EVERYTHING COMING UP RUSSIAN

The theme of this week is definitely Russian. First, we attended a picnic at the home of our friend Sergey Rakhuba of Russian Ministries and met many wonderful Russian friends, including Alexei Dadochkin of St. Petersburg Christian University. Did you know there was such a school? I didn't, but you can read more about it at www.spbcu.ru (like me you may have to click on the English button :) Alexei and others from Russia and surrounding countries are in Wheaton attending a six-week conference. He is bringing one of his colleagues, Sergei Brishtel, who works with Trans World Radio to my office for a visit tomorrow.

Then yesterday in Cleveland at our regular Monday recording session for THE PUBLIC SQUARE, we were joined in the studio for a lengthy interview with KGB Major General (retired, thankfully) Oleg Kalugin. What an amazing man. He was the head of Soviet counterintelligence in this country for many years and can tell spine-tingling stories of just how effective they were in infiltrating the U.S. society and government. He himself had a cover here as a Fulbright Scholar and Russian journalist. When he ran afoul of Putin's government, he moved to this country and eventually became a U.S. citizen. His book, "The First Directorate" will soon be released in a re-titled second edition. Our interviews will come up next week on THE PUBLIC SQUARE. General Kalugin is a self-described atheist, but we dialogued about religion and Christianity from several different angles.

Finally-- and this is also about Russia-- Sergey Rakhuba passed on to me today just how urgent the need for financial support is for the summer camp program in Russia and surrounding countries. Thousands of children attend these evangelistic camps, but the cost of living in Russia and the Ukraine has gone up 25-30% making it even more difficult to buy food, etc. $50 will send one child to one of these camps for a week. To help with this urgent need, go to their website.

Things have changed so dramatically in Russia in my life time. And it is still changing-- in both good and bad ways. Keep praying for this land and its dear people.