What a joy it is to hear a response from one of the participants at the end of the presentation: “Thank you! My mind has been always looking for what I knew in my heart. Today I have heard it and seen it – loud and clear.” Nineteen M.Div. students and about eighty undergraduate students of Belgorod Theological Seminary (with Missions emphasis) were trained in FaithSearch Discovery and a complete presentation on a CD was added to their missionary toolboxes. I was not left empty-handed either, receiving two very flattering offers: to come again in November as a keynote speaker at their Conference on Missions and Christian Education; and to become their visiting professor for an extended course on “Applied Apologetics.” They want me to come four times a year, even if for a couple of days, and teach at both graduate and undergraduate levels. They will pay my travel from Moscow and a professor’s hourly rate at 120 RUB (~$3.50) an hour.

My travel and lodging arrangements there were, as always, simple but fully accommodating—an overnight train and a student dorm room with three meals and Wi-Fi service in some corners of the main building. Our conversations with faculty and students lasted for hours and touched on subjects of faith, culture, politics, arts, family, history, and many others. My audiences were rotating, as they had to run for shores and lectures, but they were coming back with more questions and inquiries.

During of my both teachers’ trainings in Moscow earlier last week the same question was raised repeatedly: “How shall we present the case for the validity of Christian faith to many students from a traditionally Muslim background?” This gave me an excellent opportunity to try some of my new material on these audiences and to hear their feedback. So far, it was mostly positive and encouraging, but answering some of their questions made me reach to the very bottom of my knowledge base in the subject. I have to keep reading and researching more on the Muslim theology and culture before I feel and sound confident and comfortable.

On the road again! Actually, this trip will not be covering as much ground as were most of my recent ones–to the Urals, Siberia, Caucasus, Ukraine, etc.

Moscow alone, having a population of 12 million, should be quite enough for three weeks of classes, lectures, presentations, and preaching. At least, I thought so when I started planning this trip. Well, as it is said, “If you want to make God laugh–tell Him about your plans.” I have learned, therefore, to  p l a n   p r a y e r f u l l y , that is to simply make myself available to whatever routes and itineraries He has in mind for me.

[Read more…]

On the road again! Actually, this trip will not be covering as much ground as were most of my recent ones–to the Urals, Siberia, Caucasus, Ukraine, etc.

Moscow alone, having a population of 12 million, should be quite enough for three weeks of classes, lectures, presentations, and preaching. At least, I thought so when I started planning this trip. Well, as it is said, “If you want to make God laugh–tell Him about your plans.” I have learned, therefore, to  p l a n   p r a y e r f u l l y , that is to simply make myself available to whatever routes and itineraries He has in mind for me.

[Read more…]

Greetings from 35,000 feet above the ground! My plane just started its descent in Amsterdam and the “ding-dong” in the cabin woke me up. I am catching up sleep after the last two very short nights in Moscow. As always, the last days were packed with the events that had been postponed and delayed over my three weeks in Russia. This time, I did my last presentation in a youth camp in the forest near the city of Zaraysk (literally, “Behind the Paradise”), 150 km South-East of Moscow last night and was driven from there directly to the airport after a couple of hours of sleep in somebody’s tent. Only half of about seventy young men and women in the camp were believers or from believers’ families and the camp’s leadership was especially interested in giving all of them our material on day one so that they could think about it and discuss it for the rest of the week. They also invited me to come to Zaraysk again in the winter for their regional pastors’ training. “It would be wonderful to have the FSDiscovery presented in all of our camps next summer!” – suggested a youth pastor.

This was exactly what I was doing a day before in Petrozavodsk, Karelia at the National Orthodox Missions School – training church leaders and missionaries from all over the country who to use our materials as an outreach tool for reaching non-believers with the Gospel. That day consisted of three three-hour long sessions with lots of discussion and with a distinct practical application focus. Most of the material already was familiar to my listeners but the “how-to” of our presentation and its clear inner logic definitely caught their attention. “I love digital technology! We can adapt this presentation to any audience, any format and any setting in just a few minutes!” – said one of the participants.

One day and five time-zones back in the Irkutsk, Siberia, I had a chance to introduce our ministry to, at first, a rather reluctant group of Orthodox clergy. When I contacted them about organizing a training in their city their response was: “In the middle of the summer church life usually slows down. It is not a good time for such a thing” (compare it to there reaction of a priest from Krasnoyarsk, Siberia: “In the middle of the summer church life usually slows down. Let us stir it up!”). However, they agreed to have my presentation done even if for a small group right in my apartment. It was, in fact, a cell with a vaulted ceiling in the basement of a beautiful 18^th century “Siberian baroque” church that has been for centuries used to keep bodies before the funeral. It was a bit chilly there but I completely enjoyed my stay in it, especially that the temps outside stayed in the high nineties all week and, of course, because of some very special kind if night dreams I had each night (just kidding). There was, indeed, something special in projecting the presentation of the Gospel with Evidence on a curved surface of my cell ceiling and speaking in a normal, soft, not a lecture-style voice to the people seating only a couple feet away from you. I pray that my trainees will now be proclaiming it out loud throughout the city!

I managed to squeeze a half-a-day trip to Baikal Lake between my other events (in a Baptist youth camp and at an Evangelical church) and to dive into its icy waters (40 F). It was fun!

Well, I am back in MN now after a wonderful four day vacation with my two sons in Germany. Thank you for all your prayers!

Greetings from 35,000 feet above the ground! My plane just started its descent in Amsterdam and the “ding-dong” in the cabin woke me up. I am catching up sleep after the last two very short nights in Moscow. As always, the last days were packed with the events that had been postponed and delayed over my three weeks in Russia. This time, I did my last presentation in a youth camp in the forest near the city of Zaraysk (literally, “Behind the Paradise”), 150 km South-East of Moscow last night and was driven from there directly to the airport after a couple of hours of sleep in somebody’s tent. Only half of about seventy young men and women in the camp were believers or from believers’ families and the camp’s leadership was especially interested in giving all of them our material on day one so that they could think about it and discuss it for the rest of the week. They also invited me to come to Zaraysk again in the winter for their regional pastors’ training. “It would be wonderful to have the FSDiscovery presented in all of our camps next summer!” – suggested a youth pastor.

This was exactly what I was doing a day before in Petrozavodsk, Karelia at the National Orthodox Missions School – training church leaders and missionaries from all over the country who to use our materials as an outreach tool for reaching non-believers with the Gospel. That day consisted of three three-hour long sessions with lots of discussion and with a distinct practical application focus. Most of the material already was familiar to my listeners but the “how-to” of our presentation and its clear inner logic definitely caught their attention. “I love digital technology! We can adapt this presentation to any audience, any format and any setting in just a few minutes!” – said one of the participants.

One day and five time-zones back in the Irkutsk, Siberia, I had a chance to introduce our ministry to, at first, a rather reluctant group of Orthodox clergy. When I contacted them about organizing a training in their city their response was: “In the middle of the summer church life usually slows down. It is not a good time for such a thing” (compare it to there reaction of a priest from Krasnoyarsk, Siberia: “In the middle of the summer church life usually slows down. Let us stir it up!”). However, they agreed to have my presentation done even if for a small group right in my apartment. It was, in fact, a cell with a vaulted ceiling in the basement of a beautiful 18^th century “Siberian baroque” church that has been for centuries used to keep bodies before the funeral. It was a bit chilly there but I completely enjoyed my stay in it, especially that the temps outside stayed in the high nineties all week and, of course, because of some very special kind if night dreams I had each night (just kidding). There was, indeed, something special in projecting the presentation of the Gospel with Evidence on a curved surface of my cell ceiling and speaking in a normal, soft, not a lecture-style voice to the people seating only a couple feet away from you. I pray that my trainees will now be proclaiming it out loud throughout the city!

I managed to squeeze a half-a-day trip to Baikal Lake between my other events (in a Baptist youth camp and at an Evangelical church) and to dive into its icy waters (40 F). It was fun!

Well, I am back in MN now after a wonderful four day vacation with my two sons in Germany. Thank you for all your prayers!