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.