This is Collin Creek -- Russia Style!

I am having a wonderful final day in Russia.  It's Sunday and I preached at the Tokareva Wesleyan Church here in Vladimir this morning and later this afternoon I'm preaching at the first service of the new church plant here in Vladimir.  At least it's their first Sunday when they are meeting separate from the older church.  They hope to go public around Easter.  God has given me a great opportunity to minister here.

So I'm sitting in the church service this morning and I can't tell you how many times I'm thinking this is like Collin Creek here today.  The pastor opens the services here by reading a Psalm.  There is only about 1/3 of the congregation present when he starts.  Maybe it's true of Wesleyans all over the world that you have to sing them in!

After the Psalm, everybody walks around the room and greets one another with the words 'Peace and Grace..."  This gives me a chance to show off my entire repertoire of Russian words since about the only thing I know how to say are greetings.  The Russian word for grace is hard for me to say so I only passed the peace this morning.  Besides, my sermon was going to be on grace!

Then the worship team takes their place.  Tell me if anything like this sounds familiar:  worship is lead by a lovely blonde woman at the keyboard.  The drummer has long dark hair with a little curl around the shoulders.  Acoustic guitar and base guitar round out the band and played by a couple of guys who really don't feel the need to talk much.  The other lead singer is a student in my class who has this joyfully sassy attitude.  Shannon and Lisa would love this girl!  I'm thinking the only thing missing is a bald guy on lead guitar!  Oh, yeah, and the sound booth is this converted lecturn behind which two young guys are busily chewing gum and trying to stay awake...

OK that last one is NOT Collin Creek!  After all, our technology demands are more complex and demand state-of-the-art professionals who are always paying attention.  Why do I think Helen and Keith are going to make me pay for this?

So the first song we sing is this really rockin' upbeat Russian praise song.  I don't know what the words are but the people are having fun with this.  There is this lady across the room who is waving her hands the way Sue Goodner does when she gets blessed.  I want to go over and see if "Boomer Sooner" has any Russian translation!  Probably not.  When the rockin' song is done, there are actually a few people who applaud -- which never happens in a Russian church.

Then we sing a couple of songs I know:  I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever and they sing it like the song could go on forever... And then we sing Amazing Grace, which almost moves me to tears because I'm preaching about grace.  When this happens in a service without the benefit of a highly creative programming team like we have at CCCC, this is often referred to as a God-thing, which is why I'm moved to tears.  I actually thought on my way to church how cool it would be if we sang Amazing Grace.  Amazing! 

The final two songs are more of what I expect at a Russian church.  They are sung with earnest passion and reflection and end with this holy hush and reverent awe and whispered prayers.  After the final song, while everyone is standing and whispering something to God, the congregation begins to recite the Lord's Prayer in Russian.  Very cool moment!

Then comes the obligatory "Life in the Church" announcements.  The pastor is doing this section because he is not preaching and so this section goes on much longer than it should -- like that never happens at CCCC!  The offering gets passed and they have these cool felt sacks that don't clank when you drop the coins in.  Then my pastor friend introduces me and tells them why his wife is going to be my translater.

He tells the story of this Russian translation software on the internet that once translated the story about 4 cats:  3 were white and the other was African-American.  Evidently the software had this politically correct bent to it that simply could not bring itself to utter the word "black."  This is the challenge of preaching with a translater.  You are never sure what they are hearing.  I'm kind of glad the pastor's wife is translating and not the pastor because the people would never know who was really preaching.  Besides, the pastor's wife was my trnaslater during the first class I taught here in Vladimir back in 1999, so we are good friends.

I only found out that I would be preaching at this service on Thursday so with everything else there hasn't been any time to prepare.  I have been praying about this message because it comes at a crucial time for this church.  This is the first Sunday when this congregation would look around and notice, "Hey, 10 of our friends are no longer going to be worshipping with us."  We kind of know what that feels like since our Horizons Church project.  God gave me a great word today.  I love that about God and His Word.  Since Russians are not time conscious but event conscious, the only time I had to look at my watch was when this little kid walked across right in front of me and ran over to his mother with that look that said, "When is this guy going to be done?"  I never know how to measure my preaching on the "event" meter.  After two hours I decided that the service was as much of an event as it was going to be and wrapped it up.  It's not like I preached longer than normal -- it's just that the interpreter preached as long as I did!

I was encouraged to hear that most of the attenders found today's service eventful!  Just like back home!
Can't wait to be home!
Blair

Why I Do What I Do

This past Sunday I ran into a former student at the Wesleyan Church here in Vladimir.  Her eyes lit up with excitement when she saw me.  She said she needed to talk to me and we arranged to meet before tonight's class.  Ksusha is a bright, beautiful, passionate Russian Christ-follower whose love and enthusiasm is contagious.  She also speaks very good English.  Ksusha had taken several classes from me before her graduation from the Bible College in 2009.  Her last class was an online Church Planting course I had taught.  The final assignment for that course was to put together a strategic plan to launch a new ministry.  Now she wanted to share with me what had happened as a result of that assignment.

Ksusha has a heart for foreigners who were living in Russia so she chose for her assignment the launching of an international ministry.  She began praying about this and sharing her dream with her friends.  One of those friends said that she knew there were some Chinese exchange students at the university and maybe Ksusha should sign up to take a course on Chinese and meet some of these students.  That sounded like a good idea, so Ksusha enrolled in the Chinese course and began to befriend some students from China who were in Vladimir to study Russian. 

Ksusha's day job had her working at a driver's education school in the city.  To get a driver's license in Russia you have to pass a 900 question test.  Given the way people drive over here there must not be any behind the wheel training required for a license!  As Ksusha was praying about her outreach to foreign students, a Chinese student walked into the driving school and signed up to prepare for a license. 

Then Ksusha gets a phone call one day from another Chinese student whose mother became a Christian in the mushrooming house church movement in China and asks Ksusha if she can go to church with her.  To date Ksusha has 15 Chinese students she is investing in and having spiritual conversations with, as she reaches out to them with the love of Jesus.  Next month 10 of them will be going with her on the student retreat put on by The Wesleyan Church here in Russia.  She asked me to pray that God will use this retreat to bring her Chinese friends to Christ.

I met one of her Chinese friends on Sunday.  She enjoyed chatting with me in her faltering English.  I thought what a crazy world we live in.  A guy from Texas is having a spiritual conversation in English with a Chinese student who is studying Russian in Vladimir.  All because a student took an assignment seriously and began to pray and believe that God could use her to reach out to "foreigners" and lead them to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  Wow!  Just in case you wonder why I do what I do, it doesn't get any better than this!  That's a "Yea, God!" in any language...
Blair

The Best Thing About Today...

I always try to begin each class session I'm teaching over here in Russia a little differently.  Since the class is an evening class (6:00 PM- 9:00 PM), today I had them fill in the blank:  The Best Thing About Today is ______________!  Thought you might like to hear a few of the answers:

There was the obligatory The Best Thing About Today is coming to this class... -- though I think this person really meant it!  Or maybe he was just saying he had a bad day!

One student named Lena had a meaningful conversation with another student named Lena and that was her best moment.  I couldn't tell whether the other Lena agreed or not!  Perhaps she was just touched to be the best thing about anybody's day.  (For the record I have 3 Elena's and 3 Vladimir's in my class)

A married couple in the class said, The Best Thing About Today is we are celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary...  I'm wondering how that would go over with my wife:  "Honey, let's celebrate our anniversary listening to a lecture on church planting..."  Either this couple is way more spiritual than I am or anniversaries aren't that big over here.

While we were doing this little exercise, this lovely young blonde student walks in carrying a rose.  I'm thinking now here is a person who has a story for me.  Turns out that the best thing about today is that it is her birthday.  In Russia, when it's your birthday, you buy the cake and share it with your friends.  So at the break we enjoyed some birthday cake provided by the birthday person.  I told her that's not the way it's done in America.  It doesn't seem right that you have to buy your own birthday cake and feed your friends.  I felt so bad about this that I gave her one of Jenn's CD's as a birthday gift -- but only after eating a piece of the birthday cake!

I made this awful mistake on the first night of the class.  I had asked a question -- can't remember even what it was now, but nobody wanted to answer.  I do remember that the answer to the quesiton was "Jesus."  This reminded me of the old joke about the Sunday School teacher who asked, "What's furry and gray, climbs trees and eats nuts?"  No one had ever asked this kind of a question in Sunday School before.  After a lengthy period of silence, the teacher repeated the question.  From the back of the room, a little kid's faltering voice replied, "I think the answer is a squirrel but I'm going to say Jesus!"  Since jokes generally don't translate well across cultures, I squelched the urge to tell the joke, but couldn't stop myself from offering a little adivce.  "Whenever someone asks a question at church and you're not sure about the answer, just guess Jesus and most of the time you will be right!"  So Volodya, who has this wonderful sense of humor has been interjecting "Jesus" in answer to any and every question.  Sure enough, after asking for one more response to The Best Thing About Today... the silence was broken by a smiling Russian saying, JESUS!

So, what about you?  What's the best thing about today?  Take a moment and celebrate something (or someone) good in your life!

Blair

A Texas View of Russia

It gets cold in Texas but just wait a day or two, it will warm up -- unless of course you are Jerry Jones and God is still punishing you for firing Tom Landry by freezing out your glorious Super Bowl week!  In Russia it might warm up in March but just wait a day or two, it will be freezing again.  Yesterday's warm up here turned out to be extremely hazardous for me.  The melting snow decided to fall in large chunks off the roof of the hotel where I am staying.  As I was doing some class preparation this morning I heard a big crash outside.  When I returned from lunch I discovered that they had roped off the sidewalk in front of the hotel due to the danger of falling snow and ice.  I suspect this was done for safety reasons.  However by closing off the sidewalk, this forced pedestrians to wade through the slosh between parked cars and step out onto the narrow street, where oncoming traffic made it much more likely that I would be hit by a car than I would ever have been clonked by falling snow and ice.  The good news is that it has turned cold again so everything will be frozen over by morning and we will all be safe once more! 

There are many more cars on the roads here in Russia than ever before.  My friends were telling me that Russian TV has this motor vehicle safety commercial that says the key to surviving Russian highways is as simple as 3-D:  Di Duraku` Dorogu -- which translated means:  "Let the fool have the road."  In Texas, we say it a bit differently.  We say, "Drive friendly..."  But I think it means the same thing!

Had lunch with my missionary friend Kerry and one of my favorite Russian friends Nastia.  They have this ministry to the elderly poor who live near the church.  They also travel to these two villages where they minister to the elderly poor.  It is hard being poor and it is hard being elderly and it is doubly hard to be poor and elderly.  These two single women demonstrate kindness that reflects Jesus to some people for whom life has become very hard.  At first these older women are very closed to the Gospel and skeptical of their kindness.  But my friends are persistent and in the end, it is hard to argue against kindness.  Their simple, persistent acts of kindness preach much more loudly than any sermon.  You don't even need a seminary degree to be kind.  Kindness evangelism works everywhere -- even in Texas!

My cross cultural adventure continues... as do my prayers for Japan...
Blair

I'm In For An Awesome Week!

The first session of the church planting class was held tonight and 19 people showed up.  What's cool is that they opened this class up beyond the Bible College registered students, who numbered 8.  Everyone was delighted to see 11 people from the church who want to learn more about church planting.  It's a very multi-generational group.  There is even a guy older than me!

There was an energy in the room tonight that could only be possible because people were praying.  Engagement is everything in teaching and to experience the level of engagement that we had in the first session was a God-thing!  I had a fairly rough day -- didn't sleep well and even had to take a nap this afternoon.  But wow!  I was able to engage so fully and then to see the class respond with their engagement -- that's like a teacher's dream moment.

I was thinking about why I do so well over here.  Part of it is that when you are this far from home people really do think you are an expert!  Plus I really do like Russians -- not that I don't like people from every country in the world with the exception of...  But that's another story!

It also helps that I have an excellent translater and she did an incredible job matching my passion and humor.  That in itself is a God-thing!  Just think how hard that must be... Well, don't think too hard... (:

At one point in the class I was talking about how new churches reflect the reality Jesus talked about in Matthew 9 how new wine needs new wineskins.  I pulled a chair and sat directly in front of this 62 year old physicist and said the problem with growing old is that we have been stretched so much that we don't have much stretch left in us!  But new wine needs skins that can stretch.  I talked about leading a multigenerational church and how if some of us older saints aren't feeling at least a little uncomfortable we are probably not doing what we need to do to reach the culture that is constantly changing.  I often tell the over 50 crowd at CCCC that we are the kind of church for people who want to go to a church that their children and grandchildren also want to attend.

Unfortunately it's easy for older saints and established churches to go the way of old stretched out wineskins.  There are some days I feel like I'm losing some of my "stretch."  But there are other days that I can honestly say that I want God to keep stretching me.  There is something about staying in the game for the new wine that seems worth the discomfort and the hassle that come with multigenerational leadership. 

When I asked the 62 year old Russian physicist why he's taking a class on church planting, he told me that he has established a missional team that is reaching young people in the city.  Connecting them with established churches isn't working so he is convinced that the only way to reach them is by starting new churches.  Then he stuck a handful of the Hershey chocolate bars I was giving out at break into his pocket with a smile.  "The kids we are reaching will love this chocolate!"  I think my new Russian friend wants to stay in the game for the new wine too!

To all of you who praying for me, thank you!  Keep praying & keep stretching!
Blair

Meltdowns

Temperatures soared into the upper 30's here in Vladimir today -- which means that the annual spring meltdown has begun, sort of.  Everywhere I went today people were working on removing snow and ice.  They do a marvelous job of keeping the main streets clean but the side streets and sidewalks often have over a foot of ice and trampled snow on them.  They were even bringing out jack hammers to chip away the ice in the main commerce area.  As pretty as freshly falling snow is, meltdowns are just as ugly.  Walking is hazardous and standing at an intersection where deep puddles of dirty water are forming is not smart.  Don't ask how I know this!

I visited my missionary friend for lunch today and while we were enjoying the obligatory cup of tea following the meal, his wife screamed that water was flowing down the walls of their living room.  They own this flat that sits on the top floor of a multi-story apartment complex built back in the 1950's.  Every spring when the meltdown occurs the roof leaks.  He took me up into the large attic to observe what they have to put up with.  You see, while they own the flat they don't own the building.  The city still owns all the old apartment complexes since back in the not-so-good USSR, private property was seen as a captialistic vice to be avoided at all costs.  Imagine trying to get your landlord to fix your roof when your landlord is an overbloated, poorly administered city government.  Their only recourse is to jimmy-rig buckets and plastic bags.  "If you think that's bad, you should see the hospitals here in town!" my friend's wife observed.  The next time somebody tells you that state-controlled socialism is a smart idea, tell them to move to Russia!  Life here still has a long way to go to recover from the dark days of Lenin and Stalin.

Meltdowns are what you have to go through to get from winter to summer in Russia.  I have never been here in summer.  They say it's worth it.  It's been another long, hard winter here and though spring is still aways away, it feels like spring today.  Everybody loves spring -- even with the meltdowns.

There is a worse kind of meltdown that is taking place in Japan right now.  Let us keep praying for God's mercy.  Sometimes our only hope in the midst of life's meltdowns is the mercy of God.  I lift my eyes to the mountains -- where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth... (Psalm 121:1-2)

If there is a meltdown occurring in your world, may you know His help today!
Blair

Some Things Do Change

The old Moscow Sheremetyevo airport has a new terminal.  It's big and bright and high tech and welcoming -- a far cry from the dark, foreboding, unwelcoming terminal I walked into on my first visit to Russia in 1998.

Today is Election Sunday in Russia.  Young voters skeptically argue that it's really not an election but at least the power brokers are forced to subject themselves to the will of the people.  Opposition parties to the United Russian Party include A Just Russia Party and the Apple Party, which represents the Russian version of capitalism.  Opposition parties were sent to the gulag during the old Soviet days.

They say some things never change and I suppose that's true.  But some things do change.  I had two fascinating experiences with change today.  During the morning I worshipped with the established Wesleyan Church pastored by a former student and an old friend here in Vladimir.  I can only imagine how much the Heavenly Father enjoys hearing praises sung in the Russian language.  Russians have a much more reverent, mystical and reflective approach to worship compared to the dominant celebrative sounds of contemporary worship in America. But change is afoot here.  Today was the last Sunday for a group of about 10 Wesleyan church members who are launching a new work in another district of Vladimir.

This evening I spent 3 hours with the launch team of this new Wesleyan Church.  They are a group of high capacity, deeply devoted Christ-followers.  Any church planter would love to have them on a launch team.  Any pastor would feel their absence as they walked out the door for the final Sunday. 

I have a two-fold ministry this week:  to help equip the launch team of a new church and to encourage the leadership of the established church.  As good as this change may be for the Kingdom of God in Vladimir, change is still hard.  We know all the right things to say and we may even believe them in our heads.  I was so proud of my pastor friend as he shepherded his congregation on this morning of change.  Yet I also know how emotionally difficult his challenge is in the days to come.

There is an upside and a downside to everything in a fallen world.  So it is with every season of change.  You and I always have a choice to make.  Will we wallow in pity and bewail the downside?  Or will we move forward in faith and embrace the upside?  Somethings never change -- the downside and the upside will always be there.  Some things do change -- including our attitude to the changes God is bringing to our life.

Embrace the upside!
Blair