Dinstinguished Guests in Moscow

On March 3-4, ETSM had the honor of hosting Drs Donald E Miller and Tetsunao (Ted) Miller, authors of Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement.

Dr. Yamamori has served in various positions, perhaps most notably as the International Director for the Lauasanne Committee for World Evangelization. He is an expert missiologist who has also 18 years of seminary teaching experience.

Dr. Miller is an expert in the area of the sociology of religion. Donald E. Miller is Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California and executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture. (It took me a bit to place the name, but I had actually cited him in my own dissertation about the growth of Evangelicalism.)

The CRCC was awarded a $6.9 million grant to establish a Pentecostal and charismatic research center in the birthplace city of American Pentecostalism. Awarded by the John Templeton Foundation, a natural and social sciences philanthropy, the grant is the largest amount ever given towards Pentecostal-charismatic research and will be used to establish the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative (PCRI) at USC. For more information about this study, look at this article posted by the FaithNews Network.The purpose of Miller and Yamamori's visit to Moscow was to become familiar with the Pentecostal landscape in the former Soviet Union. The first day we spent getting to know each other; the next day we criss-crossed Moscow interviewing various sociologists and church leaders from various Pentecostal/Charismatic movements.

Perhaps there will be a possibility for ETSM to be a part of the research project - that is at least our aim - that will help us better understand the church whom we serve. A couple of us at the school must develop a proposal and submit it in the not too distant future. So....let's wait and see.