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Clay is President of ERSU Seminary -- the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine.
ERSU has been in operation since 2000, although seminary training was begun by its predecessors in the mid-1990's. We keep current English news here, but ERSU has its own site at this address: www.ersu.org
In ERSU seminary, we are extremely thankful for our partnership with the Reformed Church of the Netherlands (liberated), for the professors from Kampen University who have come to teach, and for the many donors and prayer partners who have helped make ERSU what it is today.
On May 1st, the Netherlands celebrated the coronation of a new king and queen, King Willem-Alexander and his wife, Queen M?xima.
Paul asked Timothy to pray for political leaders:
"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."
(I Timothy 2:1-4)
May God prosper the Netherlands, giving her good leadership and expanding the Gospel in her borders and beyond. Congratulations to our Dutch Colleagues and Partners!
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Darlene and I are thankful to have "rounded the bend" in our long road trip, sharing about the seminary and our work in Ukraine. we are thankful to be leaving the winter corridor, having only been 'snowed in' for a day in western Virginia. We've been on the road, living out of the car for a month, now. People ask us where we live, and we can say honestly that we are "homeless on two continents", since we gave up our Odessa apartment, preparing to move to Kiev.
We've visited 12 churches and many individual supporters on this one trip from Mississippi to Pennsylvania to Virginia, and now we are headed back south, hoping to get back to MS by mid-March. We've also visited former missionaries and visitors to Ukraine, as well as former ERSU Professors Eric Huber & Rod Gorter! It was a great reunion!
But we have also been recruiting professors for seminary! We have visited Reformed Seminary, Faith Seminary, and Westminster Seminary! We are asking people to pray for a MIRACLE: we need a young person (perhaps 35) with a PhD (or ThM) who has a gift to teach and some church experience, who knows Russian or Ukrainian (or is willing to learn it), and is willing to move his family to Kiev and live on a pastor's salary... and to go raise that salary himself! That's a tall order! But the Lord can do it!
Please pray as we continue to seek regular supporters for ERSU seminary. Pledges and donations can be sent to MTW by credit card: https://donations.mtw.org/donate/AddDesignation.aspx?No=95995
or By mailing a check payable to MTW:
MTW Donations, P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
Please include in memo: “ERSU seminary Project #95995”
Tel. (678) 823-0004
In service of the Resurrected Lord of All the Earth,
Dr. Clay Quarterman
President, ERSU
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Kyiv, January 18, 2013
In November & December, we visited Texas and Florida churches, as well as Mississippi churches – 17 in all! We also visited seminaries, individual supporters, and IIIrd Millennium Ministries, where I gave some filmed interviews for future video classes. It was a delight to be in Jackson for the holidays, visiting old school buddies and spending Christmas with my mom and family, and visiting family in Texas and Memphis. It was especially fun to watch our 5-yr-old and 3-yr-old granddaughters experience the joy of Christmas!
After the holidays, however, we received the shocking news of the death of our missionary colleague, Cindie Pike, in Ukraine. We went to Colorado Springs for the memorial service, and God granted us precious time with her husband Mel Pike. Please pray for God’s continued comfort and guidance at such a time.
From there, I flew directly to Kyiv. I just finished teaching our seminary course on “Leadership and Communications” – 34 hours of class in one week! But at the end of class, one student pastor responded: “We need to provide this as a seminar for more of our pastors! Seminary is about more than just theory!” Indeed.
We have 6 inches of snow on the ground, so we’ve stayed in one building all week! It’s really like a monastery! It has been great to see our seminary staff and students again, and to hear of people signing up from around the world for our new online Bible College. We even had a Russian student sign up from the USA!
Please continue to pray for the family of our Dean of Students, whose daughter Amy is suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), which is seriously disrupting their family life and ministry. If nothing is resolved, they will have to leave the field. We love them and greatly need their help!
I’ll be here another week, while we have Staff meetings and a meeting of the Board. But I’m praying for a few hours of quiet after such a hectic and draining time in our lives.
Next week, I head back to the USA for a full schedule of travel – leaving immediately from Mississippi for Alabama, Tennessee, SC, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, NC, and Georgia! WHEW! If I can ever retire, I’ll never want to travel again!
We are raising funds for ourselves and the seminary, and we are recruiting more professors for seminary! We need your prayers for safe travel and for effective visits. Thanks for upholding us in our wild adventures!
Yours for the Expansion of the Kingdom,
Clay Quarterman
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- OT – Historical Books – Will Traub
- PT – Communication and leadership – Clay Quarterman
- CH – Middle Ages and Reformation – Jos Colijn
Please pray for all the logistics, for health and safety in travel, and for effective teaching and learning, as well as good fellowship among the students. Iron sharpens iron.
We will also hold an important Board Meeting on May 31st, where we will discuss the future of ERSU. Please join us in prayer as we seek the Lord's will.
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ERSU Seminary has finally launched the first full course of its online bible college! We have partnered with IIIrd Millennium Ministries to provide their Russian video translations in a structured format, along with outlines, readings, quizzes, and tests to spread Reformed theology across the Russian-speaking world. We give our thanks to our colleague Alister Torrens for pulling this together.
The first course is on "The Apostolic Creed", presenting a great introduction to the standard Christian statement that unites Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox. (http://college.ersu.org/)
This wonderful, historic statement of faith can provide a great foundation not only for dialogue with other Christians, and a solid platform for our own Reformed doctrine, but even in Evangelism! A Muslim came to church last week, asking about the differences between these divisions of Christianity. How wonderful it was to be able to avoid such sticky details and tell him of that which UNITES all Christians! There is indeed only one Gospel, and it is richly stated in this creed and in its Reformed explanation put forth in these videos and materials.
Please pray for the Lord to bring good online students to us -- people have already contacted us from Ukraine, Israel, and central Asia! Please also pray for finances, so we can continue to prepare other courses in this great curriculum. You can watch some of the videos here: http://vimeo.com/evrefsem
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