A Season of Growth

Pastor Denis Boris, Almaty, Kazakhstan

And just like that, the 2025 internship is done. I am a bit sad, because this year’s interns were incredible. They were thirsty to learn, coming every day with a great desire to learn more. During our last module, we dedicated much time to the book of Revelation, Systematic Theology and, Biblical Theology. At first, everybody was shocked by the choice of the book of Revelation for our study, but slowly the interns grew accustomed to and familiar with the book. Each intern preached twice from the book of Revelation and prepared worksheets for at least eight passages. The interns said that Christ has become so much clearer for them in the Bible. They realized that all the Bible is about Him.

Sanzhar said that he was surprised to see how much God accomplished in him though the internship in just six weeks. I believe that he truly learned what it means to stay on the line of Scripture. Gaisa shared that he had never preached and never heard anybody preach from the book of Revelation before. Now he is confident that it’s not a secret book but a book to be enjoyed and propagated. Nikolay said that the camaraderie among the interns was one of the greatest blessings for him. He is from Almaty and had to work before and after our sessions. So, he would always do his homework at nights. Rustam grew by leaps and bounds in his preaching and always shared good pastoral experiences with us. He knows his Bible well and always helped other interns see connections to the Old Testament. Mirfaiz saw that preaching from the Bible to the deaf didn’t mean telling stories but telling THE story. He said that now the people he ministers to will hear not just about David but about the greater David. Ahmad yet again proved that he is a gifted preacher, and we hope that God will use him mightily for His glory. Anuar often found some of the strongest connections to the Gospel and was the best student, which makes him the best candidate for starting his own internship in the near future. Sergey finally got his answer to why Almaty Bible Church does internships. He learned that it’s our way of doing missions. Sergey also learned much about the biblical model of the church. He plans to send two more guys from his church, because he needs help in his efforts to reform. I could tell more stories of how Sergey’s wife would read him the assigned books on his long trips to church, or how Sanzhar would always get to the bottom of things with his hundreds of questions, or how our assistants from church would be fascinated by the teaching on Systematic Theology and decide to start studying the systematics on their own.

In conclusion, I want to thank God for His abundant grace and goodness towards us in our internship program. Please pray that our interns will always magnify Christ, and that many of them will start internship programs in their own churches.