1968 to Now. The transformational story of Camp Yolochka, Russia.

In 1968 I was only 11 years old and was unaware of what was happening 8000 miles away from my home. But I was not totally oblivious to what was going on outside my small world while growing up in central Texas. I knew some things: Richard Nixon was the new US president and there were two countries that I was afraid of: communist China, and the powerful USSR. By God's amazing providence 43 years later Patty and I have Chinese international students living in our home, and we work in the former Soviet Union at a youth camp.
I am writing this article early on a beautiful Friday July morning in western Russia. The simple cabin I am in sits on 20 acres of land out in the forest countryside and is part of a campground facility for children. One of the buildings across the way has a date on it of 1968. I think about that date often as I walk by it several times a day and what I was doing the year it was built. I also think about what was going on here that same year, and am amazed that my life and the life of this place came together.
The building I refer to is the camp shower facility and when you walk into it, it has the look and feel of a Russian prison shower (these are my Russian friend's words, not mine). But this campground is called "Yolochka." This is the word for a young evergreen tree, and is often the same word used for a Christmas Tree. And in 1968 this place where I now eat, sleep and live was a Pioneer Camp. With no political insults intended, the Soviet Union had developed a system of training the young minds in the Soviet way of thinking by using not only the school system, but also the summer kids camps. Soviet "theology" as it were taught that life was only valid when it was dedicated to the group. There was little place for the individual. The complete stress was always on party loyalty and everyone was meant to get in line (both figuratively and literally) and work for only for the common good of everyone else. There was no real room for personal goals, personal ambition, personal property, individual value, or certainly a personal spiritual faith. Religion itself was deemed the "opium of the masses" and was taught that it was creation by a few men to control rest of humanity (sadly enough, historically there is some real truth to this statement...). Atheism was the total party line and ones value was determined by how loyal you were to the government.
In 1968 this Pioneer campground named "Yolochka" was part of the system that trained young minds of this country to live, think and totally believe this. The "pioneers" were a level of communist training for a grade school age child. There was another level for teenagers, then your last step was to officially join the communist party. I have a book of photos at home that we found at Yolochka that has photos of this campground in 1968. There are images of children playing, dancing, and singing. But there are also these stark black and whites of kids training with gas masks in preparation for the enemy to come (that was us). There are images of pretend warfare using fake guns; and the parades on the grounds were not just to promote national pride, but were intended to complete the child's pledge of faith in the god of the government. The special pioneer hat, the neck scarf and the pioneer salute were the physical signs of a life dedicated to this cause.
I know that I am a child of the cold war and I have a slanted mind that is still shaped by my countries version of the Soviet world, but I have lots of friends who grew up here that speak of the personal hopelessness that was born in that kind of system. Yolochka was a parcel of land that was used as an effective tool in breeding this mind set until the fall of the Soviet Union.
In 2002 a couple of Russian Baptist Christians brothers (biological brothers) joined in a relationship with a group of us from the states and discovered that this former pioneer camp Yolochka was on the auction block. It has summer cabins, a cafeteria, a sports field and an auditorium room with a stage and even some classrooms. I don't want to get into the details now of its purchase and total transformation, but suffice it to say that the place a wreck. These brothers and others worked extremely hard and poured a lot of their money into this place to get it off the ground. They formed a legal non profit registered religious entity called "New Life Ministries" and this is now the organization that manages and runs Yolochka. For the last 10 years Yolochka has hosted probably as many as ten thousand children and youth for Christian summer camps. There have been a few large events here like the national Russian Baptist Congress conventions, and many small events as like one going on right now, and English language camp for a group from the Kaluga region that it using it for evangelism. For a few decades at this place atheism was drilled. Today from that same stage in the Club auditorium platform, dramas, music and teaching are presented about the only real answer to life in Christ. And I have witnessed hundreds come to a personal moment of faith in Jesus Christ.
Yolochka is just a campground, but it is a unique tool that has been dedicated to honor God. This is really the only Christian controlled facility like this within a thousand miles or so, and one of the very few in the entire country. Right now it is a summer use facility only. We have the legal right with our documents to carry out Christian camps of all kinds; we can do evangelism ministry here and Christian social ministry; and we could run a seminary or even a Bible college if we wanted. This New Life organization also has the legal right to foster, train, and sponsor new legal Churches in Russia. These important legalities are no small thing in the Russia of the 21st century.
Yolochka is also very rustic however, and is in need of a pretty serious upgrade. Even though there has been a spiritual transformation of its use, the physical reminders of 1968 Soviet style facilities are still here. In light of the stories of transformed lives that I have already written about in this blog, I sense there is a strong movement of God underway here. There are existing traditional Churches in this region where a youth movement is emerging. I just finishing the 2nd of two different childrens camps that were totally led by the young adults and teens from their churches, and witnessed them have about 40 percent of the children come from non believer homes. I saw last week about 50 children who had never made a profession of faith before and who come from families who are not believers make a decision to trust Christ. And most importantly, their counselors and Churches are following up with these children in ministry the rest of the year. There is an outreach to secular minded young people happening here that I have not seen in the decade of my presence in western Russia.
Yolochka is not the only tool in this, but I have come to believe that it is playing a miraculous role in the spiritual renewal that is happening in Bryansk and western Russia.
If you want to find out what that could mean for your involvement, I would be thrilled to include you in what I am calling "The Friends of Yolochka". There is a plan forming now that is intended to support the growing youth movement in such a way that we will not only see people come to faith here, but that Bryansk becomes a missionary sending place to the ends of the earth.
A lot has happened between 1968 and 2011. I look forward to the next decade and beyond to see what God will do.
For more information about what it means to be a "friend of Yolochka" you can contact me at:
Barnoldlifeway@gmail.com
July 2011

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