CJF Ministries

Slava's Bio
I was born in a Christian family in a village about 40 km from Minsk. My parents accepted Jesus soon after the war of 1941-1945. Both of my parents fought in the war. They led me to the Lord since birth. Being the only believer in my school, I had to endure persecution and sufferings starting from grade one. This was in the time of communist ideology – 1960-1970s. Because I was not a member of children and youth organizations, I was expelled from the school, sometimes I was beaten, government officials used to come to our home to try to take away parental rights from my parents and take me to a boarding school.

By the time I turned 15 things got better, and after graduating from high school I came to Minsk. There I graduated from a building trade school and then the time came for me to be drafted into the Soviet Army. I said that I was not going to say the oath or take up arms. This was against the Word of God and my sincere desire to serve only the Lord, although it was a risky step to take. Many people were sentenced to 10 years in prison for refusing to say the oath. I was sent to Russia, close to St. Petersburg to work on a large building project there. There were many people like me from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Praise the Lord, He was good to me!

In 1981 I came back from the army. Two years later I met sister Galina. Through her living faith, instruction and prayer I made the decision to dedicate myself to the service to Him. The Lord gave me the inspiration to write poems and songs. A few years later I met and became friends with Nickolai. God miraculously awakened us and brought I close that we started to serve the Lord together. I was too busy to think about starting a family. My family was in the Lord.

In 1992 Nickolai, Galina and I started working among the Jewish people. At that time my parents, my sister and her family moved to the USA. It was a difficult time for me as my family did not understand me and did not accept my refusal to go with them. The Lord blesses, forgives and has mercy on us. Our ministry in many cities of Belarus is enlarging. In Svetlogorsk we have a ministry among over 100 Jewish families. Many are sincerely seeking the Lord and ask us not to leave them. Our goal is to point them to Someone Who can do a lot more than we think. Entrusting them and ourselves to the Lord, we will continue to work for Him and for His glory. Amen.