How was your summer so far? What was the highlight of it for you? Summer is usually the time when everything slows down, but for us that is not the case. Starting in May, I typically shift into a slightly different mode of ministry which for me means more emphasis on speaking engagements at conferences and camps. So, one could say that summer for our family is filled with camps, conferences and other fun things that start with a letter “C.” What other fun summer activities can you think of that start with the letter “C”?
Our church retreat in the middle of May was quickly followed up by the Athletes in Action national conference. It has been my honor to speak at this conference almost annually for the past 20 or so years. This year it was not as big of an event as in previous years, but it attracted a lot of world-class athletes to it including Olympians and former members of various Russian national teams. I was struck by how humble these athletes were and how eager they were to learn more of Christ and to grow deeper in their relationship with Him.
One of them was Yulia Kachalova, a member of the Russian national crew team at the London Olympics, and a European bronze medalist. During one of the evening sessions, she the shared stories behind her medals. These were deeply personal accounts of how her personal relationship with Christ manifested itself during various championships and competitions. But the story that I remember the most was the story of the medal that she should have won at the European championship but did not. I will share it with you in one of my future newsletters.
In early July we had our youth camp and at the end of July we had our children’s camp. It is winding down right now as you are reading this newsletter. In the middle of August, I am scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Cru Russia national conference.
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
P.S. By the way there are two Russian staff from Athletes in Action that serve at the Paris Olympics right now. It was an honor to serve them at the conference in May and watch them serve athletes from all over the world at the Olympics. Please keep them and all other Christian missionaries that are ministering right now at the Olympics in your prayers.
FIVE THINGS TO PRAY FOR:
- Please pray for those who are currently ministering at the Paris Olympics including two Russian staff from Athletes in Action (Victor and Ivan).
- Please do pray that the surgery that Elena went through would cure her issue with tear-ducts.
- Join me in praying for the follow up work for our amazing youth and kids camps this summer. These camps were a blast and became a highlight for the teenagers and kids who came to them. But what happens after the camp is almost as important as what happens during the camp. Please pray with me that we find creative and meaningful ways to follow up these kids and to bring them to the point where they make a decision to follow Christ personally.
- There are two major issues that our church needs to tackle in order to grow and develop: small groups and evangelism. Please pray that we would grow the number of our small groups and that we would become the church that is know for boldly and creatively sharing the Gospel.
- It is easy to forget about the war and it is very easy to get used to it. I'm so grateful to our team of volunteers that bring humanitarian aid almost to the front lines of this war on a bi-monthly basis. Their stories and pictures remind all of us of the reality of carnage that is still going on. Please continue to pray with us for peace between Russia and Ukraine.
GIVING THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES OF EURASIA (ICC-E):
You can donate to the Lysakovs’ ministry via ICC-E by check or autopay from your bank (see address below), or with your credit card via the ICC-E web site http://icceurasia.com/
Website: http://icceurasia.com
Email: icc.eurasia@gmail.com:
Mailing Address:
ICC-Eurasia
P.O. Box 34035
Bethesda, MD 20827-0035
Phone +1 (301) 514-7433
GIVING THROUGH CRYPTO CURRENCY
It's a new age and a new dawn, so why not use this simple method if you are so inclined and you have etherium or bitcoin that you want to use to support our ministry. You can use our Metamask wallet that was set up for these purposes (0xE021dB34F65C0F5B1F0ccF4Def059233B67891DB)
