Pravetz Church of God
The Lord called me for the ministry in the end of September 1990 in a small house at the outskirts of a mountain town in Bulgaria by the name of Pravetz. In 1990 I was only 16 years old. At the time, Pravetz was known as a stronghold of communism where the communist president who ruled Bulgaria for 36 years was born. Yet, a small group of Pentecostal believers had kept the faith during the long years of persecution during the Communist Regime. It was there that the Lord called me for ministry, as He later called many others that are today spread around the world.
I began working with a small group of students from the local Computer Technical School. Our number was twelve to be exact. The work was not without the help of more experienced Christians and the pastor of the local Church of God. Coming out of the persecutions, the church had no building, and we met at private homes. We studied the Bible and practiced what we learned from its words. All night prayer meetings were a weekly event, and the chain fasting almost never stopped. No one of us knew or had ever experienced a genuine spiritual revival, yet deep inside ourselves we all wanted to be closer to God.
In the spring in 1991 it all came together. The church was able to rent a small building formerly used for a Communist club. A number of young people from the local schools began attending the services. Many of them were my schoolmates, as I myself was a student at the Computer Technical School in Pravetz. Soon enough we had to start a separate service for teenagers, which was held on Tuesday evening. On some of the services we witnessed up to fifteen people getting saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit. Our number grew rapidly and we had to move our meetings to the larger facility of the Pravetz Youth Center. More and more students were interested in what God was doing. The lives of many who were well known drug addicts and alcoholics were dramatically changed forever as they were delivered from sin and saved.
In the fall of 1991 I returned from my summer break with a fresh strategy. I started a verse-by-verse study on the book of Revelation. I was only seventeen and I had only preached for a year. I was using an old Bulgarian translation of Larkin’s 1919 book on Revelation. At this time our youth group was over 100 and growing. The study continued nine months challenging our desire for deeper knowledge and spiritual growth.
We gathered for prayer every morning before school. Since the dorms did not open until 6:30 a.m., we often had to jump through the windows of the first floor to go to the church for prayer. At that time the church had rented another building known as the Officers Cafeteria for its meeting. In the cold winter mornings we went to the church for prayer sometimes having to walk through the fresh snow that had covered the streets of the small mountain town during the night. In the spring we went up on a small hill outside of the town called Monovetz. It was during this time that one of the school officials spread derogatory remarks about our prayer meetings. Many of us were called into the offices and interrogated for our beliefs. Yet, nothing was able to stop the revival. The youth group was growing rapidly. On some meetings we counted up to 175 people. The year was 1991.
More than ten years later, I am again reporting this story not to brag about its success, but to express my desire for revival. The old times are now gone. Many of the members of the Pravetz Church of God youth group now live around the world. Beside Bulgaria, there are many in the United States, Canada, Austria, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Israel, South Africa, etc. Yet, in my thoughts I often return to the small mountain Bulgarian town. I climb the quite hill before dawn breaks and I pray a silent prayer. I pray to God to see and bless every one who participated in the Pravetz Revival wherever in the world they may be. I pray that He somehow gathers us once again in this lifetime, and reconciling every one and each of us with Himself to let us find ourselves again in His presence of love and anointing. I pray that He somehow reaches us wherever we may be and revive us again. I pray for a new revival because revival must go on …
Cup & Cross Hosts Global Online Conference
Cup & Cross Ministries International operates through various ministry teams working in over a dozen of countries located in three different continents. Since there is a significant difference in location, time zones and purpose of operation, it is quite rare that we are able to gather the whole team for a time of prayer and strategic planning. The preparation for the upcoming “X Event,” however, drew the participation of a great number of our team members and demanded such a gathering.
Last year, Cup & Cross Ministries began the “X Event” in Bulgaria. “X” is a Christian gathering for youth which includes worship, focus on the Bible, along with time of fun and fellowship. The purpose and structure of the event is much similar to Winterfest held in the United States. The “X Event,” however operates among a number of evangelical denominations and continues with a strong post-event Christian leadership formation among Christian youth.
Having realized the effectiveness of this ministry, we have given “X” a substantial amount of strategic preparation placing it among our top priority ministry endeavors. Being unable to call all team members for a planning meeting at one identifiable location, we had to approach this particular problem through the means of communication which we have built and use for the purposes of our ministry in the past decade. Using advanced conference software, we were able to set up a communication server in our South Eastern office in Florida with live mirror uploads to Germany and Bulgaria.
A live uplink server created the possibility to include various team members in the strategic planning of the upcoming “X Event.” During the global online conference, the central ministry team took the initiative to announce the dates of the happening and to work with local church leadership in Bourgas, Varna, and Ahtopol along with other Black Sea towns for cooperating in the “X Event.” The arrangements in the schedule were then calibrated with the on ground sub-teams in various locations in Bulgaria which will provide sound equipment, point-to-point transportation, band management and multimedia effects.
The Germany connection was also important as it connected us with team members responsible for prayer, public relations and political awareness teams. The prayer team has already initiated their strategy through a prayer request website which was published January 1, 2007 in beta-testing and released in its official version April 1, 2007. The website, which is located in Busingen, Germany, already has a good number of daily visits, growing size of regular members, a prayer needs submission engine and an around the clock payer teams. Naturally, these efforts have resulted in many praise reports for answered prayer needs and we are hoping that the participants will be our faithful prayer and fasting partners during the upcoming term of ministry.
The PR team members located in Steinfurt, Germany and Sofia, Bulgaria are currently working together to pull all available media resources and create an effective media coverage through some of our long-term partners as Bulgarian Evangelical Newspaper, Faith TV Channel and other leading Christian media providers.
Substantial preparation results were further reporting by our partnering Shalom TV production company who will provide both live coverage and postproduction of the events. Two live IP TV (internet television) are already operational in Alsbach-Hähnlein, Germany and Sofia, Bulgaria and will be used during the “X Event.”
Some parallel planning has been done along with our web media team which is working on the developing of Religia.TV – a website which emphasizes all current Christian media production in Bulgarian in a single multimedia type website. Additionally, our Constantinople Team has decided to use the “X Event” to promote the digital edition of the 1871 Constantinople Bile in connection with the “2007: Year of the Bible Series” promoted by the Bible League in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Bible Society.
We have also brought in a number of independent consultants for the various stages of the event. With ministry partners from the Atlanta area we have been able to further develop a leadership formation strategy for post-event ministry. This has been a long-term dream of ours as we would like to be able to extend the results after the actual event. With all this preparations on the way and scheduled dates closing quickly, we are expecting another great summer of ministry in Bulgaria.
Yablanitza Church of God
By the summer of 1991 the work in Pravetz grew tremendously. I held an extensive study on the book of Revelation, which drew more people to our meetings. The missionary Keith De Mayo opened a Bible school in Sofia, and many of our teenagers traveled every week to attend the seminars and services. At that time the youth group had exceeded several hundred, but there was much more to be done.In the fall of 1991, the Lord called me to a more extended ministry. Beside the Tuesday evening meetings with the youth group, I traveled and preached every Sunday at the Yablanitza Church of God. At that time the church there had neither a pastor nor a building. For years the few members gathered for service and prayed to God for a pastor.
Being only 17 and living in a post-Communist country, I did not own a car. Every Sunday I hitchhiked on the highway, which at that time went through Pravetz. We would have the service and then I would hitchhike my way back. This went on for about a year. I spent many hours on the frozen highway, but they turned out to be an experience in the presence of God that changed my life.For several weeks we held a Bible study on Song of Solomon from a Pentecostal perspective. The emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit drew many to our meetings. One Sunday seven people received the Holy Spirit and this single event gave means for a great move of God. On the following Sunday, several Gypsies from the local Roma community joined our church. The church soon grew and by the spring of 1993 we were running 60. Many came to attend our meetings traveling from the local towns and villages such as Teteven, Djurvo and Skravena. God saved a number of young people as well. Several of them joined the church along with their families.
It was during this time that we received a vision for a church building. The members provided both the plans for the church and the materials. Yet the process went on with much delays and resistance from the local city government who disliked the idea of a Pentecostal church in their community. The building was finally finished in the spring of 2001. In September 2001 a member of the Pravetz youth group was appointed to serve as pastor of the Yablanitza Church of God.
Cup & Cross Ministries (2001-2007)
We began our ministry in Bulgaria in 1990 immediately after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, when the borders of Easter Europe were opened for the preaching of the Gospel and spiritual revival swept through the former communist countries. as a Church of God ministry we have worked closely with the major Pentecostal churches along with various other denominational and independent organizations.After almost a decade of ministry in Bulgaria, we established Cup & Cross Ministries International in 1999 with the vision for revival and restoration of New Testament principles of Christian praxis. Since then Cup & Cross Ministries has grown to be a global ministry endeavor with a special focus on Eastern Europe and the country of Bulgaria. This success has resulted from the FOCUS-12 strategy used by Cup & Cross Ministries as follows:
1. Revival has been the core of our ministry since its very beginning as our team holds a minimum of 100 services per month.
2. Youth ministries have been the beat of our heart as we have contributed to a number of youth events in Bulgaria, including our own, The “X” Happening for Youth.
3. Church planting has remained a constant focus of ministry, as Cup & Cross Ministries have established over 30 new congregations since 1996.
4. Pastoral care is currently provided by our team to over 50 evangelical churches.
5. The Shalom Media Group, established by Cup & Cross Ministries in 1996, operates through over 20 websites with focus on various areas of ministry and religious life.
6. Shalom TV Production Company was founded in 1997 by Cup & Cross Ministries and partners, and merged with the Faith Channel of Seven Days TV in 2006.
7. The Maranatha radio began broadcasting in 2000 and evolved in the Bibliata Radio.
8. Bulgarian Protestant history and heritage are the focus of our historical and statistical research and analyses made available to both local church and denominational leadership.
9. Christian articles, research and other printed materials are published weekly by Cup & Cross Ministries in religious and secular periodicals.
10. Education endeavors with special focus on Biblical studies, leadership strategies, church government, chaplaincy ministry and Christian counseling are made available by teaching at the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in the capital Sofia.
11. Cup & Cross Ministries’ efforts in the area of chaplaincy have brought to existence the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association, now officially recognized by the Bulgarian government.
12. Our active involvement in the ongoing struggle for religious freedom in democratic Bulgaria has impacted the involvement of Bulgarian evangelicals in the political life on the Balkans through the establishment of the Bulgarian Christian Coalition in the spring of 1997.
Through the years of ministry we have remained faithful to the spiritual calling, which we have received that “Revival must go on …”
1998 Missionary Report
In January of 1998 the Bulgarian Government released statistics about the current economic situation for the nation. The following results were published: 93% of the population of Bulgaria earns income well below the poverty level. Approximately 5% of the population is very wealthy, and the remaining 2% of the population are of relatively (lower) middle class. It takes approximately $200 USD per month to survive in Bulgaria. The average income for a middle class worker is $139 USD. The cheapest rental for a one-bedroom apartment in Bulgaria is between $150-200 USD.
Such income is barely enough to take care of rent alone. That also leaves most people without enough money to have electricity, water, or even food. For this reason the soup kitchen, which was opened in 1991, operates five days a week. It is located in the headquarters of the Bulgarian Church of God and is the oldest social center in Bulgaria.
Since the economical inflation is now over 400%, the number of people which the soup kitchen feeds have been steadily increasing monthly. Most of them are intelligent people, and mostly retired people whose Social Security is not enough to even pay their monthly rent. While in September of 1997, the amount of people the soup kitchen fed was approximately 250-275 people per day. As of January 1998 it feeds more than 400 people per day.
Religious Freedom: Despite the fact that the Great Wall of Communism has fallen, and the Cold War is over, Evangelical Christians in Bulgaria continue in their own Cold War and must still worry for their lives and the lives of their families. Last year a number of Church of God congregations suffered extended persecution ranging from demonstrations (including vandalism) to pastors being beaten; from churches being confiscated by the government to attempts to burn down churches with the congregation still in them.
Along with this is the abuse from the media is constant. The most recent attack was an article that was printed about a Church of God in the town of Kiustendeel. It was falsely reported that they receive a donation in the amount of $30,000,000.
This article along with many others caused much tension between the Government and the churches. Because of this tension, the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance (BEA), of which the Bulgarian Church of God is a very active member, decided to have a nation-wide conference, which dealt with these issues.
The conference took place in Hall #3 of the National Palace of Culture (NDK), on January 31, 1998. On January 30, there was a press conference, in which it was announced that this conference would take place. Literally hundreds of preachers, pastors, and leaders from all Evangelical denominations attended the conference. The main topics dealt with human rights and freedom of religions. There were many testimonies from the preachers about the persecutions they had suffered, in results of which an official Declaration was drawn up, and an official letter was written that would be delivered to both the Parliament and the Bulgarian Government.
He Has Risen Indeed
For many years, we have preached about the Easter morning resurrection. The words of the angels are still true, “He is not here, for He has risen” for Jesus Christ is still alive.
But there is more to the Easter Story that has been happening in the past 2,000 years. The resurrection power of Jesus Christ continues to work in the world beyond the Easter resurrection into our very lives. In the Easter story which the Bible tells, not only Jesus, but we are also risen with Him for Eternity.
Our spiritual resurrection is not without a reason. We are raised for a new spiritual life which becomes the very testimony of Christ’s resurrection. And it is through this testimony, which we call the Gospel, that people continue to be saved today.
The ministry of the Kingdom is the reason for our spiritual resurrection. It is with this purpose in mind, that God gives new life to human kind – that men, women and children may be involved in His global mission to save the creation from sin and death.
Resurrected from spiritual death, we are involved in God’s mission is through the ministry which He has given us. Revived by the Spirit of God, we bring revival to others who are delivered from the state of spiritual death. And thus, we are witnesses of His saving grace until His returns. Because He has risen, we must remain faithful to our spiritual calling for ministry that “Revival must go on …” This is our reason to celebrate Easter.
1996-1997 Ministry Report
After a successful time of ministry in the Carolinas, Georgia and Chicago I returned to my home country Bulgaria and during the summer of 1996 I was able to hold several crusades in the mountain towns of Trayvna, Zeravna, Tvurditza, Yablanitza and Pravetz.
In October 1996 I began working with the Mission for Christian Upbringing which at that time operated in consortium with the Life with God Church of God (United) in Yambol. During this time the mission team of the church began two new churches in the region and provided pastoral care for 14 more. We held as many as four services every day. This work grew to what today is known as Mission Maranatha – a home mission department of Cup and Cross Ministries International. Since 1999, Mission Maranatha has started 9 Pentecostal churches in the Yambol area, provided Sunday School literatures, held a weekly radio program, organized social care centers and numerous conferences, crusades and meetings. The team Mission Maranatha serves to several hundred people as their main ministry methodology are ongoing prayer meetings and fasting organized among all the churches. The results have been magnificent as hundreds of people have been saved and many have received healing and miracles as the power of God is evident in every service.
In 1996 the idea of Shalom TV and the Bulgarian Christian Coalition was born. Both events happened in the middle of the 1997 economical crises in Bulgaria. As a result on January 10, 1997 the Socialist government seized power and a new government of democrats assumed political leadership of the country. Regardless of the political and economical tensions, our ministry continued strong. Shalom TV continued its operation from Yambol Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Christian Coalition was eighth in the April 1997 Parliamentarian Elections.
The Great City of Yambol
The town of Yambol is situated in southeastern Bulgaria and is located along the banks of the river Toundja (ancient name Tonzos). The rich and fertile lands in the river valley have been inhabited ever since the most ancient times.
Proof of human dwellings of prehistoric times are the dozens of ancient tomb hills that have been found in the area. Moreover, remnants of the so called Rasheva and Marcheva tomb hills dating as far back as the Neolithic, Etnolithic and Bronze Ages lie within the area of the modern town. Some of the findings discovered in them are exposed in the Louvre in Paris and the Archaeological Museum in Sofia. The larger part of them, however, belongs to the Museum of History in Yambol.
Today the population of Yambol is about 100 000 inhabitants. The town is a district centre in southeastern Bulgaria with a population of over 200 000 people, and at present it is the administrative centre of Yambol district.
Best developed were the chemical industry, food processing, wine production, the textile and cloth industries and furniture manufactories.
The district of Yambol is a huge producer of agricultural products such as wheat and barley, fruits and vegetables.
In consequence of the social-economic changes that have taken place in our country the main industrial enterprises in the recent past have been closed down nowadays. This results in mass unemployment and considerable impoverishment of the active population in town.
Protestantism in Bulgarian
Protestantism was introduced in Bulgaria by missionaries from the United States in 1857-58, amid the National Revival period. The two main denominations, the Methodists and Congregationalists, divided their areas of influence. The former predominated in northern Bulgaria and the latter in the south. In 1875 the Protestant denominations united in the Bulgarian Evangelical Philanthropic Society, which later became the Union of Evangelical Churches in Bulgaria. Besides setting up churches, the Protestants established schools, clinics, and youth clubs, and they distributed copies of the Bible and their own religious publications in Bulgarian.
The Union of Evangelical Churches produced the first translation of the entire Bible into Bulgarian in 1871 and founded the nondenominational Robert College in Constantinople, where many Bulgarian leaders of the post-independence era were educated. After independence in 1878, the Protestants gained influence because they used the vernacular in services and in religious literature.
The communist regimes subjected Protestants to even greater persecution than the Catholics. In 1946 church funding was cut off by a law curbing foreign currency transactions. Because many ministers had been educated in the West before World War II, they were suspected automatically of supporting the opposition parties. In 1949 thirty-one Protestant clergymen were charged with working for American intelligence and running a spy ring in Bulgaria. All church property was confiscated, and the churches’ legal status was revoked. Most of the mainstream Protestant denominations maintained the right to worship nominally guaranteed by the constitution of 1947.
According to estimates in 1991, the 5,000 to 6,000 Pentecostals made the largest Protestant group in Bulgaria. The Pentecostal movement was brought to Bulgaria in 1921 by Russian immigrants. The movement later spread to Varna, Sliven, Sofia, and Pleven. It gained popularity in Bulgaria after freedom of religion was declared in 1944, and the fall of Zhivkov brought another surge of interest. In 1991 the Pentecostal Church had thirty-six clergy in forty-three parishes, with sufficient concentration in Ruse to petition the government to establish a Bible institute there.
Postmodern Rebels
Almost one hundred years ago, Pentecostalism emerged as a rejection of the current social structure. Sin, corruption and lack of holiness were pervasive, spreading not only throughout society, but also establishing strongholds within the mainstream denominations. With its Wesleyan holiness roots, Pentecostalism took an open stand against the sin that ruled both the church and the community. Also, Pentecostalism prophetically condemned the approaching modernity of the 20th century as being morally declined. As a rebel against modernity in the culture of the 20th century, Pentecostalism became postmodern by rejecting modernism through its Wesleyan-holiness identity and the Biblical truth for church and community. Indeed, the principal model of rebelling against sin and unrighteousness in the context of social injustice was provided for the church by Jesus Christ Himself.
In the beginning of the 21st century, much is said about the church becoming a postmodern system serving the needs of postmodern people in an almost super-market manner. Yet, again, it seems reasonable to suggest that the Pentecostal paradigm from the beginning of modernity will work once again in postmodernity. While again moral values are rejected by the present social system, Pentecostalism must take a stand for its ground of holiness and reclaim its identity as a rebel – this time an antagonist to postmodern marginality and nominal Christianity. A stand against sin must be taken at all cost, regardless if it evokes alienation or even persecution from society. Postmodern individuals are on a quest, searching for an answer how to deal with sin. Pentecostal identity holds the answer to this question. If an open stand against sin means rebellion against postmodernism, then Pentecostals proudly deserve the name Postmodern Rebels.
