Friday Night

Front of Church; Housing units


Enjoying the park; Enjoying the park


At first there was just one, now several more friends joined in.

Well it’s the end of Friday so that means the end of the class. All the students handed in their pre-class written assignments by Tuesday morning and Irina and I read and graded them all by Wednesday night so all that was left for the students was the final EXAM.
All the students were great all week long. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s true. It was only my second time here, but they really made me feel at ease in class. And Irina was a great translator.
This morning at 8:30 we started the class off by looking at pictures of MCC, the buildings, and the people in the worship team. In class we already looked at what our planning meets look like with all the weeks of planning on the white board, and all the people around the table. After we finished with those slides they took about a 30 minute break. When they came back it was time for the exam. So we finished up by lunch, 13:00, that’s 1:00 for all you back in the states. After lunch Irina and I finished grading the papers around 3:00. she also helped me get my excel spreadsheet working so now all I have to do is put the grades in and it will automatically add them up and give a grade when all the grades are entered. Did I mention how great Irina is!!! This afternoon she left here to take a bus home. The bus left Minsk at 5:30 and she wasn't going to get home for another 6 hours. And she left her two little children home for the whole week!
Leonid and Tatyana his wife took me out for dinner. It was nice just to get out for dinner. The food at the seminary was good and so was the restaurant we went to.
Now I’m in my room relaxing and looking out the window at the grassy park between us and the river. Lot’s of people just walking, laying around in groups, talking and just relaxing in the cool of the evening. It’s still very light out and people take advantage of the daylight in the summer time I’m told.
It's very quiet here in the seminary tonight. I guess it's like the bible colleges in the states, almost everyone either goes home or goes to their ministry for the weekend.
Tomorrow I will leave Minsk at 17:25 (5:25) and be home in Austria by 18:30 (6:30). Home for a night before I take off for Moldova and another week of teaching on a subject that I love! Did I tell you how much I love this job? MCC and TCMI are a great combination for me and Pam.

John

Wednesday - Thursday

Trying to count to 10,000BYR; The river behind the Seminary


The back of the church ; Catholic church downtown Minsk


Russian Orthodox church; A Memorial site for the fallen in the Iraq war


The center of Belarus in downtown Minsk; Moscow is 700 KM east


Former KGB building still used for police; Yeap, he's still around


Class picture; At the concert singing


Practice for concert; Listening to the sermon

We had another great day in class today. But the big discussion was on copyright, software, music, video clips. Almost all of the eastern European countries have sign several international agreements concerning the rights of an artist and the ownership of the work they have created, although most countries here do not enforce those laws. I have found that the countries that are either in the EU or have started the process to join are moving in the right direction in regards to these laws though. But it still doesn’t help the church out. If each church were to obey the copyright law and with almost no business involvement from the major Christian music publishing companies each church would have to write each publisher with a list of songs they would like to sing and ask how much it would cost to use each one, not just once but several times throughout the year. That’s crazy! CCLI also has a branch in Great Britain now that serves Europe. Well, some of Europe. It does not serve all yet. I understand the conflict. “If we don’t use these songs from England, Australia, America, how can we be effective with the music in our worship service?” That came from a student in class. This is where I become excited again. This is where we started talking about raising up their own musicians. This is were we talked about the church being an encourager for young writers; To nurture them, to support them, to cultivate an environment that raises up Christian song writers that use Belorussian melodies, Belorussian word phrases, Belorussian harmonies.
The Internet has been down all day today, so I’ll have to put 2 days of blog together, so it might be long.
Tonight 2 of the students took me to downtown Minsk. I’ve been there before, but it was fun to go again. It really is incredible to see how large the building and streets and open squares are that the Soviets built. Minsk is also a pretty clean city. Very little in the way of trash, but there are a lot of empty beer and liquor bottles around on the sidewalk, in the trash can, on steps. It is not an uncommon sight to see people walking around with open bottles of beer on the sidewalks. And a lot of them are young people. I know it happens in America, but I don’t see it to this magnitude. Or at least I haven’t noticed it. I’ll have to look more closely. I made have turned a blind eye to what is really happening in the states, because I see it everyday.
Another thing I did notice was that image was everything. The way you dress, the way you walk, the way you hold your body is very important.
We got to ride to into the middle of Minsk by subway after about a 25 minute walk to get to the station. They have two lines and they only cross at one station, so it’s pretty easy to get around. I think I could even get to downtown alone if I had to. But I’m not looking for an excuse to do so right now.
Thursday
We finished the notes today, so tomorrow morning we will do a review of the class and also look at some slides of MCC and some of the people on the worship team in action. Sometimes I think the students are more interested in the ‘how we do things (at MCC) then the class notes. No, it’s not sometimes; actually I’m pretty sure it’s all the time. :)
Today was the day I had the students put together a worship service using the notes from class. We talked about different formats, different music styles, and different forms of planning a service. They were able to use any combination of any of them that they felt would fit best with the purpose of the worship service. I gave them Philippians 3:13-14 where Paul is talking about pressing on toward the goal to win the prize which is in Christ Jesus. I broke them into two groups of 5 each. I asked them to also try and use at least two creative ideas in the worship service. One group came up with the idea of using 2 older ladies throwing arrows at a target, and of course always missing. Then another person and an arrow attached to a thin string that went right to the middle of the target. Of course he couldn’t miss. Then they talked about the minister coming out with an apple on his head with an arrow through it. I’m just not sure if it an arrow that the ladies through or not. I think it was supposed to be. That’s what made it funny.
Big concert at the church here on Thursday night. About 40 people from the states (all from MO) and another 60 from here in Minsk came together to put a concert on of Christian music. It was wonderful music played very well.
I better close now. My time for today might be coming to an end, and I want to save some time for tomorrow before I leave to go back to Austria for the night.
John

Minsk class

Class

I have got to get rid of the pen! I didn't have a stroke.

Class

Irina


Class


Class

Mykola

Minsk 2008
I was my first day of class in Minsk and I have a great group of students. I have 10 in the class and 7 of them are going for a degree so Irena I have 7 students papers to read. With each student having to have written 5 papers each being several pages in length, that’s a lot of reading and interpreting. After dinner tonight Irena and I put our mind to it and we finished 4 students’ papers. Each one read out loud to me and then we discussed each of them to make sure I did understand what we written. That’s a lot of papers! I’m just glad I don’t have 25 in the class.
It was very warm here for the past two days, which is okay, but it’s a warmth that comes from being in a city not just being in the sun. And it’s a bit on the humid side also. The first night here I have to stay in a hotel so they can register me with the local authorities. I was on the eight floor and I could still here the street noise with the window open. Last night besides being on the hot side the mosquitoes had a feast on me, but I finally did manage to get some rest.
As I mentioned before I have a great group of students. They all come from Belarus except for Mykola, he comes from Ukraine, Kherson. I was in Kherson last year teaching this class, but he couldn’t make it then, but he was able to come up here this year and take it.
Okay, so as the week progresses and I get to know the students better, I will start writing about them and not about me!
We were able to get a good rapport right away. The first couple of class hours are always the hardest for me. The students are seeing if I really know my subject matter and I’m looking at who looks like they really understand what’s going on, and how looks lost. Everyone in this class was right there with me from the very beginning.

Irina is very good at translating. She went to college in the states in MO. I told her that Pam came from MO and asked if she ever had been to Hannibal while she was there. She said she had and even went home with one of her friends to a little town named Bethel. That happened to be the town that Pam came from. The town only has about 100 people in it and if the family has been there for awhile, everyone knows everyone. She couldn’t remember her friend’s last name, but I’m guessing if the family’s been there for awhile, Pam knows of them.

Several in the class understand English well enough to help in the translations when questions come up in between class. It’s a lot for the translator to not only translate the class material but then also be there for all the questions during the class breaks. So that’s been good for Irina.

As you can see by the pictures it’s a nice size class to teach. I really feel like I can get to know the students well. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. But since some of the students live close by, the only time we are all

One of the assignments asks them to write about a Christian discipline they have done. Most of the students write about either giving money to someone who is impoverished or helping a family out by do something for them that the family badly needs done. I am always amazed at some of the stories that the students write about in this assignment. They have so little and yet they give, they give to help others who have even less. The result is almost always the same, by giving they are blessed. One student wrote about helping a family and then this family turns around and said some bad things about this person. After the first response of being mad this student realized that he must help them anyway. It was wrong to be angry, but it was very right to give and help and serve.

John

TALE OF TWO CITY .... CHURCHES

Last Sunday on Austrian TV I was watching a mass held at St. Augustine church in Vienna. But this wasn’t just church TV, it was actually a documentary on the use of classical music within the structure of a Sunday mass. The priest would chant his part and then the orchestra and choir would sing a classical piece based upon what was chanted. The music was always a part of a religious piece from either the Baroque or classical period.
There was beautiful music, within beautiful surroundings, beautifully put together, programmed and excellently performed. Some people would consider that heaven on earth. But as the camera panned the congregation I noticed that none of the congregation was participating in any physical or tangible way. It pretty much looked like there was no real outward participation going on. That is not to say however that people were not in a spiritual mood. I did noticed people with eyes closed, head bowed, or head looking upward as if towards God. What I did noticed though was that it looked more like it was inward focused. Nothing wrong with that. Introspection is needed. Introspection is good for the soul. It is very spiritual. But where was the corporate interaction? Other than standing at certain times and sitting other times the congregation as a whole did not reflect any togetherness as a church body. Each person was focused on their own thoughts and ideas. Instead of the music being incorporated into the worship service, instead of the music engaging the people into what was going on in the service, it seemed as if the music was interrupted by the priestly duties. It was as if a concert was being interrupted by a solo chant that had nothing in common with the music other than it was the same subject matter.
I’ve heard a lot about the importance of coming to church for just this idea. To come and meditate, think, reflect all without direction. This sounds like a great church service. But is it worship? When they close their eyes what’s going on behind the eyelids?
Right after that show another church related show came on. This one was in fact a worship service of another church in Vienna. The thing that caught my attention right away was the soccer ball up front. There was also a bouquet of flowers in the design of a soccer ball. Why, I asked myself would they have a soccer ball in the worship service, but then I realized that all this week Austria was hosting the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.
then in the middle of the service some of the young people came forward and started playing soccer in the middle of the aisle. The play ended with someone scoring a goal. Then there was a scripture read and then another play started in the aisle. After a foul was performed another scripture was read. Now I don’t speak German and understand even less, but I’m guessing the first scripture was about “pressing on towards the goal” what Paul was talking about, and maybe the second one had to do with the forgiveness of God when we make a mistake. Or maybe it was from Romans “the wages of sin (in this case a foul) is death!”
The congregation was singing contemporary songs along with other parts of the service for the congregation to participate in.
Here your mind was being directed to a specific thought rather then just being left to meditate on what you just heard. You were being directed to participate together in the same thought. Even in the homily a soccer ball was used as an object lesson.
Using a contemporary happening, the Euro 2008 soccer tournament in Austria was the vehicle by which the service moved.
I’m thinking who ever planned this worship service was on the ball. They understood the goal of the service. Okay I’ll stop before I go afoul…. Sorry I just can’t help myself.
And all this within the boundaries of a Catholic Mass. What a difference between the two churches in the same city.
John

A Cookout

It felt like I was back home for awhile. The staff here had a cookout yesterday afternoon. Games and grilling. One of the guys made the target boards for Corn Hole. Now I'm from New York - alright LonGisland and if it wasn't for my two sons-in-law, one from Ohio and the other from Kentucky, I wouldn't have any idea what it was. But thanks to both of them who made their own boards I now know and play the game. All of us were put into pairs and we played double elimination. As you can see they weren't too far apart so it was not too difficult to get the bean bag into the hole. But it was fun for all. Notice what the winners were given, a box of ice cream bars called Magnums. Ice cream like this is almost gold around here. Not too many food items that are eaten really cold. Most of the ice cream is really soft by the time you get to eat it.

I have to say some of the meat was a little different than I was used too. A hot dog wrapped in ham (bacon) and injected with a cheese filling, it's called a Kasekrainer and it's one of Vienna's favorite fast foods. You can find Wurstelstands all over Vienna selling this. If you do decide to get hamburger meat make sure it's not meat already mixed with pork. That's good for a meatloaf, but not good if you like your hamburgs rear like I do. We did manage to find chopped meat to make our patties. Lot's of cheeses here and I mean LOTS, but you have to look a little to find just plan American cheese to put on top of your burger. Which only makes sense knowing that we are in Austria, and not America. It's called Toast Cheese. Just like your plain white bread, it's called Toast also. With so many other breads to choose from, why would you even consider wanting white bread anyway! I like my simmels! Very similar to the hard rolls we get on LonGisland!

Anyway here are some pictures from the cookout. Notice the two playing boards one is the American side and the other is the Austrian side.

Also,I took some pictures of some snails crawling up a wall. I noticed them when we were leaving. You can see one of them on it's way to some "food" that was growing out of the wall. I can't even imagine what that stuff was, and I don't want to know either.

Okay the pictures: Look at the third picture and then the fourth. If you look real close you can see the two red bags that Pam got in the hole

Oh yeah, one more thing, we finished moving ALL the books in the library this morning. I guess between Yulia, Pam and me we moved about 30,000 books.

Tomorrow is my last day of getting all my stuff together before I leave for Minsk on Sunday.

John

Ever see a chapel being towed by a VW?

I hang my head and say, "Yeah, that's what I meant to say. What Alex just said!" Actually what he said, kind of backs up my point though. Not a lot of books were written, because you were either 'born' into the faith. Or you just went to meetings with some one. That's how my grandfather John E. Sarno became a Christian. He went to a Billy Sunday meeting back in the early 1900's. Started going to the First Italian Baptist Church in Brooklyn. Boy, talk about an oxymoron of a name. You just don't put Italian and Baptist together like that! But that's another story, for a rainy day... kind of like today is... so.... Nope, I won't bother you with the details. Long story short, I started going to the Christian Church in Ronkonkoma, NY when it was first started by Elmer Kile. The church moved to Nesconset a year later. He was riding around our neighborhood towing a little chapel behind his car. That summer he started with a VBS program, and the very next year, with just a hand full ov people he bought land and stated to build a church building. There's your evangelism back in the suburbs in the 50's and 60's. I guess VBS was still going string into the 70's even.
John

Just a question

I've been working with Pam in the Library here. Since Pam and I have been coming over in 2001 the library has tripled in size physically, and just over doubled in size in the amount of books we now have. Ever since TCMI wanted to get its accreditation from HLC (the Higher Learning Commission, the academic arm of North Central Accrediting Association) they have had to put more books in the library. That's part of Pam's responsibility. This past year they put an addition on to the library and she is in the process of moving books, spreading them out over two rooms of library shelves. So I've been moving books in the morning.
Here's the 'thought'. While I was moving books, I noticed that the books I was moving were in the 'History' section of the Dewey Decimal system*. The next section I started moving was a section of books on 'Evangelism'. I was struck by the fact of how small the evangelism section was. Now I know that there have been far more years of history then of Christian evangelism, but I also noticed that most of them were only published with in the last half of the 20th century. Surely evangelism has been going on for at least 2000 years. But where are all the 'old' books on it? I guess it was either thought of as a personal responsibility or the pastor was the only one responsible for it. But it wasn't until the 70's and later did it become a subject that needed to be written about. Did it only now become something that must be done? How come we now need books to help us talk to others about Christ? Why is it was now need to read books to help us relate to others?
Just a question.
John
* Dewey Decimal System......... Give me Library of Congress ANY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!