OLYMPIC OUTREACH REPORT March 2014
Thank You for Helping Russian Ministries Transform Lives through the 2014 Winter Olympics Outreach in Russia! Your prayers and generous support made it possible to distribute more than 730,000 lifechanging Bibles, New Testaments, Gospel booklets, and other forms of Scripture before, during and after the recent Olympic Games in Russia in partnership with the Gideons International of Canada. Because of your faithful support, we were able to reach Russian people of all ages and in every segment of Russian society. These are a people who desperately need the hope of the gospel. Throughout the former Soviet Union/Eurasia, there are tens of millions of people who simply exist. Their lives are filled with despair and hopelessness, and ruled by drugs and alcohol. For youth and teens, the prospect of growing up is often unbearable, contributing to Russia’s rank as third in the world for teenage suicide. We can rejoice and give thanks to God that through our Olympic outreach— • As many as three million people, in 500 communities, have been reached with the gospel message. • More than 600 churches and national ministries have been equipped with Scripture and ministry resources. • New Bible studies and sports ministry teams are forming all over Russia. • Local evangelical churches have expanded their visibility and outreach, and new churches are being planted. The full impact of this Scripture distribution and evangelistic outreach may never be known in our lifetime. But we can trust that the eternal impact will be enormous, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV).
Scripture Distributed During Olympic Outreach: New Testament in Russian/English: 100,000 copies Gospel of John in Russian: 100,000 copies Gospel of John diglot:* 200,000 copies Complete Bible in Russian: 25,000 copies Hope Evangelistic Magazine: 100,000 copies Way of the Champion Magazine: 100,000 copies Other Scripture versions: 105,000+ copies TOTAL: 730,000+ copies *This special version of the Gospel of John, using a parallel Russian/English text with a clear plan of salvation at the end, was made possible by generous gifts given in response to a special matching grant challenge that was initiated by two faithful Russian Ministries’ donors.
How great is God’s timing! Now, the people who benefited from your compassionate gift of Scripture, have His Word to comfort and guide them as turmoil and violence grip Ukraine, Russia, and surrounding nations.
Tales of Transformed Lives The Water of Life
The stories of all of the lives saved, changed, and influenced for Christ during the Olympic outreach are too numerous to recount here, but God’s hand was clearly at work during these special outreach events.
Two of our School Without Walls (SWW) students, fresh from a Christian youth gathering, hopped aboard a train to Nalchik, Russia, to join their church there in Scripture distribution. The young men struck up a conversation with two Muslim women who shared their compartment. After a while, one of the women shared a dream she had: The women had returned home to their suburb in Nalchik (the same suburb where the young men’s church was located), to discover that there was no water. The women cried out to their neighbors for water, but no one heeded their cries, except for two young men, who told them to come to their house, where they could freely receive water. The two SWW students said they could interpret the dream, and went on to explain that the water the women were looking for was the Water of Life, which is the Word of God. They went on to explain to the surprised women that there was only one place to find the Holy Scriptures in their suburb—and that was at the local evangelical church. The women wrote down the address of the church and promised to come by to see the Scriptures, the Water of Life, for themselves. Several days later, the women were working alongside our team, distributing Scriptures within their predominately Muslim community!
“That’s why you are here today.” That very same day, in the very same city of Nalchik, Russia, our partners met three young men who hailed from a war-torn city in Syria. They were students at a Muslim technical university (Muslim universities and colleges are used extensively in this part of the world to convert young men and women to Islam). “I told them we had come to share about Jesus and how much He loved them. When I asked if they knew who Jesus was, two said yes, and one said no. I began to share the gospel with them. Their questions were many, deep and challenging. However, little by little, I saw their hearts begin to soften. The Holy Spirit was doing the work that only He can do! “After an extended conversation I asked if I could lead them in a prayer to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, explaining to them that they were committing their lives to Him forever. All three said, ‘Yes!’ “What a moment to see these men receive Jesus as the Lord of their life! “At the end of the prayer I reached out my hand, [but the young man] ignored my hand and embraced me instead, wiping tears away and repeatedly saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’ “As we parted ways with those three young Syrians, the Lord reminded me, ‘That’s why you are here today.’”” On behalf of these transformed lives—and countless others—thank you for your ongoing support and prayers. We were able to reach a great many men, women, and children with the love of Christ during the Olympic Outreach. Let us continue to pray for these new believers as they dig into the copies of God’s Word now in their hands and grow in their newfound faith.
Reaching Communities for Christ As part of our Olympic outreach, Russian Ministries partnered with 552 national evangelical churches in 21 regions of Russia to host 2,350 events designed to reach the millions of people living in these regions with the gospel. Your gifts helped place God’s Word in the hands of people from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk to Volgograd and, as these grateful pastors shared, many seeds were sown for a fruitful life in Christ.
“Thank you to those who provided Scriptures as a creative means of reaching people’s hearts.” “The 22nd Winter Olympics provided Christians with an opportunity for sharing the Good News. It provided lots of opportunities to start conversations and share the gospel. During street evangelism in Moscow people readily accepted Scriptures specially designed for the Olympics. Thank you to those who provided those Scriptures as a creative means of reaching people’s hearts.” — Pastor Kuznetsov, Resurrected Christ the Savior Church, Moscow
“The Most Important Victory . . .” “We distributed 4,000 copies of the Gospel of John in our town. People accepted them gladly for the most part. We talked to a lot of people, and in one day two people made decisions to follow Christ. I personally saw many young people receive the Scriptures and then stop to take a look at it, and immediately become engrossed in its contents. I also talked to young people and I was encouraged to have the joy of seeing young people interested in spiritual questions.” — Pastor Alexei Sazonov, New Testament Church, Korolev, Moscow Region
Thank you for your valued partnership!
“Thank you for the literature you sent us.” “Thank you for the literature you sent us. Young people from our church went out to distribute the Scriptures and they ran out in less than an hour! People accepted them gratefully, as they were colorful and attractive. The English-Russian New Testaments are very useful in reaching out to high school and college students.”
With your prayers and financial support, Russian Ministries will continue to work, expanding our efforts to reach millions more people throughout the former Soviet Union/Eurasia with the hope of the gospel.
— Pastor Igor Kukushkin, Light of Christ Church, Irkutsk
Olympic Outreach by the Numbers Number of national churches denominations involved:
552
Number of evangelistic outreach activities held:
2,350
Total Scripture copies distributed during the Olympics:
730,000+
P.O. Box 496 Wheaton, IL 60187 Telephone: (630) 462-1739 Fax: (630) 690-2976 www.russian-ministries.org