Mission Bulgaria Week 31

NEWS – Week 31 – March 18-24, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA

Greetings from Bulgaria:

This morning Bulgaria woke up covered with snow. The temperatures are in the 20s, but the weather is expected to be very warm by the end of the week. This is a usual March weather for Bulgaria.
On Thursday and Friday I traveled to the Yambol area where several churches are in revival. We had a really good time rejoicing in the Lord. The trip coming back was more difficult as a strike of 10,000 Bulgarians had gathered in downtown Sofia to protest against the politics of the present government. None of the politicians at the Bulgarian Parliament came out to speak with the crowd, which stayed for hours under the pouring rain. This is perhaps only the first of many strikes, which are expected to follow.

On Saturday, March 23 the ministers of the Sofia region gathered together at the Bulina Livada Church of God to take important decisions on the development and the future of the region. The Sofia region includes 1/3 of the total membership of the Bulgarian Church of God and extends to an area of approximately 20,000 sq. km. The Sofia region includes 37 churches and more than 5,000 members.

A new strategy was developed for providing for the needs of the churches, and a regional government was elected. It included 14 men plus the regional overseer. Among them were elected men to work with the Roma communities in the region, Social Work Regional Pastor, Evangelism Regional Director and Educational Regional Director.

I was elected for the position of Educational Regional director for the Sofia region. This election comes in time with the organization of the first of its kind round table for Evangelicals. It will occur on March 29, 2002 in the Aula of the University of Sofia as Orthodox and Protestant scholars and pastors will present lectures on “The Influence of the Protestant Missionaries for the Spiritual Upbringing and Political Liberation of the Bulgarian Nation.”