Letters from Steve Van Horn
Mon 4/17/2000
Dear Friends and Family,
It's time for the last report from this trip to Moscow and Khabarovsk. Ray took me into town today to look in some shops, see the river that divides Russia from China, and generally see the town. But today's highlight was just that, a highlight (another highlight) from the trip. I told you that there are some other ministry possibilities for Ray and Rebecca that will presenting themselves in the near future. These possibilities would include Christian School, Bible Institute, and pastoring, all in another city. Well, if that possiblity is what the Lord is wanting Ray and Rebecca to do, then its important that a man is ready to take over the church here in Khabarovsk.
Tonight we had dinner with the man Ray has been preparing for a few years. His name is Sergei. Sergei told us that if God calls Ray to another location, he will be ready and willing to take the church. We will see what God wants. When I return I will talk with the elders at CCWC and Calvary Southeast, which also supports the Currans, to see what they think. Then we'll see how things develop here. These are exciting times with exciting potential. Thanks for praying.
PERSONAL COMMENT:
When most people think of my ministry, they identify me with Africa, primarily, and that is for good reason. I've been to Africa five times and we have ministry going in three African countries. I am very fond of those I work with in Africa. But I want to tell you that during this trip I've had dinner with Volodia and Tanya (Volodia is an elder in the church here) and Sergei and Natasha (tonight) and I can honestly say that I feel the same fondness, compassion, and nearness towards these two couples (Ray and Rebecca, too, of course) that I have felt towards those we are now working with in Africa. There is just something that "clicks" when you are with someone. And your heart says to you, "i hope I get to work with these couples more in the future. That is exactly what I feel. I want to come back. I want to continue our relationship. Now it is up to the Lord.
These five days in Khavarovsk have been far more productive and have produced far more vision for potential than I ever dreamed might. I came here to encourage one of our missionaries and meet his church. I left with some incredible possibilities for the future. Now we must wait on the Lord and see if He opens the door. If He does, then we must decide if He wants us to walk through. God is a great God and I am blessed beyond measure to be here doing this, watching ministry unfold right in front of my eyes, to see doors of opportunity that look as big as castle doors appear out of nowhere. I cannot say enough how much I praise God and thank God for you who pray for me and support this ministry. I am greatly humbled.
It is now about 11:45 pm here, 5:45 am Monday there. I start my trip home at 3:20 PM Tuesday (9:20 pm MOnday, there). I will be home Wednesday, Lord willing, and will see you at church on Easter.
I love you all.
By His Matchless Grace,
Pastor Steve
Hello Once Again, Dear Faithful Friend and Family,
We are finishing up our Sunday here in Khabarovsk. Its been a clear, brisk, breezy, chilly day. I shared in the time of worship with the saints from the Calvary here in Khabarovsk and was asked to preach. I preached the same sermon I preached recently at Calvary, "How To Walk Worthy" from Philippians.
I took video footage and several snap shots of the worship service. I am attaching one of the pictures of the worship time. You can see Ray (In the tie) in the right side of the picture (up front) and Rebecca in the blue sweater at the far left side of the picture.
This afternoon I put an interview with Ray on video then he introduced us to his family, also on video. The rest of the afternoon, Ray and I talked Bible and theology. It was great! Ray doesn't have much chance to do that so he was ready to "dump" on me. I didn't mind. I am pretty good at dumping my theology as well. Thanks for praying for my preaching time. God led as to what I was to preach and I think it went pretty well.
Tomorrow, Monday, Ray is going to show me around and take me to the souvenir area. Then it will be time to pack for the long trip home. I leave here Tuesday at 3:20 pm. I go to Moscow (7 hr 30 min flight) for a four hour layover. Then I fly to Amsterday (3 hr 30 mins) and arrive at 11 pm Tuesday (9 hours ahead of Oregon). Then Wednesday, I leave Amsterdam and fly to Detroit. There I will meet again with our missionary, Bob Tobey who was just in Portland. From Detroit I fly home. I will be home Wedensday evening. I am looking forward to that.
Thanks again for your interest.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Hi Everyone,
Well, here I am in Khabarovsk with Ray and Rebecca Curran. My trip was not without some interesting moments. I was to leave Moscow at 8:30 pm Thursday. I was in the gate area when then announced that passengers could begin boarding. Before I got to the gate I was intercepted by three airline persons. In very broken English one asked if I was Steve Van Horn. I told them yes. They asked for my ticket and boarding pass. I handed them to them and they talked in Russian, talked more in Russian, pointed me in the direction of a chair, an all three disappeared with my ticket and boarding pass. "Interesting!" I was thinking. I remained fairly calm (the unpredictable is beginning to become predictable for me on these trips). I knew my passport and visa were in order and I was fairly sure there was nothing in my luggage that was suspect (although I do have an article from the Orthodox Church dissadent I introduced you to last week that says the new Russian president is going to return Russia to a totalitarian state). I sat there for several minutes while all the other passengers made their way through the gate. There was still time so I was not panicking (but I was thinking about it - not really). I began to think about contingency plans. Once again I was without emergency phone numbers or addresses. "Back to the Embassy?" I was wondering. About that time one of the officials came back into the gate area and asked if I was prepared to pay a penalty. (Luggage overweight? What could it be?) I asked what for and he said that my ticket said I was to leave Friday not Thursday. I had been told that the Friday flight had been cancelled so I tried to explain that to him. He disappeared again. Finally, he returned and said he didn't know the Friday flight was cancelled, he apologized, and I was allowed to board the plane. The good news is that the flight was smooth and Ray was waiting to collect me when I arrived in Khavarovsk at 11 a.m. Friday. I am now seven hours ahead of Moscow and eighteen ahead of the west coast. There is another way to look at it. If I am 18 hours ahead of you not the west coast, I am only a few miles west of yesterday!
Well, tonight Ray and Rebecca conducted their English class at their church. It is their main outreach. There were about 20-25 in the class, I would estimate. Part of it was them interviewing me with simple questions like: Were were you born? What did you like to do when you were young? Etc. Right up through current vocation and relationship with the Lord. I am attaching a picture (or trying) of Ray interviewing me in front of the class. I hope it works. We are using an older computer here. If it doesn't work, I 'll send this any way and we'll try to send pictures later. Thanks for the prayers and support. I do really appreciate it! I will be preaching here Sunday, please pray.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Hi Everyone,
I am sitting in the library overseeing the final exam. The class is over and soon I will be packing my stuff and will be leaving for the airport. First let me comment about yesterdays report. Jo, from the church office, let me know that the greeting said, "Hi My Love." I could try to justify it by saying that I love all of you dearly, which I do. But the truth of the matter is that I wrote to my "truest love" Brenda just before I wrote to you. I wanted to repeat in my note to you a lot of what I said to her. So I deleted some of what I wrote to her and added some appropriate things that I sent to you and not her. Unfortunately, I forgot to change the "greeting" at the top. (I am blushing over here in Russia.) Oh, well, so much for economy of words. So much for trying to cut corners. OK, with that, I will finish up my last Moscow report.
We finished our discussion today. We talked early about Mormonism then finished with some thoughts about how to witness effectively to them. Most of the class was anxious to take the final and get it out of the way. So we rushed right out of class and into the library to take the test. Many are going home for the weekend and wanted to get an early start, thus they are taking the final as I type. Before we wrapped things up, I got everyone together for a final picture. I have attached it to this mail. The older folks you see in the picture are auditing the class. They are people from the community not the school.
I feel a certain type of sadness that I don't always feel. I think it is because I have lived with these students for two weeks. We've slept up and down the same hallway. We've ate the same meals at the same time. We have seen each other throughout the day, every day. Even though many of them speak adequate English, the language barrier and my preparation load, has kept us from having a lot of deep conversations.
It is a blessing, however, just to know that we are having a chance to help prepare the next generation of Christian leaders in Russia. In 20 years, when these "kids" are in their ministry prime, who knows where I'll be or where some of you will be. We could be at home with the Lord. Yet, as these "kids" carry the torch of the gospel to the next generation we can rejoice that we have had a chance to play a small part in their preparation. Thank you, again, from the bottom of my heart, for your prayers and support. Without both, this would not be possible.
Though the time in Moscow is about over, the trip is not. I will be leaving in 4.5 hours for Khabarovsk. I will be in touch from there. The email address is calvary@ray.khv.ru I hope to hear from many of you while I am there.
That is it from Moscow. God bless you and thank you. I'll be in Khabarovsk about 5:30 pm Thursday, PDT.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Mon, 10 Apr 2000
Dear Church Family, Friends, and Beloved Relatives,
I am coming to the end of my Monday. It was another full day. We ended up discussing JWs all day and focused on how to defend the doctrine of the Trinity when talking with them. We've now spent more time on them than any other group we've discussed.
But I'd rather tell you about Muhammad. A man from the ninth floor of this building can to sit in on one of my classes today when we were discussing the Trinity. He and I talked after class. His name is Muhammad and he is from Sudan and is living here in Moscow. He is Muslim but open to discussing any religion and is not in the least a militant Muslim. He says his wife is Christian which may mean she isn't Muslim. We talked quite awhile and on of the men here gave him a New Testament. If any of you have Samuel Dilla's email address, be sure he gets a copy of this message and the picture that I am attaching. After class today, my right hand man, Yuri, escorted me back to Red Square. It was probably my last ride on the subway. NOTE: We did some estimating. Trains run about every minute on five tracks. It takes 45-60 mins to go from one end of a line to another. That is 45-60 trains per track and five tracks. We are talking about upwards of 300 trains running simultaneously under Moscow and each train has about 10-12 cars. Thank about it. That is incredible! Anyway, we took the metro back into Moscow and we walked around Red Square for awhile then ate at the local McDonalds and made our way back to the dorm.
At Red Square I took pictures of St. Basils Cathedral and some of the other buildings (Lenin's tomb, the historical museum, and an old Orthodox Church. We walked inside the church and I've got to admit, it felt creepy in there. It was dark, people were lighting candles in every corner, the front wall was literally covered with paintings of pictures of Jesus, Mary, some saints (all called icons).
As I am finishing up here (three more days of classes) please continue to pray. The temptation might be to "let up" with the end in sight. There are still some important things to be covered as we prepare these young people for a lifetime of effective service for the Lord as they lead the churches here in Russia. Thursday evening I fly to Khabarovsk to visit the Currans and a week from Tuesday, I begin my trip back to Oregon.
Thanks for all of your support and prayers. I am so thankful for the privilege that I have to serve the Lord and represent you her in Moscow as well as other parts of the world.
By the Grace of God,
Pastor Steve
1 Cor. 15:10a
PS I am attaching pictures of Muhammad and I, and me standing in front of
St. Basils Cathedral.
Sun, 9 Apr 2000
Hi Again, Everyone,
I am sitting down to write this report about 6:45 pm Sunday which is about
the time a lot of you are getting ready for church on the west coast. It is
7:45 am there. I have had a very long day riding the "metro" (subway) so I
thought I'd write today's report on my observations around town while riding
the metro here and there.
I am attaching an enlarged picture of the "metro" map. It is an incredible
subway system that moves an estimated 10 million commuters a day! 10
million! The suggest that that means 5 million make a round trip a day.
A DAY ON THE METRO (SUBWAY)
Today I left for church about 10:40. We walked maybe 5 minutes to catch a
bus and rode it five minutes to catch the metro. We rode the metro about 15
minutes and transferred to another metro line (all under ground). We got on
the next metro, rode another 15 mins, got off and left the subway. We
walked up to street level, walked 5 minutes to the next bus stop, got a bus.
Rode the bus 10 mins and got off in front of the building the church is
meeting in. It took us about 60-65 minutes to get to church. We are in nw
Moscow and the church is in southeast Moscow.
Leaving church, I rode back with a different guy who needed to make a short
side trip to check on a Russian grammar book. His short side trip took us
back on the bus, to the metro station, 15 min metro ride, a transfer,
another 15-20 min metro ride, and a ten minute walk.
To get back to the dorm, we walked 10 mins back to the metro, took the
metro, transferred twice (another 30 minutes on the metro), got off, walked
15 minutes back to the dorm.
We left at 10:40 this morning, I got home at 5:30 p.m. That is a seven hour
day to go to church and make a "short stop" on the way home.
On the metro map I am attaching, you will see several intersecting lines.
Each of those is a separate metro (subway) route. The interconnect
throughout the system. You get on one, get off, transfer to another, maybe
get off again, climb stairs, go down stairs (all under ground). You NEVER
stand more than 4 minutes waiting for the next "train." I was told that the
goal is that a train runs every 50 seconds and that is about the average.
And each underground train has 15 or 20 cars. No matter where you are going
in Moscow, you get off a bus, a subway and right back on another until you
get to where you want to go. It can take awhile, but eventually you get
there.
WHAT I'VE SEEN WHILE I'VE BEEN HERE
Here are some things I've seen besides bodies packed like sardines in the
metro subway trains.
1. I've seen scores of beggars all over the underground tunnels where people
are making their way to and from subway cars. I've seen very old people
with hands out, others in wheelchairs, a legless man in a wheelchair today
asking for money (being wheeled up and down the inside of metro cars).
2. I've seen musicians playing in the subways, asking for handouts.
3. I've seen 5-6 year old children of gypsies in the subway cars begging.
The little boy had a baby strapped to his back. The baby was as lifeless as
one could be. We assumed it was sleeping. I was told that gypsies beg,
steal, rob, even mug people to get their money or possessions. These gypsie
children had no adults supervising them on the metro.
4. I've seen pushing and shoving matches in the subways while people waited
for the next train.
5. While at McDonalds in town yesterday, I saw a man who looked a little
ragged, slowly make his way to a table, quickly snatch an order or large
fries, and dash out of the McDonalds.
There have probably been other things that would be worth mentioning but
can't think of them right now.
CHURCH TODAY
Thank you for praying today for church. I think things went fine but since
it was through an interpreter and almost all speak Russian, there wasn't
much feedback. But it was God's Word and His Word never returns void so I
believe He used it some way. I preached the message from Romans 6-8 that I
preached at CCWC about 9 or 10 months ago.
TOMORROW
Tomorrow I get back into my class. We still have the second part of JWs,
all of Mormonism, Word Faith movement, review, in class paper, and the
final. After school tomorrow I will ask my interpreter to take me back to
Red Square so I can get some video.
That's enough for now. I hope this has been an interesting email. I wanted
to try to let you "experience" some of the culture around here through my
email. Thanks for reading and thanks for your prayers and support.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Attached pictures: Me preaching this morning with interpreter at my side:
and Moscow Metro Map:
Note the map is color coded. Those are subway
lines
going from all sides of central Moscow, through town, to the other side of
Moscow. If you follow any colored line from one extreme to the other (e.g.
lower left, through Moscow, to upper right) it would take you 40-45
minutes). The Bible college was at the top of the purple line (NW) the
church I preached at was southeast)
Sat, 8 Apr 2000
Dearest Friends and Prayer Partners Back Home,
It is early evening on Saturday (about 2000 hours or 8 pm). Yuri ended up having to practice some music for church tomorrow and was unable to take
me to Red Square so a couple of the staff, Christina and Celeste, escorted me.
It's a pretty impressive place and I'd love to show you a picture or two but I got there and the video camera I borrowed had a nearly dead battery so I
could take any video pictures. So I pulled out my digital still camera and found that the two day old batteries in that camera were all but dead (its
been overused the past two days). So there I was in the middle of Red Square with no working camera. What is a tourist/missionary to do? I've
got it! I'm going to McDonalds! Yep, we walked around some shops, I bought a couple of souvenirs, we found some batteries, and headed for McDonalds.
I have attached a picture of me in front of one of the McDonalds in Moscow. At one time, this was the biggest in the world. There must have been 30
employees working behind the counter and maybe 15-20 serving lines. (A Big Mac was only about $1.10.)
It is my plan to "make" Yuri take me back before I leave town next Thursday. One afternoon after class, we'll hop on the subway and be there in
about 30 mins. I will be better prepared the next time with charged batteries.
TOMORROW (SUNDAY)
I have been asked to preach at a Calvary Chapel on the south side of Moscow tomorrow. What a privilege. If you get this before 1:30 pm
Saturday, be sure to pray for me. I will be preaching about 1:45 or 2 pm on Saturday,
you're time (west coast).
I am unsure what I will preach on. They are studying Revelation but I may not have time to put something together from scratch this evening. I
brought three sermons with me and may end up preaching one of those.
SUBWAY DIVINE APPOINTMENT
On the subway coming back to the dorm, a man from India came up to us and asked if we were from America. He spoke English and we began to
converse. He had studied in Russia and now was involved in humanitarian work. We told
him what we were doing and a conversation about religion ensued. He knew a little about almost all religions but admitted to know that
he was confused and just wanted to know the truth. He had his own belief in God but besides
that, he wasn't committed to anything. We explained that only Christianity offered forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift and that
all others said you had to earn it. We told him that the founders of all religions claimed
to be searching for God but Jesus claimed to be God and you have to take that into consideration. It was also amazing that I could use
some of what I have been teaching this week. For instance: "The Koran teaches that
Jesus was the Messiah and was sinless while Muhammad was a sinner who needed to be forgiven." It was a fun time. We invited him to the
classes that we have left. He has the school's phone number. Pray for him: Tom from
India, God knows.
Well, I need to get to work on what I am going to preach tomorrow. I appreciate you all and to those who wrote to students, Thank you. Yuri
appreciated the one sent to him by one of you.
Thanks for the prayers and all of the other support that you all provide.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Sat, 8 Apr 2000
Hi Everyone,
It's midnight here in Moscow. I just got home from an evening spent with a Russian family whose religion is Russian Orthodox.
But this is not an average Orthodox family. They truly love the Lord. It was a moving
experience for me. I learned a lot about the Orthodox church here in Russia. What they explained to me was quite disappointing. They described the
Russian Orthodox church as being partners with a very corrupt government. This couple is not mainstream Orthodox and have been
isolated from the church's mainstream. They say that they "know too much" and will never be
accepted here. They are hoping to immigrate to the US and asked us to pray. I will share more when I have time.
I am including a picture of me with their family.
They have kids, three of which are the ages of my own grandkids. I have to
admit, I enjoyed playing around with their kids and enjoyed even more the hugs I got when I was
leaving.
I wish I could write more, but like I said, it's midnight. I will write more Saturday morning which will be Friday evening there.
Thank you for praying and supporting my ministry here.
I am always looking for a "defining moment" for each trip and tonight's visit with this Russian family may have been it. I fell in
love with them all. Pray for them, that God would allow them to immigrate to America.
Several students received email from some of you. Thanks! Feel free to keep it up!
Tomorrow, Saturday, Yuri and I are planning a trip to Red Square. I am looking forward to that.
Class went well today. We covered New Age and began JWs.
Well, I better get this sent and hit the sack.
May the Love of Christ Be With You All,
Pastor Steve
PS The second picture is of me walking on my hands. I figured if Yuri could do it, so could I!!!
Thu, 6 Apr 2000
Thursday, April 06, 2000
Greetings Once Again from Moscow,
We have come to the end of another day, or we are coming to the end. Its about 8 p.m. and we've spent the day discussing
reality, non-reality, healing, sickness, the non-reality of evil, Satan, heaven or hell - all from the
perspective of a Christian Scientist. That was followed by a discussion of the most
bizarre religion known to man (this man, anyway). We discussed Scientology which says we have three minds: the analytical mind which is
like the perfect computer, the reactive mind which takes in images through our senses when our analytical mind is shut-off by the interference of the
reactive mind, these images that are taken in by the reactive mind are called
engrams, the third mind is the somatic mind which regulates our bodily activity.
The analytical and reactive minds interact with each other to control the somatic mind. We suffer pain because the reactive
mind prohibits the perfect analytical mind from totally controlling the somatic mind. So we
need to go to a Scientology auditor, let him hook us up to a galvanometer (e-meter), and help us discover what engrams are inhibiting our evolution
towards becoming homo novius, which is a god-like being. When we become "clear" of all engrams, we can "move on" and be "saved"
into the state of homo novius. Of course this may take many lifetimes as a Thetan
(spirit) is implanted in us from an implant station (one is on Mars) during each incarnation as we are reborn time after time until we achieve salvation
(i.e. our Thetan becomes "clear" of "engrams"). The founder of this religion, L. Ron Hubbard, stated that his Thetan may be 4 quadrillion years
old.
This is the religion of L. Ron Hubbard and the one followed by notables like John Travolta and Tom Cruise. Unbelievable but
true.
Friday we will cover the New Age Cults and begin our journey through the teaching of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Next week
we will finish up with the Word Faith Movement (Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and others like
them - basically, the "name it and claim it, "God wants us healthy and wealthy" bunch.) and the Mormons before a review, some basic doctrinal
topics that we should be able to defend, and a final exam. I will finish up Thursday and head for Khavarovsk and a visit with
our missionary, Ray Curran.
The days are pretty much the same, Monday through Friday. Breakfast, devotions, then two class sessions, lunch, and two
more class sessions.
I thought I'd use my "daily report" to introduce you to my interpreter, Yuri
Rakhnamin. I have attached two pictures of Yuri. In one he is standing beside me in front of the class. I am telling the class the "story" behind the
tie I am wearing. That has become a daily ritual.
The other picture is Yuri walking on his hands down the dorm hallway, towards me. (Note: Yuri is
wearing my "African" tie.)
Here is a little about him:
Yuri grew up in an atheistic home. He believed that belief in God was only for weaklings and mentally disabled people. He
met his first Christian in Switzerland, at the Linguistic University, the Christian was with Campus
Crusade. Through Bible studies and discussions with this CCC staff member, he received Christ in Dec. 1992 but he didn't grow. His growth
actually began when he met a Roman Catholic priest who invited him to go to a Catholic school. Yuri did go for three months. He
asked if he could be baptized and he was told he had to go to confession first. He did and said
that he then knew he was forgiven. It was through the Catholics that he first learned really who God was and what it meant to be forgiven. He moved
back home and knew he needed Christian fellowship. He tried a Baptist church and a couple of Charismatic churches before
ending up at a local Calvary Chapel. He knew when he went the first time that it was for him.
They preached through the Bible and that is what he knew he wanted and needed. In between time, he served two years in the army. He had entered
college in an "army reserve" kind of program so when he got out he went into the army as a second lieutenant. We joke about the fact
that they taught him techniques in psychological warfare. After he got out last year he
enrolled at the Bible College in Moscow where he is now studying and interpreting. When he gets out after two years, he wants to be used of God
but at this point doesn't think it will be as a pastor. He loved his time at an
orphanage in Switzerland and wouldn't mind working with kids like that again. But he doesn't think he wants to be in a ministry where people will
"support" him. He'd rather work and serve the Lord more on a voluntary basis. But he did say that he wanted the Lord to use him to bring
"multitudes" to the Lord!
Yuri is a great guy who loves the Lord and desperately wants to be used by Him. After the interview he asked me several
questions about my own "call" and ministry.
That is a little about Yuri.
Friday morning is my turn to bring the devotion. I will be speaking from my "life verses," 1 Cor. 4:1-5. Basically, these verses
tell us we are God's servant and we should be concerned about His opinion of us, not the opinion
of other people.
Thank you for your prayers and for your interest. I appreciate all of the support that I receive from you, a half a world away.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Wed, 5 Apr 2000
To the Faithful Saints at CCWC and elsewhere,
Hi again, everyone. We are coming to the end of another day here in Moscow. It's Wednesday and most of the students and
staff have gone to church. I've stayed behind to get caught up on e-mail (see attached
photograph - the e-mail closet is in the meeting/eating/assembly area) and prepare for tomorrows lectures.
We are having a great time here. The girls are encouraging me to keep wearing a tie in class. The guys are not following the
example. I am learning that lots of girls like guys in ties. (I guess I learned this about 30 years late!
Brenda tells me the same thing. But I got a wonderful wife without knowing the secret until later in life! PTL!)
We are also playing Bible trivia each day. I brought prizes to give away. At first, they were all taking M&Ms. Then the trend
was broken when two in a row took WWJD? Bracelets. Now, today, a girl took a sealed envelope with
professional basketball player cards in it. I told her what was inside and she took it. Go figure!
Today we spent almost the whole time talking about Islam. I wish I would have had time to review my notes with some in our
church who are very familiar with Islam. We did OK, however.
I continue to be amazed at how simple and straightforward Christianity seems to be compared to other religions. I think the
speaks to the truthfulness of it. When man puts together a system, he complicates it. He puts works
into it. He puts into place things to do to earn salvation. Christianity is the
only truly "grace-centered" faith/religion. All of the rest has something man must do to be "saved."
We learned today, that the Islam god (Allah) is almost indescribable and unknowable. He is described as being transcendent,
like Jehovah, but not reachable. That is where our God is different. Jehovah is reachable,
knowable, and desires a personal relationship with us. That is different. According to what I was reading and teaching today, Allah also has the
privilege to change moral laws if and when He wishes and evidently he has and does. I am glad that our God is never-changing! Aren't
you?
Tomorrow we continue our journey through the maze of false religions and cults. We will be looking at Christian Science,
Scientology, and the New Age Movement. I've heard it said that Christian Science is like Grape Nuts
(cereal). Grape Nuts are neither grapes nor nuts, and Christian Science is neither Christian nor is it Scientific.
I think Greg Trullinger was once involved in Scientology, if I remember correctly. "Hey, Greg, can you get here by about 11
AM tomorrow? That would be midnight Wednesday there? If you get on a plane by noon, you
might make it.
I have attached a couple of pictures. One is of the class looking at the teacher.
The other is the teacher with his back to you sending e-mail around the world.
I will be home two weeks from Thursday. Lots more ministry to accomplish. Thanks for praying and for sending e-mail. It
helps me feel connected while I am 11 time-zones away. (And just think. A week from Thursday, I will 18
time zones away! Or only six if you keep going east.)
Enjoy your day. I am proud to be able to be representing you here!
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
PS Someone asked me what the food is like here. They fix meals here right at the school. Actually the school is actually here
at the headquarters of Calvary Chapel Church Planting Mission on the eighth floor of a dormitory
building. There are two kitchens. One is small, one larger. The meals are simple and there is always lots of bread available. But there is also a
variety. Cereal, eggs, yogurt, fruit, pancakes for breakfast. Soup almost
every day for lunch. Dinner is a variety of casseroles, chili, more soup, etc. Juice at breakfast, and COFFEE. The coffee just isn't the same as McDs
coffee but it will do! :)
Tue, 4 Apr 2000
Dear Faithful of the Lord,
Greetings in the matchless name of Jesus. I am coming to the end of Tuesday. It was a day almost completely devoted to the
study of Buddhism. What an incredibly complicated religion it is! I am so thankful that God
made the Christian life and the message of salvation so simple and easy to understand. The Buddhist thinks he is caught in a miserable, painful cycle of
reincarnations. His goal is to continue to improve in each reincarnation cycle, and one day reach nirvana and escape the reincarnation cycle. For
some that means annihilation! Some Buddhists would say that annihilation is "the ultimate!" We work through numerous lifetimes for the ultimate goal of
annihilation.
I don't get it. The Bible says, "It is given to each person once to die then the
judgment." And if we receive Christ during our one lifetime, we inherit eternal life. That is pretty simple. The Buddhist has four honorable truths
they live by: 1) Understand that life is filled only with pain and suffering 2)
Realize that it is our selfish desires for the things that the world has to offer
(including loving relationships) is what keeps us trapped in the cycle of pain filled reincarnations. 3) Then we need to learn to divorce self from the
world and what it offers 4) Then we need to apply the eight branches of ethical and moral conduct and thinking. As we apply all that lifetime after
lifetime, we will eventually become truly enlightened, obtain nirvana, escape reincarnation, and be annhilated. Unbelievable!
One of the great highlights of the day and even the week took place this morning. Yesterday, I wore a tie to class. I was the
first teacher EVER to wear a tie here at the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Moscow. This
morning, FIVE male students showed up with ties on! There they were wearing jeans, shorts, sandals, denim shirts AND A TIE! That is what you
call influence! (Just to prove it, I have attached a picture showing us together.) So I want you to know that as I represent you in
places like Russia, we are having a tremendous impact! Guys are wearing ties who
have never or almost never worn them before! :o)
The weather here is still fairly cold but the snow is thawing. Warmer temps and rain is melting the snow and ice. I want to thank you for continuing to
pray for me. I have reached that point where I realize how much material I can cover
each day, now it is a matter of just being prepared. That is not as easy as it sounds. These religions and cults are filled with
terms, concepts, ideas, and doctrines that are foreign to our vocabularies as Christians. It is
proving to be an ongoing challenge to become familiar enough with them all (new ones every day) to be able to explain them to the students.
One thing I think I have noticed is that these Russian students, even though they are young, seem to have a better
understanding of "keeping our eyes on the things above not on the things on earth." They don't have a lot of material
things so they have to learn to look "up" and look "ahead." In the west, we have so much "on earth" we have a hard time looking "up"
and "ahead." The spirit here in the school is warm and friendly. These kids (students and
staff) get along so well. For the most part, everyone is single (a couple of exceptions). That is the way it is all over Russia and especially within the
Calvary Chapel movement here. I'd love to see some of our singles take up the challenge and come here to get involved. ARE YOU
LISTENING SINGLES?? ITS TIME TO LEAVE YOUR CUSHY JOBS AND SURROUNDINGS IN THE CUSHY
U.S.A. AND SPEND A YEAR OR TWO OVER HEAR MINISTERING WITH AND TO THESE GREAT, ENERGETIC, GOD-LOVING YOUNG RUSSIAN CHRISTIANS!
Be praying that we can some how include them (if that is what God has in mind).
That is it for today. I love you all. I am doing fine. The says of lecturing and
preparing are long but that's OK. Thanks for the email, the support, and the prayers.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Mon, 3 Apr 2000
Hi Everyone,
My first day of lectures just ended. I covered all that I had planned. No more, no less. Thanks
for your prayers.
But please don't stop praying. Today was all introduction and fairly easy straight forward stuff.
Tomorrow we will be covering Buddhism, Islam, and Eastern cults. These are not areas of
strength for me and I will need God more than ever to help me help the students make sense of
these religions. They have to make sense to me before I an help them make sense to the
students. ("Make sense" but from the standpoint of being able to understand
the religion.)
Other than "content" the day was also good as far as the general atmosphere. I wore a tie to
class to begin with. I joked about it. It was the African tie so I told them about Africa. Then
one of the men who works here said (with a smile on his face) you're the first teacher ever to
wear a tie here at the school. (I felt like asking, "What is this? Calvary Chapel?? :)
So I took it off for the second half of the day. Then one of the young women here who is
American and is on staff, asked, "Where's you tie?" (She's got Cons. Baptist background.) I told
her that I took it off. She said, "My opinion is that you should leave it on. It looks nice." Can't
win! :)
I played some Bible trivia this afternoon with them. I offered various prizes (WWJD bracelets,
CCWC pens, suckers, pro basketball cards) but both winners took small bags of M&Ms.
It's about 3:15 pm. I don't have papers to correct so the evening will be spent preparing for
tomorrow and next week. I still have a few pages on Mormonism that I haven't read even the
first time.
I also may take a short nap. I didn't sleep well last night.
I haven't taken any pictures yet today but am thinking to taking one of Ilya Gromov, the on campus
director whom I interviewed on videotape last night.
As you can see, nothing spectacular today. I think there is good
rapport between myself and the students. Four lecture sessions down and 36 more to
go.
I miss all of you and miss home but it is a privilege to be here, serving the Lord, representing
you! Thanks for helping to make it all possible.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Sun, 2 Apr 2000
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It's moving on to 9:30 pm Sunday and the time draws near when my class begins. I went to church today with a group who
attend one of the Calvarys in the area.
THE ADVENTURE OF ATTENDING CHURCH IN RUSSIA
Imagine our relatively short trip to church there in the USA. We get in our car, drive from 5 to 15 minutes (most of us), park
our car and walk 2 minutes into the church. Now consider what we did today and what these
folks do each week.
We walked 5 minutes to the bus stop, rode the bus for 30-40 mins. Walked down a main street for a block, cut between
houses, walked through some muddy paths and sidewalks between buildings, into some complex, into a
building, up about 6 flights of stairs, into a theater to church. NO ONE was going to find that church accidentally. We left the school at about
10:50 and got to church about an hour later. The service lasted almost 2 hours with
communion. After fellowship we got back to the school about 4 pm. That is a five hour period of time to attend one church service.
Yes, church starts at noon cuz Russians don't like to get up too early on Sunday. Seriously.
THE REST OF THE DAY
The rest of the day I have been working on the class. I have put in enough time that I should do OK tomorrow I just am still
not sure how quickly or slowly I will go through the material. I won't know that until I get into it.
After tomorrow I should know how to pace the class.
ADVANTAGES OF COMING EARLY
Coming in as early as I did has allowed me to get to know some of the students or at least let them see me and me them. We'll
be well acquainted with each other when the class begins.
INTERVIEWS
There is a guy here today visiting one of the staff. He is going back to Chicago. He has a video camera and I am using it to
interview Ilya Gromov a young, former law student, who is the on-campus director of the college.
He speaks fluent English so you will barely know that he is Russian.
Next I am going to interview Celeste and Ira. Celeste went to Bible school in New Mexico with the Kramers. She and Ira
recently went into a Siberian city to set things up for an incoming team that did evangelism and helped
plant a church. She said she felt like Joshua going in to spy out the land. I
want her to talk a little about what it was like.
Today, in the churches second service ever, there were 80 in attendance!
I am attaching a picture of Celeste cooking. She fixed a green-chili chicken enchilada and Spanish rice. The kitchen is filled
with smoke from frying some kind of Mexican bread.
TOMMORROW IT ALL BEGINS
Monday morning it all begins at 10 am. With the beginning of daylight savings time there is an 11 hour difference. So my
classes are 45 minutes in length, four daily, 11 pm, noon, 2 am, 3 am (your time) five days a week.
Thanks for your prayers and interest. I love and appreciate all of you.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Sat, 1 Apr 2000
Dear Fellow Believers at CCWC (and elsewhere),
Well, my Saturday is rapidly coming to an end and that means just one more day until the class begins. I am not sure where I
am in my preparation. I fortunately looked back over my first lectures. I vaguely remembered
leaving them before finishing them. I was right. I had to go back and finish the first lecture. It could have been embarrassing to get there and say “Oops,
I didn’t finish this lecture. sorry!”
I’ll come back to that in a moment.
PLAYING THE TOURIST
Today’s big event was a cross town trip to the tourist trap shopping place. (It was too cold and dreary to go to Red Square.
Next week.) It was all outdoors and it was cold. It was like a cold winter day in Oregon. There is
still snow on the ground and lots of water and puddles. I was OK except my feet. I didn’t pack boots (don’t have any) so my feet got a little wet and a
lot cold. It was a 30-40 minute trip on foot and the subway.
I am attaching a picture of Ury, my guide and translator, standing on steps above the main shopping area.
Another picture was taken in the subway. Ury and Dean (an American here from the Modesto Calvary) standing near a statue of a Russian soldier, one of many in that area of the subway.
MORE ABOUT THE CLASS THAT BEGINS MONDAY
I talked with the director today a little more about the school and classes. I need to be careful to keep it simple. Calvary
Chapel’s philosophy is to keep the main thing the main thing. They want to keep the Christian life simple. I
can appreciate that. But the other side of that is that they don’t want to drown the students with the “hard questions.” So I need to back away
from my style in Africa where I challenge their assumptions in order to make them think about their faith. I just need to tell it
straight. That is probably best here since most of the students are young in age and in the faith.
I think I know now how I want to approach the class (thanks for your prayers, keep it up) but I still wonder if I have enough
material to fill the 40 45-minute sessions that I will have in the next two weeks. But I have felt this
way before and it always works out. I am going add sessions on the basics to help the students to be able to defend their faith. I will find time to cover
subjects like: How we know the Bible is the Word of God; the Trinity, Deity of Christ, etc.
BAD NEWS ABOUT MY VIDEO CAMERA:
As most of you know, I like to take video pictures during these trips and do
interviews with leaders and other key individuals. That has been my plan since I got here. Well, we’ve been having problems (on and off) with our
video camera. Today I got it out for the first time. I worked with it a little bit
and now I cannot get the film out of the camera and the camera is frozen. I can turn it on but all it does is beep and then shuts down. The film will not
eject out of the camera.
I hope to find a camera here to use and I hope Ray Curran has a camera in Khabarovsk.
I will be going to church somewhere tomorrow with someone but do not know who or where yet.
I’ll write again tomorrow. Take care, everyone.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
Fri, 31 Mar 2000
Hi Everyone,
It's just after dinner here. That means it is about 6 p.m. I slept well after yesterdays adventure,
arriving at the airport without anyone to meet me!
WHY I'M HERE
In case you haven't heard, I am here in Moscow to teach a class on Cults and World Religions at
the Calvary Chapel Bible College. The "college" is all on the 8th floor of a building here in
some part of Moscow. There are sleeping rooms and two kitchens, community bathrooms, and a
meeting room lining a long hallway.
I have been given a private room. (See other picture. Note, my room came with a large stuffed doggie on the bed in the picture.)
THE SCHOOL
There are officially fourteen students here and probably 7 or 8 staff.
I've met staff from New Mexico who knows Jeff and Jeannie Kramer, Modesto, New York,
England, and Oklahoma.
THE MINISTRY
One of the girls, Celeste from New Mexico, was telling me about going into a city in Siberia in
advance of a church planting team to set things up. She and another girl went not knowing
anyone and had to make contacts, set up concerts in schools, etc. It's a great story. I am going to
interview her and let her give us a vision about how it all works and how God works. I will
bring that interview back on tape.
THE POSSIBILITIES
This ministry here in Moscow (and even in Vladimir where I was last May) is a great place to
bring people and a great place to send new, young missionaries. It would be a great place to
send some of our young singles to give them a vision for missions. Everyone here are under 30
(I think). The students are definitely under thirty, probably all are under 25.
MORE ON MY CLASS
I will be teaching four sessions a day. Each session is 45 minutes. It is to be
a mixture of the history or the cults, what they believe compared to the Bible, and how to witness to them. I still
have work to do on all this. Please pray that I will be able to blend all of this together into a
helpful, interesting, fast paced, fun class.
I am beginning to think that questions like "Is it true that Buddhists believe blah blah blah?"" Or
"Did Buddah really say such and such?" will be a part of the daily dialogue in class. I also have
a feeling that I could be saying "I don't know" a lot.
MY PERSONAL GUIDE/TRANSLATOR/GENERAL CARETAKER
I have been appointed a guide/translator. (Ury) Tomorrow, Saturday, he is going to take me to
Red Square. I guess it takes an hour by the time you walk to the train and take the train. Maybe
only 45 mins. Then next Saturday I'll go shopping.
Email is sent here at 10 am and 10 pm but we are only supposed to use email from about 5 - 10
pm. I am sure they would give me special privileges and maybe staff can use it any time but
maybe not. I think the computer is in the same place that classes are held. That may be why the
5 pm start time.
So if I write email once a day and it is sent at 10 pm, then you'll be getting my mail early
afternoon there. If you send at night, I should get it here early afternoon next day here.
Keep in mind that we are 12 different now but will be 11 when you go on daylight saving time.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
By His Grace,
Pastor Steve
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