Archives for February 2011

The Second All-Ukrainian Conference on Biblical History and Christian Ethics was held in Poltava University. This year it featured theFaithSearch Discovery presentation. Students, teachers, professors, clergy and Education ministry officials were presented with the historical evidence for the Biblical truth as a foundation for their Christian Ethics classes.

One of the organizers said: “What a perfect fit for our Conference! Nobody can say any more that our moral and ethical claims are unfounded!”

A Public School Superintendent said: “Is there any chance that you could teach this class at our Regional Teachers’ Conference? We’ll pay your travel, board and a modest honorarium. And we’ll make sure all the History Teachers from all public schools in the District attend it.”

God willing I will be back in Ukraine some time later this year and will be able to meet their request.

Just had an Ah-ha! moment… (see the photo to the right).

The audience at the Vozrozhdenie (Revival) Baptist Church loved the presentation (left).

One lady in her 60s said: “I have been a believer most of my life but only this morning I realized that I was believing in my own dream. Thank you for making it a reality.”

90 minutes after landing in Kiev I was already doing my first presentation at the Peter Mogila Orthodox Church. Sorry, no time for little things like jet-lag, rest or even a stretch after the 17 hour flight…

Or, maybe, it was a bit of a stretch. Fr. Ioann commented: “Your seminar is opening a new page in our church. This evidence is so powerful! We definitely want to continue on this path”. Katya, in the lower left corner (photo at right) was at first somewhat skeptical but then confessed to me, “As a teacher, I am so delighted by having this material at my disposal!”

An overnight train took me to our long time partners in the Kremenchug Bible College. Again, my class started as soon as I arrived from the train station. The Dean introduced the Discovery seminar to the class as “the one everybody is talking about and you will now see why.”

An hour long walk along the Dnepr River and I was on my way to the next city–Poltava. My Sunday morning presentation in Poltava Baptist Church starts very early tomorrow but I caught a good two hour sleep on the bus.

~200 miles. This was, according to the Delta pilot, by how much a terrible snow storm missed us today–about 200 miles. Praise the Lord for no delays on my trip to Kiev, Ukraine so far!

In route, I am sending e-mails to my Ukrainian and Russian partners to confirm our events. In the US, if you didn’t cancel something–it will happen. In Russia, if you didn’t confirm the event (multiple times)–it is canceled. My M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communications (albeit uncompleted) serves me well.

I will be flying over to Kiev tomorrow morning to spend the next three weeks in Ukraine and in Russia teaching the FaithSearch Discovery curriculum in High School, Churches, Seminaries, Universities and Teachers’ Continuing Education Centers. I want you to be able to travel with me by praying for those teachers, students, seminarians and other folks who will come to these events.
My first presentation will be in Kiev, at the Orthodox Church of Peter Mogila on February 3, at 6.30 pm (local time, which is 8 hours ahead of Minnesota). Please, pray that there will be no delays during my flights and for a quick ride from the Borispol Airport (I am landing at 4.50 pm) to the Church.

Thanks and blessings!