In 1996, just 5 years after Ukraine gained its independence from the USSR, Kyiv Theological Seminary opened its door to its first students. Since then, KTS has prepared students for many different ministries in Ukraine, including Pastoral Ministries, Church Planting, Biblical Studies, Christian Education, Biblical Counseling, Youth Ministries, and Missions. KTS has also developed Master’s degree programs in Biblical Studies, Youth Ministry, and Biblical Counseling. And a number of our graduates have gone on to complete other Masters and Doctoral degrees in Europe, Great Britain, and America. But most of all, KTS has excelled in training and preparing Ukrainians for church ministries in Ukraine.
It has been my joy to be part of this ministry of teaching and training since September 1996 – that will be 25 years this fall. I first came to Kyiv to teach at the end of September 1996, and I have been teaching there ever since. It has been my joy to teach some of the best students in the world during these years! Many of these students have returned to KTS to teach and direct many of its programs. Even the current President of KTS, Ruslan Khmyz, was one of my first students at KTS! Eight (8) former students are now professors at the seminary and four (4) serve as Program Directors at the seminary. Five (5) more are serving as Assistant Directors for the various seminary programs. One former student, Vitalii Mariash. is now our Academic Dean and another, Eduard Borysov, is the Director for our Talbot Seminary Master’s Degree program. (In addition to those serving at KTS, some of the first graduates are also teaching and serving as program directors and professors at Ukrainian Baptist Seminary in Lviv). It is amazing to look back and see how God has raised up leaders from these students who are now teaching and training the future leaders for the church of Ukraine!
So, this year, KTS is celebrating its 25th Anniversary – 25 years of teaching and preparing leaders for the Ukrainian Church. What a joy it has been to be here all of these 25 years to witness the growth of the campus, and the addition of various programs, as well as the personal growth of the students! So, this month, I thought I might give you a few highlights of my time teaching at Kyiv Theological Seminary over the past 25 years.
I was first contacted by President Anatoliy Prokopchuk by email about the possibility of coming to teach at KTS. When I arrived in Kyiv in 1996, I was welcomed by a missionary family who had just arrived in Kyiv a couple of weeks before – Todd and Kelly Marshall. They and their four girls did not even have their own apartment – they lived in a couple of rooms in the seminary across the hall from my room. They immediately invited me over, shared meals with me and took me on a short tour of downtown Kyiv. We immediately became dear friends. I returned to Kyiv to teach usually 4 times a year and the Marshalls were always welcoming me to their home and treating me like family. In fact, I almost always traveled to teaching at KTS the end of September every year. That meant that, for many years, I was never home in the states for my birthday. But Todd and Kelly didn’t let me go without a birthday celebration. Their oldest daughter, Erin, also had a birthday at the end of September so we often celebrated our birthdays together. One of the highlights of my time at KTS was time spent with Todd Marshall and his family. Todd was not only a great teacher and mentor for many, but he and Kelly modeled biblical hospitality for me and for many others who spent time teaching at KTS.
There are too many stories to tell from the last 25 years, but I want to share a couple. My first time teaching in 1996 almost did not happen! I came to Kyiv after teaching for two weeks in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. I made one big mistake – I forgot to pack my teaching notes for the class in Kyiv! My wife, Debbie, spent all day Saturday at Cornerstone Bible Fellowship faxing my notes so I could teach on Monday morning. It was quite an experience because, back then, the phone lines were not very good, and the connection was lost about every 10 minutes. But we kept at it and eventually got everything faxed so I could teach.
One scary experience occurred in 1999. Ukraine was struggling financially, and many were talking about returning to communism. I was concerned, every trip, about the possibility of a military coup happening during one of my trips. One evening, when I was preparing my lectures for the next day, I heard explosions all over the city. I feared the worst, gathered my passport and tried to figure out how I would get out of the country. I went outside and asked some students what was happening. They excitedly replied, “Ukraine just tied last year’s World Cup champion France in football (soccer).” People were just celebrating all over town. I didn’t tell them what I thought was happening – I just said “congratulations” and went back to my preparation, still a little shaken by the night’s events!
Another interesting moment was teaching the Doctrine of Grace to Denominational Directors. In 2002, KTS realized that some of the older Denominational Directors were feeling intimidated by the theological training of the KTS graduates. So, we decided to offer a Masters of Christian Ministry to train denominational leaders. In the Spring of 2002, Todd Marshal and I co-taught a class called “Issues in Spiritual Growth” in which we looked at various issues in the Christian life. One issue was sanctification and, as we examined some historical models of sanctification, we discussed legalism in American Fundamentalism in the early 20th Century.
This set off a firestorm of disagreement from some of the directors who felt we were using this to accuse Ukrainian churches of legalism. We explained that we were simply trying to show how grace needed to be the foundation of not only salvation but also of sanctification. We examined passage after passage and answered every question, but this still did not help. Some of the students went to President Anatoliy Prokopchuk and requested a meeting together. They wanted the class cancelled but Anatoliy told them to be patient and listen. The second week was better. At the end of the class, Todd said that we would take this last hour to let students share what they had learned from this class. The first student to speak up had been the most vocal against our teaching during the class. We feared the worst as he stood up. Trembling and weeping, he began to share how this class had shown him what true grace was and that he was thankful that we were willing to show grace by our attitudes in teaching them, even amidst much opposition. One after another, students stood and shared similar responses. We had a small revival meeting that day as we celebrated together the miracle of God’s grace in all our lives!
Another joy was being part of the organizational meetings to start an extension of Talbot Seminary in Kyiv so that we could offer an American accredited Master’s Degree. Beginning in 2005, we met in Mark and Bonnie Saucy’s apartment a number of times with Dennis Dirks to discuss what we would need to do to have such a program here in Kyiv. The first classes began in 2007, and about 30 students enter this degree program each year and a number of the graduates are teaching at KTS and other theological institutions in Ukraine. As I mentioned earlier, Eduard Borysov, a KTS graduate, is now the Director of our Kyiv Talbot program, and another student, Volodymyr Yakim, (who was also a student of mine in Belgium) is also teaching in the Talbot program.
What have been my favorite classes to teach? That is a difficult question to answer. I have enjoyed teaching Biblical classes most of all because I love teaching the Bible. But I rarely get to teach them because we have other professors that teach the Biblical Studies classes. I definitely enjoy teaching theology classes also, but I would have to say that my two favorite classes would have to be teaching World History and Critical Thinking.
World History is my favorite because I love history and I want others to love history also! But teaching World History at KTS has a special place in my heart because of the difficulty of teaching it at KTS. In 2008, the Academic Dean, Sergei Tereschenko, asked me about teaching World History in a 40 hour class. At first, I told him it would be impossible – Church History is only about 2000 years of history and we teach it in 2 sections (80 hours)! But he encouraged me to see what I could come up with. I worked on it and finally figured out a way to teach the class (over 6000 years of history) in 40 hours. Oksana Pros and I worked diligently to get the right translations of all these events, and we found ways to make the class manageable and memorable for the students. One student, who had university degrees in history and had been an “Olympic champion” in history (an old Soviet competition) said that he had never learned so much in all his classes and that the class helped him to put ideas and events into categories that made it much easier to remember. I hope the other students felt that way too.
Currently, my favorite class is Research and Critical Thinking which every student takes in the Spring of their first year as a student. I have taught the class with Natalie Tereschenko since 2009, and we have loved seeing students learn to critically evaluate ideas and then to write in clear, organized thoughts. We love showing students how clear thinking and communicating is essential for all areas of ministry, including preaching and teaching.
Of course, one special highlight of my 25 years at KTS would be meeting Katya when she was working at the seminary as the registrar. I often had to come to her office to print out copies and to get other materials. So, early on, we developed a friendship. Eventually, I became involved in helping her teach some youth classes at her mother’s sport club in Kyiv. Through a number of years our relationship grew, and we decided to get married in 2010. Katya and I are grateful that our work at the seminary brought us together! After our children were born, Katya decided to stay home with the girls, but she misses the seminary and the fellowship with her colleagues there.
In short, Kyiv Theological Seminary has had a tremendous impact on our lives. We love the seminary’s commitment to training students to be biblical leaders for the church of Ukraine. 25 years have gone quickly, and we would not trade this time for anything! It has been a blessing to be part of God’s work here in Ukraine!
Traveling Home …
We made a decision this month to travel back to the states at the end of April to spend a couple of months visiting family and friends. We decided to do this for a number of reasons, mostly related to COVID issues. First, we were originally planning to return in the fall, but we are concerned that there might be COVID spikes in the fall that might prevent us from coming. Second, once the US finishes its vaccinations, there is talk of requiring a “vaccine passport” for international travel. We are hoping to not take the vaccine, at least not right away, so we can see its effects. But if they require the vaccine for travel, that might be a problem for us. Third, we are still awaiting word on Katya’s mother and grandmother’s possible immigration to the US. Things have been on hold due to the COVID quarantines here, but now that the Embassy is open again, we need to be prepared. If they are granted immigration, then they would need to leave in the fall, and we would need to be here to help. Finally, we received an unexpected extra gift this month that should cover a little more than half of what we need for the whole trip. We don’t know what our finances will be like in the fall. So, it seems like this is a good opportunity for us to come back for a visit.
We are hoping to see as many people as possible, but we will probably need to see most people at church when we visit. We have not seen family for nearly 3 years, and we want to maximize our time with them. We are not sure how long it will be before we have our next trip. We hope to see many of you, but we will probably be limited in being able to get together with many people privately. We still need to pass the COVID test for flying 3 days before our flights so pray that we will stay healthy and our tests will be negative.
Teaching Ministry …
I am still working on final papers from my winter Theology class. I hope to have these finished by the end of the month. I have one more class to teach in May – Research and Critical Thinking. Because of COVID concerns, Natalia Tereschenko and I will be teaching this class on-line again. Fortunately, unlike last year, almost everything is already prepared. I will be making changes this month to get everything updated and posted for this year. Then Natalie and I will be meeting with students by Zoom once a day while I am in the states. Fortunately, our meeting times will be early in the morning in the US so I will just have to get up a little early for these meetings. But at least I will still be able to teach the class this year.
Family Times …
In our home school, we have been learning about the slavery and the Civil War. It has been instructional to remember one of the saddest times in our history. But it is also helpful to remind the girls that all men are created equal. They have listened to the Gettysburg Address several times and liked how brief Lincoln was! Other politicians could learn from him!
Katya and I were really shocked one morning when I told the girls, “Today, we will be studying about Harriet Tubman.” Nadia said, “But we already know about her!” I asked how since we had never talked about her before, and Nadia said I read about her in one book. She promptly ran and got the book and turned to the pages about Harriet Tubman. We have a reading time every morning and they can read whatever they want. We were thrilled to see that they are learning in so many ways!
In addition to their daily reading time, we also read to them from some great books. We are enjoying the Little House on the Prairie series and just finished another of the Chronicles of Narnia books. We also started reading a new series called the Ten Commandment Mysteries – kind of like a Nancy Drew series with a biblical twist. We love their love for reading!
In addition to their school work, the girls love picking out songs on the piano. We hope we can find some lessons for them in the fall. They also love working with Katya and her mom learning how to sew.
The weather here has finally become a little warmer. It looks like we will be above freezing now until fall. We know there can still be some cold days and even more snow (often in April and even occasionally in May), but it is nice to put away the thermal underwear! Warmer weather means time for some outdoor chores like painting the fruit trees. Even Kristina got to help out this year. It also means we get to take some walks in the park.
Health Issues …
I continue to improve physically but still facing some problems. I am starting to walk again every day and I can see how much stamina I have lost over the winter. Also, I decided that I wanted to see if I had any COVID antibodies, so I did the blood serum analysis. The results came back strongly positive. I had 5.03 when 1.5 is considered very high! The clinic workers said they had never seen such high results. That’s good news. But I really don’t know how I got them. I have had mild cases of the flu about three times this year but never suspected that I had COVID. Katya was tested too because we assumed she would have antibodies since she was always around me. But hers came back negative. So, I am doing better overall but I am still working on a number of issues including cardio rehab and gastro issues. Thank you for all your prayers for my health!
Pray for Ukraine …
Thank you for remembering to pray for Ukraine. The situation here continues to be stable, but we never know what will happen next. Our soldiers in the east continue to fight off attacks daily and soldiers still die weekly. Also pray for our students and chaplains who continue to serve in areas near the front lines.
We are continuing to pray for the US and the many issues that are putting women, children and all Americans at risk with many of the Presidential decrees. But I am increasing concerned too about Joe Biden’s health and mental faculties. His press conference was very sad and deeply concerning. We are praying for him, but also praying for the direction of our nation.
We continue to be amazed at your support and prayer for us. Most of you have been supporting this ministry for nearly 25 years and you were praying for me when I first boarded the plane to head to Russia and then to Ukraine in 1996. You have made a special impact on my life, and through this ministry, you have impacted the lives and ministries of many students, pastors and chaplains over the last 25 years! Thank you for your service for the Kingdom of God and especially for the people of Ukraine!
By His Grace,
Jim, Katya, Kristina and Nadia
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