As many as 20 million political and religious dissidents were sent to Magadan for processing and internment in the Gulag. As many as eight million perished in the camps. In a figurative sense, the soil of the city is stained red with their blood. Yet God is at work in Magadan calling people to faith. Ten years ago there were no churches in Magadan.
Today there are about a dozen.
Only four have buildings. Classes for St. James are conducted at the Revival Church. Olga is pastor of the church and administrator of the college. She is a former university professor of communist ideology. She abandoned her teaching career at the university upon confessing Christ as her Savior, and then started a church.