Exciting news continues to come from Moscow! During the last week of May, ETSM held its commencement ceremonies. One of the highlights of the trip was the commencement exercises at our seminary in Moscow. This year we had eleven graduates - seven "diploma" level students and four students who received the newly accredited bachelor's degree. These four students also presented their senior project papers on topics ranging from developing online biblical education for local church members to witnessing to Central Asian Muslims. In addition to our own students, we had several musical guests from local churches. The place rocked and the atmosphere was most celebratory.

Following our school's graduation, we held the Russian National Pastors Conference. The guest speaker was Dr. Paul Metler from Heritage Fellowship in Oak Ridge, TN. (Paul and his family are good friends of ours from our days in Charlottesville, Virginia. We were both on staff at Covenant Church and did our doctoral work together.) Paul spoke on the dysfunctions of church leadership teams and the leadership lessons of Nehemiah. It was a very timely message for our pastors and leaders in Russia.

On June 13, 2009 Russian Overseer Vladimir Shestopalov and his family were traveling in the Moscow region when they were hit head-on by an oncoming SUV, causing them to slide into a ditch and roll over several times. In the van with Bishop Shestopalov were his wife, Aphrodite, and his three oldest children. Unfortunately, the Shetopalov's third daughter, Sabrina, died of her injuries at the accident site.

On Tuesday, July 28, I (Tom) had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Bishop Shestopalov and his wife. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I think they are holding up well considering what they have gone through.

Aphrodite is still wearing a cast for her broken elbow. Vladimir is still taking pills for the kidney damage from the accident. The second oldest daughter is healing on schedule from her broken legs. But the patient with the longest path of recovery ahead is the oldest daughter Christine. She has several fractures of the facial bones and will face future surgeries once the current bruises and swelled areas have gone away. Due to the swelling, an acura.te diagnosis has been slow in coming.

In describing the accident, the police calculated that Shestopalovs were traveling about 60 mph (100 km/h) on the highway when an upcoming car doing 100 mph (160 km/h) crossed the yellow line and hit them head-on. Both cars rolled over several times before coming to a stop. It's a miracle that anyone survived the accident - and of course, there was one fatality.

The Shestopalovs have had strong support from the local church and from their ministerial colleagues in Russia. And they are also grateful for the prayers and support they have received from abroad. They continue to be in our need of our prayers.

Our kids are experiencing a pretty much normal childhood. School finally let out on July 28-and not a day too soon, if you listen to them. Their grades were okay, too. So we all were happy about the end of school. Then all three kids went to our church's Royal Ranger camp for an entire week. Claudia and I took advantage of an empty nest to spend a day in Venice, Italy (which is only a 7.5 hour drive from our home).

July also kept us busy with visitors from the States. First, we hosted a music group from Longview, TX. Tim Wisemanand White Chocolate spent a week in Germany, France, and Italy. Tim was also on staff at Covenant Church in Charlottesville when we were there seven years ago. Tim and WC sang at our church in Rudersberg as part of the special day in which we celebrated the water baptism of two teenagers.

Secondly, we also hosted a brief visit from General Overseer Raymond Culpepper and World Missions Director Douglas LeRoy and their wives. I got to play tour guide and show them the historical sites for our denomination in Germany (Krehwinkel, Rudersberg). In the evening, Claudia and I, along with our Field Director Dieter Knospe and his wife Hildegard, hosted the distinguished guests from the States to dinner at Bürg.