My train is heading North-East, full of happy people, returning from their vacations in the Sothern parts of Russia. They must have gotten used to hotter days and nobody minds the heat and lack of air conditioning in the compartments. Well, it will only be one short night. It will actually be even shorter due to the one hour time zone difference between Izhevsk and Yekaterinburg.

Back in Izhevsk I spent two days in the youth camp of about 120 youth and young adults sleeping in a tent and teaching under a tent (made of a parachute with slight modifications). My worries about being able to keeping their attention for two days of two-hour presentations turned out to be completely unsubstantiated. Both sessions were received very well and were followed by dozens of questions and comments showing how interested and how engaged they were all the time. [Read more…]

Summer time! No school!

Naturally, most of my presentations on this upcoming trip will not be happening in schools or universities but at churches, Bible camps, conferences, etc. Making people to sit through a three hour lecture in this time of the year presents a very special challenge for me. Please pray for the the weather to be just right – not to cancel any of my outdoor presentations and yet not to be too much of a distraction and temptation for my audiences. Please also pray travel mercies for me and safe stay for my family back home.

Summer time! No school!

Naturally, most of my presentations on this upcoming trip will not be happening in schools or universities but at churches, Bible camps, conferences, etc. Making people to sit through a three hour lecture in this time of the year presents a very special challenge for me. Please pray for the the weather to be just right – not to cancel any of my outdoor presentations and yet not to be too much of a distraction and temptation for my audiences. Please also pray travel mercies for me and safe stay for my family back home.

I am home, safe and sound. Thanks for all your prayers. Hope to see many of you tomorrow at https://faithsearch.org/blog/2013/01/coming-soon-2103-friends-of-faithsearch-benefit-dinner/
I am planning my next teaching trip to Russia on mid-July. Anybody knows of an event (pastors’ conference, youth camp, evangelism outreach, etc.) I could plug in Russia at around that time? Please let me know.

Many blessings!

It is Dr. Voskresensky from now on!

One of the longest days in my life just passed and I can take a deep breath – it is done. Years, months, weeks, days and hours of preparation actually paid off – I felt confident, calm and focused. I prayed all the way through the three hour long procedure and always knew that many of you were praying for me. Praise the Lord for hearing our hearts and for answering our prayers with love and mercy!

I knew that my thesis was good – but who has time to ready through all those hundred-fifty pages!? I knew that my abstract is OK but is dry and boring! So, I decided to put all the weight into the presentation where I can add my own personality and passion to the lists of facts and numbers. After all, wasn’t it exactly what I have been doing with FaithSearch during the last seven years!?

They only gave me 12 minutes for the presentation. I was told that the Board gets really nervous if somebody dares to go over that limit. Right. That’s what they always say to me when I first come to a secular university, teachers’ conference or even a Bible College: “Our audience usually listens to the lecture for half-an-hour so, please, keep it short and simple”. Well, two or even three hours into the FaithSearch Discovery presentation some of them perhaps get a bit tired and somewhat overwhelmed by all the material we go through and that’s where we turn to the Q&A session. All I needed yesterday was to keep my audience’s attention and interest up for 22 minutes. Piece of cake!

There even was a moment of awkward silence after I finished and the Chair person invited the Board to ask questions. One of them later admitted that she was crossing off her prepared questions one by one as I was actually answering them during my presentation. Thank you, Dr. Don, for teaching me to anticipate the questions and to then lead your audience through the path of logical “discoveries”.

I am happy to admit that I learned and borrowed from so many of you, my dear friends, my mentors, my supporters, my family! I am so proud of you and I praise God for each and every one of you!

The Board voted unanimously and especially emphasized the scientific value of the dissertation! Many of them also noted that it took lots of guts to come with religious topic to a secular university!

Oh, yeah! I probably never told you that my thesis was on the Religious Education in Secular American Schools. Yes, I told them what’s been going on in the field of Christian education in the United States from the foundation of the country and to up to the most recent years. And what Russia can and should learn from that experience.

Thank you again for all your prayers and for your support of me here and my family back in the States! I’ve got two more ministry events (at the Pentecostal Seminary and at my Alma Mater – Moscow State Pedagogical University) and tons of red-tape and PhD formalities to undergo over the remaining four days in Russia. I surely hope the snow in Minnesota will be gone as I have already completely switched to a t-shirt mode here in Moscow!