Baltic Church Planting

We had a camp for teenagers in July. For carrying out this project we needed strength not only during the camp but also before and after it. I was one of the responsible persons in this camp.

We collected the team for carrying out this camp from different churches. We leaders for the camp from the church in Vangazhi, from the village Dzirniki, and from the church “ Voice of Gospel” and also from our church. There were also 8 people who came from the States to serve in our camp. Their leader was the leader of mission Nadezhda and Pavel Minjakovs. The team of Americans was from Chicago. There were 90 children from different families of our region and also children from the orphanage at our camp. The program allowed fully to use all those seven days that we had at the camp. The weather also was a blessing.

I was leading morning services for the leaders. That was the time when we analyzed the previous day, prayed for the following one, and heard some verses form the Bible, the verse was read by one of the leaders. I was also responsible for all the financial part of the camp. In general I could say that I did what I had to do. Besides, I also had an opportunity to have fellowship with the teenagers for a day. We had teenagers from our region but also from the orphanage where I lead lessons for the last month of the school year. The time spent with them allowed me to know them better, to tell them about my faith and God.

The award for all this work at the camp was the last evening. We had planned to have evening service, night game, the camp fire. But not everything was as we had planned. There were personal testimonies, preaching at the evening service, and I also called people to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. We experienced something really wonderful during that evening, God’s presence was so real, and Andrey Sisenis preached in a special way that the hearts of the teenagers were touched. So they accepted that calling. I was the spiritual leader for the boys, and sister Lilia for the girls. Many teenagers went to the front and were not shy to give their hearts to Jesus with tears in their eyes. The only thing we were able to do at that moment was to cry. After that we really didn’t want to spend time entertaining. Everyone was amazed by the presence of God. Our fellowship was continued by the songs at the camp fire.

Many boys and girls accepted this calling to follow Jesus. For their growth we decided to organize small groups for the youth during the week, so that the youth would fulfill their need in fellowship. We have to work upon this project after the camp. I am going to lead a seminar for the potential leaders of small groups, where they will be able to gain some basic knowledge in leading small groups. Just after the camp I was fully occupied by the day program atmosphere, which was made by fond Banker, our church was supporting it and also took an active part in carrying it out. I was carrying out the lessons in groups of children. Already during the second day I noticed a young lady who was playing the guitar and singing with children. I was quite surprised but all the following days of the camp were spent playing and singing with her. so I became one of the musicians of the camp. It was quite hard to fulfill that task. There were 120 children taking part in the program during the first day, there were 180 during the second, and this number grew every day. At the end of the program we were not able to count children as there were more that 300 children. For qualitative work with children I was using the mikes and all the things I brought form the church. I had a wonderful contact with the children. We were singing our most popular songs, for those children who were a bit elder I was telling my testimony, I was inviting them to our Sunday school, and was telling them about the life we have at our church. There were many mothers present during our fellowship, and this gave me an opportunity to talk to them as well.

Now I have a new idea for this school year, I am going to reorganize the work with teenagers. For the realization of this plan I am going to work with teenagers during the week, I am going to meet kids at church activities (I am going to use a tourism club for example), where children could attend Bible lessons, lessons about the technique of tourism, and others. All this would help me to develop relations with children and promote their growth in faith. And I started inviting children to this kind of club. Children were very glad to accept this kind of offer.

We had planned to have an evangelization service for the youth and adults. I had to spend several days for getting the license for carrying out this kind of evangelization. Everything was successful and we got the license. A group form the States came to help us to carry our this program. The team was fro Pennsylvania. So we had a wonderful service, where the Gospel was preached, and we had a wonderful worship team fro the church in Jurmala, called “Morning Star”.

Before the concert the American team bought products and out those in 70 packages. These packages were given to the poor families, families with many children, and to disable people of our region. The invitations to the concert were also shared with these packages.  After this evangelization I have 70 addresses of people who got package with products, 12 addressed of people who came and accepted Jesus as their savior.

These numbers will be just numbers if we do not start working with these people. My plan is to visit those 12 as minimum, and those 70 as maximum. I am going to ask my church for help in this.

Plan for August: Evangelization for adults, to visit people, to carry out the seminar about small groups.