Author: Pastor Willie Crew

Region: Commonwealth of Independent States

We arrived back in Moscow from Rustov (pictured here) which is a city in the south of Russia. Rustov is seen by many as the "gateway" to the Northern Caucuses and beyond - which include regions like Chechnya and Dagastan. These are some of the most difficult unreached areas where many live in serious conflict.

We had the opportunity to minister in some of the local churches last Sunday. The presence of the Lord was tangible and many people were needing a touch from the Lord. After the morning service, Tonya and I prayed for over 300 people one at a time. It seemed as if the line would never end. Some people left to go home after the service because the line was so long but came back later for prayer. The needs ranged from healing to restoration of relationships and many other spiritual and physical needs. What a blessing to see a young man make a commitment to the Lord Jesus.  Needless to say that we were  tired in body but set ablaze in our spirits. There is a sense of expectation among some of the people that God is wanting to breakthrough in this region of Russia.

What we did not know is that our visit coincided exactly with the 70th anniversary of what is said to be the biggest holocaust in Russia that took place in 1942. It is estimated that 20,000 were killed in the city of Rustov. I could not help sensing the significance of this. I started to read Jeremiah 25 which speaks if the fact that - "After 70 years of captivity the Lord would bring His people out of captivity but bring disaster on the nations of the world"

The following two days we hosted a Live School summit. The response to the call of missions was amazing. Pastors and members alike stepping up to the plate and saying, here am I Lord, send me. In the strategy sessions 16 said they will travel to the unreached parts of the region to "spy out the land" before the end of the year. Another 12 said they would lead prayer journeys to some of the harder unreached areas and yet others made commitments to begin planting churches in some of the villages. What a blessing to receive report that 14 of them already have contact in the region. The results of these days together are that nine new Live Schools will be started in addition to the eight that started earlier this year. Some of our team members from the region will return to Rustov to train the facilitators in September.

We made the 21 hour train journey back to Moscow, stayed over for a day and then flew to Armenia. We come with great expectation to this unique nation.

In other parts of the world - Paul returned to South Africa from East Africa where he made the final preparations for the launch of the Swahili version of the Live School which will take place at the end of September in Tanzania and in Kenya in the beginning of October. Thank you for praying for him.

We have also made final arrangements for William to travel to Asia in the next few weeks to do the first technical inspection of the "new unit" of the Live School. PLEASE stand in prayer and faith with us for this important next step of the Live School.