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To the ends of Armenia

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  • To the ends of Armenia

    Raleigh Biblical Recorder, NC
    July 6 2004

    To the ends of Armenia
    By Tony W. Cartledge
    BR Editor

    AGARAK, Armenia - The journey from Yerevan to the southern Armenian
    town of Agarak involves a tortuous eight-hour drive that begins and
    ends with pleasant hills and valleys, but climbs over three tall
    mountains in between, one of them more than 10,000 feet in elevation.
    The roads are narrow, crooked and often filled with deep potholes
    that reduce speeds to a crawl and feast on a steady diet of broken
    shock absorbers.

    Just getting to Agarak is a major challenge. Other cities with larger
    populations would be much easier targets for church planting. So why
    make the considerable effort of planting a church near the very end
    of Armenia?

    The answer is apparent to Asatur Nahapetyan, who believes Armenian
    Baptists should follow the Great Commission wherever it leads. Agarak
    sits on the north bank of the Araks River at the southernmost point
    in Armenia: beyond the narrow river lies the country of Iran.

    Armenia and Iran have an open border that allows a steady stream of
    truck drivers and tourists to pass freely between the two countries.
    Visitors to Iran are not allowed to share their faith in Christ
    openly - but the same restrictions do not apply while Iranians are
    traveling in Armenia.

    Nahapetyan sees Agarak as a strategic outpost where Iranian visitors
    can experience the hospitality of Armenian Christians, learn of
    Christ, and perhaps take a copy of the New Testament back home with
    them.

    The Baptist church in Agarak sponsors a chess club where pastor
    Slavik Vartanyan, a former chess champion, offers lessons and holds
    tournaments as a means of acquainting others with the church.
    Individual believers share New Testaments in the Farsi language with
    truckers and tourists who stop to buy fuel or food.

    Multiple Iranians have come to trust Christ as a result of the
    outreach efforts, Nahapetyan said. He is hopeful that Iranian
    believers will take their newfound faith back home, sharing their
    experience with others and possibly establishing churches in their
    country.

    To receive his seminary training in Ashtarak, Vartanyan had to ride a
    public bus for eight hours or more, twice every week during the
    school years. The effort required was considerable, but he and other
    Armenian Baptists are willing to do what it takes to carry the gospel
    to the ends of Armenia - and beyond.

    http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/content/news/2004/7_6_2004/ne060704tothe.shtml
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