Dear brothers, families and churches.
We greet you with winter holidays and wish you God’s blessings, patience and persistence in your work for the Lord.
We have some very good news. In the Central Church of Christ in Gorlovka, on December 21, there was a baptism of Igor, the husband of Lyudmila Davydova and the father of Anya. Anya and her mother Lyudmila were baptized three years ago. As you remember, Anya was diagnosed with cancer last summer. We had been visiting with this family quite a lot. Churches in Ukraine and American brethren helped financially to pay for two surgeries and still help with her medical treatment. After one-on-one Bible studies and seeing our attitude towards Anya, Igor decided to leave Adventists and be baptized according to the Bible. We hope that he will faithfully serve the Lord and their family will attend the church together.
In December, we had a meeting of church of Christ preachers in Kramatorsk, and we discussed the topic of “The Role of a Preacher in the Church.” Preachers from six congregations (Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, Krasniy Liman, Donetsk, Konstantinovka and Gorlovka) participated in it; everyone shared their experience, and then we had some good fellowship. We try to get together and support one another at least once in four months. Every one of us needs encouragement and prayers.
Last month BVBIU students had such courses: 1st year students studied Exodus-Deuteronomy (Victor Semikoz) and Matthew-Mark (Albert Bagdasaryan), 2nd year students studied Denominational Teachings (Andrew Zhuravlyov) and 1, 2 Corinthians (Dennis Sopelnik). In general all of the students are willing and have a good potential to preach sound doctrine. Please keep praying for our work and training of qualified ministers for God’s church. Also I want to share with you some news about our graduate (year 2011) Stas Kuropyantikov. For the past 3 years, he’s been an assistant preacher in Slavyansk and proved himself to be a responsible and teachable minister, who loves God and His gospel. Now he is getting ready to move to a big city on the shore of the Black Sea, Odessa, and become a minister in the small church of Christ there. It’s a port city, and there is a huge potential for the future church growth there.
We are actively looking for the prospective students for the next school year. We correspond constantly with many churches in Russia and Ukraine via emails. Starting with January, I will resume visiting congregations I know a little about; sometimes this method brings some good results. At the moment there are a few people who are interested in enrollment into our institute.
Next year I have a desire to plant a new church in a new town with the help of the BVBIU students. We want to include in this project everyone who is willing to participate in it. For the past five years, I remember only very few churches which were planted in new places. In the 90s, dozens of new churches were started annually, and many of them are still spreading the gospel. If you have any ideas, please send your suggestions to me via email.
My wife and I continue visiting the orphanage. Last Saturday, we organized a puppet theater in the church and invited kids from our part of town. There were many kids with their parents, and we invited them to our Bible school for kids, “The Gifted Child.”
Thank you for your financial support of the Bible institute, students and teachers.
Your brother and co-worker,
Dennis Sopelnik