How are you doing? You no doubt remember that famous line from the movie “Field of Dreams,” and it is one that I come back to on the regular basis. The last few months were very rewarding for me. I began training a new crop of church leaders back in January. We are now getting closer to the end of an intensive training for 9 new leaders, among whom is our new director of children’s ministry, our youth pastor and his team of youth leaders, and our new director of women’s ministry. The training takes leaders through understanding of church leadership, teaches them how to recruit new volunteers with the vision of the church, and helps them grow in interpersonal skills of team dynamics, conflict resolution, and strategic planning.
During one of the sessions, we were discussing the question “What is stopping our church from growing?” This question is deceptive. It seems very simple, yet when you think about it, you realize that it is not that easy to give an answer to it. So, I rephrased it, and I asked our new leaders: “What if God were to answer our most ambitious prayers? What if He were to grant us the success we so desire? Are we ready for it? Are we prepared to disciple and take care of all these new people that God will give us?”
Now that is the same question I was asking myself about 5 years ago when I began compiling materials from Cru, Saddleback Church, Redeemer Church in New York City and some other resources. I wanted to be prepared for the time when we would have 10 or more new leaders already active in ministry, already committed, and already thirsty to be trained for ministry. So, it was very rewarding to spend time over these last few months with this great group of people.
While we were training these leaders, we continued growing. Our social ministry has two new directors in two of its three branches. We have new leaders in our children’s hospital ministry and a new couple spearheading our efforts with the elderly. Thus, I am very much looking forward to wrapping up training of these guys and of beginning to train a new group of leaders. Only this time around, a lot of the sessions will be led by those who just finished up their training!
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
PS Above is the photo of Alexander Krasnoperov, one of the leaders that went through the training recently and who serves as our new director of Sunday School and Kids' Ministry. He is a proud father of four great daughters who are an integral part of our youth ministry.
- We still need to sell my grandmother's appartment before we can seriously entertain options of buying a new place for us. Please join us in praying for selling this place and getting a new one for our family.
- We have begun planning our camps for this summer. As usual, we will have youth camp and kids’ camp. Please pray that we will have a strong team of volunteers and a very fruitful season of outreach.
- It is easy to forget about the war and it is very easy to get used to it. 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/
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Mailing Address:
ICC-Eurasia
P.O. Box 34035
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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)
