Permanent Impact April 2008
. . . a newsletter to keep you up-to-date with Sculley family adventures in Russia and beyond
We’re willing to go . . . are you willing to send us?
What’s the latest?
Vision, victories, and visas!
As we reflect back over our first three months in Russia, we’re amazed at God’s faithfulness. He sent us here with a very clear vision – to pray and encourage others in prayer, to promote unity in the body of Christ, and to raise up leaders. Since we’ve been here, God has given us specific strategies for each of these areas, and opportunities to live them out. You’re probably familiar with the verse, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). I just love how “The Message” version puts this – “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.” We want to give full credit to God for His blessing in our lives – He has been faithful to show us what He wants to do here, and for what He wants to do in and through our lives. We are very grateful to God for giving us eyes to see what would be impossible to see without His vision!
We want to share with you some victory stories, to encourage you – God is on the move!
• The student retreat we had asked you to pray for was wonderful! Pastor Dave and Kathy and the student leadership team organized this life-giving getaway! About 50 people attended, including international students and Russians – many received a touch from God, and a few recommitted their lives to Jesus. It was a beautiful time of exuberantly worshiping God, praying together, walking in the forest, volleyball / table tennis / frisbee / swimming, eating fabulous Russian food, a wild & fun bus ride crammed into a marshrutka (little bus), and just hanging out. God used each of our children to bring joy to those who went, especially E and K, who have been adopted as little sisters by just about all of the students. There were many reports that people were refreshed physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and many relationships were built or strengthened. Visit http://vcfnn.org/blog to read an account of the retreat written by one of the godly young leaders.
• P, J, M, and C are an integral part of the budding Nizhny Vineyard youth group, lead by Olga. The youth together lead part of the worship service on Palm Sunday (April 20th), singing several songs in Russian and English. We’ve all had lots of opportunities to just hang out with others in the group. On some of these occasions, some of our neighborhood kids have joined in the fun. We’ve been praying for ways to form relationships in the community (a challenge due to our lack of language), and this is definitely an answer to prayer!
• The Holy Spirit is present and active in the two weekly Nizhny Vineyard prayer groups (lead by Misha and Lyudmilla). We’ve heard many reports of encouragement and increased passion for prayer, more love and unity in the body of Christ, compassion for the lost, and a growing faith in God’s power to transform this city and nation. It has been a huge joy to pray regularly with these faithful prayer warriors. Misha’s group also includes people from other churches around the city, a tangible display of God’s heart for His Church with a capital “C” – it’s no wonder God blesses the group so much with His presence (Psalm 133)!
• We’ve been surprised that we have “bumped into” people we know at least 10 times all over the city (on buses, in malls, while out walking around, even at the opera theater). That’s no small thing in this large city of almost 2 million people. We are very thankful that God has knitted us into the community here so quickly!
• I had an opportunity this month to teach at one of the weekly student ministry meetings (“Sumphero”). The students all experienced “time under a sheet with the Father” – please use your imagination to visualize 20 people sitting in a circle, each completely covered by a bedsheet. It sounds weird, but it’s actually a really neat and practical idea, developed by my Atlanta friend Larry, to help block out distractions in order to focus on God. The Holy Spirit was present and active in helping us to pray Scripture, be still before God, and to learn to listen to His voice.
• For the last several years, we’ve been looking into college options for P, made a bit more complicated than normal because he was academically ready at a young age. We looked into all kinds of options over the years, but nothing jumped out at us. But then God completely surprised us! This past month, P submitted his application to Lubachevsky University, to study for a Bachelor of Science in Information Technologies, starting this autumn. A couple of months after we felt God leading us to come to Nizhny Novgorod, we surfed onto the University website and found this degree. Lubachevsky is the oldest university in Nizhny, with the oldest I.T. department in the former Soviet Union, and is highly regarded as the premiere place to study in this very high tech region of the country. With 40,000 students in every imaginable faculty, 99% of the degrees are taught in Russian. Amazingly, the very degree P has had in his heart to pursue since age 11, just “happens” to be offered here in English (incidentally, this is one of 10 universities worldwide that Microsoft sponsors in the field of high-speed computing). The campus is one bus ride away from our apartment, class size is 10 – 12 students, and the 200 or so international students from 40 countries typically begin their studies at age 16 – 17 (P is 16). What a sweet confirmation from God for both P and us – praise God for His care for our children in every detail of their lives!
Visa news . . . we are still awaiting the issue of our long-term visas, which we have been told to expect this summer (winter for you southern-hemispherians!). Recently we had to redo several documents because of mis-spellings (in the Russian transliteration of names), and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because the person who oversees the process felt that it was her mistake that she did not notice it when we submitted our applications, and as a result has become somewhat of an advocate for our family! Meanwhile, our short-term visas are coming to an end later this week, so in accordance with the new visa laws, we will have to return to the U.S.A. for 90 days before being permitted to enter Russia again. To be honest, we were very disappointed that there was no option to be able to stay continuously (we explored dozens of possibilities), because it’s a bit heart-wrenching moving from place to place, not to mention logistically a humongous task. But God has given us the grace we need and is growing us up in our ability to trust Him more. We are at peace that He is in control and is intimately involved with every detail of our lives. None of this came as a surprise to God – our times are in His hands. We hope to return here in July, and meanwhile will enjoy seeing our Atlanta-area loved ones, sooner than we had expected! Enjoy the pictures!
Financial Partnership Opportunities:
We’d like to offer you a variety of opportunities each month . . . let us know if you’d like to partner with us in any of these ways. THANK YOU for your support!
• Sculley Family support
o Our current support level is 60% of our 2008 financial needs – praise God!
• Resources for Russians
o A few weeks ago, we discovered that one of the churches in Nizhny Novgorod sells hundreds of Christian books and other resources in Russian, many of which have been translated from English. In coming weeks, I will be translating and finding as many of the titles as possible in English, so that we can utilize the same resources in both Russian and English. Last week I was handed a flier as I walked along the street that provided these statistics – 52% of Russians do not buy any books; 13% buy one book per month; 27% do not have any books at home. Certainly, lack of finances is a significant contributing factor, because Russians are as a whole very well educated and love to learn. Let me know if you’d like to contribute towards the purchasing of resources for Russians! We envision the resources being used for church libraries, small groups, and on an individual basis – we love to connect people with resources!
We trust God to provide everything we need to do all that He wants us to do in and through us. If you would like to invest what God has given you in Kingdom activity, through financial partnership, here’s how (all financial contributions are 100% tax deductible in the U.S.A., and are processed through the Atlanta Vineyard, our sending church to whom we are accountable):
• automated giving (automatic monthly deductions from your checking or savings account – click here for the form – be sure to write “Sculley – Russia” in the space under “recommended giving”). Once you print out and fill in the form, please mail it to the address indicated at the bottom of the form.
• online giving via PayPal (www.atlantavineyard.com — just mention “Sculley – Russia” on the online giving comment line)
Praise Reports:
• The Nizhny Novgorod Vineyard devotional has been written, translated, printed, and distributed! Almost a dozen people from the church were involved in this team effort, which is now being used by the church over the next 3 weeks, both Russian and English speakers. The focus of the devotional is to pray in preparation for Russian Easter (Apr 27th), for God’s Kingdom transformation in Nizhny and Russia, and for the Vineyard National conference being hosted here in Nizhny next month.
• Praise God for our friends, authors J & S, who have donated multiple copies of their well-loved books on relationships, in Russian and English – much needed and appreciated! We look forward to using these in walking alongside others who want to grow in their understanding of God’s design for relationships.
• We’re all learning and using more Russian language and culture (and even some slang!) each week, thanks to Yanna’s diligent teaching and constant encouragement. Our studies will continue while we’re away, thanks to the plethora of audio resources we can use anywhere.
Please pray for us:
• Pray that God will continue to open doors for us to do all that He has for us to do in Russia. We plan to apply for short-term visas to allow us to return on July 24th, the earliest possible date according to the current visa laws. We trust God for His timing, plans, and provision. Please pray for long-term visas to be approved for us, and for pastor David, Kathy, & Stephanie Wolf.
• Pray for us to make the best use of our time while we are in the U.S.A. We feel that God wants us to use this time to prepare more indepth for our continuing ministry in Russia, including developing prayer strategies, preparing resources, and receiving additional training.
• Pray for the Vineyard National Conference that is being hosted here at the Nizhny Novgorod Vineyard, and will be attended by people from all over Russia, the U.S., and several other nations. There will be a pastor’s summit on May 5th – 7th, followed by the national conference on May 8th – 10th, with an expected attendance of around 200 people. It’s been a joy and an honor to be a part of the team laying a foundation of prayer prior to this conference. Our disappointment at not being able to attend is tempered by the news that the Atlanta team and part of the Perm, Russia team will be using our apartment while they’re visiting our new stomping grounds!
We pray for you, too – please let us know your specific prayer requests. It’s such a joy to pray for one another! We have each of your names written on our prayer wall in the kitchen.
Our vision:
• mobilize prayer
• promote unity in the body of Christ
• raise up leaders
We appreciate your prayers so much! Thank you!
“The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” (1 Samuel 30:24)
Visit our blog (updated weekly):
In Russia with love,
Paul, Karen, P, J, M, C, E, & K Sculley
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
“May God bless you and make you fruitful” (Genesis 28:3)
