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Admin, This past weekend, September 22-24th, “Melchizedek” Church celebrated their 12th anniversary. The celebration kicked off with a great surprise, a visit of the father of faith, Abraham. Of course, some viewers who personally knew the Patriarch, easily recognized him as the pastor, Sergey Rotar, and the priest who came out to greet him, Melchizedek, to be the senior pastor of the church, Victor Muzichuk. It was a significant meeting, with the passing of the bread and wine, and the offering of tithes. This is the specific bible story that prompted the choice of the name for the church 12 years ago. Pastor Victor, dressed in fine clothing of a high priest turned to the church and blessed all the people. That is how the festive celebration began and continued for three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each day carried something special, something that will never be forgotten. Friday evening continued with a great variety of greetings from a children’s dance group, the church worship team, and a special guest, Oleg Bogomaz, who was invited especially for this event, a person with higher musical education and the heart of a true worshiper. After that, Pastors Victor and Olga congratulated the church, thanked all the hard working volunteers, and released the Rhema word for next year – declaring this to be the year of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Victor shared how the Holy Spirit spoke to him directly, “Without Me, everything is pointless. All services and ministry, every word that I will give you is dead, if I don’t breathe life into it. I want you to devote this entire year to Me, and not seek anything else.” After a long prayer in God’s presence, the first night ended with a tea party. Our beautiful ladies surprised us with a huge cake, which consisted of many little cupcakes. It was built like a tower of Gideon, a true work of art! Saturday, our event took place in the park, located on the banks of the Sacramento River. The significance of this day was the water baptism, where 22 people publicly declared their faith in Jesus. Truly remarkable is the fact that this year’s baptism was held entirely in English, as most young men and women who accepted Christ in “Melchizedek” church and were baptized were from different nationalities. Many years ago, God spoke His word that this church will not be a regular, Slavic church like all the others, but an international church that will minister to people of various nationalities. Now we see how this word started becoming a reality. This would be a good time to mention, that the teen ministry, “The Function” held every Sunday at 7pm, for several years now has been conducted only in English, as a large percentage of those saved at Encounter are not from Slavic families. And for the first time in history, a communion service was held at the Function, where the newly baptized guys and gals partook in the Passover for the first time on Sunday night. As for Saturday, after the baptism, everyone stayed until the evening, enjoying a picnic and fellowship. Sunday service concluded the anniversary celebration. Cannot find the words to describe it… Awesome, anointed praise and worship, greetings from pastors of neighbor churches (Revival, Impact, Ecclesia and other), video and audio greetings from those who couldn’t attend – pastors from other states, Russia, and the G12 church in Colombia. At this service, the newly baptized and other church comers had an opportunity to become official members of the church. It was a great delight to hear the orchestra play in our church, led by Mr. Zhuravel and also the most talented violinist, Taras Umrysh. Once again, pastor Olga shared the Rhema word, revealing in greater detail of what the Holy Spirit desires from His church this year. All this, of course, added to the festive spirit and unprecedented grandeur. And yet, the most important in this celebration is our God, the Creator of this church, who was present at this birthday celebration. We’ve all seen it and felt it, and this is what makes us truly happy. We, as “Melchizedek” church would like to express our gratitude to the Lord for being with us throughout the last 12 years, for never leaving us, but teaching, loving, forgiving, understanding and always raising us up. Thank you to our pastors, Victor and Olga Muzichuk for remaining faithful, for being a great example, for serving us throughout the years. Thank you that your words truly correspond to your lifestyle and that “Melchizedek” church is a place where God is always in first place, where no one and nothing prevents the Holy Spirit to do what He wants. We invite everyone who wants to live a full, happy life to serve God in “Melchizedek” church every Sunday @11am, at 3855 N. Freeway Blvd #100 Sacramento, CA 95834. Photo Gallery of a celebration here.