We have a new provost in Moscow

I have the pleasure of making the following announcement. The Board of Directors of the Eurasian Theological Seminary in Moscow has elected Ilya Okhotnikov as its new Provost. Okhotnikov succeeds Sergei Dmitrusenko, who had held the post since 1999. Prior to his appointment, Okhotnikov had served as the Director of Development and Public Relations. As provost, Okhotnikov will work closely with the president of ETSM in the day-to-day operations of the seminary.

Okhotnikov states as he enters his new position, "God's grace is sufficient, dear brothers and sisters. I value the trust given to me and want ETSM to serve more effectively to students, church leaders and pastors in Eurasian continent. My prayer is that of King Solomon in 2 Chronicles, 'Give me now wisdom and knowledge' to serve in a team of co-laborers for the Harvest is ready, but the workers are few."

Ilya, a former officer in the Russian army, is a graduate of the Church of God Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Asbury Theological Seminary (D.Min.) and is a specialist in the area of Family Ministry and Counseling. Ilya and his wife Angela originally hail from Ihzevsk, Russia (which happens to be the home of the AK-47). They have two daughters, Pauline and Danielle.
In His service,

Thomas Rosson, Ph.D., President
Eurasian Theological Seminary in Moscow

Moscow Changes

Changes in Moscow

Tom just returned from Moscow last week after a series of meetings. There are some changes taking place at the school that we can now announce. ETSM now has a new provost – Dr. Ilya Okhotnikov. Ilya will work closely with Tom in the day-to-day administrative operations of the seminary.

A second item of news has to do with our missionaries to Moscow, Chris and Natasha Hodge. Natasha has been bothered with a cough for several weeks and decided to have it checked out. The test results showed that an aortic aneurysm (which has been a condition with her for some time) had expanded and needs attention. Chris and Natasha are currently planning to return to the States for her medical needs.

Changing the World….

One of the great things about any Bible school is getting to know the students and their life’s story. Repeatedly we are awestruck when we learn the circumstances from which our students have come. It’s really easy to recognize the grace and power of Christ. At the end of the past semester, I received a letter from one of our students.

Vladimir Emelyanov spent his fall internship in the city of Klin, Russia. There he shared the gospel and worked in a rehab center in A rehab center for drug addicts and alcoholics is a special place for God’s grace to be in action. Vladimir believes that he will return to his homeland of Siberia in order to serve there. His desire is to be involved in a rehab ministry with his long-term goal of opening more rehab centers based out of a local church.

January Birthdays

We are doing well as a family. Except for some Winter illnesses, we are healthy. At our church, we have seen more people come to our church. We are in a rare period of time in which we have seen many seekers visit our church. So this is yet another point of prayer.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year – Ein Gutes Neues Jahr

We trust that you had a blessed Christmas celebration and a great start to the new year. After attending our late afternoon Christmas Eve service, we spent this Christmas by ourselves.  On the 26^th (which is observed as the 2^nd day of Christmas in Germany), we spent an afternoon with Claudia’s parents.

 

The week between the holidays was filled with inviting neighbors and other family members to our home. New Year’s Eve was spent with families from our local church. And the first week of 2007 was also spent with relatives and traveling (to the American Consulate in Frankfurt in order to  get some passports for the kids.)

 

January Ministry….

January is a slow month for ministry in Eastern Europe. The Orthodox Church observes Christmas on January 6; and some countries used to observe New Year’s on January 15. In Russia, for example, it was the communist regime that introduced the western New Year’s date to the country. So…. They’re still in the holiday mode. We begin the spring semester on January 29.

 

However, you can read a recent report about ETS’s recent semester on the web. The article is written by Ilya Okhotnikov, our director of development. You can find the article at http://www.faithnews.cc/articles.cfm?sid=7547

 

In the meantime, we are involving ourselves this month more in the local ministry in Rudersberg. Tom spoke this weekend. And Claudia will be teaching this coming weekend.

 

Rites of Passage, and other family news

In our last newsletter, I promised to let you know which one of us is getting bifocals. Claudia has new glasses, but it’s taking her some time to get used to them. Other news: Brianna turned 9 this week; the twins have their 11^th birthday next week. So… we’re having spending some quality time at home

 

Again, we are so grateful to be a part of your ministry around the world!

 

Tom & Claudia

During the first week of September, Claudia and I traveled to Moscow for an intensive week at the seminary. As we mentioned last month, we held graduation ceremonies along with opening service. We had three graduates in this unusual September graduation. Our student enrollment is a bit lower than last year. Including the fourth year interns, we have about 40 students. Then we also have an additional 105 students in our extension programs in three countries.

Also while in Moscow, we hosted Drs. Manfred & Barbara Kohl. Dr. Manfred Kohl is Program Director for Overseas Council International. OCI is a non-denominational agency that supports a select number of Bible schools in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. They have helped a number of schools with (1) faculty development (helping teachers further their education); (2) facility development (i.e., building facilities), (3) scholarships for students. One COG school that has benefited from OCI is the school in Quito, Ecuador. They are looking for more "partner" schools and have us in consideration.

Also during our stay in Moscow, we hosted John Buchhi from Advancing Native Missions. John and I were on staff together at Covenant Church of God in Virginia. ANM is a missions organization that focuses on the 10-40 window. ANM may choose sponsor students from relatively unreached people groups (such as Central Asian republics, Siberia, Mongolia, etc.).

Tom also made a trip to Slavyansk, Ukraine for the first ever meeting of a Russian-language education committee. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a curriculum and program of non-residential based ministerial training that will be implemented in all of the Russian speaking countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, possible Mongolia, etc.). One the Sunday that I was there, the local church had its bi-monthly baptismal service -- 13 people! And they also installed a new pastor, a former EBS student of ours in Germany – Eberhard Dudzsus.

Next month, we’ll share more about our ministry in Germany.

August Update - Germany and Indianapolis

Germany and Indianapolis
This first half of July, Tom was able to focus his work in Germany. In addition to speaking at our church in Rudersberg, Tom also participated in the national pastor’s conference in Kniebis. While in Kniebis, Tom was asked to help formulate a series of theses for discussion at the next national assembly. Then our family traveled to Indianapolis for the General Assembly. Would you believe that we had to take the kids out of school early in order to attend the Assembly? German schools let out this year on August 3..

European Education Committee
The General Assembly is always a time of meetings and more meetings. After all, it is one of the few chances to for all of our colleagues from Europe to get together. One of the meetings we held was that of the European Education Committee. This is a unique committee in that it has representatives from all of (from both western and eastern) Europe. During the meeting, Tom was selected to be the chair of the committee. The previous chairman, John Tipei from Bucharest, resigned in order to focus on his school immediate needs. As chairman of the committee, Tom will coordinate the upcoming education consultation in 2007 and together with the committee devise a master plan of education in Europe.

Vacation and Fundraising in the States
Since the General Assembly, we have been staying with family and friends in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Of course, we’ve used the time to see family and to shop at Walmart (there’s nothing like it in Europe). But we have also visited various churches to renew friendship and establish new partnership. Of particular interest is our upcoming visit to Elryia, OH – the town in which Tom was born. But more about our trip in the next thank you letter.

July Update from Moscow

Moscow and Kiev
Since Tom has taken on the school in Moscow (see http://www.faithnews.cc/articles.cfm?sid=6826) , the past couple of weeks have demanded his attention to be given to the seminary. In June Tom has traveled to Kiev, Ukraine (for a training seminar) and Moscow (for faculty and administrative meetings, and appointments with local pastors). The students are currently in their summer internships.

Update on Attacked Student
Many of our donors may have heard about one of students being attacked during the last week of classes at ETSM. Two men robbed and severely beat Vladimir Emelyanov up. The attack took place only 500 yards from the seminary. Vladimir lost his wallet, train tickets (to travel home for the summer), and identification papers. He was beaten so badly that the doctors had to remove his left kidney and spleen. After a two-week stay in a Moscow hospital (which is no vacation), he was released and stayed at the school for another 10 days to regain his strength before traveling back home to Siberia.

Thanks to several churches, Vladimir’s medical expenses during his stay in the hospital have been taken care of. But we ask you pray for Vladimir’s long-term physical recovery and perhaps more importantly his emotional/spiritual processing of what has happened to him.

Ministry in Germany
Also this past month, Tom and Claudia had the opportunity to attend the German Pentecost in which Pastor John Morgan from Jacksonville was the main speaker. At the pastors’ and church leaders’ workshop on the next day, Tom was privileged with the opportunity to translate Pastor Morgan into German.

Claudia also has had two ministry opportunities. First, she was invited to share a lengthy testimony in an interview during a service in a nearby church. Second, her life’s testimony is being published in the InSpirit magazine, the German equivalent of the Evangel.

Again, we are so grateful to be a part of your ministry around the world!

Tom and Claudia

May Visit to Moscow

This week, I (Tom) have been visiting our Bible school in Moscow, Russia – The Eurasian Theological Seminary. The school has just finished its last week of classes and now the students are preparing for their finals. The school will be sending out 6 new interns to Russia, Ukraine, and Moldavia.

This month ETSM is glad to announce two major breakthroughs. First is the introduction of a second Bachelor’s degree. Beginning this September, ETSM will offer a B.Miss. (missiology). We truly believe that a program with an emphasis on evangelism, missions, and church planting will met a felt need among the churches in our region. ETSM will also continue to offer its B.Tn. (Bachelor of Theology) – and many of the courses will complement each other.

A second announcement is that we have finally finished the translation and editing of a new textbook. Living the Faith (a foundational work on Christian Doctrine) is the first book published by the Church of God’s CIMS program into Russian. We will have the books printed this summer and can be in use by this Fall Semester. However, we’ll have to wait on the companion DVD’s and the possibility of taking the course online.

Croatia: Networking and Developing Curriculum

I (Tom) was in Osijek, Croatian last week in a conference with over Pentecostal and Evangelical education leaders. The Institute for Excellence in Christian Leadership Development was hosted by Overseas Council International. With this years’ focus on curriculum, Tom was accompanied by two faculty members from our school in Moscow - Olga Zaprometova and Alexei Gorbechev. After listening to the leaders of the other schools, we realized that our young school in Moscow is doing relatively well for its young age (the school began in 1998). But we also gained many practical ideas that will help improve our training of pastors, church workers and leaders for the future.