Thanks to our faithful US support base, in the 2nd quarter of 2024, we had our largest intensive course ever, bringing 25 Russians and 13 Americans together for two weeks of training and encouragement! Thirty-eight people gathered in Antalya, Turkey (Apr 22-May 3, 2024) for a dual-purpose meeting, combining our seminary’s intensive course with our annual Russia Partnership gathering of supporting churches.

The photo below shows twenty-five of the thirty-eight folks who gathered in Turkey. Pictured are eight American church leaders & teachers along with seventeen Russian pastors.

We had excellent lectures for our students…

click on each photo for details

The tall brown-haired gentleman appearing in all six of these photos is HopeRussia board member Greg Zhelezny. Greg lives in Dallas TX, but he was born in Ukraine, and speaks Russian, Ukrainian and English. In the photo on the bottom right, Greg is lecturing in Russian. In the other five he is serving as translator.

Rev. Mike Ruff (Assoc. Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Valparaiso FL) (Copy)

Rev. Brant Bosserman, PhD (Sr. Pastor, Trinitas Presbyterian Church, Woodinville WA) (Copy)

Dmitri Zagrebin (Church Multiplication Ministries) (Copy)

Rev. Steven Nicoletti (Sr. Pastor, Faith Presbyterian Church, Tacoma, WA) (Copy)

Rev. Rob Rayburn, PhD (Pastor Emeritus, Faith Presbyterian Church, Tacoma WA) (Copy)

HopeRussia board member Greg Zhelezny (DMin candidate, Dallas Theological Seminary) lecturing on "Pauline Theology and the People of God" (Copy)

Encouraging words from Turkey…

Zhargal (at rear) in Saturday’s Swimming Competition

Zhargal Tsirenov, Russian Far-East

“I am grateful to the Hope Russia team and also to Cathy, Blake and Graham Purcell personally for their enormous efforts in holding this intensive. I really enjoyed Rob Rayburn's lectures, especially his experienced teaching about prayer ministry and marriage relationships in the church. Greg Zhelezny's lectures on the biblical approach to Israel and the church were thought-provoking. Many thanks to the members of the HopeRussia Board of Directors for their devotion to propagating the gospel in Russia, Georgia and Latvia. I also had a great time communicating with brothers from the USA in an informal setting. I was touched by Blake’s concern for me personally. HopeRussia Seminary studies provide me with tremendous practical and moral support in my Christian worldview and ministry!”

Constantine Savichev, Novokuznetsk (Siberia) Russia

Constantine Savichev (and a few of the other students) brought his wife with him to Turkey.

“Alena and I thank HopeRussia and the generous donors who made it possible for us to be in Turkey. We had a blessed time strengthening our relationship! During Steven Nicoletti’s lectures on liturgy, one of the pastor/students from Kazakhstan asked me what criteria we use for planning the worship at our church in Siberia. Unfortunately, I had to reply, “Well, that’s just the way we’ve always done it.” God used Rev. Nicoletti’s lectures to convict me of negligence and ignorance and to prompt me to rethink what we do in our worship services.”

Church Planter Ruslan Moroz (left) with Rob and Florence Rayburn.

Ruslan Moroz, Tbilisi, Georgia

“It was great getting to know all the Americans who came on this trip. What I was most interested in was listening to Rob Rayburn and his experience developing a prayer ministry in his church. I plan to apply it in our ministry.”

click here for more Turkey 2024 Impact