charles whittle russian church history collection

charles whittle attended georgia institute of technology and new york university's graduate school of business administration, where he earned his mba. he went on to have a full career in both information systems management and corporate planning. early in life, he became committed to christian belief and practice, he took early retirement from business and went to the soviet union as a missionary. he taught the bible and organizes congregations of christians. he also taught business at several universities. while in russia, he founded vita international, a not-for-profit publisher of christian books, and was the co-founder of the institute of theology and christian ministry, which provides graduate level instruction for church leaders. whittle retired from russia in 2005 and now lives in nashville, tennessee. during most of the twentieth century, from 1917 until 1991, the soviet union (u.s.s.r.)existed as a society built on the principals of communism. soviet communists generally enforced the practice of state atheism and sought out to punish those who resisted and openly maintained their faith. during this time, churches were burned, synagogues were destroyed, and religious leaders and evangelists were imprisoned. any version of orthodox christianitythat was allowed was closely monitored and manipulated by political figures to maintain domestic authority. despite this turmoil, the christian faith remained strong in the u.s.s.r. yvan kolesnikow was a russian-speaking canadian citizen who used radio as a method of evangelism and started several russian-speaking ministries in quebec throughout the 1970s and 80s. kolesnikow forwarded the letters in this collection to charles whittle. as a child, kolesnikow and his father spent several years in labor camps in the u.s.s.r. because of their christian faith, which was rejected in communist russia. later in his life, kolesnikow wrote various books on the christian faith and delivered sermonsn which were broadcast via radio into several countries worldwide, including the soviet union. hunter station church of christ in montgomery, alabama, supported kolesnikow throughout his career. the members of the congregation provided resources for printing, distributing, and broadcasting his works.

sources: https://religionandpolitics.org/2018/10/16/russias-journey-from-orthodoxy-to-atheism-and-back-again/ http://www.dalnetarchive.org:8080/handle/11061/2276