Dear Pastor,Church Leader or Future Mission Team Member,
Welcome to Russian Christian Missions, Inc. May God's
wondrous peace and grace abound in your family and church.
Russian Christian Missions, Inc. is a very small
ministry indeed. The people of Russian Christian Missions are myself and
my wife, Andy and Stephanie Nelms and Kelly and David Hickey.
We strive to serve the Russian people by taking the Gospel of
Jesus Christ to them on an annual basis. We invite people to go
with us to lead a vacation Bible school (VBS) and to do home
ministries and we plant new churches along the way. We
encourage existing churches and pastors at those churches.
We encourage you to check us out. If you are here checking us out
then we invite you to
contact us in person
or to contact our church,
Chestnut Mountain Church in Flowery Branch,
GA. We are lay people in
our church. Andy is an adult Sunday School teacher and Stephanie
serves on the Technical Team.
We are first and foremost Christians and we happen to believe what the Baptist
faith teaches. You may read our
. Our church happens to belong to the Southern
Baptist Association.
Having said that we work with various denominations in Russia and
with people from various denominations in the US. Unlike
some other organizations we DO NOT REQUIRE you to believe exactly
as we believe in order to serve with us. However, we will
not take just anyone. Each team member must demonstrate to
us that they have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
We are conservative in our understanding and interpretation of
the Bible. That
means we believe in the inerrancy and infallibility of the original
texts of the Bible. When
the Bible says miraculous things happened, we accept it as a work
of the God who created the
universe. You may view our
statement of faith.
If you are here looking for a short-term mission trip to Russia,
you have
come to the right place. I was a team member on my first mission trip to
Russia and I
have led nine mission trips to Russia as of January 2007. We are
preparing for the eleventh
mission trip as
January of 2008 approaches.
You and your church members are welcome to team up with us and our
church
and work together on a single mission trip or we are more than happy to
help you organize a mission
trip of your own. If you or your church members want to join us on
our
next mission trip then your only cost is the normal per
person cost.
We would be honored to lead you and your church members on a mission trip
sponsored by your church. The cost of our services for leading your
own church sponsored mission trip is included in the per person cost
of between $2,800 and $3,400 depending on the costs of the particular trip.
In other words it cost you the same whether we lead the trip for you or you
join us on our trip.
The services we can provide for your church's Russian mission trip are as
follows:
- Arrange your airline tickets
- Arrange your hotel reservations
- Arrange for apartments to stay in (which is always cheaper than a hotel)
- Arrange ground transportation to the destination(s) in Russia
- Arrange daily ground transportation
- Obtain invitations to travel to Russia
- Obtain Russian visas
- Registration of team members within first 3 days of arrival in Russia
(required by Russian law)
- Contact a church in Russia where you can work as partners with
them
- Provide food for the trip
- Provide lodging in Russia
- Hold meetings with your church's team members for trip preparation
(teach Russian culture and set expectations)
- Act as your coordinator/director of vacation Bible school (VBS) in
Russia or work with
your director
- Obtain Christian Russian interpreters
- Obtain materials for VBS
- Train team members in regards to the VBS materials
- Provide some site seeing in Moscow and the surrounding area
- Collect funds for the trip
- Track funds for allocation to individual team members
- Pay airline deposits when due from collected funds
- Pay for airline tickets from collected funds
- Pay for hotel deposits when due
- Pay for all other expenses in Russia
- Obtain trip and health insurance for team members
- Provide some site seeing in Moscow and the surrounding area
I would like to add one final note if I may.
Russian Christian Missions, Inc.will be applying for
501(c)(3) status as of April 2008. We will not receive final
approval until after the end of our fiscal tax year which ends
December 31, 3008. As of this writing we have a Board of
Directors consisting of four individuals: Andy &
Stephanie Nelms and David and Kelly Hickey.
All members of the board attend Chestnut Mountain Church or
Calvary Chapel Flowery Branch. The only person in the ministry
who receives any compensation is Andy Nelms.
Thank you for your interest in Russian missions in general and
in particular
your interest in Russian Christian Missions, Inc. Have a
look at the site
and if you have questions, suggestions or concerns, please
contact us. If you are
interested
in a trip, please download and read our 46 page document
Survival Guide For
Russia Mission Trips.
May God bless your mission endeavors greatly.
Your brother in Jesus Christ,
Andy & Stephanie Nelms
David and Kelly Hickey