Revival Campaign in the United States
What a great and exciting month of ministry. We held 33 services in 24 days in Bulgaria during the month of October as part of our 2006 Revival Harvest Campaign. Many were touched and transformed by the power of God while ministering during two revivals and a number of regional meetings and youth rallies in major Bulgarian cities. On Monday night during our last revival before our departure which was held in the oldest Bulgarian Pentecostal church in the Black Sea port city of Bourgas, a lady received her miracle and was healed from cancer. The case was later confirmed by her doctor.
We are happy to announce the continuation of Revival Harvest Campaign 2006 in the United States, as we have already scheduled ministry appointments in Washington D.C., Chicago, throughout South Carolina and Florida
Chaplaincy Course at the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute
A chaplaincy course has been in the preparatory stages for the past two years. It was first taught as a pilot class in the spring of 2006 to approximately twenty regional superintendents who oversee army chaplaincy groups in large Bulgarian towns. It was then recalibrated for the Bulgarian context and presented to the board of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute and the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance for accreditation. We were able to teach the chaplaincy course for a first time in the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute during the month of October, 2006. With my wife Kathryn as a co-instructor, we taught the course to active chaplains and Christian consultants. As a result, the course has been approved by the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute and the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance and accepted in the program of the Institute to become the basis for the masters in chaplaincy ministry program which the Institute is initiating in 2007.
Some recent chaplaincy developments in chaplaincy ministry in Bulgaria:
November, 2006 – A master program in chaplaincy ministry has been developed for the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in Sofia
October, 2006 – A contextualized course for chaplaincy ministry is offered at the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in Sofia
August, 2006 – The Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association was officially registered
July, 2006 – Cup & Cross Ministries submitted a research paper to NATO\’s Manfred Wörner Foundation dealing with the case of underground chaplaincy within the Bulgarian Armed Forces
March, 2006 – A contextualized course for chaplaincy ministry was offered in Veliko Turnovo
February, 2006 – www.kapelanstvo.com was released to serve as the official website of the chaplaincy movement in Bulgaria
October, 2005 – A national training seminar in Veliko Turnovo was held
October, 2005 – The Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association was presented before the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance
September, 2005 – Regional meeting in Nova Zagora which addressed the current issues
August, 2005 – A regional chaplaincy meeting in Sliven
July, 2005 – Publication of camouflage New Testaments and Bibles, some of which we distributed to Bulgarian army personal including the divisions currently serving in Iraq
Presidential Elections 2006
Bulgaria’s current Socialist President Georgi Parvanov took a further lead in the presidential race, the final votes count revealed. Parvanov garnered a record high 64.033 % of the votes, while the rival he will face at the run-off, leader of ultra-nationalist party Attack Volen Siderov won 21.491% of the votes. Parvanov’s other main rival, the hardliner right-wing candidate Nedelcho Beronov ranked third with 9.737 % of the counted votes.
Fourth came the other rightist runner Georgi Markov, former constitutional judge and a symbolic figure of Bulgaria’s transition to democracy. Markov, who ran together with young businesswoman Maria Ivanova, garnered 2.716% of the votes.
Parvanov ran together with Vice President Anguel Marin as an independent, but had the backing of the governing Socialist Party. An eventual victory would make him the first politician to win re-election, as no president has ever been re-elected since the collapse of the communist regime in 1989.
A total of about 11,400 polling sections across the country were opened for citizens to vote and more than six million Bulgarians were eligible to partake in the elections. The sites in the capital only were guarded by almost 2,000 police officers.
Bulgaria’s Re-Election Headed President Georgi Parvanov is most likely to win in run-offs, gaining the lead over nationalist Volen Siderov, show surveys of drvrral sociology agency. According to the poll there will be no change in turnouts on Sunday, compared to October 22. Parvanov will win a convincing victory over Siderov in run-offs and is likely to get three quarters of the votes, MBMD pollster Petar Zhivkov said.
According to MBMD’s exit polls from the first round of the elections, 40 % of the people who voted for rightists’ candidate Nedelcho Beronov have declared they will not vote in run-offs if they are between Parvanov and Siderov. Part of the people will vote in run-offs not because they actually support Parvanov, but because they want to protect the European appearance of the country from ultra nationalist influence.
Revival in Sofia: Power United
This week the capital Sofia hosted a national revival meeting organized by Cup & Cross Ministries to celebrate 100 years of the Azusa Street Revival and 10 years of the beginning of the www.Bibliata.com website. The revival opened Sunday night at the Future and Hope United Church of God with a mega youth service in which we officially celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our website bibliata.com. The Bulgarian gospel band Face to Face performed at the opening with several of their latest hits. Bulgarian Christian rock band Extremum was also present at the concert. Praise and worship was followed by a fresh Word on Christian Liberty and Unity. More than twenty members of the www.bibliata.com team located in Sofia attended and after the service there was a special time of fellowship. Some drove for over three hours just to be a part of what the Lord is doing. Others we met in person for the first time as all of our communications have been over the internet.
Monday and Tuesday nights followed with praise and worship led by the Elley praise team from the Sofia Church of God. In a tag team style, Dr. Dony K. Donev and Pastor Tony Elenkov brought two extraordinary messages on God’s holiness and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. There was a convicting spirit followed by a joyous liberating spirit which brought those present in tears. At the alters, this indescribable holy presence was so great that people could not stand and where falling in the Spirit even without the laying on of hands. About ten people received the baptism.
Wednesday night was the concluding service. The Institute for Bulgarian Protestant History brought a three-part lecture on the origins of the modern Pentecostal Movement, its beginning in Bulgaria and its future developments. This service was very unique due to that it was more of a service which lectured on the history of Pentecost in Bulgaria. The three ministers who spoke represented three different Bulgarian Pentecostal denominations. It was amazing that the revival brought in unity worship teams, ministers and people from many different denominations. The presence of the Lord during all services was very strong and full of power.
Services in Sinemoretz
Along with our regular services in the Black Sea town of Ahtopol, we have continued to hold services in the close by village of Sinemoretz. Sinemoretz is located almost at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. As a matter of fact, in the near past the village was in a closed area accessible only by people who traveled abroad carrying all necessary documents to cross the border. Times have changed and now Sinemoretz is a modern sea resort equipped with everything necessary for luxury and functionality. The five-star hotel, Prima Vista, is located at the very coast of the Black Sea and along with a number of other local facilities it forms the new skyline of the sea resort. The Pentecostal church in town is small, but growing. It is comprised predominantly by locals, although in the summer months it has many visitors. We have been holding two services a week in Sinemoretz on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons.
Mega Youth Rally in Sliven
The next mega youth rallies took place in the town of Sliven, close to the Karandilla mountain. These youth rallies are a part of our National Bible Tour featuring various speakers and music bands and purposing unification of the body of Christ in any given town in Bulgaria. This service truly fulfilled its calling as a number of Sliven youth groups who came together for the mega youth rally were surprisingly joined by a larger number of youth from Yambol who traveled the distance between both cities for the occasion. The unity of the gathering brought about a strong presence of the power of God which removed the various failures in the planning of the event along with the usual technical difficulties with the audio, video and transportation equipment. Soon after the worship started we found ourselves in the presence of the Lord and there was nothing with which to compare it. After a brief presentation and a message, the altars were opened and virtually all present came out to pray. The minutes were passing and about an hour and a half later the worship team dismissed the meeting. Regardless, the youth remained in their places and continued to pray and worship the Lord in a powerful unity. We learned a lesson from these young people from Sliven and Yambol. When a young generation does not want to leave the presence of God, something is about to happen.
Revival in Bourgas, Bulgaria
This revival in the oldest Bulgarian Pentecostal church located in the Black Sea port city of Bourgas, anticipated for sometime, brought together people from various churches and denominations to experience anew the power of the Living God. We began thinking about this event back in May, when the pastor of the First Assemblies of God invited us in Bourgas to preach a national youth rally. Consecutively, we held a mega youth rally in Bourgas in September. After a series of services in the Black sea towns of Varna, Ahtopol, Chernomoretz, Sinemoretz and Pomorie we finally were able to schedule some time to minister in Bourgas on October 1-5 during our revival campaign in town. The sanctuary of the First Assemblies of God was literally packed each night as hundreds came to hear the Word preached and prayers at the alters continued till the late night hours. In the middle of one of the alter call services an elderly lady testified with a shout and with her hands raise to the Lord in thanks for a physical healing. This lady testified that before the service she could not move her arm or her leg on one side of her body and that during the time at the alter she received an instant healing in which she was able to walk without hindrance and could move her arm and open her crippled hand. The following Sunday night another lady from Bourgas testified that during the revival she was healed from cancer.
Revival Harvest Compaign 2006
Revival Harvest Campaign 2006 is now in progress. This year the Lord opened a number of doors for ministry in Bulgaria and we are excited about holding the Revival Harvest Campaign here again. Beside the youth rallies, two weeks of revival services are already planned for the capital Sofia and the Black Sea city of Bourgas. Our team is once again to fulfill the prophetic word given for our ministry in Bulgaria, “move forward without delay.”
Mega Youth Rally in Plovdiv
For over a year now, we have preparing for our visit to Plovdiv, the second largest Bulgarian city built long before the time of the Roman Empire. During the 2005 Bible Tour, our team was unable to schedule a meeting there regardless of the numerous invitations we received from pastors and churches. This year we were invited by three Plovdiv churches and were able to schedule a service for the end of September. Almost four hundred youth from various churches in the region came for the service on Saturday night. The host church offered a superb time of praise and worship as pastor Simeonov welcomed the gathered youth. Our team showed a brief media presentation about our work followed by a powerful message calling for rededication to purity and faithfulness. However, the alter service surprised us all. Over four hundred young people came forth for prayer. Everyone present knelt at the alter where for the next hour we experienced the power and the presence of God. This time was so powerful and consuming that it was half an hour after the prayer when we realized that no one of the team or the youth was able to take a picture of the alter service. We have never experienced God in such a powerful way taking hold of everyone without exception in such a powerful manner. And for all this, the glory belongs to Him.
Services in Ahtopol
Since September 15th we have been holding regular services in Ahtopol and Sinemoretz. Located on the Black Sea coast, these towns are summer resorts which are left with several hundred inhabitants at the end of the season. However, it was exactly at this time when the Holy Spirit called us for a series of services in these locations. We have been holding three services a week in Ahtopol; Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday morning. We intend to remain holding regular services except for the dates of two previously scheduled revivals and other services, and among the upcoming Mega Youth Rallys in Plovdiv, Sliven and Yambol.
