TO RUSSIA, WITH LOVE
By Peggy Hall

The round, beaming face of Ken Briden catches the whole spirit of CCCM’s relationship with K-Town, in southern Russia. Although the orphan’s face is dead-pan, he has a two-handed grip on his new hightops, a gift from a CCCM family. Ken and Vera pioneered the work in the early Nineties but Christ Community took ownership and has responded by sending teams, this year the ninth and tenth, to Kislovodsk. The Orphanage is a key visit on each trip.

Imagine yourself standing on a hill, looking over a small city. The sun warms your face, the breeze rustles the leaves in the trees. You are standing in a circle of new friends praying for the city and its inhabitants, whom you have yet to meet. You pray for God's will and the help of the Holy Spirit to take the Gospel to people who have never heard it. You pray that you will be a worthy witness, and that someone will be receptive.

"This is the way we always start our ministry in Kislovodsk," says Gary Rodney, who with his wife, Carla, will lead CCCM's Team IX to Russia. "The American and Russian team members gather together and pray for the city and the success of our mission."

In addition to Gary and Carla, Team IX includes Dave and Joyce Glau as adult members. Mark Goodwin, Carol Goodwin, Valerie Deras, Julie Sena, and Carolyn Brady are the student team members. The team leaves July 18 and returns home August 10.

The team has had several training sessions, where they are learning some basic Russian, getting cultural background, learning about the social expectations—such as what to wear--and working on developing their testimonies. "Now the team is starting to separate into specific areas of responsibilities like email, luggage, money exchange, gifts, games, music, and so on," says Gary.

It will be a busy three weeks of 18-hour days. Team members will work with Kislovodsk Bible Church’s summer camp, helping with music and crafts. They will make home visits, taking bags of food to shut-ins and sharing the Gospel with them. They will spend time at Eagle Camp, a camp for street children in transit to either families or orphanages. They will also spend time at the Kislovodsk Orphanage. They will be taking some small supplies in their luggage to share with the children at the Orphanage. There will also be a street ministry, where team members show up in a park with sports equipment and guitars. In just a few minutes, Gary says, the crowd can grow from 10 to 100. Team members then sit down with small groups to share the Gospel.

Gary and Carla have learned to expect the unexpected. "God always finds a way to use each team member uniquely," says Gary. He tells of one team member, on a previous trip, who is diabetic. The team had brought supplies to treat diabetes, but it turned out very few recipients knew how to use the supplies or even do basic preventative measures. This team member found himself fully used by God to teach diabetics how to give themselves injections and how to monitor their diets. Now imagine yourself, about three weeks later, back on top of that same hill, your life changed forever by the new friends you have made, the lives you have touched, and by witnessing the power of the Lord in the lives of others. "Let the Lord take you on a mission trip," Gary and Carla say. "You will ask yourself who is ministering to whom? Are you ministering to the child who wraps her arms around you after accepting Christ or is she ministering to you? You'll never know until you go!"

More orphans. Their faces color in a mosaic of broken families, abandoned children, ruined lives in Southern Russia. Team members from CCCM do VBS every year with the Orphanage kids.