• Some background on our guest preacher this Sunday — you have to take a moment and try to imagine the world this describes. In 1989, after several years of incremental change in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, the Berlin wall comes down and Eastern Europe breaks ties with the Soviets. Just one year later, 1990, the first western missionaries arrive in the Soviet Union — after 70 years of institutional atheism and the persecution of Christians (among others). That year, Blake and Cathy Purcell move to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and begin working with college students under the ministry of the Navigators.
• By the end of that decade, in 1999, Blake had founded the Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Biblical Theological Seminary of St. Petersburg (together they are the Slavic Reformation Society). Since then, for the past 14 years, Blake has been training pastors who come to St. Petersburg from seven different time zones. It’s probably impossible for us to imagine the obstacles faced, the spiritual combat, and the sheer durability that persevering in this ministry has required. We encourage you to check out their website: slavicreformationsociety.com.
• Blake is with us in connection with Presbytery here at CPC (worship and dinner this evening, to which you are invited, then the all-day meeting tomorrow, to which you are also invited). Blake has recently moved back into the PCA. As a presbytery we hope to generate long-term interest in Blake’s work, and hopefully we can do the same here at CPC. Your best opportunity, though, to learn more about this ministry is at a breakfast Saturday morning at 9:00 here at CPC. For some of you, you have been thinking you need to make a greater personal investment in some aspect of the work of the Kingdom. Maybe this is your avenue!
• The Lord’s blessing and peace on the rest of your week.