Russian Churches in California are Learning to Homeschool

We had a very fruitful visit to California and we appreciated your prayers so much!  We continue to be amazed at what God is doing through the ministry of First Class.  For those of you who have been wondering what in the world we're up to lately, here is a little snippet!  

We spent the vast majority of our time ministering to Slavic pastors at a conference geared towards introducing them to the idea of Christian education for their children.  The event was hosted by E. Ray Moore and we were there, primarily, to talk to pastors about how they can encourage homeschooling in their churches.  

On Thursday we met with Pastor Peter (second picture down) and Pastor Andrey Chiley.  Pastor Peter is an incredible man of God!  He has started over 40 churches!  Revival Slavic Christian Center is just a baby church (5 years old) but already they are growing and we were blessed to work with their pastoral staff for four days.  These are passionate people!  We learned so much from their example.

Friday night Jay and I were asked to go speak to the Russian youth at the last minute and so even though we were dressed for "big church" we drove over there and addressed 150+ high school and college aged kids.  We sang for them and encouraged them to walk with the Lord, and to be prepared for whatever God might ask them to do, even start a homeschool co-op!!  (imagine that!)  Those kids had a wonderful student-led worship team, by the way, which Jay of course, loved.

The young people we met really love the Lord and we were encouraged by our time there.  Many of them have heard of homeschooling and many of them are currently in charter schools, although most do not know much about independent homeschooling.

We were struck by the profound sadness of many of the parents there who came to the USA only a few years ago for a "better life" only to find that they are rapidly loosing their young people to American culture and moral relativism.  We heard from one father who said that 20 families from their area are moving back to Russia this summer to escape the culture they have encountered here.

Sunday night we were invited to speak for the evening service at Bethany Church in Sacramento.  It is the largest Slavic church in the United States.  Their "small" evening service had around 1300 in attendance!  I was so proud of Jay, who presented the FCHM concept to these people in a very clear, concise way, especially given that his 20 minutes was chopped down to 10 and he had to use an interpreter.  Jay did a great job telling parents that God has equipped them to educate their children.   The building was very large, and I wish I had a picture that did it justice but this will have to suffice :o)...




Jay with Tina (the interpreter) Saturday afternoon.

Video of Jay speaking at a Russian Church.



showing the FCHM DVD to Russian pastors



Heidi, with Pastor Chiley's wife (far left), Nadiya (young girl who helped with translation and wants to help new homeschoolers), and a really sweet Russian grandma whom we loved visiting with!  Everyone needs a babushka!