This was the third part of a leadership seminar called Equip. The first part was taught in October 2010, the second in the spring and this October was the third part. They taught two groups – one in Stara Zagora and one in Sofia. Both gourds benefited greatly from the well-presented lectures. Bob and Pat are people with so much knowledge and experience. They are seasoned ministers, and you see their dedication to God and His Kingdom through their every word and action.

I am deeply grateful for their dedicated efforts and I feel privileged to call them my friends. The pastors and leaders who attended their classes received very valuable practical lessons and advice. I believe in the ministry of education, and I know that we should study and learn, and adapt new skills in our ministry every day. Thank you, Bob and Pat!

The class started with one day delay since our ministry group was not able to come back from Italy on time due to circumstances that were beyond our control (e.g. problems with the ferry in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea). However, we started the class with a group of about 20 people –brave men and women who were ready and willing to delve into the deep sea of theology. I have to tell you for some of them this was the first time to study such deep theological issues.

We had classes every night from 6 to 9 pm and the whole day on Saturday. The material was very challenging and times difficult to understand, but our leaders were not shy to ask many questions, and Prof. Sawyer patiently and with great expertise answered them all. I myself truly enjoyed the class and learned new things, which enriched my theological knowledge.

I am truly thankful to my good friend Jim for spending the time with us. He is a good and godly man and his dedication to teaching theology is admirable. I hope that next year he will be with us again. May God bless him for his efforts and his care for the ministers in Bulgaria.

Dinko Zlatarov

The theme of this year’s conference was “Courageous Leadership.” The ministry in Word and song was very good, too. Many thanks go to Regional Bishop, Pavel Abashin for his administrative organization of this year’s conference.

The peculiarity of this conference was that this year’s elections were the National Overseer and Assistant Overseer of Russian Church of God. Bishop Vladimir Shestopalov (Moscow) was elected to continue serving as national overseer. Bishop Anatoly Kravchenko (Samara) was elected to serve as assistant overseer.

Taken and redacted from the website of the Russian Church of God

During the meeting strategic matters were discussed for the further development of the Region. We were additionally blessed to have Dr. Larry Hess with us – our Europe Field Director. He encouraged us with many wonderful stories from churches around Europe .

The National Assembly of Church of God convened under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. The love and friendship of the brothers and sisters here is simply unique.  They arrived from all over the nation for this special occasion. The business sessions included the elections of a national overseer and a National Council. Bishop Rosson moderated the elections and an international Teller’s Committee was represented by:  Rudi Shepik (Germany), Vladimir Shestapalov (Russia) and Dinko Zlatarov (Bulgaria) and a brother from Ukraine.

In the first round of voting, Brother Alexei Demidovich was reelected for a National Bishop, gaining some 83% of the votes. Vladimir Kovynev from Donetsk was elected to the Office of the Assistant Overseer. I would like to once again underline the fact that all of the business meetings were conducted with a wonderful sense of love, respect and unity.

Also with gratitude, we saw three new churches formally organized and accepted into the denomination, bringing the total number of Churches of God in Ukraine to 89. There also 227 conversion (salvations) throughout the past year and 317 new members in the church.

Thank God for this opportunity to witness this historic event.this certainly inspired and motivated me for our work in Bulgaria. I thank brother Tom Rosson for his incredible leadership and brother Demidovich for their hospitality.

Dinko Zlatarov and Tom Rosson
For more information and pictures (in Russian), visit the website of the Ukrainian Church of God

From 9 till 17 of July on the riverside of the Vala, 80 miles (120 km) away from Izhevsk, camp city was located. Beautiful nature, clean air and remoteness from the civilization prompted to seek for God in a special way, to spend more time talking with Him and to be updated in the power of Spirit. Each day there were seminars, services and small cell groups devoted to various aspects of spiritual growth and ministry of Christians, evangelization, relationships between God and people. There were different preachers, youth and senior pastors, and also pastor of the church “Sila very” (Moscow) Fares Askerov and a head manager of Biblical college “Timothy Ministry Team” Carel Albertyn (South Africa).

Carel brought a whole delegation with him — one of the ministers and five students of this college. Though they spent only five days in the camp, many succeeded in making friends with them, practicing their English, playing their favorite game rugby and learning a strange, but obviously interesting game “ninja-mime”. But above all — South-African guests brought with them a bit of the atmosphere of worship and ministry which they had in their college. They shared their testimonies and revelations, prayed for those who needed it.

At daytime the youth were busy with different sport and entertaining games — team building, sports competitions, quizzes, discussing situations from life where one has to make a choice. One day each of the campers could choose a creative “work shop”. They could paint T-shirts, decorate photo frames, make a photo collage, sand figures, think up dancing and drama performances, learn oratory, make-up and hairstyle and whatnot. They were able to represent their works at Art-meeting. Besides that, there were a lot of songs, serious and funny skits, dances, plays and so on.

At the last night the teams showed their short skits about the camp life, remembering funny moments while living on the Vala river. Afterwards Chinese lanterns were launched to the sky — amazing spectacle which was followed by a big bonfire and two-hour worship.

As many campers said, this camp differs from the previous one, because this time there were less emotions and more consciousness in decisions they made about changing and serving God. Sermons rich with important thoughts and challenges made listeners deeply think about their inner state and helped to find a way to be closer to God.

All in all in the camp “Obnovelniye” there were around 300 people from different churches and places. The geography is vast indeed: Izhevsk, Votkinsk, Mozhga, Sarapul, Igra, Selty, Perm, Chusovoy, Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Moscow, Saint Petersburg. Non-believers were there as well, and about 5 of them made up their mind to follow the Lord in the camp.

Nine days spent on the riverside of the Vala will be remembered, but main thing is that those decisions which we made there would not be lost in urban fuss. God worked with a heart of everyone who allowed Him to do it, and fruits of it will be seen in near future.

Alexander Podobedev
National Youth Ministries Coordiantor

The main speaker at this Graduation Service was Dr. Samuel Solivan, Professor of Christian Theology at Professor of Theology at InterAmerican University. Dr. Solivan has been ETSM visiting faculty member since 1998. His personal testimony and high level of teaching combines theology and practical life and ministry. Students simply love him and appreciate his efforts to assist them in understanding Contemporary Theology, which would be relevant to their own ministerial context.

Following the main sermon a significant occasion took place: The National Bishop of the Belorussian Church of God, Pastor Alexander Melukhov has been awarded a honorary Doctoral degree in Church ministry in recognition of 50 years of his ministry to God and people in USSR in the past and currently in Belarus. Pastor Melukhov is one of those ministers whom we all witness and say: he is a good pastor, rooted in the Word, encouraging to people, true to his calling in life. I’ve been to his church and country many times and can testify the fruit of ministry is great in Pastor Melukhov’s life!

Following the honorary doctoral degree 59 graduates have walked the stage and received either:

1. Diploma in Church Ministry, or
2. Diploma in Pastoral Ministry, or
3. Bachelor of Ministry degree, or
4. Bachelor of Theology degree!

The graduating class consists of

• Ukrainians,
• Belorussians and
• Russians who come from Central, Eastern, North-Western, Southern and Siberian regions.

Please, keep Eurasian Seminary in your prayers: may every student who comes to be trained for ministry be:

• equipped not just in knowing the right doctrine (Orthodoxy), but also would be
• formed into ministers according to God’s heart and upon graduation have Christ-like character (Orthopathy) and may they be
• able to do His ministry (Orthopraxy) effectively and enthusiastically

Visit ETSM’s Facebook’s page for more pictures of the graduation here: http://www.facebook.com/etsmoscow?sk=wall

Ilya Okhotnikov, Rector

Alexander Podobedev, National Youth Ministries Coordinator

The first Youth Leadership Conference of the Association of the “Church of God,” Russia, which took place from 7 to 9 May at the Eurasian Theological Seminary in Moscow.

About fifty people, most of whom were youth ministers, gathered for a joint search for God, communication, and learning how to start and build a dynamically growing youth ministry.

On the first evening of the opening of the conference, which was accompanied by a live worship and inspiring preaching pastor second of the “Church of God,” Izhevsk, who said that young people – it’s not just the future of the church, but now so young people must take responsibility for their own generation and preach the Gospel to reach people.

The next day began with a lively preaching pastor of the church in Moscow “The Power of Faith” Perez Askerova. In his message, he spoke of a radical Christianity in which people do not just say that they are believers, but really live for Christ and His will. Evidence from the life of Pastor Perez left nobody indifferent and encouraged young people to new solutions in their personal relationship with God.

The conference also hosted invited  youth pastors from the United States, Matthew Cornett and Josh Martin. Pastors shared their experiences of serving youth in the United States, as well as the principles of successful leadership and productive evangelism.

Practical advice on achieving young people shared the Gospel David Saveliev (Church of “Rosa”, Moscow) and Stanislav Kulov (the church “The Church of God in the Tsarina’s”, Moscow). They spoke of the fruitful work of “Alpha Course”, as well as how to organize the “Alpha Course” in the city.

The culmination of the conference was to address the National Bishop of the Church of God of Vladimir Anatolyevich Shestopalov to young people. He urged the youth to believe in God, in His power to live and to fear nothing. It was a very blessed ministry in which the Word of God penetrated people’s hearts and changed their lives.

At the end of the conference pastors prayed for the young people as spiritual fathers. They passed on the blessing of a new generation of ministers to have their case continued in the future. This prayer was a landmark for all those who participated in the conference. This was the first Youth Leadership Conference and we believe this is only the beginning.

Pictured, Alexander Podobedev, National Youth Ministries Coordinator

It was a big blessing to listen to those psalms which sounded from the stage. That most touching and amazing fact which deserves respect, is that participants of the Mount Paran Choir could strongly and sincerely glorify God, despite many hours they spent in the journey. Truly, the praise to the Lord sounded very powerfully, although the choir didn’t have hundreds participants, but there was about 50 participants.

We thought that the the Mt. Paran Choir would only sing in English. What surprise we shared when after the several songs which they sang on their native language, we heard a psalm in Russian. This was not the only evening when the choir understood that they sang not only for themselves, but first of all for the glory of the Lord and for the visitors of the concert.

But the most valuable and memorable moment was when the listeners joined in singing and praising God with the choir.  The church and the choir as one whole began glorifying God – and it was truly a blessing for all.

Sergey Voznyuk, Senior Pastor
Missionary-at-Large, Church of God World Missions

The dedication of the International Ministry Center (IMC) took place on June 11th. We were very busy with the preparation. Thank God for bringing a great man – chaplain Steve Wallace who brought with him a team of wonderful people who all plugged straight into helping us clean and prepare the facilities for the huge and important celebration.

We were so honored to see our wonderful leaders Dr. Douglas LeRoy (Director of World Missions), Dr. Larry Hess (Field Director for Europe) and Dr. Tom Rosson (Regional Superintendant for Eastern Europe and CIS). Each and one of them had strategic key role in having this center finished and we thank them for all they have done. Along with them we were privileged to have distinguished guests from the Mission East (Rene Hartzner – Founder, Kim Hartzner – Executive Director, Leif Jensen and his wife) and from Y’s Men International (Arne Christianson). Along with that the ceremony was also honored by many Bulgarian representatives from the Christian and the public society.

The dedication service began with the official ribbon cutting at which Dr. LeRoy, Kim Harzner and Arne Christianson had the honor to participate. The official service was packed with emotional and memorable moments. The El Hanaan worship team did an amazing job leading us in worship. Then the brothers LeRoy, Hess and Rosson shared from the word of God and their impressions about this historical moment for the development of the Church of God. Our guests each expressed their joy on accomplishing this gigantic project and how God lead them to participate financially in its accomplishment. Special gratitude plaques were presented to each and one of our guests and two more were sent to be brought to two gentlemen who could not make it to the ceremony – one to Dr. Jake Popejoy and one for Dieter Knospe – the former Easter European Field director. A special plaque of dedication was presented to brother Knospe for his efforts and accomplishments for the Kingdom of God in this part of the world.

Well, now here in Bulgaria have a brand new chapter opened – a chapter to be written in the footsteps of great man and women who worked and sacrificed this facility to become a reality. I would like to thank everyone who has donated financially or contributed through time, labor or prayer toward this fascinating place for ministry. As member of the Church of God here in Bulgaria, I promise that it will be used in a way that is pleasing God and that brings glory to His magnificent name.

Dinko Zlatarov

Our team of ministers from Sofia was invited to visit the village of Kostievo in the Plovdiv region. The Regional Bishop called and asked us to come, stating that something incredible was happening. Of course, we did not wait long and headed towards Kostievo.

Upon arrival, we sat down with brother Stanimir Radev and he started telling us how the local church in this small village has numbered about 15 people for many years and there had been no growth despite the prayers of the believers. However, in the past year the leadership and the believers had started a prayer chain for revival in their village and for the salvation of the people in it. Unfortunately, they did not see results right away, but this did not stop them from continuing to pray and intercede before God. Every evening all believers gathered for prayer for many for many months.

Then, all of a sudden something special and incredible happened. God’s presence fell strongly on the Christians and many started to speak in tongues as the Spirit led them. Soon neighbors who heard the news started going to church and also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A real revival spread in the church and outside of it. Originally from 15 people membership, now the church is filled with believers and the membership is up to 170 people. Every day new people join the church and services are held every day of the week with signs and demonstration of God following!  When we went to Kostievo, the church was full of people, the praise was great and everybody was anticipating the move of God. During the prayer after the sermon (a prayer that lasted for several hours) many came forward to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Ten people were baptized in the Holy Ghost and everybody experienced the incredible revival in the church and during the next few days 4 more joined them praying in their homes.

I am sharing this to tell you that this is an incredible happening, because there has not been such a revival in my country for quite some time now. Bulgaria has been undergoing a period of spiritual draught in the past 10 years, and we had just prayed and asked God to demonstrate His powerful presence. I hope that what happened in Kostievo will spread throughout Bulgaria and many people will be touched – new believers will come to the churches, and the local members will be motivated to worship God with even greater spiritual fervor. God is great! Please, pray for revival in our land and we will be sharing with you what is happening in various towns throughout Bulgaria!

Dinko Zlatarov,
Vice-Overseer of the Church of God in Bulgaria