Since moving to Russia in 2007, I have used my background in coaching and counseling to invest in the transformation of people the Lord brought across my path. This has included city leaders, orphans, Christians, people of other faiths, and people with no faith at all. I have trained many people in counseling, prayer ministry, biblical peacemaking, team building, all the while building relationships and trust among these groups of people. God has been really good, for these peoples’ stories are of amazing and life-altering change.

We now have a core team of over 20 invested in the personal growth of others and in the development of the ministry as a whole. And around this core are another dozen or more who are serving as volunteers or leadership training at some level. Several others serve as teachers/trainers, and others come for training or ministry of various kinds associated with our other ministries to the community. Since that time we have largely focused on building our online school which we call Novo Academy, which you can see (though it is in Russian) by clicking here. We formally launched the school in February of 2022.

The War’s Impact
In March of 2022 our family, along with most missionaries and other Americans in Russia, were forced to make the hard choice to leave Russia due to the war with Ukraine. As of now, we are still hoping for a resolution to the conflict that will allow us to return in a more stable and predictable way. We (all five of us!) continue to come twice a year, partly for residency requirements, and of course there is plenty of ministry to do. This extra and unplanned travel has added dramatically to our financial needs during this transition. We left most of our possessions (and our cats) behind in Russia. We are still paying rent on our apartment. We need financial support, not only regular and committed giving, but also one-time contributions of about $40K (or $3000 a month) to help us through this season. My (Lyle’s) entire income is from individuals (about 85%) and churches. Because two of our three children are college students, our expenses keep going up. For all the above, give here.

Ministry Needs
Beyond our own support needs, the Academy, its reach, and our team continue to grow. As of June, 2024, we have 20 “covenanted” team members, about as many volunteers, and 5 paid staff, some of whom are raising their own missionary support. My dream would be to fund a few more staff part or full time for a couple of years, so that we can both take advantage of the wonderful talent God has given us (where people are so strapped that their volunteer time is very limited), and so that we can get some more momentum going forward. Our online school has launched, and we want to make it self-sustaining over time. We charge for our courses, but we don’t nearly recoup our costs, and in the provinces, where we have started to travel to minister, they are almost completely without the ability to compensate us, even for material to any significant extent. It’s a pretty tough situation. The silver lining is that a full-time person costs only $400-600 a month under these difficult economic times during war. Two of the team members are now committed to working to raise their own support over the next couple of years largely from local Russian Christians. What we need to that end is one-time of about $15,000 to match their own efforts, which would step down over 2-3 years to give them to raise funds locally and allow other means, such as tuition and fees for services to fill in the gaps.

We also need about $10,000 to finish production of our board game, based on the life-changing content of our Real Talk training. Other needs:

• We are developing videos that show the need for a new way of relating. If they were of high enough quality, they would spread virally.
• With our new Business Chaplaincy program, we have a new team of business coaches and consultants that are developing a strategy to reach and influence the workplace with Kingdom values. If we had the resources, we could be more proactive about finding appropriate business leaders with whom to partner.
• Our counseling training and ministry to individuals is growing rapidly, but we need resources for behind the scenes administrative help.
• Diana would be more available to minister to youth throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia if we had funding to cover her and travel needs.

$100,000 would cover most of these needs if you are in a position to make that kind of difference. Any contributions, however, to our work overall, or to support any of our team members, can be done here, or by calling Novo Mission at 800-777-6658. Thank you!

Note: if you wish to increase your current monthly contribution, then you may do so through the above link. It will offer you the chance to mark it as a change (rather than an addition).