"I will give you pastors after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding." Jeremiah 3:15


As I send this letter out, we are preparing to fly tomorrow from Southern California back to Khabarovsk, Russia for another year of serving our calling from the Lord to participate in building His church in the mission field of the Russian Far East. It is very correct to still call Russia a "mission field", as the evangelical church there is relatively small and inexperienced at this time. However, in this past decade, much growth and maturity has occurred in the church there and for that we greatly rejoice and have much hope in the future there. This is a tremendous encouragement and motivation for us to continue.

For it's easy to become preoccupied and discouraged over the continuing economic and political turmoil in Russia. Yes, the turmoil is very real and unsettling at times. However, you notice we hardly mention that aspect of Russia in our newsletters. The reason is we understand that the Lord's will, will be done there. He is building his church there. No one and nothing can stop or hinder that. In fact, the Lord often uses or even ordains difficult times specifically to develop His church.

So in the midst of the ever-present storm in Russia in the 1990s, we feel secure, confident, and privileged to be there at this strategic and largely pioneer time in Russian church history.

And we greatly appreciate and thank you our dear brothers and sisters in Christ for your faithful and generous support with us for now going on 5 years.

Khabarovsk Calvary Chapel (KCC) continues to grow in numbers and spiritual maturity. I am so blessed to serve with godly and gifted men and women there. I especially want to mention Sergei Matyushenko, my faithful assistant pastor. He is pastoring now while we are in southern California. Sergei also serves as the assistant to the Far East bishop of the Russian Pentecostal Church Union, as well as a university teacher of engineering in Khabarovsk.

I've just recently learned that in early July, KCC has finally become a legally registered as a church in Russia. I had first mentioned this status at the end of 1998. However, this status was never fully and officially granted to us until just this past month. This is a long-desired goal for us at KCC and we rejoice in the Lord at this news!

On a personal note, most of you know the reason we were in California at this time was to give birth to our third child. Raymond Michael Curran was born on July 1st. As we return to Khabarovsk, both Rebecca and little Ray are doing very well. What more can we say? We have been so blessed by the Lord in so many ways, including a wonderful healthy family.

So we look forward to a great year in the Lord in Khabarovsk. We will continue our twice-weekly worship services and Bible studies, prayer meetings, weekly evangelistic English classes, and other events. I especially look forward to seeing further leadership development among the Russians.

A vital aspect of these things being accomplished is your continued and faithful prayers. Believe me, we have experienced the results of your prayers for the past 5 years. We've included a photograph of our family. Please place this where it can inspire and remind you to regularly pray for the ministry of KCC. We would greatly appreciate this.

God bless you. We love you.

Ray Curran
07/22/99