey ahead of me, I had an excellent opportunity to meditate on the great things of God. (read more…)