SAY YE TO THE RIGHTEOUS
Several months ago we returned to Bulgaria with a Word from God from Isaiah 3:10. God commands the prophet: “Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with them.” The words are a great surprise for the reader who in the first part of the chapter has been exposed to the tragic picture of God judging His own people. The reasons for this are listed: open sin as the sin of Sodom followed by pride, brotherly oppression and lack of responsibility, no accountability, preoccupation with the self and unfaithfulness. The punishment that follows is severe: famine in the land, complete removal of all financial support, lack of leadership and a spreading national crisis that leads to a certain death. But all these reasons and subsequences are summed by the prophet in one statement: Israel has sinned and God is punishing the loss of righteousness. Yet, in the midst of desolation, depression and destruction, God gives a ray of hope through the words of the prophet “Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with them.”
The similarities between the situation in Israel several hundred years ago and Bulgaria today are many. The country is in a state of depression, as the economical and social factors once hoped to bring the crises to an end are now turning to be the very issues that are creating it. Crime and oppression of the people has continued even during the country’s state of democracy as many political observers, journalists and government watch-dogs are exposing a long-lasting connection between the government and the mafia.
The effect of the social conditions on the church cannot remain secret either. Both Eastern Orthodox and Protestant congregations experience the results of the ongoing national crises, as denominations are being split over leadership and financial disagreements. The Bulgarian Evangelical movement lacks strong, trained and informed leadership attempting to battle 21-century issues with a mentality and methods that have remained from the underground persecution of Communist Regime. While the nation looks to the church for answers and hope, the church is torn apart by issues that has very little to do with the Christian faith thus loosing its grip of reality, and worst of all, its focus on ministry. Read more
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.
Preaching at the National Roma Pastoral Association Meeting
After ministering and teaching in Samokov and Sofia, we were invited by Bulgarian Church of God national overseer, Rev. Alexander Todorov, to speak at the national annual convention of the Roma Pastoral Association near Stara Zagora. Along with the pastor of the local Church of God, our good friend and colleague Dimitar (Jimmy) Lutchev who was also scheduled to speak at the meeting, we joined some 200 Roma ministers from around the country and abroad for an unforgettable weekend of praise, preaching and prayer.
The Friday night service began around 7:00 p.m. and ended around 1:00 a.m. the next morning. We were scheduled to speak between 10:00-11:00 p.m. bringing a message, which appealed to the participants that God is still looking for leaders after His heart in Bulgaria. The message had a detrimental impact on the several hundred pastors gathered there. In such time of spiritual crises, the call on God for leadership after His heart was the least to say transformative for many of them who cried with conviction and prayed with tears during the altar service. It is our sincere prayer that the Spirit of Revival, which came upon all of us gathered at the Stara Zagora meeting, will continue to impact the Church of God across the country of Bulgaria.
Leadership Seminar for the Bulgarian Church of God
A month ago, Cup & Cross Ministries visited the Samokov congregation pastored by Church of God National Overseer Alexander Todorov. Our team then left for the Salvation Church of God in the capital Sofia, to hold the first level of the Church Leadership Seminar. We have worked on this course for the past two years and designed it to serve as a tactical ministry training element in our national strategy for Church of God congregations. The first module included topics such as:
(1) The leadership principles of Jesus
(2) Recognition, training and personal qualifications of a successful leader
(3) The principles of God’s timing
(4) Sacrifice, responsibility, investment and delegation
(5) The law of sowing and reaping
(6) The law of navigation
(7) Problem solving
(8) Psalm 23 for leaders
Subsequently, we released on the internet a 34-part series called the Successful Leader. Immediately after we held the course in Sofia, we began receiving invitations to hold the course in various locations in Bulgaria. As a result, we scheduled the first level of the leadership course with the churches in Sliven, Bourgas, Rousse and began planning its future presentation with the churches in Gabrovo, Yambol, and Samokov. We will be then returning to Samokov and Sofia in September to teach the second level of the Church Leadership Course in the Church of God congregations there.
X 2008: Seeking the Heart of God in the Heart of Bulgaria (video)
X-2008 in the Heart of Bulgaria: A New Level of Ministry
The closing concert for X 2008 began at 2:00 pm on August 10, 2008 and continued non-stop for the next seven hours. Our friends from the Extremum and Face 2 Face Christian bands participated along with the Elley and Ilia Panov worship teams from the Church of God in Sofia. We also invited various speakers among which were Victor Kostov, director of the Center for Religious Freedom, Ivo Shatravosky from the Bulgarian Mission Network, Bobby Krachunov, author of “From Death to Life – an ex-addict tells his story” and Rev. Vassil Petrov, pastor of the Gabrovo Church of God. Our ministry team also spoke at the end of the event and we all prayed until dusk. Read more
Preaching in Stara Zagora Again
Our next stop was the Awakening Church of God in Stara Zagora with pastor Dimitar (Jimmy) Lutchev, where we ministered during the communion service on Sunday morning. We were also able to schedule to speak at a national pastoral meeting, which will be held in Stara Zagora on August 22-23, 2008. This meeting is part of our ongoing strategy to minister among the Church of God congregations in the region as follows:
Bourgas: August 23rd, 30th (Art Festival)
Sliven: August 7th (Karandila Youth Camp), 31st (Regional Church Leadership Seminar)
Stara Zagora: August 3rd, 22nd-23rd (Association of Roma Pastors)
Yambol: August 6th, 13th, 18th (Jesus Film Project), 20th, 24th, 27th
We are now ready to proceed to the Karandila Youth Camp in the mountains where we will minister and promoted our next “X-Event,” which will be held on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of August. We will then return to the Gabrovo Church of God for the final preparation of the X 2008 Event. Please, pray with us that the local city authorities will not only grant us the necessary permits, but will also participate and support our event as a ministry event which will gather believers from all over Bulgaria to unite in calling on the Heart of God in the Heart of Bulgaria.
Speaking at NEW WAVE Youth Camp at the Black Sea
We just returned from the New Wave Youth Camp at the Black Sea where we were able to minister to the young people present. We have been ministering at New Wave for some years now, but this time the focus of our trip was promoting the X 2008 event at the Uzana Mountain. Our team began by showing a multi-media infomercial concerning what will take place at Uzana on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of August. We followed by delivering a brief message from Isaiah 3:10. As always, to participate in such a great ministry opportunity is an honor and we were truly blessed by the approximately 300 young people and ministers present at New Wave. After the service, we were able to personally meet with each youth pastor of the various churches which were represented at the camp to give them further information about the “X Event”, this year’s X-Poster and Military ID tags inscribed with “bibliata.com” to give to their youth.
Ministering at the Black Sea
During the national council meeting of the Bulgarian Church of God in Bourgas, our team took the opportunity to preach at several Black Sea churches. We traveled to the Black Sea city of Pomorie with Church of God Regional Overseer for Gabrovo, pastor Vasil Petrov. Then, we left Pomorie and traveled to Dolno Ezerovo where we held a Sunday morning service and then preached at the oldest Bulgarian Pentecostal church in Bourgas on Sunday evening. Our return to the Black Sea area was a long-awaited one, as there we have held our annual ministry training events for several years now. We were also due to speak at the New Wave Youth Camp at the Black Sea, which gave us the opportunity to minister to the young people there, promote the X 2008 event at the Uzana Mountain and schedule a series of regional leadership seminars for the months of August and September.
In preparation for X 2008 at Uzana, Bulgaria
One month has gone by faster than expected as we have been in preparation for the X 2008 event at the geographical center of Bulgaria, the Uzana Mountain. This has demanded virtually all of our time and our full attention. For the past one year we have prayed, planned and promoted the X 2008 as a national assembly of the Church of God in Bulgaria calling evangelical believers from the four corners of the country to come together in the Uzana area of the Balkan Mountains and seek the Heart of God in the Heart of Bulgaria. The event will begin August 8, 2008 and finish with a seven hour concert, prayer and preaching on August 10, 2008.
