Collins getting ready for our first crash course on studio recording software.

Today we begin officially training on the software “Pro Logic X” for studio recording.  We still have some things to iron out before we begin actually producing some music, but we’re rejoicing in the progress.

The vision for the studio is simple:

We want to train.

We will, by the grace of God, invest in a handful of musically gifted folks that love producing, recording and mixing music.   In a culture that is still teaching en mass antiquated life skills (Eg. how to make borsch), folks that know how to record technically will own an employable life skill.  In Ukraine, the ‘cup of cold water’ I believe for this generation is investing in their employable future.

By investing in someone’s future, for the sake of simply caring and believing in an individual – the doors of the heart fling open and the grace of God impacts the whole of the person.   They know they are cared for, they let down their walls of reservation and ask the deeper questions.   This is where Jesus shows up and answers those questions.

We want to create.

90% of the Christian music heard around Ukraine, Russia and Belarus I’ve found to be from the west.  They simply transliterate the songs, which often loses most if not all the original meaning of the song – and voila, a ‘sort of’ Chris Tomlin song.

We want to provide a vehicle for producing original, indigenous music for the emerging Christian generations, by the believers here.  Their styles, their heart, their lyrics – the song of the Lord rise up from His people and us these two little rooms!

We want to employ.

Most things we do here cost money.  Some things, like the Widow ministry, will always be ministries that require outside financial support.  However, other things, like the Cafe (one day!) and the Studio, we will strive to make them sustainable on their own.

Our hope is that by producing quality music we will be able to attract talent from Kiev and other larger cities.  These bands and artists are used to paying for this, and with those potential funds we could employ a few folks part or full time.

That’s our studio vision in a nutshell.  We do this by faith, like everything else unless Jesus Christ is front and center it’s a lot of work and a waste of time!  Please pray for the studio efforts and for wisdom, finances to finish, and talent (like Collins) to come visit, continue training and helping it evolve into something special.

Everything we have to date has cost only $1,000 (mostly acoustic panels and software).  A good friend from Crossroads brought over and donated another $1-2k of equipment.   Studio’s can cost over $100k to do ‘right’ in the west – but with today’s technology and lower costs for production, we’re excited to see what will come!

Waited a long time for this moment – “We are the world” solo album (for the hearing impaired only).

Please read, watch and share!  Thanks everyone – Bruce & Deb

Link to Give and More Info : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1727696957/kids-skatepark-ukraine

#kidsparkukraine

I’m trying something new.  Later this week we will launch our first ever Kickstarter project.  Kickstarter is a crowd-funding platform that basically lets you attempt to raise funds for your idea or project in an ‘all or nothing’ format, with a time limit.

We’ve been thrilled with the activity and influence of the Lighthouse Cafe, and now we turn our attention to our undeveloped outdoor property that is honestly and eye sore.  Our town does have 2 other small kids play areas, donated by politicians attempting to gain votes.  This would make the third, however it will be connected to the Cafe with outdoor places to sit and drink coffee, eat pizza, and also have a skate area with a half-pipe.

We’d like to purchase something like this, probably not as large as they are SO expensive here – but a small area like this.

First things first, dreams need backers.  So be looking for an opportunity to help the Lighthouse extend its influence and shine outside it’s four walls!    The biggest challenge will be spreading the word – and for that we look to you, our loyal prayer and financial supporters – together we can spread this around and raise the project goal of $7,500 which we believe will build something very unique and special for the families in our town.

This past week we had 4 students raking and cleaning the area.  We want to order a couple loads of topsoil and plant some grass as a start…  It would be cool to raise a large amount with this Kickstarter campaign and do a project that takes only a few weeks instead of months – what a dream that would be!

Blessings,

Bruce & Deb

Celebrating our new Pizza starting on Victory Day (WWII) May 9.

After 3yrs of incomprehensible bureaucracy (putting it nicely), we are thrilled to announce the Lighthouse Cafe has flowing gas!

Come on Deb, slow down.

I feel like I’m accepting a Grammy Award, but seriously this has been a grueling process that has worked a great deal of patience in not just myself, but several of our team members.  There’s been tears (we won’t say who), blood pressure medication (again, not saying), and of course a lot of prayer.

Thank you Dima.  You were brave, you were steadfast, and you labored for a solid year and a half.  You never saw the finish line, but you can rejoice with us now that your labor was not in vain!

Thank you Natasha for your most recent tireless trips (maybe 50 of them), stamps, and endurance as you dealt with some of the laziest and incompetent government workers on the planet.

Thank you God – who has shown us that it was never about Gas in the first place.  We’ve met many folks and our story has become quite famous in our little part of the world.   God please help us to take this gift of gas and turn it into the final piece of sustaining this cool little cafe.

Thank you Vitalik for coming down and showing us some pizza skills. Have some hurdles to overcome on ingredients still. Sorry folks, we are not putting corn on the pizza.

We are now excitedly preparing for Pizza!  Alyosha’s friend from the army, also a cook, came down this week to show us how they make pizza in Kiev at a popular restaurant he worked at.

To see the pizza oven, which has sat in our kitchen as a depressing reminder of the broken economic engine in Ukraine, come to life before my eyes has been nothing short of joy!

We will be offering three types of pizza to start, an “Italian”, “Ukrainian” and “American”.. I get to build the American and let me tell you, it will be thick, large, and portioned for families of +8.

Bruce & Deb