Missionary Information

The Russian Federation is the world’s largest nation, with more than 76% of the area of the former USSR. Because of its size, the nation has every type of climate except for the distinctly tropical. Russia was a nation in economic and political turmoil, and it remained so throughout the decade of the 90s. As a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russia is politically linked with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Andrew D. Urshan, the father of the former general superintendent of the UPCI, evangelized in Russia in the early twentieth century. Plantings from his revival are still found. In 1990 Samuel Balca and Harold Kinney established the first official contact with a group of Oneness Pentecostals in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). This group is the direct result of Andrew Urshan’s ministry. Other groups have also been found. According to the 2006 Annual Field Report, the Russian UPC has 264 constituents, one licensed national minister, and seven churches and preaching points. Working with the other missionaries under appointment to the former Soviet Union, William Turner has helped to initiate an annual area-wide youth conference, ministers and wives training seminar, and the CIS and Baltic States Youth Corps, involving Russian-speaking young people in evangelistic outreach to their own formerly communist nations.

Bio: Scott and Niki Carpenter began their missions ministry as AIMers in June 2004. Their AIM assignments included the countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Republic of Georgia. During this time they helped to open the countries of Lithuania and Latvia and helped to establish means for other missionaries and AIMers to obtain resident permits in both countries. In their home district in the U.S., they served as youth pastor, as pastor's assistant, in children ministries, in music ministries, and in Sunday school ministries. They were appointed in 2009 as intermediate missionaries to Kazakhstan. Currently they are serving as the Information Technology committee chair for the Commonwealth of Independent States and are on the CIS evangelism team which focuses on outreach for fifteen nations.