From Hammer and Sickle to the Cross and Christ: Adventures of a Missionary Family in the Former Soviet Union After the Fall of the Iron Curtain Paperback – March 27, 2026

From Hammer and Sickle to the Cross and Christ is a compelling and deeply moving true story of faith, sacrifice, and transformation in the wake of history’s greatest political collapse. It follows the Brooks family as they leave the mission field of Mexico and step into the uncertainty of the Former Soviet Union in 1992—just six months after the fall of the Iron Curtain.Author Clay Brooks recounts the extraordinary challenges and victories of relocating a young family of four to a nation emerging from decades of communist rule. The family ministered through large musical festivals, pioneered new church plants across multiple cities, and pastored a growing congregation amid social and economic upheaval. Their journey led them to live in Nizhny Novgorod and later in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurt Oblast, where daily life demanded courage, adaptability, and unwavering faith.With honesty and warmth, Brooks shares the joys of witnessing countless lives transformed by Christ alongside the harsh realities of survival in a collapsed economy—empty store shelves, limited resources, and extreme cold ranging from twenty to forty degrees below zero. The story is deeply personal, recounting both the joy of welcoming a new baby girl born in Russia and the profound heartbreak of losing a child through miscarriage.The book also reveals the challenges of navigating life and ministry under lingering communist bureaucracy, as well as the spiritual battles faced on the front lines of missionary work. Readers will encounter powerful testimonies of people coming to Christ, churches being established, miraculous healings, lives filled with the Holy Spirit, and individuals set free through the power of God.From Hammer and Sickle to the Cross and Christ offers a vivid portrait of life during the turbulent early 1990s in the Former Soviet Union and an inspiring account of a young missionary family determined to bring hope, faith, and love to a nation in transition. Read more