David and Nina
David Gearheart was raised in a Christian family and in the fall 1992, he joined with a team traveling to Moscow, Russia. The leading minister, Bert Clendennen, had been a pastor of an A/G church in Texas for 35 years and was now forming a Bible school in connection with the Unregistered Pentecostal Union in the former Soviet Union. David, 24 years old and single, joined the team and found his place in God's work. Almost 2 years later, he married Nina, a member of the team of translators at the Bible school.
When the school went international, David and Nina returned to Nina's homeland in the Crimea to start a church. He was joined by his brother, Carl, and his family and they are there to this day. God led David and his growing family to various places of ministry in Russia until, in 2000, they moved to Ivangorod, on the far western border of Russia, near the Baltic state of Estonia. There they served in the local church for 7 years, supporting the pastor there, preaching weekly in the home church as well as at youth conferences, Bible school sessions and summer camps.
Then came a transition time, in 2007, in which they visited the States for over a year before returning to Estonia. There they are still working with the Russian speaking Pentecostals while learning the Estonia language to increase their ability to reach this small nation as well. David and Nina have 4 boys and 1 girl - Misha, Tima, Simon, Philip, and Diana.