Three years after its founding, the Friends of Estonia is finally getting a glimpse of the "forest through the trees" in its ministry in the former Soviet Republic, the group's chairman said.

And as the Baltic Mission Center in Tallinn, Estonia, nears completion, the Friends appear to be gathering more lumber.

"Would our eyes give us a vision of cooperative, supportive work among a gathering or convocation of Friends of the Baltics, which would include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania?"  John Trundle asked, in a prepared overview at the Friends of Estonia's Jan. 14-15 annual meeting.  "Bishop Hans Vaxby (Northern Europe Central Conference) and others have expressed an interest."

The meeting, held at First United Methodist Church in Lexington, Ky., was Trundle's last as chairman of Friends of Estonia, a position he has held for three years.

During the group's 1997 meeting in Kodak, Tenn., "we were told early and clearly that FOE was to find and dig their own new wells, make new contacts, involve new congregations and find and recruit new workers," Trundle said. "That has and is continuing to be done."

During the January meeting, the Rev. Earl Greenough of Gautier, Miss., was elected chairman.  Greenough retired last June after serving 42 years as a minister, his final pastorate being First United Methodist Church in Pascagoula, Miss.  He has made five trips to Estonia and plans to return with a team in July.

Asked in a telephone interview about the possibility of an "umbrella" group centering on the Baltics, Greenough said, "We're meeting next month in Nashville, late February or early March, to try to determine the direction for Friends of Estonia as kind of a connecting organization among all of these organizations."

Friends of Estonia would be favorable to "any kind of cooperation we can have with any other group," he said.

"Our main purpose is the ministry in Estonia," he said.  That ministry spills over into Latvia and Lithuania.  As the seminary trains "young men and women, hopefully more of them will go back into Russia as missionaries," he said.

The annual meeting drew more than 100 people, the largest attendance to date for the gathering.  Participants included Olav Parnamets, superintendent of United Methodist Church in Estonia; Andrus Norak, president of the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary; Autur Pold, director at Camp Gideon; and Kaupo Kant, who was in the Baltic seminary's first graduating class in 1998.

Calling the Baltic Mission Center and seminary "God's ongoing miracle," Norak said 77 seminarians are currently enrolled.  The students hail from Estonia, Latvia, Russia and the Ukraine.  Of the group, 66 are attending on Kuum Scholarships - $1,500 one-year scholarships to cover tuition, study materials, part of the traveling expenses, as well as meals and housing.   Correspondence tuition equals $800 per year; regular tuition is $3,000 per year. On June 7, 18 students will graduate from the seminary.

In his remarks, Parnamets said he continues to be amazed that even though people in the United States are aware of the barriers, they continue to send teams of workers and Estonians remain "thankful for help from U.S."

Parnamets recalled that in 1994, when there was no Friends of Estonia, he joined 15 young people as they sang Christmas carols in the middle of Tallinn and prayed for a new presence of the Methodist church there.  The superintendent said the Baltic Mission Center now stands at that site.

Paul Riho Purje, project manager at the Baltic Mission Center, forwarded a report on the construction at the center, noting that about $810,000 was needed for completion of the building and furnishings as of Jan. 10.  Of that $225,650 was needed to complete the sanctuary at the center.  Following the weekend meeting, it was reported that $250,000 had been raised to complete the sanctuary construction and provide furnishings.

The Rev. H. Eddie Fox of World Methodist Evangelism said the projected date for completing the Baltic Mission Center sanctuary is July 15.  Friends of Estonia should be known as "ambassadors of hope," Fox said.  "Ambassadors of hope do not ask 'Why?' but 'Why not?'"

The Rev. John Harnish, associate secretary for the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, presented a resolution that will be considered at General Conference, the denomination's highest legislative body, which will meet May 2-12 in Cleveland.  Titled "Clergy Leadership for an Emerging Church," the resolution seeks to establish a new "Fund for Theological Education in Post-Communist Europe," which would provide $4 million during the 2001-2004 quadrennium.  The fund would provide $250,000 for the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary at the Baltic Mission Center.

"I'm totally in favor - me, personally," Greenough said.  "I hope the General Conference will adopt that."

Still, Greenough maintained that completion of the center is not the "end all" for the Estonia missions group.

"I don't think anybody who's a friend of Estonia will think our mission is completed when the Baltic Mission Center is completed," he said.  &One of the most vital ministries in Estonia is ... Camp Gideon."  The camp is just west of Narva on the Baltic Sea, near the Russian border.  During the Soviet era, it was a communist youth indoctrination camp.

Pold, director at Camp Gideon, reported that since the Methodist church camp was formed, about 3,000 people have attended.  Last summer alone, 170 people participated, and of those 40 professed faith in Christ.

In 1994, Asbury United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City led efforts to purchase the camp, which sits on about 40 acres.

"Right now, they only own the buildings on that land," Greenough explained.  "When they bought the buildings, I didn't know that, and I don't think many other people in the states knew it.  Now, they're in the process of buying from the state of Estonia that land."

Funds for the purchase are arriving already.  Two anonymous donors from Johnson City, Tenn., gave $5,000 to help with the costs of surveying and buying the land.

*  Trexler is managing editor of The Daily Times in Maryville, Tenn., and was part of a mission team to Estonia last year.