St Petersburg UBF Mministry Report by Mike Thompson
- by WMD
- Jun 08, 2015
- 1988 reads
“God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20a) I hope that this report may give listeners a more focused direction in which to pray for Russia and St. Petersburg ministry.
God is doing his own work even If I’m not. I would have liked to say that I was also feeding lots of sheep and preaching and evangelizing. But in fact, I’ve been overwhelmed with the struggle to survive, working a lot. So my participation in ministry has been reduced. The sense of problem I feel was heightened around conference time when I was supposed to call a particularly elusive sheep Denis. But I didn’t get through to him. I was thinking that the conference was going to be embarrassing. But God was working. Denis, his wife and three kids all attended that conference this May. A Russian shepherd from Moscow came to St. Petersburg to help Denis. The conference turned out to be a big success. Wow! We are praying to raise disciples among boy sheep. Msn Caleb has again and again tried to raise boy sheep. So we have Sergey. But others haven’t stayed. One sheep Alex was invited for Bible study. He said, “I’ll study the Bible in English.” But after a year or two he didn’t hear the Good Shepherd Jesus’ voice. He became easily offended and left on a bad note, right before the conference. That painful event taught me not to compromise with sheep. God made man in his own image. Man is spirit and he does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. I pray to be able to help sheep make a direct relationship with God.
This summer the CIS international conference is going to be hosted by St. Petersburg UBF. It’s a really big job and the shepherdesses are all busy mothers. So it’s important for me to mobilize into action. My key verse this year is from Ephesians 4:15-17 which says, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Ruth is very friendly. But she can be too involved with friends and fall behind on her university course work. I pray for her to be led out of temptation so that her witness and influence might not be nullified by school failures. If you look me up on Facebook, you will see me with Lydia Thompson. We got married about a year and a half ago. She is a woman in Christ. Her son is Misha. She participates with me in the ministry. Jesus is our one strong link. But otherwise we have a lot of differences. If you know anything about the cold war between the Soviet Union and the USA, then you know something about what it’s like at my house. So I’m on a crash course in diplomacy. I believe that it is all for the best to teach us how to love one another above all our political and cultural differences. And God wants to form us into something more useful.
In conclusion St Petersburg ministry is healthy even if it is small. We can just pray and God will grow his kingdom. Thank you for your prayers.