A Postcard from Montenegro — Surprising Blessings

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I (Mike) arrived in Montenegro on July 2, a day before the team from St. James UMC in Athens, GA arrived. We’re in the Montenegrin mountains for two purposes this summer — 1) to help host a church retreat, and 2) to help run a youth camp.

We’re staying at a house on the edge Tara Canyon, the second deepest gorge in the world. It’s a bit of a working farm, but we didn’t know that when we booked the house a few months ago. Pictured above are Lee Davis of Athens and Sasha, one of the young men attending the camp. They were helping gather hay, building a relationship as they worked together. As I planned this trip, I never expected I’d take a picture like this. Our time here has been full of great surprises.

A little background — the population of Montenegro is about 650,000.: Christ Church, a Brethren assembly. Vladimir Cizmanski is the pastor, and his wife Marijana (pronounced like marianna) leads worship.

The church retreat last weekend went very well. The church members and our team were a good fit. This is the first retreat in the church’s 10 years of existence. Everyone enjoyed it very much and want to do it again next year. We’ll see them again this weekend at their church service. It was surprising how quickly we bonded with the church, and our short time with them felt much longer. They love to worship the Lord. The are picture at left and below on the right.

Vladimir has hoped to run a youth camp for 10 years, and now we’re able to help. It’s an honor to help establish traditions that we hope will continue for years to come. There are four kids from a refugee camp; they’ve lived there for about ten years after their families fled from the war in Bosnia. One of the young men told us that this camp the best thing that has ever happened to him. At left are the kids on an outing we took to Durmitor National Park.

We are teaching about godly relationships, but since many of the children have not heard the gospel and know little about church life, we’re also telling them basic truths about God and the church. For instance, when Jerry Meredith, the pastor of St. James, introduced himself as a pastor, Marijana (who was translating) said, ‘they don’t know what a pastor is so I need to explain it to them’.

Each day has many pleasant surprises, and this is a joyful time for us all. I am honored to be serving this church and these people. We are in the midst of a precious and special time. As we prepared for this trip, we sensed that God wanted us to focus on loving Him, loving each other and loving the people we meet. People are more important than programs. And I can say that we have experienced the power of God’s love.

Olga is in Russia now. She’s been helping the mission teams there as well as visiting Elama and the campers there. She is now at dacha. It’s good for her to be there, since her grandparents’ health is failing a bit and they are very happy to have her with them. I’ll return to Russia on the 17th and immediately go to Elama to work with the youth camp there and visit the teams we have working in other camps. This summer is full of good relationships, good work and good places. It’s a blessed time.

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A Postcard from Russia — Teamwork

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I (Mike) am back in Russia after a great trip to Montenegro. Today Olga and I visited a couple of teams we have here in Russia. Above is the team from Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. Oak Hills has sent teams to Russia for many years, and they are always a very good team. They all told us their time here has been really wonderful — good relationships have been formed with the children in the camp, and the camps staff has also worked well with them. They sang a beautiful multi-part harmony acapella song for us. They are great! They sang at the opening ceremonies of the camp. It was a joy to be with such a happy, witty and enthusiastic group of people.

I am writing this from Elama, the camp we’re running. Today the children’s camp came to a close. About 60 kids were here for more than a week attending a Christian camp organized by Source of Life Church. On Monday we’ll start a youth camp for about 100 people. In August we hope to host a couple more camps, and we also have a few Christian families living here for the summer. It’s a real joy to see so much life here, especially when just a few weeks ago it was fairly lifeless. I’ll send an update about Elama next time.

Please keep us in your prayers as we come to mind. We have a lot going on, and we face some changes. I’ll write more about that later. Please pray that we’ll have wisdom and unity as we pray about decisions that are ahead. So many wonderful things — Montenegro, Elama, the teams in camps, the MIR staff, New Horizons — give us joy and thankfulness in our hearts, because God has allowed us to participate in His good work. 

A Postcard from Russia — Away They Go!

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It is that time of year again —

This morning (VERY early) we put 34 children and their chaperons on their adventurous flight to the States. For the next five weeks they will be staying with host families in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware, New York, and New Hampshire.

This project has taken a lot of effort and heart by many people over the previous several months, and today after the whirlwind of activity to get them to the airport and then through security, check-in and passport control, Olga, Masha Oshkina and I stopped to reflect on what good work it is. We are very thankful and honored to be a part of this work. Le Ann Dakake and her staff in the US do a tremendous job of handling the complexities on the US side and providing all the support we need to do our part over here.

Though we do not work in adoptions, we are always very happy when a child finds a home, here or in the US. I spoke yesterday with the directors of a US adoption agency that handles many of the adoptions that result from this program. They remarked that they are very pleasantly surprised and impressed at how well the children fit into their adoptive families. It’s a joy to know that good families are being knit together and that we have a part in what the Lord is doing in these relationships.

You’ll notice if you count that there are less than 34 children in the group picture. Four children are disabled and weren’t able to get into the picture on the short notice we had. It is a testament of the Lord’s love that families from so far away would have hearts big enough to open their home’s to the ‘least of these’.

In addition to our hosting program, work continues at Elama (our camp) where we will host a children’s camp and a youth camp next month. We now have a dock on the lake! It was built on Sunday afternoon by a work team from a local church. We’re also welcoming seven short-term mission teams from the US to serve in summer camps, and I (Mike) am going to Montenegro to meet up with a mission team from Athens, Georgia. We’re starting to serve there, and it’s gratifying to see our desires coming true — helping the local church in Montenegro. We’ll be helping run a youth camp in the mountains there. My next Postcard from Russia will probably be from Montenegro!

A Postcard from Russia — Elama

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This is some exciting news — we have been given use of an old children’s camp! It was a Finnish estate before WWII, and after the war it was a children’s camp. It’s located in a beautiful lake, about an hour and a half north of St. Petersburg. We have use of about 15 acres with multiple buildings.

The camp has been closed for about 25 years so it is in need of serious repair. We’ve been re-wiring for electricity, picking up trash (30 large bags from one small area alone) and clearing out trees and brush. We’ll start replacing broken windows this week and are installing a summer water system. There’s a lot of rotten wood to replace, tools to buy, porches to re-build, elama_2.jpgstoves to install, walls to paint, and roofs to repair. I was working on the toilets (outhouses) yesterday, trying to make them a bit better. Pictured above is a recent MIR work day — of course we had a cookout. In the picture are believers from Russia, America, Northern Ireland and Finland.

Elama is the Finnish word for Life. We’ve named the camp Elama because we feel that the Lord wants us to bring this place back to life so that it will hold His life as His people are there, living together and ministering in His name. The basic rule for all who visit is, ‘leave it nicer than you found it’. It is available to churches and ministries free of charge; God is giving us free use of it, so we’ll pass along the blessing to others.

elama_3.jpgThings are moving quickly — just a few weeks ago we found out for sure that we’d have use of it; we’ve had several work days already, several families are hoping to live there this summer, in July we’ll host a children’s camp (using tents) for about 60 children, then we’ll host a youth camp for young people with about 100 people. In August we hope to host the Royal Rangers, a scouting ministry. This weekend we’ll have two Russian churches come out for work days — clearing brush, repairing buildings, making the place nicer.

We’ll have use of it for about 10 years (the owners are friends and are very happy to have us use it for ministry), so we’re working hard this summer to prepare it for moreelama_4.jpg ministry next summer. We hope to host orphans there as soon as possible, depending on when the facilities are in good enough shape. Perhaps next summer we’ll have a camp for orphans in addition to all the other ministries we’ll establish there this summer. Already a team from Florida is considering coming next Spring to do some work there, and a Finn has also suggested bringing Finnish teams to help. If you’re interested in helping, please send me a note. It’s exciting

Dasha

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[originally posted in 2001]

On my first trip to Russia, I went with several members of the Austin, Texas team to an orphanage (Baby Home #6) that houses some children with Down’s Syndrome. Before going, I was apprehensive about how I would be able to relate to the kids there. I felt, though, that I should go and play my guitar; Beth Shanklin and others encouraged me that the children need as many different kinds of stimulation as possible. So, I figured I’d play some music.

I aspire to play music that is restful and brings peace. Often I’ll lay my head on top of the guitar as I play–this way I can not only hear the music with my ears, but I feel it in my bones. The music comforts me, and it’s very cool the way the music can be both outside and inside at the same time.

As I was playing, a little red-haired girl walked by, and she noticed the vibrations of the guitar. I assume her hearing was not very good because of what happened next. She reached out and touched the guitar and let her hand move over the wood and the strings; she was slowly discovering the music I was playing. As she realized what was happening, she grabbed the guitar, pulled herself to it, and rested her forehead against the instrument and so she could hear/feel the music. We listened to the music that way for about ten minutes.

So, here was a little Russian orphan girl and an older American man sharing the beauty of God’s gift of music. It was a blessed moment. I pray that she received a blessing from the Father–an experience of peace and beauty as a gift from Him to her, through me.

Here’s an update from a year and half later: I visited the summer camp where children from Baby Home #6 stay during the summer. One of her teachers told me that she is very musical. Imagine that!

My Guitar

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Many of you know that I love to give away guitars when I come here. So, on almost every trip I’ve made I brought a guitar to be given to some person or group who needs one. I’ve given one to an orphan named Vanya, I gave one to an orphanage for street kids, and the last one was given to my church, Street Cry. They have a great music ministry (doing concerts on the streets), and they needed a nice acoustic guitar. I was going to sell mine to them (they offered to buy it), but just as we came to the time to “talk money,” I felt the Spirit tell me to give it to them.

A friend once told me, “The Kingdom of God is not about buying and selling, it’s about giving and receiving.” When I gave the guitar to John Russell at Street Cry, he said “God is gonna bless you.” I thought, “well, OK, whatever” and didn’t really want to presume about what the Lord was going to do. After all, we don’t give to get.

The place I buy my guitars is a classic store in Austin run by a classic-looking old feller named Ray Hennig. He’s been in the guitar business for 40 years, and he’s known as a tough, crusty businessman. When I bought my first guitar from him last year, I told him what I was doing: working as a Christian in Russia, planning to give the guitar to an orphan. He said, “you have touched my heart. I love kids, and I love the Lord.” I was dumbfounded, but super happy. After giving away the first guitar, I was able to give him a picture of Vanya playing the guitar he sold me. Since then, Ray and I have shared our faith with each other when we’ve met. One time when I was in Austin, I felt that I should have a good, concert quality guitar here in Russia. I don’t want to be carrying my good guitar back and forth to America. So, this time I came looking for a very good guitar. Of course, this meant that the guitars I would want to buy would cost more than I had to spend! But I looked anyway.

I felt that I should ask my church in Austin, Red River Church, if they would take up an offering for a guitar. I was hoping to raise a few hundred dollars to offset the difference between a pretty good guitar and a very nice guitar. At the end of the service on Sunday, Keith Atkinson explained the situation to the congregation and asked to take up an offering for “Mike’s Guitar Fund.” We set out a little basket. In just a few minutes the church had donated over $1200!!!! Amazing. Thank you, Lord. Wow.

The next day, I went and met with Ray. I told him that I had enough money to buy a nice guitar and told him how much had been given at church. He said, “are you Catholic? Only Catholics can raise that kind of money that quick.” But no, we’re just a small Protestant church. So (this has turned into a long story), I bought a very nice Martin cutaway jumbo with on-board electronics (for you guitar players) that has a sweet, full, even sound. It’s a joy to play, and I am blessed. I will be playing it for orphans and widows.

I say all this to encourage you to walk with God. He has built the world to function much better when we give selflessly, when we consider others first. I have received many blessings from wonderful people who bless in wonderful ways. And their blessings to me overflow into blessings for people here in Russia. It’s the way God works in the world. I am a walking testimony to His goodness and mercy. As I play this guitar I praise God and remember His provision and love. It is a testimony of His kindness.

How I Got to Russia

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Here’s a quick recap of what got me started on this path:  For several years I was the administrator of South Shore Church (now Red River Church) in Austin, Texas.

I loved my job and thought I’d be there for a long time to come.

Mark Browne, then executive director of Mission Global Outreach (MGO) spoke at church in the fall of 1999, and some friends felt in their hearts that I should go to Russia and get to know Mark better. So, my friends surprised me by paying for my trip to Russia with MGO in January of 2000. I thought, ‘well, this will be great, a free trip to Russia. Should be interesting.” This was the beginning of an unexpected change in my life.

Well, after the trip I felt, through prayer, that I should return to Russia but I wasn’t sure in what capacity. While in Russia on that first trip, I had felt a call to “see the seasons change in St. Petersburg.”

The elders at church had been praying about my situation, and we all agreed that it was time for me to step off staff and move on to new things–that was a scary step of faith. But God has been teaching me that it’s quite alright to trust Him in difficult or confusing situations. Let me give a little background on that:

As I was praying in the summer of 1999, I sensed that the Lord wanted me to go on a fast–I hadn’t been planning to fast at all. (I was quite overweight, and that was an indicator of a lack of discipline which spilled over into other areas of my life.)

So, I prayed “how long should this fast be?” I felt that it should be 40 days. Then I asked “what kind of fast should it be?” I was thinking maybe one meal a day, or no TV/movies/radio/newspapers, something like that. The fast I felt prompted to do, however, was the following: no solid food, and nothing that had any flavor. Well, that kinda left me with water.

So, I started the fast in early July 1999. It was a long 40 days. As a matter of fact, at the time I said it should be called a “slow.” It was very difficult, but the benefits far outweighed (pardon the pun) the cost. I’ll tell you, if the Lord calls you to something, He will give you the strength to complete it, and the result will be very good. If you’d like to know more about the lessons I learned in the fast, please feel free to write me.

I will give God the glory, because I certainly didn’t have it in me to do something like that. This was a very big lesson in learning to discern the will of the Lord, and trust Him to guide my steps as He gave me strength.

So, back to Russia: Originally I thought I would probably return to Russia as a member of a team from Austin. As I was stepping off staff at the church, Mark Browne asked me to work as a staff member with MGO in the summer of 2000, serving the teams that work in the summer camps.

I spent three months living in a camp and an orphanage, serving kids and helping coordinate the various teams that came from the States. In the fall of 2000 I was elected to the board of MGO and was commissioned to go to Russia and start a Russian charity (now named MIR).

In less than twelve months I went from my first visit to Russia to living in Russia. It was quite a ride! And the ride continues . . . .

My readings in the Bible took me back to Psalm 23, and I know that the Lord is a good shepherd; He will lead us beside still waters, He will make us lie down in green pastures, and He will be with us in the valley of the shadow of death. His rod and staff (discipline, leadership, salvation) are comforting. So, we have nothing to be anxious about as we walk with Him.

I encourage you, whatever your situation, to seek after the righteousness of God and trust that everything you need will be provided. Put your faith in Christ. Very few will be in the situation in which I find myself, but we are all called to love God with all our being, and to love others as we love ourselves.

God is a loving Father, He is worthy of our praise; Jesus sets the perfect example for us all to be selfless servants, speaking the truth in love, walking by faith, and looking out for the needs of others; the Holy Spirit gives us the life of God as a river of living water, of blessing and truth and mercy, to flow through us to the people in our lives who God loves more than we can imagine.

Trust

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While in America, soon after our marriage in Russia, we wanted to obtain an American marriage certificate in addition to a Russian one. Kent Reynolds, the pastor of St. James UMC in Athens, signed our marriage license. Talking with him and his wife, Sandy, was one the highlights of that trip for me.

We talked about a lot of things concerning service and being a disciple of the Lord. One thing we touched on was that God has a plan for each life. And we need to seek His face and ask Him what it is that He would have us do.

There are so many good things we could do on this earth, but the most important is to do the things God wants us to do. And it may be as small as going to your neighbor and offering a kind word. In God’s eyes there no small or big things, as long as this is what He told you to do.

The Lord may want you to be put aside for Him or used by Him. Whatever it is God is laying on your heart, trust Him and don’t be afraid to make a step. He will be there for you.

Discipline

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Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him. For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines. (Hebrews 12:5,6)

A theme for me over the past few years has been Discipline.  The word has always had a negative connotation for me; to be disciplined was a bad thing.  But recently the Lord has been bringing His discipline to my life, and it has been very good.  I won’t say it has always been pleasant, but it has been a blessing.

The first step to understanding the goodness of God’s discipline is accepting Christ’s authority. Jesus teaches the truth about man and God, and there is no other way to understand things of eternal worth than by being a follower of Jesus—a disciple.

How to think about discipline: one very simple analogy has come to mind.  When you comb or brush your hair, you bring discipline to it: order, beauty, and rest.  It’s a daily discipline that brings obvious results.  Failing to practice this discipline also bring obvious results.  One must exert a certain amount of force to discipline hair, and it’s always successful when the hair “submits.”  And certainly, we don’t comb our hair to punish it or because we are angry with it.

This is a limited analogy, but it helped me to understand that God does not discipline us to injure, limit, or punish us.  He disciplines us because He wants us to be beautiful, at peace, and conformed to His perfect will.  “God disciplines those He loves.”  God loves you, and His love will be shown at times through discipline.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:11)

Make no mistake, being disciplined will be unpleasant or difficult much of the time; it involves a death to self and acceptance of God’s will.  I’m sure you fail in self-discipline or self-control—we all do to some extent.  All of us have qualities which are not pleasing to the Lord, which are sinful, which hinder our ability to know Him more fully and serve the people around us. God says, “Anything that is not of faith, is sin;” and “Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”  As hair submits to the comb, as a good child submits to loving discipline, so our souls must submit to God’s guidance.  And God’s promise is that He will give us abundant life; a life that is much better than our life before His discipline has had its effect.

Here is how this has worked out for me in the past.  At one point, I realized that I needed discipline in an area of my life, and I was not able to follow through on my desire to grow in this one area.  So, finally, I prayed and said something like “Lord, I do not have the ability to do what is right, I need self-control and self-discipline, but I don’t have it in me.  So, I submit to your discipline and ask you to discipline me according to your will. How would you like me to conduct myself?  What are specifics that will bring godliness to my life?”  Then, I sat there with a piece of paper and a pencil and wrote what I felt the Lord was calling me to. I wrote down four simple things.  Then I set my heart to submit to Him.  These four things (which are not what I expected to hear) have brought discipline to my life in a very good way.  I’m sure that there will be more discipline to come, and I welcome it.

I encourage you to seriously seek God and be willing to accept His discipline.   When we know that something is God’s will, we have much more power to persevere.  Be willing to change; don’t tell God what to do, and don’t play games with Him.  If you falter, remember that His mercies are new every morning; as you grow, thank Him and give Him credit for the good things He does–for He works in us to will and to do His according to His purposes.  As a loving child, wait patiently for your Father’s kindness as He raises you to be the person you were created to be.

“Come Children, listen to me.” Psalm 34

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“The Lord is near the broken hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

This Psalm begins with a statement of praise to the Lord. In verse 4 we see why David will continuously praise God: “I sought the Lord, and He answered me.” This is a primary theme of this Psalm: seeking God, being answered by God, and taking refuge in Him. Verse 6 is especially sweet; a poor, afflicted man cries out and the Lord hears.

God is near the broken hearted. He hears the cries of those who are crushed in Spirit. This Psalm teaches some lessons on how to live life, but it primarily teaches us about the character of God. God is not far off, he is not uninterested in the dealings of man. He is attentive. He listens to the cries of the brokenhearted. Jesus walked the streets of this world and turned His ear to the cries of the lepers, the blind, the ill, the sinners. In heaven, the Father turns His ear to the cries of the afflicted ones. The Lord is a deliverer. He is a redeemer.

Sinful man will depend upon his own resources, build his own refuge, exert his will and not look to heaven. This is vanity. God knows that we are weak and vulnerable–even the strongest of men will not be able to stand against the strength of sin. The proud will not be close to God; only the humble and those who know they are weak will cry out and be answered. To be close to the Lord means that we have to die a death, to admit our weakness, our sin, to put aside pride.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” We should take active steps to pursue the goodness of God. Confession, prayer, crying out to the Lord, meditation, silence. The activity of being humble prepares the way for the Lord’s answer. “Seek and you shall find.”

“Come Children, listen to me.”

David says that he will teach us the fear of the Lord. Perhaps better stated as reverential awe, Jesus himself tells us to fear the Lord. Why? Because God has the ability to not only destroy our bodies, but also to cast our souls into hell. Jesus then says we are not to fear the Lord–a challenging teaching: to fear and yet not to fear. Yet it is true. Those who seek Him will find that He is a refuge, not a court of condemnation. God protects the humble from His power to bring swift and inescapable punishment which will come to the proud. We either fear men, or we fear the Lord–we are more concerned about what people think of us, or we consider the Lord’s ways as being primary.

How does David teach us? His instructions are simple. Keep your tongue from evil, don’t deceive, flee from evil, do good, seek and pursue peace. How rarely we do these things.

To control the tongue is one of the hardest commands. American culture especially, with emphasis on freedom of speech and with a very ironic, mocking sense of humor, encourages us to speak whatever we feel. But God instructs us to watch our words, to be very careful in what we say. It is possible to speak something that is true but to speak in an evil way. If my enemy has wronged me, I can tell a brother the truth of the matter, but say it in a way that harms my enemy in my brother’s eyes. The Lord says I am to bless my enemies, to pray for those who curse me. All the more so, I should not speak a truth about my brother in an evil way. I should speak only blessing and be cautious, considerate when speaking. Silence can be golden, especially when I have “every right” to speak a harsh truth. So, let us not speak truth in a way that is evil.

Deceit is different, yet involves controlling the tongue: speaking in a way that would hide the truth is speaking in an evil way. The Lord says that we are to let our Yes be Yes, and our No, No. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. This is a simple teaching that causes tremendous turbulence when put into practice. The world conspires to have us say half truths, to cover the truth for our own convenience. This comes from the evil one. May the Lord give me the strength to tell the truth. Refusing to deceive is costly, for it means being vulnerable and controlling one’s natural tendency to deceive–and then trusting the Lord with the outcome of our honesty.

Seeking peace: The Word says that the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace; blessed are the peacemakers. Peace is not found, it is made; we do not happen upon peace, we make peace. Peace is made by people with it’s source in the Lord’s love, it does not occur naturally in the course of human endeavors. As much as we are able, we are to live at peace with all men. So, we should not be the source of any discord. We should seek, pursue, and make peace in every situation. Even as Jesus’ words cause division by revealing the kingdom of heaven, his role is to make peace between God and man. Jesus did all he could to bring peace to the world, but some men hate the truth and go to war.

Is there discord in your relationships? Make peace. Is there evil in your life that is revealed in disorder and confusion? Make peace. You will be blessed, for you will be called a son of God.