Eduard Ivanov

Nakhodka, The Far East, Russia

My name is Eduard Ivanov. I’m 47. I’m married. My wife’s name is Svetlana. We have two kids.

At present I’m a pastor of the Coram Deo Presbyterian Church in Novolitovsk in the Far East of Russia.

Before I came to Christ I lived in Nakhodka. After the high school I was enrolled into the Vladivostok Marine College. There I tried drugs. It was marijuana first, but then I switched to opium. Literally the next day after college graduation I got married – I was 20. Later on I understood that the family was a deterrent to my self-destruction. I worked on different boats for more than 10 years. I began as a sailor and became a captain.

Several months later I came to the church that my mother attended after my dad passed away. It was 1995. My mother prayed for me with all her heart. The pastor of that church is a missionary from the South Korea.

In autumn that year I entered the Presbyterian Seminary of Vladivostok. In 1998 I graduated that seminary and for a long time was the pastor assistant.

First my wife didn’t share my flaming desire to serve God. She thought it was just a passion that would pass away with the lapse of time. But it didn’t. I resigned myself, prayed and waited. (My wife had been standing me for a long time. Now it was my turn!) On Sundays we attended the church together. It lasted 5 years. Our children were getting older and learned to “maneuver” successfully between different views of their parents. As a result my son, when he was 14, tried heroin and in three years he died.

I left the ministry for 3 years and began my business in marine logistics. It was rather successful. New cars, travels, Italy, Vietnam. But no joy. I was exhausted, like in Jeremiah, “O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed” (20:7).

One day when I returned from my trip abroad I came to the church and the first thing I saw was the banner: “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” (Pr. 16:3). I cocked up my ears and began waiting for God’s word.

A little bit later Pastor Pak offered me to resume my ministry in the village not far from Nakhodka. I saw it as a “go-ahead” signal made by the yellow signal flag and …put the pedal to the metal! They won’t catch me up! It was in spring 2006. Pastor Pak proposed to build a small house on a piece of land that belonged to one local family, in whose house I preached on Sundays.

But that idea seemed to be strange and I decided to find a way to buy a house on a piece of land nearby. One day together with my wife we were driving when we saw the old lady at the bus stop – she was selling something. We stopped and asked her if it’s possible to buy a house nearby. “Yes, right here, behind the bus stop”, the lady answered.

In short, soon I found the seller and bought this building for four and a half thousand dollars. (By the way, they wanted to sell the same house to Pastor Pak for $15.000. No comments…)

Then we divided with Pak about how to build a house, what kind of foundation to use, what size etc. And at family council we decide to build it on our own means.

The foundation was laid on November 2, 2007. Pastor Pak was present and even blessed our work.

Prerequisites for the Reformed movement are the following:

We often hear from the Russian Orthodox Church that, if Catholics fell away from the true Gospel teaching, Protestants are even worse and cannot be considered as a church at all – they have no traditions, no roots, and no continuity of teaching. Protestants tend to liberalism and it went so far that even Presbyterian churches where Korean missionaries serve are infected with the Pentecostal heresy. Women are so ready preachers that they teach other pastors in seminaries. In every church people worship God the way they want. They glorify to distraction, roll up eyes, jump – all these made me look for a kind of worship that existed at all times and that is pleasant to God.

First I got interested in Lutheran liturgy form of worship. Then I joined the Reformed. I’ve tried to study in the Biblical Theological Seminary of St. Petersburg under Blake Purcell since 2010. I have endured two intensive courses so far. The last intensive in St. Petersburg was very hard but I survived and was very encouraged.

There are a little bit more than 1000 people in Novolitovsk. One school and one kindergarten. Two shops and a club. There are 12-18 people in our church. Two families come from other villages.

The relationships with the locals are like David’s in Ps. 120:6 – 7, “Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war”.

They think I’m of a foreign faith. There remains one thing: like Noah – to preach by your life and to build an Ark for your family salvation. My vision is to reach others through my ministry and work and I hope my ministry and work will be the evidence our fathers received: Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do” (Gen. 21:22); Joseph, “The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did” (Gen. 39: 2,3).

Local men are watching. They respect me but follow their wives. But I know that the ice will begin to break soon. Our credo is to walk before the Lord. This is the name of our church (Coram Deo). And very soon people will see the difference that God makes clear, “And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not” (Mal. 3:18).