Story number 5 for 6 Mar 2002

(Siberia)–And finally, drug addictions are a powerful ally for outreach in Russia. The Bridge International’s RK Ulrich says they’re working with seven drug rehabilitation centers along the Ural Mountains in Siberia. Ulrich says the centers were established by national Christians but, “They have asked for a little help, so we have put together, what we call an ‘animal package’. If they could get some help in getting a few cows, some chickens and some goats, they can then start producing food, sell some of the meat. Their centers can become completely self-sufficient so they need no funds from outside.” Ulrich says this project actually becomes a seed for evangelism. “About 25-percent of those students that are learning to become church planters, to go out and evangelize unreached areas, they come from those rehab centers. So we see that not only do they get healed, delivered from their addiction, they find a purpose and a destiny in Christ Jesus.”