I was born in a little Belarussian town of Orsha. My family were non-believing Jews, so they never talked to me about faith.
When I served in the military, I met a believer who often talked to me about God. I was fascinated by the fact that he, a Gentile, knew the history of my Jewish people much better than me! I read a lot of booklets he gave me to read but I only viewed then as sources of information.
The same year I came home from the army, I went to a party and unexpectedly saw a New Testament on a bookshelf. I opened the book to read it when one of my friends said there were some Christians living in the same dormitory. I remembered how often Christians" offended me when I was young and decided to go and mock them now. We went out and knocked on the very next door. We were invited to come in.
I started the conversation by saying that Christians are so stupid that they could not come up with their own god, so they decided to borrow our Jewish God. I expected some reaction, but all I got was, "We love Jewish people and pray for them". It was something so new and unexpected that I accepted the invitation to come to their church on Sunday. After the service, I went to talk to the pastor, who told me, "Dima, you do not live like a real Jew now". His comment touched me, and I began to read the Bible seriously and talk to other believers. Six months later, I received Jesus as my personal Savior.
In 1998, I became a volunteer with the Jews for Jesus ministry, taking part in some of their evangelistic outreaches, and in 2000, I joined the staff of Jews for Jesus in Odessa, Ukraine.
I have wife Tatiana and two children: David and Esther.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|