He is currently a 4th year seminary student at Moscow Theological Seminary, but also the coordinator for his church's rehabilitation ministry center in Staraya Kupavna. Because the center believes that only God and His living Word can fully change a person, the rehab program is structured as a spiritual school where the Bible is taught and intensely studied up to 7 hours a day. Homework is assigned, verses are memorized, prayer meetings and seminars are held, and even exams are administered.
Through his training and coursework at MTS, Evgeny is being well-equipped in this critical role to manage all the center's demands of teaching, leading, and being a spiritual advisor to its residents. The ideal scenario is that residents can complete all 3 stages of the program: from hearing the Gospel, to repentance, then ministry.
But the center also holds an extra special place in Evgeny's heart because he, too, was once a resident needing repentance, renewal and rehabilitation. Over 10 years ago, Evgeny found just that.
"I turned to the center for help and there I heard the Gospel for the first time. It was at that moment that it became clear to me why my life was being destroyed... that my worldview was all wrong. After completing the program, I remained in the ministry to help people like myself - people in need of help, people who were rejected by the world."
Today Evgeny delights in helping bring others into new life and restoration. If a resident has repented and given their life to Christ, the center then teaches volunteerism and service an integral part of putting their newfound faith into action. This part of the program focuses on what Evgeny calls "the formation of virtuous character".
Here he is pictured leading new believers in building a small house church. This is just one way they learn to give back to their community. They have also helped in hospitals, schools, and visited war-torn areas to offer aid to Ukrainian refugees.
He says, "It is a wonderful process to watch how God can create with the hands of those who formerly could not do anything good, whose hands were only capable of destroying."
For those who have made it this far, the final stage of the program focuses on creating more ministry workers - whether they choose to take a job or continue in volunteering. Options include being sent on a short-term mission, opening new rehabilitation centers, or joining work in the local church. The goal is to fully integrate these new believers into the life of the church and community.
"He has sent me to provide
beauty for ashes,
the oil of gladness for grief,
the garment of praise for despair;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified"
—Isaiah 61:3
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