Message Magazine Online - Vol. 53, No. 03, Winter 2005

In This Issue

• Think Outside the Box
  By Donna Messenger
• Missions Outside the Box
  By Michael G. Loftis, President
• Opening the Box
  By Bill Commons
• Three-Door Evangelism
  By John and Jean Peterson, Brazil
• Reaching CANS - Creative Access Nations
  By the ABWE Executive Administrator Muslim Ministries
• The Effectiveness of Sports
  By Bruce W. McDonald, International Director of Sports
• Greetings from Camp
  By Leon Duell, Russia
• Creation Science Evangelism: Reaching Students and Educators with the Gospel
  By Jerry and Donna Layton, Philippines
• The Greenhouse that is Growing a Church
  By Rick Ferrari, Ukraine
• The World at My Yard Sale
  By Ann DenUyl, USA
• Indy International
  By Joanna Stuckey, USA MK
• Disaster Church Planting
  By Annie Langston, Thailand
• We Were Strangers
  By Jim Ruff
• Giving Outside the Box
  By Don Davis & Spencer Jackson
• The Missionary Family
  By Russell E. Ebersole, Jr.
  

Greetings from Camp

By Leon Duell, Russia

Four years ago we moved to Perm, Russia, and began to get acquainted with the few local Baptist churches that existed in this region. The most successful evangelistic method that had been used here was to run summer camps and invite unsaved children and youth to attend. When we visited some of these camps during our first summer in Russia, we were impressed by the staff’s dedication, but we were also alarmed by the high ratio of females to males both among the campers and the leaders. It appeared that the camping programs were largely run by women for girls. We began to talk to church leaders about the need to change the camping format to reach young men.

By the end of the first year, we found a method of evangelism and discipleship that would enhance the church’s outreach to young men. After running a couple of trial wilderness trips in 2002, we were convinced that outdoor activities like float trips, cross-country ski trips, and rock climbing would attract young men and provide a platform for sharing the gospel. Through a gracious gift from one of our supporting churches, we purchased catamarans, tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, climbing equipment, skis, and set to work acquainting youth workers with the basics of wilderness ministry in 2003.

What we didn’t fully understand at that point was that almost all Russians in this region enjoy these outdoor activities. Not only young men, but young girls and middle-aged people are also thrilled at the opportunity to enjoy nature. For many of them, the wilderness ministry is their first opportunity to take this kind of trip.

This summer, six different churches will use our equipment on a series of one-week river trips for different age groups. These trips have become the preferred method of evangelistic/discipleship camps for several of our partner churches, because they are both effective and economical.

This highly relational method of evangelism combines the power of God’s Word with the beauty of nature, the glow of the campfire, and the close companionship of caring believers. Pray with us that God will continue to bring souls to Himself as the gospel is proclaimed in this unique way, here in the Ural Mountains of Russia.