From 3,000 gifts to four times that number in its second season of ministry, Gift of Life-Russian Ministries’ Easter outreach and gift distribution-brought the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to orphans, hurting children and teenagers.

In all, 13,190 gifts and Bibles/Christian literature were given away this Easter season. The gift boxes for the children included candy, toys and children’s Bibles. Teenagers received a special edition of the Gospel of Mark that included testimonies from young people, who have discovered new life in Christ. This Easter, 34 national evangelical churches and 30 organizations and business in the Zaporozhye region also support the Gift of Life project.

On April 23, an orphanage in Volnyansk, Ukraine, welcomed a music group, amateur and professional soccer players and clowns as young Next Generation Christians from the THEME youth club in nearby Zaporozhye arrived to share Resurrection hope and joy with the 150 orphans there.

“Looking into the younger children’s eyes, you see a sincerity that will all too soon be marred by disillusionment, and possible anger and resentment,” related one young Christian leader.

“But those who have not yet lost hope seek in us faithful friends, whom they can see more often than just Christmas and Easter,” continues this young leader. “Some children did not want us to go . . . . Lord willing, we will visit them again. As Christ said, ‘And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me.’ ” (Matthew 18:5)

Seasonal outreaches such as Gift of Life at Easter, or Project Hope at Christmas are some of the many ways School Without Walls students and other young Next Generation Christian leaders connect with needy children and at-risk teenagers throughout the year.

In just a few weeks, Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps begin all across the former Soviet Union.

School Without Walls students and graduates not only initiate this outreach but also mobilize their churches and other young Christian leaders to be a  part of the summer camp ministry.

Russian Ministries would like to help send at least 5,000 children and teenagers to a life-changing week of summer camp. One child + one week of summer camp = one changed life.

Be a part of this divine math today with a secure online gift to Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps. A gift of $50 will help send one child to camp and provide one Bible/Christian literature, a $100 gift will help send two children to camp and provide Bibles/Christian literature for them and a gift of $200 will provide the same for four children. Make a secure online gift today.

Join Russian Ministries on Facebook and become part of the summer camp Cause.

Just as England is a nation of tea-drinkers, Russia is a nation steeped not in tea, but in vodka. In fact, vodka is a diminutive form of the word voda, the Russian word for water.

As part of Russian President Dmitry’s Medvedev anti-alcohol campaign, the Kremlin nearly doubled the cost of a bottle of vodka January 1, hoping that the higher costs of drinking would lower its consumption.

This might prove to be an exercise in futility as Russian leaders from Peter the Great to Mikhail Gorbachev discovered.

Today, Russia’s per capita alcohol consumption is twice as high as the U.S. And, tragically, this high alcohol consumption has taken its toll. A medical journal reported that half of all deaths of Russians ages 15-34 are caused by alcohol-related diseases.

Russian Ministries’ young Next Generation Christian leaders have seen first-hand the toll alcoholism takes on families and individuals: unemployment, homelessness, abandonment and even abuse. They have cared for children whose alcoholic parents have lost their rights, and embraced teenagers bent on destroying their lives through excessive drinking.

For these compassionate young leaders the best, and only, anti-alcohol campaign is to share the hope of Jesus and His promise of new life in Him.

“Pavel was an alcoholic, continually falling and spiraling downward,” describes one of Russian Ministries’ young Next Generation leaders. “He couldn’t support his family, because he spent all of his money on alcohol.”

For the past few years, these young Christians helped out Pavel and his family with groceries and other essentials, and also counseled them on various issues.

“Recently, we began to see changes. Pavel started asking about church,” said this national worker. “He was open and sincere, and admitted his mistakes.” Pavel repented and became a new creation in Christ.

Pavel doesn’t take his new life in Jesus for granted. “I understand what the Bible says. I understand what God wants to say to me. My soul has never felt so light before,” says Pavel.

As these Next Generation Christians point out, it is God who works in people’s hearts, changing them and bringing them new life.

2010—a new year for new life across the former Soviet Union.

Read “Russians and Vodka.”

CLICK HERE TO GIVE TO OUR CAMP OUTREACH.

The summer of 2009, 8,283 campers attended 111 sessions of evangelistic summer camps*, organized by School Without Walls students, other young Next Generation Christian leaders and churches across the former Soviet Union.

At Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps, children and teenagers . . .

…discover God’s love

In Moldova, cancer is one of the major causes of death. Tragically, early detection and treatment are rare, and children with cancer have a low survival rate.

Young Next Generation Christians in Moldova wanted their evangelistic summer camp to be a place of hope and joy for these children and their caregivers. The camp’s theme for the week was, “Searching for Great Discoveries,” and 15-year-old Sasha was about to make the greatest discovery of his life—God’s love.

Battling brain cancer, Sasha lived with his grandmother, and one by one, his friends and classmates stopped hanging out with him as they heard he had cancer.

Once friendly and outgoing, Sasha was now hardened to life and people. When he arrived at camp, he ignored everyone.

One of the camp leaders decided to do something about the barrier Sasha had erected, and asked the teenager for some help . . . and God’s love began to melt the heart of this hurting teenager.

The next day, Sasha talked with the other campers, and helped with activities and games for the parents. The last day of camp, Sasha confessed that he hadn’t planned on making friends at camp, but he did.

His grandmother added, “Thank you for inviting us here. At this camp, I learned that when things are very hard God is nearby and He hears us. We will definitely attend church when we return home.”

Learn from His Word

Sergey had been to enough camps to last him a lifetime, and hated every single one.

When Sergey was invited to one of Russian Ministries’ evangelistic camps in Moldova, his first reaction was to say, “No. I thought it would be just like all the other camps, but my mother convinced me to go.”

It only took a couple of days for Sergey to settle in, and realize that this camp was different from the other camps he had attended. “This camp had a warm, open atmosphere,” explained Sergey.

The fourth day of camp, Sergey picked up a Bible for the first time in his young life, and read the first six chapters of the gospel of Matthew. “I am so grateful to this camp for changing me, and I think for the better,” said Sergey. “I will keep coming to camp until they kick me out!”

Grow in Their Faith

Tanya and Valya are both seventeen years old. Both like to cook and both live at the same orphanage in the Rovno region.

The two girls also spend their summers at one of Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps.

Each summer, Next Generation Christian leaders from Rovno have a summer camp for orphans all over the region. “We’ve known Tanya and Valya for a few years now,” explained one of the Next Generation leaders. “We have a ministry in their orphanage and they’ve been coming to camp.”

This summer, the girls helped out the camp staff with younger children from the orphanage. “They acted like leaders,” said one of the camp leaders.

Tanya and Valya remember when these Next Generation Christians first came to their orphanage and told the children that Jesus loved and cared for them.

This summer was Tanya and Valya’s last summer at camp.

They’re “graduating” from the orphanage and will head off to cooking school together. But the girls won’t forget the Next Generation Christians who came to the orphanage and told them about Jesus, and gave them opportunities to grow in their faith at summer camp.

Thank you for your part in helping to send these children and teenagers to our summer camps, and for giving them opportunities to discover God’s love, learn from His Word and grow in their faith.

*Number of children reached/total number of camps:

Russia: 2900 campers/39 camps

Ukraine: 2730 campers/31 camps

Belarus: 2188 campers/36 camps

Moldova: 465 campers/5 camps

Total number of campers: 8,283

Total number of camps: 111

It might appear that there isn’t much reason for hope or joy in the former Soviet Union.

Summertime violence continued to rock the Northern Caucasus.

The global economic crisis has hit the former Soviet Union hard.

The once wide-open door for the gospel is slowly closing in Russia.

Several years ago, city officials in Moscow seized the prime property of a protestant church for no reason or cause.

Church members decided to fight city hall to get their property back. But the old adage that you can’t fight city hall proved true—two pastors of the church spent five days in jail for picketing the Moscow mayor’s office.

In Moldova, when the communist party declared victory in the April general election, students stormed the parliament in the capital city of Chisinau, and rioting broke out on the streets.

At the end of July, Moldovans returned to the polls in a rerun of April, but with different results: the ruling communist party lost its majority in parliament.

As politicians talk about alliances and decry violence, young Next Generation Christians burn brightly for Jesus, and bring His hope to a lost and restless generation across the former Soviet Union.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Moldova—one of the poorest countries in Europe.

There, young Next Generation Christians gathered for the third annual Lighter Youth Arts Festival at the end of August. Originally intended as a music festival, the festival quickly expanded to include other arts.

At Lighter 2009, these young Christian artists performed original works, ranging from hip-hop, to rap, poetry, theater, dance and video.

The art festival not only provided an outlet of creative expression for these young artists, but also provided a place where young Christians, after a full summer of ministry, could relax, exchange ideas and draw closer to God.

Young musicians from various churches united to help lead in worship during the festival. These morning and evening worship times were a balm to many creative souls.

The second day of the festival, Zhenya softly admitted, “This summer I worked with deaf children. As I saw their suffering, I shut God out. I didn’t understand why He allowed these children to live their whole lives without hearing the wonderful sounds of music. For two months, I didn’t pray. It was as if something inside of me had broken. But when I came here, God calmed my heart, and now it sings again.” After sharing this testimony, she performed an original work, signing as she sang.

Dima leads a club ministry at a church in Chisinau. At the festival, Dima slowed down and discovered new strength for serving Christ. Anya, who just turned to Christ a month ago, said, “At this festival I met young people who are so open and friendly that I received an unforgettable jolt of energy. I decided to start music lessons this year because I want to learn to create…”

Forty of these young artists committed themselves to deeper ministry, and expressed a desire to participate in events and projects that help people living with HIV/AIDS, children with cancer as well as other at-risk adults and children.

Alexander’s journey from despair to hope began two years ago at Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camp in Moldova. The week before he arrived at camp, 15-year-old Alexander had contemplated suicide. He had stood by helplessly when his older brother, a drug addict, leaped to his death from the roof of a multi-story building. Alexander blamed himself for his brother’s death, and lived with a heavy burden of guilt and shame.

At home, his alcoholic father did nothing to ease Alexander’s guilt, and his mother visited fortune-tellers who declared the family cursed, and predicted that Alexander would also take his own life.

Alexander was ready to end his life, but God intervened when some Christian young people from a local evangelical church invited Alexander to summer camp.

At camp, Alexander discovered God’s love and grace. Now filled with joy, instead of despair, Alexander returned home, became involved in the church—and every day brought more changes in his life.

Last summer, Alexander returned to camp with 11 of his friends, where they heard about Jesus for the first time. Stas, one of Alexander’s friends trusted Jesus and is following Him. The two boys are pictured at right.

A secure online gift to summer camps will help more teenagers like Alexander and his friend discover God’s love.

In July, 700 young people attended the Rovno (Ukraine) Youth Festival. While the majority of the young people were followers of Jesus, about a third were young people who didn’t know Christ and were curious about the festival.

Each day featured biblical teaching, workshops and team sports such as soccer, volleyball and Frisbee competitions. The theme of the festival was “The Life of Faith,” and young people were challenged to live a life of faith and produce positive fruit.

During the festival, some of the young people went into the nearby village to share the gospel. They helped the old, the physically challenged and the poor—encouraging them and sharing the good news. Later, several people from the village came to one of the open evening sessions and discovered more about God’s grace and love.

Festival organizers knew God was at work during the festival as they saw young people trust Christ for the first time, and many others make a stronger commitment to God. “All the time during the festival, the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of the young people,” said one young Next Generation Christian leader.

Here are some comments from a few of the young people who attended the festival.

It is my first time at the festival. Even though I’m not a Christian, I am very much impressed with what took place here. I enjoyed this time very much and I hope that it is not my last time at such a festival.

Actually, I didn’t expect that God would be working in our hearts with such strength. He talked to my heart, revealed a lot to me. I am grateful for all of you! May the Lord bless you!

The festival was great! I gained a lot of useful and valuable knowledge here that caused me to evaluate my faith and my personal relationship with God.

This summer, young Next Generation Christian leaders will hold evangelistic summer camps for children and young people such as Sasha, and give them hope for the future.

Sasha’s father and grandfather shared a common bond: They were both alcoholics. As a child, Sasha was often the target of his father’s drunken rages. As a young teenager, Sasha became involved in an evangelical church in Chishinau, Moldova.

Life continued to be hard for Sasha, especially when his much-loved older brother began drinking heavily. “When he got drunk he always said that life made no sense,” Sasha remembers; then two years ago, Sasha’s brother committed suicide.

Despondent over his brother’s death, Sasha turned his back on God.

When some Next Generation Christians from the church found out about his situation, they invited Sasha to one of Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps.

The camp staff was aware of Sasha’s unhappiness and gave him extra care and attention, but Sasha was fighting an internal, spiritual battle.

One day, Sasha told his counselor that his family was cursed, and all of them were meant to die. He also said that he did not see the way out. Sasha had contemplated suicide, and even had gone as far as to choose when and how he would kill himself.

At the same time, Sasha longed to turn to the Lord, but had convinced himself that God wouldn’t forgive or accept him. His counselor gently asked if he and Sasha could pray together. Sasha quietly confessed that no, he couldn’t pray, but would his counselor pray for him.

As his counselor prayed, Sasha began his journey back to God, and promised to start attending church and youth meetings again.

One child + one week of summer camp = one changed life. It’s a simple equation with eternal results—as Sasha discovered.

This summer, Russian Ministries has the opportunity to reach 5,000 children and young people like Sasha with the good news of Jesus.

You can be a part of the equation and help send children and young people to a life-changing week of summer camp.

This summer, Russian Ministries has the opportunity to reach 5,000 children and young people like Sasha with the good news of Jesus, but your support is needed.

Click here for a recent interview Sergey Rakhuba, senior vice-president, did with Mission Network News (MNN): www.mnnonline.org/article/11433

“YOU +” CONFERENCE ATTRACTS 800 CHRISTIAN YOUTH

On May 30, approximately 800 young national Christians gathered in Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova, for “You +”—a special event that was part of a “Time to Live!” rally sponsored by Russian Ministries in the former Soviet Union. About 100 young people from non-Christian backgrounds also participated in the event.

The conference was designed for youth to look at themselves from a positive perspective—no small feat in a country where young people face unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse and even human trafficking. Moldova ranks first in human trafficking in Europe.

However, through the redemptive work of Christ, God has a positive perspective on these young national believers. The conference zeroed in on 2 Peter 1:13, which states that God has blessed His followers with the gift of righteousness, and in Him they are strong. Young people are already a “plus” in God’s eyes, in church and in society.

This theme was emphasized by local Pastors Peter Litnevsky and Viktor Myrza, who are passionate about reaching out to youth, along with Michael Cherenkov, vice-president of Russian Ministries’ in-country affiliate, the Association of Spiritual Renewal. (Cherenkov traveled from Kiev, Ukraine to attend the event.)

Three local churches in Chisinau participated in the conference, with the support of 15 other local congregations. The three main churches were Agape Church, Light to the World, and the Veritas church—a church “without walls.” The Association for Spiritual Renewal/Russian Ministries initiated and funded this rally that motivated and mobilized the Next Generation to be proactive in their Christian walk and witness.

Along with the seminars, “You +” also featured Sergei Briksa, a popular musician and the band “Sons of Day,” from the U.S. They filled the meeting with music and their positive attitudes toward their faith. The musicians also talked about their return to Jesus after a period of meaningless wanderings. They are now using their talents in evangelizing this young generation.

About 20 students from Chisinau’s School Without Walls volunteered at the meeting, and passed out fliers, greeted and seated participants, maintained order in the facility, and put into practice some of the training they received in the classroom.

Near the end of the conference, participants were challenged to renew their commitment for ministry. A sea of hands went up in the packed community center as an affirmation that God is at work, and that “YOU+” is in fact God working through them.

“Each time I see young people who are being inspired for the ministry and rejoicing in Jesus, I realize that all of our efforts were not in vain. It’s worth the risk to give ourselves for their sake, for the sake of the Kingdom in their hearts, and for the One who saved us all,” declared Vladimir Ubeyvolk, director of Russian Ministries’ ministry center in Moldova.

Many young people came that night with intention only to listen to the music and left with their hearts changed for deeper commitment and ready to spread His Kingdom. As the young people left the conference, hundreds of excited voices echoed, “You are a plus.” And indeed this Next Generation is a plus to God, their churches and society—a positive force poised to bring Jesus to their generation.

Conference organizers were pleased to see a group of 20 teenagers from an orphanage at the event. Afterwards, they connected with Christian youth, and asked all s orts of questins about the issues the “You +” conference addressed.

Here are some comments from participants.

“Thank you very much for setting up the festival. These days we hear so much about what we should do, and so little about who we are.”—Inna

“We had a blast! Briksa and our pastors explored and showed to us the other side of our minds—the positive one.”—Sergei

“Before this event I just couldn’t visualize how people from various denominations could simply be together, vibrantly rejoicing in God, and not blaming one another.”—Pavel

“I was pleasantly surprised that no one at the meeting attempted to advertise their own church, instead the organizers would encourage us to stick to our churches and inspired us to live out a ‘plus’ lifestyle.”—Anya

Dear brother or sister in Christ,

My name is Stepan Turnaev and I am 24 years old and I am already working as a plumbing sales manager here in Tumen City in Siberia. Writing this letter I want to express my heartfelt thank you for being instrumental in helping me to find Jesus Christ who became my friend and my personal Savior. It happened six years ago here, in 2002, in Tumen where I still live with my family. I was invited to spend one week in a camp “The Ark” that was organized by a local church in an old pioneer’s campground in the area that once belonged to the communist party of Russia. I remember that I was so hesitant if I should accept that invitation. My parents did not care much if I went. They were mostly preoccupied with their work issues and social life living my summer along for me to decide to what trouble to get into. And those bad ideas were coming so often from my teenage friends that most of the time they got us into a lot of trouble. I loved my summer freedom and usually would spend all days and even nights on the streets experimenting with alcohol, weed smoking, stealing, fighting, etc. Nevertheless after receiving that invitation to spend one week in a camp I thought I should try it especially if it was already paid for by someone else. And if I did not like it I would just leave. So, I took that “risk” and went there. First day or two I felt very uncomfortable there since I have never been with Christians before and thought that they were just weird people who called themselves Christians because they just stayed away from fun, smoking, drinking, etc. . . . Not like my parents and their friends.

I loved sport games that were so well organized with prizes given at the end of each game and thought that I could tolerate all that other stuff just because of sport. However once in the evening, after a very good dinner, (by the way, food at the camp was just unbelievable), we had a bonfire and our leader, Pavel, shared a story of how he was searching for a spiritual satisfaction in his life when he was sixteen and that is when he was given a New Testament where he read and learned about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Son of God and who can live in the heart of a person. Pavel even shared how after a certain struggle of accepting this idea of Christ, he opened his heart for Jesus and then he confirmed that where He (Jesus) now lives. This was a discovery for me since I always thought that Jesus was not real, and for some He was an image in the form of an icon hanging in the corner of my grandmother’s house. I immediately realized that even if I wanted to
ask Jesus in my heart He probably would not want to live there—my heart was too dirty to make it a home for Jesus, the Son of God. At the end of that camp that I loved so much and where I made so many new good friends who did not try to tempt me into bad stuff like my street friends at home I
wanted to keep in touch with them even after the camp was over.

On the final night, around the fire, Pavel shared again and asked if he could help any one of us to take a first step toward Jesus tonight and to open our hearts for Him. Now my memory often goes back to that night by the fire when I felt Pavel’s strong hand on my shoulder when, for the first time in my life, I was praying to Jesus asking Him to come to my heart. And I am so grateful to Him that He did come and cleansed it with His precious and powerful blood and gave me a wonderful life and hope in Him. The next day morning I rushed home and couldn’t wait to see my dad and mom. I shared all about Jesus with my parents and then with friends. It is another story. I am so grateful that, after a while, my parents also accepted Jesus and now serve Him in the same church that six years ago because of Pavel’s desire and, as I have learned later, because of funds from Christians in U.S, he was able to organize that camp where many young people like myself had an opportunity to learn about God and His love.

I was told that you’ve generously supported summer camps ministry in my country, Russia. I am sharing this story because I want to encourage and bless you for playing a special part in my story. So, because of you who provided funds for brother Pavel at that time to have that camp available for many young people I now know Jesus and serve Him. I went through training as a youth leader. Now we with several of my friends and leaders from church are getting ready for this summer and praying that God would supply enough funds for us to be able to bring 200 children to a camp where I am preparing to serve as a leader now.

Please pray for me. I hope I can be like brother Pavel who had helped me to take my first step of faith and to invite Jesus to my heart so that I can teach many other children and young people about God and help them to take that first step of faith.

Thank you and may God bless you!

Stepan Turnaev
Evangelical Church “Spiritual renewal”
Tumen, Western Siberia

Once again, a team of energetic young Next Generation Christians from Vladikavkaz will pass through checkpoints, unload and reload vans for security checks, then finally arrive in Grozny to hold an evangelistic summer camp for children in this war-weary capital city of Chechnya.

Among this year’s team is a young man named Mayerbek Kusov. For Mayerbek, this trip to Chechnya represents much more than a week of summer camp. It is a chance to bury the ghost of revenge and embrace a one-time sworn enemy.

“I am a Christian now,” says Mayerbek, but he wasn’t in September 2004, when Chechen Muslim terrorists attacked School No. 1 in Beslan, Russia, and killed over 300 people, many of them children, during the three-day siege.

Mayerbek’s youngest sister Fatima was killed as were some of his friends. “For the longest time, we wanted revenge,” recalls Mayerbek. “This is part of our tradition, a sort of law—blood should be repaid with enemy’s blood. Then something happened to me.”

Some of Mayerbek’s friends invited him to a concert and discussion at the youth ministry center Russian Ministries opened in Beslan after the school tragedy. Mayerbek knew what to expect, because he had attended a summer camp the Beslan ministry center and the church in Vladikavkaz—where Gennady Terkun is pastor—had organized.

But Mayerbek was unprepared for what Marina and Allan, two young Next Generation Christian leaders, were planning to do—to go to Chechnya to help people who had suffered from the ongoing war in that region.

“I was stunned as they told us that forgiving one’s enemies was a lot more difficult, but more noble than taking revenge, and living only to make plans on how to repay enemies with the same evil,” explains Mayerbek.

Marina and Allan pointed out that a person could forgive his enemies when he followed Jesus. This initial discussion led to more visits and more in-depth conversations, and the day finally came when Mayerbek surrendered to God.

“My Christian friends did go on a mission to Chechnya, but it was not the mission my other friends and I always planned for—a mission to kill Chechen children since they killed children in our school. This was a different mission,” says Mayerbek.

The group had organized an evangelistic summer camp for children in Chechnya.

“At first Chechen children and their parents were suspicious because they thought that the Christian youth from Beslan came to do evil to them. But after several days of camp, everyone was amazed that, instead of bringing evil, they shared love and kindness with them,” Mayerbek describes the impact the camp had.

This summer, as Mayerbek travels to Grozny, gone is his need for revenge and in its place is a desire to share Jesus’ love with the children of Chechnya. “God’s love is powerful! His love is more powerful than evil!” declares Mayerbek.

One Child + One Week of Summer Camp = One Changed Life

It’s a simple equation that has eternal results for campers and for counselors alike.

You can stand behind young Next Generation Christians like Mayerbek as they share God’s love with thousands of children and young people at Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps.

We especially ask for your prayers and financial support of the 2008 summer evangelistic camps. In Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, the cost of living has risen 25-30% and the dollar is dropping in value.

Additional funds are still needed in order not to cut back on the number of children who can come to these life-changing camps.

A gift of $50 will send one child to camp and provide one Bible, a gift of $100 will send two children to camp and provide two Bibles, and a gift of $150 will send three children to camp and provide three Bibles.

To make a secure online gift to summer camps, click here.