TYPICALLY GOD: A town comes back from the dead

Ussinsk, in the Komy region of the Northern Ural, Russia, is an amazing
town. Its oil wealth lasted only a short time, and the economy collapsed
completely a few years ago. "Three years ago, the mayor publicly proclaimed
'Those who can still leave should do so!' General poverty, unemployment,
crime, drugs, unfinished buildings and the growth of heathen cults were the
town's major characteristics," says pastor Schenjazarapenko.

A small group of Christians did not accept the town's silent collapse. "We
started to pray for three or four months, repenting for the sins of the
past (civil war, gulags, rebellions) and the present, including the Satanic
rituals in cemeteries and the so-called 'altars of death' where abortions
were performed. We walked around the town for months, performed every
conceivable symbolic act, including praying on Nawarna-Rodne, a mountain
nearby with statues of Lenin and the so-called 'Queen of Heaven' whose
birthday is celebrated on 21 September."

"Reconciliation services with Christians from Germany, Switzerland and
other nations in May 2001 literally brought a new spirit into the town.
Unfinished buildings were completed, houses repainted, drugs have almost
completely vanished, and the police and mafia are equally confused. The
wages have risen, children's playgrounds cleaned up, the birth rate is
again higher than the death rate, and crime has sunk by 60%. There is no
more unemployment - quite the opposite, people from the region travel to
work here. The average wage of 10,000 Roubles is the highest in Komy. 'Life
has returned to Ussinsk,' the people say, whether they know Jesus or not,"
says Schenjazarapenko, "and we know that Jesus came to our town and has
revived it."

Source: Friday Fax

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