The Negev
 
Please keep praying for our Negev congregation.
Some time ago we wrote that our main helper in the Negev, the Russian pastor, did not get a visa for another year and had to leave Israel. We turned to the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA), asking for help in continuing the “Messiah’s Family”project and our partnership with the CMA Churches in Russia. We work with Russian-speaking Israelis, therefore we need Russian-speaking ministers. Together with the CMA leadership, we have developed a new plan. Instead of one family serving long term, there will be short term trips by individual ministers or couples. Each will come once or twice a year and stay in the field for a month or two. These helpers will be experienced ministers and pastors who will come prepared and will be able to start working full time right away, without their time competing with the demands of family life. It will be an advantage to the local congregation to learn from different leaders with different gifts and experience.

This plan has already been implemented. Some ministers have already arrived and left, and we have a list of people who want to come next! Our goal is to come up with a group of ministers who will regularly come to serve here, and we hope that some of them will eventually be able to stay for a long term ministry. Their goals are discipleship, raising local leadership, counseling, pastoral care, weekly Bible school class in Beersheva, etc.

Recently I have come to understand that while our Negev congregation lacks leaders, musicians and Sunday school teachers, it is blessed with prayer warriors! We have decided to develop the prayer ministry of our church ⑴ to support existing prayer groups, start new ones and connect them with each other for effective coordination and mutual encouragement.

We wrote you some time ago about our thought to organize a rehab center in Beersheva which, we believe, will lift up and strengthen the local believers and supply young people and potential leaders for the church. Right now the directors of  two large rehab centers in Russia are staying with us to get acquainted with our Tel Aviv outreach and to help us in planning a new rehab in Beersheva. We are thinking about this new center and praying for the location, as well as for the finances. Please pray with us.
 
Tel-Aviv Outreach
The “Aviv Center” is now open four days each week. One day is solely for women and three are for all drug addicts, with a Bible study in the evening. Max, a former addict and presently the director of “Aviv Center,” is out on the streets, looking for addicts in Tel Aviv, inviting them to our Bible studies and putting up advertisements in the area. There are several addicts who attend these studies on a regular basis already. We also see people (and even couples) in the studies who have different problems and addictions in life which are not necessarily drug related – like Anatoly and Marina. Please keep praying for this ministry.

We also ask you to keep praying for Rivka. We wrote about her some time ago. She and her husband are former drug addicts. Ricky is a native Israeli and a born again believer. I visit her and her family on a regular basis. Sadly, she is sick with a terminal form of cancer (already with metastases) and today she is in hospital and suffers from severe pains. (You can see her in the photo below.)

 Last time we wrote about Arcady and his story of salvation. Sadly, he passed away last month. I attended his funeral and then came to visit his wife at home. She is a believer, but does not attend a congregation yet. Their grandson was there too, and he asked me many questions about our faith and my personal testimony. It was a very good conversation. One of Arcady's daughters keeps reading Christian literature he gave her. I will keep in touch with this family. Please pray for them.

Family
Some time ago we wrote that Yossi was very uncomfortable in his new wheelchair. Praise the Lord, we were able to get a special “head holder” for him and he feels better now: half-lying in the chair and experiencing less pain. Please keep praying for Yossi. His muscles continue to weaken and shrink; he can hardly move his head from side to side now.
Thank you very much for your prayers and support! May God bless you abundantly,
Dov and Olga Bikas

AVIV CENTER - ministry for victims of addictions and sexual abuse
Dov Bikas, ministry leader: 9 Hartsit Str.• Yavne 81514• Israel
tel.: 972-8-933-02-18, 972-544-997336 • e-mail:  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please prayerfully consider supporting our ministry, helping us continue and expand our work among the outcasts in Israel.