400 year anniversary of “Baptism”

So today the local church I attend celebrated 400 years of "baptism". (By this, they are referring to the Baptist denomination.) I must admit, I did not deem this "monument" worthy enough to write on my calendar. Though I have nothing against Baptists and find myself lining up with them on many, if not most, issues regarding Scripture, I am not Baptist.

The word "Baptist" in Russia has many nasty connotations – since propaganda about the denomination has been spread by the government since the Soviet era. (For example; some believe that Baptists actually practice baby sacrifice.) If I were Baptist, I would not want to draw attention to the fact that I am part of the Baptist denomination. Call me chicken, but I don't even like to admit to people here that I attend a Baptist church. I don't think the name of the church I attend is important and I would much rather draw attention to my Savior and His Gospel then some profession of faith.

So, I found it odd that my local church would celebrate this anniversary by holding an "evangelistic outreach". I applaud them for attempting to hold some type of outreach (a concept fairly foreign to the Russian church). The music was exceptional, a short video on the history of the Baptist church in Russia was shown, a special speaker shared the Gospel (of sorts) and a testimony was given. But none-church-goers didn't exactly flock to the 400 years of "Baptism" celebration.

I understand that my Baptist friends are tired of humiliation. They desperately wish to clear their name of ridiculous misconceptions. They want people to understand what Baptists are really like. I am happy that my fellow brothers and sisters celebrated their profession of faith. But I couldn't help but think the whole event really seemed to miss the point.

My prayer for Russia is not that the name of Baptists' would be cleared, but that the name of Jesus would be made famous.

Pray for Russia. Pray for her Church to know how to reach out and relate to people and clearly share the Gospel. Pray for Russian believers to seek and promote relationship not church and traditions. And, above all else, pray that no matter how inadequate we men are to be God's representatives, that He would continue to do His work of drawing people to Himself.

Good Mood

I'm not exactly sure why I'm in an extra good mood today. Maybe it's because:

I feel much better having recovered from an icky cold

There's a ton of people praying for me and supporting me

I calculated my financial support and am OVER 100%!!!!!

Relient K is rockin' my socks off right now

My God is eternal and unchanging no matter how temporal and changing the world is in which I live

God is my friend, parent, guide, comforter, redeemer AND He's ALWAYS in the same time zone

The news is disheartening, BUT it reminds me that the King of kings is coming quickly!

My you find yourself in a good mood today too. Having trouble? Start by thinking about the fact that God wants to bless you right now :)

Productively time in the waiting room

Usually when in a waiting room I grab some out-of-date magazine, flip pages and skim the pictures. It's a real busy, productive time, right?

Today I made a list of things I needed to accomplish and then estimated how much time it would take to do each of the tasks. I calculated that these tasks for the day would take me about 14 hours which needed to be accomplished in the next 10 hours if I was going to make the church youth group meeting that would last until 10pm. By looking at how often I write blogs, you can see that I don't have a lot of spare time on my hands.

In this stage I'm in of being a full-time student of culture here in Siberia, it looks and feels like a long road ahead. I'm over half way done with formal studies of the Russian language, yet will forever be working on improving my grammar, vocabulary and accent. My plans, taking me to the Republic of Tuva, are full of even further study – not of Russian but of the Tuvan people, culture and language. To my knowledge there are no programs or even study material for learning the Tuvan language. Even if I found an awesome teacher, it doesn't look like there is a way to live in Tuva and dedicate time solely to learning the Tuvan language (having to work or be a full-time student at a university). It's going to take extra effort and a lot of time to learn the Tuvan language.

Why dedicate so much time culture and language study? So that I can understand and communicate to a people group that God very much loves. I'm anxious to get to this point, but it looks like quite a ways in the future. This season of my life can sometimes seem like a long time of waiting.

How is it that while we're supposedly waiting to get where we're going, we have so much to do?

Could it be that we're not really in a time of waiting? Could it be that God wants to work in us today, prepare us for tomorrow and not just get us to tomorrow?

One of my pet-peeves is when people who are "waiting" for God to bring Mr/Mrs Right forget to live today or even give up on their God given desires and callings. So you'd think that I would act against this same unbiblical attitude on waiting in my own life.

Are we going to let times of waiting for answers or results hinder us from accomplishing what God has for us to learn and do now? Maybe I should stop flipping pages and skimming pictures and be productive during this valuable time in the "waiting room".

Peanut Butter Cookies