So, what do you eat over there?
An introduction to Cooking Traditions of Bulgaria
After 11 years of higher education and three earned degrees in theology, there is still one question I have difficulties answering. I stumble every time when inquiring of our missions work in Bulgaria or just interested in the local culture someone asks me, “So what do you eat over there?” My short answer generally is: “Food!” But that hardly covers it all.
Kathryn has done a fine job answering this question through her new book with 50 authentic Bulgarian recipes. This is not just what Bulgarians eat in general, but what we have eaten during our missionary travels sitting around the table of hospitable brothers and sisters in the Lord.
They are truly Pentecostal recipes. And not because they were served “in the Spirit,” but because they were often done through what I perceive to be the one true Pentecostal confessions of the Bible “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give unto you…” For many of them we have shared with brothers and sisters living in the complete poverty of the mission field, yet willing like the widow of Elijah’s time to share their last bread with the ministers of God.
This is what makes these recipes truly missional. I cannot say that I have personally cooked them, but I can assure you I have personally eaten them all and enjoyed everyone and each of them after five long services on Sunday, a three day church fast or a night of crossing the snow covered Balkan Mountains. I challenge you to cook some of them for your family or church and send us feedback about your experience with the answer of the question so many of you have asked me through the years. May be next time we see each other, we can ask you “How do you like what we eat over there?”
Preview and Purchase Your Copy at: Amazon.com
Looking Over the Wall: A Psychological Exploration of Communist and Post Communist Bulgaria
Looking Over the Wall: A Psychological Exploration of Communist and Post Communist Bulgaria
This book is the result of over a decade of research and personal experiences of living in Bulgaria for the past seven years. It embodies documents, articles, personal interviews and essays dealing with psychological explorations of communist and post communist Bulgaria. Along with a historical overview of Bulgaria, the author presents the development of psychotherapy throughout the country and addresses future concerns for the state of counseling within a post communist context. Furthermore, the author examines the Pentecostal experience of the Bulgarian evangelical believer drawing on a paper presented at the 36th annual Society of Pentecostal Studies Conference. As well included is original research which develops a theoretical account of the sequences of internal motivation in addition to student survey results regarding counseling practices from the first Master’s in Chaplaincy Ministry Program in Europe at the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute.
Preview and Purchase Your Copy at Amazon.com
40 Days of Prayer to Change the Heart of a Nation Begins
Church of God General Overseer Mark Williams has urged Church of God congregations to consider joining the interdenominational prayer effort, “40 Days of Prayer to Change the Heart of a Nation!” The forty-day prayer emphasis takes place from September 28 to November 6, 2012. Tens of thousands of other congregations will participate in the joint prayer venture.
Williams noted, “While there is an obvious urgency for prayer here in the United States, this theme can be applied to any nation! And yet, our situation is particularly acute, and it affects the globe – financial crisis, the lack of repentance, unchecked sin and greed, national disunity, a disregard for all things sacred. We need a ‘great awakening.” Materials to assist with the ’40 Days of Prayer’ beginning on September 28, can be downloaded at www.40daysofprayer.net, and www.40daystosaveamerica.com.
Doug Small, coordinator of Prayer Ministries for the Church of God, noted that this effort is being led by the National Prayer Committee and the National Day of Prayer leadership team. A prayer guide is available on-line. In addition, both Dave Butts and Greg Frizzell have produced excellent resources. The first is available at www.prayershop.org and the second, through David Gosnell’s office, who leads Church of God Men’s Discipleship Ministries.
Here are some ways congregations can be involved in the 40 Days of Prayer effort:
1. Observe the Great Day of Prayer, early in the 40 day period – October, 7.
2. Plan additional corporate prayer meetings.
3. During this period, forgo the typical topics of prayer and focus on the nation.
4. Pick a day or week in which you will do a prayer-chain, 24-7 prayer, one day, as a minimum, to pray 24 hours. Or, for one 7 day period, engage in a concentrated season of prayer.
5. Set a room aside at the Church where people can come and pray. Better yet, open the sanctuary. Turn on the music. Dim the lights. Make it reflective and prayerful. Keep it accessible. Establish prayer stations. Lay out prayer helps with a focus on the nation.
6. Create a chart, divide the day into 24 one-hour or 48 thirty minute segments. Keep someone in the sanctuary praying for a day – or a week.
7. Do a fasting chain. Have people sign up to fast one meal, and another the next – until you fill up a week. People are then asked to pray at that time and around that period.
8. Join with other churches your community. Set up a schedule so that one church prays this week – and it is open, and another the next week. Unity and prayer must be partners. Seven churches can cover the period of prayer, one per week. And 40 churches, can each take a day.
The first ‘Great Day of Prayer,’ on October 7, will be a part of this solemn call to pray for the nation, beginning with our own need for repentance and re-dedication to God. Church of God Prayer Ministries has produced support materials for this Sunday. They can be downloaded at www.praycog.org.
America for Jesus 2012
Cooking Traditions of Bulgaria (Second Edition)
Bulgarian cuisine is distinct, yet eclectic at the same time with Mediterranean influence and flavors of its surrounding countries. Bulgaria borders the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey. Greece is also a neighbor, along with Serbia and Macedonia to the west. This cookbook features 50 personal, but authentic recipes in attempts to further the tradition of keeping alive century old recipes of Bulgarian cuisine. I have tried to keep the recipes as authentic as possible with using American based ingredients and with every dish, dessert or drink there is a story to be told…
Preview and Purchase Your Copy at:
Amazon.com
On MISSIONS…
Missions Test 1: Mission, Method & Message (2012)
Missions Test 2: Means, Motive & Opportunity (2012)
Missions Test 3: Missionary Testament (2012)
MissionSHIFT (Part 1): Paradoxes in Missions (2011)
MissionSHIFT (Part 2): Free Will Missions (2011)
MissionSHIFT (Part 3): WebMissions – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (2011)
M3: Missions for the Third Millennium – A Public Position (2010)
8 Simple Rules for Doing Missions in the Spirit (2009)
Church of God Eastern Europe Missions: Leadership, Economics and Culture (2009)
Read also: Why I decided to publish Pentecostal Primitivism?
Being Pentecostal Conference
Higher Praise Church of God Revival
Revival Harvest Campaign 2012: Revival Must Go On…
Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of our annual Revival Harvest Campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to reach lost souls and to encourage the local congregations through prayer and ministry. We appreciate the response from all churches who have participated in our Revival Harvest Campaign in previous years.
We will be opening the 2012 Campaign at a location that has been in our prayers over a decade now and our visit has been long anticipated. We have received similar invitations from other churches and we are praying that the Lord opens a door for us to minister there again in due time.
Since Bulgaria became a member of the European Union five years ago in 2007, hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians have emigrated in search for a better life. We’ve been ministering with these communities and helping them organize local Bulgarian churches. We ask that you join us in prayer for the Bulgarian congregations marked on the map below, as we are prayerfully working on a strategic program for reaching Bulgarian emigrants and establishing new churches abroad.
In midst of crises, confusion runs rampage, insecurity floods thoughts and spiritual warfare is greater than ever. And there exists doubt in well established faith that all is well. However, it is our prayer that this oppressive spirit be broken, that lies be reveled and that hope returns with great power from above. It is with this prayer that we receive this vision for revival to break the bondage of the mind. We continue to believe, regardless of how circumstances may appear or distractions which arise, that revival must go on . . .
Also read:
- State of Bulgarian Churches in the United States 2012
- Our Ministry Map for the United States
- State of Bulgarian Churches in Western Europe 2012
- Our Ministry Map for Europe
- State of Bulgarian Churches in Canada 2012
- Our Ministry Map for Bulgaria
Our Ministry in the Gipsy Ghetto of Yambol
1990 We began serving in the Yambol area along with the local Pentecostal churches in the early 1990s after the Fall of the Berlin Wall
1992-93 Our team participated in a number of revival campaigns in the Gipsy Ghettos of Yambol, Sliven and Stara Zagora
1996 Along with Dr. Miroslav Atanasov of Sofia, we invested into the purchase of a building that is used for the meetings of the local Church of God led by its first pastor, who had mixed Gipsy-Turkish roots, brother Mitko Mohamed
2000 This was a turning point for the local congregation and many other minority groups in the region, as we led a Church of God campaign in several of the neighboring villages and regions stretching our outreach all the way to the Black Sea and the border between Bulgaria and Turkey
2001-04 In the years that followed, we completed a number of evangelistic campaigns in the Strandja Sakar region in South Eastern Bulgaria populated with predominantly Bulgarian speaking Turkish and Pomak people groups
2005 We renewed holding services in the Gipsy Ghetto of Yambol where by that time there were a dozen active Pentecostal congregations
2007 We helped restore the local United Church of God congregation after it had burnt down in a fire.
2008-09 After collaborating with local social services workers, our team devised an ethical guideline proposal for working with abused and abandoned children while consulting on project “Care for Orphans,” which worked with gypsy children of the area Ghettos
2010-11 We held services with many local youth groups, preaching the Gospel and praying for the people after showing the film Jesus for Children, after which dozens of people, both children and adults, accepted Christ as their personal savior confessing their sins and joining the local churches
2012 We have written extensively on the subject of Forming a Roma Gipsy Evangelical Identity in Bulgaria and our book on the subject is coming out for publication in the near future
