Revelation Revival Continues
Several days ago we concluded with our services in Bourgas, but only to attend another ministry opportunity along the Black Sea coast. Before the revival in Bourgas was over, we received three invitations to continue services in the close by towns of Chernomoretz, Ahtopol and Sinemoretz. Chernomoretz is located near Bourgas, while Ahtopol and Sinemoretz are only several miles from the Turkish border. We began with a series on the Book of Revelation in Sinemoretz and continued until Sunday. Then on Sunday we held three services at Ahtopol (10:00 am), Sinemoretz (2:00pm) and Chernomoretz (5:00 pm). Our team has been blessed to minister in these locations and to bring a fresh message of salvation and eternal hope. We have promised the churches along the Black Sea coast to return soon for yet another crusade involving local congregations in the area on a larger scale.
Revival in Bulgaria Again
It has happened again. We are in revival in Bulgaria.
Upon the invitation of the pastor of the oldest Pentecostal church in Bulgaria, we traveled to the Black Sea port city of Bourgas to hold a seminar on the subject of eschatology. As services unfolded, it was clear that a revival was at hand and our time of ministry there would extend beyond the preliminary schedule.
We held a total of five services from Sunday through Wednesday. The topic of the conference included subjects as the Seven Churches of Revelation, the Rapture of the Church, Resurrections and Judgments and the City of God. The revival took believers back to their Pentecostal roots urging them to prepare for the meeting in the clouds. The church was filled every night regardless of the hot temperatures and services finished with altar calls in which prayers continued until dark.
While in Bourgas, we used this opportunity to coordinate the X Youth Event scheduled for the summer of 2007 in partnership with Bulgarian Christian organizations as part of our national tour. Before the revival was over we received three invitations to continue services in the close by towns of Chernomoretz, Ahtopol and Sinemoretz. We intend to follow up these ministry opportunities and we do ask that you pray for the success of this revival beyond the scope of our ministry and for the endurance of our team. We are confident that as we obey the leadership of the Holy Spirit again, God will provide both the time and means necessary to complete the assigned task.
Revelation Revival in Bourgas
We received an invitation from the pastor of the oldest Pentecostal church in Bulgaria located in the Black Sea port city of Bourgas to hold a seminar on the subject of eschatology. We have scheduled a series of services which will deal with eschatological subjects as the Seven Churches of Revelation, the Rapture of the Church, Resurrections and Judgments and the City of God. We are praying and expecting God to use us in this ministry endeavor and revive His people with a fresh message.
We do ask that you pray for the success of this revival beyond the scope of our ministry and for the endurance of our team. As we have a multitude of ministry engagements already scheduled, we are pressed for time to meet all invitations and without a reliable transportation this has proven to be a great difficulty. We are confident that as we obey the leadership of the Holy Spirit again, God will provide both the time and means necessary to complete the assigned task.
Preaching Through All Means
Since the completion of the Bulgarian Audio Bible project in 2003 and its following success, our team has focused in the development of ministry related media. Among the number of websites which we have released in the past two years, we have been striving to recover a large amount of sermons, teachings and other Christian materials from church and personal archives. In this process, over 2,000 audio and video sermons and the curriculum of two Bible schools in the Bulgarian vernacular have been published on the internet, as we are continuing to work with a special focus on the Church of God School of Ministry classes. Our ongoing work with several Bulgarian Christian televisions and production companies has allowed us to increase the success of this ministry. The results have exceeded our greatest expectations, as over 3,500 Bulgarians around the world visit our websites and use the available resources every day. It has been several months since we passed the 1 terabit (one million megabits) monthly download mark. This number alone exceeds several times the overall book, audio and video tapes, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray sales and distribution of virtually all Christian bookstores and organizations operating on the territory of Bulgaria.
Of course, this ministry over the internet requires a great amount of resources and knowledge and even greater dedication, as the demand for more Christian media in the Bulgarian cyberspace is growing at a fast pace. Beside all ongoing projects, our team has made the decision to open a new website in the next few weeks will combine all available Christian media available in the Bulgarian language in one easy to use resource. This website will implement a You Tube like structure, which will allow the visitor not only to view and experience the media content, but also to participate in its development and distribution. It is our sincere hope that through this means the message of salvation reaches places where we cannot personally go and ministers to people which we cannot reach through our hardest physical efforts. In order for revival to go on in Bulgaria, the Gospel must be preached through all means.
Hot Weather in Bulgaria
The heat wave that hit Bulgaria in the last week will continue in the next few days, pushing the mercury up to more than a hundred degrees throughout the whole country, the meteorologists warned. The only place in Bulgaria that the temperatures will remain normal for the season is at the northern part of the Black Sea coast. The south-eastern winds will lose their strength later on Wednesday, which will push the mercury even higher.
The heat wave will be felt worst in the north of the country, in the Danube plain, where the temperatures could exceed the record highs for the time of the year, registered in the past century since scientists have started taking daily measurements. The highest temperatures measured on Tuesday were in Eastern Bulgaria, where Burgas broke the temperature record since 1931. Because of the hot weather the number of fires in the crop fields and the forests has significantly risen.
Ministering at Stara Zagora Again
This past Sunday we were privileged to minister in the Awakening Church of God in the city Stara Zagora. Stara Zagora is about an hour travel from Yambol and is one of the oldest settlements in Southeastern Europe being at least eight thousand years old. Although we have a long standing relationship with the pastor and many of the members, this is our first time visiting this church and we were welcomed very graciously.
We came to know Pastor Dimitar Luchev (Jimmy) almost 20 years ago while pastoring in Pravetz. Our youth groups often held prayer meetings and youth services with the church in Etropole where he ministered at the time. We continued our relationship with Jimmy and his family during his studies at the Church of God Theological Seminary in Cleveland and we were happy to see them again and to be of assistance to their ministry in Stara Zagora.
With nearly a hundred in attendance, and a large majority of this number being young people, the message was focused on passing on the faith to the next generation. During the alter call the church gather and prayed of the youth of the church. After the service, Jimmy testified of how the sermon was timely and a confirmation for the direction the church was taking. We will continue to support Jimmy and his congregation in prayer and fasting, as they are faithfully taken the journey toward a new level of ministry in the Stara Zagora region.
Services at the Black Sea Again
British evangelist David Hathaway was in Bulgaria for an evangelistic crusade in Sofia and Samokov. David is well known to the Bulgarian church, as he and his ministry had smuggled Bibles through the Iron Curtain. For this activity, David was imprisoned for a year in Czechoslovakia in the 80s. He continued his ministry after his release and in 1990 organized the first national Pentecostal conference in Bulgaria after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The conference gathered thousands of Bulgarian Pentecostal believers in a celebration of freedom and grace.
After the crusade, our team traveled to the Black Sea to hold three Sunday services. We ministered at the Dolno Ezerovo church on Sunday morning, where we have been invited to preach for the past two years, but never had a chance to do so until now.
After the service we quickly departed for the Sinemoretz church where we were scheduled to hold a service at 2:00 pm. Sinemoretz is located at the Black Sea coast only a couple of miles away from the boarder of Bulgaria and Turkey. The summer season in Bulgaria has already started and traveling along the coast proved to be a difficulty. As a result, we arrived late, but the believers had gathered and waited our arrival. The congregation gathers in a small garage and as usually the place was packed. We had an anointed communion service and were blessed by their sincerity and faithfulness.
We left Sinemoretz around 4:30 pm and returned to Bourgas for an evening service at the oldest Pentecostal church in Bulgaria. We were able to share with the believers some of our research on Bulgarian Pentecostal history and we were all encouraged by telling the story of our humble beginnings as a Pentecostal movement. We had a very encouraging alter service and remained praying with congregation until dark. After the services, we were able to discuss with the pastoral team the upcoming X event at the Black Sea, which will be broadcast live on television and internet.
Regardless of the torrential rain which has lasted for days now in Bulgaria, our team was also able to travel and minister at the church in Samokov. Our visit there has been long-awaited as the pastor has been asking us to preach for him for sometime now. This is a Roma (Gipsy) church which regardless of the cultural and financial difficulties holds meetings for over 1,000 members on virtually a daily basis. We were happy to be able to minister to the people and to rejoice with them about the grace of God in our lives.
Finally, our team has been invited to participate in the “Year of the Bible” through our website dedicated to the Bulgarian Bible www.bibliata.com, which ministers daily to over 4,000 Bulgarians both in Bulgaria and around the world.
Bush Winds up European Tour in Bulgaria
By Matthew Brunwasser
SOFIA: President George W. Bush arrived Sunday night in Sofia on the last stop of his eight-day European trip, visiting one of the United States\’ newest and most loyal European allies – where American soldiers are expected to arrive at new military bases in September.
The White House plan for Monday included a tour by Bush and his wife, Laura, of the cultural sites of the Bulgarian capital: the National Archaeological Museum, the National History Museum, for lunch, and a visit with students from the American University in Bulgaria. The visit includes no public appearances beyond that.
“I represent a country that really cares deeply about the human condition,” Bush said in an interview with Bulgarian National Television that was broadcast June 1. “And I bring a spirit of friendship to Bulgaria and its people.”
In addition to seeing the history, culture and natural beauty of the country, “the president wants to highlight Bulgaria as a success story in the Balkans,” a senior U.S. Embassy official said.
The topics of meetings with President Georgi Parvanov and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev will include the country\’s military modernization, bilateral economic relations, Kosovo, lifting U.S. visa requirements for Bulgarians and the Bulgarian nurses jailed in Libya, whom Bush has called on Tripoli to free.
Bulgaria is among the United States\’ most steadfast allies in “New Europe” and has consistently participated in the so-called Coalition of the Willing, maintaining troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffering 13 casualties in Iraq.
Bill Clinton\’s visit to Bulgaria in 1999 was the first and last here by an American president. Clinton\’s speech drew a crowd estimated at 30,000. At the time Bulgaria was an eager candidate for membership in NATO and the EU. It had just proved its loyalty to NATO by supporting the bombing campaign of its neighbor Serbia, as NATO forces sought to drive Yugoslav forces out of Kosovo.
The Balkan state has questioned the proposed U.S. missile shield in Central Europe because Bulgaria would fall outside the geographical scope of its defensive capabilities, along with the rest of the southern flank of NATO: Turkey, Greece and Romania.
“Our wish is not to find ourselves in a zone of unequal security,” Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said at news conference last Tuesday. “Clearly this will be one of the questions we will discuss.”
“This is the most legitimate argument to criticize the missile shield,” said Ivan Krastev, of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia. “The idea of equal guarantees for all the member states of NATO is the principle of the alliance.”
Other EU member states want the shield discussed in a NATO context, Krastev said, and not on a bilateral basis between the United States and Poland and the Czech Republic.
“This argument gains a certain kind of respectability for Bulgarian foreign policy within the EU,” said Krastev.
Fears about Russia are not expected to figure prominently in the talks in Sofia, in contrast to Bush\’s meetings with leaders in Central Europe. Bulgaria is perhaps the most pro-Russian EU member-state, both historically and in terms of current public attitudes. The Bulgarian people were by far the most Russia-friendly among the 12 European countries included in the 2006 U.S. German Marshall Fund Trans-Atlantic Trends survey.
The U.S.-Bulgaria military cooperation agreement of April 2006 laid out plans for 2,500 U.S. soldiers to be based in Bulgaria on six-month rotations. The details of the facilities have not been finalized but are expected to include two air bases, a training ground and a storage facility.
“We see this as part of the process of the modernization of the army and enhancing the capacity of this army to interact on an operative basis with NATO and U.S. military units,” said Dimitar Tsanchev of the Foreign Ministry.
U.S. President George W. Bush Arrives in Bulgaria
U.S. President George W Bush arrived in Bulgaria for the last stop on his European tour on Sunday evening. The presidential plane, Air Force One, arrived at the Sofia International Airport at 7 p.m. local time and Bush stepped on Bulgarian ground 15 minutes later.
The US President and First Lady Laura Bush were met by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin, US Ambassador to Sofia John Beyrle, the head of Bulgarian presidential cabinet Nikola Kolev and Bulgaria’s Ambassador to US Elena Poptodorova. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov will officially welcome Bush to the country on Monday morning.
Bush will meet President Georgi Parvanov and Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev on Monday. A round-table discussion with students from the American University in Bulgaria has also been scheduled. The US president is expected to give reassurances on lifting visas for Bulgarians and support the efforts to free the medics sentenced to death in Libya. Other issues include future military and economic cooperation, as well as Bulgaria’s progress in the fight against corruption, with Bush set to declare his support for the establishment of a foundation that would help strengthen the rule of law in the Balkan country. The future of Kosovo is also likely to feature in talks with Parvanov, with Bush throwing his support behind the independence of the province during his seven-hour visit to Albania on Sunday.
Bulgaria is the last stop on Bush’ week-long European tour, which included the G8 summit in Germany, as well as stops in the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy and Albania. A total of 3.500 police officers will take care of the security in Sofia, focusing on two security zones in the downtown of the city and the area around the airport, Boyana, Mladost, Dragalevtsi and Studentski Grad districts. Bush is the second sitting US President to come to Bulgaria, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Bill Clinton, who visited the country in November 1999.
First Bulgarian Mission in Chicago (1907)
In May 1907, sponsored by the Chicago Tract Society, Petko Vasilev opened the Bulgarian Christian House in Chicago. The facilities had beds and a kitchen and served as a hotel and a shelter for new immigrants. In 1908, the name was changed to Bulgarian Christian Society and later was relocated several times.
A second similar work was started at the same time by Daniel Protoff called the Russian Christian Mission. Located in Chicago, it supported church services and a Bible school. In 1909, the City Missionary Society called Basil Keusseff to lead the mission. Keusseff was a Bulgarian born minister who was converted in Romania and was a graduate of the school in Samokov and Cliff College in Sheffield, England. In the 1890s, Keusseff pastored the Baptist church in Lom and then moved to Pittsburgh where he worked with Robert Bamber, pastor of the Turtle Creek Christian Church. The mission ministered to Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian and Turkish minorities.
Around 1910, the ministry of the Bulgarian Christian Society was aided by Reverend Paul Mishkoff, a student at Moody Bible Institute. Coming from a poor but strong Protestant family, Mishkoff was called to preach at a very early age. He studied in the school at Samokov and was often sent to preach in the nearby villages. After finishing the school, Mishkoff decided to come and study at the Moody Bible Institute. He was helped by a Methodist missionary who gave him four dollars – the price of a third-class ticket from Sofia to New York where he was put on the immigrant’s train to Chicago. He was denied admission to Moody with the explanation that there was neither room nor funds for him. With no job and no money, the young preacher had to find food at the saloons where it was offered free for ones who drank. During his struggles, Mishkoff had lost all his possessions except a pocket size New Testament. In his personal story, he recalled, “But I had the copy of the Bulgarian Testament in my pocket not only to keep it, but to read it when I was sitting on the benches of the Union Station and other public places night after night. My soul was wakened anew. An ambition was roused in me: I must prepare myself for a preacher any way.” Through a financial miracle, Mishkoff was eventually able to graduate from the Moody Bible Institute. During the course of his studies, he was supported by Chicago Tract Society and he was able to minister to the 5,000 Bulgarians living in Chicago.
Around 1910, the Bulgarian Christian Society established a library which served the Bulgarian community for over twenty years. The congregation of the mission numbered about fifty. The ministry included English classes and immigration law seminars.
Several changes in the leadership of the mission began in 1921. In 1924, the mission was headed by Zaprian Vidoloff and the mission was renamed the Bulgarian Christian Mission. Vidoloff was a graduate of the Samokov School in 1910, a student of philosophy at the University of Sofia and a graduate of Union Theological College in Chicago. He entered pastoral ministry in 1915 and later served as the secretary of the Baptist Union. At the same time, he was secretary of the Bulgarian legation in Washington, D.C. from 1921 to 1923.
All Bulgarian religious organizations initiated by evangelicals before 1930 existed as missions. In February 1932, the First Bulgarian Church pastored by Joseph Hristov was started in Chicago.
