Academic Dean’s Blog

As I worked on our website and audio from recent chapels I downloaded and listened to another message available at the seminary website. About two years ago Mark McDonnel, Director of Biblical Studies program at undergraduate level, spoke on topic of pride and humility and importance of latter and danger of former in academic seminary setting. I was very impressed with precise relevance of the message to our current times. Well the message was great admonishing to me. It also stirred my appreciation for prevailance of such perspective and humble attitude among our faculty members.

I encourage you to listen to it and enjoy sudden, yet natural jokes that flavor this message. My prayer is for all our faculty to keep holding this humble attitude with high scholarship standards. It such a wonderful thing that we can maintain such healthy environment and model what we teach.

The MP3 file is available at this link for download from seminary website.

By the way, Mark is still here at KTS and we are happy to load him with classes to teach, and he does not mind such treatment of him. Is that humility in action?

(Photo: Mark McDonnel (right) speaks at KTS Commencement 2007 Credit: ktsonline.org).

Two recent messages delivered at Kyiv Theological Seminary chapel are available for free download at seminary’s website.

On January 27, 2009 we had Dr. James Ehrhard preaching in our chapel on the Book of Ruth, chapter 3, his sermon was answering very practical question: How do we act biblically in every situation? Dr. Ehrhard is known at our seminary for ability to build bridge of understadning between biblical texts and contemporary life, with very relevant applications to seminary community. Link to MP3 download.

On February 17, 2009 KTS President Anatoly Prokopchuk (photo above) gave exposition of several chapters from the Book of Jeremiah. Particularly he spoke on chapters 37-42. As always, it’s pleasure to listen to accurate exposition of biblcal texts with lessons for modern lives. In this sermon I was striked with lessons from lives of Zedekiah and Gedaliah who despite their opposite charachters shared one common mortal trait of unbelief. This unbelief in Jehovah, God of their fathers led both of them to tragic ends of their lives. Link to MP3 download.

What a great encouragement is to have Bible expositors speaking at seminary chapel here in Kyiv.

For a long time we have not posted any audio from our seminary chapel services. An explanation is simple this our chapel recordings done enthusiastically on any equipment available at the time. Which in turn explains various quality of the audio files. The school does not have professional and dedicated audio recording equipment and various individuals of seminary community kindly offer their devices. Presently someone generously lends her laptop computer for chapel or seminar recordings. Thus this semester, Lord wills, you can expect to enjoy seminary chapel podcasts again. SDG.

Free downloads provided at Kyiv Seminary website. This time we have two new recordings of public lectures that were conducted this academic year. Lectures were presented in English with translation into Russian.

Lecture on February 4, 2009. Scott D. Edgar, Ph.D. presented: “Mentoring – the missing link in Ukrainian Theological Education for Ministry”. The audio in MP3 format is available for download from this page.

Lecture on October 15, 2008. Wesley K. Willmer, Ph.D., Vice President for Biola University Advancement presented: “God and Money: The Vital Link Between Our Earthly Possessions and Eternal Soul”. The audio in MP3 format available for download from this page.

Maybe you’d like to download the files for listening as part of your Russian language study? Or recommend them to your friend?

Finally, thank you for keeping our school (staff, administration, faculty and students) in your prayers.

Next week our we have special event night when Dr. Scott D. Edgar presents his dissertation findings at KTS Public Seminar on Wednesday February 4, 2009. According to Dr. Edgar, he wants to “encourage mentoring relationships among the students at KTS and in the churches and organizations in which they serve”. Topic of his presentation will be Mentoring – the missing link in Ukrainian Theological Education for Ministry.

I am excited that Dr. Edgar and his wife Becky came to our seminary to teach two intensive courses this month. It’s my delight to welcome old friends of Kyiv Theological Seminary who served here in Ukraine as missionaries in 2000-2002. Dr. Edgar served as full-time faculty and active Academic Dean of KTS at that time.

You can download reproducible poster to print and share with your church this weekend. Poster Seminar Edgar A4 Eng Rus

Please pray for this event and for Dr. Edgar as he presents this important topic to us.

Interesting and fun way to represent words in visual way. Here you can see my blog presented visually with some words used here. I think that http://www.wordle.net is a great tool for teachers to bring a creative element into their classrooms. I plan to test the service and see how well my students respond to it.

I am privileged to teach Exposition of Isaiah course to senior students at KTS these two weeks. Wow! So much to enjoy in this book and so much to learn. Please pray for me to have physical strength and spiritual discernment and clarity of mind and ability to communicate well and rightly the truths of God’s Word.

Added few links to Kyiv Seminary Resources page. What did I add? Several more links to faculty blogs and partnering organizations.

This weekend Christianity Today features an article on Evangelical Church in Ukraine on its main page. Faith and Hope in Ukraine: How Eastern Europe’s most missional evangelical church is rethinking tradition and the Great Commission, by Susan Wunderink.

The article has its permanent address as well: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/october/25.70.html.

Kyiv Theological Seminary administration and faculty along with other evangelicals of our country contributed to this article. I might comment on the article later since my answers to author’s questions are included as well.

I added new page to this blog that contains list of available resources related to Kyiv Theological Seminary. The page is Kyiv Seminary Resources and it is available from link in this post or from right column under Pages section.

This new page contains list of organizational websites as well as KTS faculty blogs, pages and websites. The page will be updated periodically as I learn about online resources related to Kyiv Seminary.

Ministry of Kyiv Theological Seminary is focused on preparation of “believers for an effective ministry who are able to lead others in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ” (KTS Mission Statement). Among seminary students we have active ministers and ministers to be. Both categories of students are of vital importance for the seminary as we reach out through our graduates and students to the lost world. Our Church Planting undergraduate program attracts not only future but also active pastors.

I am delightful to hear about KTS students who apply to their ministries what they learned in the classroom. In fact, we expect exactly such actions from them: practicing what they learn. This puts responsibility on us as trainers and educators: we want to make sure that what they learn is practical, applicable and contextualized to their ministries.

These hot summer days seminary program directors spend with their students, assisting and extending training and mentoring. I invite you to read this report by Joel and Mary Ellen Ragains about one of KTS students from Eastern Ukraine who follows the call of God in his life. Joel and Mary Ellen RAGAINS – Baptism at Oleg’s Church

Photo Credit: kievkonnect.com