June 8, 2002
Dear Friends of Jesus,

About a week after you receive this letter, 12 of us will be on the way to the Russian city of Smolensk to provide a Vacation Bible School to about 150 orphans who are living in that region. Please keep us in your prayers especially between June 25-July 10th, 2002. Ms. Eileen Spencer of Savannah's Ronald MacDonald House will co-direct the Vacation Bible School along with Galina Obrovets. In the second week of our visit, we will be at the Center for Biblical Literacy where Galina Obrovets works as the Director. The Center is an extension of MBL. I list below some of the plans that we are making to enhance the ministry of the Center.

A NEW MINISTRY IN MOSCOW. Early this year, a club was formed to evangelize Armenian women who are living in the Moscow area. Its purpose is to bring women to Christ and to help them find solutions to their family problems with the help of the Scriptures. The activities will include: Bible Classes, meetings with Pastors and Christian counselors, consultations with Christian psychologists and psychiatrists on family issues, conversations with Christian teachers regarding upbringing of children and a quarterly newsletter in the Armenian language.

A WORKSHOP IN ARMENIA at Yerevan on September 20-21. Called the "Bridges to Healthy Christian Family Relationships", this seminar opportunity has been well received in a number of Siberian and Western Russian churches. Novikoff, Spencer, Obrovets and others will have major roles in the leadership of this seminar for families. The twelve step programs are highly utilized in these workshops since substance abuse problems are common. The MBL, the Armenian Evangelical Church and the Christian Association of Moscow will be major participants in this program.

REPRINTING OF "PEOPLE, PASSAGES, AND PLACES" The Center has almost depleted this popular Bible study manual and now needs a fresh reprinting. Galina and her husband, Dr. Vladimir Obrovets have revised the manual and added a new section to the Leader's portion. It will cost $9500 for 8000 copies in both languages. These manuals are popular with the Bible League Missionaries who work house to house in Russia and Armenia and we expect that the Bible League will purchase about half of the stock that will be on hand. Also popular is Galina's new quarterly journal "CECTPA" (SISTER).

Finally, you need to know that Dr. John Killinger, our President, has resigned due to health reasons. Also, the latest news is that the board voted to return to the old name of our mission: THE MISSION FOR BIBLICAL LITERACY. It turned out that there was too much confusion about who we were and what we were all about.

And now, some good news! MBL has received a "challenge gift" of $10000 and so I am asking for your help to match that challenge. Although our Missionaries are volunteers and pay their own way to provide ministry, there are many costs for materials, for office space, telephone and required part time workers. The need for the rest of the year is estimated to be at $18,000-22,000 dollars. Your help is greatly appreciated. Please make out your check to the Mission for Biblical Literacy: Attn: Russian Project. Thank you for your prayers and for your support.

Prayerfully,
John M. Novikoff, Sr.
Project Minister for Russia/Armenia
Ph 912 927 3744
E-mail: jnovikoff1@juno.com