December 2006 Mission Tip to Karabanovo, Russia
(Continued from page 2)
The Rest of The Story
You will recall that I started this trip report with a discussion of the pre-trip problems we were having. When Stephanie called me and told me we did indeed have housing in Alexandrov I called Luba to tell her that our backup plan was not going to be implemented. When I arrived in Alexandrov she told me that Pastor Svyatoslav in Vladimir was very disappointed, but at the time there was nothing I could do, so I left that thought for another day. However, I was still having problems on the trip and one night I was quite depressed over all of the problems and I felt that maybe God did not want me in Russia any longer.
But the story of what I am about to tell started in April of 2006, when Skip Cain told me that he thought we should do more trips each year rather than just the one trip and that we should go to different countries.
I thought about it and researched it and after a while stopped thinking about it, because it just didn't seem that God wanted me to go to other countries. And then in November the idea resurfaced, but this time it was about going to Russia multiple times per year.
"That is when I ran across Al McCroskey's ministry web site, Bibles for Russia. I wrote to him and he was very gracious and said that he was looking forward to hearing a report of our trip. Well he has planted over 900 churches in Russia and led 69 mission trips to Russia, why would he ever want to hear from me? Mostly because like me he loves the Russian people and loves hearing about what God is doing in Russia."
Of course these were the positive moments, the lull before the storm if you will. Soon would come the storm. Keep in mind that though this is near the end of this trip report the following events occurred near the beginning of the trip.
One evening, while I was in a black pit of thought, wondering if God really wanted me in Russia and thinking that maybe God was through with me I was praying. It was about 2:30am, and I was praying to God and I told Him, 'God I have a vision for what I think you wanted me to do and it involves multiple trips to Russia per year and in many locations in Russia, but God I feel like you have left my ministry and that you no longer want me here. Lord, I am thick headed and I need proof that you want me here or I am never coming back to Russia, because if you don't want me here, then I don't want to be here because I cannot succeed without you.'
I continued with my prayer, 'So God, I need Luba in here to talk about the plans and to answer some of my questions. If you ever want me to come to Russia again then I need for you to wake her up and bring her in here so that we can talk.' I waited a minute or two and then I said, 'God, Stephanie (my wife) is closer to me, so get her up and bring her in here and I will know you want me in Russia.' I waited a few seconds and beginning to have doubts I said, 'God, ok just get someone in here and right now or I will know you no longer want me in Russia.'
A couple of minutes went by and I started to hear some rustling in the bedroom. I assumed it was Stephanie and sure enough, in another few seconds, she came into the kitchen where I was praying and she was my answer to prayer. I told her, 'It's ok you can go back to sleep, my prayer has been answered.'
God told me in no uncertain terms that He was not through with me and that I most certainly was to come to Russia and my plans to come more often were to be blessed by Him. I did not think of it at the time, but upon reflection on the moment I know that the people who were praying for the trip, in particular a group of prayer warriors in Michigan had a great deal to do with my experience of crying out to God for reassurance and His answer of the same. I cannot thank these people enough. They were as much a part of the team as if they had gone on the trip themselves.
While this portion of the trip report deals with me in particular, the event has had such an impact on my ministry and on my life I had no choice but to include it here. The changes that are occurring to the ministry are as follows:
- New friendships with many pastors in Russia will be formed and the opportunity to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be increased by many fold.
- Many new friendships with team members will be formed.
- Four in the Fire will go to Russia on multiple trips per year, perhaps as many as eight.
- I have had a very personal experience with my Lord and Savior that has given me a new confidence that Jesus is in this ministry and supporting me.
- Many seeds will be planted in the future.
- Four in the Fire Russia Ministries, Inc. was formed as a non-profit and applying for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.
Conclusions
We met and made friends with a Pastor in Vladimir and now will take a mission team there. This happened because God allowed problems to come that awakened me from my sleep; by that I mean that once we planted a church in Karabanovo, we slept instead of moving on and planting more churches and working with other churches. So God has now changed our ministry.
Many people in Karabanovo have had seeds planted in their heart and much good will was generated towards the church. A Russian Orthodox priest's opposition was defeated through God's intervention.
One aspect of every mission trip that most people neglect to speak of is that the team members themselves are changed. Every year, both Russian interpreters and the Americans tell me that through the trip, God has affected their lives in some way. Last year, one team member decided to change his major to Russian and has now returned for a second trip. Will he become a missionary?
One man was saved, because we showed Christian kindness through the free medical clinic and held a Matthew party and one team member in particular asked the man the $64,000 question, "Do you want to go to heaven?" And of course, the Holy Spirit had been working on the man to convict Him of sin or our efforts would have been in vain. Well I guess not entirely in vain, seeds again would have been planted, but we would not have seen the immediate harvest.
What if that one team member, Jason, had not gone on this trip. Would Sergei still be destined for Hell? In other words, is there a Sergei in Russia waiting for you?
Andy Nelms February 12, 2007
Four in the Fire Russia Ministries, Inc.
Directors of the Board
Andy Nelms
Stephanie Nelms
David Hickey
Kelly Hickey
Andy's Update March 31, 2008
I am not one to rewrite history, but I must update you on my perceptions above and my misunderstanding of God's will for my life.
I do my best to understand God and His will for my life, because I want to always be in His perfect will and not His permissive will, or worse yet, out of His will altogether. I came away from last years trip convinced of the fact that God wanted me to make multiple trips per year and now I am fairly certain that I misunderstood Him. He was, as I wrote above, confirming my ministry, but He either did not want me to make multiple trips per year or if He did then I failed Him in that effort, because we were unsuccessful in attracting enough people last year to make even one trip. The trip for December 2008 looks like it will be a good one and with a goodly number of people and to a new destination in Siberia.
I could have rewritten the above trip report and just discarded the part about what I thought God was telling me, but that would have been dishonest. So here I am admitting my humanity and my error. As Jim Bakker said, "I was wrong." I would like to say this will be the last time I make a mistake or misunderstand God, but alas, that would be to claim perfection from this point forward, and perfect I am not.
So we plod along attempting to do what God calls us to do and we continue to take the Gospel og Jesus Christ to share wth the Russian people, whom we love so dearly.