Stories in the Missional Journey of Bruce & Deborah Crowe

Preparing to Launch.. Ourselves!

Some of the youth of Club 180 that meet regularly at the Cafe, studying the Gospel of John, the life of Christ – Pray for Vova (red shirt) as he leads the next 2 months, and these amazing young hearts.

Ready or not.. here we come!

In less than 5 days, our family will embark on a 2 month journey around the US and Canada!  We are busy cleaning, packing (well at least the suitcases are out), and tending to various ministries for our departure.  This the only the 2nd time in 10 years we’ve all journey together to the US – and we are hungry!

Quick update on Lighthouse.

The Cafe is enjoying a spring ‘bump’ in business as folks are out in their gardens, getting supplies downtown, and more students are generally outdoors.  The park is open but without grass so the kids mostly playing on the half-pipe (creating all sorts of games with it).

The economy is still in really rough shape though, and we all feel it at some level.  The average salary for our area is down under $200 US per month and those with jobs all feel very fortunate. As the ministry side flourishes, the business side is still rather terrible, but God is providing.

We continue to feed +35 widows and visit them each month.  Our youth continues to occupy the 2nd floor with music lessons daily, Club 180, and a mix of many other things through the week.

Our forest next to the house is a sanctuary for me, especially in the spring. When burdens mount, I meet the One who takes them in this place.

Our younger kids are ultra excited for the trip, especially those in Ukrainian school who get to leave a month early!

Bronwyn and Broderic, our two eldest haven’t seen one another for 16 months, it’s been neat to see their anticipation growing for the reunion.  Broderic will be graduating from the apologetics and church history course in Ottawa, Canada – we arrive a couple days before it and hope to go.

After his graduation on the 29th of this month, the next day we fly to British Columbia to visit my sister’s family.  It works out really well because they are just a few hours north of Seattle where our first ‘weekend’ will be with MIR Ministries as we share to a founding church and begin our ‘tour’.

US Family Tour – May 1-22

Lock your doors… here we come!

Our ‘tour’ will take us from Seattle (May 5-8), back to Toronto where we drive down to Longview, Texas (May 12-16), then back up to Harrisburg, PA (May 20-22) before we complete our month of travel and connections back up in my hometown of Picton, Ontario, Canada for a couple weeks of rest Lord willing.

We also intend on trying to fly Deb and a couple kids out to her parents somehow who are currently in Florida.  Neil is still recovering from surgery and unable to travel like they had hoped.  We’re also praying we can connect with some ministry partners in Minnesota in early June.

I detail the above in hopes that some of you who are in areas we mentioned will make an effort to come see us.  Our ultimate desire during this trip is to re-connect with hearts, to encourage, and allow God to work as He desires.  We would love to tell the story of what God is doing in the Russian speaking world with anyone who is interested, we would love to hear what He is doing in your life too.  So give us a shout and try to connect!

We are already receiving emails from friends who feel a burden growing to plant a Coffee Shop, to get their churches involved, to join what God is doing over here – it’s really cool.  As we direct MIR as a US Charity, we now have the means to bring in other missionaries, to grow a team and platform for others to connect to their mission.  It’s so cool to see friends step onto the water in faith and begin to say, “Yes” to whatever God has.

New International Missions Program!

We are about to launch some new ministry plans that are daunting, but exciting.  One is a new missions program in Minsk starting this fall.  We have been busy planning the logistics, the course curriculum, and media development for recruitment.

We have a new website, some video, social media and some goodies to spread around the US/Canada among youth – here we come!   Look for it May 1 as we launch – please pray for us and the new missions program called, ‘YFM – Year for Missions’

We’ll be targeted both English and Russian speaking world, which makes creating the content more tricky, as well as many political hurdles but we are moving ahead by faith to pioneer a new form of discipleship in our part of the world.

I’m most excited about a few of our own youth who have begun to walk with God, that this course would be a huge blessing to their spiritual growth – but we’ll need sponsors from the West as none of them have more than a few bucks to their name, neither do their parents.  Amazing investment opportunities for the Kingdom.

Vikente recording drums for new Worship Album this week!

We’re also sponsoring a new Worship Project in Russian, the guys are in studio this week – it’s going to be amazing and I believe truly impact the youth in the Russian speaking world.  It will launch as well online and in iTunes, and we hope to raise some fund for taking the team on tour this summer as we use this vehicle to promote YFM and attract students.

The school by the way is for all nations, not just Russian speaking – so if you know someone 17-25 age range with a missional heart, help us tell the news once you see it come online!

We are currently fundraising for help sponsoring the band to go on outreach this summer around Belarus and Ukraine – we are partnering with Steiger Worship Ukraine, and need around $2,000 for the team to travel, do 4-5 concerts and reach 300-500 youth if you’d like to contribute.  Outside our trip/personal costs to visit churches, it’s probably our most pressing financial need for ministry – visit www.mirministries.org (the donation system is live, you’ll see ‘worship’ as a category and all giving is tax deductible).

Please pray with us?

  1. Jesus watch over Lighthouse Cafe, our students, leaders in place.  Guide and grow the fruit that you have made, and provide for all their needs!
  2. Jesus watch over our properties, our home, vehicles, all that you have blessed us with.
  3. Jesus keep us in health as we travel, grace us with joy, patience, love.  Let us be salt and light everywhere we go, to see you, to be bold, humble, and walk through every door you provide.
  4. Provide for us as we travel, housing, gas, food, and fuel your mission for the awakening we are experiencing in the Russian speaking world.  Connect us to your Kingdom, the people, the callings, the resources.

Meet Zhenya, he’s from Kiev, serves with Steiger youth ministry and is a humble, gifted musically young man. He and several others are joining us this July as we host our 2nd Intern program.

Thank you everyone for your love and support… look for the launch of the new MIR Website May 1, the launch of the new YFM Missions Course, the new Worship Album – and look for us, we’re coming for you!

We’ll be contacting our Texas friends for more information on a dinner and weekend plans – we so look forward to that!

If you’d like to donate and support us for our trip, please click here. 

With Love,

Bruce & Deb

1 Comment

  1. Merryl Squair

    Exciting times for you. Safe travels to Canada and USA. Much love and many blessings to you both and the whole family.

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