Mission Bulgaria 2009: Ministering Along the Black Sea Coast
Our recent ministry appointments have taken us beyond the borders of Bulgaria and we have thoroughly enjoyed and celebrated this event. However, from the moment we landed in Bulgaria our phones have been ringing with back to back invitations for ministry. Some unfortunately overlapped and we had to respectfully decline, but we are thankful for the many doors which are opening. We continue to ask for your prayers of wisdom and support as we need much strength to take on what has been set before us.
After successfully arriving at our base location, Yambol nearly 48 hours after leaving the states due to missing our connecting flight in Germany, we headed for ministry at the Black Sea coast. In the town of Aheloi, where we have anticipated going for sometime now, we were able to minister and fellowship with the local church over the weekend.
Among the topics we discussed with the congregation were: (1) the new Constantinople Bible publication and its upcoming jubilee 2011 edition, (2) the new Bulgarian literal translation of the New Testament, which we have now completed for publication in 2010 and (3) the role of media and live broadcast in the life of the traditional Bulgarian Pentecostal church. Of course, we shared from the word as well, a message from Philemon on Paul being a Prisoner of Christ over which the Secular Empire has no authority.
TrackBack: http://www.cogwm.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2440&Itemid=60
Bulgarian Elections 2009
Boyko Borisov, Sofia mayor, leader of the winner in the general elections GERB and already self-proclaimed prime minister of Bulgaria, embarked on his voyage for the higher office with the promise that Bulgaria is a different country and the guilty will be brought to justice.
“I don’t have the right not to lead Bulgaria’s next government,” Boyko Borisov said at his first press conference after the vote, warning, however that no miracles are to be expected in the next half a year.
“No miracles should be expected to occur in the next five or six months. And we haven’t promised any,” Borisov told reporters at the press center of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.
“This is the first time that Bulgarians vote for someone whom they know what he can and cannot do. Even if you are in love, you can fall out of love for ten years,” Borisov said, referring to his time in office as Interior Ministry Chief Secretary and Sofia mayor.
Asked about his promise to enter the office of the prime minister only in case of emergency, Borisov said:
“The total collapse of the three-way ruling coalition made me step into the prime minister office.”
Borisov vowed to launch investigations into all shady deals of the government and the land swaps in particular, backing his words with probes that he has initiated in his capacity of mayor of the capital Sofia.
“If we mislead the voters, we will get where Simeon Saxe-Coburg is now,” Borisov said, referring to the sorry results of the former king and prime minister, who didn’t make it to the next parliament.
Asked about the date when he will leave the office of the mayor of capital, he laconically said:
“I will inform you of that when the time comes.”
Borisov was also cautious about the coalition possibiolities he is willing to enter into, saying that after the final results come out, he will invite the parties in the center-right part of the political spectrum for negotiations.
“We want to be a government of all people,” Borisov said.
“I want to thank those, who voted for us and assure those who did not that we will try to lead politics good for all Bulgarian people,” he added, referring to the ethnic Turks in particular, who in his words, “should not listen to those, who play on their fears.”
Liberty Leadership Seminar in Sofia
The Liberty Leadership Seminar is beginning in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia under the teaching of Cup & Cross Ministries and partnering churches. This year the seminar will be held at the Elitsa Conference Center on the very top of the Vitosha Mountain which overlooks Sofia. The seminar is a week-long training event, which purposes the equipping of pastors and lay leaders within the Bulgarian Church of God. The seminar will be broadcasted LIVE on the internet according to the following schedule:
July 3, 2009 12:00 PM ET: Opening Ceremony
July 4, 2009 7:00 AM ET: Liberty Leadership Seminar
July 5, 2009 2:00 AM ET: Morning Prayer Service
July 5, 2009 12:30 PM ET: Sunday Evening Worship
July 8, 2009 12:00 PM ET: Closing Events
Follow Cup & Cross on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bibliata
Watch Cup & Cross LIVE on uStream.TV: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bibliata
WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {Step-by-Step Guide} Part 5: 5 Things to Learn about WebMinistry 2.0
1.To have a website that is seen by search engines is as important as having a website itself. After all, the idea is to tell the world, not just yourself, about your ministry.
2.Write regularly. Rank-based search engines like Google-like websites that are updated regularly, simply because the visitors like new stuff as well. News is the very purpose of communication. You would not leave your church without a new sermon for weeks. Why should you leave your website without new posts?
3.Keep up with new developments and upgrade your website backend often. To look for new alternatives is not a waste of time, because what took days to program by hand a few years ago, is now available for free and ready to use.
4.Use video. Shoot, edit, publish, embed or broadcast live. Always, always use video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth 25,000 words per second {a thousand words for each of the 25 picture frames it plays every given second of its length}.
5.Communicate with your visitors. Provide way to receive and respond to feedback. Communicate with other web ministries. The web is about networking. Use it as prescribed.
READ THE COMPLETE SERIES:
- WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {Step-by-Step Guide} Part 5: 5 Things to Learn about WebMinistry 2.0
- WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {A Step-by-Step Guide} Part 4: Ten Useful Plug-ins
- WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {A Step-by-Step Guide} Part 3: WordPress and Its Famous 5 Minute Installation
- WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {A Step-by-Step Guide} Part 2: 5 Reasons to use WordPress
- WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {A Step-by-Step Guide} Part 1: The Web Process
WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {A Step-by-Step Guide} Part 4: Top 10 WordPress Plug-ins
WordPress includes the unique option of adding small programs that modify and/or enrich its capabilities. They are called plug-ins. The newest version of WordPress includes a special part in the administration panel for these plug-ins as follows:
{1} Event Calendar – WordPress includes a built-in calendar, which can be used to announce future events on their respective dates. Additionally, the calendar helps categorize the stored information by date, which gives a chronological timeline of the events in your ministry.
{2} Akismet is also a built-in plug-in, which helps manage the unwanted comments in your WordPress based site. This is a helpful tool against blog spammers.
{3} Post-notification does not come with WordPress, but it could easily be installed. It is basically a mailing list, with which your website automatically notifies your subscribers each time a new post is published. Read more
WebMinistry 2.0 for Churches {A Step-by-Step Guide} Part 3: WordPress and Its Famous 5 Minute Installation
To have WordPress installed on your server as a base for your church website you will need the following 7 tools {if the previous statement sounds a bit strange to you skip these steps and go to www. Blogger.com}
{7 Tools Needed For a WordPress Installation}
{1} Obviously, you will need a computer, internet connection and a good browser. Chances are you already have several of these, but for an internet browser, we recommend the new Chrome browser from Google, which can be found at http://google.com/chrome.
{2} Your visitors will need to be able to find your website on the internet through an appropriate and descriptive web name called a “domain.” We suggest that you use http://GoDaddy.com to purchase a domain name from. Read more
Rock The River Tour 2009
BULGARIA VOTES in the EU Parliament Elections
European Parliament Elections leave Bulgarian Evangelical Churches with no venue of political support.
As an EU member, Bulgaria voted in the EU Parliament Elections on June 6, 2009. After the 100% count, it was announced that GERB (new centrist party led by Sofia’s mayor Boyko Borisov) has won 24.48% of the votes with 627,693 votes. The Socialist Coalition for Bulgaria totaled 476,618 votes or 18.59%, the Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) received 364,254 votes or 14,21%, the Nationalist Ataka got 307,985 or 12,01%, the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) of former Tsar and former PM, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, secured 205,145 votes or 8%, and the democratic Blue Coalition got 204,784 or 7.99%. Read more
Children’s Bible 3.0
June 1st is International Children’s Day in Bulgaria which has been celebrated for several decades now. On this day every year, Cup & Cross Ministries International releases a Bible related project for children. This year, our team was able to complete and make available on the internet Children’s Bible 3.0. This product contains over 100 audio, video and text/picture Bible lessons for children to be used as teaching aids in schools and churches. Children’s Bible 3.0 is indeed the next level of ministry to the children of Bulgaria and our team is both proud and privileged to be able to contribute to this project.
