LE Congress in Caucasus Union Mission
Hailed a Great Success

The Caucasus Union Mission held their second Literature Evangelist Congress lead by Pastor Alexey A. Kropinov, the Union Publishing Director. The Caucasus Union territory includes the territory in southwestern Russia and three countries: Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

The city of Stavropol, where the congress was held, has a rich history for our church. In 1887 the General Conference sent Pastor Lui Conrrade to establish the first SDA church in Stavropol.

More than 140 top literature evangelists were able to attend the 2008 LE Congress, representing all the fields within the Caucasus Union territory. The theme of the congress was “Proclaim God’s Glory”. It was inspired by the text in Psalm 95:3, “For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” This is an especially important Bible text for our LEs since literature is one the best and easiest ways to share God’s glory.

Our guest, Wilmar Hirle who is the Associated Publishing Director at the General Conference, taught classes and encouraged our LEs to continue working until Jesus comes. Pastor Lev Bondarchuk, General Manager for Source of Life Publishing House at Zaoksky in the Tula Region, introduced several new books. He shared the publishing house’s plans with the attendees and listened to the suggestions from the LEs. Pastor Pavel I. Liberanskiy, the Union president and his staff helped coordinated the program and held several motivational classes for the LEs. Most of the local conference administrators also attended the event.

The high point of the congress was the several excellent testimonies given by the LEs. One of our LEs, Sister Minakov Valentine Nikolaevna, in less than one year, sold more than 1,800 copies of the Great Controversy. Another, Sister Didus Svetlana Romanovna, told about being stopped by the police. The officer demanded to know who gave her the authority to do this type of work. She told him that God gave her the authority and because of that divine directive he should respect her and God’s work. The officer let her go free. Later the same officer invited Sister Romanovna to his office where he purchased several books.

The representatives from Azerbaijan described the situation in their country. In order to print literature in the local language they are required to get permission from the government. But obtaining permission in this predominantly Muslim country is quite a challenge. They asked the participants to help create a fund to buy a press to print the literature. By the end of the day they collected more than US $3,000! It is amazing to witness the good will and faith of our LEs.

At the end of the congress, the Missionary Book of the Year was introduced. This book is about the Second Coming of Jesus. Our LEs each decided to give a copy of this book to every client. Some of them set a goal of 10 books per day, others planned for five books per day, and the rest promised to share at least one book per day.

Judging by the enthusiasm I saw on the face of each LE and each leader, I think we need to hold this event every year. During the last 8 months we have held a congress in Moldavia, Ukraine, and now in the North Caucasian Union. My dream is to repeat this motivational and spiritually uplifting experience in each of our ESD Unions.

Pastor
Andrei Arfanidi
ESD Publishing Director




 

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