We are praising God for the great start to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange. We are especially encouraged by the generosity of God’s people during these tough economic times.

We would like this project to finish well this Christmas season, by making it possible for 30,000 at-risk children from war-ravaged South Ossetia to the remote far north to the crowded streets of Moscow to receive Christmas presents and Bibles from hundreds of young Next Generation Christians.

You can support these young Next Generation Christian leaders with a gift to Project Hope. For just $25.00, you can help provide a Christmas gift and a Bible for one child. To make a gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange, click here.

Your gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange will bring Christmas hope and joy to needy children and their families such as those who live in Russia’s far north.

Residents of the small village of Salemal in Russia’s far north region of Yamel vividly remember when the Internat, a state-run boarding school, burned down a few years ago. Eight precious lives were lost as young children and school staff escaped the flaming building.

When young Next Generation Christians from Salekhard heard about the tragedy, they traveled to the village bringing aid as well as hope and comfort to the parents still grieving the loss of their children.

At that time, several families heard the gospel, trusted Jesus, and a new church began in that village. One couple whose son perished in the fire even had a new baby they had named Nadezhda, which means “hope” in Russia.

Eventually a new Internat was built to replace the one that had burned, and new houses were built for parents who had lost their children.

Christmas hope came to that village when young Next Generation Christians visited the new school, their arms filled with packages—and in each Christmas present was a children’s Bible.

These presents, lovingly and carefully packed by young Next Generation Christian leaders and local evangelical churches, were part of Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

This Christmas, young Next Generation Christians all across Russia will once again share the good news of Jesus’ birth with 30,000 at-risk children through Project Hope: the Great Gift Exchange. These are children who have been abandoned by their parents and live in orphanages or roam the streets of Moscow and other urban centers—children who need the hope of Christmas.

For those who live in the Chicago area, Russian Ministries and WMBI Chicago are working together to feature Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange 2008 on 90.1FM, now through December 19.

We encourage you to listen to WMBI throughout the day as the station features Project Hope, including an interview with Anita Deyneka, president of Russian Ministries, at 10:00, Thursday, December 11 and Sergey Rakhuba, senior vice-president, on the morning show on Monday, December 15.

Read an interview with Sergey Rakhuba on Mission Network News.