Healing Ministry - Part 2

Since the last post, there have been more developments in the Gosha healing. After the sores in Gosha's mouth were instantly healed he was left utterly flabbergasted by the love and power of God. Needless to say, his faith level received a boost. After the meeting, Gosha was walking home thanking God for what had happened to him, when the idea came to him to call a friend named Olga who was at home sick with a high fever. He thought, "If God can heal me, then he can do the same for her."

After calling Olga and telling her about his healing, Gosha prayed and commanded the sickness to leave her body. As soon as he had finished praying Olga felt something hot start to come over her body. In a matter of minutes the high fever broke, and the sickness that was keeping her in bed left her body! Praise God for chain reaction healings!

The picture above is of Gosha. You can read more about him in StreetCry's November newsletter (www.streetcry.blogspot.com). He was formerly a drug addict and Nazi-skinhead, and now helps oversee a drug-rehab in St. Petersburg. Olga, pictured on the right, is a worship leader at StreetCry, a second year student in the Ministry School, and a devoted mother of two children. Her, and her husband Sasha, are a huge blessing to the ministry here.

Healing Ministry

This past week, we began a healing class at StreetCry for anyone wanting to become involved in healing ministry in the church. We had around twenty-two people sign up, and express interest in receiving the training. Although there has always been some form of healing ministry at StreetCry we are trying to provide more structure and training to it so more people get a chance to become involved.

After each church service two ministry teams are set up to pray for and minister healing to people who come forward. A number of healings have occurred as a result of these ministry times. Just last night, a man named Gosha came forward with sores and swolleness on his tongue. After a team finished prayed for him he suddenly ran off not telling us where he was going. We found out that apparently he had gone to the bathroom to look in the mirror to see if he had been healed. After checking, he came running back into the sanctuary exclaiming, 'I've been healed! I've been healed!". It was quite a scene.

We hope to grow in understanding and authority in this ministry and see many more people healed. Our long term goal is to train and mobilize teams to be sent out from the church to minister at drug rehabs, hospitals, and on the streets. There is a huge need here for healing and deliverance, as HIV, Hepatitis, and other diseases affect many people. Please pray that God would give us wisdom and understanding as we help to develop this ministry.

StreetCry Office

In addition to teaching in the ministry school, Crystal and I are putting in a good number of hours in at the StreetCry office. Most people would be surprised at how much administrative work is involved in keeping a small ministry like StreetCry running. Although small, StreetCry is quite diverse in that it offers a ministry school, church, audio/video recording, drug-addict consulting, and evangelism outreach. It's enough to keep an army of about 7 people busy throughout each week.

In the office, Crystal currently works on donation receipts, prayer updates and foreign visitor correspondence. Chris keeps busy with 'English Communications', which means taking care of StreetCry's website and monthly newsletter.

From our apartment, the office is about a one hour commute by metro. We usually make the trip three times every-week. We try and do as much work from our apartment as possible as it minimizes travel time and helps us make the most of our day.

The picture on the left is of a guy we really wanted to tell everyone about. His name is Sergei Tovstopat. He does an incredible amount of work at StreetCry, including Audio/Video production, drug-addict consulting, tech-support, and ministry to the homeless. Before becoming a Christian, Sergei served in the Russian military, was a drug-addict and was involved in organized crime. Unfortunately, as a result of his previous lifestyle he is HIV positive. He now works full time for the ministry and is one of the most devoted Christians we know. Please pray for Sergei as he helps advance the work here in Russia.

Meet the Students

We thought it was about time we introduced to you the School of Ministry students we have the honor of teaching every week. There are about 30 students in the class, each of whom have incredible testimonies of how they met Jesus. Some of their backgrounds include drug use, physical and sexual abuse, promiscuity, and violence as the norm. There are two male students, who prior to salvation, were drug-addicts involved in a neo-Nazi skin head gang. They are the only two members out of 15 who are still alive!



These details are easy to forget since you see no evidence of it in their lives today. When you look into their eyes all you see is light and love. It is living proof of the miraculous power of Jesus to transform a soul. There are times when we listen to testimonies and almost refuse to believe them because of how drastic the changes are.


The times we spend in prayer and worship with the students are our favorite. The passion and sincerity they express in these times would reduce the strongest man to tears. It has challenged us in our own pursuit of God's presence. When looking out over the class you see some weeping in intercession, others dancing and shouting praise, and others with their hands lifted in surrender. The intensity of the Lord's presence during these times is on a level we've not experienced before. We know that it's God responding to the purity and sincerity of worship coming out of their hearts.

Please keep these students in your prayers as we believe they are the leaders God is raising up in Russia to bring in the coming harvest. Our hope is that each of them is equipped in the school and then sent out to be in full-time ministry. We consider it an honor to be a part their lives.