Meet the Ministry Team Natasha, 2nd from right, has been with the team since the beginning.
"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress"? James 1:27 Voronezh is blessed with a number of Christian families who are committed to living out the true meaning of 'true religion' in their community. The Reshetnikov family is such a family. Their children would have trouble remembering a holiday when their home was not filled beyond capacity with extra people, as the family often hosted kids from the local orphanage who had no place to go for the holidays. Through the years the Reshetnikovs have found many ways to support orphan ministry in Voronezh, opening their home, or giving from their own limited resources.  Max and Natasha began working together as co-leaders of the club ministry team.
The oldest Reshetnikov daughter, Natasha, began to minister as a volunteer in the "You Are Not Alone" Club upon its inception in 2004, and exhibited strong leadership skills from the beginning, not to mention an incredible heart of compassioin. At the beginning of 2007, Natasha joined East-West staff as the Program Coordinator for the club ministry. Max Olienichenko, raised in the orphanage in Voronezh, began attending club when it first opened in 2004, then later became part of the volunteer team. At the beginning of 2008, Max began to partner with Natasha as they coordinated club functions and lead the young team of volunteers ministering in the You Are Not Alone club.  July 19, 2008
Max, not only has insight into the needs of the orphans that none of us will ever have, but with it a passion for the scriptures that is surpassed only by his passion for the lost. In July of '08, Max joined East-West staff as Coordinator of the club ministry. Together, he and Natasha have formed a strong leadership team, and are inspiring leadership in the young team members that are following behind them. On July 19, 2008, Max and Natasha sealed their ministry partnership in a lifetime covenant of marriage. After a honeymoon trip to St. Petersburg, they returned to Voronezh and in August began preparing for the launch of the 5th year of the You Are Not Alone club ministry.  September Staff Retreat
In September of '08, we kicked off the 5th year of club ministry with a staff retreat at a conference center in the woods outside Voronezh. For three days the whole team came together to focus on our mutual passion and vision for this new year of ministry, and it became clear that this was a team that God had made. After going through some leadership changes in the middle of last year, God began to form a new leadership team. By the time of the retreat in September the team had grown to twelve. It seems that He picked that number of people for a new leadership team He formed some time ago, (couple thousand years ago in fact) and that group formed the beginnings of something really big! Only He knows what lies ahead for this group!
The ministry team now consists of the four of us staff members, Ann and I, Max and Natasha, along with 8 volunteers. We also formed a local Russian Advisory Board in the Spring of '08. It consists of our pastor, plus three other Voronezh pastors, as well as a couple of local businessmen, one of them Gennadiy Petrov who also heads up a registered local charitable organization. Please keep this new young ministry team and its leaders in your prayers.
This is a poster that Zhenya Minakov did for the team. It ties in the scripture verse that was the theme for the team as the year began from John 15. "Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." |
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