Conference with Dr. Albert Wardin in the Oldest Bulgarian Baptist Church

After working on various research projects with Dr. Albert Wardin in the past few months, we were happy to have him visit Bulgaria again. Dr. Wardin is a renowned Baptist historian at the Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives in Nashville and a professor emeritus of Belmont University. Undoubtedly, his most important work about Eastern Europe is the bibliographical guide “Evangelical Sectarianism in the Russian Empire and the USSR.”

Dr. Wardin first visited Bulgaria in the late 1960s and became acquainted with the leading Baptist ministers of the country while visiting the local congregations. Being a historian at heart, he has since written several research essays on Bulgarian evangelical history, promoting Baptist heritage and clarifying the validity of a number of historical documents refereeing to Bulgarian Protestantism. His latest visit to Bulgaria in September 2008 was part of his European tour.

We were able to meet with Dr. Wardin in the oldest Bulgarian Baptist church in the city of Kazanalak, a quaint Bulgarian town in the Rose Valley of Bulgaria at the foot of the Balkan mountain. In the company of several Baptist ministers, we were able to complete a long-waited discussion on the Bulgarian Baptist history and move toward examining the relationship of one of the first Pentecostal missionaries to Bulgaria, Rev. Ivan Voronaeff, with the Baptist movements in Russia and the United States. After our conference, Dr. Wardin left for Poland where he will be a part of the anniversary celebration of the Baptist movement.