Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Russian Christmas
We celebrated Russian Christmas yesterday with the Goluvinski Church. The service was very special. There were about 36 in attendance - 8 guests - 4 from the invitations given out.
Genady shared the Gospel in a very clear way and then he read the Christmas story and lighted candles to represent the different characters in the story. Then he put out all of the candles except for the Jesus candle and we all had individuals candles to light from the Jesus candle. It was really special. An elderly lady named Ludmilla, who was a guest, would not put out her candle. Even after the service, when we were getting ready for the fellowship time, she sat there with her candle burning. I pray that Christ's light will be in her life - that she will really understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ.
Another younger lady named Sveta also came. She seemed to really enjoy the worship and fellowship time. The young Russian ladies in the church did a great job of reaching out to her. One of them even french braided her hair for her after the fellowship time. Pray with us that Sveta will also come to know Christ as Savior and Lord.
Pray for all of the guests who came. Pray for God to use what they heard and experienced to draw them into a personal relationship with himself.
It's pretty neat that we get to celebrate Christmas twice each year. That's one of the really special benefits of living in Russia. Now let's all worship and praise Him every day throughout this new year of 2009!
Monday, January 05, 2009
They're Headed Home
We took the team to the airport this morning. We saw them all get through passport control about 11:45. Their flight was at 1:10. As far as we know, their plane left on time and they should arrive as planned this evening. We were incredibly blessed by their time here. Thank you Crestview for sending them!
Our oldest son, Drew, was able to go with the team to a small town outside of Moscow called Rzhev over the weekend. This was his first mission trip. He had a wonderful time and gave testimony last night about many things God taught him there. He loved going to the orphanages and playing with the children. He loved seeing their smiles when they were given little gifts. He took tons of photos. Hope you enjoy them.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Happy New Year!
Wow! 2008 has been a great year for our family. We are so thankful for God's guidance and provision this past year. Our God is great and He is faithful!
We were blessed to spend the last day of 2008 and the first day of 2009 with 7 awesome people from NC. The team was here to ring in the New Year with us. We rang it in singing "Shine Jesus Shine" and "May Our Hearts Be So Consumed By You That We Never Cease To Praise".
May God be honored in the ways we spend our days in 2009. This is our hearts' desire.
I'll post a few photos of our New Years celebrations - Home group with Russians, New Year's Eve party at Stamey's - New Year's Day party at Stamey's. By the way, the guy in the speedo is not a team member. He is a Russian man who swims in the freezing pond water for his health. The team really had fun seeing this part of Russian culture.
And then the photo of Ben shows is bandage. He brought in the new year by sliding down a slide and hitting his head on a cement curb. He is proud to have 4 stitches in his forehead. God really helped him during the trip to the Dr. and the time of getting the stitches. After the initial shock, he was very calm and did not scream or cry.
Enjoy the photos. Happy 2009!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
All 5000 invitations are given out. Praise the Lord! Ask Him to use these invitations for His glory.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Team Update
Crestview Baptist Church, you have sent us an awesome team! Thanks so much. Our time together has been so special. The team is so flexible and has worked so hard.
They have been out in the freezing cold weather with no complaining. So far over 2000 Gospel tracts / invitations to a special Russian Christmas service (on Jan. 7) have been given out. The cool thing about these invitations is that they clearly present the Gospel. No matter how many people come to the Christmas service, still many will read the tract and we've no doubt that God will use it in the lives of some. Please pray with us that these invitations will fall into the hands of people who are seeking and open. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work through them to draw people to Christ. Pray that many will want to attend the special service. Pray specifically for Alexander, a man who called Genady today to say that he wants to come to the Christmas service. This is the first concrete response we've received. Praise God for how He is going to work through this effort to bring glory to himself and draw people to himself. Tomorrow and Wednesday the goal is to hand out 3000 more. Pray for energy, strength, boldness, and love as we do this.
Brad has been spending lots of time with the team and I've been home with the kids, but tonight he stayed with the boys and I was able to attend a party for the elderly Christian women at Good News Church. What a blessing!!!!! The sweet ladies were so thankful and just loved having fellowship with the Americans. Margie shared the story of the candy cane and they gave each lady one. We sang songs together. Each lady shared prayer requests and team members wrote them down and promised to pray for them. Almost every single lady asked for prayer for salvation for family members. We shared some food together and also testimonies of how God is working in Russia and in America. It was such a sweet time. At the end the team gave each lady a gift bag with little gifts and fruit. The ladies were so happy and thankful. Thanks to all who gave financially to make this party possible. I know some from Poplar Springs Baptist Church gave towards this and probably many others. I'll post some photos so you can see the joy on the faces of these dear ladies. Enjoy!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Crestview Volunteer Team
A volunteer team from our home town of Shelby, NC is here with us this week. We are having so much fun ministering together with them. They have already been an incredible blessing to us. My brother, Jeremy, is team leader. It's been so great to see him and catch up a little with him. Actually everybody on this team has been to Moscow before, so they're pros. Please pray for them the rest of this week. They will be doing many different things. Lift them up and ask the Lord to work both in and through them during their time in Moscow. Here is a partial schedule of what they will be doing. They will be very busy. Please pray for strength, boldness, opportunities, health, and more.
Sunday - worship, fellowship with the Goluvinski Church - the team will lead in worship through songs and testimonies.
- 3 will go to Svetlana's home group - 2 will go out with a church member to pass out
DVDs of the JESUS film - 2 will go to shop for items to be given to elderly Christian women at Good News Church.
Monday - full day of prayer walking and evangelism - giving out Jesus film DVDs, candy canes with the story of the candy cane attached, invitations to a special Christmas service that will take place on Russian Christmas (Jan. 7)
Tuesday - a.m. prayer walking and evangelism - p.m.meeting to discuss personal evangelism with Goluvinskiy church members.
Wednesday - New Year's celebration with Goluvinski Church and evangelism until 4:00. Bring in the New Year at the Stamey's apt.
Thursday - Since it's New Year's Day and this is the biggest holiday in Russia, everyone is busy and everything is closed on this day. Russians will be spending time with family and friends. So the team will be with us all day. We're hoping for snow so that some of us can go sledding. Also Rhenn Cherry, our new strategy coordinator for Moscow will be with us for the day. The team will get a chance to hear about his plans for Moscow and pray for him and his ministry. He may also share a little about his plans for involving Deana and Jeremy in this work in the future. We'll have some great prayer times together asking the Lord's blessings on this coming year.
Friday - Sunday - At 9:00 a.m. on Friday the team leaves for a small village several hours outside of Moscow - Rzhev. They will meet with the church there for fellowship and encouragement and minister in two different orphanages. They'll also be sharing both through testimony and song in the Sunday morning service.
Sunday - travel back to Moscow - debriefing.
Monday - Travel back to NC
I'll try to update an post a few photos later in the week. Thanks Crestview for sending this team! Thanks for co-laboring with us!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Team Retreat - A Blessing !
Wow! Our retreat this weekend was filled with laughter and fellowship as we spurred one another toward love and good deeds. What did we do?
Sessions - being intentional about evangelism, starting cell groups, and praying
Fellowship - around the campfire with roasted hot dogs and smores
Worship - through songs, Bible devotionals, and prayer
Silliness - through games (always fun when you have young journeymen!!)
Lori and I are so blessed that our lives are intersecting these servants on our team. Please keep praying for them. And just to remind you of who they are:
Karin Wilson and Chris Fox - journeymen, who have arrived recently, just moved into dorm rooms on a university campus, both studying Russian and looking for friends
Peyton Colburn - journeyman, leads a home group each Saturday, teaches at a local university
Dan Rankin - journeyman, extending with us for another year, teaches English at a university, has one new believer he is trying to disciple and looking for others
Mark Sprinkle - carrer, directing the "campus ministry" division of our team, is praying about starting a new worship group in his home
These are awesome folks to work with, and our team retreat helped us grow closer.
