First Slavic Baptist Church

One of the first to put a stone in the organization of the ministry was Brother Ivan Gidenko, who was one of the first to come to Salem from Sacramento in May 1991. It was he, through the translator Vladimir Chvorun, who received permission in the last days of July 1992 to gather in the small hall of the First American Baptist Church for prayer and analysis of the Word of God. The first prayer meeting was attended by the families of Ivan Gidenko, Vasily Orekhov, who now lives in Vancouver, as well as Alexander Mukhin. A little later, they were joined by the families of Vladimir Kuznetsov, Sergey Karnauh, Ivan Arkhipovich Mukhin and Georgy Ivanovich Arnautov.  

 On October 25, 1992, the prayer communion grew into a liturgical meeting, at which, in addition to prayer and singing, the Word of God was already heard. Then the families of Mikhail Arnautov, Viktor Krivoy and others were already present.

In the middle of November 1992, a large group of brothers and sisters from woodburn Church joined the group of believers, including the families of: Georgy Petrovich Arabadzhi, who had previously carried out presbytery ministry in Woodburn, Alexei Mitsuk, Nikolai Militan, Galina Golovchenko, Olga Bannikova, Olga Gabriychuk and others.

In early 1993, Yuri Mikhailovich Yermachenkov, who arrived, accepted the ministry of a responsible presbyter. He was assisted by Yakov Vasilyevich Gidenko, who moved from Socramento.

There was an atmosphere of unanimity, love and mutual understanding in the community.
By the beginning of June 1993, our community had already formed as a church and on June 13 the first membership meeting was held, which was attended by 48 members.

On September 4, 1993, the first baptism took place at which 10 souls entered into a covenant with the Lord. Here are their names:

1. Andrey Alekseenko
2. David Alekseenko
3. Lidia Alekseenko
4. Lilia Mitsuk
5. Natasha Mitsuk
6. Marina Mitsuk
7. Natasha Militan
8. Alena Ganchenko
9. Vasily Svedin
10. Natasha Mukhina

Thus, day after day, more and more souls were included in the work of God, having both gifts from the Lord and a desire to serve Him. So the work with children was undertaken by Lena Krivaya and Tanya Arnautova, Danik Arnautov, Vitalik Zima and Hans Fadeev took over the work with the youth. Victor Krivoy studied with the main choir.

The church was attended by many guests from Portland and Vancouver, as well as from other churches. At that time, we were already gathering in a large hall. The day when Yuri Bogachev and his wife visited us was especially memorable. There was singing, there was a sermon, and especially the testimony of my brother, which was so strong that in the end, when the call was made, most of those in the hall came out to repentance and experienced a renewal of their relationship with the Lord.
In the second half of 1996, as the number of church members grew from 48 to 220, the general assembly decided to register as a separate church from the Americans and which became known as the First Slavic Baptist Church of salem.

At the end of 1996, the church found a new rent provided by Keizer Community Church, which offered us a large hall for worship, classes for Sunday school, choirs and an orchestra, as well as a comfortable gym for young people and parking for cars.

The dawn of a new life was already lit up ahead on his land and in his house of worship, but there were still 10 years left before it.

1746 Davis Rd S Salem OR 97306 US