Amazed by what He is doing

I am posting an encouraging email from Darin McFarland -- Rodney

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God is up to Something!

November 17, 2007

Dear Friends,

God is charting new waters here. Things are happening that I have never seen in 15 years of campus ministry in Russia. Yesterday, three young men trusted Christ. Excuse the hockey analogy, but I have never seen a hat trick in campus ministry (3 goals in one game/3 new believers in one day). Another young man trusted Christ last week. Also, never before has there been so many student leaders. Around ten or so students helped to lead our recent evangelistic retreat. There were a total of 85 including staff in attendance with 43 of those being students who have not yet trusted Christ. All of them heard the gospel at least three times over the weekend through film and personal testimonies of other students. I know that God is using your prayers to open new doors. Please keep praying. We desperately need your prayers!

Answered Prayers

• Since my last email four young men have trusted Christ.
• We had our best evangelistic retreat in 15 years last weekend. It was totally student led.
• The English classes went quite well despite smaller numbers. The smaller classes allowed for more discussion and closer relationships.
• The first gospel of John Seeker Studies went well last night. We had ten students attend who have not yet believed in Christ.

Prayer Requests

• That we would see more students attend our Seeker Studies on Tuesday nights.
• That we could be successful and effective in the English Club that we hope to start in the next two weeks at the Economic Institute and Mining Institute.
• That our four brand-new believers would become well grounded in their faith (Andre, Zhenya, Sergei and Kiril).
• That the others who trusted Christ this semester would get more involved with our ministry and grow in their new faith (Guzel, Gulya, Katya, Oksana, Alyona, Ksenia, Olga, Oksana and Sergei).
• That the church plant would continue to go well and that we could find a pastor. This Sunday is our first service that is open to new people.
• That God would help us to be good stewards of this constantly growing and very complex ministry. We have a lot of new challenges with the recent growth and many more are coming with what we expect God will do in the near future.
• That God would bring in a harvest of 100 students this year. This is a huge step of faith to pray this way but we wanted to ask God for something way beyond our ability to do in our own strength.
• That God would help us with organization, communication, understanding and unity on a very large, multi-national, bi-lingual team.

In Need of His Grace,

Darin