Three Creeds Against Religious Education Plan
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church expressed disagreement with the program for religious education in the Bulgarian schools proposed by the Ministry of Education. The opinion of the Orthodox Church was supported by the Bulgarian Catholic Church and the Chief Mufti’s Office. The three institutions insist that instead of studying history of the origin, development, and ideas of the different religions, students should study a religion of their choice.
The clergy proposed that religion classes should be twice a week, from first to 12th grade. The students who do not want to study religion should be able to choose to study ethics instead. The instructors who will teach religion should have either a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in theology or they should have gone through a special training. Read more
4,000 Bulgarians Receive Daily Bible Verse
Over 4,000 Bulgarians worldwide receive daily a Bible verse directly to their cell phones from the Christian mega portal www.bibliata.com. Similar active applications include the English website “Ecclesia”, the Australian Bible Society and the American mFaith and OSministry. The service offered by our website www.bibliata.com was initiated in 2002 and it has remained free of charge for all subscribes since then. The service is offered via the major Bulgarian GSM operators MTel and GloBul. Registration is done online at: sms.bibliata.com. There is also an option to receive the verse via email.
Minstering at Gaffney, SC Again
After much prayer and anticipation, we were again able to hold a series of services in South Carolina. While through its history our ministry has been closely connected to churches in this region of the country, it has been awhile since we have had the opportunity to minister there. The recent services in the State reconnected us with our past history in ministry and reinforced our vision for the future. We are thankful for the given opportunity and the multitude of friends we were able to see once again.
Minstering at Ft. Inn Christian Academy
What an exciting time we had at the Ft. Inn Christian Academy in Greenville, South Carolina. Our visit there was on the spur of the moment upon the invitation of the leadership of the school. Ft. Inn Christian Academy is one of the few Christian schools in the Carolinas associated with the Church of God. It was a thrill to speak with the students who surprised us with their interests in Biblical topics. Usually, when we minister in schools across the country, teenagers would ask about Bulgarian culture, our ministry there and perhaps some curios facts. This was not the case at the Ft. Inn Christian Academy, where the first questions were about the Bible and more specifically the Book of Revelation. We discussed topics of eschatology such as the 70 weeks of Daniel, prophetic signs of the End Times, the spirit of the Antichrist, the mark of the Beast and many others. It is encouraging in this day and time to meet with young people who have such knowledge and interest in the Bible.
Revelation Revival at Newberry, SC
We began 2008 with revival services at the Newberry Church of God in South Carolina. Services were held January 13th -16th. The revival developed the Last Days theme from a Pentecostal perspective with a special focus on the Book of Revelation as follows:
Sunday AM: Seven Churches of Revelation (Part 1)
Sunday PM: Seven Churches of Revelation (Part 2)
Monday: Seven Churches of Revelation (Part 3)
Tuesday: 20 Signs of the Last Days
Wednesday: The Rapture of the Church
Ministering at Chokoloskee, FL Again
It is always a joy to return to Florida and minister at churches who pray for our ministry on a daily basis. We are excited to visit and minister at the Everglades Community Church and the Chokoloskee Church of God and to be reacquainted with people who love us and support us in our ministry efforts. We were glad to deliver an important message on the “Spiritual Authority of Divine Healing,” a theme that the Lord has impressed on us in the past year since the Miracle Healing Revival at High Falls which we held in the winter of 2007. It was a time of homecoming and celebration and we hope to see them soon again with new opportunities to minister.
2008: The Year of New Things
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful”
Revelation 21:5
We are approaching 2008 with great anticipation that God is readying us for a new thing, as we are reminded that our spiritual anticipation has been built since 2005 which we called the Year of the Spirit. Then, 2006 followed as Year of Promises and indeed we all saw promises being fulfilled and visions coming to a definite reality. The very beginning of 2007 came as the Year of Breakthrough, and today we can testify of a Divine Breakthrough in both spiritual and material realms.
Now, God is preparing us for something new in 2008. We are anticipating developments in every area of life and ministry. We believe it and we proclaim it . 2008: Something new is about to happen.
Website for Church Leaders Released
At the end of 2007, our team in Bulgaria released a new website dedicated to the subject of church leadership. The website incorporates materials, study guides and Bible studies from leading authors like George Barna and John Maxwell. It is a long awaited tool for training of both ministers and laity.
Ministering at Hamer, SC
It is always a joy to minister across South Carolina and we are thankful that we have had so many opportunities to hold revival and missions services since our return. But it has been years since we have preached in the lower part of the state and it was a real trill to be reacquainted with old friends of ours this week as we ministered in the Dillon/Hamer area.
Bulgaria Votes 2007 Finals
Bulgaria’s ruling Socialists and the GERB party of Sofia mayor Boyko Borissov have emerged as the biggest winners in the final tally of mayors elected in Bulgaria’s 27 regional capitals. Socialist runners and independent nominees backed by the senior partner in the ruling coalition won 11 of the cities and towns that serve as administrative centres of Bulgaria’s regions. The biggest win for the Socialists was to retain the Black Sea port of Varna, where the nominee it backed, along with a host of other parties and local initiative committees, Kiril Yordanov was re-elected for a third term in office. The other ten cities are Blagoevgrad Lovech, Pernik, Razgrad, Russe, Silistra, Smolyan, Targovishte, Haskovo and Shumen. But the Socialists also lost several towns traditionally considered their strongholds, such as Burgas, Stara Zagora or Vratsa.
GERB, showing only at its second election after the MEP vote in May, has made its presence on the political scene known by taking three of the country’s big four cities – capital Sofia, Plovdiv and Burgas. It has also wrestled control from the Socialists in Stara Zagora and Vratsa, while also imposing themselves in Vidin, Dobrich, Gabrovo, Sliven and Yambol.
Rightist parties, represented mainly by the alliance between the Union of Democratic Forces and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), occasionally backed by other parties, won five seats. In addition to securing the re-election of rightist mayors in Veliko Tarnovo, Pleven and Montana, the alliance won Kyustendil and Pazardzhik.
The ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), a junior partner in the ruling three-way coalition, won only one major town – their stronghold of Kardzhali, where the incumbent was re-elected in the first round of voting.
Despite the fact that the Socialists secured more municipal councillors and mayors, primarily because of its strength in rural areas, GERB got a bigger chunk of the popular vote, thanks to its stronger showing in urban areas, and capital Sofia in particular. If the same figures as during the first round of voting last week were recorded at the next parliamentary polls, it would become the biggest party in the parliament, with 61 out of 240 seats.
The current ruling coalition between the Socialists, MRF and the ex-king Simeon Saxe-Coburg’s party, would get only 111 seats, well short of the current domination it enjoys in the legislature, where it has 168 MPs. The rightist coalition between UDF and DSB would see its presence boosted from 32 to 48 seats, with nationalists Ataka and MRF also seeing small gains. But the fairly even distribution of seats, without any party dominating the vote, and the fractious relationship between most Bulgarian parties would make it very difficult to create a workable majority in the legislature.
