March 23, 2025
CUMMING, Ga. — One only must talk to pastor Andrew Ryzhkov for one minute to discover that he is excited about his Savior and the work God has called him to do. Ryzhkov is the pastor of Calvary Russian Baptist Church, a growing congregation of believers in the Alpharetta/Cumming area north of Atlanta. However, his ministry extends far beyond his local church and reaches into Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Andrew and his wife, Inna, are from Belarus, a nation in Eastern Europe with a population of 9.2 million people, most of whom are not professing Christians. However, Ryzhkov believes there is a spiritual movement taking place in the nation. Twenty years ago, there were only 250 evangelical churches in Belarus. Today there are 800.
“The number of evangelical Christians in Belarus has moved substantially in recent years from one/half percent to five percent,” declares Ryzhkov, “and I believe if we can get to ten percent, we will have the kind of momentum that will bring a revival of Christianity to the nation.”
The pastor from Belarus is also committed to reaching Russian-speaking Jews in Israel. Israel has a population of 9.76 million people, and Israel is home to a core Russian-Jewish population of 900,000 with an enlarged population of 1.544,000 non-Jewish members of Jewish households.
Ryzhkov typically takes one or two mission trips to Israel each year to minister primarily to the Russian-speaking citizens living there.
So, the fields are white unto harvest in both Belarus and Israel, and according to Pastor Ryzhkov God is mightily at work. He contends that Christians should go to where God is working.
Ryzhkov is taking an admonition out of Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King’s playbook Experiencing God, because in that classic work the idea that surfaces time and time again is “Watch to see where God is working and join Him.”
John 5:17, 19-20 is the scriptural basis for this concept. The truth is that God is always working, and we need to discern where and join Him.
Ryzhkov has embraced this biblical principle and is doing everything he can to seize the moment for God’s glory in both Belarus and Israel. He has chosen several pathways to reach the nations.
The Belarus legislature has identified adoption as a priority for the children of the nation, and Ryzhkov has started a ministry to place orphans in Christian homes. Already he has managed to arrange for 700 children to be adopted by Christian families so that they will be taught the Bible and grow up in a nurturing atmosphere of love and godly instruction. The intent is for these children to establish Christian homes of their own when they are adults.
Foster care is also a part of the Belarus pastor’s strategy to place children in Christian homes. Ryzhkov is winning favor with the Belarusian government because foster care is also a major focus of the nation’s policy to prioritize family-based placement for children without parental care.
Training pastors is also a vital part of the Belarus Mission project. Dr. Jake Roudkovski, professor of evangelism and pastoral leadership at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary challenged Ryzhkov in 2014 to start training the pastors in Belarus. To date, there have been 20 conferences for the pastors of the nation. More than 325 men have been trained in these conferences and some attendees have been called into the ministry.
Ryzhkov stated, “What is happening for the cause of Christ and the advancement of God’s Kingdom in Belarus is also having an impact in Ukraine, Poland, Albania, Uzbekistan, and Spain.”
Ryzhkov has been taking mission teams to Belarus since 2000 and has taken as many as seven of these missionary ventures in a year. Those who travel with him serve in all six regions of the nation including the capital of Minsk.
Conferences for students and Vacation Bible Schools for the children are a part of the ministry to Belarus. And so far, 400,000 Bibles have been distributed to the citizens of the nation. Ryzhkov explained, “When the people of Belarus get Bibles, they stop whatever they are doing or reading and begin to devour the Word of God.
“The governmental leaders are boldly saying, ‘We need evangelical Christians in our government and in our workplaces, because they have good work ethics, great family values, and are extremely helpful to our society.’”
Ryzhkov’s ministry distributes tens of thousands of Bibles and Christian books containing the message of Christ via a “graphic novel” format. The book is entitled Good and Evil, is easy to read, tells the stories of the Bible, and the describes the necessity of salvation through Jesus in a beautiful way. The book is printed in Russian, Arabic, Hebrew and English.
On a recent trip to Europe and the Middle East, it became obvious to Ryzhkov that God was supernaturally blessing his ministry. “After arriving in Warsaw," he explained, "we learned that Tel-Aviv had new visa restrictions that would prevent Inna from continuing our journey. I immediately sent over 900 messages asking people to pray for a move of God and supernatural intervention. God provided and the next day the airline issued new tickets, paid our luggage fees and allowed us to fly to Israel."
Other difficulties were overcome as well. "Upon our arrival in Tel Aviv the special bus we required was no longer available. We needed a large van to effectively transport 6,000 Bibles to Jews and Arabs in three languages. Once again God rescued us and provided another vehicle that was even better to negotiate the curvy roads of Israel.”
Andrew and Inna were welcomed in Jerusalem, Haifa, Netania, Ashdot, and Ashkelon to share the message of hope through Christ, and the Jewish people gratefully received the Christian books they received. The Ryzhkovs were especially delighted to be able to lead an outreach youth camp in Sderod, the site of the Oct. 7 assault carried out by Hamas terrorists.
If your church is interested in sending a mission team to an area that is ripe for the gospel, you may want to contact Pastor Andrew Ryzhkov at www.belarusmission.org.
