July 2024 Prayer Requests

Below, find the prayer concerns and requests from leaders of the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary and the congregations in Estonia.

Robert Tšerenkov
District Superintendent, EMK

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for the Estonian Methodist Church!

We thank God for the wonderful celebration of the 30^th Anniversary of the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary and the graduation service on June 15^th! It was truly a day to thank God for all He has done these years and look into the future with excitement and hope. Please continue to pray for the Seminary and especially for more students to apply for the fall semester.

We are so excited that the Board of Trustees elected a new rector for the seminary – Dr. Laur Lilleoja. He will start in September. Please pray for him as he prepares to enter a new chapter in his life.

Please pray for all our summer camps and summer activities. May all the fun events bring people closer to the Lord and help them grow spiritually.

Please pray that our clergy find time to rest this summer, charge their batteries, and get spiritually refreshed. Some of our pastors are going through difficulties right now, so please pray for special grace and help from the Lord.

Thank you for your prayers, and I hope you enjoy the wonderful summertime!

Robert Tserenkov

Taavi Hollman
Interim Rector BMTS

Prayer requests for the Seminary:

Gratefulness to God

• For the successful Board of Trustees meeting on June 14^th. And for DS Robert Tšerenkov, who was given great leadership to the Board after bishop Christian Alsted finished on July 1^st, 2023;
• For the blessed 30^th anniversary conference on June 15^th
• For Dr. Laur Lilleoja, whom the Board of Trustees presented as the new rector and whom the Annual Conference Board confirmed, Laur assumes new office on September 1^st, 2024;
• For the Development Committee and its chair, Jeanie Reimer, who has led the committee with dedication and zeal and led an additional campaign on June 15th to find additional support for the seminary, Estonians and those in Estonia gave 1,750 Euros on that day, and from the USA, we received $4,395 during the giving day; MAY LORD BLESS EACH DONOR ABUNTANTLY!!!
• For the successful thesis defense and graduation ceremony of 7 graduates graduating in June. Two of them graduated with cum laude;
• The feedback from the Estonian Quality Agency for Education (HAKA) (The leading competence center in Estonia in the field of external quality assessment of educational institutions) for our initial self-analyses document needs to be presented in August for HAKA.

Please pray:

• For teachers and staff, their vacation in July will be refreshing, and they will gain new strength for continuing in August;
• For the Accreditation process, we may get all the details done;
• For Dr. Laur Lilleoja that God will provide him with all the necessary wisdom, courage, and strength for the new position;
• For the need to get all financial needs covered in 2024 in the situation where some of the funds have disappeared due to the Estonia Church’s disaffiliation from the UMC last July;
• For my trip to Sweden in August to the World Methodist Conference in Gothenburg;

Taavi Hollman

Keynote Speaker Rev. Dr. Jody Ray

2024 Graduates

Vilja Ventsel
Tallinn Lay Person

Dear Praying friends!

I wish you a great summer!

Pray for our summer camps for children and youth. Pray that all young people will grow in faith. Pray for good relations and security.

Pray for our services , pray for wisdom and power for all speakers and musicians as well.

Pray for our pastors and their families.

Vilja Ventsel

Lemme Aulis
Pastor, Reeküla Church

Dear Friends,

• Greetings and blessings to you from our small congregation in Reeküla! This June has been a busy and blessed time for me and our congregation. On the 15th of June, I graduated with my master’s studies. I was honored with a special educational scholarship that was given out for remarkable study results and for doing a master’s paper on a topic that was practical and needed for the university and the smart city where the university is located. So I can continue my studies. I will take a course on adult education this year. Thank you for all your support! And praise God!

Graduation Ceremony

• We held with Reeküla Church another Worship service in 3 places via Zoom: I was in Tallinn, Marjana was in Reeküla Church, and Toomas set up Zoom in a pansionate in Saaremaa for elderly people. People were happy and grateful to be part of our service, hear the Word of God, and worship with us.
• Last Sunday, we took our congregation and drove from Saaremaa island to the mainland to a Baptist Church, and we held a Sunday Service there together. I had the privilege to preach and sing one of my songs; Marjana talked about our congregation, and other church members testified. We had a nice picnic afterward and a trip around Kohila for those who could stay there longer. It was a blessed day of meeting with old friends and making new ones. Soon, it will be time for Kohila Baptist Church to visit us.

• On the 21st of July, we will have our congregation’s anniversary and are preparing for that. We will have a concert service and village cafe afterward in our Churchyard. So please pray that everything will go smoothly, that people from nearby villages will come to celebrate with us, and that God can touch their lives.
• It was wonderful to meet and hang out with the team from Calvary UMC!
  

  Calvary UMC team (VIM) and Lemme at Balti Jaam

Have a blessed Summer, may God refresh you all, bless and strengthen you!

With much love

Lemme from Reeküla

Veronika Fjodorova
Children’s Lighthouse Director

Greetings from Children Center Lighthouse,

We are grateful to God for an amazing children’s summer camp and the wonderful Calvary UMC (Nashville) VIM team that organized and led it. May God give them strength and allow them to rest after a busy week!

Several children at the camp were young and very enthusiastic, and their behavior was challenging. Pray they might mature and be less of a distraction in future camps. Some teenagers decided they did not want to participate; we gave them the choice to go home early, and that is what they decided. Please pray they might feel loved and want to participate in future activities. The camp was still an unforgettable week for the children, who are already looking forward to the next summer.

We also ask for your prayers for the church’s children and teenage camps, as some children from the children’s center also will attend.

We ask for God’s protection for the children during the summer holiday and ask that our staff have a great summer vacation to gather strength for the next season.
May God bless you and have a wonderful summer

God bless you!

Veronika

Twice daily devotion time

Freeze Tag and Sprout Ball were popular games

GaGa Ball makes its return!