Services in Stara Zagora
Our week included eight church services, the last one being in the city Stara Zagora. We traveled to Pravetz where we held two services – one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Then on Sunday we had two more services in Etropole and Yablanitza, after which we traveled to the other side of Bulgaria where we held services in the city of Varna. Our week concluded with a youth rally in Stara Zagora.
While the Pravetz meetings were emotional and the Varna meetings were powerful, the meeting in Stara Zagora included both tears and Pentecostal power. Youth from all evangelical churches in town came with their youth pastors and friends to the Messiah Church to watch our Bibliata.com presentation and hear the message which initiated our National Bible Tour 2006.
I have preached many youth rallies and revivals both in the United States and in Bulgaria, but I must confess that I have never seen so many people in tears at the altar touched by the power of God and being transformed before our very eyes. We do not know yet what is to come in the city of Stara Zagora, but one thing remains for certain – God started something great in that city on July 1, 2006. The unquestionable proof of this statement was the lives touched during the services there and the testimonies which are continuing to come in.
Pravetz 16 Years Later
Thirteen years after graduating from high school I was able to return to Pravetz again for a reunion of the Church of God youth group there. As many of us traveled from various parts of the world to attend the meeting, it was only natural to recall what the Lord had done for us in this small mountain town.
The Church of God in Pravetz was founded as an outreach ministry of the close-by Etropole church. For many years, the Etropole Church of God was known as an underground evangelical congregation that served many in prayer and preaching regardless of limitations set by local and national authorities.
When the church in Pravetz began regular services in the early 1980s none of the secular observers suspected that it would have any influence on the town. Pravetz was the birthplace of the Bulgarian communist prime minister who ruled the nation for over 30 years. In the 1980s, Pravetz was known as a “privileged” city where the Communist Regime had build its own ideological stronghold. Yet, the Church of God in Pravetz survived the Regime and after much prayer and anticipation the church officially opened its’ doors after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
This was also the time of my affiliation with the church. Just having been saved in my hometown Yambol, I returned to Pravetz at the beginning of the school year in 1990 and begun attending the Church of God there. The church had a small group of young people who sought the Lord. In less than a year, their prayers were answered as a great multitude of young people begun attending the church. I remember one of the meetings where over 170 young people were present in the small military cafeteria adapted for church services. Having gathered at the recent meeting, we concluded again that for the period of 1990-1995, over 300 young people where saved in the city of Pravetz. Their stories remain forever recorded as part of the history of the Pravetz Church of God.
These were the events that we remembered at the gathering on June 24, 2006 in Pravetz. Many shared their stories since graduating from the school and beginning a carrier in various professional fields. Pastor Ivan Sabotinov, who has served in the church almost from its beginning, greeted the audience and reminded everyone of God’s love and grace that has remained the same through all these years. We were also given the opportunity to share from the Word and speak about the First Love. The message urged the remembrance of God’s miraculous power and assured those present that although we might have lost our first love, we are never lost from the first love of God. In addition, we were able to hold three more services on Sunday, June 25th at 8:00 a.m. in Pravetz, 10:00 a.m. in Etropole and 12:00 p.m. in Yablanitza.
Services in Sofia, Bulgaria
Upon a recent invitation we preached this past weekend at the United Church of God in Sofia. For several years now, we have maintained partnership in ministry with the people of this church, as they have worked in Christian education, para-church ministries and strategic leadership among Bulgarian evangelicals. We further discussed holding a series of revival meetings in the capital during the upcoming summer months. We are hoping that these revival services will occur in the context of the National Bible Tour which Cup & Cross Ministries is preparing to launch in a few weeks.
Services in Yambol, Bulgaria
I preached one of my first sermons in the Pentecostal church in my home city of Yambol over fifteen years ago. It was followed by many other speaking engagements there, especially at the youth services held every Saturday night at the church.
Many years passed since then and due to extensive travel for ministry and educational purposes, it has been awhile since we have been able to minister at the church. It was this past Sunday that we were fortunate enough to be in service with my home church. Upon the pastor’s invitation we were able to preach at the Communion service as some 400 were in attendance. Many more were also able to respond to the service via the media.
The Pentecostal church in Yambol is one of the first evangelical churches in the country. For many years, before and during the Communist Regime it served as a national center for Bulgarian Pentecostals. Many National Assemblies were held there and important decisions about the development of the Bulgarian Pentecostal Movement have been made in this church.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Yambol Church again led the Bulgarian Pentecostals in a number of important ministry and public endeavors. The church initiated the first Bulgarian mission work during post communism, the Mission for Christian Upbringing. The first, and so far the only, Bulgarian evangelical political party was founded in Yambol in 1997. This event was followed by the first attempts for a Christian TV production and broadcast in Bulgaria. The city has produced many prominent evangelical ministers. But for me personally, the return to Yambol was much more sentimental. The Yambol Pentecostal Church was the placed where the Lord saved my soul and where for the first time in my life I felt free at last.
Services in Samokov, Bulgaria
We just returned from Samokov, which is one of the oldest industrial towns in Bulgaria. Almost 200 years ago the first protestant missionaries to Bulgaria discovered its strategic location and used it as a halfway point between Europe and Asia in their mission trips. Soon a modern American school opened its’ doors some of the brightest minds of the Bulgarian Renaissance were educated there.
Last October, our team visited with one of the Roma (Gipsy) Church of God congregations in the town and held a Sunday service followed by two youth rallies. Hundreds came to the altars as we prayed together in the presence of God. These services were part of our national ministry and support to the Roma people of Bulgaria.
This past Sunday the miracle occurred again. Led by the Holy Spirit we found ourselves in Samokov ministering to the same Church of God congregation there. We preached and prayed with the congregation and were to meet again with several old acquaintances. A citywide evangelization meeting in cooperation with the Assemblies of God Church was held in the center of town that same evening. Over three thousand were in attendance. We are already planning our next return to the city of Samokov to hold a regional youth conference there.
Rebecca St. James in Sofia
Grammy award winning pop-rock singer Rebecca St. James will be performing in Sofia this Sunday. She and her band will take part in a concert organized by Harmony Media. The event will also feature the popular Bulgarian duet Karizma as special guests who will promote their first long awaited album Ecclesiast. The concert will be held on Sunday, May 28, 2006 in the National Palace of Culture. The event will be part of Rebecca’s European tour for promotion of her new album ‘If I had one chance to tell you something’, released at the end of 2005.
National Chaplaincy Meeting in Yambol
A national chaplaincy meeting was held in the city of Yambol to discuss the recent agreement for placing NATO airbases on Bulgarian territory. The participants expressed their interest in joining forces with existing chaplaincy ministries in Bulgaria with a special focus on chaplaincy within the Bulgarian Army. The next step in the chaplain’s educational program was also devised and dates were set for its final presentation, accreditation and implementation as a graduate level course. Strategic meetings were scheduled with the head of the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance and concerning the visitation of NATO’s chaplains in Bulgaria this fall.
Bulgaria and the U.S. Sign Agreement
Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed Friday the agreement for the location of US military bases on the territory of the Black Sea country. Bulgaria and the US reached an agreement on the defense cooperation accord, including the conditions of the shared use of several military facilities on Bulgarian territory, at the end of March.Rice was in Sofia for the informal NATO Foreign Ministers meeting. In her words the agreement would further develop the cooperation between Sofia and Washington, which, she claims, would improve economic relations. “We are very happy to sign this accord,” said Rice at the signing ceremony. “It will enhance our cooperation with Bulgaria and strengthen our ability to operate in the region.” “This accord is a successful step in strengthening the cooperation with the US and it will serve the interests of both countries,” said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin. “It will enhance Bulgaria’s security.”
Under the agreement the US will be able to use three Bulgarian military bases – the Novo Selo range and the Bezmer both near Bulgaria’s border with Turkey, and the Graf Ignatievo airfield in central Bulgaria. US forces will also use a storage facility near Bulgaria’s port of Burgas. As many as 3,000 soldiers can be deployed on short rotation in Bulgaria, which at some point may overlap and reach 5,000. The first US troops will arrive in 2007 and 2008. The agreement, which will be valid for 10 years, must be ratified by Bulgaria’s parliament. It provides mechanisms for bilateral consultations over the actions of the US forces in Bulgaria. Washington will also inform Sofia about the actions of the US army that concern the bases in Bulgaria. The bases will remain Bulgarian property and will be jointly operated by the US and Bulgarian militaries.
X The Event
We arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria with a vision for a youth event, which would become a Christian national phenomenon. Youth events for Christian teenagers are not rare in Bulgaria, as we have taken part in many of them in recent years. The difference in the approach we took this time was to establish a context where both Christian and non-Christian teenagers turn to the Bible and its moral values.Easter was the perfect time for such an event, as many teenagers now openly express their faith in God and attend church services. The event entitled “X” had no intention to change their views or convert their beliefs. It simply anticipated gathering youth for the celebration of a life time. By the time we were able to announce the event in the churches, and via the web and radio, everyone was asking, “What is X?”
“X” turned to be a three day festivity filled with praise, prayer and presentations leading to a deep spiritual transformation. It opened on Good Friday with a message and an extraordinary concert by a band called “Face 2 Face.” Saturday afternoon, the youth gathered again for a combined concert-presentation of Freedom Generation and one of our ministry websites, www.bibliata.com (The Bible). We were also able to provide food for over one hundred young people as many of them came directly from the gipsy ghetto. Saturday night ended with an extreme concert lead by a band by the name of “Extremum”. With the sound provided by a Christian company called “Clear Sound,” this suburb of Sofia will remember “X” for a long time. The Easter service was held three times; once at midnight, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. We were able to minister in two of these services with an Easter message entitled, “The Alphabet of Life.” “X” was featured on the internet to become the first Bulgarian Christian live broadcast online.
Pravetz Lectures on Protestant History
I preached my first sermon 16 years ago in Pravetz, Bulgaria where a small group of Pentecostal believers had kept the faith during the long years of the Communist Regime. At that time, Pravetz was known as a stronghold of Communism where the Communist president who ruled Bulgaria for 36 years was born. It was there that the Lord called me for ministry and I saw and testified of how hundreds received the Lord as their personal Savior and their lives were transformed forever. We studied the Bible and practiced what we learned from its words. All night prayer meetings were a weekly event, and chain fasting almost never stopped. None of us knew or had ever experienced a genuine spiritual revival, yet deep inside ourselves we all wanted to be closer to God. Many, including school officials, did not receive our faith and openly tried to suppress its expression.
Sixteen years later, the Pravetz Computer Technical School I graduated from, invited us to lecture on the role of Protestant missionaries in Bulgaria’s national revival. We were able to present the lecture on April 17th along with other presentations and a small talk about career challenges. The students were eager to discuss their worldviews, faith and problems which they experience as young people. We urged to face the challenges in their lives, study and work hard and make a difference in the world around them. Consequently, we spoke with several teachers and met with the school’s director who discussed with us the upcoming celebration of the school’s 20th anniversary which will take place this summer.
