28 Oct 2026, 11:49Lilla Skopek & Maksim GilmanHemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom
From Searching to Faith: Hemel Hempstead SDA Church Celebrates Baptism
Hemel Hempstead Seventh-day Adventist Church celebrated the baptism of Maksim Gilman on 3 October 2026, following his journey from spiritual searching to personal faith in Jesus Christ.
On Sabbath, 3 October 2026, the Hemel Hempstead Church rejoiced with all of Heaven as they witnessed the baptism of Maksim (Max) Gilman. Max and his wife, Oksana, and their family have been attending the Hemel Church regularly for several months, and the members and friends were delighted to welcome Max into the church family following his baptism. Before his baptism, officiated by church pastor Bernie Holford, Max shared his testimony.
Max was born in 1987 in the Soviet Union, in what is now Kazakhstan, into a non-believing family. Later, they moved to a small village near Moscow. When he was nine, he was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church. However, it was not a conscious decision of faith.
“I wanted to be like my friends who had already been baptised,” he explained, “thinking that I did not want to be worse than them by not being baptised.” However, for many years he tried to understand Christianity more deeply, but eventually he turned away and began searching for spiritual truth elsewhere. For the next twenty years, he explored many different spiritual paths, searching everywhere except in the living Christ. During this time, he studied and worked in medicine, eventually specialising in intensive care.
Having already gone through two broken marriages, he met Oksana, an Adventist, in 2020. “We married, and in 2021, I moved from Russia to Ukraine to be with her. Eight months later, the war began, and we had to leave. In May 2022, we arrived in the UK. It was not something we had planned, but looking back, I can see God's hand leading us,” Max said.
Two years later, Max was finally ready to meet Jesus personally. He began reading and studying the Bible with a new desire to know Him. He and Oksana attended Central London Adventist Church, where his faith and his love for God continued to grow. Later, when his stepchildren could join them from Ukraine, they moved to Hemel Hempstead and started attending the Adventist church there. Pastor Bernie was blessed in his interactions with Max and told the church, “Max knows his Bible. He is a great Bible student, and most importantly, he has given his heart to his Saviour, and desires to follow Him throughout his life and through eternity.”
“Looking back, I can see that through all my searching, and all the unexpected changes in my life, God was patiently leading me to Him,” says Max. “My baptism as a child was not a decision based on a personal faith,” he continued. “Today is different. Today, I consciously choose Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I want to follow Him, grow in His Word, and live according to His will. Through baptism, I want to publicly declare that my life belongs to Jesus, and I thank God for the journey that has brought me here. I place my life in His hand.”
We pray for Max and his family as they continue to follow their Saviour, “wheresoe’er my lot may be.”
Photo credit: Martin Lucas. From left to right: Elders Colin Watt, Andrew Wynn, Phyllis Patrick, Maksim Gilman and Pastor Bernie Holford.
Hemel Hempstead Seventh-day Adventist Church celebrated the baptism of Maksim Gilman on 3 October 2026, following his journey from spiritual searching to personal faith in Jesus Christ.
On Sabbath, 3 October 2026, the Hemel Hempstead Church rejoiced with all of Heaven as they witnessed the baptism of Maksim (Max) Gilman. Max and his wife, Oksana, and their family have been attending the Hemel Church regularly for several months, and the members and friends were delighted to welcome Max into the church family following his baptism. Before his baptism, officiated by church pastor Bernie Holford, Max shared his testimony.
Max was born in 1987 in the Soviet Union, in what is now Kazakhstan, into a non-believing family. Later, they moved to a small village near Moscow. When he was nine, he was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church. However, it was not a conscious decision of faith.
“I wanted to be like my friends who had already been baptised,” he explained, “thinking that I did not want to be worse than them by not being baptised.” However, for many years he tried to understand Christianity more deeply, but eventually he turned away and began searching for spiritual truth elsewhere. For the next twenty years, he explored many different spiritual paths, searching everywhere except in the living Christ. During this time, he studied and worked in medicine, eventually specialising in intensive care.
Having already gone through two broken marriages, he met Oksana, an Adventist, in 2020. “We married, and in 2021, I moved from Russia to Ukraine to be with her. Eight months later, the war began, and we had to leave. In May 2022, we arrived in the UK. It was not something we had planned, but looking back, I can see God's hand leading us,” Max said.
Two years later, Max was finally ready to meet Jesus personally. He began reading and studying the Bible with a new desire to know Him. He and Oksana attended Central London Adventist Church, where his faith and his love for God continued to grow. Later, when his stepchildren could join them from Ukraine, they moved to Hemel Hempstead and started attending the Adventist church there. Pastor Bernie was blessed in his interactions with Max and told the church, “Max knows his Bible. He is a great Bible student, and most importantly, he has given his heart to his Saviour, and desires to follow Him throughout his life and through eternity.”
“Looking back, I can see that through all my searching, and all the unexpected changes in my life, God was patiently leading me to Him,” says Max. “My baptism as a child was not a decision based on a personal faith,” he continued. “Today is different. Today, I consciously choose Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I want to follow Him, grow in His Word, and live according to His will. Through baptism, I want to publicly declare that my life belongs to Jesus, and I thank God for the journey that has brought me here. I place my life in His hand.”
We pray for Max and his family as they continue to follow their Saviour, “wheresoe’er my lot may be.”
Photo credit: Martin Lucas. From left to right: Elders Colin Watt, Andrew Wynn, Phyllis Patrick, Maksim Gilman and Pastor Bernie Holford.
