SEMI-ANNUAL PASTORS’ MEETING
 The upcoming meeting of the Association’s pastors will be held on August 20 at Grace Avenue Bible Church. Dr. Jake Roudkovski, Professor of Evangelism and Pastoral Ministry at New Orleans Theological Seminary, has been invited as a special speaker for this meeting. The theme of his presentation will be “Total Wellness”, which will cover a healthy balance of the spiritual, emotional, physical, intellectual, family, and professional aspects of life and ministry. All brothers and sisters who are involved in ministry are welcome to attend. The seminar will be held from 9:00am to 2:00pm, with a one-hour break from 11:00am to 12:00pm. Grace Avenue Bible Church (formerly known as Third Slavic Baptist Church) is located at 1425 Grace Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95838. For more information – visit the Association’s website.
TRANSFER OF MINISTRY
Valery Petrovich Brutskiy-Stempkovsky, who had been the senior pastor at the Second Slavic Baptist Church for the past 16 years, handed over this responsibility of ministry to a new pastor, Sergey Vladimirovich Solonenko, on July 3. Expressing gratitude to Valery Petrovich for his many years of dedicated and sacrificial service, we wish him blessings in the further work that the Lord will entrust him with in the future.
And to the new pastor, Sergei Vladimirovich Solonenko, we wish a lot of strength, inspiration, and God’s guidance in his new position of serving God and the people! Read more on the Association’s website (in Russian only.)
Both pastors and their wives
BLESSING OF THE LORD
The Sunday service at the RockLand Baptist Church on June 16, 2022 was full of special joy. First, because the church celebrated Father’s Day, where they blessed and lifted up the men of the congregation. And second, because during this service, three men were ordained as deacons: Pavel Vasilkov, the director of Sunday School, Vladimir Pozhidaev, responsible for the audio ministry, and Yevgeny Utyuzh, who was recently put in charge of the AWANA children’s club. Read more about it here.
New deacons and their wives
BETHANY, THE OLDEST CHURCH OF THE ASSOCIATION
There are a variety of churches that are part of the Association. Some have more than a thousand members, while some are very small—only a few dozens. But regardless of the size of the church, they have their own church life, they preach the Scriptures, pray, and sing hymns. One such church is Bethany Church, which turns 112 this year. Read more about it on the Association’s website – click this link.
Bible study led by A. Ageyev
CHOOSE LIFE!
Every day we make dozens of choices. Every day we choose how to act. However, there is a decision that affects our eternity. The members of the Choose Life Church regularly remind California residents about the importance of choosing eternal life. They do it through various means, including preaching at the oceanside. Read more about it here.
Oasis Choir’s performance
NEW HOPE CHURCH: WE PROCLAIM CHRIST
Taking advantage of every opportunity to preach Christ is what seems to drive the New Hope Church in Rancho Cordova. The “Block Party” and Independence Day parade was a very good way to share the news about salvation, and hand out Gospel tracts to a large number of people. Read more details in an article by Kristina Gofman.
At the time of the parade
GOOD TRADITION
Choirs visiting churches for the purpose of encouragement and support is an old and good tradition of the Slavic churches. Unfortunately, in the context of immigrants, especially during the time of the pandemic, this good tradition has slowly become a thing of the past. Grace Avenue’s Church’s men’s choir decided to renew this tradition, and on June 26 they visited the House of the Gospel Church in Fresno. For more information about their visit, read here (in Russian only.)
Choir’s participation during the church service
VBS AT ROCKLAND CHURCH
Week-long VBS (Vacation Bible School) has become popular at the Slavic churches during the summer break, and are sometimes also called children’s camps. RockLand church also held one of these camps, where they had a great balance of Bible teaching, entertainment, and mutual fellowship of children. Read more about it here (in Russian only.)
Lesson time in one of the groups
LEVITES OF THE MODERN CHURCH
On June 25, the Pacific Coast Baptist Association had a seminar for conductors and choir members at Grace Avenue Bible Church. During this time, there were master classes for both vocal and conducting. The Word of God was also preached, and a lot of valuable information was given by experts in the field. Thirty people from various churches of Sacramento were able to attend this event. For more information, visit the Association’s website (in Russian only.)
Seminar participants
BLESSING FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS
“We have been organizing such camps for the past fourteen years, and every year it brings great joy and blessing for both the children and the parents. This year, there were about 65 children, 30 of which are from outside of the church.” This was what Pastor Yuriy Korniyenko said about the camp which took place on June 24-25 in one of the parks in San Diego. Read more details on the Association’s website.
May the Lord bless them so that they all would be Christians!
“GOD’S VINEYARD” MAGAZINE
Our churches have always had people who understood the power of the printing press. Today, “God’s Vineyard” Magazine continues its active ministry and invites creative people, poets, and writers to join its team.
For more information about the magazine, refer to an interview of S. Iotko with the editor, Lyubov Pavlyuk – click this link (in Russian only.)
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?
For more than 10 years, Aleksandr Vivsik has been leading the video ministry of the Association. He has been doing the online broadcasts since 2004, and is ready to help live broadcasts of services in other churches that need help. Read about his ministry in an article by S. Iotko – click this link (in Russian only.)
Ministry in action…
READINESS NUMBER ONE
Slavic Bible Church of Orange County is greeting all the churches and reminds everyone about the importance of being ready for the coming of Christ. This was the topic of Sergey Tupchik, a well-known pastor from Ukraine, theologian, and author of a book on spiritual development, who visited this church one Sunday. Read more about this in an article by S. Iotko – click this link (in Russian only.)
Sergey Tupchik shares about his book and ministry, as well as other resources
WOMEN’S GALA DINNER
More than 100 women from the Association’s churches, who are involved in various ministries, gathered together on July 23 at Bryte Church. This was a time of fellowship, encouragement, and getting to know each other, as well as sharing about the ministries that are available to women. The topic of the meeting was “Rest in Jesus” (Matthew 11:28-30) and the speaker was Nicole Gorban, who serves at the Fresno church. For details of this meeting and photos, see the Association's website - click this link (in Russian only.)
Dinner participants
HELP FOR UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
Along with Peter Babich, a pastor from the Fresno church, a support team was able to visit Ukraine and help the refugees. Donations from various American and Slavic churches made it possible to bring food and spiritual literature to these churches, as well as finances to support refugees with particular needs of refugees. Read more in the letter of P. Babich, published on the Association's website (in Russian only.)
NEWS FROM MISSIONARIES
CHILDREN’S CAMP FOR REFUGEES
A children’s camp for refugee children from Ukraine took place in Torrevieja, Spain on July 11-15. The camp was held from 9:00am to 5:00pm. The children were able to receive three full meals a day and were surrounded by the love and care of the counselors. V. Kovba, who is a missionary that is supported by our Association, shares more about this event – click this link (in Russian only.)
A moment of joy and fun after the horrors of fleeing their home country
ORDINATION IN BARCELONA
Over the course of the last few years, The Good News Church and the Association have invested a lot of resources in developing a few missionary projects and churches in Spain. It is a great blessing to see God’s work in action! V. Stupin, M. Terekhin, and A. Shipuk were able to participate in the ordination of pastor Roman Zelenskiy as a new pastor of the Spring of Life Church In Barcelona, Spain.
Ordination
REGISTRATION FOR THE CORAM DEO PROJECT IS CONTINUES!
The registration of students for training in counseling under the program of the International Institute of Counseling "Coram Deo" is being continues. Classes start on October 4 at 6:30 pm. Classes will be held throughout the week in the evenings and two full days on Saturday and Sunday.
Training is paid.
Read more on the Association's website - click this link.
|
| 
