Mission Bulgaria Week 7

Week 7 – September 30 – October 6, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA

Christian Greetings. Please be assured of our prayers for the people of the United States during this time of war and conflict. We are asking God for the best outcome of this situation. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

IN BULGARIA: I just have returned from a crusade meeting in Varna, Bulgaria.

Varna is the third largest city in Bulgaria. It was an inhabited place even before the Greeks established the colony of Odessos there about 580 B.C. Later, under the Romans and their successors, the Slavs, Varna became a major port trading with Constantinople, Venice and Dubrovnik. In 1393 it was captured by the Turks, who made it an important military centre.

Nowadays it is the main port for both naval and commercial shipping and, adjacent as it is to the coastal resorts of Golden Sands, St. Constantine (Drouzhba) and Albena, it has a cosmopolitan atmosphere. Sailors on shore-leave in unfamiliar ceremonial uniforms, mingle with foreign tourists and locals as they promenade along shady boulevards, lined by dignified 19th and early 20th century buildings. The approximate population is 700,000 people but because of its location during the summer more than 2 million from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and even from Germany and the Scandinavian countries.

We had two meetings in Varna – on Saturday night in the largest auditorium in the city and on Sunday morning in the Evangelical Pentecostal Church in town. More than 3,000 attended. The Lord touched us all, as the Gospel was preached. Many were healed and testified in the services. A felling of an old time revival filed the hearts of the people as the Glory of the Lord filled the places where we met.

In Sofia a similar crusade is planned for this coming weekend. We have reserved the largest auditorium in Bulgaria – National Palace of Culture #1 for the meetings, expecting more than 12,000 to attend. Our prayer is for God to bring revival again in Bulgaria.

Evangelization meetings, at the end of October at the Yablanitza region, and at the end of November at the Lom-Vidin region, are planned as part of this crusade. Please pray for me as I travel there.

Please, also support me in prayer for the church in Pravetz. This is the church where I first started preaching and worked as a youth pastor for 3 years in the beginning of my ministry. The pastor there is pressed by critical financial situation to move to Israel and work there. He will be leaving in a few weeks, and the church will have no one to take care of it. The Lord has laid it on my heart to begin traveling to Pravetz twice a week and pastor the church there. Unfortunately, at this time I do not have the means of doing this, but please support me in your prayer, as I wait on the Lord for direction.