Week three in Moscow actually lasted only three days. My flight from Omsk, Siberia was delayed by ten hours due to the closure of all four Moscow airports after a drone attack.
I had to reschedule one of the events to a different date. Praise God, the skies were clear for all the other days of my ministry there, including the day of my outbound flight to Vietnam.
Seminars for my favorite audiences of public and Sunday school teachers filled my weekend in Balashikha near Moscow. A few school age students also snuck in – just to meet an author of their textbook on the “Intro to the Christian Culture” and to have it signed.
After feeling like a celebrity for just a few moments, I was promptly brought back to reality by a bombardment of questions: “What if the student’s family doesn’t want him or her to learn any ‘religion’ in school?”; “How can we explain abstract terms like “religion” or “culture” to the fourth-grader?”; and even “Is it true that the Bible is banned from American public schools?”
Luckily, most of my classes in Russia only have a time to start, but never a scheduled end time. The Q&A sessions can sometimes last an hour or more.
The last two events in Moscow – for a students’ association called “Akademisty” – also raised the questions of the place of faith in the public arena and how American Christians are the same and different from Russians.
After a two-hour class they asked me to do it again in their studio in an interview format – so they could share it with their university friends and families. I had to get up a little earlier the next morning and stopped by their place on my way to the airport. I was rewarded by the sound person’s compliment as she was taking off the microphone from my neck: “It was amazing! I am so glad I picked up the early shift today! So much to think about.”
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