Seventh-day Adventist members and leaders in Moscow are praying for the families of those killed in the hostage crisis that ended October 26. The Adventist Church headquarters, located in eastern Moscow a short distance from the theater where the hostages were held, is currently hosting its year-end meeting. The event, which brings together church administrators from across the Euro-Asia region and overseas, proceeded as scheduled throughout the crisis, but leaders interrupted their program on a number of occasions to pray for a peaceful resolution to the standoff.

Chechen rebels seized control of the theater on Wednesday evening, October 23. They held more than 700 people for three days before Russian special forces stormed the theater and ended the standoff early Saturday morning. One hundred and fifteen hostages died during the rescue.

October 28 was declared a national day of mourning in Russia, and Artur Stele, president of the Adventist Church in Euro-Asia, urged delegates at the year-end meetings to join the nation in remembering those who lost their lives. Delegates stood for a moment of silence and Stele led the group in prayer for the victims’ families and for the leaders of Russia.

The hostage situation also forced a quick change of plans for a four-day “revival series” led by Adventist evangelist Mark Finley. On October 23, some 2,000 people attended the opening night of the series at a Moscow sports venue. Just a few miles away, Chechen rebels took control of the theater around 9 p.m. the same evening, about the time people were leaving the Finley meeting.

Local authorities said they could not allow the Finley series to continue in the auditorium, saying it was too close to the ongoing hostage situation and that the auditorium was too difficult to secure.

“Our choice was to cancel the meetings altogether or change the location,” says Finley. “We opted to change the location because we felt we could be a real ministry to people at this time. I changed the topic of my sermon because of the hostage situation, and I talked about intercessory prayer and the value of God’s people praying.”

On Thursday and Friday nights, Finley ended the meetings with special prayer for the hostages, their captors, and negotiators.

Valery Ivanov, communication director for Adventists in Euro-Asia, says many people expressed gratitude that Finley continued his meetings during the crisis. He says several thousand people attended over the course of four days, including about 1,000 visitors who were not active Adventists.