Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

was critical of “Christian propaganda campaigns’,® such as traditional revival weeks, »° Haljand Uuem6Ois, “Effataa-arkamine’, p. 24. ® Haljand Uuem6Ois, “Effataa-arkamine’, p. 24. $! Statistiline tilevaade usuasjade olukorrast Eesti NSV-s 1986. aastal [A statistical survey of the religious situation in the Estonian SSR in 1986]. Aruanded ja tilevaated 1971-1990, Archive of the Commissioner of the CRA. ° Jiri Puusaag, “Sajandivanune Tallinna ‘Kalju’ kogudus” [One century old Tallinn ‘Kaljw’ church], Logos, no. 3 (1984), p. 6. % Jiri Puusaag, private correspondence (16 August 2002). T. Pilli personal archive. 156 and also to an extent of Effataa-style evangelism. Some younger intellec- tually oriented church members made efforts to provide reading mate- rial for culturally alert youth, creating the typewritten collections Jaljed [Footprints] (1979-1980) and Lugemisvihik [Reader] (1987-1988). These volumes included, for example, a short article about Federico Fellini's Orchestra Rehearsal,“ comments about Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot,” which had been staged in Estonia by a promising producer Lembit Peterson, as well as a “meditation” inspired by pianist Rein Rannap’s 14 April 1979 concert at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn.® Lugemisvihik included two choruses from T. S. Eliot's The Rock, translated into Estonian by young philologist Anne Lange.” The idea that music, film and literature that was not directly “evangelical” could play a role in the search for the rele- vance of the Christian message in a socialist setting was fairly uncommon among Estonian ECB believers, who as a rule tended to create their own “prayer house subculture” with few links to the wider context. This period included another significant evangelistic episode: Billy Grahams visit to Tallinn. Though a “one-off event’, Billy Grahams 1984 visit was “a gift from God” for the Estonian Baptists’ centennial year, as Jiiri Puusaag, Graham’ interpreter in Estonia, has said.® Graham preached in the Lutheran Dome Cathedral as well as in the Oleviste Church. In Oleviste his sermon was entitled “Hope for the Future.” Though he was advised by state authorities not to make an invitation or altar call in Oleviste, and he left quickly after he had preached in the church (which was packed with approximately three thousand people), Grahams visit brought Baptists into the Estonian mass media. Perhaps for the first time in the Soviet period, Baptists were depicted by the press in a positive light.”” For the everyday challenges in Estonian local churches, Graham’s model for evangelism offered little help. However, his influence as a Christian example and writer was significant. “ “Filmikommentaar Moskvast” [Film Comments from Moscow], Jaljed II (1979), pp. 3-6. * “Kui oodatu ei tule...” [When the Awaited One Does Not Come], Jédljed II (1979), pp. 27-40. % “Ules, iiles, jarve uppunud kellad!” [Up, Up, You Bells That Are Drowned in