NATO Picks Three Military Bases
The firing field of Novo Selo, the airport at Bezmer and the Burgas port are subject of the negotiations between NATO and Bulgaria, former first diplomat Solomon Passy announced. While on a visit to Black Sea’s Burgas, Passy, who is now head of the parliamentary foreign police committee, said some two-three thousand US militaries are expected to be deployed in these three locations.
A NATO military delegation is to arrive in Bulgaria October 1, Solomon Passy added, to further talks on the military deployment with the new government of the Balkan country. Solomon Passy specified that the military port of Burgas is not at the moment on the list of negotiated locations, but he stressed that “Bulgaria should be ready to respond with provision of bases and facilities to any possible need of the EU or NATO.”
The USA and NATO have been eyeing Bulgarian military bases for troops deployment possibilities. As an expected outer door of the EU, should it becomes member of the Union in 2007, and an effective Alliance member, Bulgaria has been seen as a strategic partner in the western policy to the Near and Far East, and Russia.
Pravetz 15 Years Later
We returned to the town of Pravetz for a weekend of ministry, restoration and celebration. Pravetz was the place where the Bulgarian communist prime minister of thirty years was born and raised. Ironically, it was also the place where the Lord raised one of the largest youth groups in the history of the Bulgarian Church of God in the early 1990s. Pravetz was the place where I began ministering and the visit there marked fifteen years since these humble beginnings. Regardless of the fact that both the town and the church have changed, the anointing for ministry which God placed there is still strong. We were able to visit both Pravetz and Yablanitza where we met with old friends and coworkers. Thus, the visit to Pravetz was more than just another weekend of ministry, but rather a place of reclaiming lost heritage and re-envisioning of a new future. Because even if a man reaches the highest peaks of life, crosses the larges oceans of success or completes the most unimaginable acts of heroism, he must never forget where he has come from …
Bibliata.com National Tour in Silistra
The town of Silistra is located in northeastern Bulgaria at the Danube River. This was the location the www.bibliata.com National Tour 2005 team held services over the weekend. We arrived Saturday morning and conducted two training modules and then had two more in the afternoon session. On Sunday morning we concluded with a service where over one hundred people where in attendance. The building where the church congregation meets is an old communist hall, which for 45 years during the communist regime was used to speak against God. The building was given over to the congregation in 1990, which became the first church in the town of Silistra after the fall of the Berlin wall. Such church planting was not without with much trials and tribulations both physically and spiritually. The testimony of God’s miraculous power is that the exact location used to speak against God became the place, which God used for many other churches to come forth. It was a true blessing to be able to minister to the people of the church in Silistra and we are grateful of the opportunity that after nearly a half a century of persecution, God’s word was preached again freely.
Purpose in the Midst of Chaos
by Kathryn Donev
The manner in which God works is unexplainable and incomprehensible to the human mind. His ways are not our ways. Yet, ultimately in the midst of what appears to be chaos or random acts, His ways are always immaculately planned and in perfect order such that design by man would be impossible. Read more
The Tour in Shoumen
The weekend of August 27th through the 29th, we were in Shoumen where we held the first services of our www.bibliata.com National Tour 2005 in the local Pentecostal church. We began with a revival service on Friday night followed by four teaching modules on Saturday afternoon which included: (1) an informative introduction of the website, (2) a lecture on paleography, (3) an overview of the history of the Bulgarian Bible and (4) a discussion on the modern revisions of the Bulgarian Bible. The Saturday services targeted the youth and Sunday morning we concluded with the whole congregation ministering from Hebrews chapter 13. The message appeared to be a timely one as everyone came to the alters and many people at the end of the service testified of how the Lord had not left them in the darkest of times.
The Tour in Shoumen
The weekend of August 27th through the 29th, we were in Shoumen where we held the first services of our www.bibliata.com National Tour 2005 in the local Pentecostal church. We began with a revival service on Friday night followed by four teaching modules on Saturday afternoon which included: (1) an informative introduction of the website, (2) a lecture on paleography, (3) an overview of the history of the Bulgarian Bible and (4) a discussion on the modern revisions of the Bulgarian Bible. The Saturday services targeted the youth and Sunday morning we concluded with the whole congregation ministering from Hebrews chapter 13. The message appeared to be a timely one as everyone came to the alters and many people at the end of the service testified of how the Lord had not left them in the darkest of times.
Bulgaria’s New Cabinet
The new executive power in Bulgaria will be inaugurated at a special ceremony on Wednesday morning at the Council of Ministers. The former Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg and his ministers are to “hand down” the power to the new cabinet headed by the new PM Sergey Stanishev. Later in the day each former minister will inaugurate his new successor into the work at the ministries.
The government formed by Bulgaria’s socialists, centrists and ethnic Turks was installed Tuesday. Socialist Party leader Sergey Stanishev, 39, claimed the post of Prime Minister, almost two months after the general elections and one failed attempt to form a government. His nomination was backed by 168 of the 235 lawmakers who voted; 67 opposed Stanishev’s candidacy. Parliament members okayed the structure of the new Cabinet with a 169-67 vote, a total of 236 MPs participated.
The line-up of the Cabinet was approved by 169 lawmakers, while 68 opposed it. The ministerial seats in the cabinet are distributed 8:5:3 among the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the centrist Simeon II National Movement and the predominantly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms respectively. The new ministers swore in minutes after the vote.
Torrential Rains Hit Bulgaria
Three Bulgarian towns have declared emergency situations over the torrential rains that hit the country over the last 24 hours. The municipalities of Ihtiman, Kostenets and Gorna Malina are still fighting with the nature disaster. More than 1,500 people in Ihtiman have been evacuated because of the rain. The people have been gathered at the local schools and they are being supplied with food and beverages, mayor Margarita Petkova announced. The water in the streets reached 1,80 meters. Two of the nearby dams have been destroyed. Six people with minor injuries have been taken to the Ihtiman hospital. The damages caused by the floods that hit Bulgaria over the last two months are worth EUR 150 M, EU experts announced. About 3,200 people live in the regions, which were hit by heavy rainfalls from May 25th till July 20th this year. The number of the people directly affected by the natural disasters totals 2 million. According to data of the Finance Ministry as of July 25, registered damages amount to BGN 250 M.
Is There Revival in Bulgaria?
This question has been asked time and time again in the past 15 years since the fall of the Berlin wall. However, revival in Bulgaria is not a post-communist element alone. Regardless of the severe persecution of the Communist Regime, the underground church was in a state of nationwide revival and unstoppable growth. Through the testimony and the endurance of the saints, thousands were saved and sanctified. In the larger Pentecostal wing of the underground church, almost 100% were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Although the ruling atheism had proclaimed the death of the church and the communist regime had denied its existence, the Protestant church in Bulgaria was very much alive. Read more
Bulgaria’s Socialists Fail Again
Bulgaria’s Socialist Party and its coalition partner Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) officially admitted failure to form a minority government. With the return of the exploratory mandate to the President, they practically cleared the way for the King’s party and the right-wing to receive the mandate next.
Socialist leader Sergey Stanishev, 39, announced the decision around noon on Thursday, after last night’s bid to earn support for the draft Cabinet triggered a Parliamentary crisis. “We do not want to rule at all costs,” said Stanishev, 39, who will remain at the helm of the Socialist party after his government’s vote debacle. He lashed his political opponents for being irresponsible about Bulgaria’s national interests, adding that it would be impossible to form any government without the Socialists and the MRF represented in it.
Former Premier Ivan Kostov (Democrats for Strong Bulgaria), Nadezhda Mihaylova (Union of Democratic Forces), Krassimir Karakachanov (Bulgarian National Union) and Anelia Mingova (head of parliamentary group of King’s party) met President Parvanov later on Thursday. The opposition parties have not nominated anyone for Prime Minister yet. The President confirmed his readiness to hand “as soon as tomorrow” the mandate to the June 25 elections runner up Simeon II National Movement.
Stanishev, 39, had an unprecedented Premiership that lasted for little more than five hours. In a controversy-marked extraordinary session that continued until the small hours of Thursday, lawmakers turned down the Socialist draft after approving Sergey Stanishev for Prime Minister (120/119. “Yesterday in Parliament we witnessed unprecedented pressure on lawmakers,” Stanishev said in his statement Thursday.
On Tuesday the Cabinet vote was blocked after all opposition MPs staged a walkout of parliament in an unprecedented voting debacle. The Socialist Party led election results last month, followed by the former King’s Simeon II National Movement and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.
