"I will teach you"
In becoming a Kazakh
church starter, Leonid* didn’t
take any shortcuts.
He couldn’t. He wasn’t
a Kazakh. He didn’t know
their language. And he firmly
believed that it was impossible for a Kazakh to receive Christ.
In due time, God taught Leonid a few things. A son of communist parents, Leonid learned about God’s saving power through a book, courtesy of his personal driver, a Baptist. Realizing that God needed him and not his money, Leonid quit his job as the director of a construction company and attended Bible school in Russia. Later, he moved to Seoul, South Korea, where he learned the English language and earned his master of divinity degree.
Despite his achievements, Leonid was turned down for membership by three Kazakh churches. Still, God’s direction was clear: “Go preach to Kazakh people.” Not knowing anyone to evangelize, Leonid’s response to God was that if He wanted Kazakhs, He would need to bring them. In short order, people overflowed the one-room apartment Leonid shared with his wife and two sons.
So began Leonid’s Kazakh church. The Holy Spirit’s movement was so fruitful, in fact, that people began to grow a little uneasy when Leonid was at the dinner table.
“Somebody said the rumor that if Leonid will pray for food, and you will eat, you will become Christian. They afraid to sit and eat with me,” he said with a laugh.
Convinced that Kazakh church starting should now belong to local men firmly rooted in the faith, Leonid focuses his efforts on the few Kazakhs who have kept the culture pure – those living in the western and southeastern parts of the country.
“… I strongly believe if people wake up in this area, Kazakhs, it will be like breakthrough for waking,” he said.
And it can be, as long as they are willing to be taught.
Pray that God will continue to grow His church through Leonid.
*Name changed for security reasons.
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