Cup & Cross Ministries in the Church of God News
The work of Cup & Cross Ministries has been again recognized by the World Missions Media Department. Two reports were published in reference to our summer revival campaign in Bulgaria (http://www.cogwm.org/news.cfm?sid=3223) and the consecutive X Youth Event (http://www.cogwm.org/news.cfm?sid=3245) which we held at the Black Sea coast. Additionally, our article with observations and persecutes on the state of ministry in Bulgaria (http://www.cogwm.org/news.cfm?sid=3278) was also made available through Church of God World Mission’s website. We are thankful for this high recognition as it allows many internet visitors to become familiar with, pray for and participate in our ministry work in Bulgaria.
Roma Evangelical Killed in Bulgaria
The Bulgarian town of Samokov has launched an investigation in the death of the 17-year-old Roma boy Asparuh, who was beaten to death on Tuesday night. Four youngsters were detained Wednesday for starting up the fight that erupted between two groups of teenagers – Roma and Bulgarians – at the central square of the town. The two groups had a verbal conflict that quickly grew to a violent clash. The group of Bulgarian boys, who were later arrested is from the opposite side of town and may have never met Asparuh or his friends before before.
It is still not clear what had exactly happened that night to cause the clash between the youngsters. The only known part of the story so far is that Asparuh collapsed on the ground after a strong blow and was later declared dead by the paramedics, who arrived on the spot. The incident in which Asparuh was killed is not based on any ethnic prejudice, the Samokov authorities said Thursday, but the Roma population in the town was put on high alert. They even went out on protest.
The number of police patrols in the town was raised and gendarmerie was sent to prevent escalation of the social pressure. But Bulgaria\’s foreign minister Ivaylo Kalfin refuted on Thursday the claims that ethnic tension was building up in the country, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. Talking to reporters in the Black Sea town of Kavarna, Kalfin said last week\’s Roma revolt in Sofia and this week\’s mass brawl between Roma and Bulgarians in Samokov were not indicative of the overall situation in the country.
2008: Year of the Bible in Bulgaria
Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance, Bulgarian Bible Society and the Bulgarian Bible League are preparing to celebrate 2008 as the “Year of the Bible.” The preparation and some of the events, organized by the Bulgarian Bible Society and the Theological Faculty of Sofia University, will begin in 2007. The project will be achieved in partnership with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church in Bulgaria and the Evangelical denominations and organizations. The event purposes to uplift the role of the Bible in the Bulgarian society and raise the interest of the Bulgarians toward the Word of God.
Cup & Cross to Release New Ministry DVD
A new DVD is to be released by Cup & Cross Ministries next month. The documentary film covers the activities of the ministry in Easter Europe in the past three years with a special focus on the X Youth Event, which Cup & Cross has been holding in various Bulgarian locations for several years now. The release is a co-production of Shalom TV, the Bulgarian Faith Channel, a Bulgarian Sound Studio of Nashville and Cup & Cross’ own media team. The film will be broadcasted on Bulgarian televisions while being made available on the internet and released as a DVD.
X Event: Ten Analyses and Perspectives
by Dony & Kathryn Donev
X at the Black Sea 2007 was a spiritual breakthrough for Cup & Cross Ministries. At the same time the event served as a reality check for our abilities, strategies and expectations. As we approached the event as a spiritual encounter and experienced fully its developmental process and aftereffects, our ministry team was able to assess the advantages and downfalls of our active ministry strategy. Several observations were made.
1. The Gospel is stronger when preached to sinners who have not been saved.
2. Spiritual hunger in Bulgaria, which is expressed predominantly in the need for street evangelism and spiritual revival, has not changed or weekend in the years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. It has only shifted perspectives from a strictly postcommunist to a rather westernized postmodern context. It has become the spiritual duty of the church to discover where and how this shift has occurred and to provide pastoral care for the unchurched in the new context through all applicable means.
3. Only unconventional ways of presenting the Gospel will draw people who have not yet been drawn by conventional methods.
4. It may not be easy for conventional pastors and churches to accept new methods of preaching the Gospel. Therefore, adequate contemporary training in ministry and leadership must be proposed beforehand in order to train local churches and leaders how to recognize, embrace and utilize new waves of spiritual revival. This is indeed an obstacle which has often remained forgotten while receiving training and leadership on a weekly basis within the comfort zone of the local church.
5. Since all transitions described above are deeply rooted in one’s personal spirituality and the spirituality of the church itself, a leap of faith is needed on every level of church leadership and ministry in order for the church to be transformed back to its original image of a movement testifying of the story of Christ and witnessing how others are being transformed by the power of the story.
6. Team work based on Biblical covenant relationships is the natural continuation of the revival initiated by the Holy Spirit and a key factor in the formation of the discipleship process among the newly converted.
7. Structural flexibility of the church, designed with the purpose of transforming it from a community organization to a community movement, complete obedience to the move of the Holy Spirit, as well as training in doctrinal reformation of methods and praxis are necessary to accomplish the said transition.
8. Following of the leadership of the Holy Spirit will not only help the church to return to being a movement again, but in fact will spark, motivate and inspire movements of fragmented religious groups, churches and denominations to return to the basic mission of the church namely: salvation of eternal human souls
9. Resistance to such movements, within and without, must be accepted as a normal reaction and must be embraced as the solemn way through which new spiritual movements and fresh waves of revival come to existence.
10. Finally, personal lives, carrier goals, and ministry objectives may need to be compromised before one fully surrenders to the move of the Spirit; beyond a shadow of a doubt, however, Gods response to one’s full surrender is undoubtedly supernatural confirmation of the Word through signs, miracles and wonders while fulfilling the Missio Dei: salvation of human souls for eternity.
X 2007: A Miracle in the Making
by Kathryn N. Donev
As you walk in the garden area going to the Black Sea coastline to catch a glimpse of the sailboat exhibition, you begin to notice posters for an event. Before you are able to read any further you hear off in the distance what appears to be preparations for a concert. Your curiosity draws you closer and you inquire what will be taking place. The sound person tells you that at 7:00 o’clock sharp the Christian music group “Extremum” will be performing here at the open air sea garden auditorium.
It is only 30 minutes till 7:00 so you find a free seat on the bleacher in the back and watch as a large crowd gathers with standing room only. Then the concert begins strong. Before you realize, an hour has past and the call for intermission is given. Shortly you see something being thrown to the crowd. You run to the front and catch a small plastic bag the size of a business card. You open it and find inside a bracelet with the colors of the Bulgarian flag and the text “www.bibliata.com” embossed on the white silicone surface. Instead of returning to your seat you put on your bracelet, remain upfront and the band returns to perform another set of songs.
Twenty minutes until 9:00 pm, just as the sun is setting, a message is delivered which encourages freedom from sin and deliverance from drugs and alcohol. This message is one that you have never heard before and honestly do not think much of it at the moment. You are just interested in hearing more music. To conclude the band takes the stage for their final songs. After, the crowd cheers for more, the band comes back to perform two more songs. The lyrics proclaim “Just show me a moment in your presences” and the band has the crowd repeat after them. At 9:00 pm it’s over and you are ready to go home.
As daylight fades, you find your way back through the garden to a nearby street where you catch a taxi. During the drive you revisit the delivered message of “being free”. You are still a bit confused and want to know more. You look down to the bracelet you put on and before taking the elevator up to your apartment block you stop at the internet café and log on to the website address “Bibliata.com.” As you surf the site you find that you can read the text of the Bible, listen to sermons about the Bible, and even download music from the concert you just attended. At this site’s consortium is where you begin to have your questions answered.
Church ministry must reach beyond the church walls to the places where the oppressed, hopeless, alcoholics and addicted are found, whether that be on a street corner, a sandy beach or even the Internet highways. God\’s love has no limit and as His arms and legs neither should we, as we strive to share His love with those who so disparately need deliverance. The above account illustrates how the event, X at the Black Sea we held on July 28, 2007, may have influenced a single life, but in faith we believe that this event is only the beginning of a much larger ripple, the effects of which will be felt long after the band packed up, the sermon concluded and the sun set. A price cannot be put on this event for it was truly a priceless experience and one that occurred only by the grace of God.
Many obstacles had to be overcome and it is only a miracle that X at the Black Sea became a reality. When the mayor’s offices denied a permit, when funds and means of transportation were limited, when it seemed impossible to acquire the needed equipment and when friends said it would not work, is when God receives the full glory. For it was not with the efforts of money or men that this event happened but by the intervention of the Holy Spirit. As long as you have the Holy Spirit all things are possible. Praise be to God for what He has done and for the miracles He has yet to perform!
X Log 2007 Bourgas, BULGARIA
12:00 am Our media team left Sofia in route to Bourgas
12:35 am Christian rock band Extremum arrived in Bourgas
4:40 am The bus carrying our media team arrived in Bourgas
5:00 am Putting up posters for X in the streets of Bourgas at dawn
6:00 am Final check for the X location at sunrise
6:30 am An early visit to Sarafovo for final preparations
7:45 am Final cut for signs and banners
11:00 am Transporting the drum set
2:30 pm Meeting with pastoral team to finalize the X schedule
3:00 pm Media team arrived at the X location
4:00 pm ProAudio arrived at the X location
3:30 pm Extremum arrived at the X location
4:15 pm Permit for the X was brought by the president of Bulgarian Christian Coalition
4:30 pm Police and security teams checked permit, approved schedule and secured the X location
5:00 pm Sound check
5:25 pm Viara TV and Shalom TV arrived at the X location
6:00 pm Last minute preparations
6:45 pm Prayer
7:00 pm X began with a brief introduction of the event
7:07 pm Extremum took the podium with the song “…”
7:45 pm Krasimir Momchev, president of Bulgarian Christian Coalition addressed the public with a political alternative for the restoration of Bulgaria as a Christian country
7:55 pm Extremum continued
8:40 pm Dony K. Donev of Bibliata.com took the podium with a brief message on “Freedom from Sin” and led the crowd with a prayer for deliverance from alcoholism, drugs and addiction
8:50 pm Extremum closed X ‘07 with two new songs
9:00 pm Breaking down
9:30 pm Packing up
10:00 pm Dropping off drums
10:30 pm Picking up audio recording from sound providers
11:00 pm Meeting with pastoral team to review successes and growth areas of event
