A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Today is a special day in history. 490 years ago, October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. This led to a Diet of Worms in 1521. No....this wasn't cruel and unusual punishment for vandalism. But a church court that debated his "heretical" statements. Fortunately, Luther was kidnapped and imprisoned by one of his friends, Freddy "the Wise Guy" (okay, it was Elector Frederick the Wise). And before you get too angry, this "kidnapping" actually saved Luther's life from the wrath of Emperor Charles V and, ultimately, from the Pope.

While in exile, Luther was brought to Wartburg near Eisenach. He remained here for 11 months - and it was here that he began to translate the New Testament into the German language -- much to the disagreement of the Catholic hierarchy, for the Bible had always restricted to "trained" priests who could read Latin.

So...what did the Rossons do on Reformationstag? We visited the Wartburg castle and saw the room from which Luther changed the nature of Christianity and brought the Scriptures much closer to everyday people. Wartburg is only an hour away from where we were attending a conference.

Wartburg is a fortress on top of a mountain overlooking Eisenach. It is easy to picture what Luther meant when he penned the words to the hymn: "A mighty fortress is our God; a bulwark never failing." For him, the fortress in Wartburg was a sanctuary where he deeply encountered God through the Word.

Update from Moscow - from a different perspective

Below is the report from my close associate in Moscow, Ilya Okhotnikov. As many of our supporters might remember, Ilya serves as our provost. I spent the last 9 days in Moscow, working closely with Ilya. So his report resembles what I would write. So...this is his report. Please also feel free to visit his blog by clicking here. And please note his prayer request for his daughter, Daniella.

Greetings! It has been a tense Fall! The Lord God is good in any circumstance! 2 months ago ETSM enrolled 11 new students. They are from all over Russia: from Kaliningrad region – the most Western point of Russia all the way to Siberian Russian territory of Tuva. Tuva is on the border with Mongolia. Excellent students! Dedicated and eager to learn and study for ministry!

1. Just last Friday – Oct. 26, 07 – students have completed a block session on Synoptic Gospels (Mt., Mk., Lk). A Russian teacher, Pastor Leonid Vasilkov, taught the class. ETSM’s extension program students arrived to study all together. A teaching, which is given by a pastor, is always different from that of a Bible school teacher. For good. It was some 50 students in the class. As always, coming together to ETSM form different places of Russia pastors not just hear the Word and study material, but also celebrate some free of pastoral ministry time together in sharing and talking, laughing and enjoying pastoral community setting.

2. Another major even at ETSM was a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Seminary. Members of the Board have arrived from Latvia, Ukraine, Moscow, Germany, Siberian part of Russia. They have approved the work of ETSM’s administration and set up some goals for the future growth of training. As the time goes by more and more national pastors and Bishops receive their education. They become teachers of the Bible Schools. They share knowledge, skills and experience with the learners of the schools of ministry. Praise God for His ways and plans, which are above ours!

3. Licensing process continues: the goal is to pray for the process of registration of Seminary’s documents in appropriate Governmental offices before applying for the license. Please pray these changes will be processed quickly: not for 4 weeks, not for 3 weeks and not for 2, but sooner, so that ETSM could file the licensing paper work in the first part of November, so that expert committee would come before the end of the calendar year. We have all the papers ready and well, with exception of 3 items. We all in Moscow need your prayers for licensing. Please, keep on praying: educational license is the governmental permission to train ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the official way. I hope we don’t need to go underground again to equip laborers for the Harvest, like it used to be some 20 years ago (1987 was a beginning year of warming: PERESTROIKA did start, but I went to the military service: officer candidate traning, rturned in Dec. 1990 and in August 1991 have been gloriously saved!).

4. Seminary students left for their Missionary Week to different churches in Russia and Ukraine. Usually they go with 3 purposes for the mission work: One is to give and to receive from a pastor or a church. They can minister or receive from experienced pastor. Goal number 2 is to get to know the family of Church of God: students have a unique opportunity to make friends with other churches of Church of God in Russia and Ukraine (Armenia, *….stan, Moldova, Mongolia etc.). And the 3^rd goal is to give a word of a testimony: HOW did the Lord God helped them to live up to this day? Why did they come to ETSM? What and how does the Seminary help them in their formation\preparation for ministry? Some have been in the ministry already. We expect to hear many exciting stories of this week of ministry.

5. Please, pray for Daniella, our daughter: she can not get over a cough for 4 weeks. A pediatrician we have (socialized medicine assigns us only 1 pediatrician, only 1 option) has been not quite attentive in the process of analyzing Daniella’s case, which turned to be from a cold all the way down to suspected pneumonia\bronchitis. Thank you for your care for prayer for us. We need it. Please, keep requesting God on our behalf so that Daniella would get healed quicker with no negative consequences.

THANK YOU MUCH!

Why Muslims Decide to Follow Christ

Today in Christianity Today’s website, there was an interesting article about a study done by Dr. J. Dudley Woodberry from Fuller Seminary. Between 1991 and 2007, about 750 Muslims who have decided to follow Christ filled out an extensive questionnaire on that basic question. The respondents—from 30 countries and 50 ethnic groups—represent every major region of the Muslim world. Below is a redacted version of the complete article.

First, respondents ranked the lifestyle of Christians as the most important influence in their decision to follow Christ.

The next most important influence was the power of God in answered prayers and healing. Like most of the factors that former Muslims list, experiences of God's supernatural intervention often increase after Muslims decide to follow Christ.

Closely related was the finding that some noted deliverance from demonic power as another reason they were attracted to Jesus. After all, he is the healing prophet in the Qur'an and has power over demons in the Gospels. In northern Nigeria, a malam (what some might call a witchdoctor) used sorcery against a man who was considering following Jesus. The seeker became insane, and his extended family left him. But then he prayed that Christ would free him, and he was healed.

The third biggest influence listed by respondents was dissatisfaction with the type of Islam they had experienced. They expressed unhappiness with the Qur'an, which they perceive as emphasizing God's punishment more than his love (although the Qur'an says he loves those who love him [3:31]). ….

Some respondents decried Islamic militancy and the imposition of Islamic law, which they said is not able to transform hearts and society. This disillusionment is broad in the Muslim world. Many Iranians became interested in the gospel after the Khomeini revolution of 1979 brought in rule by clergy. Pakistanis became more receptive after President Zia ul-Haq (1977-1988) tried to implement Islamic law. And Afghans became more open after Islamist Taliban conquest and rule (1994-2001).

As with Paul and Cornelius in Acts, visions and dreams played a role in the conversion of many. More than one in four respondents, 27 percent, noted dreams and visions before their decision for Christ, 40 percent at the time of conversion, and 45 percent afterward.

Next in attraction for Muslims is the spiritual truth in the Bible. The Qur'an attests that the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel (commonly understood as the New Testament) are from God. Even though Muslims are generally taught that these writings became corrupted, they often find them compelling reading and discover truth that they conclude must be from God. The Bible helped one Egyptian understand "the true character of God." The Sermon on the Mount helped convince a Lebanese Muslim that he should follow the one who taught and exemplified these values.

Respondents were also attracted by the Bible's teaching about the love of God. In the Qur'an, although God loves those who love him, his love is conditional. He does not love those who reject faith (3:31-32). There is nothing in the Qur'an like, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10), or, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).

Particularly attractive to Muslims is the love expressed through the life and teachings of Jesus. The Qur'an already calls him faultless (19:19). Many Muslims are attracted to him by his depiction in the Qur'an and then go to the Gospels to find out more.

When Christ's love transforms committed Christians into a loving community, many Muslims listed a desire to join such a fellowship as next in importance.

More News from ETSM Moscow

Well, I (Tom) am still in Moscow and in the middle of meetings. The first meeting was with the faculty and staff as we began the process of identifying our seminary's core values. 2 1/2 hours later, and we have about 30 suggestions - literally all over the board. But it was fun to begin this process. Eventually, the identification of our core values will play a role in shaping our curriculum and content.

We then held our school board meeting yesterday and today. Most of our time was spent reviewing the school's licensing process and considering the needed changes to the school's charter (constitution), financial structure, and academic program offerings. We hope to have all of our paperwork submitted to the proper officials by the beginning of December. Receiving our license will give us government recognition of doing bachelor's level training - a major milestone in Russia.

And finally I am participating in a meeting with our national executive committee in Russia. Although we have the perfunctory meeting points (setting schedules and goals for the coming year), it has also been a time of bearing each others burdens. For example, our national overseer just received word this afternoon that his congregation's lease for their main weekly service is being canceled effective immediate. In other words, his congregation has been kicked out without prior notice of the building where they held church services. That means that they have only a few days to find a meeting place for this weekend. So...obviously this is a matter of prayer.

Evangelicals are Traitors?

This recent article in Christianity today caught my attention about Kazakhstan, one of the republics of the former Soviet Union. Although the amount of opposition to evangelicalism varies from area to area, through the CIS countries, one often hears the argument that belonging to an evangelical church is denying part of the native culture. For example, to be Russian (or you fill in the nationality) is to be Russian Orthodox (or fill in the predominant religion). Often the fear of losing "cultural identity" has been an excuse to harass many evangelical Churches, including many Pentecostal/charismatic congregation throughout the former Soviet Union.

Below is a small excerpt of the Christianity Today article. For the full article, click here.

Following a 15-hour church raid in late August, Kazakhstan's secret police (the KNB) placed two pastors and two members of Grace Presbyterian Church in Karaganda under investigation for high treason. Senior pastor Igor Kim, his sister, and the church administrator—all Kazakhstani citizens—as well as Aleksei Kim, the pastor of a sister church, face sentences of up to 10 to 15 years, according to Forum 18, a news service that tracks religious-rights violations.

Government leaders in Kazakhstan, the ninth-largest country in the world, increasingly view adherents of minority religions as unpatriotic. Religion in the oil-rich republic is traditionally tied to race: Kazakhs are expected to be nominal Muslims; Russians are expected to be Orthodox....

Political pressures have also converged to create a worsening situation for religious rights. The Beslan school siege and the 2004 and 2005 color revolutions, which toppled nearby regimes, reinforced government suspicions that earnest belief is dangerous....

Despite the government's unfair treatment of evangelicals, Rukhbayeva said she believes Kazakhstanis are more receptive than ever to Christianity's message. "People are more open to religion [than in early post-Soviet days]," she said.

Rosson Family Update

Just a quick update on the family and our happenings. I (Tom) left Germany yesterday and arrived in Moscow early this morning. I crawled into my bed at the seminary at 4 am. My trip came on the day after nothing but headaches from computers (my laptop bit the dust) and cars (a routine oil job led to bad news about brakes, tires, shock absorbers and V-ribbed belt).

The flights went well. However, while catching my connecting flight in Moscow, I received word that Brianna been injured as a neighbor accidentally drove over her foot. Fortunately, our niece and nephew are staying with us, witnessed the accident, and notified Claudia immediately. After inspecting her Brianna's foot, Claudia opted not to run immediately to the hospital, but to observe it overnight. This morning, Brianna was able to walk to school.

Claudia and I had a good laugh about it. For whatever reasons, things types of things (Brianna's foot, or Kevin's breaking two teeth, etc.) always seem to happen when I'm away from home. And if I stay home....just stay holed up in my home office....nothing bad ever happens to the kids ;-\

Colin and Kevin are doing well. although each have their challenges in school. Colin had an English test on Monday. (Keep in mind that they attend German schools, but he started school in the States and we speak English at home). Getting an "A" on an English test has proved to be elusive. Sometimes it's because of the British English that is taught here. But sometimes it's ill-fated logic.

Monday's banal example: "What is the opposite of 'to learn'?" Flustered, Colin gave no answer and then asked the teacher after the test. What to hear the answer? 'To teach." (The logical conclusion is that Colin's teacher has stopped learning. Right?)

Kevin , who speaks better English than his twin brother, also has his problems with his class, but for a different reason. Kevin is simply frustrated that the English language isn't flexible enough for multiple spellings based on the way the word sounds. ;-)

Lencioni - Temptations of a CEO

I've mentioned in earlier entries that I'm a fan of Patrick Lencioni. His first book is called "The Five Temptations of a CEO". The title of the book pretty much sums up the Lencioni's thesis: The difference between mediocre and excellent leaders depends on whether or not a leader falls for one (or more) of five temptations.

Temptation 1: Choosing status over results

• Do you personally consider it a professional failure when your organization fails to meet its objectives?
• Would it bother you greatly if your company exceeded its objectives but you remained somewhat anonymous relative to your peers in the industry?

Temptation 2: Choosing popularity over accountability

• Does it bother you to the point of distraction if they are unhappy with you?
• Do you often find yourself reluctant to give negative feedback to your direct reports? Do you water down negative feedback to make it more palatable?

Temptation 3: Choosing certainty over clarity

• Do you pride yourself on being intellectually precise?
• Do you enjoy debating details with your direct reports during meetings?

Temptation 4: Choosing harmony over productive conflict

• Do you prefer your meetings to be pleasant and enjoyable?
• Are your meetings often boring?
• Do you get uncomfortable at meetings if your direct reports argue?

Temptation 5: Choosing invulnerability over trust

• Do you have a hard time admitting when you're wrong?
• Do you fear that your direct reports want your job?
• Do you try to keep your greatest weaknesses secret from your direct reports?
  

Temptations for Leaders

Seven Personal Fronts of Attack (notes from Carson Pue's, Mentoring Leaders)

1. The inclination to pride
1. Leaders can hide the inclination toward pride quite well. The most obvious manifestation appears among those who hold themselves in too high esteem. Others often know what they are doing, but their presumption is so powerful that it is seldom challenged -- no one is close enough to do so.
2. Another sign of pride is when leaders talk about the things of the spiritual life rather than actually training and mentoring others in how to put into practice these lessons themselves. The shadow side of this leaning is to condemn those who challenge or question their approach to spirituality.
3. Leaders who have slipped to the inclination of pride cannot stand rivalry. Once pride has entered into their lives and leadership, if a rival or challenger appears, they will find ways to condemn and belittle that person until the threat is reduced or removed.
4. A distracting strategy is to have prideful leaders season their talk and lifestyle with expressions of their own contributions. They tell the same stories repeatedly about their good works and their success. when you listen to them, you are not sure if they are trying to convince themselves and seeking your approval to boost their sense of security, or if they are so full of themselves that this is all that can flow from their mouths.
5. From pride springs envy, which betrays itself by the amount of displeasure they take in learning of the spiritual good others are doing -- especially in ministry areas closely related to the ones they are called to.
   
2. Sensuality
1. The demands of ministry may offer fertile ground for compensatory "feel good" behaviors that meet emotional needs. These may include misusing food for comfort, altering mood by alcohol or other drugs, sexual escapism in pornography, or seeking satisfaction through inappropriate relationships.
2. An "emotional buzz" from a relationship may be experienced positively, but is nonetheless seductive by meeting non-conscious emotional needs without being considered "sexual" in the same way that overt sexual contact is judged negatively. This is often the start of a slide down the slippery slope toward serious relational and ministry betrayals.
   
3. Leaders disguise this sensual lust by cloaking it in spiritual overtones and words.
4. One outward appearance is a leader seeking either sentimental or sensual friendship with another person (most frequently of the opposite gender) under the pretext of ministry - either ministering together or the leader ministering to the one from whom the relationship is sought. These leaders speak of the relationship as something that is intended to evoke the respect and admiration of others. Often they talk about it as publicly as they can to diffuse their own sense of concern or worry about being caught - or of someone being able to look through them or "read their mail".
   
3. Spiritual excess
1. Spiritual excess is usually exemplified in one of two ways: (1) an excessive craving for consolation, or (2) the constant need to confess something.
   
2. Leaders never confess the sin that is at the core of their problem but rather they confess something that is an attempt to draw themselves close to you without revealing the innermost thoughts of their sinful behavior.
3. Leaders in this state make extra efforts to appear spiritual and do so by sharing something they say they are learning currently.
4. Their souls are more attached to the attention they get from the consolations and the support of others than from God himself.
   
4. Spiritualized lust
1. This is craving after spiritual things because of the feelings attached to it. This spiritualized lust is nurtured while doing "good things" like attending prayer meetings and while ministering with someone at church or in the ministry organization.
2. At times of prayer, sensual feelings can be produced. Prayer is an intimate experience and the feeling of intimacy is akin to the feelings of sexual intimacy.
   
5. Tiredness and sloth
1. Symptoms of these are weariness in performing even the most elementary of the spiritual disciplines. Reading God's Word, prayer, devotional meditation, and even public worship are not relished.
   
6. Surrounding with abundance (of resources and opportunities)
1. This includes an abundance of spiritual books, readings, and research that consume all of the leader's time and energy and leave nothing for personal interior work.
   
2. This is particularly appealing distraction to the more scholarly leaders who have been trained in and are drawn toward academic study rather than introspection of their own soul life.
3. Another abundance - taking on too many duties and responsibilities.
4. Another variation - when talented leaders are surrounded by opportunities and end up quitting one thing for another, changing, exchanging, arranging, and rearranging until finally settling on something that is usually expensive financially and in terms of human resource costs -- and often not as effective in the long run.
5. Technology - time on computers, Internet, etc
   
7. Lukewarmness - Anemia - The Symptoms
1. Gradual weakening of your ministry energy and spiritual desire
2. A blinding of your conscience - judgment becomes warped.
3. Gradual weakening of the will - making concessions that were once unheard of.
4. No desire to work hard at repairing - dodging and avoiding restorations attempts
5. Letting yourself slide in every respect - often this appears with changes in physical appearance

Spiritual Danger Zones in Leadership

• reliance on own gifts
• fear of humankind (people pleasing)
• perfectionism
• lack of conflict resolution skills or avoidance of conflict
• lack of accountability
• ignoring evil or lack of understanding how evil works
• unawareness of how to guard against sexual misconduct
• empire building
• need for recognition
• need to control
• lack of trust / intimacy with God (solitude, etc.)
• inability to set boundaries (to say no)
• inability to delegate
• lack of discernment
  

Mentoring Leaders

I just finished Carson Pue's Mentoring leaders: Wisdom for developing character, calling and competency. Pue presides over Arrow Leadership Ministries, an international ministry founded by Leighton Ford based in Canada.

Pue's emphasis has been on mentoring individual leaders through their consulting ministry. But his insights can be helpful for any local church, or for that matter, any seminary whose sole purpose is to train church leaders.

Here are some of my notes from the book.

Five Phases of the Mentoring Matrix

1. Self-awareness - deep-seated understanding of who we are as children of God though Jesus Christ
2. Freeing Up - disentangling ourselves from those things that hold us back and having our needs fully met by Jesus
3. Visioneering - discovering God's purpose for our lives
4. Implementing - beginning purposeful in how we live and lead
5. Sustaining - learning how to realize our purpose and maintain zeal for ministry

Starting with Self-Awareness
"The most significant thing in navigation - the very most important piece of information - is knowing exactly where you are."

Daniel Goleman places a great deal of emphasis on the importance of being able to recognize feelings and sees this as central to his measurement of what he calls emotional intelligence. "Self-awareness - recognizing a feeling as it happens - is the keystone of emotional intelligence ... the ability to monitor feelings from moment to moment is crucial to psychological insight and self-understanding. An inability to notice our true feelings leaves us at their mercy. People with greater certainty about their feelings are better pilots of their lives, having a surer sense of how they really feel about personal decisions from whom they marry to what job they to take."

What keeps leaders from Self-Awareness?

• Lack of feedback. It seems that the higher one rises up the ladder of leadership, the less feedback one receives. The battles of being a leader cause us to become isolated.
• Seminaries have not historically been strong in the feedback area themselves. They are caught between their deep desire to provide foundational content and doing anything that might cause a student to withdraw from school.
• Insecurity. Insecurity breeds misleadership. It erodes confidence within leaders and makes it very difficult for them to leader others. It can also surface during times of great success, not just in negative times.
  
• Busyness. Most leaders function at high rpm. Problem: We can actually get addicted to the adrenaline rush of our leadership. When this happens, we do whatever we can, unconsciously, to feed our need for adrenaline. It actually feels good! Problem: no time for reflection.

How at peace are you?
Once leaders have a clear understanding of their place as a child of God, there is a new peace or shalom that embodies their life and their leadership. Anxiety and drivenness decrease as we mature in our spiritual walk, while at the same time, there is an increase of that inner sense of peace. When leaders lead out of peace rather than frenetic activity, fewer people are hurt and the work of the Lord is multiplied in ways unimaginable.

Ukraine - New Ministerial Training Initiative Begins

After one year's planning and preparation, today we begin a new training program for ministers in Ukraine. Using a combination of intensive courses and distance education modules (textbooks, workbooks and DVD), the new program will offer ten courses in two years. Additionally, the courses are coordinated with the extension program of the seminary in Moscow.

The Ukrainian program is an pilot program that, if successful, will be implement in other regions of the Russian speaking world - especially Moscow, Siberia, Belarus, and St. Petersburg.

The Ukrainian program begins this week with an intensive seminar on church growth and evangelism with Nick Park, senior pastor of Solid Rock Ministries in Ireland. Following the intensive course, an extended course on "Living the Faith" will be facilitated by our national education director, Ebi Dudzsus.

Krehwinkel Church of God Has a New Pastor

Today it was formally announced that Frank Wetzel will become the new pastor in Krehwinkel. Krehwinkel, one of the oldest Church of God congregations in Germany, is the hometown of Herman Lauster (the pioneer, who brought the message of Pentecost to this part of Germany). The church in Krehwinkel happens to be Claudia's home church. (Her parents still attend there and we were married there.) Krehwinkel has been without a pastor since Heinrich Scherz retired last summer and moved to South Carolina.

Frank and Anja Wetzel comes to Krehwinkel from Hamburg (Elim Gemeinde Hamburg - Mitglied des Bundes freier Pfingstgemeinden) in northern Germany. Yesterday, his credentials were formally accepted into the Church of God. The local congregation had already voted for Wetzel last month. And today he was formally introduced to the congregation.

However, things go more slowly in Germany. Frank and Anja will first move here in January and begin his pastorate in February. As is customary in Germany, one must give employers and landlords three months notice. And one doesn't "give notice" until they have a secure job/apartment in their hands. And in their transition, they will first live in our apartment building here in Rudersberg.

Izhevsk, Russia Church Celebrates 12 Years

This weekend, the Church of God in Izhevsk celebrates 12th Anniversary of its ministry in Izhevsk, the capital of Udmurtia Republic. As you can see by the previous sentence, the ICOG was among the first generation of churches planted by the Church of God in Russia after the fall of the communist regime.

Most of us Americans have probably never heard of Izhevsk; but it the home region of the AK-47 machine gun. Our provost in Moscow, Ilya Okhotnikov, hails from this region. Representing the seminary, Ilya has gone to his home church for the celebration and he gives this report.

In 1995 I was there in Izhevsk as well as the whole team of 7 men and women and wonderful missionaries of the Church of God: Dr. Jack R. Buskey and Jeanette L. Chesser at the very establishment of the church. The legal incorporation with the government was part of the ministry the Lord allowed me to have there and also I served as Assistant Pastor, Church administrator, translator, home group leader etc.

Some facts and statistics:

• 250 and up to 360 during special events in attendance are currently at the Izhevsk Church of God.
• 2 services during the week with Sunday service.
• 6 branch churches in towns and villages of the Republic (Kilmez church, Sarapul church, S.Zyatsi home group, Lukshudya home group, Izh-zabegalovo home group, Kambarka home group) have been established by the mother church.
• 5 ministers have been trained at Eurasian Seminary in Moscow.
• One branch church already sent their own minister to be trained at Eurasian Seminary in Moscow.

Pastor Peter Ovechkin as well as his first Assistant Albert Shakirov are graduates of the Eurasian Seminary with a Bachelor of Pastoral Ministry degree. The church trains it ministers in a church Bible School and also sent 5 ministers to be trained at the Seminary.

Also the Izhevsk Church of God has 10 ministries of its own that are actively functioning at the church on a regular basis:

1. Youth Ministry (30 members)
2. Children's Ministry (60 children)
3. Men's Ministry (15 members)
4. Home group (7 groups) ministry
5. Prayer Ministry and Co-dependant Ministry
6. Golden Age ministry (for those with rich life experience) 12 strong grand mothers.
7. Drama Ministry with Professional Theater artists (12 members of the church)
8. Social Ministry via a non-profit organization established by the church, called "Spring" fully supported by the church with the annual budget of $4,200.00:
1. Bread and cloths and food distribution to homeless (for 25 people every Sunday, once in 3 months financial support of widows and large families).
1. Rehab center support (financial support).
1. Children's home ministry (camp meetings for kids, assistance to the homes in repairs, financial contributions, assistance to grown up kids in finding employment, housing, etc.)
   
9. Missionary ministry among villages of the Udmurtia Republic (evangelistic outreach teams traveled via 10 villages for the last Spring-Summer 2007).
10. Church Bible School ministry.

Europe: Creationism is a Threat to Human Rights?

The following is an excerpt out of an article from Reuters News Agency. For the entire story, click here. It's one thing to dismiss Christian beliefs as "superstitious." But when governments or International bodies start labeling basic beliefs as threats to human rights.... Well, you can figure out the rest.

Europe's main human rights body voted on Thursday to urge schools across the continent to firmly oppose the teaching of creationist and "intelligent design" views in their science classes.

The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly approved a resolution saying attacks on the theory of evolution were rooted "in forms of religious extremism" and amounted to a dangerous assault on science and human rights.

The text said European schools should "resist presentation of creationist ideas in any discipline other than religion." It said the "intelligent design" view defended by some United States conservatives was an updated version of creationism.

The Council, based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, oversees human rights standards in member states and enforces decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The resolution, which passed 48 votes to 25 with 3 abstentions, is not binding on the Council's 47 member states but reflects widespread opposition among politicians to teaching creationism in science class.

Just Walk Across the Room

My latest book on my reading list is Bill Hybels' Just Walk Across the Room. I've read several of Hybels' books such as Descending into Greatness, and Courageous Leadership. But I would rank this book as perhaps his best motivational book - motivation for each Christ-follower to share the story of Christ with his/her non-believing friends.

I wouldn't categorize this book as a textbook on how to "do" personal evangelism. Hybels and Mark Mittelberg already wrote a book on that topic - Courageous Christianity. But Just a Walk gives a better insight into Hybels' way of thinking through the process of sharing his testimony with none believers. Along the way, there are a couple of exercises plus the reflection questions at the end of each chapter that easily helps the individual reader as well as small groups who use this material as a study.

Update from Moscow

ETSM began its new school year with 11 new students. This is a relatively high enrollment. (In fact, the only time we had more than 11 new students was with the initial group of students ten years ago). Altogether with the returning students and interns, we have an enrollment of 36. We have an additional 36 students enrolled in the Moscow “extension.” The new students come from various parts of Russia, including Caucasus, Urals, Samara, Siberia, and Moscow proper.

The school still has several hurdles to jump in the licensing process, so please keep it and also us in your prayers. Today our provost met with officials from the Federal Registration Services, a division of what used to be the KGB, to discuss the needed changes to the seminary’s constitution in the licensing process. Apparently we need to make some minor changes before our new constitution can be accepted by the FRS. But our provost (Ilya Okhotnikov) stated that the overall tone from this government office was constructive.

A Happy Song

Well, today is Monday and the first of the month. That means most of the bills are due this week (e.g., rent, car payment, etc.).

So... I found a video that will help brighten almost anyone's day. Chevy Chase teaming up with Paul Simon. Enjoy!