Home

We're back! Thank you to everyone who supported us and prayed for us while we were gone. God did some major work and encouraged us in so many ways!

I may write one more post here later to talk about ministry in Moscow and what it looks like. But for now I just wanted to close out with a thank you. All the support means so much and truly makes these trips possible. We have to have these trips, especially to Moscow. The spiritual need is so great. Thank you for partnering with us.

I will be sending out a newsletter in the next few weeks about the trip with some specific stories to my supporters. You were very much so involved with this project, and I want you to know what it looked like at it's core.

Thanks again. God bless,
Stephen

Debriefing

Debriefing went well! We're leaving St. Petersburg in an hour on an overnight train, waking up in Moscow. Tomorrow will be a rest day to prepare us for our day of traveling home.

Can't wait to see you all soon. Processing the trip for the past two days has been a BIG help. It'll be great to be home to share more in detail what God has done in our hearts and the students we've met!

Love you all. Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Do You Know What You Believe?

Most of us know what we think on certain subjects—our beliefs on controversial ideas, life, values, and on and on.

But I beg to ask this question:

Why?

Do we know WHY we believe these things?

Do you know why you believe life is valuable? Do you know why you go to church?

Or why you pray?
Or why you believe there's a heaven and a hell?
Or why you believe Jesus is God?
Or why He has the right to forgive you?

Or maybe why you don't agree with some/any of the above?

Do we really stop to examine the "Why?"

Yesterday three of us on the team grabbed a Russian bible and sat down to pray. We decided it was appropriate for us to give a bible to one student we've been meeting with over the past few weeks. (His name is Igor. He works at Dunkin' Donuts. He's pretty much the kindest, gentlest guy you'd ever meet.)

"Father, we want to show him how much we care about him. We want to show him truth, freedom, life, hope, joy. We want him to know YOU. Please help us to pick out verses to underline and bookmark that would most clearly show him You. Father, we don't want to overwhelm him, but just to show him (in a small way) that we love him, and care deeply about his heart—just as you do. Help us pick out the top 15 or 20 scriptures that You desire to use to reveal yourself to Him."

(The prayer was something like that, not word for word.. Consider it more like a paraphrase. Right?)

But that's where our hearts were, asking God to use His divine scripture to reveal Himself to one of His yearning children. To bring him home.

It went really well. After a short while the three of us agreed on a set of verses/passages and later marked them up with highlighter and a few bookmarks. We're going to write him a note in the front cover and give it on Saturday before we leave.

(So please pray over it.)

But it got me thinking: If YOU had to pick 15-20 verses or passages out of the bible (or just the New Testament) to best illustrate the truth of the gospel, Christ's deity, God's character—love and justice— What would you pick??

It's difficult. It really is. But it's an incredible exercise and I highly recommend it. If you need to do it in a group, do so! For us, doing it in a group helped because what one of us didn't know someone else offered, and vice versa.

Which then brings me back to the post's first question:

Do we know WHY we believe what we do?

Do we search the deepest parts of the scriptures to understand God? To really know Him? To nitpick the gritty details about our faith? To feel the weight of the implications?

Or do we simply rely on someone else to figure it all out for us? Maybe the overly spiritual guy down the street.. Or what about Pastor _________, "Yeah I'll just soak up everything he has to say via podcast, no need for the actual good book itself!"

If someone asked you for a written out statement of faith of your deepest held beliefs, could you back it up with scripture? For instance, "I believe Jesus' words are truth because He claimed it in John 14:6, and then resurrected from the dead (Luke 24), conquering what no man ever has."

At this point I can't say that I could write out a set of beliefs and back them all up with scripture, not even close. But that's a goal of mine when I get back, and I think a very healthy one! A healthy one not because God will like me anymore for knowing more scripture—He's already fully and completely in love with me, and YOU—

Even still, I'd really like to not only know what I believe, but why! Wouldn't you? Partner with me, let's all do it!

Encouragement And Things To Pray

God has been showering us with blessings over the past few weeks. He has opened doors to conversations that we never saw coming. He has brought encouragement when we least expected it, and reminded us time and time again that we're not in control,

That He's sovereign,

And that He's in love with every heart we talk to.

-------------------

One quick story: David and I met three students (one girl and two guys) one day at Linguistics who were anything but spiritually interested. As I held my breath to refrain from inhaling their cigarette smoke, we looked to initiate a deep conversation, but it didn't happen. They simply cared to discuss was how to get into clubs, how to woo girls with crude language, etc.

Nevertheless, we exchange numbers! As we walked away David and I prayed for their hearts, that they might feel a need to ask questions about life. We prayed that God might generate some sort of desire within themselves to know Him, because there wasn't anything we could do. It was one of the most discouraging conversations we'd had.

Saturday morning the girl of the group texted David to find out if we were still going to the park. David arranged for them to meet us on the platform at 1:30pm. I communicated to David that I hoped it was a good idea. Honestly, I thought it might be disruptive for the ministry as a whole. I wasn't too thrilled to have a group so disinterested in spiritual things. Who knows, maybe they'd continue to express a "too cool" mentality, preventing spiritually-thirsty students from hearing the gospel? (Deep down I knew that I could not see what God had planned, and I had to trust Him. But that's hard sometimes, ya know?)

At the platform we met two girls and one guy. One less guy and one more girl than eхpected. And as the afternoon progressed, I quickly learned that the negative attitudes I had attributed to the whole group only stemmed from the one guy who didn't come! The other guy, Alex, and I spent most of the afternoon together. We played catch with the baseball, played a board game with a big group, and then ended with one of the most encouraging spiritual conversations I'd had on the trip yet. He prays because he thinks it works, and he thinks that if the gospel is in fact true, that it is an "amazing" thing. We talked about hope, and how we put it in fleeting things, rather than satisfying truth.

Then it started to rain. We all ran for the trees and covered ourselves as quickly as possible. But I knew God was at work. In the conversation Alex agreed to meet and talk more. After the rain I asked him if we could continue the conversation we'd started. He agreed assuredly.

We're hanging out on Friday. I'm confident that he doesn't have a bible, and hope to give him one and encourage him in his budding faith.

--------------------

Stories like this have been prevalent. God shows up even when we have low expectations. Why? Paul would say, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves" 2 Cor. 4:7.

We carry the gospel around in our limited human selves. We can't see the future. We can't see the hearts He wants to change. We sin, sometime hurting the feelings of others even when that's our last desire. We lack faith in the glory His power and the weight of His love.

And IN THAT, the gospel points clearly to a God that so furiously cares. In our limitedness, people see His unlimited love and mercy.

How beautiful.

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6) -- the reality we carry with ourselves as speak to students. We have hope to offer, truth to encourage with, and power that only comes from God changing hearts.

We wait patiently for Him to show Himself. And He is. In small ways time and time again He is showing His faithfulness. Thank you for your prayers, they are powerful.

Hearts to pray for:

Max
Mark
Erik
Igor
Alex
Irina
Michael
Azar
Andrew
Ilya
Dasha
Sasha
Aljona
Ignat
Katya
Kristina
Dimitri
Dimitri
Susha
Max

I know there are more, but those are the students that are closest to our ministry team. Please pray for amazing conversations this week, for continually flourishing relationships (even when we get back to the States), and that the hearts of these students would be opened to the sweetness of the gospel.

Thanks for all your love and support.
Stephen

Last Week of Ministry!

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement for the last few months, and weeks especially. It's hard to believe we're coming down to our last full week of ministry here in Moscow! This week will be our busiest one yet, full of appointments, an English club set up by one of our teams to converse with students, and several cultural activities.

As we're trying to finish wholeheartedly, please continue to pray. We've had many deep, spiritual conversations with students on campuses, at the park on Saturdays, and during appointments. I've strayed away from sharing many specific stories because it would take too long because there are so many. But please know that God has been doing some amazing things, bringing encouragement when it's least expected!

Please pray:

--that God would guide our steps to those who need Him badly
--that our hearts would break for them, that they don't have Christ
--that we would speak as God would desire for us to this week, in appointments and on campus
--that we would be able to discern the heart needs of those we talk to so that we can respond accordingly, not being pushy and respecting where they're at, while also keeping in mind the number one love story we have to share
--that students' eyes would be enlightened to the gospel, it's freedom, hope, peace, and joy
--that we would see God work in our lives and those around us in ways we would never expect

The next few posts will be encouraging stories from the past two weeks!! I cant wait to share with you the little ways God has shown His love, for us and for the Moscow students!! He is always good.

Love you all,
Stephen

The Omnipresent Nature of Sin

Sin is everywhere, it's not localized to a location, profession or circumstance. If you struggle with greed as a business man, greed will not disappear if you decide to suddenly enter the field of education and teach at a university. Somehow, whether its as you pass the Salvation Army bell ringer during Christmas or when a waiter messes up the check at a colleague dinner, the greed will appear. It's not restrained, you can't simply escape it!

Okay, maybe changing fields away from such a lucrative one will provide less opportunities for greed to manifest itself. Definitely true. And more often than not, it's a good decision to remove yourself from such a situation, especially if that greed could slowly consume you past the point of wise financial decisions to cheating, stealing, insider trading, etc.

Is it not true though, that removing yourself from business will not protect you from the ability of something else to become your god? For instance, pride? (We could even say that pride may have been greed's fuel in the first place, as more money means more opportunities, more success, more eyes on me.) You soon discover that the avoidance of greed by quitting business and becoming a professor left you widely vulnerable to the sin of pride--knowing more, researching better, having more speaking engagements. These things then begin to consume. There's unrest when you're not at the top, just like the unrest you felt at the colleague dinner when you were cheated out of five dollars.

Hopeless?

Seem like a downward slope?

It's likely that this game of avoidance is the #1 pitfall of our Christian culture. It's likely that we're doomed to always struggle, regardless of location, status, or emotional state. It's likely that sin will appear, even when we try to avoid it so avidly.

Why can't we just cure ourselves of our parts that we can't stand? Why can't I come to Moscow and see my pride simply disappear? Maybe it does become easier to get over yourself in a city of 12-15 million. But for me, when such a struggle seems to improve, something else, whether impatience or greed, quickly fills its shoes.

So if sin management doesn't work...if we can't just cover up impatience by finding new friends...if we can't just cover up a struggle with the approval of others by making better grades...if we can't simply change circumstances to deal with our sin...

What

Do

We

Do?

Jesus would say, focus on Him. Jesus would say, "You're not supposed to be able to fix yourself." Jesus would tell us to embrace His love, chew on it, let it envelope and overwhelm us. He would say, "I've already conquered it for you, if you'll just let me."

"It is finished."

Your sin doesn't own you. Your sin does not define you. You may battle it, but it is not YOU. If you accept Christ's redeeming love, then Christ defines you. You are His. And He conquered.

Therefore, if we want to overcome our bad parts, we must turn our eyes from self-condemnation and self-help books to the ridiculous, outrageously beautiful love that God manifested in His Son Jesus Christ.

As we focus more on the love of Christ, it's implications, and its relevance (of which this is a discussion), the more we will value it. The more of Him we see and discover, the more valuable to us He will appear. And as His value increases, the value of everything else of this world surely decreases.

As a dirty, sinful woman cried for mercy at His feet, Jesus explained His radical acceptance of her to a religious leader by saying this, "For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." Luke 7:47

We must break free from the trap of trying to trim down our sin by changing circumstances, because the act of sin is only the symptom. The real issue is one of the heart much deeper down, and the only cure is to allow ourselves to fall more in love with HIM, Christ, for how great His mercy truly is. We must cling to Christ, beg Him for intimacy, and allow ourselves to enter a childlike sense of awe. What does God promise?

"Delight yourself in Me;
And I will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

We get more of Him.
The world is minimally appealing when compared to this grand of a love.
And we grow like we've never grown before.

Met with Andrew today

David and I met with Andrew today. It was an awesome conversation. I'd say it's very likely he is a believer! It would be hard to dissect the whole conversation by typing, but it covered Russian history, tradition, Orthodox Church beliefs and so on.

We asked lots of questions, and he asked back.

It ended with a simple smile and hand shake.

"Maybe we'll get to talk again next week," all three of us hoped as we departed. He is very very busy studying for exams, and couldn't promise anything about his schedule. But his gentle smile and grateful thanks led me to believe that we'll see him again soon.

As David and I walked away we simply turned to each other and said, "Well that was awesome." It's very rare to find believers here, and Andrew's refreshing belief and faith were encouraging to us. Our desire is to be able to connect him with Cru's longterm staff here, that he might find community, be built up and encouraged in his faith. (Pease pray that he would long for these things too!)

Tonight we have team time to enjoy each other's company. We're going to eat at TGI Fridays, which should be a great American break.

Thanks for your prayers. Conversations like the one we had today do NOT happen apart from the Holy Spirit moving in our hearts and the hearts around us. Please continue!

Love you all.

Grateful, He's Faithful

YESTERDAY

Abby and I had a great conversation with three students at Moscow State. It lasted almost an hour and a half!

I've been praying over the last day or two that God would give me the opportunity to share the gospel this week. We've met a lot of students and had great conversations and fun, but I can't bring anything to them of value apart from the gospel.

Like I talked about in my last post, the implications are big time. If I truly believe that I have the best news ever brought to this world, then it's worth sharing! Not pushing it. Simply sharing it! And so I asked God repeatedly that the opportunity to speak about Jesus Christ would come up this week. I prayed that sometime this week I would be able to tell someone about His deity, about why it's relevant, and why anyone would care.

The door presented itself yesterday afternoon while Abby and I spoke to Michael, Alina, and Irina at MSU. We were talking about the differences between Texas, Oklahoma, and Moscow and church came up. Michael said he didn't believe because to him science precludes any belief in God.

"What do you think?" he asked us.

Abby delightfully responded about the freedom she finds in Christ's conquering of death, even when life continues to be difficult, and how amazing it is to be in relationship with such a loving God.

"And you?" he asked me.

I relayed how Christ's ability to bring me to God gives me hope, especially in His intimacy when brokenness seems to reign. I also got to say how my studying of science is enriched by faith!

He then turned to the subject music and what we liked to listen to.

But he asked!

God provided the opportunity, we took it, and left it at that! It's likely that we'll meet up again because they were really interested in exchanging more questions.

But that's the essence of doing ministry. We have an amazing love story that comes in the name of Jesus to quench the heart thirst of every human being. And so we try to create opportunities to tell that truth, and allow it to be heard!

What people do in response is not up to us. (That we leave that to God.)

Nothing happens unless God wills it though. We pray for opportunities and thank Him when they appear, trying to honor Him with each one.

TODAY

David and I spoke with a student named Andrew at our secondary school (MSU for Linguistics). They're always very interested and happy to converse with us, which is very encouraging!

Andrew told us a lot about the government, recent automotive technologies by a Russian oligarch, and the Russian Orthodox Church. As we dug deeper he began to tell us that he believes Russians suffer from greed and the lust of materialism.

(I haven't mentioned this, but everyday we see hundreds of American dream cars. In other words, cars that anyone in our circles would deem the top of the top luxury. BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and Lexus are the chumps. Porsche Cayenne's are about as prevalent here as a nice mini van in the States.

Dont believe me?

On a good day we'll see a Maserati, Ferrari, Aston Martin or Dodge Viper. Just driving by. Yesterday walking at MSU a 15 year-old-looking boy pulled up his Ferrari, parked it in the middle of the street, got out with a popped collar, gave us a glare and then strutted away. Moscow is a RICH city. It's not just a large city with some wealthy people here and there. There is WEALTH. It's hard to imagine that so much money here, whereas the rest of the country must be struggling.)

Needless to say, we nodded to Andrew. He then continued that people should focus more on what life is really about, that which comes after life! David and I surprisingly asked more questions to discover that Andrew believes that heaven and hell are very real, and the only way to get to heaven is by the grace of God.

It was rich.

He really wanted to meet up to talk more. We setup an appointment tomorrow at 11am after one of his tests! It was really encouraging, probably the most encouraging conversation we've had thus far. Even more encouraging than yesterday!

All of this reminds me of a Shane and Shane song called "Over The Sun", where they respond to the book in the bible called Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon, one of the richest men to ever face the earth, comes to the end of his life only to discover the futility of most everything under the sun.

Apart from God that is.

Shane and Shane's song is written as a continuation of Solomon's voice, pleading with us to "get OVER the sun". Andrews plea toward those in Moscow to see what's really important reminded me of Shane and Shane's plea.

The Kingdom of God is at hand! His abundance of hope, peace, freedom and joy!!

Please pray:

For our appointments this week. I'm meeting with Max, Mark, Erik, Andrew, maybe Ilya and maybe Michael.
For their hearts, that we would have fruitful conversations, talking about the deep things of life.
That we would have the opportunity to share the freedom of the gospel MANY times.
That multiple students would see how the gospel truly is GOOD news and would experience it in a new, refreshing, and evident way.

Thankful for:

My extended family, parents and grandparents. I'm so thankful for you all. You have worked hard for years so that opportunities like this one would be available to me. I'm thankful that because of you all I am able to pursue the things that I believe are important, and that you even encourage me through it. You support me in my leadings so much sometimes it's near ridiculous, I don't deserve so much grace. Thank you. Thank you for the sacrifices you've made so that these students might hear.

My supporters. Its hard to believe that I even considered not coming on this trip. There is such a spiritual need here in Moscow. Your willingness to entrust us with your financial support is incredibly encouraging. Thank you. It's not only an honor, but I'm overwhelmed that I get to search for students and point them to the saving grace that comes through the gospel. Because of your generosity, we're here. Thank you for wanting to fill the need here. Thank you.

The Implications

Let's just say, for a moment, that it's all true.

Seriously, what if it really is?

...That a man named Jesus from Nazareth really was, in fact, the Son of God...That this bible book people carry around for years and pass through generations really carries truth...That the Christmas we celebrate each year actually means something...That the Easter our country likes to deem important is really so much more than just another Sunday?

What if?

Some would say, So what?

I'd like to examine, What if?

First, it's easy to say that the implications are grand. They're grander, in fact, than any decision you'll make for the rest of your life. The implications are so great that men who knew Jesus personally refused to recant their belief in His deity when threatened to be murdered. The implications are profound enough that His own brother believed Jesus is God after the resurrection. His own brother! Really? Just imagine that.

If true, such large implications of this Man dying and rising from the dead are worth exploring.

Right?

Forget the "So what?" and let's just for a moment examine the "What if?":

If He truly did rise on the third day, if He really is God, if He truly conquered death--the one thing always unconquerable by man lifetime after lifetime--then truth must have reigned on His lips. Then the words He spoke while here must be the most important words ever spoken. Then His words carry more weight than President Obama's, Oprah's, Katie Couric's, Dan Rather's, Chris Berman's, Stuart Scott's, and the Supreme Court's words combined. (Think I hit relevant for everyone there.)

What. If.

If so. Then I want to know! I want to know it all. I want to know what the Creator of the mountains and volcanoes has to say. I want to know what the Creator of love and relationships has to declare. I want to know what the King of desire, pleasure, and emotion has to reveal. I want to know what the Lord of the climates, the Controller of the planets, the Ruler of ALL rulers

Has

To

Tell

Me.

Seriously. Who wouldn't? (If you say no at this point, just stop reading, your stubbornness and pride are in the way. A certain humility--one that admits that we are not the center of the universe--is the prerequisite for stepping as children into the presence of an outrageously beautiful God. The second prerequisite is believing that such a God actually has something to offer me, that I actually might like, enjoy, or find pleasure in what He has to give. That's next).

So we want to know what this One has to proclaim, what He would dare come to a tired, laboring, twisted, broken world to tell...

You ready?

Seriously.

Brace yourself:

"I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

"I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." (John 6:35)

"Follow me." (John 1:43)

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38)

"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:31-32)

"Everyone who drinks of [earthly] water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." (John 4:14)

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming; when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am HE." (John 4:26)

"I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and find pasture." (John 10:9)

"Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6)

"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made FULL." (John 15:11)

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies." (John 11:25)

What if? What if all the words above carry truth with weight weightier than any word ever spoken? If so, then the life He carries must be

Richer,

Denser,

And more glorious than anything this place could ever offer.

What if trying to satisfy ourselves with more of what we already have--wealth, fame, relationships, comfort--is our downfall? What if the answer is simply more of Him?

What if we actually believed His words, that His name brings more life than anything here? What if the life and joy He says will fill us, actually will?? What if the peace and pasture He declares trump any physical or emotional pleasure we could ever experience?

Then I want it.

I want HIM.

I want more of Him. Not more of this world, it's already failed me many times. I've seen good times, many of them. But they always end... I want TRUE life, the unfleeting kind. The kind He says is eternal, the hope that doesn't waver because He has conquered death, conquered the world.

"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.

---Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.---

BUT if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done-kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love. I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature." (John 15:5-11--MSG)

If it's true,

Let's just say,

There are major implications.

The craziest of all loves is on the line.

And I want it.

Don't you?

Old School

Battleship

For all of us that pronounce Moscow 'moss-cow', we should know that the rest of the world refers to it as 'moss-cowe' as in stow, row, or crow (not now, wow, or cow).

It's a great day to learn something new. Happy Thursday everyone!!

I uploaded a picture of our ministry team in front of the Linguistics School yesterday. From the left was me, Abby, Laura, and David. That is our secondary campus and a great one since every student is studying to be a translator and knows English verrryy well. Some even claimed to know Spanish... They didn't.

We had great conversations with a few groups of students about life and happiness, where they believe it's rooted, and what they think are the most important aspects of life. They really seem to enjoy talking to us, and I think most of them will come on Saturday to hang out! Likewise, it's really been fun getting to ask them questions. Conversations are easy because we're still all just students chatting about life and working through similar struggles!!

We've had a lot of conversations, some that will tell you more about later. Two students today at MSU believed in God and were very interested in talking more about Him and our differing viewpoints. Brian and I then spent 4 hours this afternoon walking all over central Moscow with Vitali, an atheist who the team met last year. He's very intellectually deep and knows a lot about science and philosophy. He took the two of us to a museum of old Soviet arcade games. We shot up what were probably old American enemy ships as Vitali intricately explained each game's instructions. I would say that the majority of games involved submarines or battleships. I would also say that 2 minutes is a very short period of time to sink 25 Navy ships. That would take a military hours at least.

Right? Not fair.

It was cool to play for a while before taking a stroll and addressing the deeper questions of life.

He's one that's not open to Christianity in any way, and I was quick to tell him that convincing our beliefs (or forcing them) was not our goal or productive at all. Rather, we feel as though Christ brings life, meaning, and joy to our broken world by reconciling us to God through Hs perfection. This is good news that needs not to be persuaded, but simply told and the implications examined.

If true, the implications are enormous. He agreed apathetically.

It seems as though intellect and logic keep him from seeing any need for a Savior (even though our prior conversation consisted in him telling about all the lost hope for Russia and how he believed there was nothing anyone could do to save such a corrupt and broken country.)

Brian and I suggested prayer.

The truth is, without God I don't see any hope. Can hope be self-generated? Can we formulate it? Can all of the students that want to leave Russia find perfection in any other country? America fails me daily.

But as Shane & Shane say, "I put my hope in nothing less, than Jesus Christ and His righteousness."

It's the only thing not fleeting, that never runs dry.

"I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." (John 6:35) "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" (7:38)

Our ministry team at the Linguistics School

First day on campus

First I'd like to explain some technical things so that further posts will make sense without much explanation.

Campuses: We went to campus today to talk with students. When we go to campuses during the week we are primarily meeting students and striking up conversations. Sometimes we may share the Gospel if the students seems very interested in spiritual things, but more often than not we simply build relationships and ask questions about what they think on deeper subjects. We then invite them to hangout with us at the park on Saturday, or even setup appointments to meet one-on-one later in the week if they want to talk more. (Campus visits will be Mondays-Wednesdays, Appointments on Thursdays and Fridays, and Park hangout time on Saturdays). While appointments are usually initiated with students who want to talk more one on one, the park will be our whole team playing sports and allowing those interested in simply spending more time with us to come along!

Teams: Our whole group is broken up into three ministry teams, and each team will take on two campuses while here. Yesterday my team went to the linguistics school, and today to Moscow State. We each have a primary campus and a secondary campus. The primary campus is the one we'll focus more on (hence, primary)... Moscow State is my teams primary campus and has a rich history. It was founded in 1755 and is considered the Harvard of Moscow universities in prestige and wealth. Needless to say, the students that go there are smart.

The Hostel: The 13 of us students are taking up about half of a hostel called The Napoleon. The thirteen of us share two toilets and two showers with the rest of the hostel, which I'd guess houses 30 or total at its max. It's really relaxed and easy to get used to. Especially since we have such an all-star team!!

I hope those things will help you kind of get a feel for what the ministry looks like while we're here.

Things I'm learning:

---I don't know any Russian

---Vendors/fast-food places like you to pay with exact change (whaa??) or they get angry (which really doesn't matter because when they snap at me in Russian all I do is shrug my shoulders and look confused until they take the money anyway)

---Moscow is fast-paced, not at all the relaxed drive most of us experience on our wide, suburb roads

---I love new cultures, especially this Russian one

---It's hard to put my finger on a specific stereotypical culture/mold for Moscow except for the architecture and krylic constantly remind me of communism and the Soviet Union

---There are lots of people and few smiling faces

---Ministry here is very difficult

Things to pray for:

---For Max and Mark (the two guys I met today and talked with, who seemed very interested in talking about spiritual things and will hopefully come hang out on Saturday) as well as the students that other ministry teams interacted with

---For rest, still adjusting and trying to be energized after two long flights yesterday

---For hard hearts to become soft

---For our hearts to break for the hundreds of stern faces that pass us on the metro

---For the weight, relevance, and freedom of the gospel to become evident to those that we talk to. That they would see a message of hope and joy that's grounded in truth.

Thanks for all your love and support,
Stephen

"I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." (John 6:35)

We're Here!!!

We've arrived after two longs flights. Lots of great fellowship and a short 45 minute culture briefing on the way to the hostel.

This is gonna be an experience. Cannot wait to tell you more!!

Until tomorrow,
Stephen

Time to go!!

David and Jessica's wedding was beautiful, probably couldn't have gone better! Now Mark and I are about to depart for Dallas and then to Moscow. We'll get there tomorrow sometime!

Please pray for safe travels!!!

Talk to you soon!

Stephen

Briefing in Dallas!

We had a great briefing this weekend in Dallas with all of the Cru Red River Region (OK and TX) international summer projects. It was incredible to see teams going to Greece, Russia, Italy, Ethiopia, and "East Asia". It takes an unbelievable amount of resources and support to make these trips happen! Thank you for all of your support. It was a testament to God's power seeing the number of students able to go overseas this summer to spread the freedom of the gospel!

Over the weekend there were several hundred of us preparing our hearts by meeting in small groups and as a whole. We discussed everything from conflict management, dealing with the internal team-stresses of living together overseas, to expectations and how to respect and embrace other cultures. It was great being able to prepare our hearts and plan for the next four weeks we'll spend sharing our faith.

Mark Osborn and I then drove back to Tulsa to get ready for his brother's wedding this weekend. Our team flew out this afternoon to prepare in Russia for next week and the weeks to come. But Mark, myself, Jeremy and McCall won't fly out until next Sunday, so we'll all reunite next Monday in Moscow!

It's exciting to get ready and know that this opportunity is finally approaching. Please pray:

---that God would be preparing conversations
---for safe travels
---that David and Jessie's wedding would go smoothly
---that God would prepare our hearts
---that we would be overwhelmed by the gospel and it's freedom, hope, peace, and joy!

Love you all,
Stephen

-----The gospel is GOOD news, and at it's core is freedom-----

Joshua 10

The title "Sun Stand Still" comes from Joshua chapter 10 in the Old Testament. The story is a fascinating one that I encourage everyone to look at and study deeply.

In his patient leading of the Israelites into the land God promised them, Joshua defeated many enemies. He followed what God called him to do, and in that journey needed to battle many who wanted to destroy the Lord's work. But God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). He told Joshua, "I will fight for you." And he did. But not only that, He told Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have [already] given them into your hands" (Joshua 10:8). God speaks of the future in the past tense. He has already prepared journeys of joy, as well as challenges of drought for us. (Specifically for each one of us). The reason: that we might see our need for Him and fall to our knees at His feet. All of this so that He might simply conquer in satisfying us with Himself.

For Joshua, he had to fight. He had to fight for his people. God prepared a path for him and told him that it was already completed. Joshua just had to walk in what God had placed before him. In this particular battle in Joshua 10, defeat of his foes became apparent as the heavens battled on Joshua's behalf. However, in the moment, Joshua saw the sun begin to set and knew that more time was needed to finish the battle before nightfall. He commanded:

Sun, stand still!

And it did.

(Other historical books even record it, saying that there had never been a day before, nor has there been a day since, that the sun stood still.)

God stopped the sun. He showed His sovereignty and control over ALL things, that those all over the world might notice and worship the Creator in His splendor. But in this He also gave Joshua time to complete the task He'd laid before him. And Joshua did.

For our trip to Moscow, I will be praying that God would make the days longer; that we might be able to share the gospel with more and more students each day; that the sun would stand still in order to allow for more hope, peace and joy to flow from our mouths to the students with whom we will be in conversation; that God's glory might be manifested in the beauty of His son's name, Jesus; that the tangibility and relevance of the gospel would be evident to the students, and that they would yearn for more of Him.

Please partner with us in these prayers. Please start now. It's never to early to pray for the hearts of those who aren't able to experience the freedom of the gospel.

Thank you for all of your love and support.

May the sun stand still.

"And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, "Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us." 7So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you." 9So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. 10 And the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

12At that time Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,

"Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon."
13And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel.

15So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal." --Joshua 10:6-15