EDITION 3 – NEW TIMES

Dear brothers and sisters! For all of us – publishers, authors, and readers – the next edition of the New Times Almanac is intended to be a vivid testimony of God’s grace. Each issue of the almanac allows the authors whose works find their place on its pages to share their special gift with others, while the readers, on the other hand, are given the opportunity to get acquainted with new works by well-known authors or to discover the names of those whose works they were not familiar with before. It may well be valuable for some of the readers to discover that they have like-minded people on issues that they themselves have found difficult to articulate or express. We hope that some of you reading these lines will discover a certain creative talent in yourselves, which in time, with due attention, labour and patience, will be able to burst into such inspiration that it will bring satisfaction not only to you, but will also result in the lines of stories, poems and other works of interest to the general public. In preparing the editions of the New Times anthology, we have witnessed the joy of many authors who are elated to see their work in demand. We also expect that this publication will serve as a spur to action for those who, like the ancient prisoners of war of the children of Israel, who, when they were in the rivers of Babylon, hung their harps on willow trees and refused to sing the songs of Zion, saying, “How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?” (Psalm 4-136:1). In the gospel field, every labourer is both sower and reaper. In the Creator’s domain we often reap what other labourers have sown in their time, and what we sow by the grace of our Lord may be reaped by other workers whom the Lord of the harvest will send into His field as He sees fit. Let us obey the command of Jesus Christ, “Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:38). Peter Panasenko, coordinator of the “New Times” project Evhenyi Bakhmutskyi He was born in 1976 in the city of Berezovsky, Kemerovo region. He turned to the Lord in 1992. Since 1993, he has been actively involved in youth ministry. He graduated from Novosibirsk Bible Theological Seminary with a master’s degree. In 2003, he was elected as an assistant to the Chairman of the RS ECB (Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists) for youth ministry. In the same year, he was ordained for presbyter ministry. In 2009, together with a team, he founded the Russian Bible Church, where he serves as a pastor. Together with his wife Tanya, he is raising four wonderful children: Petya, Lena, Anechka, and Pasha. Now, most of his time is devoted to writing books and articles, conducting pastoral, youth, and family conferences and seminars, building ministries in the Russian Bible Church. Evgeny Bakhmutsky pays a lot of attention to communication with its leaders and ministers. He hosts a weekly program “Hour of Trends.”