To Russia With His Love

Birthday Party


Russian Youth


Me with Nikita from Kaliningrad




After living in Finland for over one year now, I have finally made my first entry into the great country of Russia. Pastor Schaller, Pastor Juha, Pastor Kimmo, and I went with a small team across the border to our annual Winter Conference in St. Petersburg, hosted by our Greater Grace church which is located there. It was an amazing time of fellowship, conviction, brokenness, and growth in the midst of such quality believers. We were together practically all day for three days, with services, raps, meetings, personal fellowship, and outreach filling up our tight schedule. On Tuesday night we had a youth rap with about 15 people on the topic of how precious Jesus Christ is to God, to the Body, and to the individual believer. Afterwards we sang and discussed different topics late into the night. It was so good to be there and to connect with such beautiful believers. We are praying to have a youth conference there in April with young people from all of our Russian churches. Also we have invited them to come to our International Youth Event that we will have in July with Pastor Love. I believe God has not finished with His work in the great land of Russia and the young people raised up in our churches there will play a major role in the furtherance of the Gospel in the coming years.

While we were there, I was thinking of how many years our ministry has had an impact in that place. The first time someone from our ministry went there was in the mid-70s, while a young Pastor Schaller was leading the church in Helsinki, Finland. Over the years we have seen the ups and downs of church work in that part of the world. However, most importantly, we have seen what the Love of God can do in Russian people's lives. Many of our  leaders in Greater Grace have spent time preaching the Gospel in Russia and the former Soviet states over the past 35 years, including Pastor Chris Moore, Pastor Matti Sirvio, Pastor Walsh, and many others. It truly is a key place for the advance of the glorious Gospel of Grace as we carry it onward into the uttermost parts of this fallen earth.

Turkey

It is so interesting to me how this world is set up. People spend their entire lives trying to avoid heartbreak, avoid despair, avoid trouble, meanwhile they become so preoccupied with avoiding it they live in the fear of it. Even as Christians, we tend to think of the Grace of God as a big bubble that keeps us safe from the worries and pressures of this life. However when we look at the scriptures we are amazed to find that all of the great things that happened and all the great characters that were revealed, were forged in the midst of serious trouble, persecution, and ungodliness. We try to avoid getting our feet dirty but the result is we end up never seeing God do anything amazing. We never see people freed from the power of demons, never see a wicked sinner turn to the Living God, and never see a sick man healed because we avoid these situations in the name of "guarding our heart" or not having an appearance of evil.  I think people throw around those phrases too flippantly, just using them so that they can justify their spiritual laziness and their fear of getting involved in the lives of sinners. Jesus didn't do this. Philip didn't do this. Moses didn't do this. They lived for God and they got involved in the lives of troubled people. Let's allow God to put people in our lives that are troubled with demons, sickness, unbelief, and maybe He will also give us the dynamic Grace and wisdom to be Christ to these people. God can do amazing things through us in the power of the Holy Spirit if we would only be available. How can the Grace of God teach us to deny ungodliness if we shelter ourselves from ungodliness altogether. How can the light of our convictions shine when we hide it from the world in our little assemblies and parties. Let's stay on the move, stay close to the heartbeat of God, and stay tightly knit to the Body as we go on to win more by His Grace.

Here are some pictures from Turkey and Cyprus. I spent the last few weeks traveling to Berlin, Istanbul, and Cyprus and now I am in the USA for the month of December. When I return to Finland I will head to St. Petersburg with Pastor Schaller and then following that we will look towards our second semester of BIBLE SCHOOL in Helsinki. Our youth ministry in Finland is growing and we hope to see new young people in our Bible school there in this next semester. Keep us in prayer and the ministry in Helsinki. We have a vision to continue to reach Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, and farther out in places like Sicily, Cyprus, Egypt, China, and the uttermost parts of this crazy planet.