July, 2005 Prayer Letters

 

July 20, 2005

Dear Praying Friends, 

  1. Please be praying for a 21-person group coming to Ufa July 21-31 under the sponsorship of Int’l World Changers…the youth and their sponsors will be serving the city  three hours each morning by cleaning 3 different forested areas in Ufa…pray for their safety and for opportunities for them to share their testimonies with the Ufa youth  who will be working beside them daily….pray for the group as it is divided up into 3 crews to serve in different parts of the city through prayer walking, personal evangelism using the Evangecube, distributing Bibles/tracts/worship invitations, sports evangelism at a city lake and in sports fields (soccer, volleyball, American football) , a children’s summer bible club, etc.  Pray for divine appointments during such activities, that God open the hearts of unbelievers and also thwart Satan in his attempt to continue blinding people to the truth of the gospel
     
  1. Pray for those who will interpret during those activities (Nastia, Emily, Julia, Lily, Anna) that the Lord give them clarity in their translation and boldness as they help lead the 3 ministry teams during the project. 

  1. Pray for our evangelistic English club which meets on Saturday evenings…even though most students are out of sight during the summer here in Ufa, we continue to have faithful attenders; pray for students such as Vladimir, Anatoli, Michael, and Carl, that through our studies and English practice, they would come to know Him who is all in all.
     
  1. Thank the Lord with us for the 2 volunteer teams who came from Gayton Baptist Church in Richmond (VA) and Battle Creek Church in Tulsa (OK) in May and June… their ministry challenged the local Baptist leaders to become more bold and intentional with their evangelistic activities…the 2 teams did ground-breaking work in 2 different districts of Ufa through prayer walking, children’s/youth ministry, Bible distribution, etc.  Pray for more such churches to join the Lord in His work here in the mega-city of Ufa.
     
  1. Pray for two seminary students from SW Bapt. Theo. Seminary who are coming to serve with us Aug. 5-16 here in Ufa…pray for us as we continue to seek the Lord for His perfect will concerning the ministries with which they will be involved.

Thanks for praying with and for us and the mega-city of Ufa!

 Chris Carr

Int’l Mission Board Strategy Coordinator for the mega-city of Ufa, Russia

 

 

July 6, 2005

1)  Team Ufa asks you to pray for Victor and Susan Bauer who will be visiting with us from July 6th until July 13th on a Vision Trip. The Bauers are seeking God’s will concerning the possibility of joining Team Ufa for at least three years via the Masters’ Program. Ask the Lord to clearly reveal himself to Victor and Susan while they are with us. Pray that by the time their plane touches down on U.S. soil on their return trip, that they will have a word from the Lord and know His will beyond a shadow of a doubt, whether it be Ufa, their native New Mexico, or some other location. Pray that the Bauers will seek the Lord with all their hearts and that He might show them great and mighty things that they know not of.
 

 

2) Team Ufa asks you to pray for a World Changers project that will take place in Ufa from July 24th through July 30th. Up to 30 World Changers will be coming to bless the city of Ufa by doing service projects for the local city government for up to three hours a day. Then in the afternoons and evenings the young people will be involved in Bible distribution, street evangelism, sports ministry, English language ministry, and a Backyard Bible Club. Pray that the Lord might use the visiting brothers and sisters in Christ not only to sow the seeds of the Gospel and nudge Russians closer to salvation in Christ, but also to open the eyes of local Russian Baptists to the possibility of ministry outside the confines of their traditions. Pray that the World Changers service projects might help the government authorities to see that Baptists are not cultists, but instead a people that can be instrumental in helping to revitalize Russian society, a people that because of their beliefs are a force for good. Ask the Lord to protect all those involved in the project from physical and spiritual harm. Pray now that the team gets all the needed Visas and that the detail laden plans might fall into place to God’s glory. Pray that as the team ministers in various areas of Ufa, that their conduct and words might reflect Christ. And pray that the Lord might protect Team Ufa and the World Changers from both governmental and satanic interference.

 

3) Team Ufa asks you to pray for two students from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary who will be joining us in the first half of August. Pray that God might protect them from sin and from all physical and spiritual harm during their sojourn with us. Pray that because of the summer missionaries’ obedience to Him and the Almighty’s great mercy that the Father might bless and confirm the work of their hands while they are in Ufa. Ask the Lord to work in them and through them to reach the Russian speaking people of this great mega-city. Ask the Lord to transform their lives and the lives of those that they come in contact with during the 11 days that they will be here.
 

 

4)  Team Ufa asks you to pray for the Sipailovo (sea-PIE-lah-vah) district of Ufa. The bedroom district of Sipailovo is home to a populace of some 250,000 souls, several casinos and gambling clubs, a strip joint, and a mosque, but has no Christian church or witness. The international church planting team is now in somewhat of a disarray and church planting efforts have stalled.  There is uncertainty as to how to proceed and disagreements over what kind of methodology to use. Moreover, our Russian brothers believe that before there can be any ministry in Sipailovo, a trained and called Russian brother must oversee the efforts there. But, seven months after we rented an apartment in Sipailovo, with donated American funds, to serve as a base of evangelism in the area, no such leader willing to shoulder responsibility for ministry in Sipailovo has been identified. Except for cooperative efforts undertaken when visiting mission teams are in town, Sipailovo’s populace has not been substantially engaged with the Gospel. Very little ministry has been done. Pray that God might identify a Russian team leader for Sipailovo. Pray that despite our human frailties, God might glorify himself by planting a church in Sipailovo.