Calling All Missional Hearts!

On Saturday, July 31, we are hosting a mid-year, open Zoom prayer time for supporters, friends and family. We would love it if you could join us from your location!

Please message me on FB or by email for the link!

Times:

7pm Ukraine 
12pm Eastern 
11am Central 
10am Mountain 
9am Pacific

Mission Building Update

Last fall, we bit the bullet and demolished our old garage pantry with the dream of creating an expanded space for missional training and service to our region. That dream is well underway, block by block!

If you have a minute, I’ve compiled a short 1 MINUTE time-lapse video up until today.

In Phase 1, we raised $50,000!

These funds allowed us to demolish the old garage, dig the basement, pour a new foundation, complete the basement, waterproof, and first floor walls. We’re currently preparing to complete the second floor, and still on budget to complete the roof by August if we can find wood – Ukraine is fresh out of dry wood!!

In Phase 2, our goal is $35,000 before winter.

Why before winter? When we demolished our old garage, we lost all our storage space, and our 2nd floor at Lighthouse is now crammed to the gills. If we can utilize some of our building before winter, even if its not heated yet, we can immediately free up creative space like our sewing room.

Items included in Phase 2:

  • Windows & Doors
  • Electric & Plumbing
  • Stairs & Flooring
  • Basement Pantry Zone Finish
  • Labor & Permits

Please consider a donation of any amount towards our Phase 2 and help us unleash more ministry space!

Thank you Pastor Steve and Risen Life Church in Longview, Texas for your generous gift that helps us launch Phase 2!

As soon as we can find dry wood beams, we will be starting the second floor and finishing the roof by the end of August. Phase one at that time, will be complete and our shell will be ready for Phase 2.
While our final materials will not be exactly like this, this is the general shape of our mission building. The basement has a pantry, large youth room/studio area, the main floor is an open space for serving meals/classes, and upstairs 3rd floor will be an upper room dedicated for prayer..

To give to our building project, please click the link!

This past weekend we hosted a new program by YWAM for teenagers. Their new Jr Discipleship Training school is a pilot program in Ukraine for 13-18yr olds over a 5 week period.
Got my fill of teenagers as we hosted interactive workshops designed to get them asking good questions around what makes the Gospel so good? Most of the students 10yrs ago in YWAM were foreigners. Today, 80% of the students are Ukrainian – a generational movement in taking place in Ukraine, steadily, quietly.
Clark is conservative, careful, responsible, analytical, and a great big brother to his little sisters. He’s the man of the house now at 15yrs.

Noah dreams of playing in an 80’s rock band, thus the hair. He’s wildly creative, in some ways the exact opposite of his brother Clark. He loves guitar, and hates it when I play DC Talk or Newsboys to show him what I listened to at his age – Dad fun!
Abigail – we thought she was the last, we really did! She loves life, and has learned deep patience from growing up with her little sister who adores her. She’s super flexible and wants to be a contortionist, but I think it’s mostly because I freak out when she does the splits. She’s super tall for her age.
The three amigos about to board the 12hr HOT train ride across Ukraine.
This is the Kyiv central train station. We said goodbye to the kids, and Claire was beginning her adventure as the only child. We’ve started apologizing to her concerning our energy levels, trying to convince her that when we were in our 20’s and 30’s, we were super fun! Now our idea of fun is eating cheese.
How hot is it? Ask Cocoa our lab. It’s been over 90F all week. Thankfully the summers are short.
Claire’s first photo of us. Look how relaxed we look after dropping off the kids!
I often drive by some of the coolest art. I snapped this one the other day. The Soviet system was an enigma to me. On one hand, it systematically suffocated individual expression, and yet throughout the culture there are these moving pieces that solicit humanity to a higher reality. I don’t know what this one is about, but my first reaction was the battle we are in as believers – while the cosmic kingdoms rage, behind the warring, lies John’s revelation of the lamb, slain. This lamb has won, is restoring us as we lay down our weapons and celebrate God’s reality in the Son.
This victory is settled, even as we are tossed within it’s resolving wake. Let us fight the right battles, with the kingdom weapons of faith, hope and love.
Walking to the Cafe the other day I thought you might like this photo. Berries grow all over Ukraine villages, and you know they are ripe when groups of kids are all huddled under a tree. There’s no such thing as “your” tree here.. if it grows something to eat, it’s communal food. Deb fits right in, she has no shame in eating neighbor fruit … I just keep walking and pretend I don’t know her.

On behalf of our family, I would ask that you please pray alongside us this July and August. We sense some changes. We’re learning to not be so impulsive with major decisions, but lean into the body of Christ that surrounds us for Spirit designed support and affirmation (or correction!). With that, I ask that you allow me to lay a few things in my heart before you, that you might consider praying alongside our family.

I will be graduating this September from Fuller. An incredible three and half year journey for me, personally, is coming to an end. This sense of closure is filled with so many interesting feelings! Part of me sees the extra bandwidth that I will have coming soon and I get excited to see how I might serve Christ with the extra 15-20hrs per week. Then, there’s this sense of being patient, that less is more, and deeper over wider. I’m a pioneer at heart. I’ve always enjoyed initiating change, starting things and exploring. Sometimes, the hardest thing for me is to stay still, to truly wait in a posture of open surrender. Deb is much better at this than I am! 

We have, for the better part of 28yrs, been nurturing a calling from the Lord to the Russian speaking world. This calling, to be honest, has often felt at odds with our surroundings. Whether it’s finding myself submerged for 15yrs in the business world, or living in Central Ukraine where people now scorn Russia and Russians. I’m continually sensing that I’m being led somewhere, for something, and everything before me is not quite it. Do you know what I mean?  I’ve come to believe part of this is the nature of faith itself; the journey of faith that Abraham first started, slowly finding its way into all of our hearts.

As believers, we sense the silent movement behind the scenes. If we listen with faith intently enough, we’ll come to hear our own name, our own invitation to participate in God’s unfolding plan. I believe this. God’s calling, His invitation is not for a select few, but towards the entire world, for the entire world. Ok, getting off track, sorry. But God’s invitation is real, what an adventure to live guided by His loving Spirit!

The past three years for both Deb and I have been incredibly formative, and we’re increasingly sensing, preparatory. We are confident the Spirit is up to something, a transition, a convergence, something for a new phase of life, those new chapters that take on new characteristics. We love our town and have become deeply committed to the believers among us. Slowly, faithfully, we are growing in number, and experiencing a unique Slavic form of being, living in Christ, united by His authorship in our lives. I want to see this community fly, to blossom into what the Spirit desires, for our community, to theologically re-imagine the beauty that Jesus perfectly reveals as our Father’s heart towards us all.

Yet, we do feel our hearts drifting Eastward, becoming a little more mobile once again.

Instead of rambling any more than I am, I would like to lay down three things- statements that I could make with a measure of confidence, and that bring me life when I contemplate them:

#1 – We both have a deep desire to be immersed in Russian language. Part of this may be that our Russian is, well, still quite terrible. We know a bit of Ukrainian, a bit of Russian, and a bit of ‘village’ language. We are survival speakers, but not able to share the depths of our convictions and heart without translators, still after all these years. It’s humbling, but we’re not giving up. God has resurrected an anticipation for language learning coming  up.

#2 – We would like to transition to being in the US annually for 2-3 months each year. Part of that is maternal and paternal, of course. We want to be there for those children and grand-children anchored in North America. Yet, there’s something else at work in our hearts. It’s a nudging thing, a “it would be good if you did this” belief, that while our hearts and trajectory remains towards the Russian speaking world, we are living in such interesting times. There’s much more I could obviously share here, but much would be speculative. The nature of faith isn’t knowing what God is up to, but trusting primarily in His goodness when little makes sense. I think God is up to something good in this direction, but it’s a challenge to remain open and present.

#3- Exploring Russia. As difficult as it might be for our family to move into Russia for any extended period of time, I want to remain open to the Spirit’s leading. There’s a combination of wanting to encourage believers around various parts of Russia, and also connect kingdom resources as God provides. Holding this before the Lord. We see the Lord drawing some interesting people, with a unique and similar impulse to the Russian speaking world. What does this mean, and how can we serve those around us along the way?

So, transitions. Aren’t they interesting things? We are optimistic, hopeful, but also cautious and sober-minded. Thank you for reading, for praying alongside us. Feel free to email us an encouraging word, scripture, or anything that you feel the Spirit deposits in your heart for us.

With love,
Bruce & Deb Crowe

Thank you for friends and family for your support!