More than 100 people gathered for the annual missionary meeting on October 27 at the Living Stones church, Rancho Cordova, CA. “Reignite” was the motto of this meeting of those who this year participated in a short-term or long-term mission or who somehow supported it. The meeting was organized by the PCSBA’s mission department.

Another productive convention of the PCSBA's churches is now over. The convention was dedicated to the theme of «Blessing of Unity». During the business part of the convention, there were reports of the Association's President, Treasurer, and Chairman of the Audit Commission, with an approval of their ministry. Concerning the convention's attendance, it is good to note that not all of the head pastors of churches were able to be there. Perhaps part of the reason for some pastors' absence is the far distance from Sacramento, especially those representatives of churches from Washington state, and Minnesota. It was good to see representatives from the church in Honolulu headed by Pavel Marchenko. This indicates that for some pastors who have the desire to be in fellowship of brothers and sisters, distance is not an obstacle.

According to the established learning programs, the Institute of Ministry «Blagovest» in partnership with Moscow Theological Seminary announces acceptance of applications into the «Master of Church Ministry» Level D program, English equivalent of «Master of Divinity» or «Master of Arts».

Everyone is invited to attend 81st PCSBA Convetion. The convention will take place on October 18-20 at the Grace Family Church. The church address is 7031 Watt Ave, North Highlands, CA, 95660.
The convention schedule is here: https://pcsba.com/index.php/ru/about-81-convention/program (in Russian only)
Speakers' information is available here - https://pcsba.com/index.php/ru/about-81-convention/speakers (in Russian only)

THE PRESIDENT'S INVITATION

September report of our missionary in Moldova V. Tsvirinko is available here - please click this link.

On September 9th, the «New Hope» church had a baptism ceremony during which 4 people gave testimony of the Lord's work in their lives. 

From 13 to 15 of September, the «New Hope» had a children's camp. The Sunday school children and the guests from neighboring area took a part of this camp. The children were divided into three groups: oldest, middle, and youngest. Three teachers and eleven assistants were ministering to them. The days began with singing of songs of worship in both English as well as in Russian languages. Then the children heard the Bible stories and learned Bible verses.

«On September 15, our «Transfiguration» church took place in the secular «Ukrainian Festival» for the immigrants from Ukraine during which we gave people Bibles in three languages: English, Ukrainian, and Russian. We distributed about 75 Bibles and invited people to church.

Another teaching session of the master's degree curriculum took place on August 25 and covered the subject of «Exegesis». Aleksey Ivanov from Ukraine was the instructor.

The Bachelor's level was taught on September 7 and 8 in Sacramento. The students listened to lectures on grammar of the Greek language and «Basics of Grammar». During this time, the English-speaking group was taught «Theology of the Family» by Sergiy Tarasenko, as well as Serwood Haisty who taught on Theology. 

On October 18-20, there will be the 81st Annual Convention of the Association's Churches at Grace Family Church. The theme of the convention is «Blessing of Unity», and it is based on the text from Scriptures «Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace » Eph 4:3.

A significant portion of the convention will be spiritually edifying. During the evening services, main sessions, and seminars, the preachers from America, Russia, and Ukraine will be covering the theme of unity in various aspects of the Christian life. Saturday will be a day for the administrative part of the convention, which will be a time of reports and elections. The evening services and seminars are open to anyone willing to come.

August report of our missionary to Moldova, V. Tsvirinko, is available here.

PCSBA's August newsletter is available here: in Russian | in English. Newsletters subscription is available here.

Recently, during a Northwestern Association's convention, I. V. Mileyev was interviewed and marked the reasons why the youth is leaving our Slavic churches. The Interview was published on Facebook (click here to view) and generated 17,000 views, 290 reposts, 272 likes, and 79 comments.

Baptist Russian-American Television – or BRAT TV – is perhaps the only Baptist television that exists not only in America, but also around the world. You will not believe it, but with such a significant calling and influence, which is impacting people around the world, this ministry is done by only two people from First Slavic Baptist Church of Sacramento.

There was another session in the Masters program that took place on August 4th in Montebello. During this session, the students studied «Exegesis». The students looked at various methods of studying and interpreting the Holy Scriptures.

On August 3rd under the leadership of the Vice-President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Ken Weathersby, there was a meeting of leaders of various ethnic backgrounds of America. There were leaders representing Korean, Chinese, Philippine, Japanese, Hmong, Laotian, Asian-Americans of the second generation, Cambodian, Haitians, Hispanic, Jewish, Indian, as well as multi-ethnic associations of churches.

Semiannual church-ministers conference will take place at Russian Baptist Church of Bryte on August 25 at 9:00 a.m.

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

This month, a group from our church flew to Ukraine to help in the children’s camps. Our church decided to send these groups more frequently in other countries for the preaching of the Gospel.

Life is like a mist, a wind, a dream, there one second and gone the next. The wisest person that ever lived called life futile, fragile, and vain. To what, to whom do we and will we devote our time, passions, and desires? What makes your heart beat? Is it for the One that breathed life, passion, and feelings into us? Have we set out to truly "Love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] strength and with all [our] mind'; and, 'Love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]" (Lk. 10.27.)

“Choose Life” Church in Oceanside, CA, had a baptism on Saturday, July 21 of seven people!

Someone might say “So what? I don’t even know what church it is, and where it is located, why should I care that someone was baptized there?”

PCSBA's June 2018 Newsletter is available here: in Russian | in English.

May report of V. Tsvirinko's, our missionary in Moldova, may be found here.

At the initiative of three former residents of Dushanbe who are now citizens of the U.S., Valeriy Avramenko, Fatima Avramenko, and Olga Drovorub, and who are all members of Bryte Church, there was a convention of over 150 Tajikistan immigrants. The meeting was attended by guests from Germany, a few U.S. states, and even one woman from Ukraine.

Over the course of half a year, Bryte Church had an intense preparation of the youth for baptism. The training at this church is fairly rigorous and is worth of sharing with others.

In the preparation for baptism, the baptismal candidates learned about the history of the church. The leaders of various church ministries shared about their ministries and invited them to choose where the new members could utilize their gifts. A special meeting was dedicated to share what goes on in the upkeep of the building, parking lots, and more, and what are the rules of the church in these areas.

On May 27, Transfiguration Baptist Church located in Minnetonka, Minnesota had a celebratory service during which Vasiliy Buryak was ordained.

May Newsletter may be found here: in Russian | in English.

PCSBA's April 2018 Newsletter may be found here: in English | in Russian.

Newsletters in PDF format may be found in this part of the website: News -- Newsletters -- Newsletters in PDF Format.

In April of this year, once more we had an opportunity to visit our African friends. Our team consisted of ministers, brothers and sisters from America, Germany and Russia. The purpose of our trip was to provide a pastoral training for new ministers and those already serving in churches located in various refugee camps. Words cannot describe the value of such fellowship to all of us. In order to get to the seminars, some brothers from the local churches had to travel as much as fifty kilometers. Thank God for Ivan Oselsky, Willie Dyker and Willie Dick, faithful and dedicated ministers, who led seminars from dawn to dusk in very difficult natural conditions while putting biblical truths in the hearts of listeners.

May 19 - 20, Bryte Church, our largest Slavic church, celebrated its 90th anniversary.  The celebration began on Saturday in West Sacramento Park. About 4,000 people attended the event, and more than 300 volunteered at the festive occasion. After an hour of worship, the participants took part in various entertainment activities.

The April report of our missionary in Moldova V. M. Tsvirinko may be found here:  in English | in Russian.

The camp will take place at Salem, OR, from 11 am on May 25 till late on 27th, 2018! (you can come as early as May 24th, 8pm and stay till May 28th, noon) :)
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“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." John 14:12 (ESV)

On Saturday, April 7, 2018, PCSBA Missionary Department “Power in Truth” in Sacramento, CA has organized and lead a missions training on “Leadership and Teamwork Basics” with an attendance from the churches of the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association and their guests.

This year’s topic of “Leadership and Teamwork Basics” was chosen after a survey conducted by the Power in Truth team among the current short-term missionary teams. Missionaries always work with teams: be it the teams they organize to go out and serve on a specific project or the teams that missionaries join locally upon their arrival to the field.

Greetings to you dear brothers and sisters! Accept my brotherly greeting from Moldova! By the grace of God we are alive and well, and have the strength to serve Him.

It’s been four years since we began a joint ministry of Moldavian Union and PCSBA. Our partnership with the joint missionary ministry began with the ministry in Africa, and then Europe.

On March 25^th, a week before the Resurrection celebration, Grace Avenue Bible Church had a special Worship Night during which they were commemorating the Bible events leading to the Resurrection. This was a service of worship and praise of the wonderful name of Christ in songs.

Dear brothers and sisters! As the associates of the Pacific Thrift Store, we will be very grateful to you for any help which you can provide. We are constantly in need of donations and volunteers.

We accept the donations in the form of clothes, shoes, furniture, house items, and much more. If you let us know, we can come to you to pick up the donated furniture.

March report of our missionary in Moldova is available here.

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

Registration for the annual retreat "Moms in Prayer" begins on April 11, 2018. We invite all sisters who want to live a victorious life with Jesus, to take part in this retreat. The Lord wants to give you strength and make you free. Take advantage of God's promise and conquer everything with power of prayer. Join the prayers of mothers who, like warriors, stand in the gap for the future generation for Christ.
" I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved" Psalm 15: 8.

Only a few hours ago, the 35^th spiritually edifying convention of the Russian Union of Churches of ECB has ended. It took place from March 21 to March 23 in the “Izmaylovo” Concert Hall in Moscow. The theme of the convention was: “God Gave us the Ministry of Reconciliation” 2 Cor. 5:18. This convention was attended by the delegates from all regions of Russia, as well as many guests, representatives of missions, and leaders of other Baptist unions and associations.

The Association’s president I. V. Mileyev greets everyone with the following Resurrection Sunday greeting:

Dear brothers and sisters!

I rejoice with you on the Resurrection Sunday! Christ has risen! He is risen indeed!

"Understanding the Secular Landscape. How to Evangelize in 21st Century America" - this will be a theme of the youth conference with the best-selling author Mark Mittelberg The conference will take place on April 28 and will be for hosted by Grace Avenue Bible Church located at 1425 Grace Avenue, Sacramento CA 95838. The conference starts at 5:30 p.m. Please join us for an evening of worship, fellowship, and teaching. Mark will speak on the current shape of American culture and how Christians can share their faith in this difficult environment.

The Department of Ministry to Children with Special Needs suggests making the first week of April to be a time for expressing special attention to families who have either children or adults with chronic handicap or a handicap they developed in their childhood.

April 14, there will be a conference at the Rockland church located at 5132 Elkhorn Blvd. Time of the conference 10am-5pm. The first speaker will be Rob Rienow. Rob will be talking on very important topics in parenting with critical information. These topics will be Visionary Parenting and Grandparenting; Building a Christian Worldview in Your Children; Parenting Teens. To participate you must register for a small contribution of $10.

Our second speaker will be Lissy Rienow at 6pm – 7:30pm. Encouraging teens to live for Christ at home and encouraging teens to navigate tech and social media with biblical principles. Free registration.

Dear friends, we are eager to invite you to Missions Training. This year's topic is Team Building, come to learn and discuss the joys and hardships of teamwork.
Date & time: April 7, 2018 from 9:30am to 4:30pm (Lunch included)

Dr. Billy Graham, a legendary evangelist and preacher went to be with the Lord. The earthly life of a person who dedicated his entire life to preaching the Gospel has ended. 215 million people attended his crusades. He preached both to the simple people and to kings and presidents. Praise God that this light was burning for 99 years. May the Lord send us more of the same kind of ministers!

From December 28 to January 13, the missionary team of volunteers from Grace Avenue Church visited Chilakaloo, India which is a small village about 200 km north of Hyderabad. This is an impoverished region mostly inhabited by the tenant farmers, although this region also has some industrial developments.

On February 16^th with the support of the Association’s Education Department and Institute “Blagovest”, there was the first meeting of Slavic Theological Collegiate (SBC). The meeting was open to all the brothers who have a theological education and who have the willingness not only to have theological discussions, but who are also able to search and find the answers to contemporary challenges and find approaches in practical lives of our immigrated churches. The first meeting was attended by about 15 brothers from different churches of the Association and other religion unions. The next meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 16^th. These meetings will take place at the Association’s headquarters once a month.

I had an incredibly blessed time traveling to and speaking at the largest Baptist Youth Conference that happens in all of Russia, this past February 1-4, 2018. The conference is called “Generation For Christ,” and happens in the center of Moscow, every year, led by Vitaliy Zanin, director of the Russian Baptist Union of EBC's youth department. Thank you to Vitaliy and to the Russian Baptist Union for their gracious invitation. This event drew 1500 young people into the city of Moscow, to listen to ten sermons, thirty seminars and four non-stop days of worshipping Jesus, together.