*This article is the final entry in our series leading up to this year’s Giving Day, taking place today (Dec. 3).*   

One final way New Orleans Seminary has benefited from recent fundraising success is the establishment of new student scholarships. 

Because of recent fundraising success, NOBTS has established several new scholarship opportunities for various students in the last several years. For many of these students, scholarships are an answer to prayer and evidence of God’s call on their lives.  

One such example is Andrii Mykhailiuk, a first-year MDIV student originally from Ukraine.  

Mykhailiuk came to the United States a few years ago and attended college in Montana. His family currently stays in Germany as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues.  

When looking for a place to take his next step, connections to NOBTS continued to pop up.  

“When I was coming to the end of my last semester in Montana, I was searching for my step of what to do and where God wanted me to be,” Mykhailiuk said.  

“It felt like God didn’t want me to go back to Ukraine yet, and I did not have a desire to go to Germany.  

“I talked to the president of my school (Montana Christian College), I talked to the pastor at the church where I did my internship and they both had connections to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I had a list of five places to potentially attend seminary, but for some reason when I talked to people who I appreciate a lot, New Orleans was popping up more than other seminaries.” 

Mykhailiuk decided to visit campus to learn more about the school. After spending some time around NOBTS, his desire to attend only grew. 

Upon returning to Montana, he continued to have a strong desire to attend graduate school but was looking for a way to do so.  

Soon after his campus visit, he encountered a group of visitors at his college. He began talking with one of them about his goal to attend New Orleans Seminary after college and explained he was hoping to find a scholarship.  

This person he was talking to ended up being Dr. Blake Newsom, director of the Caskey Center at NOBTS.

“For me it was just like a final dot on things,” Mykhailiuk said. “I don’t believe in luck or random things. I believe in God providing for us. For me it was God just showing me ‘you have to go to New Orleans.’” 

Mykhailiuk said he is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend NOBTS and learn more about Gospel ministry.

“There is a huge need for the Gospel in New Orleans, and people from the school don’t just sit here but go out and share the good news to people,” he said. “That is the most encouraging thing for me. I didn’t just want to just get a degree; I wanted to really use it. I wanted to not just get knowledge, but get an actual experience from God.

“It (the scholarship) is not just a blessing to me but an answer to prayer. Without it, I would not be able to attend the school and if I wasn’t able to go to school I would have to go back to Germany and eventually to Ukraine. It’s a miracle. It’s a huge opportunity for me that I’m trying to use as much as I can.” 

Another example of a student receiving a new scholarship is Jonathan Victorian, an NOBTS MDIV student.  

Victorian, affectionately called “Vic” by his NOBTS family, moved to New Orleans a couple of years ago to work with a friend’s business.  

Through his work Victorian crossed paths with Greg Wilton, dean of Leavell College. The two began a friendship and bonded over playing basketball.  

Wilton invited Victorian to campus to attend a chapel service. Victorian said he was “blown away,” and began thinking about what a future in ministry would potentially look like.  

“I had always dealt with my call to ministry and fully committing to that,” Victorian said.  

“I told Greg as we were walking to lunch ‘if the Lord wants me here, He’s going to have to be the one that’s able to do it.’ It had to be something where it takes all my excuses off the table of why I can’t commit to seminary.” 

“As soon as I said that, Greg said the seminary just happened to get some new scholarships spaces in. The scholarships were for the exact program that I was considering doing if I ended up going to seminary. We had never had that conversation before, and I had never told him that before. I got chills in that moment. I knew right then and there that God had answered my prayer.” 

Victorian expressed his gratitude for those that have donated to make scholarships like his possible and encouraged others to consider donating to the seminary themselves. 

“Without this scholarship, I know for a fact I wouldn’t be at seminary right now,” Victorian said.  

“Words would do no justice to what someone being obedient to God in regards to giving was able to do for me. Somebody may be giving or wrestling with giving, and they have no idea of the effect or the impact that seed sown will have in that person’s life. In my situation, I didn’t know someone had already given, and the timing was just so perfect. 

"I would say to anybody wrestling with giving, just give because you don’t know what God’s going to do. And whatever God does, is far better than anything we could ever try to plan out on our own.” 

This year’s Giving Day goal is $500,000. To donate, click here.