Presenting at the Society for Pentecostal Studies
A Truly Pentecostal Water Baptism
The Tundja River is a popular tourist attraction being one of the longest rivers in Bulgaria. It is an ancient waterway, which runs from the heart of Bulgaria down through Stara Zagora and Yambol all the way to Turkey. The river is a haven to much wildlife, a retreat to fishermen, and simply a tranquil sight to those passing by. But on August 22, 2009 the Tundja River served a different purpose. It was the location where 14 more new believers were baptized in water.
Cup and Cross Ministries along with the home mission team from the local Pentecostal church and a step-mission team from Spain met and had a baptismal service at the base of the Tundja River in the outskirts of the Hanovo village near Yambol. The service began with praise and worship in the Roma language, in Bulgarian, Spanish and English as representatives of these ethnos groups worshiped the Lord by the river. We shared a brief teaching on the subject of Water Baptism from the Church of God Declaration of Faith to encourage the new believers from the local village churches and to establish the Scriptural base of our gathering by the river.
Then we stepped into the cool waters and in the hot summer day, 14 new souls dedicated their lives to God and came out of the Thundja River resurrected for a new life with Him. Spontaneous singing, prayers of praise and cries of worship continued throughout the entire time in all languages that the people in the congregation spoke to form one truly Pentecostal water baptism service by the running stream waters, as we were all reminded of the old Gospel spiritual:
As I went down to the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord show me the way …
Preaching on II Timothy 1
Mission Bulgaria 2009: Ministering at the Gipsy Ghetto of Phakulteta
The Gipsy ghetto of Phakulteta is located in the northeast side of the capital Sofia with a population of some 120,000 people, which makes it larger than the average Bulgarian town. It comprises a substantial part of the population of Sofia, which now numbers over two million people. In recent years, Phakulteta has been a place of ethnic tensions produced in the middle of extreme poverty and the war of local crime clans which rule the area.
There, we have focused our ministry efforts in the past several years through regular preaching, prayer meetings, and leadership seminars for pastors, youth rallies and music fests. As many have noticed in the recent months while we have ministered at the Life Church of God in the Sofia gipsy ghetto, the extremeness of the context in which we minister there and the deep needs of the people, often draw the attention of God with powerful anointing and supernatural miracles. However, this last service was so powerful in the Spirit that it put all present on their knees for prayer in the alter service which followed the message. We were able to broadcast live the event and we are grateful that video recorded from the service can be now watched by many showing the heavy presence of the Holy Spirit, which no words can truly describe. We are scheduled to return to Philpovtsy soon for a series of revival services, which will reunite the local churches in a regional seminar on Last Day Prophecy.
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Society for Pentecostal Studies Annual Meeting
Cup & Cross Ministries will participate in the 34th annual conference of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. The meeting will take place on March 10-13, 2005 in Virginia Beach at the campus where Regent University, CBN and the 700 Club are located. The Society’s meeting involved world renowned scholars who study Pentecostalism, as well as doctoral students from Regent University’s renewal theology program. Cup & Cross participated in the mission’s presentation of the meeting. The full schedule can be viewed here.
Exclusive Report: Pentecostal Primitivism Preserved
I spoke at the Bulgarian Theological Evangelical Instituted today on the subject of Pentecostal Primitivism. My lecture discussed the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and suggested a new triangular model for the formation of Pentecostal faith consisting of prayer, power and praxis. I spoke for about 20 minutes but regardless of the time the presence of the Holy Spirit was so real that most of the students and teachers were crying. I have never seen anything like this before. After the lecture some of the students ask me to pray for them that God will recover in their lives the power of Pentecost. Before doing this, I warned them that if they do not want God to wake them up in the middle of the night and send them to strange places to preach the Gospel, they should not pray in this prayer. Then we all prayed and cried before the Lord. I am invited to lecture on the same subject next Friday in front of another group of students at the school.
