Cookbook sales support educational ministry in Russia
Members of Clark Trinity United Methodist Church in Hermitage, Penn. have published a cookbook – with long strings attached. Every bit of the money received from the sell of “Good Recipes from Great People” goes to help establish the first Christian school in the Russian Far East. The school is a brainchild of Roma Alekseev. “Pastor Roma,” who was reared in a communist home, received Christ in 1994 as a result of translating for Christian missionaries in the city of Khabarovsk. Today, this teacher-turned-pastor has a congregation and a call to establish a Christian school.
Clark Trinity UMC began partnering with Roma when member Ann Titus, a former Mission Society missionary to Khabarovsk and long-time friend of Roma, introduced Roma to her hometown church. “Now we’re all involved,” she says. “Our mission committee was determined to help Roma in a greater way.” That’s when they cooked up the cookbook idea. Titus reports, “We had no idea the cookbook with take off like a tornado. We have sold the first 500 and have reordered 300 more.”
The excitement has made its way into New York City, where Titus’ niece, a doctor there, was so moved by the story, she paid for the publishing of the cookbook, allowing 100 percent of the proceeds to go to the school. Monies received for this beautifully designed volume of recipes (including some Russian recipes, incidentally) is helping make the school a reality. Already an old building has been remodeled and grade one opened in 2006, with expectations that grade two will begin in the fall of 2007. In the meantime, Titus’ niece has been passing cookbooks to her doctor colleagues in New York, who are buying more to pass out to others. “No telling where this will end,” says Titus.
To order a cookbook, send $15 (includes S & H) to Clark Trinity UMC, P.O. Box 1233, Clark, PA 16113. |
