Permanent Impact August 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?

Transition time!

Just a short newsletter this time to let you know we’re returning to Russia next week, leaving Atlanta on Tuesday, September 2nd. We’re pretty much packed and as ready as we can be, saying our latest round of goodbyes for the season ahead. God has blessed us in so many ways – our visas came, Paul’s & Karen’s passports now have lots of extra pages, and we found terrific round trip airfares (returning early July 2009). We want to remind each of you that we would LOVE for you to come visit us in Russia any time during the year – let us know if you’re thinking about it! We hope to see you on email or facebook, and our phone # in Russia is +7-910-432-81-77. If you want to send snail mail, you can print this out and stick it on the envelope:

RUSSIA

603093 Г. Нижний Новгопод

Ул. Родионова

Д. 180/1 Кв. 23

Sculley family

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 . . . it is a joy to walk this road together with you!

• Sculley Family support

o Our current support level is 64% of our financial needs through June 2009 – praise God!

• Resources for Russians

o Special thanks to our friend Sheri Carr and Varietal Records for donating multiple copies of her wonderful new CD, “Fearless Now.” I highly recommend this to you – the title track is now one of my favorite songs! Visit http://www.varietalrecords.com to purchase this title, or you can download any or all of the songs on itunes.

o Special thanks also to our friend Jason Chatraw and Ampelon Publishing for donating multiple copies of the following books. They will definitely be put to good use, and we’ll let you know how they work in a multi-language setting! Visit www.ampelonpublishing.com to purchase any of these great titles and many more.

 “The Way In is the Way On: John Wimber’s teachings and writings on life in Christ” (Wimber was the founder of the Vineyard movement)

 “Get Real About Relationships: a 40-day journey [for teenagers]” (Elizabeth Crist, whom we met when she was a few months old, and has grown into a beautiful and godly young woman)

 “The Difference a Father Makes” (Ed Tandy McGlasson)

 “Repentance and Forgiveness” (Dr. Leah Coulter)

 “6 Habits of Highly Effective Christians” (Brian T. Anderson & Glynnis Whitwer)

 “Breakthrough” (Vicki & Jim Egli)

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 – email us at karen@srsoln.com 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:

• Our short-term visas arrived in a timely manner!

• Paul & Karen realized late in the process that our passports were almost out of room (Russian visas take up 2 pages each, and we have 4 or 5 each so far), so we expedited those to Philadelphia last week, and thankfully they arrived back this morning with plenty of visa space.

• God continues to provide everything we need in every area of our lives – all glory to Him! We’re so thankful for the many friends that God keeps sending us to accompany us (not necessarily literally, though you’re certainly welcome to!) on this journey.

• The first part of the 2008-09 Vineyard Leaders School finished last week, and Yana (from Nizhny Novgorod) and the other students are now back in their home cities for the remainder of the school year. We’re delighted that we’ll have the opportunity to help Yana with her weekly studies as she continues to help us learn Russian.

Please pray for us:

• for safe travels & intact luggage! In addition to two plane flights, we’ll have two bus rides on our journey – one between airports in London and another from Moscow to Nizhny – pray that they’ll be there at the right times and places. It’s amazing how comforting it is to see a driver holding a sign with your name on it after a long flight 🙂

• for our long-term visas to be issued – the short-term ones we have are good for 3 months, and the long-term ones we’re waiting for are good for 3 years – those are basically the only two options available. We trust God for His timing, plans, and provision.

• for good transitions for all of us, physically, emotionally, mentally. Saying goodbyes is the hardest thing as always! It looks like we’ll be doing the immediate shift from summer to winter (the weather channel predicts our high temps will go from 32C / 90F to 9C / 50F in one day!)

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)

In Russia with love,

Paul, Karen, Peter, Jonathan, Michael, Cascade, Esther, & Karis Sculley

“It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:7, The Message)