author
Part of the OM team in the Caucasus, Aslan* has a heart for disciple multiplication — for making disciples who make their own disciples. As a local pastor, he trains those in his fellowship, but he doesn’t stop there. In 2025, he and some of his disciples started a discipleship school, where they train others to share their faith, make disciples and start healthy house churches throughout the Greater Caucasus. Many of their disciples come from Muslim communities.
One of Aslan’s students was Samira*, a young doctor who recently came to faith. Before meeting Jesus, she was deeply involved in spiritualism. With an inquisitive mind, she had a passion for philosophy and all things mystical. She would start studying one thing, such as tarot, and then be drawn to another. When she decided to follow Jesus, though, she took all the occult items that she had been using and burnt them. She confessed that Jesus answered all her questions, and she no longer needed to consult spirits; everything else was empty.
At the discipleship school, Samira learnt how to be a witness for Jesus. But after one class, she went to Aslan and said, “This is too hard for me. I am afraid. I cannot share Jesus with other people. Maybe I need more time and will start doing this later.”
Concerned, Aslan wondered if his teaching was pushing the students to do something they were not ready to do, but he still encouraged her not to stop but to continue in her faith. He firmly believed that sharing the good news is not a task reserved for a specialised few — but for every Jesus follower.
The next day, when Samira came to class, she radiated joy. “Today I preached in front of nine of my colleagues, eight doctors and one professor,” she said. “Some of them even asked for my telephone number because they want me to give them a New Testament that they can read for themselves!” The following day, she shared with three ladies, and one of them decided to go to church with her.
Samira is interested in joining the Russian Orthodox church in her community. May she continue to grow in this space and bring the hope of Jesus to those who may never have heard it, both in her Muslim community and the Orthodox church.
Javed,* one of Aslan’s disciples, had been planning to spend the summer serving God and travelling around the Caucasus to share Jesus with those who had never heard of Him. But his father had other plans. He asked Javed to return to their village and clean up the yard for him. Rather than serving God, he would be spending all his time serving his father.
Javed did not know what to do, but then God told him: I will use you there. Don’t worry. So, he went home to his family.
The first evening there, he met with his cousins and told them about Jesus. Although Javed, his parents and his brother are followers of Jesus, most of his relatives and the people in the village are Muslims. Javed discovered that his cousins had already been invited to read the New Testament by Elvin*, a man from the village whom Javed had given a New Testament about a year earlier. Elvin had started reading the New Testament and decided to become a follower of Jesus. Javed was amazed to hear this.
Cleaning up his family’s property turned out to be a lot of hard work, cutting trees and moving old plants. Javed thought that if he worked hard, he might be able to finish the work in two weeks and gain time to serve the Lord elsewhere, but it actually took him a month.
So, he spent his time in the village like this: during the days Javed worked in the yard, fulfilling the demands of his father, and every other evening he met with his cousins and Elvin to study the Bible together. After the summer, Javed returned to the city where he lives, but he continues to meet online with his cousins and Elvin to study God’s Word.
Pray for Javed’s cousins to believe. Pray for Samira to grow in her faith and continue to share. May these disciple makers share their faith with boldness, so that many people may come out of darkness into the light!
*name changed
Share On Your Socials
New groups of Jesus followers are forming in the Caucasus region – sparked by social media Scripture advertisements and led by a growing group of national disciple makers.
Melanie spent years praying and preparing while she waited to move overseas. Having moved to the Caucasus region in 2023, she can see how everything happened in God's timing.
For years, Zara searched for God and longed for a Bible, but she lived in the Northern Caucasus and had no access. Then Jesus appeared to her in a dream, which changed everything.
Davud and Omer travelled to the Northern Caucasus, where God led them to two families who were willing to hear about Jesus.
In a region where culture and religion create barriers to the gospel, strategic media is reaching millions.
Gospel proclamation and discipleship are spreading across the Caucasus — thanks to national believers, such as Mehdi. In his region, he is forming groups of disciples and teaching his disciples to do the same.
In Central Asia, the OM team is reaching out to children and teenagers with the love of Christ.
"I came to Christ only thanks to God and thanks to those people who showed me God’s love," shared a new believer in the North Caucasus.
Bayar attended OM’s winter camp for teenagers in the Caucasus. At camp, he heard the gospel, and it touched his heart.
When young people from across Russia and the wider Caucasus gathered for a TeenStreet event, the lives of many were touched by God's presence.
When travel due to the new coronavirus comes to a halt, the short term outreach to Hungary goes online.
Nine years ago, Pippa (32) left her home in the UK and joined in with what God was doing among Buddhist communities in the Himalayas. Through challenges, doubts and crisis, prayer has been her unshakable foundation.
For teens Grace and Sophia, sharing Christ's love with those who don't know Him is what they are used to.
When the Esaus left their small Canadian town 52 years ago, they expected to be teaching at a Bible school. God however had other plans.
Four years ago, the Bullock family left the familiarity and security of life in the UK to serve God cross-culturally in Zambia. OM writer Ivy Chiu spoke to Dan and Ruth about why they took such a bold step, and what life is now like for their young family.
Aneli, a Mexican physiotherapist, gave up her comfortable home, job, and being close to family to use her professional skills to reach out to special needs people in Albania. Her plans seem to come to a halt with the coronavirus pandemic, however, until God opens the door for her to share His love in a beautiful, unplanned way.
Through trials and troubles, Alan and Vicki experienced God's love and peace, sharing it with others wherever they go.
When Patrick prayed for the Lord to lead him to one person whom he could further train and equip, Samuel was not the obvious choice.
“Life with God is an adventure, and do you trust Him enough to say 'Yes!' to that adventure?” When Jenna Montgomery heard a conference speaker say that, it was the final confirmation that she needed to step out. “God wanted me to use my professional skills to invest in something eternal,” she said in an interview with OM Journalist Nicky Andrews.
Igor undergoes transformation in his life before God can use him to serve the people he used to hate in the Cacausus region.
