This little cutey has loved Canada but asks regularly about returning to Ukraine – sweet:)

In Canada for our last weekend.  We will fly out Tuesday, arriving on Wednesday in Ukraine.  It’s been a wonderful trip, we feel extremely blessed to be able to come back now three Christmas’s in a row.

Our hearts (and bellies) are full as we pack, and wrap up final details.  Traveling with one less on our return – Broderic seems to be doing well into his 3rd week of college in Texas.

Last few days I’ve played Hockey and it’s been SO fun! I really miss the game.

I’ve been working on a blog that highlights some of the things the Lord has encouraged us with, and general observations in the area of mission and church.  It’s turned into a novel and might be too sobering and theological for our blog readers – but I intend to publish it soon.  God has been gracious to help us begin to form, through pastor friends, books and His leading a missional template for the next few years.

Over the past few weeks several surprise donations have been received.  Thank you!  It’s been so encouraging to see how God has put our ministry and family on various hearts.  We didn’t do any fundraising this trip, but entrusted this coming year to the Lord and see Him provide for some ministry growth – will share more soon!

Flying around the US last week – such perspective from 30k feet!

Been busy preparing to teach the Gospel of John the week of Feb 15 in Minsk, Belarus.  It’s an intense week teaching 19 classes in 5 days!  I’m feeling pretty good about it, but honestly never attempted anything like this before – I feel bad for the Belorussian students though, have to listen to me for 1,500 minutes – Pray for us all!

My Grandma – she’s an amazing woman, runs the books for 2 family businesses, and serves at youth ministry 2x per week.

The Gospel of John is so incredible – written that we may know that Jesus was the Messiah of the world and that we would experience life in Him.  Thank you Jesus for life in Christ.

On the heels of the Minsk teaching trip we have a team of 15 joining us from Texas, joining up with some from Minsk and our own youth as we host a week of Awaken Creative Workshops and Worship Nights.

Pray as well for us as we need to hit the road running in Ukraine when we return – talking to colleges, forming up some teams for logistics, food, housing and everything else.  Pray for the week of March 4-12 specifically that the Holy Spirit will move mightily in hearts, awaken us all to your reality and presence Lord!

On the heels of the Awaken week, a few of us will head to Vladivostok, Russia – Far East Russia.   I’ll be (if I can find tickets!!) teaching a DTS week on the Kingdom of God and a cool side group of part time students who want to dig into scripture more but work full time and can only meet at nights and weekends.   God is working.

God is working all around us isn’t He?  Open your heart to the presence of God, care for others, listen and enter His harvest – He’s the Lord of it!

Thanks for staying in touch – please don’t hesitate to drop us a comment or email anytime as well!  It’s so cool to hear from friends, family and even random folks that come across our blog.

Bruce & Deb

We have arrived safely in Canada for Christmas.  This past weekend Deb and I drove down to Harrisburg, PA.  We enjoyed fellowship with some dear friends and picked Collins for Christmas.

Great catching up with the Myers family – they are roasting coffee and hoping to use funds from this to continue doing foreign ministry. Leigh is still learning Russian too, go Leigh!

Haven’t had too much time to rest yet, but it’s on the list.  We have an incredible January planned, and won’t have much time to blog.  We will be visiting friends and churches in the following US Cities:

• Longview, Texas
• Jacksonville, Florida
• Memphis, TN
• Birmingham, AL

This weekend we are looking forward to visiting with our friends at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Bloomfield, Ontario.  We’ll be giving an update on Ukraine as well as introducing Collins to the good folks.   I grew up here, I’m related to half of those in the congregation, so it’s always a treat to share.

Our hope for the next month is to strengthen relationships, particularly those we renewed or started last year during our crazy road trip.  This past year was filled with new growth, new hope in our efforts in Ukraine.   Our faith was strengthened to believe Him for more of His presence and reality.

He blessed us and the Lighthouse Ukraine ministry this past year in so many unexpected ways – we pray this unplanned (we thought we were staying in Ukraine for Christmas this year) visit unveils more of His plan.

This year is filling up already with many exciting and new things.  We will be teaching at Christ For The Nations in Belarus in Feb, and we have a team of 20 creative believers coming from (mostly) Texas in March for an intense Awaken Week.  We also have been invited to teach in Far East Russia this spring but praying about that – the air travel costs have tripled due to the intensified relations with Russia and Ukraine.  We also have a June group from Florida praying about coming – part of the reason we are visiting Florida for a few days in January.

Collins has been adopted by our family in Canada. He’s been here one day, but already out with 15 of them to watch Star Wars.  

The coolest part of heading into this new year is the core of young people God has blessed us with.  We’ve been getting little texts from some of them, and our heart is with them.  We have been encouraging them with scripture while away, and praying this coming spring brings amazing growth in their relationship with their Father.

A view from our security camera – folks getting ready for the concert last Saturday night.

None of this activity and opportunity means anything without our amazing God blessing these efforts with his presence.

Please pray for our family, our plans, resources and for added wisdom as we seek to follow His will into 2016.  We hope this new year is also filled with new opportunities and growth in your journey with Christ.  Life is so short, we’re amazed how quickly the years are flying by.  Soon we will all be rejoicing around His throne!

Crazy cute kids today out at Lake Ontario.

We have an amazing team at the Lighthouse Cafe, they are learning how to manage and being stretched while we are away.  We return to Ukraine Feb 3.  Please pray for them as well!  We had a full house last weekend with a concert at the Cafe.   It’s SO satisfying to see Ukrainians growing in leadership, and new ministries grow – but we need prayer!

Life Center Church in PA – we really appreciate Charles and Anne Stock and their counsel and care!

The new widow ministry is underway and today I heard of some really cool testimonies – one widow was met with a care package and began to cry on the spot, she had no money and had just returned from the local market asking for an IOU for bread and being turned down.

To make an end of year donation please click here – thank you!

Have a blessed and Merry Christmas out there – we do hope to see you during our travels next month.

Bruce & Deb

I just returned from the Cafe.  I can’t tell you how fulfilling it is to see families and students enjoying the warm, festive atmosphere.

It gets dark around 4pm here, and only a handful of buildings have heat on – everyone is conserving because the costs have escalated since the relations with Russia have been fractured.  Ukraine is beat up, still at war, the economy devastated from years of corruption.  Now it’s feeling the effects of not snuggling up with the Russian bear.  It’s a cold reality for many.

We have installed electric heating units for the second floor, as well as new triple pane windows for additional warmth.  Tomorrow our pellet burning stove arrives, it was our families Christmas present to our customers.  We are really excited about it – it will be installed  in our main dining room, with the hopes of providing enough heat for guests (and staff!) to take off their coats in the coming blistery winter days.  It won’t however be enough for the 2nd floor – we’ll have to keep running electric as well.

Heating is taken for granted outside of Ukraine.  We see this when we visit North America.  We go through culture shock how stable and prosperous everything is.  For us, and the Lighthouse Cafe, heat means open doors, and continued customers.  It means English Clubs continue to meet, and youth gather in the evenings.  Heat means families gather, and relationships evolve.  Heat brings hope, love, and joy.   In a cold and dark atmosphere, this Lighthouse has another incredible opportunity this winter.

Our Appeal!

Help us heat the Lighthouse this winter!  Last year a handful of friends and family blessed the Cafe with enough to get us through.  This winter, we now have 2 floors active, essentially doubling our costs to stay warm.  This is exciting because we’re growing, but so are our needs.

Jr. English Club

A donation of $25 is a huge blessing.  Please don’t consider any amount too small.  Our monthly heating costs will easily exceed $700 each of the next three months.   We don’t have this additional money as the Cafe already takes up to 50% of our personal support. We need outside help.

Please consider  a gift to help us stay warm!  Our family (thanks to some generous grandparents) will be traveling next week to Canada for Christmas, then to the US to visit many of you.  The staff here is ready and ministries will continue while we are gone.

Click Here to Donate!

Thank you in advance!

Bruce & Deb

This week at Club 180 we introduced the students to the role of God’s Word in our lives.  Although we’ve used God’s Word extensively each week, we’ve held off teaching it’s role personally – until now.

Dealing with fresh and open heart is a thing of beauty.   As we approached each week I’ve felt the Lord pull me back from the ‘auto’ instruction of encouraging immediate ‘spiritual disciplines’.   Read your Bible and pray;  truth, but without healthy context even good things can become religious duty and bring death.

Relationship is the purpose of our existence – we bring Him the most glory through a surrendered heart.  Faith is the key in this relationship, not outward performance.

This week Deb and the girls decorated the Cafe for Christmas – we got our first snowfall within hours 🙂

Nonetheless, arming new believers with the Sword of the Spirit, and teaching them how to nurture their faith is essential to victorious living.  We talked about the nature of Light, dispelling ignorance – How God’s Word is a light for our path.  We discussed how we nourish our Spirit, not with physical but spiritual food.  It’s amazing how caring we are for our natural bodies – even if we don’t feed it nutritious food, we still feed it!   What does our spirit look like – do we supply it the resources it needs to walk and live by the Spirit?

Finally, how Truth ‘is’ ultimately Jesus.  In a world that aims to make Truth only subjective, and even obsolete, Jesus comes as the Word, the revelation of eternal Truth – we must let Him in, and let Him take dominion like a Lion would in the jungle – bringing order and setting right God’s design in our hearts.

I really like that Augustine quote above.  It’s time to step up our game as Christians, speaking more truth in love!

God’s Word.  We don’t consume in order to be ‘good’ Christians.  We let it in because we want to know His heart more, and be filled with truth.  Motivations matter to God!

We also don’t pray to be ‘good’ Christians.  We pray because we enjoy growing in our relationship with the Father.  We don’t go to church to be ‘good’ Christians, we surround ourselves with those that will build us up in our faith.

The Ukrainian army is attempting to draft again. Alyosha however has several options he is exploring before going down that terrible road. Please pray!

Each week Deb and I relish the joy of investing in these open hearts.  Sowing only the things that have helped us press into relationship with the Father.

We presented each student with a new Bible – none of them (from a show of hands) had ever owned their own before.  Peeling them each open, you could see the treasured look on several faces – Their own road map, spiritual food, and Lion to let in.   We then were able to write, per their request, verses and personal encouragement within them.

Thank you Jesus for the journey you are taking these students this coming year – we pray for many more to find their place in the Kingdom of God, and for wisdom as we pray about the next steps this coming Spring.

I also pray that this encourages you as well to give God a fighting chance in your life – let the Lion in!

Bruce & Deb