McDonald's Russian Blog

News From Russia

2012-01-30T15:25:00.000+04:00

February 2012 Newsletter

Our Latest Newsletter

2012-01-15T18:37:00.001+04:00

Jan 2012

The Man With the Withered Hand - Preached in Achinsk Russia, October 2011

2011-11-19T07:18:00.001+04:00

New England Update

2011-11-10T07:34:00.001+04:00

We have been in New Hampshire for the last three days. We are enjoying spending time with family and friends. It has been ajoy to see eight of our nine grandchildren. Soon we will also see our ninth as all of our children and grandchildren with be with us to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The New England weather has been glorious since we arrived. The temperatures are in the low 40s at night and mid 60s during the day. Even so late in the season the fall foliage and colors are beautiful. New England is such a great part of the country.

Tomorrow we drive north to Breton Woods New Hampshire. We will be attending the Northeast District conference of Foursquare churches. We are looking forward to this time with co-workers in the Gospel. On Sunday we will be speaking at Harvest Christian Fellowship, in Berlin New Hampshire.

Time is moving quickly. In just three weeks we will be back in Russia among our many friends once again.

Our Latest Newsletter - November 2011

2011-11-05T10:18:00.001+04:00

November 2011 Newsletter

Siberian Ministry Trip Update and Summary

2011-11-02T16:40:00.000+04:00

We have been back in our home in Nizhny Novgorod for severaldays now. We had 1.5 days of rest. Tonightand tomorrow we teach in 4 different rehab centers. Next week we travel to the United States. We will be there three weeks, attending a conference and preaching in at least 3 churches.

We thought that we should give brief summary of our 15 daytrip to Siberia. We don’t do this to say “look at what we have done,” butrather to give glory to Christ and be accountable to those who support us.

We traveled 4350 miles by plane
1200 miles by car (Sometimes very fast)
We spoke 31 separate times – often for as much as 3 hours attime
We preached in 7 churches
We taught for 1 week in a missionary school
We taught two days in a Bible School
We preached in 11 rehab centers
At least 37 people publicly claimed Christ as their Savior
We prayed for and counseled dozens of people

We also received invitations to return to Siberia after the New Year to present two Marriage and Family Seminars, and to preach in many churches.

Thank you to everyone who prays for or financially supports us. We could not do this work without your partnership.

Morning Church Service, Achinsk Russia

Church of Praise

11 People repented and followed Christ that morning

Homeless Center, Achinsk Russia

Rehab Center, Nazarovo, Russia

First Snowfall

Prison Rehab Achinsk, Russia

Drug Rehab Center Achinsk, Russia

70 MPH down an icy highway.

When it was dry the driver would go as much as 95mph

Church program to feed the homeless

They also provide homes and rehab for those who choose to leave the street

Church Building - Bogotol, Russia

This church also operates a rehab center

Sunday Morning Church Service

Nazarovo, Russia

3 people claimed Christ as Savior that morning

The Man With the Withered Hand

2011-10-31T22:00:00.000+04:00

Preaching in Novosibirsk, Russia

Click on the link to play the video

We Are Foursquare

2011-10-27T10:17:00.000+04:00

This past Saturday, October 22, we completed seven days of ministry in the city of Novosibirsk. During those days we preached or taught 14 times, usually ministering 10-12 hours each day. We had the joy of teaching a group of 60 young men and women who are training to plant churches across Russia. We saw 15 people pray public prayers of repentance, and we prayed for healing for many people and counseled others. During the last session of Bible school men and women began to weep while listening to a message of forgiveness and healing from anger and bitterness. The Spirit of God has been powerfully in evidence during this time. We take no credit for this. It is the Spirit of God who is doing the work here.

After our last teaching session at the Novosibirsk Bible School we made a 6 hour trip by car to the city of Acino in the Tomsk region of Siberia. That evening we attended a gathering of Russian missionaries and leaders. We were also part of a small contingent of international missionaries in attendance, including one from Norway and one from Cameroon. On Sunday, Oct 23, Michael preached at the Acino Cornerstone church. This congregation was celebrating their tenth anniversary. The church is not large. There were about 60 people in attendance this day. When Michael called for those who would make a decision to publicly follow Christ ten people responded. It was a wonderful sight.

In the Acino church

This cow was right outside the church.

Later in the day we went to the local rehabilitation center to minister. Before the teaching we had a time of singing and worship and the Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way. There was a call to pray for anyone who might have aids, hepatitis, or cirrhosis. All sixteen of the men who were present came forward for prayer and we prayed for each one. The teaching time was powerful as well. The Gospel message was given and you could see that these men were beginning to grasp the simple power of the Gospel.

Prayer for the brothers for healing

From Acino we traveled 5 hours by car to the city of Kolpashovo. We ministered for 2.5 days in Kolpashovo, preaching at the church two times and at the local drug rehabilitation one time. We also visited several homes and prayed with the families. During our time in Kolpashovo we saw four people publicly repent and decide to follow Christ.

Karen speaking to leaders, and our co-worker Paulina

Praying for this family in their home

A small weekday evening gathering in the church in Kolpashovo

After leaving Kolpashovo we stopped in the small city of Krivosheino and spent several hours sharing a meal and fellowship with the small church there.

House church in Krivosheino

Last night we arrived in Tomsk, where we spent the night. In just a few hours we will leave by car for the 5 hour drive to Achinsk. We will spend the next four days in ministry in the Achinsk region. During that time we will speak in two churches and several rehab centers.

We covet your prayers as we travel and minister. Please pray that the Spirit of God ministers through us. Pray for safety as we travel the Russian roads. Also we ask that you pray for our finances. In January we will be losing one of our largest sources of funding. We will need to replace $450.00 in support per month. We trust God for this. We know that our time in Russia is not at its end. We believe that where God leads, He provides.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-10-21T16:02:00.002+04:00

We have been in the city of Novosibirsk for 1 week and it has been a very busy week indeed. Every day we have been teaching a group of 60 Russian missionaries. These precious brothers and sisters are members of 18 teams who will go to Russian cities and begin new churches in the spring.

We love these young people. They are true faith missionaries. They will go to their target cities, find part time work and at the same time begin evangelizing. One year from now there will be 16-18 new churches reaching Russia for the Gospel! We are privileged to be a small part of their training.

We also have been teaching in the rehabilitation centers in Novosibirsk. Several of them are actually far from the city and it takes two hours by car to reach them them. Yesterday we drove for one hour on a mud road, slipping and sliding our way to a rehabilitation center.

On Wednesday Karen taught at one of the centers while I was able to go to the banya with a bunch of guys. Karen received her reward later that night when we were taken to the Novosibirsk Theater and saw a beautiful ballet. It was really a wonderful experience. Tonight and tomorrow we teach for a total of 5 hours in a local Bible school. Afterwards we will be on the road again to the Tomsk Region. In Tomsk we will speak 6 or 8 times in 5 days. We will preach in at least three churches, two rehabs and at another gathering of Russian missionaries. From Tomsk we will go to the Achinsk region and once more we will be speaking in two churches, several rehab centers and perhaps a Bible school.

We covet your prayers.

Holy Spirit ministry in Siberia

2011-10-18T06:31:00.001+04:00

We are currently in the city of Novosibirsk, which is the largest city, and in many ways, the capitol city of the Siberian region of Russia. It is a city of more than 2 million people. There are few churches for such a large city, perhaps 25 in total. We are here to teach in the missionary school and preach in Cornerstone Church of Novosibirsk.

On Sunday October 16 we participated in the Sunday morning gathering where there were nearly 550 people present. The church has many young families with children. This is always delightful to see. In most Russian Protestant churches the children are brought to the front of the hall and prayed for before they are dismissed to the children’s meeting.

The church also has a really talented worship team. We enjoyed the time of song and praise very much.

Pastor Vasily Dotsenko led the service. Vasily is a former drug addict and criminal who came to Christ about 10 years ago. Today he is a powerful, but gentle leader.

His beautiful wife, Natalia, is the worship leader and is our friend and co-worker as she helps us with our translation needs.Michael had the privilege of preaching in the morning service.

It was an interesting time. The Holy Spirit moved in a quiet but powerful way. The message was very simple. The Scripture text was Luke 6:6-11. Michael asked that each of us put ourselves into this story. Each of us is like the man with the damaged hand in the story. Something in each of our lives is broken. Most of us live with shame, anger, bitterness and woundedness, however, just as Jesus met this man and made him whole, Jesus wants to meet us at our place of brokenness and He wants to restore our lives and make us whole.As the message began to draw to a close there was a real presence of the Holy Spirit in the hall. People began to weep as they realized that Jesus was truly there to bring wholeness into their lives.

In the Scripture passage Jesus ask the man to “Stand, come here, and stretch out your hand.” When the man did so Jesus made him whole. Michael asked everyone in the hall to do the same. Stand, raise their hands and ask Jesus to heal the broken places in their lives. It was a powerful moment. The Holy Spirit was present in a very real way. People were being touched and we believe that God did a healing work in many lives.Michael then called for those who had never publicly proclaimed Christ as Lord and Savior to come forward and do so. Nine people came publicly to repent and make a decision to simply follow Jesus. One young man was weeping openly as he gave himself over to the Lordship of Christ.

It was a wonderful, powerful, miraculous morning! Christ was glorified and people met the Risen Christ! The next day we heard many people testify to the fact that Christ touched their lives through this simple Gospel message.

Romans 1:16a For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…

Our Monthly Newsletter

2011-10-11T19:01:00.000+04:00

October 2011 Newsletter

Water Baptism Video

2011-10-05T11:00:00.002+04:00

A short video from the water baptism we took part in last weekend. Almost 50 people were baptized!

Baptisms, Bibles and Babushkas

2011-10-01T20:03:00.000+04:00

Baptisms

Today the three area Cornerstone Churches held a joint water baptism service. It was held outside the city in a sanatorium, or a "rest house". A sanatorium is certainly not a resort, but it is a place to go relax and get away from things for a while. This sanatorium has a large indoor pool so it was an ideal place to hold a large baptismal service. A large place was need because nearly 50 people were being baptized! Last week both Karen and I taught on the subject of water baptism in the churches. Because we both participated in the actual baptisms we have no pictures, but here are two photos of the teaching. Karen baptized many of the women, and I baptized guys from several rehab centers.

The Baptismal Candidates.

Almost everyone in this photo has been an addict, a criminal or homeless, or a combination of these. The Cornerstone Church Movement does a great job reaching, discipling and releasing these men and women. Many of them will either serve in a local church, minister in a rehab center or homeless shelter or join a team to plant new churches.

Pastor Dmitry Zaborski

Teaching on the meaning of water baptism.

Dmitry was part of a team which planted this church 6 years ago. He is now the senior pastor. 8 new churches have been planted from this congregation and at least 100 leaders have been trained and released into ministry. All of this and Dmitry is only 32 years old! We are honored that he calls us his friends and has asked us to work alongside him.

After the baptism we all shared a meal together. It was wonderful to see the men and women from the Homeless centers. Many of them have not been in a setting like this for many years. They lived on the streets, ate garbage, and lived under buildings and in holes in the ground. Today they sat at clean tables, enjoyed good food and were treated with real respect. For many of them this is an awesome experience!

Bibles

As we were leaving to go home we were walking to our car with a group of young leaders. We could see them discussing something among themselves and finally one asked, "Karen, could you guys help us get some Bibles for the rehab center, we really need them." We were happy to tell them that we had a box of about 40 Bibles in the car with us, and that they could have as many as they needed. They were really happy to hear this. The main church rehab center has a bunch of new people and consequently there was shortage of Bibles. They took 16 Bibles and thanked us over and over again. We would like to say "thank you" to our American supporters who helped us purchase these Bibles. In December we will make another purchase of Bibles thanks to a $400 donation from one of our supporting churches. There is a continual need to buy Bibles. We could easily distribute 100 or 200 every month.

The team with the Bibles

Babushkas

On the drive home we decided to stop at a small grocery store to buy ice cream bars. Seated on the steps of the store were 4 older ladies and a girl selling their garden produce and mushrooms that had been hand gathered in the forest. I hopped out of my car with the camera because this is such a classic Russian site. Michael strode over to them and proceeded to charm them by talking to them. Of course their objective was to sell something so as soon as he bent forward to pat one of the cats sitting in the center of the photo they announced that everything was for sale. They would even be willing to sell him the 2 stray cats if he wanted them!

A day of testing aka Character Development

2011-09-28T20:14:00.000+04:00

This past Sunday Michael and I went our separate ways to preach in two different churches. Michael stayed in Nizhny Novgorod to preach in Cornerstone Church and I went to Gorodetz to preach in that Cornerstone church. There was a conference in Moscow for Russian pastors and so we were asked to cover the churches while the pastors went to get refreshed.

We were both preaching on the subject of baptism because this coming Saturday both churches will come together for a baptism celebration in the olympic swimming pool of a resort. “Resort” is somewhat of a euphemism for this place, but it was the only English word I could think of to describe it. More about this will be coming in the next story.

It was a day of testing for me. I enjoy teaching, but I am not a preacher. My choice would be to turn down any invitation to preach, but I have told the Lord that if ever I am asked I will receive it as His request and do it in obedience. That said, and sounding so very spiritual, I have to say that it is intensely uncomfortable for me and my self doubting goes wild.

The resistance to my task began before I left home. Michael’s and my relationship, normally placid and peaceful, flared up into barking at each other. I don’t even remember what it was about. Then, when I went out to the car it would not start. The ignition was locked and the key would not turn. Jogging the steering wheel is always enough to unlock the key, but of course, not this time. It took 5 or 6 tries before it worked with each unsuccessful try causing my tension level to go up.

When driving to Gorodets there is only one, two lane bridge to cross the river and in regular traffic it can take up to an hour just to get across. On any given Sunday though, traffic is light around the city so I estimated the time it would take to get to church accordingly, including the bridge crossing. My plan was to arrive at church with my interpreter 15-20 minutes before the service started. As expected, traffic was light and I breezed across the city to the bridge only to find that the police had stopped all outgoing traffic across the bridge. YIKES! We sat without moving an inch. In fact when this happens everyone stops their engines and gets out of their cars for a smoke. After the longest ten minutes of my life I was just feeling the first pangs of nausea when I saw people getting back into their cars and starting them up again. Very slowly we crawled the final kilometer to the bridge and then across. The final trial on the drive came when we had to cross a double train track and had to wait in line for two trains before we could cross and continue on our way.

From that point on the road was clear, but we were still a little less than half way. We arrived at exactly 11:05 AM. Everyone was there and waiting for us.

reading from a selected scripture

"Baptizing" a piece of cloth

The old has past away, behold the new has come

The service was good despite my inner turmoil and those who will be baptized this coming Saturday seemed to listen intently. They liked my object lesson. When I ‘baptized’ a piece of white cotton cloth into grape juice they were able to visualize how our identity is changed, not by an outward action, but by Christ in us, indelibly changing our identity by His grace.

Another Wedding

2011-09-25T18:28:00.002+04:00

On Friday September 23 we attended the wedding of our friends Mikael and Tatiana.

Mikael is a new believer who came to Christ eight months ago when he entered the drug rehabilitation program. We have been watching him grow in his new found faith for all those months. He and his bride, Tatiana, had a long relationship together. Once Mikael came to Christ Tatiana followed, and began serving in the church. They decided to marry and legalize their relationship when Mikael graduated from the rehab course. We were honored when they asked us to take part in the wedding and the party afterwards.

Here are a few of the photos that we took that day.

The Bride, Tatiana

Guests Arriving for the Wedding

The Wedding Car

with traditional decorations

Mikael and Tatiana

Exchanging Rings

You May Now Kiss the Bride

Communion Together as a Couple

The New Couple with Family

Friends

At the rehab center waiting for the Wedding Party to arrive

Karen and our Co-worker Sveta

Here They Come!

Cutting the Ribbon In Order To Be Allowed To Enter

Part of Russian tradition is a fun game where the groom has to "purchase" his bride. This takes place before the wedding. Mikael did this, but after the ceremony we all went to the rehab center to allow the rehabilitants to join in some of the fun and, with a twist on the game, Tatiana had to "purchase" her husband from the center where he has been living. This was done by laying paper foot prints up the long, entrance staircase. Under each footprint (2 on each step) was printed a number or a letter. She got to choose one footprint from each step and if it had a number she had to pay that many rubles to the center. Her final debt was 100 rubles (about $3). There was a lot of laughter and fun.

Some of the Young Women Prepared a Skit and a Song

After the rehab center we all drove to a local river where many wedding parties go for photos.

We counted 8 different wedding parties while we were there and more kept coming as we drove away

Mikael and Tatiana on the footbridge

Some of the Guys with Pastor Oleg (Pastor O 3rd from the left)

After pictures at the river we went to a restaurant for the Wedding Banquet

Here is the Couple as They Enter

A Traditional greeting of bread and salt is presented by the parents as a symbol of health, prosperity and long life. Both bride and groom must take a bite of the bread and the one that takes the largest bite will be the head of the family!

Let's Eat!

A Typical Friday

2011-09-21T23:24:00.000+04:00

On most Fridays we travel outside of Nizhny Novgorod to teach at two rehab centers. Both centers are operated by Cornerstone Church in the small city of Gorodets. The work was begun 3 years ago when the drug rehab center was opened in the village of Mogiltsi. Later the church opened a home to help men and women transition from life on the streets. Both of the centers were begun when the church had less than 10 people, and no public worship service. It was only after more than two years of serving their community that the church began to hold public meetings.

Our morning actually started off with finding that overnight someone had tried to siphon our gas tank. The siphon hose was still in the tank and the gas cap was on the ground covered in dirt.

We think that whoever it was probably got interrupted by someone and fled from the scene before completing the siphoning. Fortunately we had enough fuel to drive to a gas station. Lesson learned, keep the gas cap locked!

Once we arrived in the Mogiltsi center we found that they had adopted a new dog. Here is Karen with Sarah. Sarah is a really sweet and well behaved Lab

After we teach we usually have a meal and tea

Karen and some of the young women in the rehab program

Sergei is a senior leader. He began the program just a year ago. Now he serves others as they go through the rehab process.

As we left the center it was raining. On the drive to Gorodets we saw this double rainbow!

At both centers we were able to distribute Bibles

Some of the brothers at the Social Center (for homeless people) taking notes while Karen teaches

Three of the brothers and the only sister currently in this center

Karen is signing and writing a blessing in one guys' Bible

Bibles

2011-09-14T23:28:00.002+04:00

Today, thanks to some generous friends in America, we purchased 116 Bibles. We will distribute theses Bibles in the various rehab centers where we teach.

When someone enters the rehab program they are given a Bible. There are always people entering and leaving the program. Some stay through completion, other might leave after only a day or two. When you leave, even if you do not complete the course, the Bible is yours to keep if you want it. The Bibles are well used by those in the program. The rehabilitants read them, study them underline them.

Currently there are over 60 people in the 7 rehabs that we visit and teach in. During the winter months this number will probably double. The need for Bibles is ongoing and large. The centers probably use 500 every year. At a minimum of $3.00 per Bible that can add up quickly.

If you are interested in helping purchase more Bible drop us an email and let us know.

Below are some photos of the brothers taking Bibles into the Social Center for Homeless people.

Tonight two people in this center received a new Bible and they the prayed a prayer of repentance after I taught from Word.

A Wedding

2011-09-14T16:33:00.000+04:00

Last Friday we attended the wedding of our friends Oleg and Irina. It was a lot of fun. We have known this couple for several years. It has been interesting watching their relationship grow and then their decision to marry. We pray that they will have many happy years as they follow Christ together.

The Happy Couple

After the Blessing at the Church

At the Church Office

Oleg & Irina

The Reception Hall

The Mothers

The Happy Couple

With the Bride

Girls

Ladies at the Wedding

Oleg Speaking

Guests Dancing

Lighting the Unity Candle

The First Dance

Greetings From Russia!

2011-09-13T20:17:00.000+04:00

A Funeral

2011-09-13T13:33:00.001+04:00

In Russia you know someone has died in your apartment building because the casket cover is displayed in the entrance of the apartment building. Often times there is a photo of the deceased on the cover.

The body is displayed in the apartment of the deceased, and family and friends visit there. A bus, or van is usually rented to carry the casket to the cemetery for the burial service. If the deceased was Orthodox there will be a service for the dead at a local church, before the burial.

We on occasion see funeral processions like the one pictured here. The body is removed from the apartment and carried to the vehicle which will transport it to the cemetery. Sometimes there will be a brass band playing a funeral dirge. In every case the casket is open during the procession. Often evergreen branches are strewn in front of the mourners as they carry the casket

September 2011 Newsletter

2011-09-09T11:03:00.001+04:00

September 2011 Newsletter

2011-08-01T13:54:00.001+04:00

Through this photo blog I will attempt to take you with us on one of our adventures in Siberia. On July 12 we were taken from Tomsk to a village rehab center near the city of Yurga. We drove for nearly 3 hours and came to the banks of the river Ob where we had to take a ferry. The bridge you see in the far background is a railway bridge. This ferry is the only way across the river for cars and people. When here in the winter of 2009 we drove across on the ice.

This is the ferry landing. We had to buy passage, but there was no obvious place to purchase it so our driver had to wait until someone else arrived. He then got directions, left us standing there and went to get the proper ticket.

This was a ferry idling before boarding. We had to wait for the approaching ferry to land and unload before we were allowed to board this one.

Approaching ferry

Letting down its ramp

A man jumps off with a shovel to smooth the ridge of dirt and stones that the ferry pushed up in front of the ramp when it landed in order for the vehicles to disembark

Now we can begin loading onto the idling ferry. As you can see the angle of the embankment and the boat ramp are somewhat acute.

This truck with its high undercarriage was able to board, but the next guy couldn't do it.

Rolling in cautiously

Mike helping

It quickly became obvious that cars wouldn't be able to board so the ferry raised the boarding ramp a bit, revved up its engine and simply pushed its way closer to shore where there was less angle.

Heading for the opposite shore

Almost there

Our driver didn't know how to get to the village rehab center and was told to "follow the direction that most of the cars go"

so that's what we did

and this was the road we took along the river

The road seemed to go on forever, but we kept that vehicle in front of us in our sites.

Here the road got a little bit better. It was drier and not so slippery.

That truck was 'makin' hay' and getting farther and farther away from us.

Suddenly we veered into a hairpin turn, up into a settlement.

O phew, there he is again.

At the top of the hill was a fork and we had lost site of the truck that was in front of us.

As we sat for a moment at the fork deciding which way to go this was a cute little house on our right.

We decided to go right,

soon came to another fork,

and then another one. The truck and other cars from the ferry have long since disappeared.

Mike is hanging his camera arm out the window snapping pictures

We decided to stop and ask directions. This is our driver trying to follow what the woman is describing to him. Taken through the windshield you can see the mud spatter.

This jeep belonged to the lady who tried to give us directions.

This looks old and funky, but was a much better vehicle for the roads we were on than the car we were riding in.

The lady said she was familiar with the center and we could get there going "this way," so off we went into the forest.

With the road growing smaller, and smaller,

and muckier and muckier.

When the car could no longer maintain traction we decided that continuing the way we were going would probably not be the wisest action, so...with no great ease, we turned around

and headed back to the ferry landing to try again. We had done what we had been told and followed the direction "that most of the cars were going." It was just our bad luck that that particular group wasn't going in our direction

We are now going in the correct direction

The road is a bit better

for a while anyway

We came to another fork in the road so we chose what looked to be the better way.

We cruised along, around the corner, and.....

Splash

a tunnel under the train tracks

up the hill

and back onto an open road. It was actually good enough to go about 50 mph.

After about 15 minutes and no signs of civilization we knew we were lost again and had to turn around.

Back we went to the fork in the road and took the one that we had earlier rejected.

This guy has the right idea for village transportation.

Oops! Another railroad tunnel.

Maybe this one will be the right one.

And it is! An hour and 20 minutes later after the ferry had landed, here is the rehab center at the end of the road.

2011-08-01T10:22:00.000+04:00

August 2011

Our July Newsletter

2011-07-02T21:29:00.000+04:00

July 2011

Our Newlstter for June

2011-06-03T10:08:00.002+04:00

June 2011

Our May Newsletter - News from Cuba Ministry

2011-05-15T14:18:00.000+04:00

May 2011

Lost and Alone.........

2011-03-28T14:08:00.003+04:00

In the seven years that we have lived in Nizhny Novgorod I (Karen) have become familiar with the different regions of the city and quite seasoned at getting around. Before we had a car I knew public transportation routes like I knew my middle name and could get to any point without problems. Some of my Russian friends were highly amused that I knew the city better than they did it seemed. That was before we owned a car.

Three and a half years ago we were able to buy a car and since that time another bridge was built across the river, an existing bridge was shut down for extensive repair, tram tracks were removed from streets and bus routes were changed.

I wanted to play my flute on the worship team for our big conference and to do that meant I had to get there by public transportation. Mike needed the car for teaching at 2 centers and that of course took priority. He would have dropped me off in the vicinity of where I needed to be, but the timing of our schedules didn’t mesh at all.

The rehearsal was clear across the city from where we lived. I went with Mike as far as I could and he dropped me off at a cafe where I had a cup of tea and read for a while. It was dark when I went out and at the bus stop where I stood waiting the buses were not stopping. They merely looked for passengers to flag them down as they rolled past. Because it was dark and because they were moving I couldn’t easily read their placards telling me where they would go. As bus after bus blew past I grew frustrated. Finally one slowed down enough that I was pretty sure I read the name of my destination so I flagged it. Buses in Russia often times don’t come to a complete stop. If you are the only person and you look able bodied they will roll through and you have to jump onto the moving bus when they open the door.

I found a seat, paid the fare when the lady came by to collect, and settled down with my nose to the window to see where we were going. At this point I was still pretty sure we were going where I needed to be. About halfway to destination I knew I was in trouble when the bus got in a Right Turn Only lane and I knew that I needed to be going left. From that point on the trip became an “adventure.” Mike and I have learned to call our traveling mishaps Adventures. It helps to relieve stress and to keep our thinking positive.

In a general sort of way I knew where I was. I was still in Nizhny Novgorod. In a relative sort of way I knew what area of the city I was in, but it was an area that I was not at all familiar with. I also knew that if I got off the bus, crossed the street and got on the same numbered bus going the opposite direction I would go back to where I came from. The problem with this was that we were on a one way street so there were no return buses. The other problem is that there were seemingly no stops at all on this endless route which had fewer and fewer buildings and fewer and fewer street lights. I began to wonder if I had accidentally gotten on an intercity bus and was headed to who knows where.

Finally after what seemed like eternity the bus stopped at an unlit bus stop in the middle of … WHERE? I was the only person left on the bus and the ticket lady told me bluntly to get off. We were at the end of the line. All I could see was forest. OK! Single, older woman. Lamentable language skills. Alone. Dark. Snow. About 10F. Unknown location. Alone. At a bus stop. Somewhere. Alone. At this point I began to feel a bit panicked. I can’t call anyone to come get me because I don’t know where I am. Sometimes at these remote bus stops the buses only come by once an hour. Anyone driving by in a car looking for mischief would see a woman by herself.

Of course prayer, and the presence of my Lord is solace in an impossible situation. Though fear persisted in trying to squeeze into my thoughts I didn’t allow it to rule. After six or eight minutes (six or eight hours? or was it six or eight years?) a bus came by and though I could clearly see that it wasn’t one I wanted to take, the fact that a bus came by cheered me up. Becoming chilled at this point I decided to just take the next one back into the city. I decided that I could figure out how to get home from where ever I ended up as long as it was in a populated and well lit place. Any place with people and lights would be better than this remote spot.

On the next bus I again sat with my nose pressed to the window searching for familiar landmarks. As we came back into city limits I kept asking the Lord to please help me to see Something, Anything, that I could recognize in order to determine where in the city I was. Finally things started looking familiar and the bus actually took me back to the route I needed to be on in order to get to practice. I was able to change to the correct bus and I even made it to practice that night. With all that had happened I was only an hour late, and practice was late starting so I didn’t miss much. Thank you Jesus!

Our Latest Newsletter

2011-03-07T14:36:00.000+03:00

March 2011 B Version

Sunday Service - Serving Means Many Things

2011-02-15T19:08:00.001+03:00

Sunday was an interesting day. Because Cornerstone church is currently meeting at 3:00 PM our day began late.

Last Wednesday Pastor Dmitry had asked Karen to preach this week on the topic of making Jesus the center of our families and she brought a wonderful message. She firmly represented the idea that a marriage is not a hierarchical structure, but rather a mutual relationship of servanthood and submission to one another with Christ as the center of the relationship. It was interesting watching as people listened intently with many taking notes and nodding in agreement.

Just as the service was starting, we noticed some old friends from another city enter the hall. The family, a mother with her son and daughter, is from Dzerzhinsk and to our knowledge had never been to the church in Nizhny Novgorod. The mom and daughter had actually given their lives to Christ 16 years ago under our ministry in Dzerzhinsk. At that time the son, Nikita, was only 4 years old. The last time that we saw Nikita was about 6 years ago when he was still in high school and now he is a young man 20 years of age.

After the service the daughter came up to greet us with her mom and brother not far behind. I noticed that Nikita had a large duffle bag with him which gave me a clue as to why they were here this day. We asked the mom, and as we suspected, Nikita had been using drugs and found himself addicted. This is such a common story in Russia. Young people are bored and searching for something more in life. Drugs are easy to come by and many young people use them. Nikita had grown up in church with a believing mother, but sadly, was now a drug addict.

While we chatted with the daughter, the mom spoke with the leaders of the Balakhna center. They told her to bring Nikita to the church office the next day, and they would drive him to the center and admit him. Tatiana was worried that Nikita might change his mind if he went back home so she asked if it was possible to go to the center that night. Pastor Oleg told her he would not be returning that evening, but that they could take a bus to the center and the leaders there would induct Nikita that night. This was not a realistic option since the bus trip would take about 2.5 hours and then mother and daughter would not be able to make it back to their own home because the buses would stop running for the night.

As Karen and I watched this unfold it was clear to us that we could and should drive them to the center. These people were like family to us so we canceled our evening plans.

Unfortunately our car was back at our apartment because we had come to church with friends, so while I stayed with our friend as she made arrangements for her son to enter the program, Karen left without me to go home and get the car ready. It had been snowing for about 10 hours and by now we had another 6” or 8” of snow which was blowing and drifting.

The family and I took public transport back to our home where Karen was ready and waiting. As we all loaded into the car the snow was falling furiously. The temperature was near zero and our Russian car fought to keep the windows from icing over. Through the heavily falling snow we drove for an hour and a half across the city and out into the darkness, past outlying villages to the small village of Mogiltsy where the rehab house is located.

We teach at this center every week so we know most of the people. We were greeted warmly and Nikita and his mom began the induction process. Meanwhile Karen and I had fun hanging out and conversing with several of the residents. It was cold at the center! Only about 60F inside. Everyone was wearing jackets and some had blankets around them. By this time it was almost 8:00PM and when the leaders asked if we would stay for the evening meal we gladly accepted as we had not eaten since lunchtime.

After supper Mom and sister said their good-byes and off we went into the swirling snow to take our friends back to their home in Dzerzhinsk. The road was icy and the wind was howling, but we arrived safely within an hour.

After saying good-bye to our dear friends we began our final drive of the night back to Nizhny Novgorod about 50 minutes away. The snow was still falling, blowing and drifting, and the road was icy, but we made it home with no problems, feeling satisfied that our day had been productive and helpful.

A Day In The Life

2011-02-05T22:45:00.000+03:00

On Friday we drove north of the city to the town of Balakhnah to teach at the Cornerstone rehab center, and then later we drove to the town of Gorodets to teach at the homeless shelter also operated by Cornerstone Church. Here are some photos and video of the day.

The view as we leave our driveway

On the road to our co-worker Sveta's apartment

People double park right in the road!

The side street where Sveta lives

We saw this Hummer2 Pick-up on the way!

The sign below the large yellow sign is an advertisement for Viagra - only 100rubles! (about $3)

Going towards the river from the center of the city.

Down the hill to the new bridge

And, over the river we go

A church on the lower side of the river

Traveling through the lower city

And finally, an hour after we leave our apartment, we are at the edge of the city.

Traffic was not bad this day

On the open road outside the city

1/2 hour later we see the driveway to the rehab center

The Banya/washroom and laundry drying outside

Worship with the rehabilitants

More worship - peoples' lives being changed

17 people at the center presently

They are asking the Lord to send them 50

On the road, heading to Zavolzhe and then Gorodets

Snow and freezing rain was falling

After stopping at the supermarket to buy fruit for our friends at the homeless center,

we are on the road driving across the dam on the Volga river and it is getting darker.

By the time we arrive in Gorodets it is dark and snowing

The snow covered dirt road to the homeless center.

In the spring it is a sea of mud.

This is the small kitchen inside the homeless center

for the current population of about 20 people.

The house has two small bedrooms, a large living room and this kitchen

Most of the homeless are sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

Some of the brothers and sisters at the center.

We hear some great stories of God's grace here.

What we see when we are driving

February Newsletter

2011-02-03T22:24:00.000+03:00

February 2011 Newsletter

Our January Newsletter

2011-01-17T21:56:00.001+03:00

January 2011

December 2010 Newsletter

2010-12-13T04:33:00.000+03:00

December 2010

2010-11-09T01:09:00.000+03:00

November 2010 Newsletter

South Platte Nebraska & Denver Colorado

2010-10-12T06:07:00.006+04:00

Karen and I are on an extended trip to the United States. We will be attending 3 district conferences of the Foursquare Church, visiting Foursquare Missions in Los Angeles and speaking in various churches. Of course we will also be spending time with our children and grandchildren.

As I write this we are in Lakewood CO, in the Denver area. Nine days ago we left Russia, flew to Boston, spending the night in Nashua NH, and the next morning flew to Denver. Our first few days in Denver were spent at the Gateway District Foursquare conference. It was a good time as we renewed friendships and met new friends.

On Saturday, October 9, we drove from Denver to North Platte, Nebraska where we stayed with our friends Dave and Jonie Holland. Dave is the pastor of the Lighthouse Foursquare Church in North Platte. He is a good friend whom we have known now for about 12 years.

On Sunday we had the privilege of sharing about our work and life in Russia at the church he pastors.

After a very brief but wonderful visit we returned to Lakewood CO. where our oldest daughter and her family live.

We have another day and a half to enjoy visiting with our daughter's family and on Wednesday we fly to Boston and drive to Nashua, NH to spend the night. Thursday morning we will drive to New Jersey with friends Jason and Mary Grace Debow. In NJ we will be attending the North East District conference of the Foursquare church.

We will be doing a lot of travel over the next 6 weeks and I hope to update this blog with our travel stories and some photos. Below are a few photos of the Rockies outside of Denver.

October Newsletter

2010-10-01T20:17:00.000+04:00

October 2010 Newsletter

September Newsletter

2010-09-03T13:43:00.002+04:00

September 2010 Newsletter

2010-08-02T18:03:00.000+04:00

August 2010 Newsletter

Family Camp

2010-07-22T09:57:00.014+04:00

On July 9 to 11 we were the featured speakers for “Light of Christ” church at their summer weekend family camp. This was a real honor for us. Several of our friends are members of the church and, last spring for the first time, Michael preached in this church. It was at that time the children’s ministry director asked us if we would be available to attend and speak at the camp.

On Friday we picked up our co-worker, Sveta Kuzmetzeva, and her two teenaged daughters and left Nizhny Novgorod at 2:00PM. The drive to camp was a pleasant trip of about two hours which included getting lost for a while as we drove down an endless dirt road.

Finally coming to a remote village we were able to stop and ask directions only to learn that we had passed our destination and needed to turn around.

The camp was held in what used to be a Soviet era pioneer camp. ‘Pioneers’ was a communist youth organization that most children belonged to during the years of the Soviet government. Today many of these camps have been abandoned and are very run down. Ours was a perfect example. The buildings were in poor repair with lots of rot and decay, but situated in a wonderful forest location. The church was able to rent the camp from a businessman who had purchased the place and doesn’t yet have money for renovations.

Soon after our arrival we went for a swim in the river, which is just a 5-minute walk from the camp. The temperature was in the high 90’s so the water was cool and refreshing.

After a great traditional Russian supper we gathered for our first session of teaching. Michael gave a brief message on The Foundations of a Christian Marriage. Afterward people commented that they enjoyed and were challenged by the message.

After tea and conversation we headed off to bed. Our room was a small counselor’s room with two very old beds, thin mattresses and sagging springs, but the biggest difficulty was the heat and the fact that we were sleeping in a very hot room with windows that had been nailed shut. It was sweltering!

We, of course, survived the night. Saturday after breakfast we had another teaching session. Karen taught on the theme How to Raise Children Who Will Follow Christ. Once again the teaching was well received. The pastor of the church commented that the teachings were both interesting and causing people to look at marriage in a new way.

Lunch followed, and then a time for swimming. Michael ended up spending the entire free time counseling someone so he missed the chance to swim. After lunch we had a separate time for men and women to gather and to ask questions concerning marriage issues, family life and Christian sexuality. Most of the adults attended. This was the first time we have done something like this, and overall we were pleased with the results.

There was more free time and once again Michael spent it counseling one of the men. He had to keep reminding himself, “You’re here to minister, not to swim.” That evening there was a time of praise and worship and some fun and games, then off to bed for another night in the “sweatbox.”

After breakfast on Sunday morning Michael taught the last session of the camp. The theme was “8 Keys to for Better Marriage”.

After the message we were honored with a gift of a beautiful teapot and teacups from the congregation, and a signed “blessing certificate” from everyone who attended.

Before our final lunch there was another free time, but once again it was spent in counseling. This time we both spent time with a younger couple that was going through some difficult times. They thanked us for the time; telling us that just being able to talk with us helped them see their problems from a different perspective. They also thanked us for the weekend’s teachings, saying that what they had learned would be helpful in their marriage.

Finally after lunch we packed up our stuff, loaded the car, and drove back to Nizhny Novgorod in the afternoon heat.

This camp was a lot of fun for us. We felt stretched, but were pleased to hear that everyone enjoyed the teaching and felt that it was helpful. We have been invited back again to their next camp, sometime after January in the cold and the snow.

Oh, one of the fun things that happened in camp was that many of the youngest children were convinced that Michael, with his long white beard and hair, was “Father Frost” the Russian version of Santa Claus. They were all chattering among themselves saying “see, there he is.” One cute little boy, about 5 years old was really confused and asked why was it that Father frost spoke English!

What is the foundation of our Christian faith?

2010-07-19T18:39:00.005+04:00

This aftenoon we took a walk to the local Christian bookstore. Some of our best friends are owners of the store, so we always enjoy visiting. There is usually an opportunity to share a cup of tea and some conversation. Of course it is also a chance to browse through the books. We rarely leave without purchasing several books that we can give to someone else.

Today we purchased 3 large print New Testaments for some of the older brothers and sisters at the homeless shelter, a small book about a woman’s testimony and a book titled Foundations of Christian Faith.

After our visit Karen and I caught a local bus to the stop nearest our apartment, got off and began to walk home. Walking down the busy street I noticed an old woman, a typical Russian grandmother. She was tiny and frail and had her white hair covered with a scarf.

As we came nearer I noticed that she asked a couple who were walking in front of us a question. They ignored her and kept walking. As we approached I could see that she also wanted to speak to us so I slowed down to let her speak. Her voice was soft, and her eyes somewhat desperate. At first I didn’t understand her so I asked her, “What is it you need?”

“Can you give me some money?” She asked with great stress and humiliation in her eyes.

“Of course I can,” I replied, quickly digging into my pocket. Out came a 500 ruble note, which is worth about $16.00. Expecting only a few cents she was shocked and began to cry. Grabbing my hand she kissed it. Karen was also near tears as she watched.

Many elderly Russians are forced to beg on the streets in order to supplement their incomes. The average Russian pension is about $150-$200 a month. This is not enough to live on in Russia. Many older citizens eat only bread and potatoes and barely survive. We were happy to share from our income to help this precious little grandmother. I wish we could have done more.

As we walked away I thought about the book that I was carrying, Foundations of Christian Faith. Too often our Christian faith is only about what we believe. Many discipleship courses are all about teaching information to new believers. I believe in teaching information. One of my favorite things to do is to stand in front of a class of new believers and impart to them some of the Scriptural basis for our faith. I have this great desire to help new believers really THINK about what it is to be a Christian.

At the same time I think the church often misses a great opportunity when we teach information, and rarely teach practical good works. Perhaps every church should have a course for new believers, teaching them to serve others, and offer practical opportunities for them to be involved in their local communities. We could open homeless shelters, feeding programs, elderly care, and teen mentoring programs or any of a hundred other ideas. This would be an excellent exercise in character formation and it would impact both those involved and those who are served. This would also show the world that Christianity, if put into practice, is a rational faith that can have a practical and useful impact upon the world.

Frankly, it sickens me to know that a small part of the Pentecostal/Charismatic church spends their time seeking for gold, diamonds and feathers as supposed signs of the Father’s love – (email me if you don’t understand what I am talking about here). Should we not, instead, be the hands and feet that show the world the Father’s love, demonstrating in a positive way how Christ has given us a new life and filled us with love for other people? Should this not be a large part of our foundations of the Christian faith? Shouldn’t the power of Pentecost flow through our acts of mercy and compassion?

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Resources for the Russian Church

2010-07-06T10:54:00.004+04:00

To give or not to give, that is always the question in missionary work. Karen and I purchase many books and Bibles to give away as resources to the Russian church. We have given many books to the local rehab centers. We often give away books to individuals. Last week we purchased and gave away several Christian children's books to two young women, mothers in rehab, who had become believers recently.

Because of the generous gifts from some of you we were able to give away 150 Bibles in May, and we are in the process of printing 1000 copies of The Cross and the Switchblade to give to a local prison ministry. Our friends at Agape books gave us a large supply of slightly damaged books and said we should feel free to distribute them to rehabs and homeless shelters. We love giving away books. At the same time we try to be careful to not create a dependency so that the Russian church doesn't trust God to meet it's own needs. A healthy church is an indigenous church.

Recently we found a place to purchase a good Russian translation of the English language study Bible which in America is called the "Life in the Spirit" Bible. The Russian version is called the "Full Life Bible with Commentary." This is an excellent study resource with wonderful study notes from some of the finest of Pentecostal scholarship (no that is not an oxymoron). We decided to stretch this month’s budget and purchased three of the Bibles, for a total cost of about $100. We have been wanting to put study Bibles into the hands of young leaders and pastors and this is our first attempt.

On Tuesday we took one of the Bibles to Balakhna/Gorodets with the desire to give it to Pastor Oleg if he wanted it. When I said to Oleg, "I have a study Bible for you, if it would be helpful," he replied, "Michael, it has been my dream to own a study Bible. Just this morning I said to the Lord, ‘I would like to have one of these.”’

You can imagine how pleased we were that God had used us to answer his prayer request and to see his dream of having a study Bible fulfilled.

You might ask, ‘Can't those Russians buy a Bible themselves? Are they really that poor?’ In this brother's case, he works hard helping to support a rehab center that houses ten people, about half of whom have been taken in for free, and a Center for homeless people which currently has four residents, none of whom pay tuition while they work at putting their lives back together. In addition to this Oleg is working to start a new church and help support his family at the same time. A study Bible which costs over $30 is a luxury just out of his financial range. But, it was not out of his faith range. He prayed and God put it on our hearts. He received what he prayed for. We are happy to have been a small part in answering his prayer and blessing this brother as he serves the Lord faithfully.

The other two Bible's which we purchased will be given to two young leaders who work for the rehabilitation program in a different center. They have a monthly salary of about $200 and live in a communal house were they don't even have their own bed. These guys are deserving of the help.

If anyone would like to contribute $30 to purchase a study Bible for a Russian pastor please send us an email, or contact us on Facebook.

July Newsletter

2010-07-02T14:01:00.006+04:00

Here is our latest newsletter

July 2010 Newsletter -1

Jesus Made Me Whole Again!

2010-06-27T01:10:00.010+04:00

Elena Sokolova is one of our friends. We first met her at church soon after she came to the Social Center for Homeless People, which is operated by Cornerstone Church. It has been wonderful to see the changes that faith in Christ have made in her life. Here is her story

I am Elena Sokolova. I was born in Leningrad (St Petersburg) in 1963 on 10 October. My stepfather was a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. I was the only child of my mother. In 2004 I got in a car accident and lost both of my legs at the knee.

In St. Petersburg I was kidnapped by Moldovan gypsies, and I became their slave. They brought me to Nizhny Novgorod, and I sat in the crowded places and begged. All the money was turned over to them. This lasted one and a half years.

13 September 2008 some young people came up to me and began to say that there is another life with Jesus who is the Lord of salvation. After talking with them I agreed to go to a social rehabilitation center called "Helping Hand.”

At the center I met other people who had been living on the street who had now found a new home and a new life. I found people whom I could trust and who genuinely cared about me. My heart began to open and I was learning many new things about God, the Bible and what it means to be a Christian. One day at church I publicly repented of my sins and asked God to give me a new life. Over the next weeks and months I began to grow in my faith.

In 2009, with the help of people from Cornerstone Church, God restored to me all the documents which I need for identification that had been stolen by the gypsies. Without these documents I am a ‘non person’ in my country. This was a great miracle of God because this is an impossible task. In 2010 I received my new legs and got up from my knees to my feet for the first time in years. I now walk on my feet that God gave to me and I praise Him with my whole life. From the broken fragments he made a new creation. Now I live with the Lord and serve him with my life, a gift which He gave back to me.

I live and I enjoy life and faith. The fact is that when people can not - God can. I lost everything in life, my mother, two sons, and I thought that I was of no use to anybody and I did not want to live. When Jesus came into my life everything changed! I was born again!

God saves and forgives all those who need it! Without God we lose everything, and with Him we find it. Jesus gives us faith, hope and love. Love in the Bible comes first. Read God's Word and seek your salvation like I have found. Glory, honor and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Homeless people and the image of God

2010-06-25T18:43:00.010+04:00

A Homeless Woman - Sochi, Russia

Recently while watching the local news I saw a story about three homeless men. Two were dead; lying near the sidewalk while the third was talking to the news reporter. Seeing homeless people who have died here in Russia is not unusual. Stories like this are on the local news at least once a month. I still remember walking to the train station one day and seeing the body of an obviously homeless person lying on the sidewalk as people, going about their normal business, walked by. Today, while walking home I saw a homeless man eating from a pile of rotting fruit behind a fruit and vegetable stand.

A Homeless Drug Addict - Nizhny Novgorod

The roots of homelessness are not easily understood. The hard-core homeless person often prefers the street to living in a shelter. Some are self deceived into believing that they are free from the bondages of society. Homeless people are an inconvenience to any society. They are an embarrassment that no one wants to deal with, and they are often treated as trash. Society wants to sweep them away and clean up the streets. They are labeled as lazy, worthless, criminals and troublemakers.

Homeless men, Moscow - from "PravdaOnline"

Homeless people are often addicted, many to alcohol, others to drugs or a combination of the two. Many of the hard core homeless suffer from mental illness. On the streets of any major city in America you can see those who are obviously mentally ill and living on the streets. The same is true in Russia. Here extreme poverty, broken families and lack of education are the hallmarks of many of the homeless.

The homeless individual, that “bum” on the street, is a valuable human being. He or she is valuable to God and he or she is valuable to each of us. When we recognize the broken yet very real image of God in such a person, we recognize that the image of God that we carry is also broken and in need of redemption. The image of God in the homeless may be more broken than the image of God that you carry, but the truth is that the image of God is marred in all of us. As we serve those who need help to restore their place in society, we also work at restoring ourselves. The poor, the broken the crushed are not to be objects of our pity and charity, they are to be the objects of our love. In loving the poor, the broken, the outcast we love Christ.

Mikhail a graduate from the Social Center for Homeless Rehabilitation with Pastor Artyom

As Christians it is our responsibility to see those who are less fortunate than we as fellow human beings, created in the image of God. Those who say that they believe in Christ must see the image of God in every human being, and be ready to help each human being see in themselves the same image of God.

Jesus said that if we are the “righteous” it will be evident in how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger and the prisoner. Salvation is the free gift of God received through faith, yet that faith must be evidenced by the way we treat “the least of these”.

One of the Ladies on her graduation day

When I see another dead homeless human being lying in the street, when I see the broken body of a drug addict who leaped to his death out of despair, when I see the dead broken body of an elderly person who has killed themselves from depression and the burdens of poverty and failing health I grieve. I grieve for what could have been. I grieve for the destroyed life. I grieve for the church which missed the opportunity to bring salvation and restoration, often because we are too busy doing “spiritual” things.

At the same time I daily see the joy that helping the homeless brings. I see the joy on Vera’s face as she worships God with reckless abandon, after being saved from the streets. I see it written in the crags and wrinkles of Vasya’s face as he introduces us as his friend’s to those who are new at the homeless shelter. I see it in Lyuba’s face as she gives to Karen a pair of used jeans as a “blessing” for being her friend and mentor.

Vera - formerly homeless, now serves others

We have dozens of formerly homeless, friends. These friends are men and women who are learning that they are made in the image of God and that they are valuable human beings, not trash to be swept from the street. We deeply value their friendship.

We serve here, both in joy and in grief. We long to see the day when the Kingdom of God will come in fullness of power to finally bring the restoration and redemption that every human being needs.

With some of the brothers at the Center for Social Rehabilitation

Giving and Indigenization - Somewhat Random Thoughts

2010-06-14T16:26:00.010+04:00

Russian Countryside

Almost every week we visit the drug rehabilitation center located outside of the city of Balakhna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balakhna . The center is an outreach ministry of the new church plant in the tri-city area of Balahkna, Gorodets & Zavolzhe. There are typically about 12 people living at the center in various stages of rehab. I usually teach here every Tuesday and then Karen, Sveta and I go to Gorodets where Karen teaches in a house group.

View from the Center

At the center on area of spiritual discipline which is taught is fasting. Every week there is at least one fast day and often there are extended periods of fasting. We have noticed that at times the fasting is done because there simply isn’t always food available. Cornerstone churches operate their rehab centers by faith. There is some income coming in from those who can afford to pay a fee for the rehabilitation course, but others attend for free. There is also income from part-time work which some of the centers find. In addition to this most of the centers have gardens to raise food. However this still at times doesn’t fill all the needs, so people fast.

Karen and I are committed the principle of an indigenous church, one which is self-supporting, self-reproducing and self-led. With that in mind we try to not upset the balance of things by providing things that the churches can provide for themselves. At the same time we at times have resources which we can share which are helpful but do not detract from the indigenous nature of the Cornerstone movement.

We of course teach and preach, but we try to avoid positioning ourselves as the needed “experts”. We occasionally give financial gifts towards projects, if we have the available money. With the help of those who support us we have been able to purchase hundreds of Bibles and books, and we are currently in the process of printing 1000 copies of “The Cross and the Switchblade” for prison outreach.

With all of that said, last week we saw a need and decided we should do something. We purchased several large bags of basic foods and delivered them to the center in order to help them out a bit. We will probably be doing this once a month for the next few months just to get them through some lean times.

The Scriptures teach that if we see a brother or sister in need and we don’t do something to help with that need then we have sinned. There is still a delicate balance between helping with a need and creating an unhealthy dependence upon outside funding. May we all find that balance.

Discipleship and Mentoring in a Russian Context

2010-06-13T20:17:00.018+04:00

Preparing for a cookout - Russian Style

Karen and I came to Russia with the plan to church plant. Our desire was to plant a church that would reproduce itself and hopefully spark a church planting movement. We were surprised when the Lord changed our focus from ‘our plans’ and brought us alongside an existing indigenous church planting movement. Within the context of that movement our primary ministry is discipling young believers.

Discipling young believers has both a formal and informal component. The formal typically comes though times of teaching, observing ministry and helping hone ministry skills, one on one mentoring and giving books and other study tools to developing leaders.

Informal mentoring and discipleship is more of a natural process of sharing lives together. In Russia this means drinking lots of tea, going to the banya and other relational activities. Shared meals, and ministry trips together are also ways to mentor/disciple young believers. Often in these settings we are asked just to share from our years as living as a Christian couple. During these times we seldom see immediate evidence of our ministry, but often we later hear comments about things we said which touched people’s lives challenging or encouraging them in their walk as believers.

Last week we had our regular schedule of formal discipleship times, teaching at 3 rehabilitation centers and one house group. During the week Karen asked some of the leaders in Balakhna/Gorodets if we could plan a cook-out / banya day. Everyone thought it was a great idea, so went to work to make it happen. We bought meat, prepared some salads, brought along some pickles, jams and relishes that we made last fall.

Pastor Oleg cooking shashlik

Just enjoying our friendship

The cookout took place at the recently opened Gorodetski Social Center. This is a typical Russian village home which the church has rented as a shelter/rehab for homeless people. As is common with most village houses there is a garden behind the house and a banya. When we arrived the brothers were starting a campfire for the cookout, and the wood stove in the banya was heated and waiting.

Pastor Oleg after the Banya

Karen made pasta salad, and American style cole slaw. These are always a hit with our Russian friends. Most Russians who have not tasted these look at them with a “what is this” look, but after a taste they quickly load their plates. There was enough shashlik (Russian Shish kabobs) so everyone could stuff themselves.

We enjoyed the day sharing our food and our lives. After the meal, over a cup of tea and cookies we discussed the possibility of organizing a children’s neighborhood evangelistic outreach. The weather was wonderful, warm and sunny. After dinner we all gathered in the house for a couple of hours of music and worship together.

Anya and Ira

Natasha playing with the resident kitten

Our Latest Newsletter

2010-05-31T21:41:00.002+04:00

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The Story of Russia

2010-05-31T13:34:00.003+04:00

Photo from the siege of Leningrad

Today the woman who owns our apartment came by to collect the rent. She is a friend and a believer so we sat, drank tea and chatted for a while, talking about her family.

During WWII when her parents were children her mother's family lived in Leningrad (St Petersburg). In 1941 her grandfather disappeared in one of Stalin's camps never to be seen again. That year, because of the war, the city administration sent many of the children out of the city to live in a refugee camp. Margarita's mother and aunt were in the group. Shortly thereafter the city was completely closed off by the Nazi siege making it impossible for those who stayed to leave and over 1 million citizens died from cold and starvation during the siege. Because of the danger children began to be evacuated from the camp further to the east. The children who were not evacuated from the camp all died when the Nazi's bombed the refugee camp. Today there is a memorial at the camp location dedicated to those children

Margarita's mother, then 11 years old, her aunt age 17 and their mother were evacuated to the small city of Bogorodsk where the three all lived in a one room apartment. The mother was ill and could only lie on the sofa all the time. The two daughters age 11 and 17 began to make hats and handbags to sell in the local market, earning just enough money to not completely starve to death. They were among the fortunate who survived the war. In 1945 they returned to Leningrad, but everything they owned was gone and all their friends were dead so they returned to the Nizhny Novgorod area. The two sisters entered college and went on to become school teachers.

An uncle served in the Soviet army. He fought during the siege of Leningrad as a machine gunner. He was wounded by an artillery barrage and spent months in the hospital. Later he marched with the Soviet army through eastern Europe, into Germany and he was part of a group of Russian soldiers who met the American army on the Elbe river in 1945. He with the average soldiers were happy to meet the Americans. Everyone hugged, drank and celebrated together. Quickly, however, the communist officers separated the two groups so as to not allow the Russians to be “contaminated” by the capitalists.

As we listened to this story I wondered about the great-grandparents. They would have been living in St. Petersburg during the revolution and the civil war. What did they live through? Why did one of their sons end up dying in a Stalinist labor camp? What was life like for them after 1919?

As Margarita said, “Our family story is the story of Russia. You can sit and talk with any family here today and hear the same story.” The story of Russia is the story of a strong, resilient people who have suffered much. We are always amazed when we get a glimpse into the lives of the average Russian family, and we hear some of the heartbreak, tragedy and triumph.

Here is an interesting link showing photos of modern St.Petersburg merged with photos from the war http://sergey-larenkov.livejournal.com/809.html

The Cross & The Switchblade

2010-05-22T22:53:00.005+04:00

“The Cross and the Switchblade” was one of the first Christian books I read. I was 18 years old and searching for God. I was asking Him to reveal Himself to me when I stole a copy of this book! I can remember sitting on my bed reading the book and crying and I prayed, “God, if there are people anywhere like this in the world, I want to meet them." The book had a powerful impact upon me. It was several weeks after that I was invited to a revival meeting at First Assembly of God, Anderson, Indiana. That night I heard the Gospel preached and responded to the altar call. Since that day I have been trying to follow Christ as a disciple.

Over the years I have heard many similar stories about the impact of this book. People are touched by the power of God when they read it. I believe that this book crosses culture and that it continues to impact lives over 40 years after it's publication. Because of this Karen and I have been seeking to purchase a bulk amount of the book in the Russian language in order to distribute them in Russian prisons and rehab centers.

We received permission to reprint the book for free distribution from the Russian copyright holders! We then talked with a local publisher who said they could print a very simple version for about $.30 per copy! We were excited and in just two weeks we raised $600.00. This would allow us to print 2000 copies! So we were making plans when we received news that there was a big misunderstanding. The printing cost would be much higher, but still reasonable at about $1.40 per copy if we print 1000 copies. If we print only 500 copies the cost is almost $2.25 per copy, so it makes more sense to print 1000. With that said, we still need about $600.00 in order to be able to print this book.

We are asking everyone who reads this to prayerfully consider giving toward this project. We have the opportunity to impact thousands of lives. Books distributed in the Russian prison system are passed from hand to hand, and read over and over again. Each book will contain contact information for a local church, faith based rehab center and a center for those needing transitional housing as they leave the prison system. Thanks you for reading this. Pray with us for the completion of this project and the continuing impact of this book as people read it. Working together we can reach thousands of people with the life-changing message of the Gospel.

2010-04-06T16:09:00.015+04:00

Easter 2010

Easter Sunday service at Cornerstone Church in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia was exciting, energizing, thought provoking, serious, solemn, cheerful, profound, meaningful and the adjectives roll on....... What is remarkably significant is that in this church, every day is Easter. Every day the resurrection power of Jesus is carried purposefully out into the community and the words of the Bible are put to practical action. They do it through the testimonies of their own lives. Having found liberation from their past and new life in Christ they don’t simply move on with their own life now restored, but they turn back and reach out to those who are still locked in the bondage of their sin.

Every day they are out on the streets and back alleys bringing the message of life and hope to those whose lives have been destroyed by drugs and alcohol, and helping homeless people find themselves and the dignity that they have lost.

People newly released from prison have a place to go to gain fresh perspective of life while they reorient themselves to living on the outside.

On the left is a group of people from the Social Center for the homeless. They were invited into the sanctuary before anyone else could be seated.

Each time someone chooses to come in off the streets they are brought into a group home environment where they are tenderly cleaned up, given fresh clothes, their own bed and are worked into becoming a part of a family again. The family consists of those who have been where they are and understand what they are going through. After a period of adjustment they are assisted at finding a job. Over the course of a year they grow in a new found relationship with Christ as well as a new found hope and sense of dignity in their personhood.

Below are the people who came forward during the Sunday service in order to pray to receive Christ into their life. Most of them will go to a rehabilitation center on Monday.

The young woman in red has recently been released from prison. She wants to get free from the curse of drug addiction. The lady on the left is her mother. Mom’s name is Faith. About a year and a half ago Faith came into the Social Center as a homeless alcoholic. She is now a radiant woman of God who mentors young women going through the rehab program. We are all praying together for her daughter to find the same liberation that her mom found.

Some of the faces of passionate worship:

Another Sunday - Another Changed Life

2010-02-21T22:11:00.004+03:00

Today was Sunday and we attended service at Cornerstone Church. Russians love to celebrate birthdays and today 8 people were honored. This is something that happens every Sunday in most Russian churches. We also regularly hear the testimony of someone who has just graduated from the rehabilitation course.

This is Olga. She is a young woman, 30 years old and was addicted to hard drugs for three years. A little over four months ago she entered the rehab program in the new church plant and rehab center in Balakhna. This new church has about 10 people in rehab at this time. Karen and I visit there almost every week. Olga was overcome by emotion and stage fright, so her testimony was short, but she thanked her pastor for reaching out to her and starting a new center were she could hear the gospel, come to Christ and be set free.

This is Pastor Oleg, he is the lead pastor on the new church plant in the tri-city region of Gorodets / Balakhna / Zavolzha.

Oleg was one of the people celebrating a birthday today. 3 years ago he was a drug addict with no hope and no future but death by overdose. He entered the rehab program in Nizhny Novgorod, graduated successfully and then came on staff at the center. Last winter he and a small team went to Novosibirsk to attend missionary training school for three months. Upon graduation he returned to his hometown and opened a rehabilitation center. This church has not yet established Sunday services, but they serve God in a bigger way by reaching the hopeless and the outcasts of society and giving them hope and a reason to live.

Afterward we had dinner at home with a young couple who are facing the challenges of marriage. We were able to share with them some of the principles that we have learned over 35 years of marriage and give them hope for a lasting relationship.

Tomorrow night we will take the overnight train to Moscow to meet some American friends who will be visiting us and teaching a seminar for women. It will be a busy but time for the next 12 days.

We love the young men and women that we work alongside and have the privilege of discipling. It is such a joy to work here and support the young Russian leaders God has called us to. Every day we thank God for allowing us to be here and serve in this way.

Anya - Desiring to Serve God

2010-02-18T18:38:00.005+03:00

55 kilometers outside the city limits is a small village with a drug rehab center and once every week we drive there to teach and fellowship. After the teaching today one of the young women, Anya, shared her testimony with us.

My name is Anya and I am 33 years old. I started using drugs when I was 18. My husband had started using before I did and he introduced me to drugs. After several years of drug use my husband ended up in jail and was gone for two years. During that time I stopped, but when he returned home to me I began again. Soon I became pregnant and gave birth to our daughter. I drifted in and out of drug use and eventually found myself in prison for 2 years. It was a bad time in my life.

Sadly, I didn’t learn anything because after completing my prison sentence I came back home and continued in my old lifestyle of drug addiction. Several more years passed and my husband and I divorced. My life continued to be unhappy and my addiction grew worse. I kept thinking that someday I would enter a rehab program but I could never make the decision.

Finally 6 ½ months ago one of my friends said, “Anya, won’t you enter the drug rehab program?” I agreed and very quickly found myself in the Cornerstone Church Drug Rehabilitation center. At first I thought it was a very strange place and the people might be crazy, but I decided to stay because I wanted to be free from drugs.

Over the next few weeks I prayed to receive Christ as my savior and I began to grow in my faith. Two months ago I graduated from the first step of the program. I am now a small group leader / mentor in the second step of rehabilitation. I live for one week in the city in the group home where I help evangelize, serve the church and learn about how to do rehabilitation work. On the opposite week I live and work at the rehab center. There, I lead a small group of women who are like I was when I entered the program. I help them to learn to pray, read their Bibles, grow in their faith and make good choices. I’m so happy now.

My daughter is living with my mom who is an Orthodox believer and doesn’t understand everything I am doing, but she is pleased to see me free of drugs. My desire is to complete the second course of rehabilitation and then go onto the third course. Not everyone goes through three courses, but I want to serve people and to learn more.

After that I have a desire to go to Novosibirsk, where Cornerstone has Bible and Missionary training school. I would like to study there and become a member of a church planting team. Of course I also desire to be reunited with my daughter who is now 13 years old. I understand, however, that it took many years for me to make a mess of my life and now I need to take some time to rebuild my life with Godly character.

Karen and I remember seeing Anya on the first or second day that she entered rehab. She was shy and looked worried. We are so pleased that she is making good choices and that she has really determined to become a disciple of Christ.

The Bible says that the Gospel is the Power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We see young men and women like Anya, believing the Gospel and being set free from addictions, crime and other bad behaviors. Please as you read this, pray for us, the pastors and leaders of Cornerstone church, and the young men and women in the rehabilitation, homeless, and prison ministries. Pray that the Lord will raise up a generation of Anyas who will take the Gospel to the young men and women of Russia.

Our thanks to everyone who gives and prays, helping us in order that we can continue to live and work in Russia.

Dima - A Young Servant of God

2010-02-13T08:46:00.010+03:00

Once a week we go out to a village near the town of Bogorodsk to teach at a rehabilitation center and it is something that we always look forward to.

The center is operated by Cornerstone, a Russian church which we work alongside. On average there are usually about 30 young men and women at the center going through the 8 month rehabilitation course. The success rate for those who complete the full course is about 50% after two years. This is much higher than the secular rate which is typically about 3% from the information we have read.

We love watching the transformation that happens in the lives of the young men and women as they go through the course. We will be featuring some of their testimonies on the blog over the next couple of months.

This brother is Dmitry. He is one of two senior leaders currently working at the center. Dmitry, or Dima, as we call him is a great young leader. He has a really gentle disposition, while at the same time maintaining his authority as a leader. That is a great combination.

Dima is 32 years old and a veteran of the Russian army, having served for a year in Chechnya. He is also a former drug addict starting when he was 16 years old! He is lucky because during that time he never ended up in prison, which is usual for drug addicts in Russia.

Three years ago a drug using friend of Dima’s went through the rehab program, successfully completed the course, and is now living a happy life with his wife and children. After Alexei's rehabilitation they would see each other occasionally and Alexei would always encourage Dima to enter rehab, but he declined the offer every time. Finally in December of 2008 Dima realized that he couldn't go on living the drug lifestyle and wanted help. He called the Drug rehabilitation center hot line and entered the program.

Dima, like most rehabilitants, spent his first week in rehab wondering if he would stay. Being suddenly immersed into Christian Charismatic worship and life can be very overwhelming for those who enter the center. Almost all of them at first think the place is full of crazy people. Dima, however, overcame his fears and stayed.

Being a stubborn sort of guy he determined that he would stay through to the end and

over the next few months he began to grow in the Lord and see positive changes happen in his life. After the first four month course he went on to the second four months and began serving as a small group mentor/leader. It was here that I think his natural leadership skills began to be noticed. He completed his second four months and decided to stay for the optional additional four months. At that point the current senior leader of the center was leaving the position to go off to missionary training school. Dima was asked if he would become a senior leader. He thought, “no one else is available. I suppose I should do this.”

Dima now lives every other week at the center and a week in the city. At the center he has responsibility for about 30 addicts going through rehabilitation. When we watch Dima working with people we see an intense young man who really cares about people. We also see a gentle but determined young man. We really hope that he will continue to serve and perhaps to go on to church plant and pastor in the next year or two.

Dima has a wife and a young child. His wife works full-time to support the family, allowing Dima to be in ministry on a very small salary/stipend. They live together with Dima’s parents. Next week we will have them over to our place to share a meal and to speak into their lives.

It is a real joy for Karen and I to be able to work alongside brothers and sisters like this. When you read this pray for Dima and his family. Pray that the Lord will continue the work that has begun in this young family and that they will continue to live for and serve Him.

Just an update

2010-02-11T16:34:00.001+03:00

It is hard to believe that we have not updated this blog since the start of the New Year. We have been busy, but not that busy. I hesitate to write about everything we do here because much of it is routine to us. How many stories can we write about ministry to drug addicts?

So what has been happening here? Well Cornerstone church has sent out two new church panting teams in the last 5 weeks.

One team has gone to the city of Ulyanovsk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulyanovsk . The team is small, only 4 people, but they have already rented a home outside the city and opened a drug rehab center. They have 5 people in rehabilitation. Soon they will rent an apartment in the city and increase the outreach that they do. In the spring they will find a hall to rent and begin public church services. These brothers and sisters are off to a great start.

A few weeks later a larger team left for the city of St. Petersburg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg . St. Petersburg is a historic city and served as the capital of Russia for years. The Russian revolution started in St. Petersburg.

The team to St. Petersburg consisted of ten people, the largest team sent out so far. Like the Ulyanovsk team, this team has also rented a house outside the city and begun a rehabilitation center. They also have 5 rehabilitants. This month they have plans to rent a second home and they will then begin a ministry to homeless people. Next month the plan is to rent an apartment in the city, increase the outreach and evangelism and then begin public church services.

Both teams need people to pray for them. It is never easy to start a church. None of these church planters are more than 2 years old in Christ. No one on the St Petersburg team has even had a formal Bible School education. They have no financial backing. Both teams however have a lot of faith and a lot of zeal. God will use these young men and women to expand the Kingdom of God and bring many people to Christ.

We have been busy teaching at the local centers for the last month, but we have also experienced a lot of interruptions to ministry. Our Russian car has broken down twice and the repairs cost us about a week of time. Karen has been sick recently with cold/flu so we didn’t do much last week in order to not spread any sickness to the centers.

So, life goes on – ministry goes on. We love being here, serving the Russian people and seeing lives changed by the power of the Gospel.

2010-01-01T19:22:00.006+03:00

We celebrated New Year’s last night with our church. What a blast! Because of Communism, New Year’s rather than Christmas is the big celebration and Russians know how to have fun.

The church rented and decorated a large hall and about 300 people participated.

The party started at 10:30 PM Dec 31 and ended . . . we don’t know when because we left around 4 AM on January 1 and the party was still going strong.

There was lots of good food laid out beautifully;

there were skits and songs and rap;

there was time to mingle with friends or sit and relax.

People were dressed up, dressed down, and dressed out in masks and silly costumes. Everyone there was ready to P-A-R-T-E-E!!!!!

But, the reason that I am even writing this is not because of how awesome this particular party was. It wasn't because of the decorations or the music or the program, but because of the people who were there.

Almost every person at that party, including our beloved pastor who is a visionary man of God, was a drug addict or a homeless person. The dregs of society, broken people living lives of destruction, now, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, worshiping and praising God and having fun while doing it. I (Karen) had a few people look at me with worry because in the midst of the celebration my eyes kept filling up with tears at the wonder of what I was experiencing. I was in such awe watching everyone knowing that each life was an amazing miracle.

These folks are all from the social center for the homeless. They had written a poem that featured and celebrated each of them in their new life in Christ. We have watched these folks over the last 8 months and have witnessed their transformation socially, emotionally and spiritually.

After the organized program was completed we spent time in praise and worship and the presence of God filled the hall as these precious people gave thanks to their Savior, Jesus.

These two brothers are from the Social Center, ex homeless, society's cast off's bowing down to the King of kings. Words can not adequately express how moving this time was, worshiping together with people who were truly at the bottom and now were standing at the side of Jesus.

2009-12-15T11:41:00.010+03:00

At 11:30 PM on December 2 we arrived back in Nizhny Novgorod after a month long trip to America, and at 5:00 AM on Dec 5 we boarded a train for a 43 hour ride out to Siberia to visit the cities of Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tomsk as well as their outlying areas. Our purpose was to teach and preach in some of the churches of the Cornerstone Association and their rehabilitation centers.

Our first stop was in Tomsk where we visited some local rehab centers. When I say local, I mean anything within 75 miles of the city. One of the rehab centers could only be reached by driving across a river, about a quarter of a mile wide, on the ice. We had read of people in Siberia driving on rivers, but this was a first for us. It was pretty scary!

Pic taken over the driver's shoulder as we were preparing to drive across the river. The dot in the distance is a car coming towards us.

On Friday 11th Dec, we were taken from the city of Tomsk to a small city called Kolpashevo, 350 kilometers away. The drive to get there was about 5 hours and, in Russia, the only place to stop along the way and go to the bathroom is at a roadside outhouse. It has no heat and no seat. It is simply a hole in the floor and you hope that you don’t slip on the yellow ice! As we were driving the car got colder and colder and when we arrived we learned that it was 40 below zero. Trust me. That is very cold!

Roadside rest rooms!!!!

Right before you get to the city you have to cross the River Tom and that is done by ferry. The river is kept open with a small ice breaker boat that travels back and forth in front of the ferry to keep the way clear because the ice forms so quickly on the river. The temperature of the water was only about 35, but the air was so extremely cold the river was steaming.

The ferry is approaching our side of the river.

It was so cold that the wood fired heating system in the house where we were staying couldn’t keep the house warm and I’m guessing that it was about 50 at best in the house. There was a thick layer of hoar frost on the inside of the windows. By Sunday the temperature had risen to about 10 above zero and everyone was rejoicing at how warm it was. The furnace was finally able to make the house warm again.

This is frost inside the bathroom window when it was -40 F

The sun never got any higher than this during the day. This was taken at noon time.

The sun, after sitting just above the horizon all day, at 3 PM would suddenly blaze into a fiery glory and rapidly sink out of site

To be continued as our trip progresses................

We are in Siberia and it is COLD!

2009-12-10T14:27:00.004+03:00

Karen and I are currently in Tomsk, Siberia, Russia. It is COLD here, -25 today!

We arrived in Novosibirsk on Sunday the 6th after a 2 day train ride from Nizhny Novgorod. The trip was uneventful. About all you can do on a train is sleep and read, we did both. It was interesting watching the temperature drop the further east we went. In Nizhny Novgord it was 32F when we left and it dropped about 1 degree from every hour on the train. When we arrived in Novosibirsk it was -18.

We only stayed in Novosibirsk long enough to catch a few hours sleep, a shower a meal and then we were off by car to Tomsk. The drive was about 4 hours on snow and ice covered roads.

Tomsk is a large city of about 600,000 people and the regional capital. In Tomsk we are hosted by the "Church of Praise", pastored by our good friend Oleg Tikonoff. Pastor Oleg is a former drug addict who came to Christ 11 years ago. After 1 week in a drug rehab program, he went back to his hometown and began tp preach Christ. Within 4 months he had started a church! He was less than 5 months old in the Lord. Today that church is very active, with a congregation of over 600 people and a long list of ministries. From the original church 10 more churches have been started and thousands of lives have been touched by the gospel.

We have been teaching in the local Bible school and will teach today in one of the drug rehab centers operated by the church. Tomorrow we will go to one of the daughter churches in a town called Kalpashava, were will will spend the weekend. We will teach 7 Bible school classes, minister in the rehab center and preach in the Sunday service. Hopefully we will also be able to go to a banya, and we are sure we will have lots of fun and eat more than we should.

We are having a great time on this ministry trip. Next week we head back to Novosibirsk where we will teach in several rehab centers.

We have not had enough internet time to upload picture. hopefully we will be able to so soon.

Leaving on a slow train...don't know when we'll be back again

2009-12-05T01:12:00.002+03:00

It has been almost 6 weeks since we have posted anything here. We were in the U.S. for 5 weeks. Karen spent time with her mother, our kids and most of the grandkids.

I spent 11 days in Los Angeles with 7 Russian pastors. We spent 3 days at the Los Angeles Dream Center, visited Saddleback Church (pastored by Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life"), were we spent the day meeting with the leadership, and we spent 1/2 a day meeting with Foursquare Missions. It was a very fruitful trip. Afterward I met Karen in New Hampshire and we spent the Thanksgiving holiday wth our family before we returned to Russia on December 1

We have been home in Nizhny Novgorod now for 52 hours and in a few more hours we leave by train for Siberia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia! It is cold there now -10F or colder. We will be in three major cities, Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Omsk. We will teach in a Bible School, preach in churches, minister in drug rehabiltation centers and present a marriage seminar.

We will be gone for 3 weeks or more. We don't yet have a return date, so we haven't purchased return tickets. We may be home in Nizhny for American Christmas, or we might not return until after the New Year. Either way we are looking forard to seeing what the Lord has in store for us on this trip.

Hopefully we will have the opportunity to post some stories and photos over the next few weeks. Pray for us that the Lord will minister through and to us.

First Nations Team - Orphanage Visit

2009-10-29T11:42:00.003+03:00

Yesterday, October 29, we took two members of the First Nations Team to visit a local orphanage. This orphanage is a special needs orphanage. The children here have been removed from other schools or orphanages because of behavioral issues or handicaps.

Cheryl Bear and Tawnia Carrier shared native songs, dance and stories with the children

The staff treats these children as if they are their own and the kids are very well behaved and seem to be reasonably well adjusted.

The orphanage is always underfunded and can use clothing and other items such as yarns, and embroidery threads. If you have any interest in helping, send us an email to Missionarymike2004@Yahoo.com

Russian Women - Drug Addicts Set Free by the Power of the Gospel

2009-10-24T21:53:00.008+04:00

Here are a few photos of some of the young women who are in the local drug rehabilitation centers operated by Cornerstone church. These young women range in age from 18 to 27 and all were addicted to heroin. They entered the rehab with little hope of ever being free from drug addiction, but through the power of the Gospel they have been set free.

'Pastor Michael,' surrogate dad

The rehab program consists of two 4 month sessions. During the first four months the rehabilitant is not allowed to leave the facility. If they do so they are out of the program. During this four months they are in a daily program of Bible reading, prayer, group study, work and character development.

When they graduate from the first four months they then continue the program living outside the rehab, in a group home for one week where they continue group learning and work in the outreach program to those who are addicted. The opposite week they live at the center acting as mentors and small group leaders for the people in the first four month program. In doing so, they learn to apply basic discipleship principles and become pastors of a small group.

After graduating from the second four months there is an optional third course of four months. Those who enter this step become senior leaders. They run the day to day operations of the center and report to the supervising pastor. Upon graduation from the third step of rehabilitation, often a small group of leaders decide to attend missionary training school together.

At the school they learn the basic skills needed to church plant and to start a new rehab center. Upon graduation from school they will then move to a new city, open a rehab center, evangelize drug addicts and plant a new church. The Cornerstone Association of Churches has done this now about 60 times. They are one of the fastest growing association of churches in Russia.

Cheryl Bear & First Nations Team in Russia

2009-10-21T13:54:00.007+04:00

The Barnestson Family
ministering in a local church called "The Vine"

For the last week we have had the privilege of hosting a team of Indigenous, First Nations people from North America. Randy and Cheryl Barnetson, their three sons and two other women have joined us and are ministering in local churches, rehab centers and will be presenting several evangelistic outreaches.

The team has already spoken at two churches, a drug rehabilitation center and done one evangelistic outreach with a team of Russian church planters.

For the next 10 days we will all be busy sharing the Gospel through First Nations culture, meeting new friends and learning about Russian life and culture.

Cheryl Speaking at the local Messianic Congregation

The Barnetson Family ministering in Song

Pastor Evgeny Blinov local Messianic Pastor

Cheryl and her boys rocking out at an evangelistic outreach

Foursquare Leaders from Holland Visit Russia

2009-10-15T22:45:00.005+04:00

Ministering in Song

Ap and Anita Verwayen, Foursquare leaders from Holland, recently visited us in Nizhny Novgorod. Karen and I helped to facilitate the publishing of their book, The Art of Marriage, into the Russian language and Ap and Anita decided to present a marriage seminar in conjunction with the release of the book.

While they here we also had the opportunity to take them to several of the ministries of Cornerstone church where they taught and ministered.

Ministering at the Seminar with our friend Anya

Teaching at the Homeless Center

with our Co-worker Sveta

Praying with a Young Woman as she repents and comes to Christ

This homeless man, now living at the Social Center also repented and submitted to Christ

Karen, Sveta and Anita praying for a sister

Teaching at a rehab center

Praying with a former drug addict

Praying for one of the leaders, Dima, a great young guy

Group photo at the rehab center

Another Russian Adventure.

2009-10-08T18:56:00.006+04:00

Today while showing Dutch friends a bit of our city we seemed to have parked in a no parking zone and as a result our car was towed away by the police! This was distressing as we had friends whom we needed to be with, it was raining, and we needed to take our friends to teach at a marriage seminar in just a few hours.

Having never had our car towed before we had to call several Russian friends and ask what to do. We were told that first we needed figure out which lot our car had been towed to, go to the storage lot (by bus), identify our car, prove that it was ours with multiple documents and then we would receive a piece of paper from them. We would then have to cross the city to take this paper to the central police department, show them all our identification, passport, drivers license, car documents, etc. and they would complete some more paperwork, stamp it with an official stamp, we would of course pay a fine, and only then could we return to the storage lot and present this paper and retrieve our car. We apologized to our friends and showed them how to walk back to their hotel and off we went to find our car.

We had an idea where it may have been taken so we took a local bus to the general location, but had to walk for a while trying to find it. It was amusing when I stopped one young man and said, "excuse me, I am a foreigner and I don't speak Russian very well, can you help me?" He laughed and said, "I don't speak Russian very well either." He was from one of the southern provinces himself and wasn't a native Russian. We asked several people on the street to help us and finally found someone who knew where we needed to go and so off we went again by foot.

We found our car, received the necessary paperwork and then had to find a way across town to the central police station. It was evening rush hour so we decided for the sake of expediency to hire a taxi. The driver was a nice guy and interested that we were Americans. He drove us across town and when we arrived he said to us that he would wait for us and then drive us back to get our car.

At the police station I asked one young police man to help me and he just laughed and asked for my documents when he realized my Russian was terrible. After reading everything and asking me where I was from, he took us into the station, gave our papers to someone else and said, "wait here." In about 10 minutes another guy came out, handed us the completed paperwork and told us we could go. No fine, no payment, no trouble. We were surprised.

So, back in the taxi and an amazingly quick trip across town during rush hour we got to the storage lot and the taxi driver says, much to our surprise, that he would wait to make sure we got our car. The reason we were so surprised is because in this culture strangers simply do not help each other. The storage lot manager was another nice guy helping us to fill out all the forms (Russia loves paperwork) and then asked me to sign my name and we were free to go.

We were astonished. In a country that thrives in bureaucracy and making life unpleasant for its inhabitants we were able to retrieve our car in a little over two hours and didn't have to pay any fine for the towing. Life in Russia is always challenging, sometimes stressful and then you get some really interesting breaks as you see the favor of God working for you. So, happily, ended another Russian adventure.

Teams, Books and Baptisms

2009-10-05T17:04:00.006+04:00

Tonight Karen and I will take an overnight train to Moscow. Tomorrow morning we will meet some friends, Ap and Anita Verwayen who are Foursquare leaders from Holland. They have authored a book, "the Art of Marriage," which we helped to get published in Russia.

Ap and Anita are coming to Nizhny Novgorod and this weekend they will teach a seminar for believers based upon their book. We are looking forward to this time.

On Sunday at church we had 15 people receive certificates of baptism upon completion of a course, and then obeying the Lord by being water baptized. Most of these believers are brand new in the faith. It is exciting to watch the church continue to grow.

On the 15th of this month we will meet another team in Moscow, Randy and Cheryl Barnetson, their boys plus two other ladies. The Barnetsons are coming to Nizhny Novgorod to evangelize using native Indian culture and music. It promises to be an interesting time.

Amazing Grace - Another Changed Life

2009-09-14T11:19:00.005+04:00

This week we sat and talked with one of the brothers who found freedom from drugs through the ministry of the church and rehabilitation center. This is his story.

By the time I was twenty years old I was a hard core drug addict supporting myself primarily by pick pocketing and stealing the cash. One day while riding a bus a young woman and I realized that were trying to steal the same wallet! We thought that was pretty funny so we got off the bus together at the next stop and began to talk. We discovered that we liked each other and started living together, stealing and doing drugs.

After some time my girlfriend became pregnant. We had no desire to change our lifestyle, and neither of us wanted the burden or responsibility of a baby, so we decided to simply end the pregnancy with an abortion. Before we were able to do this we were both arrested. In Russia the law gives a lesser sentence to a pregnant woman so my girlfriend took all the blame, received a short jail sentence, and I was set free. Although the prison sentence was short, by the time she was released it was too late for her to get an abortion so we were stuck with an unwanted baby. Soon a little girl was born, but as unrepentant drug addicts we had no use for a baby so we left it with my mom and continued in our life of crime and drug use. I see now that even in my life of crime and addiction God was watching over me and today I thank Him for His mercy by not allowing me to murder my daughter.

I was arrested a second time and because of the long sentence my girlfriend decided to not wait for me. Instead, she started living with a good friend of mine. While in prison I remember burning with anger at her unfaithfulness and planning my revenge, how I would stab her to death after I was released. Fortunately, I never carried out my plans and we just went our separate ways.

I continued in my drug use and crime for years being utterly self absorbed; totally uninvolved with my little daughter. Her mother had also completely abandoned her. Since I persisted in using more and more drugs I was in and out of prison several more times and I understood that someday I would die from an overdose, but that was just the way life was. I had no hope for life; no hope for freedom from addiction. While my life continued to spiral downward my mom had been faithful to raise my daughter who was now 10 years old.

I began selling drugs to support my habit but I got caught and arrested. I was afraid because I knew that this time it would mean a very long prison sentence so I began to pray and said, “God, I don’t know if you are real, but if you are and you get me out of this mess, I will serve you." All I can tell you is that God in His grace and mercy works in mysterious ways. Not only was I able to avoid serving this long prison sentence, but the conviction for this particular crime disappeared from the court records. In my limited way I was sincere in this prayer, but sadly, as soon as the crisis was over I forgot about my promise to God.

One day a young guy, who could see that I was a drug addict, came up to me and handed my a small yellow flyer which read – Real Hope – Freedom from Drugs. He told me to call the number if I was tired of my life as an addict and that the people there would help me. As low as I had become in life, I still hadn't hit the bottom so I wasn’t really interested but I stuffed the flyer in my back pocket.

It wasn't long after that encounter when I resigned myself to the fact that my life was no longer worth living. I decided to hang myself and get it over with. I climbed up on a chair, tied a rope over a pipe and around my neck, and was about ready to kick the chair away when I stuck my hand in my back pocket. By this time I had completely forgotten about the yellow flyer so I can not explain why I did this, except to say that God was with me and remembered my prayer. I recalled that this young man had said I could find help, so I decided to call the number.

I spoke to a very kind brother, named Zhenya, who told me that they could help me. He seemed like a nice guy who was genuinely interested in me so I decided to enter the rehabilitation program and it was there that God finally got a hold of me and began to really work in my life. It was there in the rehab center that I learned about Jesus Christ and it was there in the center that He set me free from drugs. The first stage of the rehab course is four months long, but after only two months, with good intentions, but bad judgment, I violated one of the rules and I had to leave. During these two months I had become a follower of Jesus Christ and the work that God began in my life had really changed me. I started going to church and trying to serve God. I reunited with my daughter, who today is 14 years old, and now we have a good relationship. I have been completely drug free for three years. I have my own small business as a long distance truck driver and own my own truck. I love my new life, I love my work, I love my daughter and most of all l love God and thank Him for the great things He has done in my life.

Dmitry

We hear testimonies like this every week. God is doing amazing things as the Gospel brings hope and life to hundreds of ex-drug addicts. At the same time, every week on the local news, we see young men and women without hope who have ended their lives Thanks you for standing behind us as we serve the churches who minister to these young men and women.

Prostitution in Russia

2009-08-16T20:38:00.002+04:00

As we drive around the city of Nizhny Novgorod and to areas outside the city limits we occasionally see young women selling themselves openly on the streets. At least five times during this past week we saw working prostitutes soliciting overtly during the daytime on pubic streets.

Within the city itself there are several locations where prostitutes congregate regularly. It is sad to see these young women standing at the bus stops obviously trying to get the attention of men driving by who might be interested in what they are offering. Many of the young women look to be college age, noticeably dressed and openly soliciting business. We often wonder if they are earning money in the only way they know how, are they drug addicts, or worse, are they slaves.

Outside of the city you can often see young women standing by the side of the road, waving down trucks and cars. They usually hang out near truck stops or major intersections, but occasionally you will see a sad, young women standing in what seems to be the middle of nowhere selling herself.

The women outside the city are nearly always more rough and desperate looking. We believe that many of them are being pimped out into sexual slavery. A large case of forced prostitution and mass murder was uncovered in 2007 near the industrial town of Nizhny Tagil according to the Russian newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda. A gang of pimps had abducted girls and forced them to work as prostitutes in their brothel, killing the ones who refused. A mass grave with up to 30 victims was found. The law in Russia prohibits prostitution but we have read that the fine is only about $65. Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases are rampant here. Addicts and sex workers are prime targets for HIV, hepatitis and AIDS.

It is difficult to imagine the forces in life that drive some women to prostitution. Obviously one of the big factors is drug addiction. Pray with us as the Cornerstone church planting movement continues to bring the good news of the Gospel to those who are addicted. The Gospel brings hope to the hopeless and breaks the chains of addiction and spiritual bondage. Every week we see young people who were addicted to drugs set free by the power of the Gospel.

Ministry in Russia

2009-08-09T19:23:00.018+04:00

We have been very busy for the last few weeks with our regular load of ministry responsibilities.

Of course, Sunday is a day of worship and we gather together with our friends at Cornerstone Church. Church attendance this summer has averaged about 185 people. This fall Pastor Dimitry has decided to go to two services because the rented hall is getting too full on Sundays.

Today's church service was in many ways pretty average. We had about 190 people with about 15 visitors. The worship was loud and exuberant, if not always in tune. We celebrated one graduation from the Social Center - a six month course which teaches homeless people how to get back on their feet and back into society.

Homeless Center Graduate

We also saw four former drug addicts graduate from the drug rehabilitation program. All four of these youg people have graduated from the second course and will continue to serve the church and the center by ministering to those who are going through the rehabilitation program.

Former Drug Addicts Now Serving Christ

Pastor Dmitry preached a short but powerful sermon about the grace of God and casting your sin upon the Cross of Christ. Many people responded to a call for prayer and were encouraged to trust Christ completely for the forgiveness of their sins.

Pastor Dmitry also gave a call of repentance for those who had never trusted Christ and nine people responded and prayed a prayer of repentance. Afterwards the entire church celebrated communion together.

9 People - Most of them addicts - Praying To Receive Christ

Every Wednesday we visit the Social Center for Homeless People and the new Dzerzhinsk drug rehabilitation center. We spend time in fellowship and teach for at least an hour each visit.

With Our friends at the
Homeless Center for Social Rehabilitation

Dzerzhinsk Drug Rehabilitation Center

On Fridays we visit the Bogorodsk drug rehabilitation center. This center is the main one operated by Cornerstone Church of Nizhny Novgorod. It takes almost 1 1/2 hours to drive to this center. The center usually has about 30 people who are going through either the first or second course of rehabilitation. We often sit for a while and have tea and talk with the leaders, then there is a time of worship led by the rehabilitants and afterward I teach for 1 1/2 hours. Often after teaching we have a question and answer period where I will take any question about the Bible or the Christian life and try and answer it for these new believers.

Bogorodsk Drug Rehabilitation Center

This week we will begin a regular time of teaching at the new drug rehabilitation center in the city of Gorodets where there is a new church being planted. This will probably become a regular Thursday appointment.

Pastor Oleg (left) and His Church Planting Team

Mondays are sometimes a day off and sometimes a ministry day, depending upon the need. Tuesday is a study day for me as I try and prepare most of my teaching outlines on this day. We are currently giving pre-marriage counselling to two couples and because of their work schedules we find ourselves skiping our day off to meet with them.

We love what we do. We wouldn't want to be doing anything else or living anywhere else at this time in our lives. Our ministry is fruitful as we help disciple a church full of new, young believers.