In the story below, SGA team member Angelina shares with us about the ministry of Boris, a Jewish Holocaust victim who had no desire to even pick up a Bible. However, God put a book right in front of him—one that didn’t look like the Bible that led him to the pages of Sermon on the Mount where he read of God, our Father.

Boris was very touched by those words, after never having the love of an earthly father. Now Boris is an SGA-supported pastor and is showing God’s love to those who are homeless and addicted. “Our goal is to take these people off the street and send them to rehab centers,” he says. God is using Boris in ways that he never would’ve imagined, and the ministry is thriving! Read more about Boris . . .

Boris moved to Israel from Lithuania when he was 12 years old. He and his family are victims of the Holocaust who have always been very anti-Christian. After moving to Israel, Boris left school, began to smoke, steal, and use drugs. He was like a hippie, with long hair and wearing earrings. He was always looking for fun and entertainment.

After the army, when he was 25 years old, he no longer saw the meaning in his life. One day he met Christians from a Christian hostel and befriended them. He saw that they had something in life that he did not have. They had joy, peace, a good attitude, and Boris couldn’t understand why they were treating him so nicely. However, he did not want to take the Bible in hands since he was a Jew. But one day he saw a book about Jesus in a hostel and decided to find out who Jesus was ( that book didn’t look like a Bible).  Boris did not know that it was the New Testament, otherwise he would never have taken it in his hands. Boris’ dad was an alcoholic and Boris always lacked his father’s love. When he read the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says that God is our Father, he was very touched by these words. He felt the love of God, his thinking began to change, his life began to change, he experienced peace and joy. He quit drinking and smoking. Sometime later he was baptized.

Here is what Boris told me about his ministry: “A few years later, when a large repatriation from Russian-speaking countries began, my family and I were invited to a new city and gradually we started five Bible groups and churches. Then there was a revival, there were more than 100 of us on Saturdays, it was very unusual for Israel.

“Later we had to move to the center of Israel due to my son’s illness. I continued to be a pastor in my old city, and I decided to do church planting. One day we went to a very poor neighborhood and thought about starting another new church there. When we were walking the streets ministering, we noticed that drug addicts are more open to the Gospel than ordinary Israelis. And we started coming to the park where there were a lot of drug addicts, we would always bring a table with drinks and sandwiches and Christian literature. That was about 20 years ago and to this day we are still engaged in this ministry. We opened a free canteen there, and we have volunteers who serve there. We distribute 2,000 meals per month. Almost all of our volunteers are former drug addicts. Our goal is to take these people off the street and send them to rehab centers. And four years ago, we began another ministry—a house for women who have experienced domestic sexual violence. We now have four women who live there.”

Please take a moment to pray for Boris right now. May God continue to reach the lost and brokenhearted through the efforts of this faithful servant of the Lord and his ministry team.