HIS NEWS
StreetCry Ministries
St. Petersburg, Russia
Highlights of 2002

We greatly appreciate and love you! We are very grateful for your continued prayers, words of encouragement, visits and financial support! God bless and keep you dear brothers and sisters in the Lord!

“Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20,21 (NAS)

In this newsletter we want to review some of the many ways God has touched lives this past year. He is truly a wonderful Lord and we have much to be thankful to Him for! He truly does do far more than we could ever imagine!

Near the end December, we had our annual Christmas celebration. Approximately 250 former heroin addicts, now living for Jesus, joined us for a time of worship, prayer, and testimonies. We were joined by three other rehab centers and ministries, and were able to pray for the leadership and workers in these ministries, as well as for an increase in the work to Russian drug addicts in St. Petersburg, in other areas of Russia, and in rehab centers in other countries. It is always exciting to hear testimonies of how God has miraculously changed a persons life and has completely set them free from past bondages and we have great reason to celebrate the goodness of God! Praise His Name!

Throughout the past year many lives were touched by the Lord through outreaches including coffee house, street evangelism, evangelism concerts (both in our building and in parks during the summer.), and by divine appointments. We sensed a real change amongst many unbelievers at the concerts this year—greater hunger. In the previous years, when we have had concerts at the parks, on the streets, and at the subways, some people would stay and listen for just a few songs and go on their way. This summer, there were even more young people drawn, staying for the testimonies and preaching.

Beside our on going ministry of seeing addicts saved and delivered without the need to go to a rehab center, we have also opened a rehabilitation center of our own for men who were heroin addicts. There are currently three people in the program: Igor, Sasha, and Roma. All three are delivered, saved and filled with the Holy Spirit and are growing in the things of God. Our next step is to open a girls facility and would appreciate your prayers for this to become a reality in His time.

Two precious souls, Zalina and Vica, came to the Lord through the work with drug addicts. Andrei, a drug addict, his wife, Zalina, and his sister, Vica came to find help. At first the ladies did not want to hear about the Lord. They basically wanted help for Andrei's drug problem and that's why they kept visiting the Bible readings for addicts. Through the readings, God started speaking to their hearts. The ladies put Andrei in the hospital for detox, and kept coming for Bible studies every day. They had many questions, and eventually understood that only Jesus was the answer to them all. They understood that the love of Jesus was so great - like nothing they had ever experienced before. Although Andrei was not open to the Gospel the two ladies repented!

Si-Sue, a university student from the Tuvah Republic, came to a home meeting and heard story after story from believers about how they found the Lord. Although she was a committed Buddhist, after listening to the testimonies, she realized that she was missing something inside of her and repented and received the Lord. We could see the change all over her face as she was not able to contain the joy that was now inside of her heart.

At the closing of the summer evangelism season, a team of 18 Bible school teachers and students and members from our worship and evangelism band, were invited to minister in the Republic of Karelia in NW Russia at a youth conference. The theme of the conference was "Commitment". We ministered on how every person is important to God and vital for the work of the Kingdom. Evangelism seminars had a practical side to them as we took teams out to evangelize in the city park and other youth hangouts where the attendees had chances to share their personal testimonies. Since the concert hall could not hold all who wanted to attend an evangelism concert, we conducted another one in the street the following day where almost all the local young people from the town gathered and heard the good news. A lot of fruitful conversations broke out after the concerts and many young people gave their hearts to the Lord and were referred to the local churches. We keep receiving a lot of mail from the young people of Karelia interested in correspondence course of the Bible School, participation in the worship nights, receiving our newspaper geared to reach unsaved youth. Some have even come all the way to St. Petersburg to visit us and repented in our coffee house.

BIBLE SCHOOL

In May we had our graduation and 28 students received their diploma. We are thankful to see transformation and growth in their lives as they faithfully applied what they learned. This year we have 16 first year students and 10 second year students, whom are all growing in responsibility and desire to know and serve God.

MUSIC MINISTRY

We are currently in a transition in the music ministry as the Lord is raising up new worship team members to replace others that have moved on. We are seeing God move as several new worship songs have been written by the worship team. We have produced our fourth album (and first from our own studio) entitled “Rain Time”. We are currently in the process of mixing another praise and worship album and another evangelism album, which we hope to finish in early February. Two other worship teams have also been able to use our studio, free of charge, and have recorded their own albums.

PRAYER AND INTERCESSION

The first Saturday of each month, people from across St. Petersburg and other cities in Russia continue join us for a night of worship and intercessory prayer. We enjoy a great time praying for God to move in Russia and for the youth of our country. It is always exciting to see how the Lord is going to move, as people are coming with a great expectancy. We know that the Lord has not forgotten the drug addicts, prostitutes, or youth of our city. We also understand that what God wants to do must first be birthed in the place of prayer. We are now in our 28th month of worship and intercession nights.

MISCELLANEOUS

We had a wonderful celebration in March when Victor Avdiakov and Anna Sedman had their wedding. They are now living in Sweden and are expecting their first child in January.

Roma Kalachov and Alsou Valeeva, two of our Bible school students who graduated this year, were married in July and they are awaiting their first baby.

Several construction projects have kept our students busy this past year. We have completed a new entrance, coat room, and kitchen and are now building bathrooms for the ministry.

Thank you for joining with us in prayer and for your interest in what God is doing here. We appreciate you and thank God often for you!

In the Lord and His Love,

The StreetCry Ministry Team

Compiled by Natasha Mitrohovich and James Sanford

All tax deductible support checks should be made payable to: StreetCry

StreetCry
PO Box 7971
Athens, GA 30604
USA

StreetCry Ministries

DK Bolshevichka
Ulitsa Tushina 9
St. Petersburg, Russia
tel/fax: 7 (812) 440-6794
tel: 7 (901) 305-0249
toll-free voice mail: 1 (888) 696-5577

Safe mailing address:
StreetCry Ministries
P.O. Box 109
WP 619
53101 Lappeenranta
SU-Finland

E-mail:
sons@thunder.sp.ru
streetcry@onebox.com
info@streetcry.org

Web: www.streetcry.org