Regnedina Church

Pastor Vladimir (Vova) Nasedkin

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The City of Regnedina: Regnedina is a  small, almost village type town of about 5000 residents located on the northern areas of the Oblast of Bryansk, about a 1 ½ hour drive from the city of Bryansk. However, due to its location, it is the “county seat” city and the largest town in that district of the Bryansk oblast. All of the tiny villages and outposts for miles around come to Regnedina for their “big city” supplies, school for their kids, and basic livelihood.  It is set in one of the prettiest locations of Bryansk, a beautiful hillside area overlooking a valley below with long lush rolling hills within view. The countryside is dotted with great stands of birch trees and evergreen forests, beautiful small lakes stocked with fish, and in the spring and summer the roadsides come alive with wild lupines that are some of the biggest I’ve ever seen.  It is a community with a 500 year old history that supposedly involves a “banished” princes from somewhere else in Europe who sought refuge by settling here, thus founding the city of Regnedina.

But,  even with its very beautiful surroundings, this is a spiritually dark city and in great need hope of finding life in Jesus Christ. It is almost a ‘forgotten’ little town. The fall of the Soviet Union and the economic crisis of the 1990′s left a pretty big hole in the ground financially for people living here. There is work, sort of, here. There are families that live here and people raise children, but most of the work that involves any real advancement in the modern world is going to be closer to the city of Bryansk. Regnedina really gets left behind. The young people here are in the crisis of living with no real sense of hope, and this lack of hope leads to many very bad and unhealthy choices for their lives. For a small little pretty town, there are great drug and alcohol problems. Mostly, there are all the kinds of problems you find when you have a place where there has been no real hopeful alternatives for life. There is a great need for a church to develop a ministry that effectively bring the answers that are found in a relationship with Christ. There are only two Christian Churches in this

city of 5000, and the surrounding areas of many thousands more citizens. The local Orthodox Church, according to the priest himself, has less than 20 active worshipers, and now this little Baptist Church that now has about 20 as well.  That is 40 or so worshipers out of about 7000 people. That is a fraction of a percentage of the population. This is a prime location for God to begin to work. Our prayer is that this is a new day of ministry for a badly needed place in the world where God is ready to work. We would like to join him in that work.

Baptist Church building in Regnedina

Regnedina Church: I am not sure of how long ago this little Baptist Church was formed, but it has been many years ago now. A group of believers were gathered together out of the influence of another Baptist church in the city of Klintnea about an hour away. It began really as a house church during those years, and eventually they had the opportunity to have a small plot of land and begin the erection of a church building. A church from Texas during the 1990′s somehow heard about this small church and came to help begin building on this church facility as well, but never finished the project. The church during this time only had a handful of worshipers, and had virtually no money. There was also a pastor that had been appointed during these years as well. The Pastor eventually moved away, and there was a collision of bad circumstances that took place, and virtually no one was left in the

congregation.  There was a badly unfinished building and 2 or 3 souls left to fend for themselves.

The Klintnea Church pastor was eventually appointed for the Bryansk Baptist Union to be in charge of mission work and church planting for the region. He and others began to look again at what was taking place in Regnedina and began to pray about what to do. About this time there was 30+ year old true servant of God, Vladimir (Vova) Nasedkin, who was a member of the Baptist Church in a city about 2 hours away, Beli Beriga. Vova is a young man, who along with his wife, came to faith in Christ in a dramatic fashion several years before. Vova is about as pure of an evangelist as anyone I’ve ever known. In Beli Beriga for the last several years, he has reached out to person and person, brought loads of children to summer camp, hosted home Bible Study groups that has seen a dozen or more people come to faith in Christ, and literally on days off walks the streets of his city sharing Christ with people. Vova has for a very long time now felt led to pastor a church or be given the chance to lead the way evangelistically for a church. He

has been through theological and ministry training at the Bezchitsa Bible Institute, and has taken several Bible and evangelism courses offered in the Bryansk Region.  Vova is also about the most genuine Christian man I’ve ever known as well. He has a great heart for God. And his wife and children are absolutely on the same level spiritually. They are a great family with a great heart for God.  But for a very long time the regional leadership was very slow to give Vova a chance to pastor or lead, until this situation at Regnedina

came along. He was asked to take on this mission project, which he jumped at.  Again, Vova and his family live in Beli Beriga. He is a furniture designer by trade and for his work. He is not just bi-vocational… he is vocationally a furniture designer, and a pastor/evangelist for his life’s work. He makes the trip to Regnedina two to three times per week, because he cannot leave his job to support his family.

The first thing he did was to come in and meet all the town leadership. He got to know the mayor, the city council, the people who ran the local “culture club,” and school officials. He helped lead the woman who ran the culture club to faith in Christ within weeks.  Interestingly enough, about a week later she died of an accident. He also worked at developing a relationship with the local Orthodox Priest, who completely rejected him in the beginning, but now is a close friend and even a ‘prayer partner’ of sorts. The Church property there was completely run down and pathetic, and Vova grabbed a few people and began cleaning up the place that was such an embarrassment to him, to the city, and to God. For the Church family, he began by gathering whatever believers there were in the city and meeting them for a simple worship and Bible Study. There were three in the beginning, but he met with them.

Over the course of time people began to gather. Vova has usually taken whatever opportunity that came available to

meet new people a share Christ with them. I came to an evening visit one time in the middle of winter and in an impromptu way Vova asked permission for me and another young to give a “concert” of a few songs at the culture house. We performed to about 30 young people there. On another daytime visit in late spring, a group of us showed up in town with him for a visit, and he took us straight to the mayor’s office where we met with the him and a few city officials for about 30 minutes.  Vova boldly invited the mayor to consider sending all the kids from Regnedina  to the summer camp that was scheduled the next month. He convinced him that what the young people of the city needed was a clean and healthy environment, and an understanding of who God was. He was very clear about the fact that it was a Christian camp. The mayor was extremely interested and expressed a great desire to visit the camp for himself, as it might be a way to bring greater ‘health’ to the young people of his needy town.

By the end of the summer of 2008, there are about 20+ people, up from the original 3, now worshiping at the Regnedina Church. The Dyatkovo Church has taken this on as a mission opportunity as well, and have assisted with some construction projects much needed there, and helped with an evangelistic event during the summer of 2008. They also now support Vova out of their missions budget  with gasoline travel money for his commute to Regnedina.

Vova and even a couple of his church members, have now completed the first years study of our “Church Health Plan.”  Vova made great personal sacrifices to be part of this, and is seeking any possible advantage he can to help this church reach their community for Christ. There is a real unusual opportunity here I believe. Many of these little “village churches” are really just a small collection of older believers, who may be saintly and godly people, but are not going to do anything to penetrate their community with the gospel. There are most definitely some older grandmas in this church (which again, is in no way a bad thing), but with Vova leading the way, I believe this little church has a real chance to make a true impact in this city. My prayer is that this little church does something that has almost never happened in this part of the world, become prominent and influential in such a way as the spiritual climate of entire city is affected by the power of God.

The Great Need: There is a need for a partner here in this place. This partner will have to come in and do missions the old fashioned way, by helping them develop from the ground up as a church. They need a group of believers to take on the ministry in Regnedina for several years, praying for them, standing with them, going to camp with them, bringing music to town, bringing parenting classes to town and marriage seminars, bringing sports teams and even medical teams into this city, and all the while empowering and helping a little church grown into a healthy church, then grow into an impacting church, then growing into a transformational church in this city. This is the need, and this is the opportunity.

Who is out there that God would send to partner with the Regnedina Church and Pastor Vladimir Nasedkin?

A Prayer for Regnedina Church of Bryansk Oblast, Russia

Almighty God, we pray for the city of Regnedina. This is such a needy place in the world that most of the world doesn’t even realize exists. But you know, and you know the names and hearts of every soul in this place. We pray for them and implore you to raise up this young little church to be a powerful witness for you bringing the transformational power of a relationship with you into the lives of its citizens. May you bring renewal and revival to the people of this city, and we pray that literally thousands will come to know you in the days ahead. May you bless Pastor Vladimir, his wife and their young children. Keep them close to you and close to each other and they serve you faithfully. I pray that Vova and his family would not be discouraged, but be bold and powerful in their witness and work for you. Give them strength when they are weak, courage when they are defeated, and boldness when they feel insignificant.

There is such a great opportunity here, dear God, to see something take place in this city that hasn’t happened in this part of the world in a very long time….to see a village transformed by you; to see a town that is seemingly so humanly insignificant, but becomes a shining light to an entire region and beyond. We ask for nothing less than this.

I pray that you will bring a partner to this church with this vision in mind; a partner who has the spiritual insight to see what you are doing in a transformational way, and then wants to join you in this.  I pray for a bold partner who will stand up and do what you have called them to do.  May you bring out of a partnering relationship the same kind of zeal and passion for health, growth, and reaching out the lost on both sides of the ocean.

We come to you realizing that you are not restricted by nor partial to the national borders that separate governments and people. You have no preferences to languages, cultures or tribes. You know people not by whether they are rich or poor, dark or light, this language or that one… but whether they are lost or found. Help us as your people to connect with human souls and show them in a clear way how to come into a relationship with the God of the Universe in Jesus Christ. Help us as the members of your Church Body to strive for health, so that we may grow your kingdom’s work and see it multiply in a transformational way in the hearts and lives of the souls you love.

We give you all the honor and praise for all this.

In Jesus’ name we pray… Amen