It was a wonderful two day trip to one of the oldest cities of Central Russia–Pereslavl-Zalesskiy. And what a special privilege to share the Gospel where it was first proclaimed almost ten centuries ago! Beautiful churches, monasteries, monuments and memorials are everywhere you look! If only the cold was not so bitter: -6F! I had to leave more sightseeing for some other time…
On Sunday, two churches (Baptist and Pentecostal meet in the same building) joined their services in order to give me more time and to make the FaithSearch Discovery message available to more people. One of the pastors (a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Army) and his wife said on the next morning, “We are so grateful! Many in our congregations already expressed to us how powerful and how encouraging was your message. And more importantly, how empowered they feel now to share their faith with non-believers!”
Well, the University students on the next day were quite a different crowd. Some sounded very skeptical and looked unimpressed at first, but after almost an hour-and-a-half of very lively discussion the tone started to gradually change.
At the end, we all agreed that the evidence for the validity of the New Testament story is there for each of them to consider very seriously. Their professor commented, “I am very happy to see how my students approached this material that was so new to them–critically, skeptically, but very honestly. Your presentation made them think, analyze it and apply to their own lives–personally. Thank you!”
Please, pray for my voice to come back–I almost completely lost it due to the cold and to talking with this rather loud 150 students for three hours without a microphone!
