Nathan Isabekov
Nathan Isabekov (born Nurlan Isabekov, 1967) is an Iradi-American Evangelical pastor and televangelist, the founder of the Faithful and True Church in Talas and of the satellite channel Faithful and True TV. He is the best-known figure of Evangelical Christianity in Irad.[1]
Isabekov grew up in Talas and moved to Chicago in 1994, where he converted in an Iradi-American Evangelical fellowship and was ordained in 1998 (see Iradi Americans). He returned to Talas in 1999 and founded the Faithful and True Church, named after the rider of Revelation 19:11, who is "called Faithful and True". At its peak in 2008 the church reported about 12,000 members. His weekly program The Rider Is Coming, broadcast since 2002, has been carried since 2004 on his own satellite channel from studios in Talas and suburban Chicago, in Iradi and English, and is streamed online.[1]
Isabekov is known for revival meetings at the Irad State Hippodrome, which he opens by riding into the arena on a white horse, and for preaching the folk belief that Iradis descend from Cain, whose mark the White Rider lifted at Janyl's vision (see Cainite tradition in Irad). He divides his year between Talas and the Chicago suburbs with his American wife, Rebecca.[2]
References
- ^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2018). 'The Rider Is Coming: Satellite Gospel in Irad.' Vol. 10, pp. 44–67.
- ^ Talas Herald (16 August 2009). 'A white horse at the Hippodrome.' Talas.