As a new school year begins, so does a new series of my teaching trips to Russia!
I am leaving for three weeks of teaching the newly updated FaithSearch Discovery curriculum in Moscow, N. Novgorod, St. Petersburg and then even further North to Vologda and to Archangel – home of the Russian Northern Submarine Fleet. The Gospel with Evidence will be presented to hundreds of school teachers and university students, church leaders and, hopefully, Navy officers. Teachers will also be trained in how to teach this curriculum in their classrooms and provided with the tools to do that. Please pray that the assurance in the validity of the Bible and of the historicity of God’s incarnation in Christ not only reaches their minds but also touches their hearts.
On this trip I will also be making steps along my Ph.D. dissertation process with the Russian Educational University in Moscow.
Please pray for my safety on the trip and for my family back in MN.

“Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! I know it for a fact now! It is not simply a nice folklore tradition; it is not a myth and not a later Church doctrinal invention but a fact of history. I will be celebrating Easter this year quite differently than I have before. I always considered myself a believer but only now I actually became one—I know what, whom and why I believe. Thank you for bringing your [FaithSearch Discovery] seminar to our class so timely—right before the Pascha celebration!”

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One of the participants last night at the Uspenie (Dormition) Orthodox Cathedral in Kharkov, Ukraine, responded to the FaithSearch Discovery event this way: “It was so unusual! Not a lecture or a class. Not even a sermon but like meeting with a good old friend who was sharing from the bottom of his heart! I cannot believe it actually took three full hours without even taking a break! I have attended many presentations and conferences but this one was absolutely different! Each word was supported and enforced by the image on the screen that will now stay in my memory forever. What an excellent addition to the Philosophy course I am taking at the Kharkov State University!

And what an excellent challenge for many of my non-Christian classmates—to test their beliefs and skepticism.”

I hope that my presentation at the History Department of the Kharkov State University two hours from now will call for similar reaction from the student audience.

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«Dear Oleg Vladislavovich, I want to thank you for your presentation at our Teachers’ Conference in Ryazan this morning. I teach History in school. I have a Master’s Degree in World Religions. I have been attending church for several years. It was today, however, that my faith suddenly “came alive”. Not just a wishful thinking, not just a philosophy, not just a good habit but as living trust in the living God. Thank you for so generously sharing with us your time, your knowledge and your experience. Respectfully, M.”

It was definitely worth my travelling across the world to receive this one note at the end of my presentation! Even more exciting—to hear the same and similar responses from dozens of teachers and student-teachers who came from all over Ryazan Region for their annual training Conference!

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«Dear Oleg Vladislavovich, I want to thank you for your presentation at our Teachers’ Conference in Ryazan this morning. I teach History in school. I have a Master’s Degree in World Religions. I have been attending church for several years. It was today, however, that my faith suddenly “came alive”. Not just a wishful thinking, not just a philosophy, not just a good habit but as living trust in the living God. Thank you for so generously sharing with us your time, your knowledge and your experience. Respectfully, M.”

It was definitely worth my travelling across the world to receive this one note at the end of my presentation! Even more exciting—to hear the same and similar responses from dozens of teachers and student-teachers who came from all over Ryazan Region for their annual training Conference!

[Read more…]