Bulgaria Marks Unification Day
People across Bulgaria celebrated 120 years since the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia united. Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov and Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev attended the official ceremony held at the country’s second city Plovdiv. In his address President Parvanov urged all Bulgarians to “embrace the idea of the Unification.”
More than a century ago the young and reborn Bulgarian state sought for its national unification and achieved it just six years after enjoying the air of freedom. On September 5, 1885, the Principality of Bulgaria unified with the autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Roumelia. The historic proclamation was made after a march by a handful of Bulgarians from the small town of Saedinenie (nowadays Unification) to the town of Plovdiv. But it was not until 1886 when the Great Powers recognized the almost doubled state of Bulgaria with the Bulgarian-Ottoman treaty. The day of September 6 has been celebrated as official holiday in Bulgaria since 1998.
Celebrating 15 Years of Ministry
The story of this celebration began on the back of a small Pentecostal church in Bulgaria, where on August 11, 1990 God gloriously saved my soul and changed my life forever. A week later, I was baptized with the Holy Spirit and for the first time in my life experienced Pentecost. It was that night in a Christian convention meeting in my hometown, that God called me for the ministry of the Gospel. A few weeks later, in the fall of 1990, I preached my first sermon. I was only sixteen years of age.
This month we are celebrating 15 years in ministry through two national crusades, Revival Harvest Campaign: Bulgaria and www.bibliata.com 2005 National Tour. Additionally we are calling the Pravetz youth group for a weekend of homecoming and spiritual renewal event called Pravetz Reloaded 2005.
Revival Harvest Campaign 2005
Revival Harvest Campaign 2005 is now in progress. Although we were planning to start in the beginning of September, the Lord has opened a number of doors for ministry right now. In parallel, the agricultural harvest in Bulgaria also opened earlier due to the torrential rains that hit Bulgaria in the past several weeks. The early start of Revival Harvest Campaign 2005 has been confirmed by a prophetic word, “move forward without delay” from one our friends and supporters in the States.
Bibliata.com National Tour: 44 Baptized with the Holy Ghost
We launched the tour on August 13 at the Karandila Pentecostal Youth Camp near Sliven (in Southern Bulgaria). The camp is a historical meeting place for Pentecostal youth that was established before World War II. We participated in the Friday night service where 44 were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Additionally, 20 were baptized with the Holy Spirit at the Black Sea camp the previous week. Unfortunately, we were unable to attend that camp due to our late arrival in Bulgaria at the end of July.
Fourth Annual Conference of Bulgarian Churches in North America
The fourth annual conference of Bulgarian Churches in North America will take place on May 28-30, 2005. In the summer of 2001, pastors of Bulgarian churches in North America came together for a meeting in Chicago. As a result of this meeting, an organization called the Alliance of the Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in North America was established as a first step toward networking between the congregations. The Alliance met in Dallas in 2002, Chicago in 2003 and Minneapolis in 2004. This year the conference will be hosted by the Bulgarian congregation in Los Angeles which was established in 1990.
Global Day of Prayer
May 15, 2005, Pentecost Sunday, has been named Global Day of Prayer. A dream of mine has come to reality.
Several years ago I wrote a master’s thesis entitled Pentecostal Primitivism Preserved. The heart of the paper dealt with the essence of the Pentecostal faith and experience. After carefully examining the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, the thesis proposed that the true Pentecostal experience outgrows the Wesleyan formula and needs a more suitable paradigm of expression. I proposed that the basics of such expression include prayer, power and praxis.
Today this dream of mine is coming to reality as the Pentecostal movement calls the world for a global day of prayer on Pentecost Sunday and prayer and power come together again. It is inevitable that when the church prays, the power of the Holy Spirit will be manifested. And this is our prayer today, that indeed the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit is evident where people pray.
National Day of Prayer
This year’s National Day of Prayer is scheduled for 05.05.2005.
Read more: http://www.nationaldayofprayer.org/
Missions Conference 2005
Our ministry team just returned from a successful mission’s conference with Restoration Ministries. Cup & Cross’ team was able to show our documentary film, Revival Bulgaria and present our 2005 ministry projects. Additionally, we held two services on Sunday at Greenwood and Gaffney.
David Wilkerson in Bulgaria
On April 7, 2005, David Wilkerson arrived in Bulgaria for a nation-wide crusade. The services were held on April 8-10 in the National Palace of Culture to enhance the work of local pastors and ministers. Believers from virtually all evangelical denominations in the country were present. Representatives from various denominations and whole congregations joined together on Sunday morning in auditorium 1 of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia for the largest evangelical service held in Bulgaria in recent years.
