August 2008: An Exciting Month in Ministry

After the success of our annual national X Event for youth in the heart of Bulgaria we undertook a national evangelization campaign with a special focus on the Stara Zagora region of the Bulgarian Church of God. The reason behind this ministry endeavor were the countless meetings, calls and contacts with ministers and believers from the area who agreed to pray, fast and partner with us in the work toward a regional revival campaign. The purpose of this work was to enhance and sharpen the focus of the local congregations and their leaders toward the ultimate goal of ministry, namely the salvation of eternal souls.

We are here to report that the Bulgarian Church of God is preparing for to receive a fresh vision from God and to move into a new level of ministry. The need for this is great and the factors that confirm it are many. Just regard our ministry report from the last several weeks.

After the X Event in the Heart of Bulgaria and after teaching the leadership course at the Church of God congregations of Samokov and Sofia, we ministered in the Pentecostal church in Yambol from the Gospel of Mark. Then on Monday night, we took a youth team to minister in the gipsy ghetto of Yambol. This was a very unique opportunity as we patterned with the “Jesus Film” representatives in Bulgaria.  After singing a few songs and showing the children’s version of the film, a little past 9:00 p.m. we delivered a message to the many adults and children that had gathered around us and offered to pray for them at the end. Many raised their hands and others came forward for prayer. Several young mothers brought their children to us to be anointed and prayed for. We were blessed to participate in this service, as our lives were also touched by what took place in the middle of the ghetto.

On Wednesday night, we preached again in the Yambol Pentecostal Church bringing a message entitled “He is calling you.” Immediately after that we departed for Stara Zagora to preach at the national annual gathering of the Roma Pastoral Association where some 200 pastors and ministers were present.

After the event, our team left Stara Zagora and traveled to the Black Sea coast city of Bourgas where we preached at a Saturday night youth rally which continued into a regional Art Festival held at the Good News United Church of God. We then returned to Yambol for the Sunday morning service and preached the Sunday night service again at the Church of God in the Yambol gypsy ghetto. This was followed by two more services in the Pentecostal church of Yambol on Wednesday night and Sunday morning.

We finished the month of August with teaching the first level of the Church Leadership seminar in Sliven, which we taught earlier in Church of God in Sofia.  Representatives from both Bulgarian and Gipsy churches attending the meetings. We are planning to present the next module of the seminar in Sofia, Sliven and Bourgas during the month of September.