More Snow
I woke up this morning to about 10 inches of snow. Beautiful. . .until you have to shovel the walk.
Christmas 2009
Christmas eve: dinner, legos, and Elf at the Claycamps.
Christmas day: celebrating at the Pirinis with food, movies, music, games, and presents.
Christmas day: celebrating at the Pirinis with food, movies, music, games, and presents.
3 years of evenings for senior citizens
Last night we held our monthly evening for senior citizens and celebrated the 3rd anniversary of these events. In December of 2006 we started holding a monthly dinner for senior citizens in Kaharlyk as a way to show them God's love and invest in our community by doing something special for a demographic that is much overlooked in our city.Through this ministry quite a few seniors have started coming regularly to our church and one Babushka repented and was baptized this summer. We've gotten to know quite of few of the senior citizens in our neighborhood as well as grown as a church in learning how to serve our community.
Here are some pictures from last night:
Liese and Natasha Vitenko preparing the meal.
Yulia Vitenko reciting a Christmas poem. Josie Claycamp and Anya Zahurska also performed on the piano, but you'll have to keep an eye out on the Claycamp's blog for photos of them.
These ladies have been attending our evenings since the very beginning and they sang a couple Ukrainian folk songs for everyone. They are pretty awesome. I recorded one of their encore songs with my camera (sorry if it is shaky):
The goings on in Kaharlyk
It has been a while since we last wrote so I thought I'd write a general "what we've been up to post".
Last weekend we took a road trip to Priluki to visit our friends there and go to their Sunday morning church service. For the last year or so we've only gone back to Priluki for the Thursday evening service and we don't get to see everyone at church. We stayed with Vlad and Zhana and had a good time hanging out at their house. Liese went to a women's bible study on Saturday afternoon while I hung out with Vlad. On the way home we stopped by our old neighbors in the BAM region of Priluki to see their new baby boy Bogdan.
We finished our 8 month study through Hebrews last week and this Sunday we'll be starting a new bible study series through I Timothy and Titus. We want to build a good foundation of church structure and as we study through these two books we'll be focusing on different aspects church structure. Wayne and I have been planning and preparing for this series for a couple months and this will be the first time we've started teaching a book with a plan on how we want to teach through it.
I've been working on the covers for the 4 biographies that In Lumine will be printing soon. They are pretty much done and ready to go to the printer. I've also been adding more content to pastorjohnpiper.ru, mostly just text of sermons but hopefully we'll have more audio up there soon as well.
We are getting near to finishing our bedroom remodel. This week I finished the shelving in our closet and Liese painted it. Liese has stripped just about all the old paint off the doors and jams. We still need to put up the closet doors, put in base boards, finish off the floor and paint the final coat of paint on the walls. Then we can move into a finished room.
That's basically what's been going on with us.
Last weekend we took a road trip to Priluki to visit our friends there and go to their Sunday morning church service. For the last year or so we've only gone back to Priluki for the Thursday evening service and we don't get to see everyone at church. We stayed with Vlad and Zhana and had a good time hanging out at their house. Liese went to a women's bible study on Saturday afternoon while I hung out with Vlad. On the way home we stopped by our old neighbors in the BAM region of Priluki to see their new baby boy Bogdan.
We finished our 8 month study through Hebrews last week and this Sunday we'll be starting a new bible study series through I Timothy and Titus. We want to build a good foundation of church structure and as we study through these two books we'll be focusing on different aspects church structure. Wayne and I have been planning and preparing for this series for a couple months and this will be the first time we've started teaching a book with a plan on how we want to teach through it.
I've been working on the covers for the 4 biographies that In Lumine will be printing soon. They are pretty much done and ready to go to the printer. I've also been adding more content to pastorjohnpiper.ru, mostly just text of sermons but hopefully we'll have more audio up there soon as well.
We are getting near to finishing our bedroom remodel. This week I finished the shelving in our closet and Liese painted it. Liese has stripped just about all the old paint off the doors and jams. We still need to put up the closet doors, put in base boards, finish off the floor and paint the final coat of paint on the walls. Then we can move into a finished room.That's basically what's been going on with us.
Wayne Grudem's "Christian Beliefs" in Russian
This week we received "Christian Beliefs" by Wayne Grudem from the printer. This is In Lumine's 6th book to be published and the third one that I've helped with the design.
In Lumine
One of the goals of In Lumine is to get as many good, God-centered, Christian resources into people's hands as we possibly can. One of the ways we try to do this is by offering our books at a low cost. The other way is by offering as much digital content as we can for free. We would love to have websites like Desiring God, TheResurgence, The Gospel Coalition, offering free content in Russian and Ukrainian. So we decided (with permission from Desiring God) to set up a website with all of John Piper's sermons and books so that people could easily find, read, listen and watch his sermons.
For the last few weeks I've been working on pastorjohnpiper.ru and it is pretty nearly done.
We've got audio and video from the Pastors' Conference in Samara, most of the books we've published in pdf, sermons, and links to purchase all his books. We'll be adding audio and video from Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ soon as well as more sermons that have been translated.
Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem is done printing. The printer is shipping them out this week.
With all the book sales we've had over the last few months we are able to print a series of short biographies that Piper wrote. This week I've been working on getting the covers finished. They are biographies of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. We'll be sending them to the printer soon.
For the last few weeks I've been working on pastorjohnpiper.ru and it is pretty nearly done.We've got audio and video from the Pastors' Conference in Samara, most of the books we've published in pdf, sermons, and links to purchase all his books. We'll be adding audio and video from Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ soon as well as more sermons that have been translated.
Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem is done printing. The printer is shipping them out this week.
With all the book sales we've had over the last few months we are able to print a series of short biographies that Piper wrote. This week I've been working on getting the covers finished. They are biographies of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. We'll be sending them to the printer soon.
Youth Conference
Saturday our church hosted a one day youth conference for the youth groups from nearby cities. The theme of the day was "Wake up!" and 40 people came from about 5 different cities. There were three bible studies, group discussion times, two meals, times of worship and hanging out. Liese and I played with the worship band, and I got to play bass. I was greatly encouraged to watch the youth ministry team plan and execute the whole event by themselves. It seemed everyone had a great time and were encouraged to wake up and follow Christ.pictured: above - Micah Claycamp teaching in the afternoon, below - Jon Pirini teaching in the morning.
Flu Outbreak in Ukraine
For the last few weeks all of Ukraine has been under a quarantine because of the flu season and the outbreak of several strains of flu virus, including the swine flu (which is called in Ukraine the "California Flu" prompting people to ask me why I brought it to Ukraine - apparently those jokes never get old.)
At first it seemed like a bunch of hype and panic over something not that big of a deal. There is a flu season every year, and schools close for a week or two every year because of the flu. But this year is different as all schools and universities are closed for three weeks, all rallies and large public gatherings are banned, and interstate travel is limited. Nobody has any real idea of what is going on because nobody is sure if what the doctors say is true, what the politicians say is true, and what the statistics mean.
The statistics so far are that about 1.1 million (Ukraine's total population is around 46 million) have the flu, around 50,000 people are in the hospital with flu-like symptoms, over 160 people have died, and there have been over 60 cases of the swine flu out of which less than 20 people have died.
Aside from the swine flu there appears to be an outbreak of a flu that leads to internal hemorrhage and edema in the lungs. A lot of people are really worried about this because it acts quickly and can be fatal. However I can't find any real numbers on it and nobody is really sure what it is. The World Health Organization is here in Ukraine trying to figure out what is going on. The WHO is predicting there will be a second wave of flu infections soon and this appears to be happening as the flu is finally hitting Kiev and now Kaharlyk.
It is difficult for the average person to find helpful information as the doctors are not generally trusted (last night at bible study I heard someone say that the doctor said her grandkid can't have a fever from teething because babies don't get fevers when they teethe). People also don't trust the government because there is an election coming up in January and the quarantine effectively has blocked candidates with with less access to media from campaigning, making this all seem like a political ploy.
Here in Kagy people are wearing masks at the stores and banks and post offices. Kids are staying home, and parents are worried (and a bit overwhelmed at having the kids home for 3 weeks with wet cold weather and the risk of getting sick from going over to friends' houses).
At first it seemed like a bunch of hype and panic over something not that big of a deal. There is a flu season every year, and schools close for a week or two every year because of the flu. But this year is different as all schools and universities are closed for three weeks, all rallies and large public gatherings are banned, and interstate travel is limited. Nobody has any real idea of what is going on because nobody is sure if what the doctors say is true, what the politicians say is true, and what the statistics mean.
The statistics so far are that about 1.1 million (Ukraine's total population is around 46 million) have the flu, around 50,000 people are in the hospital with flu-like symptoms, over 160 people have died, and there have been over 60 cases of the swine flu out of which less than 20 people have died.
Aside from the swine flu there appears to be an outbreak of a flu that leads to internal hemorrhage and edema in the lungs. A lot of people are really worried about this because it acts quickly and can be fatal. However I can't find any real numbers on it and nobody is really sure what it is. The World Health Organization is here in Ukraine trying to figure out what is going on. The WHO is predicting there will be a second wave of flu infections soon and this appears to be happening as the flu is finally hitting Kiev and now Kaharlyk.
It is difficult for the average person to find helpful information as the doctors are not generally trusted (last night at bible study I heard someone say that the doctor said her grandkid can't have a fever from teething because babies don't get fevers when they teethe). People also don't trust the government because there is an election coming up in January and the quarantine effectively has blocked candidates with with less access to media from campaigning, making this all seem like a political ploy.
Here in Kagy people are wearing masks at the stores and banks and post offices. Kids are staying home, and parents are worried (and a bit overwhelmed at having the kids home for 3 weeks with wet cold weather and the risk of getting sick from going over to friends' houses).
Ed Stetzer on the lack of global missions in the missional church
I thought this post by Ed Stetzer was a good look at the current "missional" trend and how to not loose the meaning of global missions. Read it, it's good.
When is it okay to leave a church body?
I recently read a blog post on TheResurgence by a guy named A few months ago I started to think about how easy it is to justify leaving a church body and joining another church that we like better. The style of worship isn't right, the teaching isn't up to par, the people are mean...so many reasons to leave and yet we rarely think about the fact that the church is a living body of people who are knit together and when one member leaves that body it rarely happens without forming a gaping wound. My thinking led me to wonder when is it okay to leave a gaping wound, because it seems clear that there are times when we must leave a local body.
Dr. Gregg Allison gave and from those lectures Munson gave a list of good questions to ask before you leave your local church that seemed to be along the lines of the conclusions I came to:
The beauty of the church is the unity in Christ of various people from various backgrounds. Without diversity the church would not be a body, it would be a club of people who like the sames things, have the same heritage, etc. Thus, my personal taste in musical styles, preaching styles, the type of people who attend a church are really not the reason not to attend a church nor the basis for finding a church. Being different from the other people in the body is often what God has in mind when He puts us in a church. Churches need older people who have lived longer, young people with zeal, a guy who is really excited about End Times, families with young kids, people who like hymns, the list goes on because we need the strength of those around us to help us in our weaknesses. If we leave because we feel that the church doesn't meet our needs, we are forgetting that maybe we are what that church needs (not to make more of ourselves than we should, but just that each member is needed in the body) and God put us there to help others not just so that we might receive.
These are somethings that I've been thinking over. What do you think?
Dr. Gregg Allison gave and from those lectures Munson gave a list of good questions to ask before you leave your local church that seemed to be along the lines of the conclusions I came to:
- Have I expended all of my opportunities to effect change in this church?
- Will continued participation in this church exert a negative impact on my relationship with and worship of God, my ministry for Jesus Christ, the use of my spiritual gifts, etc.?
- Do I have to compromise too much—essential doctrines and practices, a lifestyle in accordance with biblical values and principles—in order to remain in this church?
- Do I have a legitimate reason for leaving? In a culture where church-hopping and shopping is the norm, I felt these were timely words for Christians to ask themselves before leaving their church so that we don’t flippantly move on from a place God may want us to persevere in.
The beauty of the church is the unity in Christ of various people from various backgrounds. Without diversity the church would not be a body, it would be a club of people who like the sames things, have the same heritage, etc. Thus, my personal taste in musical styles, preaching styles, the type of people who attend a church are really not the reason not to attend a church nor the basis for finding a church. Being different from the other people in the body is often what God has in mind when He puts us in a church. Churches need older people who have lived longer, young people with zeal, a guy who is really excited about End Times, families with young kids, people who like hymns, the list goes on because we need the strength of those around us to help us in our weaknesses. If we leave because we feel that the church doesn't meet our needs, we are forgetting that maybe we are what that church needs (not to make more of ourselves than we should, but just that each member is needed in the body) and God put us there to help others not just so that we might receive.
These are somethings that I've been thinking over. What do you think?
Our week
Monday: Had to go to Kiev to pick up official notarized translations of our passports and marriage license so that we could finish our registration process. Then in the afternoon Liese and I went to the local notary to sign an official petition that I was willing for my wife to be registered at the house that I own. Liese, unfortunately had a migraine.
Tuesday: Started the process of replacing our front door and windows of our entrance way.
Wednesday: Finished installing the windows and door.
We finished by early afternoon and then we went to help out at the church's monthly evening for senior citizens.
Thursday: Didn't go to the rehab center this week as they were busy with building projects for their pig farm, so instead Liese and I worked in the yard cleaning up leaves and the construction mess. We spent the evening with the Vitenko family from our church, with whom we've been getting together to talk about some of the questions they have about their faith.
Friday: Took a day off/sabbath day. Found out the registration process is done and we are registered as living in our house. Went for a walk in the park.
Saturday: The plan is to have a meeting in the morning, set up the digital projector at church so we can finally go digital with our overheads, worship band practice, and then relax.
Tuesday: Started the process of replacing our front door and windows of our entrance way.
Wednesday: Finished installing the windows and door.
We finished by early afternoon and then we went to help out at the church's monthly evening for senior citizens.Thursday: Didn't go to the rehab center this week as they were busy with building projects for their pig farm, so instead Liese and I worked in the yard cleaning up leaves and the construction mess. We spent the evening with the Vitenko family from our church, with whom we've been getting together to talk about some of the questions they have about their faith.
Friday: Took a day off/sabbath day. Found out the registration process is done and we are registered as living in our house. Went for a walk in the park.
Saturday: The plan is to have a meeting in the morning, set up the digital projector at church so we can finally go digital with our overheads, worship band practice, and then relax.
5 thoughts on Faith
Today while studying for Sunday's sermon on Hebrews 11:29-28 I read a sermon that John Piper preached on that section. He brought out five points about faith that I think are very helpful in thinking about faith.
...1... Through our faith God can and does work miracles and acts of providence to bring practical earthly help and deliverance to his people.
...2... God does not always work miracles and acts of providence for our deliverance from suffering; sometimes by faith God sustains his people through sufferings.
...3... Having faith is not the ultimate determining factor in whether you suffer or escape, God is - God's sovereign will and wisdom and love.
...4... The common feature of the faith that escapes suffering and the faith that endures suffering is this: both of them involve believing that God himself is better than what life can give to you now, and better than what death can take from you later.
...5... Those who love God more than life and suffer willingly awaiting something better than what this earth can offer, are God's great gifts to the world.
...1... Through our faith God can and does work miracles and acts of providence to bring practical earthly help and deliverance to his people.
...2... God does not always work miracles and acts of providence for our deliverance from suffering; sometimes by faith God sustains his people through sufferings.
...3... Having faith is not the ultimate determining factor in whether you suffer or escape, God is - God's sovereign will and wisdom and love.
...4... The common feature of the faith that escapes suffering and the faith that endures suffering is this: both of them involve believing that God himself is better than what life can give to you now, and better than what death can take from you later.
...5... Those who love God more than life and suffer willingly awaiting something better than what this earth can offer, are God's great gifts to the world.
Thoughts after a (molotov) cocktail
We've been in Ukraine about 8 years now and have gone through different sorts of hardships from pickpockets, to break ins, to harassment, and now to the threat of a group burning down our buildings. This week I've been thinking about all of these and how we react.
One of the things I've been thinking about is what I would like to have in life vs. what God has called me to as a Christian (just a Christian, not a missionary).
What I want:
- a warm, clean, efficient, good-looking house
- my family to be safe from harm
- peace and quiet
- family nearby
- good health
- to be able to afford to buy things that make life easier
What I have been called to:
- life as if my home was in heaven, not here on earth
- joy in the midst of suffering
- persecution for my faith
- serving the needs of others more than my own needs
- give because God has given to me
There are a few things that can be added to both those lists but those are the things that I have been contrasting in my head the last few days as I thought about the reality of a group of people attacking our church and given the reason that we are a protestant church. I realize that God doesn't call us to an easy, quiet life. Sure, God may give that to us but that is not the reward for being a Christian.
Liese and I have also been discussing the difference between suffering (in a general sense) and persecution. The reason we started to talk about it is because so often in response to things like this attack on our church people say things like "this just shows you are doing something right". That is an encouraging thing to say, but I'm not sure how true it is. I mean, were we doing something wrong before this sort of thing happened? So often adversity on the mission field, in a church anywhere, or on a mission trip is counted as a spiritual attack that is meant to stop us from finishing that good thing we started. And yet Jesus says that persecution is simply a result of us being like him, and Paul says that simply living godly will lead to suffering. Suffering is for our good, to purify us and make us holy. It is how God disciplines us and teaches us. Peter wrote that fiery trials are sent from God to test us. James said to consider it a joy when you are in various trials, knowing that trials produce in you many good things.
Suffering then is a sign that God is working in your life to make you holy and more like Him. It should be part of every Christian's life. It shouldn't always be considered a sign that whatever work you are doing is a great threat to satan and thus worthy of a satanic assault.
Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, crime, war...all these things bring suffering with them and yet they happen to everyone. God allows them to happen in our lives because through them He wants us to turn to Him as our great treasure instead of the things of this world.
We are going to suffer as God's way of purifying our faith. CS Lewis said that pain is God's megaphone to the world. This suffering and pain is for our good in the same way that children are disciplined for their good. Adversity and hardship are what makes us strong mature believers. Adversity is not out of the ordinary, a special attack, a sign that satan is not happy, a sign that the kingdom of this world is being threatened, or an affront to the kingdom of God. It is God's plan for our life to force our hearts to choose between this world and the world to come, to choose between our own selfish pleasures and God. Perhaps in God's plan suffering includes an attack from the enemy etc but I really don't think that should be the focus of what is going on. Peter and James and Paul all mentioned the fact that there is a spiritual war but none of them talked about it in regards to suffering, adversity, or persecution. By faith that we press on in spite of suffering knowing that Christ has already won the victory.
In the same way persecution for your faith should be a normal thing for a believer. And by persecution I mean physical attack, or physical hardship, not scorn or jest. It should be expected that we live such radically different lives from the world that the culture around us will be angry at us and want us out of the picture. Not that we are trouble makers, antagonizers, or the like. But simply that we are different in a way that threatens the status quo so much that people don't like it.
Those are some of the thoughts I've been having the last few days.
One of the things I've been thinking about is what I would like to have in life vs. what God has called me to as a Christian (just a Christian, not a missionary).
What I want:
- a warm, clean, efficient, good-looking house
- my family to be safe from harm
- peace and quiet
- family nearby
- good health
- to be able to afford to buy things that make life easier
What I have been called to:
- life as if my home was in heaven, not here on earth
- joy in the midst of suffering
- persecution for my faith
- serving the needs of others more than my own needs
- give because God has given to me
There are a few things that can be added to both those lists but those are the things that I have been contrasting in my head the last few days as I thought about the reality of a group of people attacking our church and given the reason that we are a protestant church. I realize that God doesn't call us to an easy, quiet life. Sure, God may give that to us but that is not the reward for being a Christian.
Liese and I have also been discussing the difference between suffering (in a general sense) and persecution. The reason we started to talk about it is because so often in response to things like this attack on our church people say things like "this just shows you are doing something right". That is an encouraging thing to say, but I'm not sure how true it is. I mean, were we doing something wrong before this sort of thing happened? So often adversity on the mission field, in a church anywhere, or on a mission trip is counted as a spiritual attack that is meant to stop us from finishing that good thing we started. And yet Jesus says that persecution is simply a result of us being like him, and Paul says that simply living godly will lead to suffering. Suffering is for our good, to purify us and make us holy. It is how God disciplines us and teaches us. Peter wrote that fiery trials are sent from God to test us. James said to consider it a joy when you are in various trials, knowing that trials produce in you many good things.
Suffering then is a sign that God is working in your life to make you holy and more like Him. It should be part of every Christian's life. It shouldn't always be considered a sign that whatever work you are doing is a great threat to satan and thus worthy of a satanic assault.
Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, crime, war...all these things bring suffering with them and yet they happen to everyone. God allows them to happen in our lives because through them He wants us to turn to Him as our great treasure instead of the things of this world.
We are going to suffer as God's way of purifying our faith. CS Lewis said that pain is God's megaphone to the world. This suffering and pain is for our good in the same way that children are disciplined for their good. Adversity and hardship are what makes us strong mature believers. Adversity is not out of the ordinary, a special attack, a sign that satan is not happy, a sign that the kingdom of this world is being threatened, or an affront to the kingdom of God. It is God's plan for our life to force our hearts to choose between this world and the world to come, to choose between our own selfish pleasures and God. Perhaps in God's plan suffering includes an attack from the enemy etc but I really don't think that should be the focus of what is going on. Peter and James and Paul all mentioned the fact that there is a spiritual war but none of them talked about it in regards to suffering, adversity, or persecution. By faith that we press on in spite of suffering knowing that Christ has already won the victory.
In the same way persecution for your faith should be a normal thing for a believer. And by persecution I mean physical attack, or physical hardship, not scorn or jest. It should be expected that we live such radically different lives from the world that the culture around us will be angry at us and want us out of the picture. Not that we are trouble makers, antagonizers, or the like. But simply that we are different in a way that threatens the status quo so much that people don't like it.
Those are some of the thoughts I've been having the last few days.
