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In 1992, Alex Rikhlyuk immigrated to the United States from Ukraine. He arrived in the city of Chicago. After having lived in Chicago for one year, he moved to Sacramento, California. In 1994, Alex made a covenant with God through baptism and became a member of a local church in Sacramento. In this church, Alex and several other people organized a missionary group consisting of several people. They set out to Russia for missionary work. This was the beginning of Alex’ future ministry, and also it was a good school for the future pastor where he learned to love and serve people. November 1997 marked another important event in Alex’ life - his wedding day. The Lord blessed Alex with a wonderful wife, helper and friend, Natasha. After their wedding they left on a missionary trip to Russia, where they ministered together, as a family, for nine months. Upon the couple’s return from Russia, their eldest son Alex was born. At that moment, Alex and Natasha realized that they’re not called to just be laymen of the church they attend at the time because the Lord imparted a great desire within them to minister. At first they were thinking about going back to Russia and continuing that ministry as soon as their son was born. While they were gearing up for that, God has something changed in Alex’ heart and showed him that it was necessary to begin ministry right where he was planted. In 1999, we are left our church with blessings of the church elders and began to gather at a home, seeking God regarding the next step. For nine months we held house meetings during which time several key people joined our team to help build our new church, Ecclesia. On October 14, 2001, Ecclesia church officially celebrated its grand opening. It was a great festivity, at which the familiar words of Isaiah 61:4-1 were proclaimed as the foundation of this church. 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Our story continues and I believe that you'll be the one to write a new chapter in the history of Ecclesia church. |
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