Another convention became part of the Pacific Coast’s Association’s history! As I look back at such an important event in the life of PCSBA’s churches, I would like to point out how well the convention’s program was organized, including the time management, as well as the quality of the seminars and sermons! They were all focused on the theme of the seminar: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”. The overall theme was based on Isaiah 6. Each speaker focused on various aspects of the calling, as well as the readiness of the followers of Jesus Christ in response to God’s call to active ministry.
There were four main seminars that were very well prepared and led to a lot of questions from the audience. Unfortunately, there was not enough time for all the questions to be answered at Q&A, but the issues that were raised, are important and relevant even after the end of the convention. Many thanks to Mikhail Cherenkov, Pavel Belev, Aleksandr Ivanov, and Andrey Dzuba for the depth of knowledge in teaching these seminars. You can watch recordings on the Association’s YouTube channel.
During the October 25 church service, the youth of a joint choir of Bryte Church and Second Slavic Baptist Church led the program, and on October 26, there were the choir and symphony orchestra from the Spring of Life Church in Mukilteo. Under the leadership of Andrey Shuvarikov, they performed various masterpieces in leading worship and praises to God. We were able to feel the presence of God along with angels who proclaimed, “Holy, Holy, Holy!”, which continued to resonate in heaven while all gathered at the Bryte Church building continued to praise God with wonderful music and songs. Praise God! In addition to the music, the sermons of Igor Karabut and Pavel Nesmiyanov made a huge impact in the hearts of the listeners as they challenged us to look at ourselves in light of God’s holiness and to hear His call to ministry.
The business part of the convention’s program was about 1.5 hours long. We set a new organizational record in making decisions. The program included: the report of the president, financial report, audit report, and budget approval. New members of the nomination committee were chosen, and Aleksandr Zdanevich was affirmed as PCSBA’s secretary.
This year, the churches of the Association demonstrated their support by submitting 90% of the membership dues in order to fund all the services that are happening among the churches.
Every year, I do a poll of the older church pastors and analyze various indicators of our ministry. At the present time, the Association includes 39 churches (one more church was admitted into our ranks), and the overall number of church members is 8,208. In the last year, 324 people were baptized in 24 churches of PCSBA. Unfortunately, 12 churches did not have anyone who was baptized. The overall indicator in correlation of those baptized and the number of church members indicates that one person is baptized per year for every 25 church members. We live at the time of a lot of opportunities for missionary work due to the new wave of immigration. However, only 12 churches have organized ministry for immigrants. Unfortunately, 24 churches do not have this kind of ministry, although all churches want to have new members who come to their church services. The preaching of the Gospel to those people who are living next to us is our primary priority, and not just something that missionaries do as we send them to the remotest parts of the earth.
There are also changes in the way that people look at leaders of the second generation. In most churches of PCSBA (55%), they are viewed as spiritual leaders, or youth pastors who have a lot of responsibility. Only 4 churches stated that the youth leader is just an “organizer”. In 11 churches (29%), there are no youth leaders probably because there is no more youth there. But in any case, we do see some positive improvements, but there is a reason for us to pray for our youth so that God would call more men to serve in a role of potentially becoming an ordained pastor in the future.
Many thanks to Bryte Church for excellent organization of the convention, as well as to pastor Igor Dronov and the entire church team who participated in various areas of organization. Unfortunately, we expected more people to attend, and to benefit from the seminars and general sessions, but we understand that a lot of people still think that the convention is “just for the delegates”, and that viewpoint is hard to change. Perhaps it would be beneficial for the head pastors of the Association to talk to their people about the importance of attending such edifying conventions. This pertains not only to the youth, but to all age groups as well.
The results of the convention should become increasingly evident throughout the year in anticipation of people responding to the call of God to ministry. We should see an increase in the number of missionaries sent abroad, the number of church plants, as well as those who have heard the Gospel, those who came to saving faith, those who were baptized, and much more. The role of these spiritually edifying conventions is to provide a “spiritual push” in church development. May the Lord bless us to be engaged and active in serving in His vineyard until the day of His coming. Pray for the Lord of the harvest, so that He would send workers into His harvest.
The next, 87-th business convention of PCSBA’s churches will take place on October 24-25, 2025, at First Slavic Baptist Church in Sacramento.
President of PCSBA, Ivan Mileyev
