One’s path to hearing the Gospel may begin with little steps of God’s providence. In the story below, it was the Bible standing out among sinful men and then an introduction to a pastor with common interest. God directed Konstantin’s steps to a pastor who was willing to share the Good News of the Gospel. The steps from there were invitations to church and one-on-one Saturday meetings, long conversations of sharing testimonies, and trusted discipleship. Every one of these steps led to knowledge, growth, and faith in the one Father who can be trusted with all of the past choices that weigh so heavily on one’s soul.

Pastors don’t only share words, but they also share their lives with the people who so greatly need to hear of the same saving grace that rescued them. We are thankful to the many SGA-supported missionary pastors who continue to shepherd those who are brought into their paths.

Pastor Vyacheslav shares…

Konstantin is 35 years old; he works at a factory in our city on a rotational basis. He was born and lived in Omsk. Konstantin works with Ruslan, our Christian brother and member of our church. Once on a lunch break, Konstantin was walking past Ruslan, who was reading the Bible. All of the men there were smoking and resting, but he was reading God’s Word. Konstantin got curious about it, so he approached Ruslan about what he was reading. That’s how they met and started talking to each other. Ruslan gifted him the Bible, and Konstantin wanted to talk about spiritual topics. He was once a professional martial artist in Thai boxing. When Ruslan found that out, he suggested Konstantin meet with the pastor of the church, that is me, because I did martial arts too. After work hours, they came over to my place and we got to know each other. I offered Konstantin a visit to the church on Saturday to read the Bible and talk about anything that’s bothering him. This is most convenient as Konstantin has Saturdays off and will not need to rush.

Even before we met on Saturday, we started chatting on the phone and on Saturday, two weeks ago we met each other in the church. Konstantin told me about his life. It was a long story of how he was in love with Tatiana, they started to live together, and everything was great. Tatyana’s father treated Konstantin very well and invited him to have a steam bath in his bathhouse after the New Year celebration. And when he was heating it, he choked and died of carbon monoxide poisoning. This event caused Konstantin to feel guilty, he began to think that the death had happened because of him. He was very grateful to Tatiana’s father. That was because Konstantin’s own father hated him, even when he became a champion, he didn’t support him, nor did he congratulate him. That is, Konstantin saw the difference in attitude and therefore had great respect for his girlfriend’s father and was attached to him. Tatiana was a very nice person, yet he became very hot-tempered and started to do drugs. Many things annoyed Konstantin. They eventually broke up, but he still loves her. Konstantin tried to change his job and became a boxing coach and a nutritionist. When he came home, he felt lonely and worthless, it depressed him, so he was doing drugs to escape the harsh reality. Sometimes he might go into the Orthodox church, put on a candle and just stand in the temple, as he wanted to be with God, yet it wasn’t explained to him how to do so. He couldn’t talk with the priests either. After some time, he realized that doing drugs isn’t helping, but only making everything worse. Then Konstantin decided to take a job at a factory in another city to escape from his town—a distance of 1,800 miles. But even here he was overcome by thoughts of bad things as if he had a stone on his soul.

I listened to him carefully and shared my testimony with him: I had similar problems in my life—I had a girlfriend who stayed with the baby after I left. After coming to God, I prayed for her, and she came to Christ, and later became my wife. While talking about my life, I emphasized the Gospel, the death and resurrection of Christ, and the freedom He gives. Then we read together the parable of the prodigal son. I asked Konstantin, how he understood the parable. He answered that it’s about the relationship of loving and merciful God and a prodigal sinner. In our reasoning, we came to the cross of Calvary, where you can leave the burden of guilt. The words about the prodigal son coming to his senses and his father receiving him and restoring him were particularly touching. We were talking about forgiveness through Christ. At the end of our dialogue, I asked Konstantin if he wanted to pray and ask God for forgiveness and reconcile with Him. He agreed and asked God to forgive his sins and accept him as a child of Heavenly Father. After the prayer, we talked for a while, drank coffee, and then I drove Konstantin home. I agreed with Konstantin to meet up on Saturdays to read and study the Bible. Every day I send him a text out of the Bible. Just recently he texted me that he’s waiting for each Saturday, so he can talk about God with me.

Because he still loves his girlfriend, I suggested to pray for her, about her life and her coming to God.

I ask you to pray for Konstantin and his growth in Christ. He wants to move to the town where the factory is for permanent residence. And he already wants to be baptized. As a pastor, I advised him to learn more about Christ and grow in his faith.

Also, I ask to pray for his girlfriend Tatiana, her heart, and her ability to hear message of salvation.