SF at SPCU 

This was my 14^th year teaching at SPCU -- Saint Petersburg Christian University. Spring semester I taught Spiritual Formation to 16 second and third year students. The students included a 70-year old man from the Russian Far East, who grew up under Communism in a Mennonite family, a pair of 20-year old twin girls from Kazakhstan, and sadly a 26-year old ex-convict and drug-addict, who had to leave the college because of his slide back into drug use.

At first I found this group of student to be rather resistant to engaging their own spiritual walk. Some had been hardened by life's wounds, many were from traditions that completely disregarded a personal relationship with Jesus, others had become cynical about an experiential faith in light of their theological education. This is why I had wanted to teach this Spiritual Formation later on in their program! 

I had decided to have the students write "weekly reflection journals" on the readings and lecture topics for each week. The journals became a meaningful forum where the students could reflect on their own lives with God in the context of our lecture topics, then I would respond individually to each one via email. When we started talking about Longing for God, the 70 year old student said, "This just keeps getting better and better!" 

At the end of the semester I met one-on-one with each of the students to discuss their impressions and questions. "N" is an intelligent student in the B.Th. program, who often challenged me in class. During our session he said, "Many of these topics about our spirituality are like a knife edge. Stray just a little and there is heresy on either side. But I soon realized that my initial resistance would dissolve by the time I wrote my journal or received your reply." This is why it is so important to talk about these subjects and give our students a language and a paradigm to help the church embrace a lively, maturing faith in Christ!

One-Year Home Assignment

We are taking the advice of many missionaries and our CRM supervisors and using Gillian’s freshman year in college to come back to the US before returning back to Russia. God has been so gracious in preparing our family for this huge cultural transition, and providing for our year in the US.

We will be living near Rochester, NY in the "missions house" provided by Browncroft Community Church, our supporting church in that area. We are so thankful for the housing and the opportunity to minister more closely at Browncroft, where the "Psi Circle" has been faithfully praying for us for 18 years. Bill has also been developing a relationship with the Spiritual Formation Pastor, who has asked Bill to speak at their Group Life Conference in October.

Before moving to the Rochester area, we will be in Lancaster, PA with family for much of July, and then head out to Denver, CO for three events in the same area: the Imago Christi summer Gathering, CRM's ORDERS Collective conference, and MTI's "Debrief and Renewal" seminar designed for families coming back to the US.

During this “home assignment” from June 21, 2012 to July 31, 2013 we will:

·      Be available to Gillian and her adjustment, and also provide the whole family with valuable debriefing experiences available for missionaries.

·      Guide Karina, Liam and Olivia through their first experience in American schools.

·      Raise additional support, following up on people who have shown interest in our ministry.

·      Engage in Imago Christi spiritual formation ministry in our supporting churches.

·      Discern the future direction of our ministry.   

We hope to see many of you during this coming year to thank you for your support of our ministry and family!

College Bound

Gillian is a high school senior this year, and has decided to go to Wheaton College, majoring in elementary education and specialize in teaching English as a second language. The international ministry blood flows in her veins!

We are so thankful that Gillian received an additional scholarship from the ChristianMissionary Scholarship Foundation that made Wheaton the most affordable option among the six colleges and universities that she was considering!

Missionary Kids (MKs) and Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are children who grow up in a culture of their own between their host and passport cultures. MKs/TCKs usually have a hard time adapting to college life in their parents’ home culture. This summer Gillian will be attending the "MKTransition Seminar" sponsored by Barnabas International.

Protests in Russia are a glimmer of hope for democracy

Since the recent parliamentary elections in Russia, spontaneous protests have broken out, with many planned demonstrations resulting in hundreds of arrests, but much restraint on every side. People are generally displeased with the flagrant election rigging and attempts to influence and even buy votes by Putin's ruling party Единая Россия usually translated "United Russia" but "One Russia" is closer, as the first word is that same as that in the Creeds for: "one Lord, one Church, and one baptism" a blatantly mono-lithic term. And Russia is a country that loves monolithic, absolute autocratic power, to a point. United Russia crossed that line. And Russia is getting fed up and finding its voice again prior to the upcoming presidential elections.

Russia's Stunning Protests


For the first time since Perestroika in the '80's and Yeltsin's landslide votes in the '90's "dissent" is cool again. Most Russians are very cynical about politics or anyone in power actually caring or doing anything for the "average Ivan." This election was cynical too, but it was encouraging to see the interest in the process, "civil responsibility," and the good of the country, even if everyone was sure of the outcome.

Now I believe the outcry is not "the answer," but certainly a step in the right direction.
Russia is not ready for democracy, but it is making it clear that it is getting an idea of what it does not want. At this point all that they can voice is protest. But that is better than the typically cynical resignation of the past. Many Russians feel that they have been violated in some way through this process. It is as if they are saying to "United Russia": "No one else may have any better answers or be more politically viable in Russia right now, but you cannot make a mockery of the democratic process."

If that is the case it may be the first step that Russia takes decidedly away from autocratic power (and not just communism), and towards a politicial consciousness as a nation. Hopefully, and eventually that would lead towards some form of legitimate democratic power, of, by and for the people. That is if the hot heads do not spark a crisis, which is what we would expect from the precedent of Russian history.

Hopefully everyone understands that a crisis would force either a government crackdown or revolution, both of which would most certainly turn the clock back, and "welcome" back a totalitarian peacekeeper, further reinforcing the cynical resignation already deeply intrenched in the Russian mindset, but a rare exception to which we are witnessing on the streets of Russia today.

Where There is Love...

An ancient latin hymn (Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est) says that "Wherever there is love and charity, there God truly is." We experienced the presence of His love in the last week as Liam was hospitalized with high fever and Bill cut his trip to the US short to come home to Russia.

After Olivia and Gillian had fallen to a bad cold before Bill left, Liam got a high fever (104*F) that just wouldn't quit. Seeing that this was not the same virus the girls had been dealing with Priscilla took him to the American Medical Clinic not far from us in Saint Petersburg, Russia. By that time he was dehydrated, so they put him on an IV with an antibiotic drip. Friends helped Priscilla juggle the household duties with her vigil at the hospital, but she was getting worn down quickly. Liam was in a lot of pain and difficult to handle. And without a concrete diagnosis, it was hard to discern what to do, esp. from a distance.

Bill was able to change his return flight quickly and inexpensively and rushed off to the airport on the day his second set of meetings were to begin; it was an Imago Christi Gathering where he would be leading the main training modules. The leader and community graciously let me go. No one is indispensable, and other community members covered admirably.

In other news the conference center (St. Malo's in Allenspark, CO) where Imago Christi usually holds its Gatherings suffered a serious fire the day Bill left. We were blessed that the Lord had led the community to try out a new venue (The Potter's Inn, Divide, CO)!

Bill arrived home in Russia Tuesday evening and went straight to the hospital. Liam was doing better, but a lower grade fever was still persisting. Bill slept off his jetlag in Liam's room, and helped him through more tests and the hospital food. Meanwhile Priscilla was able to get more rest and bring order and normalcy to the girls at home. After three more nights Liam's temperature came down and they released him to recover further at home with various meds.

Priscilla and the kids have often made the sacrifice of letting Bill/Dad go on these ministry trips. It was a powerful message of his love for them to put everything else aside and sacrifice the ministry for them and their needs.

 

Ministry Update, November 2011

Several of our supporting churches recently asked for Ministry Updates in preparation for their Fall Missions Emphasis events of various kinds, and we thought it might be helpful to post for everyone to see.

Here is a recent Ministry Update and Prayer Requests.

Our ministry in Saint Petersburg, Russia is very full as we prepare for a yearlong furlough next school year (mid-June 2012 thru July 2013). Some recent highlights:

• Gillian has finished four of her six college applications, and recently scored very well on a Russian Language Proficiency Test! She already has her first acceptance from Messiah College!
  
• Priscilla returned from a "Women of Influence" conference for women in our mission agency: Church Resource Ministries (CRM), held in Malaga, Spain, where she got some much needed rest, made new relationships and received spiritual renewal.
  
• Bill finished a sermon series at our church in Pushkin (south of Saint Petersburg) on Wisdom Literature in the Bible. He finished with the Song of Solomon, and he led a couples' gathering afterwards on "The Love that Overcomes," and "Appreciating Your Spouse." A woman came forward to receive Christ during one of the messages on Ecclesiastes (to see the O'Byrne Report Blog, click here)!
  
• Bill continues to teach Old Testament Introduction at Saint Petersburg Christian University (SPCU) to the first year class of students mostly from Russia's far east, or neighboring "Stans" (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.), and one immigrant from America! Bill recently submitted an article on "The Semantics of Worship in the Old Testament" for the first edition of SPCU's new journal.
  
• Priscilla and Bill are providing pre-marital counseling for one of his students and his fiance.
  
• Bill also wrote an article on "The Path of Spiritual Transformation in Scripture" for a special "current issues" publication.
• Bill's ministry continues to focus on the area of the spiritual formation of church leaders, and he mentors a number of church leaders in Russia, but also other CRM missionaries too (via Skype).
  
• The International Academy is the international school that our school aged children attend. Bill is the chairman of the board of trustees and has a number of duties preparing a new and expanded board for launching a financial campaign and also preparing them for his absence next year.
  
• Bill recently finished writing the chapter in The Imago Christi Spiritual Formation Coaching Manual on a Spiritual Mapping Tool, and will be leading a training seminar for using that tool in ministry in November.
  
• Bill continues to co-lead Imago Christi -- the Spiritual Formation Ministry in CRM, which involves mentoring staff and coordinating training events and seminars in the area of spiritual formation. He'll be leading a Spiritual Formation Discovery event in Denver before the Imago Christi Gathering near Colorado Springs in November. He will also be presenting an extended Discovery event for Denver Seminary's Masters in Spiritual Formation program in January 2012.  

See also our new "Current Prayer List" page (here on the right panel). 

The Gospel According to "Goth"

"Someday, I’d like to do an evangelistic series on Old Testament Wisdom Literature." Never share one of your pipe dreams out loud in front of our pastor. In March and April I did series on Proverbs and Job, and now in October I have preached on Ecclesiastes and soon Song of Solomon.

Ecclesiastes preaches the “anti-Gospel,” focusing on the dark side of wisdom. It highlights the “bad news” that makes the good news really Good News! After referring to “Goths” in the first sermon, I decided to dress as close to Goth as I could for the second message. Here was the result.

Of course the teenagers thought I should have used black fingernail polish and eyeliner, and spiked my hair, but this was enough to make my point. Personally, this book and most Russian literature is just too depressing for me; I don’t particularly like it, but I need this wake-up call too. Russians can really relate to the meaninglessness of life! I told the story of another pastor I know, who received Christ in prison after finding a Bible and opening to, of all things, Ecclesiastes! After this sermon, Maria Ivanovna came forward to receive Christ. God can call hearts to Himself through every part of His Word!

When we take the hard yet realistic view of the meaninglessness of human existence in a fallen world, we realize that joy and enjoyment is only possible with God (Eccl 2:25). So do you want to be able to find the joy in the midst of our meaninglessness “with God”? Or would you prefer to wallow in your misery, or somehow ignore, or deny life’s meaninglessness without God? Russians know that living a lie is never a better option than facing the facts of our fallenness and finiteness (We’re all gonna die)! That’s the bad news that leads us to the Good News! Jesus entered into the meaninglessness of our existence, so that we could share His joy, and live life to its eternal fullest!