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Russian pastor to share message at Immanuel Batavia this weekend

This weekend, Pastor Yaroslav Boychenko is preaching at Immanuel Lutheran Church and School, 950 Hart Road in Batavia. The community is invited to attend and hear his inspirational message during worship at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 22, and 8, 9:30 and 10:45 a.m. Sunday, July 23. He is a pastor of a church that belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia.

In addition, he will perform a classical piano concert featuring selected pieces by J.S. Bach as well as traditional Ukranian and Polish folk songs from 7 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25, at the church.

Yaroslav Boychenko (Slava) was born in 1969 in Ukraine. He grew up and studied in the city of Vinnitsa, Ukraine. After graduating from the College of Music in Vinnitsa and the Music Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, majoring in music history and musicology, he moved to Nizhny Novgorod, 280 miles east of Moscow.

Slava began wondering about God when he was a young musician. His curiosity was further piqued by the compositions of his favorite composer, J.S. Bach. He grew up in an atheist Soviet family where they would never talk about God, yet he always sensed that atheism did not provide answers to the questions about the meaning of life and why he was alive. He always felt the Creator's presence and something inconceivable, causing him to feel, in Slava's words, "Awe and joy. It was the phenomenon of music that first made me think about God. I was not baptized at that time."

In 1996, Slava went to the Nizhny Novgorod mission every day after work and learned about Jesus. After his baptism, he began ministering at the church through the library ministry, helping with the film ministry, playing the organ during services, and helping with janitorial work.

Later, Slava began attending multiday seminars in Moscow, led by prominent teachers and organized by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod as continuing education for pastors and church leaders. He continued participating in these seminars for more than 13 years, attending more than 52 of them. In 1999, he was allowed to teach in church when the pastors were away. By 2001, he was ordained as a deacon for the congregation in Nizhny. After completing his studies and testing out of most of the required classes in 2005, he was ordained as pastor of Nizhny Novgorod Evangelical Lutheran Congregation.

Pastor Boychenko's duties as deacon included delivering sermons, leading the services, sacraments, organizing and leading various seminars, organizing outreach events such as concerts, family camps, etc., and receiving foreign guests and delegations from the United States, France, Germany, Finland, England, and Holland. For the last several years, he has been organizing musical evenings as a form of outreach where he shares about the life and work of classical and jazz musicians.

Pastor Boychenko believes that being a Christian is following the right path in life. For him, this means to believe and to live according to the Gospel. He is convinced that his imperfections and sins have been redeemed by God, who forgives all.

"Evangelical life is a difficult path of daily choices between right and wrong and good and evil, following the Lord's commandments or breaking them, being faithful to God in everyday activities. It is not always easy," he says.

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