Brian & Cathy Birdsall

Personal testimony

I received Christ as a five year-old child with my mother. While attending law school at the University of Colorado in the early 80s, I became involved in Campus Crusade for Christ. After practicing law for a couple of years in Denver, CO, I realized that God had called me into vocational ministry. I left the practice of law and joined the staff of CCC in January 1987. Cathy received Christ through a Lay Witness mission as a twelve year-old at a United Methodist Church in Luling, LA. She joined CCC staff right after graduation from Louisiana State University in 1981 and was assigned to serve at Ivy League universities in New England. We were married in May 1988 and served for three years together in the Campus Ministry, assigned to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In the summer of 1991, Cathy and I were challenged to move to Moscow to train Soviet teachers in the showing of the “JESUS Film.” In 1993 we moved to Kiev, Ukraine where we gave leadership to the CoMission project. Since May 1999 we have served as the National Director of CCC in Ukraine.

We serve with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), a movement of evangelism founded by Bill Bright in 1951 on the campus of UCLA. CCC has movements in over 200 countries around the world with over 25,000 full-time staff. The ministry in Ukraine was founded in 1991 through the JESUS Film and short-term American missionaries who pioneered work among university students.

Specific assignment

Brian serves as the National Director of Campus Crusade for Christ in Ukraine. We have 90 full-time Ukrainian staff and 20 staff from the US and Canada plus an administrative team of 15 in our national office in Kiev. We have teams deployed in seven cities,

Campus

Our first priority will always be developing a healthy and fruitful national movement among students in Ukraine. We will continue to build leadership to lead teams and to expand to new cities
in Ukraine when possible. We plan to strengthen our partnership with the Russia Campus Ministry and we look forward to developing our outreach in Georgia. We will give time, talent and treasure to developing our evangelistic capacity on the Internet, perhaps the fastest-growing mission field in Ukraine today.

Community

We have great opportunities brewing with both FamilyLife and Youth at the CrossRoads. CrossRoads is an evangelistic program that uses the felt-need of AIDS prevention to make inroads with educators, youth workers, health workers and through them to the youth of Ukraine. Tremendous opportunities lay ahead of us using this innovative strategy.

Coverage (JESUS Film)

Our Coverage team continues to grow and seek new opportunities for ministry. We are expanding our training programs in all areas of Ukraine. Some of our staff have been to Georgia twice to help launch our training program there. We are pioneering the “Family Festival” concept this year which combines “The Story of Jesus for Children” with FamilyLife HomeBuilders follow-up sessions.

Family Information

We have five children who consider Kiev home. They have all lived the vast majority of their lives here and have a great life. They all attend Kiev Christian Academy (KCA), a K-12 school for MKs. KCA provides a quality education in the English language within the framework of a Biblical worldview. KCA was awarded accreditation by the Association of Christian Schools, International in late February 2005. CCC is a sponsoring agency of KCA. Brian serves as Chairman of the Board of KCA and Cathy is the Treasurer as well as the 10th Grade Biology teacher.

Prayer Requests

1. That our walks with God would remain fresh and vital.

2. That we would be wise in seizing ministry opportunities.

3. That we would lead our staff with truth and grace.

How to contribute

Contributions may be made directly to Campus Crusade for Christ. Mailing address is:

Campus Crusade for Christ
P.O Box 628222.
Orlando, FL 32862-8222

Acc’t Name: Brian S. & Catherine A. Birdsall
Acc’t #0380734

Ministry opportunities

We have short-term ministry opportunities in September and February of each year. Teams from the USA come and do English Clubs in the cities where we have campus ministry teams. There is great hunger for English language skills on the part of Ukrainian students. The English Club strategy is a proven winner for our campus ministry.

Mailing address

Vetrova 9, Kb. #4
Kiev 01032
UKRAINE

e-mail: brian@ufc.kiev.ua

Birthdays

Brian November 21
Cathy June 30
Brooks November 9, 1989
Masha February 28, 1991
Tory July 18, 1992
Beau April 20, 1994
Jack July 23, 1995

Anniversary

May 22