September newsletter is available here:

• In English
• In Russian

Africa. South Sudan-Uganda

Because of the economical and territorial disputes which lead to military conflicts between Sudan and South Sudan, the situation in the country is unstable. South Sudan has one of the highest levels of the spread of HIV infections in the world. There are even a number of rare diseases that have not been discovered anywhere else other than in these regions. For example, there is a rare disease of unknown origin which is called the Nodding Syndrome. There is neither the known origin, nor the cure of this disease. It is secluded and dangerous places that the missionaries of First Slavic Baptist Church of Sacramento go to preach the Gospel.

There was an annual Convention of the Evangelical Christian-Baptists of Moldova on September 15-16 which took place in the “Bethel” church in Kishinev. The main slogan of the convention was the words from Ephesians 4:3 “be diligent to preserve the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace”. The convention was attended by 450 delegates and guests. Many of the guests as well as the representatives from the partnering organizations and association of churches welcomed the convention’s delegates. Among them were Viorel Yuga, President of the Baptist Union of Romania, Churck Rogister, the head of the SBK Missionary department, South Carolina, Igor Bandura, the vice-president of the Ukrainian Union of Slavic ECB Churches, Peter Choklya, Chairman of the association of Moldavian Churches of the U.S. and Canada, Genrih Beck, president of the “Vector of Hope East” Missions, Waldemar Shreder, Chairman of the “Bridge to Life” Fund, etc. The joint choir of Beltsy, mutual group from “Bethany”, orchestra, and choir from the church of Kolishab as well as many other singers and musicians created an especially joyful atmosphere by their worship of God.

Scripture affirms that the Christian life is a call to glory through suffering.  Accordingly, on a daily basis Christians around the world face persecution in various forms, including discrimination, physical assaults, violence and even death.

On September 7^th, God allowed my wife Alena and me to visit Ukraine. After eight years since my previous visit to Kiev, I was pleasantly surprised by the external changes, as well as internal transformations in different aspects of the city life. More importantly, Ukraine is currently experiencing total religious freedom and opportunities of open preaching of the Gospel. True reforms of the country begin with the change of every individual heart, as well as spiritual rebirth of the entire society. Many residents of Kiev spend their weekends and days on the Plaza of Independence. It is not just a place of the past events, but also a place where the preaching of the Gospel can presently be heard.

September 2-4, Sierra Pines Camp had the honor of celebrating its 70th year operating as a Christian retreat center. We celebrated by inviting current and past participants in Sierra Pines Camp’s history to take part in a day full of activities and weekend retreat. 

The main event was a pleasant luncheon catered by Elena Petrenko. We worshipped together and our guests heard from several speakers spanning the recent history of Sierra Pines. Many were moved to tears hearing from one of our guest speakers, Cindy de Beer. She shared how she came to Christ at Sierra Pines Camp as a teenager and her life was forever changed. She went on to become a long term missionary in Africa, spreading the love of Jesus across the globe. There are so many touching stories about how God has worked through camp, and we were so privileged to hear a few of them for this event.

Tickets starting at $30.00. Registration is here: http://godontrialsacramento.com/registration. Place: House of Bread Christian Church, 6521 Hazel Ave, Sacramento, CA 95662.

More information is on this website: http://godontrialsacramento.com.

August 2017 newsletter is available here:

• English Version - http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?e=&u=bc85c6ba74630d01dfd88c1f1&id=65575fced4
• Russian Version - http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?e=&u=bc85c6ba74630d01dfd88c1f1&id=c1f63bb212

«Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.» (Rom.15:28)

Apostle Paul dreamed to visit one of the countries of Europe which was “far” from the center of the missionary ministry to the Gentiles-Antioch. This country was Spain, a country with rich history, beautiful cities, and kind and friendly people. Many immigrants from CIS* moved to this country in search of better jobs and a better life. A country with relatively low cost of living became a place where a lot of brothers and sisters permanently moved.

On August 26, Grace Avenue Bible Church (previously Third Slavic Baptist Church) hosted a meeting of the Association’s pastors. I was pleasantly surprised seeing a well-decorated sanctuary (I thought that I was coming to a wedding reception). Brothers and sisters of the local church prepared a tasty lunch and even supplied technical support for the conference. Big thanks to Vladimir Ivanovich Troshin for the warm welcome and organization of the event.

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me" John 5:39 (ESV).

The statement is true that "knowing about Jesus and knowing Him personally are not the same." It is absolutely certain that more people in the world that have  at least some knowledge about Jesus. This is true for not only Christians but for people from various religious groups as well as people who do not believe in anyone or anything. But many simply cannot underestimate the impact Jesus Christ has had on human  history. 

This "Life of Jesus" Camp is definitely for you!! 

On August 6^th my wife and I had an opportunity to visit the  “Transfiguration” church in Minnesota. With joy and reverence, I was returning to this church which I founded 18 years ago along with a small group of 11 people. I went through the school of training at that church, the school which was so useful for me, a school which valued “faithfulness in little”. It is especially necessary to have a special inspiration in order to have regular Sunday sermon, worship, and fellowship. I spent 13 years in the cool of Minnesota’s weather and never thought that someday the time would come to return to California. It’s been over 10 years that I minister in California.

July Newsletter is available here:

• In English: http://mailchi.mp/3ccd68397bcb/pcsba-july-2017-newsletter?e=5b23c9b939
• In Russian: http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?e=&u=bc85c6ba74630d01dfd88c1f1&id=1eba3061b0

Tickets available now for Sierra Pines Camp's 70th Anniversary Event at 70anniversary.sierrapinescamp.org/. Special luncheon will take place on Saturday, September 2. Cabins available to rent for the weekend. Volunteers and sponsors needed, call 916-290-2897 for more information.

As the worlds youngest country South Sudan celebrates its 6 year existence as of July 9, 2011, the civil war escalates. Many South Sudanese are fleeing their homes due to the violence that the government is causing on innocent people. They escape to the nearby country of Uganda. Uganda now holds the Worlds Largest Refugee camp called Bidi-Bidi with over 300,000 South Sudanese Refugees. With 86% percent of those being Women and Children. They are given land that is 30x30 meters and some to do farming on. There is a water shortage in the most populated areas, instead of receiving 15 liters of water which is the emergency minimum, they receive only 10 liters per day due to the large amounts of new refugees coming in.

A group of ten people (five from California and five from Moldova) recently returned from a two-week trip to the Sudanese refugee camps. The head of the trip Igor Mordvinov from the Union of ECB, Moldova, shares about the things that were accomplished during this trip.

Institute of Ministry “Blagovest” in partnership with an American seminary “Corner stone” announces open enrollment for faculty in training ministers who will be engaged in a variety of ministries in English. The program is called “Church ministry and Evangelism” and is designed for those who wishes to minister in the English-speaking context. That includes leading a Bible study in small groups, church preaching in English, and local evangelism with a purpose of starting a new Bible study group, and much more.

That is exactly how the church's senior pastor Oleg Petrovich Kostyuk characterizes the “Cornerstone” church.

It is easy to say: "Don’t Waste Your Life", but what does it mean: to waste your life? How to determine that the things that I am engaged in are wasteful or not? What are the occasions and times when I do something useless, and something meaningful? How can that be defined?

Our goal with all Teen Ministry staff, spanning dozens of churches, with over 110 staff involved, is to help raise up a God-fearing, Jesus following generation, that is well founded upon God's word, emphasizing first off the need for true repentance, spiritual growth through involvement in ministry at a local-home church, and further reaching out to the lost world around us.

On May 10-13, there was an international Summit in the Defense of the Persecuted Christians in Washington D.C. The summit organizer was Franklin Graham who is a leader of a missionary group--“The Samaritan’s Purse” and a son of a well-known preacher—Billy Graham. More than 600 Christian leaders from 130 countries were invited to the summit with a goal of discussing the state of the persecuted Christians around the world.

PCSBA's May Newsletter is available here: in English | in Russian.

You are invited to the Special Family Day celebration!

Dear brothers and sisters! Please accept a warm Easter greeting!

Christ has risen! He has risen indeed!

This great event is not accidental. Jesus Christ said a lot about His death and resurrection to His disciples but they did not heard Him! They were not ready to receive the good news of the resurrection. Their doubt and unbelief accompanied all of the events related to the resurrection of Christ. The risen Christ told them: “It is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dad the tired day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” Luke. 24:46-47.

Last Month I had an opportunity to visit the Seventh Missionary Summit-forum of Russian speaking churches in Europe. The Summit took place on February 21 to 24 in Polish Baptist Seminary which is called “Joy”, near Warsaw. Over the course of four days, I rejoiced that I had fellowship with the brethren who responded to God’s call and went to various countries of Europe for preaching Gospel. Just like Apostle Paul, they heard the missions’ call: “go to Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:9) and they responded God to wholeheartedly obey the Great Commission.

Slavic Baptist Church of Honolulu had a celebratory service on March 19, 2017. During this service, a new deacon, Leonid Bak, was ordained for deaconship.

You are invited to the "How church can serve people with disabilities" seminar.

Date:  Saturday, Apr. 29, 2017 года
Time:   10 am to 3 pm
Place:  Slavic Baptist Church of West Sacramento
Address: 1716 Willow Ave, West Sacramento, CA 95691
Registration fee: $15 (lunch and materials)
Registration: on the website http://limitlessloves.org/main/ - Serving Special Needs at Church Seminar.

March newsletter is available here: In Russian | In English.

You are invited to AWANA ministry conference:

When: May 13, 14-16, 2017
Time: May 13: 9:30 am - 4:00pm, May 15: 6pm - 9pm; May 16: 6pm-9pm
Where:  Russian Baptist Church, Bryte. Address: 1000 Sacramento Ave, West Sacramento, CA 95605
Speaker: Cheslaw Bassara
Registration Fee: before May1, 1 day:  $15.00, 3 days: $25.00; at the door: 1 day:  $20.00, 3 days: $30.00. Includes material, breakfast and lunch.
Registration is here: https://goo.gl/forms/GCOXBn0EsKahavwg1

Flyer with detailed information see here.

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

You are invited to the children ministry conference:

When: May 13, 2017
Where:  Russian Baptist Church, Bryte. Address: 1000 Sacramento Ave, West Sacramento, CA 95605
Speaker: Czeslaw Bassara
Registration fee: $15.00 per person (one day – May 13)

RSVP by April 30:

Natalya Lakhno: (916) 335-6391
Oleg Lakhno: (916) 802-4140
Tim Malanchuk: (253) 686-6975

Youth conference on 1-3 June. For more details see website https://youthconference.us/ and video clip below.

Mission training - You are invited!

POWER IN TRUTH
April 1, 2017 | 9:30 am to 4 pm
Grace Family Church
7031 Watt Ave, North Highlands, CA 95660
Admission is $10

February newsletter is available here: in English | in Russian

The annual family retreat will take place at the Sierra Pines Camp May 26-29. The main topic of the retreat is "Family for God's Glory",  Eph. 5:20-6:1. Speaker: Sergey Tarasenko, a famous pastor from South of California.

There are many activities in the retreat program: seminars, services, family presentations, games, hiking, crafting for children and many others. Final version of the program will be sent to registered families and groups several days prior the retreat starts.

PCSBA's January Newsletter is available here:
- In Russian - http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/…
- In English - http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/…