The O'Byrne Report, January 2016 (archive)

Prayer Requests:

• Praise and thanks for God's incredible goodness to us in our transition from Russia to Denver.
• We are very grateful for the sympathy shown to Priscilla as her father (Pastor Walter Menges) passed into glory.
• Praises for Liam and Olivia's adjustments to life in the US, and Colorado.  Please continue to pray because they are still adjusting.  Pray for school decisions for Olivia for next school year.
• We are thankful that Gillian and Karina could join us in Denver for both Thanksgiving and Christmas!
• Pray for Olga as she leads another Discovery event in Russian in February. 
• Continue to pray for comfort in our continuing grief over "losing our lives in St. Pete" that we loved! 
• Praises for new opportunities to minister to and deep the spiritual life of Christian leaders both locally and overseas. 

SF Discoveries:

In the last four months, Imago Christi held four Spiritual Formation Discovery events in Arizona, California and Idaho for a total of over 120 participants! These events consistently encourage isolated Christian leaders in their spiritual growth, helping them appreciate all that the Lord has led them through, how the Lord is continually wooing them into deeper intimacy with Him so they can face the challenges of their journey ahead. Here's just one testimony from Phoenix:

"The Discovery truly helped me see where I have come from, where I am, and excitement for where I am going with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Coupled with the Movements of Growth, I became more aware of why I have the longings that are the very breath of my soul in relationship with God." 

For the "Big Picture" of CRM/Imago Christi's ministry impact, see "2015 CRM Annual Report" below:

Angels of the Blockade:

Earlier this month my former-colleague at Saint Petersburg Christian University, Dr. Marina Sergeyevna Karetnikova (86), passed into the arms of her Savior. Her passing inspired me to finally publish Angels of the Blockade -- a book I had written based on interviews about how she had survived the Blockade of Leningrad in WWII as a child with her believing family under the added pressures of Soviet persecution.

Her compelling story shows the significant role that one family of Christians played, and how Russian Christians helped other people survive the Blockade with dignity and with faith in God. This story could not have been told during the militantly atheist, soviet era, but it has an important message to convey to post-soviet Russians, who believe that chance or their own strength saved them from fascism. God did not abandon Russia. Faith in God was the secret of strength in weakness for one of the darkest moments in history. Order your copy today (available in Paperback, Kindle and eBook formats).

Discovery in Baltic States

This week I begin holding a "virtual Discovery" over six-weeks of video conferencing with someone I'll only call Pastor S. in one of the Baltic States (in the former USSR). I mentored Pastor S. through Imago Christi's spiritual assessment tool in December, and now he has asked that I lead him through our basic experiential Discovery seminar as a foundation for mentoring him in his prayer life. Pastor S. is a prominent church-planter and leader of nationwide conferences in his country! Please pray for Pastor S. for his spiritual vitality and that of his ministries.

Lena & Russians in Denver:

Lena Makarenko is the wife of our pastor back in Russia, who came to Denver in January to visit friends and family. She introduced us to her sister-in-law in Estes Park, CO, and to the pastor of Bethany Russian Church in nearby Aurora, CO, who was her classmate back in Russia. I was promptly asked to preach the next Sunday, and am meeting the pastor to discuss further ministry opportunities.

Family News:

• ·      Priscilla hosted both her mother and my parents in December, on top of homeschooling, teaching music at Olivia's charter school, and celebrating the holidays in a brand new city.
• ·      Gillian finished her student teaching, and is filling out job applications during her last semester at Wheaton College!
• ·      Karina is a sophomore French Horn major at Wheaton, the chaplain of the Symphonic Orchestra, and the Christian Life assistant to the RA on her floor!
• ·      Liam is now playing basketball for Jim Elliot Christian School, but he has also participated in Worship Dance and Drama presentations!
• ·      Olivia is progressing with homeschooling and her charter school weekly classes. She enjoys moving up in gymnastics and performing in a local worship dance company.

Leadership Transition:

In addition to my personal Spiritual Formation ministry to Christian leaders, in April I will officially transition into the role of "team leader" for the Imago Christi ministry team in CRM. This month I benefitted from a CRM mission-wide team leader training, and I am in the midst of conducting the Role Review and Goal Setting processes for all our staff.

Imago Christi “cultivates spiritual depth in ministry leaders” who minister among:  

the Poor, in the Church and pioneering New Ground,

so that God will be renowned and disciples made among the nations! 

The main tasks of my leadership of this team will be to:

• ·       Expand our training and resource offerings
• ·       Build the community of our present members
• ·       Train our members and partners
• ·       Coordinate spiritual formation communities regionally and internationally
• ·       Collaborate with other spiritual formation ministries, seminaries and mission agencies, and
• ·       Recruit more “spiritual formation missionaries” to help people lead their ministries out of their intimacy with Christ.

2015 Annual CRM Report:

Go to Crmleaders.org and click "Download Report" (or simply click HERE) to see the overall statistics and impact of Church Resource Ministries' teams over 2015. 

Imago Christi belongs to the "mobilizing the Church" initiative. As a subset of CRM's report, the following numbers for the 2014-15 ministry year can give you a feel for the number of leaders and ministry situations that YOU have had an influence on through Imago Christi: our Discovery retreats, personal coaching and mentoring. Thank you for partnering with us!

1. Pre-Christians ministered to – 33
2. New Christians estimated from our work– 59
3. Senior Pastors ministered to – 26
4. Spouses of Pastors ministered to – 20
5. Other Church and Pastoral Staff – 71
6. Young Emerging Leaders ministered to – 21
7. People Directly Trained by Imago Christi– 671
8. Leaders Developed by Leaders trained and coached by Imago Christi– 243
9. Small Churches (0-125) Ministered to – 11
10. Medium Churches (126-350) Ministered to – 4
11. Larger Churches (351-750) Ministered to – 3
12. Extended Consulting with Churches – 5
13. Nations that Imago Christi touched – 10 (Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Israel, Nicaragua, Russia, Singapore, UK, USA)
14. Denominations that Imago Christi served – 27
15. Mission Agencies that Imago Christi served – 10
16. Other Ministries that Imago Christi served – 11 

The O'Byrne Report, September 2015 (archive)

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for Priscilla as Bill will be away presenting four Discovery seminars, visiting churches, and an Imago Christi Gathering. He’ll only be home 20 days of the next six weeks. Then the travel season slows till March.
• We are so grateful for a smooth move to CO and an adequate and reasonably priced apartment in CO. 
• Pray for the safe arrival of the rest our personal belongings from Russia.   
• Please pray for Liam (11th grade) and Olivia (4th grade) during their transition to American life and schools, new friendships, and our church hunt!  
• Pray for our Wheaton College girls: Gillian is student teaching, and Karina is Orchestra Chaplain and an RA's assistant on her floor.
• Continue to pray for comfort in our continuing grief over "losing our lives in St. Pete" that we loved! 

Knowing Not Where:

In the last six months, we have experienced our version of “leaving Ur” and “going to the land I will show you.” God has provided for us in amazing ways:

• ·      Temporary housing in CO for July promised in April (Thank you, John & Kathy!)
• ·      Leaving so much behind, giving away, selling some, giving more, pitching the rest. It is “just stuff,” right? But it’s our stuff, and made up our lives.
• ·      We got airline tickets with extra baggage allowances, and no hassle about our 13 carry-ons!
• ·      While our apartment in Saint Petersburg did not sell, the renters agreed to purchase our furnishings, which meant we didn’t have to get rid of it all, and that gave us enough money to furnish our new apartment in CO!
• ·      We found an affordable 2-bedroom apartment that actually had enough room for the four of us, a home office, storage, and guests.
• ·      Bicycles donated or loaned from various sources! 

Colorado Welcome:

This week the Imago Christi team here in Colorado held a “welcome reception” for us. We were able to share our story with leaders in the area of spiritual formation in the Denver area,

Discovery Continues in Russia

We met a regional pastor “Igor” at the the Discovery seminar that Olga Pavlovna and I led in May. Soon after we left Russia, Olga teamed up with Igor to take Spiritual Formation Discovery for Leaders to a group of a dozen church planters and young pastors that he supervises in the Novgorod Province. Olga did a great job with her first solo seminar; leaders were encouraged their life with God, which is the source of their power and authority in ministry!

Russia’s Long Reach:

We sent 14 boxes of personal items, books and clothes from Russia directly to Colorado via Russian Post. Apart from some small items that were bent or broken, and some photo albums that were ripped, two of the parcels arrived in completely different boxes. One box contained 1 and two half-pairs of shoes, and a notice of apology from the US Postal Service for the condition in which they arrived! Other boxes had random items missing! Another box had items in them that were not ours, a Korean textbook, and a book on a French painter!

Kids’ News:

• ·      Gillian is student teaching in Wheaton, IL with half her kids – refugees from Burma! She takes the full class for most of October!
• ·      Karina is our “over-extended sophomore” loving everything that Wheaton has to offer!
• ·      Liam is settling in to the Jim Elliot Christian School as a junior, in a small class of 10, where he has already had opportunities in the arts, sports and even meeting a presidential candidate!
• ·      Olivia is homeschooling and going to a charter school once a week. She is starting with gymnastics and worship dance weekly as well.

What we’re moving into:

Imago Christi “cultivates spiritual depth in ministry leaders” who minister among:  

the Poor, in the Church and pioneering New Ground,

so that God will be renowned and disciples made among the nations! 

The main tasks of my leadership of this team will be to:

• ·       Expand our training and resource offerings
• ·       Build the community of our present members
• ·       Train our members and partners
• ·       Coordinate spiritual formation communities regionally and internationally
• ·       Collaborate with other spiritual formation ministries, seminaries and mission agencies, and
• ·       Recruit more “spiritual formation missionaries” to help people lead their ministries out of their intimacy with Christ.

The O'Byrne Report, May 2015 (archive)

Prayer Requests:

·       We are grateful to all of you, and for your continued participation in the Lord’s work through us “to Russia and Beyond”!

·       Goodbyes and gratitude for all of the Lord’s work here that we have witnessed and participated in (see below). Mourning the loss of our life in Russia, and the incredible regrets of what could and might have been.

·       Wisdom for Packing. Imagine selling off, giving away or pitching 95% of your stuff, and moving your whole life in three suitcases each (plus five boxes of books in the mail).  (see picture below)

·       Pray for a good transition with our many family members, as we all get used to the idea that we are still “missionaries to the world” based in the US.

·       Pray for our churches in Russia. While the “indirect war” continues in Ukraine, things seem to be calming down in Russia, but huge tensions remain unresolved under the surface. It’s not easy to look at and repent of old prejudices and truly live as Kingdom citizens.

·       Pray for guidance with our Housing Needs in Colorado. We are experiencing more uncertainty than we did 22 years ago moving to Russia, not knowing where we are going to land in Denver. It’s a faith adventure!

·       Pray for us as our departure date (June 15^th) approaches, and the final goodbyes sink in. Setting our sights on the adventure ahead.

Kids Ask:

One of our supporter’s kids chatted with me on Facebook recently. Her questions were blunt and to the point, forcing me to ask the tough questions about our transition and explain it succinctly:

Q: You're done being missionaries in Russia?

Me: Yes, I'm continuing as a missionary though, mentoring and training other missionaries.

Q: So where will you be a missionary? Somewhere in the U. S.?

Me: We'll be based near Denver, CO. We leave Russia mid June, arrive in Colorado early July.

Q: What made you guys to wanna do something different?

Me: I have been working on this team within our mission for ten years, and next year I will start leading it. So I am focusing my efforts more, while helping more people do it worldwide!

Q: What's it like there?

Me: Denver, is semi-desert at the foot of the Rocky Mts.

Q: What about Russia?

Me: Flat, coastal, sub-arctic. We're as far north as Anchorage, Alaska. Oh, you mean what about our ministry here? We have to entrust people to the Lord. I’m giving my classes over to Russian teachers who must step up, and cannot depend on missionaries forever!

A Seasons of “Last’s” and Goodbyes:

·       At our last graduation from SPCU Bill was recognized for 18 years of service to Saint Petersburg Christian University. (see picture below)

·       Liam’s last basketball game in a “Cossacks” uniform

·       Olivia’s last Dance Recital with her dance class.  (see picture below)

·       Last “Spiritual Formation Discovery” seminar in Russian (at least while we live here).  (see picture below)

·       First and last “garage sale” in our apartment! Priscilla is a hero to sort and set up and live in the middle of a garage sale for a week!

·       Last days of school, last talks with friends, opportunities to express our appreciation for friendships

·       “Bucket List” items include a museum we never visited, last visits to special places, a last walk along the Neva during the White Nights (when it’s light all night)!  (see picture below)

The “A” in RAFT:

The four jobs for a good transition spell “RAFT”: Reconciliation, Appreciation, Farewell, Think destination. As we have expressed Appreciation for so many people that the Lord has put into our lives, so many have told us their appreciation that the Lord brought us into their lives. As we receive their heart-felt thanks, we know that God used all of YOU to make the 22 years of ministry in Russia possible. You participate in and are responsible for these comments:

·       “You have been a true friend.”

·       “Words cannot express what you mean to me.”

·       “I will never forget what you taught us.”

·       “You have shown us what a Christian marriage and family are like.”

·       “Thank you for being family to my family.”

·       “You have been an example of who God wants me to be.”

·       “I always came to my appointments with you, knowing that it would be significant for my spiritual growth and the understanding of my calling.”

·       “You have an example how to trust in God, and even how to trust Him in uncertainty.”

·       “You are a family that is together, and together in glorifying God.”

·       “You did so much to open my heart, and keep it soft, when it could have been otherwise.”

“A” is also for “Attachments”: They are just doorknobs.

As we pare down to three suitcases each, we remember that “things are just things,” and at the same time we realize the importance of the “significant symbols” of our time in Russia. I gave myself to serving the Lord in Russia; Russia has become a part of me; I am taking a part of Russia with me as we transition to Denver. The girls took Russian dolls to college. Liam has his basketball jersey. Olivia has chosen a folk headdress. Priscilla is taking a samovar. I found the hardest thing for me to part with were a box of brass door handles  (see picture below). The first things that I bought for our old apartment back in 1994. Somehow they mean more to me than the plaques and gifts. It was part of their history that became part of our home. Unique handles I sought to the Russian hearts around me every day. I could make a wall hanging out of them, like the picture of them below. Or now that they have done their job and reminded me of what was truly significant about living in Russia for 22 years, I can let them go too. Or perhaps I should I keep them as a tangible example of what beauty and history in every day life mean to me. We live our lives holding every-thing and every-one loosely before the Lord!

(January 2016 Update: There are two and a half boxes that have (as of yet) not been cleared, or been lost in, customs to leave Russia, one of which contains these doorknobs!) 

What we’re moving into:

We may not know where we’ll be living in Denver yet, but we know what the Lord is calling us to, and why we are going there!

Imago Christi “cultivates spiritual depth in ministry leaders” who minister among:  

the Poor, in the Church and pioneering New Ground,

so that God will be renowned and disciples made among the nations! 

The main tasks of my leadership of this team will be to expand our training and resources, to build the community of our present members, to train our members and partners, to coordinate spiritual formation communities regionally and internationally, to collaborate with other spiritual formation ministries, seminaries and mission agencies, and to recruit more members for our team, to help people lead their ministries out of their intimacy with Christ.