Mission Bulgaria Week 10
Week 10 – October 21-27, 2001 Sofia, BULGARIA
Greetings from Bulgaria: This Sunday we passed the 5,000 mark of lessons printed and given through the Sunday School Pilot Program. The lessons so far have included topics from the Declaration of Faith on articles 7-10, 13 containing subjects on water baptism, second coming, holiness, baptism in the Holy Spirit, etc. The topics were selected upon the current necessity for teaching for the Central Church of God. The results have been accordingly satisfactory.
Several thousands of lessons have been freely given to regular church members. This has already increased the attendance for the Sunday morning worship with several hundred people. The people come earlier than 10 am in order to listen to the lessons and do not get there as late as 10:15-10:20 as it was earlier, which use to create great confusion especially when several hundred people had to find a place to sit in the middle of worship. The spiritual impact over the services is also evident, as we have had people healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit each Sunday. This creates an excellent opportunity for the growth of the church and enriches its life tremendously. The lessons have had a great impact in several churches beside the Central Church of God. We have sent them as a test program to all churches in the Sofia region, as well as churches as far as Yablanitza and Pravetz. The vision is to create a system through which all lessons will be published and sent to all local churches weekly. At the end of the Pilot Program all Sunday School lessons will be gathered in one booklet which will be published for the needs of all churches nationally. This process will continue to become a national event with new lessons each year. The first book will also contain the lessons on the book of Revelation, which I am presently writing and teaching on Wednesday evenings at the Central Church of God. For the past month we have progressed to Revelation chapter 6.
The work this week also included a trip to my hometown Yambol, in Southern Bulgaria. We traveled through some 40 towns and villages to inspect the work of the already existing churches and to check on the opportunity for new church congregations being started in the next 6 to 12 months. For me personally, having in mind the heavy economical crises in Bulgaria, the results were really encouraging. I am encouraged because God is still working in Bulgaria.
The National Student Movement, which works under the supervision of the Bulgarian Church of God and also turned their results of the work they have accomplished through the past quarter. According to their report 6,000 New Testaments have been given to students (4,000 in Sofia and 2,000 elsewhere), 70 have received Christ as Savior, and 14 have joined the organization.
Mission Bulgaria Week 9
Week 9 – October 13-20, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Christian Greetings from Bulgaria:
A main priority for me has become the Sunday School project given to me by the National Overseer Pavel Ignatov and the Bulgarian Church of God Council of Ministers. The pilot program already has six lessons on the Declaration of Faith, which are in the process of being published and given to all local Church of God congregations. Our vision for education on a national level includes the developing, publishing and distribution of this National Sunday School Program for the Bulgarian Church of God. For the past two months, since its beginning, the pilot program has been implemented in several local congregations including the Central Church of God in Sofia where it has been taught each Sunday morning prior to the worship service by myself.
The future of this project is its fulfillment as a National Sunday School Program for training and discipling of the members of the local congregation. Since the Bulgarian Church of God has never had a Sunday School Program before in its history, this present project represents the effort of the church for education on a national level, which is accessible by members of the church of all ethnic groups and educational levels. The development of the program in Bulgaria will include the training of Sunday School teachers/ministers as well.
Every called minister in Bulgaria must pastor a church. My short-term pastoral objective consists of local and distant work. The first is connected my job as an associate pastor at the Central Bulgarian Church of God, where every Wednesday I present a lesson from a 12-part seminar on the Book of Revelation. These lessons will also become a part of the Sunday School literature. My distant short-term goal includes pastoring the Pravetz Church of God due to the sudden leave of the pastor there. I have developed a team with which I will travel each week and hold services in the town. My work there is more than a duty, since the church in Pravetz is the church where I first began perching and pastored my first youth group.
Finally, as a bridge between the religious and social activities of the church, comes the ministry of chaplaincy. More than twenty Bulgarian Church of God congregations feed homeless men, women and children daily. The Central Church of God in Sofia alone provides daily lunch and basic medical care for more than 500 people. With the finishing of the new building for the Central Church of God, the ministry in Sofia will increase tremendously, and will include the care and education of more than 160 orphan children from the Sofia area. In this work, I have found my training as a chaplain extremely helpful. Therefore, under the patronage of Dr. Robert Crick and Pastor Pavel Ignatov, I have dedicated time and efforts to work toward the establishing of a Chaplaincy Commission in Bulgaria for the purposes of training and endorsing active ministers for social context establishments such as social centers, hospitals and the Bulgarian army.
My further work has daily included a few hours as coordinator at the Bulgarian Church of God Headquarters in Sofia and the participation of the last four crusades organized in the cities of Lom, Samokov, Varna and Sofia. The numbers total to more than 300 saved and 450 healed. Thank you for your continuous support and may the Lord bless you richly. Please remember us in your prayers!
Mission Bulgaria Week 8
Week 8 – October 7-13, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA
I just returned from a crusade in the largest auditoriums in Sofia and in the town of Samokov where we have the largest Gipsy church on the Balkans (the congregation passes 1,500). We have seen the glory of God real among the people.
On Saturday we had two meetings in the largest auditorium in Bulgaria at the National Palace of Culture. More than 7,000 attended as people came with buses from their local churches. More than 150 Church of God congregations were represented, as many of the visitors were from other denominations as well. We preached, prayed worshiped and ministered to the people throughout the whole day, as the Lord confirmed his Word with miracles and healings.
The services continued on Sunday as well. The concluding meeting was on Sunday morning. At the later service more than 300 men, women and children gave their lives to Christ. About 60 of them were children under the age of 12. More than 450 people testified that they have been healed since we started the series of crusades four weeks ago. The most amazing fact is that God touched children who testified of their healing.
God is bringing a new Pentecost in Bulgaria. We are continuing to experience revival through out the whole country. I want to report that the revival, which started after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, is continuing with new strength today. God is pouring the latter rain of His Spirit over the Bulgarian Nation and the Bulgarian Church of God.
Mission Bulgaria Week 7
Week 7 – September 30 – October 6, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Christian Greetings. Please be assured of our prayers for the people of the United States during this time of war and conflict. We are asking God for the best outcome of this situation. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
IN BULGARIA: I just have returned from a crusade meeting in Varna, Bulgaria.
Varna is the third largest city in Bulgaria. It was an inhabited place even before the Greeks established the colony of Odessos there about 580 B.C. Later, under the Romans and their successors, the Slavs, Varna became a major port trading with Constantinople, Venice and Dubrovnik. In 1393 it was captured by the Turks, who made it an important military centre.
Nowadays it is the main port for both naval and commercial shipping and, adjacent as it is to the coastal resorts of Golden Sands, St. Constantine (Drouzhba) and Albena, it has a cosmopolitan atmosphere. Sailors on shore-leave in unfamiliar ceremonial uniforms, mingle with foreign tourists and locals as they promenade along shady boulevards, lined by dignified 19th and early 20th century buildings. The approximate population is 700,000 people but because of its location during the summer more than 2 million from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and even from Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
We had two meetings in Varna – on Saturday night in the largest auditorium in the city and on Sunday morning in the Evangelical Pentecostal Church in town. More than 3,000 attended. The Lord touched us all, as the Gospel was preached. Many were healed and testified in the services. A felling of an old time revival filed the hearts of the people as the Glory of the Lord filled the places where we met.
In Sofia a similar crusade is planned for this coming weekend. We have reserved the largest auditorium in Bulgaria – National Palace of Culture #1 for the meetings, expecting more than 12,000 to attend. Our prayer is for God to bring revival again in Bulgaria.
Evangelization meetings, at the end of October at the Yablanitza region, and at the end of November at the Lom-Vidin region, are planned as part of this crusade. Please pray for me as I travel there.
Please, also support me in prayer for the church in Pravetz. This is the church where I first started preaching and worked as a youth pastor for 3 years in the beginning of my ministry. The pastor there is pressed by critical financial situation to move to Israel and work there. He will be leaving in a few weeks, and the church will have no one to take care of it. The Lord has laid it on my heart to begin traveling to Pravetz twice a week and pastor the church there. Unfortunately, at this time I do not have the means of doing this, but please support me in your prayer, as I wait on the Lord for direction.
