Permanent Impact December 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?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We've passed the shortest day of the year, with sunrise at 8:36am and sunset at 3:29pm. Even though the temperatures will likely get colder, we're glad that from now until June we'll be getting more sunlight each day! Living far, far from the equator hasn't been as bad as we thought LOL, though it's definitely strange having sunsets so early in the day. When the skies are clear, it's quite beautiful seeing the sun rise and set very low in the sky. And you can occasionally see the sun below the cloud layer, because the land is so flat around here.

The Friday night Nizhny Vineyard soaking group (lead by our close friends Misha & Larissa) continues to be a highlight of our week, as a huge crowd from all over the city gathers in our apartment to pray and worship together (and there are often a lot of kids, too!). Each week is a beautiful time of meeting with God, who has promised to "reward those who earnestly seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). God always shows up! It's such a blessing to be part of this group of humble followers of Jesus Christ - it's our favorite kind of prayer group, seeking God because He's worthy to be sought. We often hear feedback that it's a time of Holy Spirit refreshing & filling, and encouraging relationships in a peaceful environment. And of course the refreshments are a highlight, too!

Paul and Karen celebrated our 23rd anniversary, and thanks to our American student friend Rebecca, we were able to continue our tradition of just the two of us going away for at least one night. What a blessing from God! While Rebecca hung out with the children (just 2 days before she returned to the U.S.), Paul and I had a wonderful time on the town and spent the night at a lovely hotel by one of the rivers. We are so thankful to God for giving us so many years together, and blessing us in every conceivable way!

P celebrated his 17th birthday this month, with our usual weeklong celebration, and a fun party with friends from youth group and university. P had a great time and especially enjoyed the games and food. P is thriving in his university studies - he finds Russian language challenging, and has been moved up to 2nd year studies for computer programming already. His 18 classmates, 17 male and 1 female, range in age from 20 to 36, and all come from Africa - Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Algeria, and Ethiopia. It's a 2-for-1 cultural experience for P, who adapts so well to everything with his easy-going and cheerful nature. The rest of the family vicariously enjoys all of P's new experiences, too!

Karen had the opportunity to travel to the city of Kazan (7 hrs by car) a few weeks ago to attend a healing conference along with a team of 10 from Nizhny Novgorod (all from the Friday prayer group). About 300 people attended the conference in this strategic city, which is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan and also the center of Islam in Russia. Highlights for Karen were having a weekend retreat with God, hanging out with friends, and an afternoon of prayer walking at the Kazan Kremlin, punctuated by intimate times of worship and God-orchestrated times of praying for one another. The conference was hosted by a mission in Kazan, with speakers from Ukraine, and attended by participants from many churches and cities. There were dozens and dozens of testimonies of God's healing power (e.g. one old woman reported that God healed her left ear that had been deaf for 15 years). Below is a snapshot from the conference, the Nizhny-ites, and some of the views a group of us saw while prayer walking ("all saints" basement side entrance to the Orthodox Church, offices of the President of Tatarstan (included a picture of that doorway especially for our good friends the Tatarsky's back in Atlanta!), Orthodox Temple, Muslim Mosque, and Atheist Temple all within close proximity to one another).

We've had a fabulous Christmas celebration this year, adding some new traditions to our family favorites . . . medical student ministry Christmas party; baking cookies at the Wolf's; preparing Christmas Eve gift bags for all of P's classmates; Christmas Eve international concert at P's university; and of course Christmas Day itself! It is our favorite holiday of the year - we brought our Christmas stockings, favorite ornaments, and the Advent stories we read together each year. We were thrilled to find chocolate advent calendars and a gingerbread house kit here, both of which are essential family favorites, and thanks to our friend Susan, we each enjoyed a chocolate orange in the bottom of our stockings! Amazingly, we had a white Christmas (barely) - according to the locals, snow has been extremely late in arriving this year, but it snowed a little on Dec 23rd, just enough to cover the ground! On Christmas Day we did "Christmas-around-the-world-in-a-day", incorporating traditions from about a dozen countries into our family celebration - e.g. we made paper lanterns (China), made little candy baskets while our oldest daughter "Santa Lucia" served coffee & heart-shaped gingersnaps (Sweden), drew names from the "Urn of Fate" in which twosomes committed to how they're going to treat one another in the coming year (Spain), filled one another's shoes with little surprises (France), recited Christmas poems (Germany), did pantomimes (England), sang carols by candlelight (Australia), memorized Christmas-related Bible verses (Italy). We had a memorable time of praying blessings for one another, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas treats (including pecans, another surprise discovery in a store this week)! God took care of every detail for us to make this a very memorable celebration of God's greatest gift to mankind - Jesus!

Karen's Russian studies often include special outings, and this month teacher Anna took her 8 students to visit 3 schools for a special Christmas / New Year program with cultural games, stories, songs, and interactions - 7th graders, 1st graders, and music school students. C, E, and K really enjoyed coming along to help out! We were accompanied by a TV news crew on one of the visits, and landed a article in a local newspaper, too.

The Sculley girls decided to start a girls' club to do crafts, Bible study, and other projects together. They meet every week, usually when Paul and the boys are out bowling. Here's one of their recent creations - pom pom dolls.

Thanks for all your prayers, encouragement, and support! We love you and appreciate you!
Our contact information:

local U.S. number that will reach us in Russia: 678-389-9379
Russian apartment phone #: +7-910-432-81-77
facebook: Karen Sculley

snail mail: (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 75% of our financial needs through June 2009 - praise God!
• Resources for Russians
o We've purchased copies of these books in Russians to lend out to the many believers who come to our home. We're always on the lookout for resources that would be helpful to other believers. I am delighted to have found some of my favorite authors translated into Russian. The very first week we put them on our shelves, 3 people found and borrowed some books from our small library, even though I forgot to mention it!
 "After God's Own Heart" (Mike Bickle)
 "In His Image" (Paul Brand & Philip Yancey)
 "The Sacred Romance" (Brent Curtis & John Eldridge)
 "Love Must Be Tough" (Dr. James Dobson)
 "Through Gates of Splendour" (Elizabeth Elliot)
 "Agents of God" (Rick Johnson)
 "He Chose the Nails" (Max Lucado)
 "Do Not Fear" (Joyce Meyer)
 "With Christ in the School of Prayer" (Andrew Murray)
 "The Power of a Praying Wife" (Stormie Omartian)
 "The Power of a Praying Parent" (Stormie Omartian)
 "The Glory of Christ" (R. C. Sproul)
 "Ever Increasing Faith" (Smith Wigglesworth)
• Ministry partnerships
o We'd like to offer you the opportunity of partnering with a Russian believer in ministry:
 Prayer Journeys to other Russian cities. There are teams from several Vineyard churches going on prayer journeys to other Russian cities, in the hopes of beginning Vineyard churches there in the near future. We would love to invest in these "ground-breaking" and "foundation-laying" teams as they go in to prepare the spiritual soil for future church plants.
 March 5th - 7th, 2009 - Russian Vineyard National Conference, Perm. This annual conference will have an emphasis on evangelism in addition to its usual focus on equipping, envisioning, and encouragement. It's also a big family reunion as the 7 Vineyard churches in Russia are geographically very spread out, from St. Petersburg to Siberia (over 3500km apart)! We would love to help some of our brothers and sisters in Christ from the Nizhny Vineyard to join our family as we journey to the city of Perm, 17 hours by train east of Nizhny Novgorod.
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 - click here 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:
• for bringing people to us every week that He wants us to reach with His love. God is so faithful! The very thing we asked you to pray for last month has come to pass again and again - as we invite people into our lives, God touches them, and He always blesses us too. His ways are amazing! Thanks for praying!
• for God's blessing on P in his studies - he's doing very well! Also, Karen has graduated from "elementary" to "beginner" level in her Russian studies - I think I can converse quite well now with Russian preschoolers LOL
• for God's clear direction in our lives - we are so thankful for the many ways God has lead us and confirmed His word to us over and over. It's so freeing not to have to figure things out ourselves!

Please pray for us:
• for God's wisdom and revelation in speaking into the lives of those who come to us for counsel (mostly young leaders).
• for God's heart and plans for the gatherings and groups that we're involved with.
• for Paul's exit visa to be processed in a timely fashion - at the end of January, he is taking a brief visit back to Atlanta to do taxes and other paperwork. Now that we're residents of Russia, there's a new process to go through to be able to leave :)

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 all of our email and facebook friends' 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, P, J, M, C, E, & K Sculley

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (that's Jesus!) (2 Corinthians 9:15)

moves of God – key to revival #3 – focus on God

True moves of God are initiated by, sustained by, and centered on, God. Yes, we have a part to play, because God has given us certain conditions to fulfill in order for Him to come. 2 Chronicles 7:14 begins with “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then . . .” There is a conditional “if” that hinges upon our choices. We need to pray, we need to seek His face, we need to turn from evil, we need to be humble. But the focus should not be on what we can or can’t do, what we have or haven’t seen or experienced, what we do or don’t have. In our lives, both privately and when we’re together, we need to be very careful to keep the attention on God, to give all the glory to Him. God describes Himself as a jealous God, who will not give His glory to another.

God gives us many reminders to keep our focus on Him and His Word. We are so easily distracted, especially in this market-driven era where we are constantly being wooed by things that are new and glittery and exciting. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2)

Father God, help us to keep our eyes on You. In our lives, relationships, work, study, ministry, let the focus be solely on You. Keep us from being wowed by anyone or anything, and to reserve all adoration for You – You alone are worthy to receive all power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! In Jesus’ name.

moves of God – key to revival #2 – humility

When God is in the house, we become more aware of our inadequacy and insufficiency, and of our dependence on Him. The Bible says that “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend” (Exodus 33:11). Numbers 12:3 also tells us that “Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”. The more we see of God, the more we want to see of Him, and the less we want ourselves to be seen. Anything that exalts a person or group is a violation of the 1st commandment. An examination of history shows that when God moves, His Spirit is not confined to any particular group. Notice that when Israel took over the Promised Land, God used all of the tribes to win the battle! God’s work requires all parts of the body to be active. We need to be very wary of any claimed move of God which draws undue attention to an individual, church, or ministry.

John the Baptist knew Jesus all of his life, since they were cousins. But God gave him fresh revelation as to who Jesus was at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. His response was, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30)

God is looking for those who are available to Him to be used any way He chooses, not for those who are great in their own eyes. He can do anything through people who are humble and weak.

God gives us a specific warning about people who talk too much about themselves or their ministries or what they’ve experienced.

“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head . . .” (Colossians 2:18 – 19)

As John the Baptist said, God must increase; we must decrease. God calls us to be humble, and to follow those who live lives characterized by humility.

Father God, give us humble hearts that are focused solely on You. Help us to see You as You really are, and to see ourselves the way You see us. We acknowledge our weakness before you – help us to completely rely on You and Your strength. Help us to trust You more. According to Your word, we humble ourselves before You, we seek Your face, we pray, we turn from sin, and we ask that You would forgive our sin and heal our land. In Jesus’ precious name.

moves of God – key to revival #1 – repentance

We’ve looked at some warning signs. Although obviously God cannot be put in a box, there are certain characteristics that seem to accompany genuine “moves of God”, as recorded in the Bible and in church history. I am grateful that the people of God took the time to record the moves of God throughout the history of the Body of Christ. It’s fascinating reading, and I encourage you to research it for yourself. We spend time every Friday morning as part of our school curriculum reading stories of how God has moved at various times and places in church history. It is very inspiring reading! I believe it is important to consider some keys to revival when wondering if something is a move of God or not.

Every movement of God is characterized by a profound awareness of sin. Repentance of sin and revival are inseparable. When God comes down, when He reveals His presence in a greater way, there is a heightened awareness of His holiness. This is a hallmark of revival. The fear of God comes upon people, leading to repentance. Every revival in church history has involved large numbers of people repenting of their sins, not only giving their lives to Christ, but also being added to the churches. During true revival, many lost people are suddenly swept into the Kingdom of God. The first such case is recorded on the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early church –

“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:37 – 38)

On that single day, 3000 people were added to the group of Christ-followers.
Repentance also occurs among believers. There is an increased delight in God’s excellence, holiness, and truth. Christians have a greater sense of their own utter insufficiency and the hateful nature of their own sin.

Genuine repentance is always followed by changed lives, a turning away from sin. In some communities, there is destruction of illicit materials. Acts 19:19 lists an example of this – “A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas” [which was equivalent to approximately 140 years’ wages!]

During the well-known Welsh revival, there were reports of entire towns having empty prisons and a zero crime rate. The local police force, having nothing to do, formed musical groups to pass the time. True revivals always have a powerful effect on society as a whole in turning back the tide of immorality and vice. True revivals are bad news for alcohol, drug and gambling industries. True revivals will bring down the divorce rate and heighten society’s view of the value of life. We can be greatly encouraged that in our day, in the last ten years, God has completely transformed the nation of Uganda – over 75% profess Christ, the percentage of Muslims has dropped from 35% to less than 5%, the AIDS rate has dramatically dropped, and the president rewrote the constitution and dedicated the country to God in the name of Jesus Christ! If God can transform that nation, He can transform our city and nation!

Father God, would You give us a profound awareness of sin – our own and that of our city and nation. Make us holy as You are holy. We humbly repent for – confess and turn away from – of everything that is displeasing to You. Help us to live pure and holy lives before You. Take away our lukewarm attitudes and make us passionate for You. We invite Your Kingdom to come, Lord, in our lives, our cities, and our nations. May the name of Jesus Christ be glorified!