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Dear Friends,

 

May God’s peace rest with you. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Here is a brief report of how things are going with us.

 

REPORTS

Short Trip to Bulgaria – a Vision and Impartation for the Vidin Church

I just returned from a ten-day trip to Bulgaria (March 30-Arpil 9).  Bulgaria is now in the European Union and one could tell by the new and large airport terminal that operates in Sofia Airport. But estimates show that it will take 200 years before the country reaches the level of economic standards of the Western part of Europe. It was well worth the time and effort to make this trip. The first three days I spent with the saints in Vidin. We held three meetings. Although I had received encouragement from two prayer groups in Los Angeles before I went on the trip, it was still difficult to see what kind of breakthrough would be there for the Vidin church. I saw it as we went on with the meetings.

 

The summary of the three days is that God gave a vision for the future development of the ministry in Vidin. The Vidin church is to be an Antioch-type church. Such a type of church is of the nations and to the nations. I felt prompted by the Spirit to elaborate on three of the Antioch-type church characteristics: a New Testament church, a missionary church, and a prophetic church. A NT church means that the body of believers stands firm on the gospel of Christ as a salvation and relationship with God by faith in Jesus, not by man’s law. This seems to be such a hindrance for many Christians in Bulgaria due to the legalistic and restrictive mentality inherited from communism. The saints in Vidin were excited to receive a clear mandate from God to work for the spreading of the Gospel and the His Kingdom. We also had a time of prayer and practical ministry to one another.

 

We visited the orphanage in Novo Selo and delivered some gifts for the kids which Teresa had diligently prepared days earlier.

 

With the arrival of the Welsh group (15 teens and 4 adults) we entered into another realm of team ministry. The first evening in Vidin the O’Hare family from the Welsh team held an open air concert (worship) in front of the hotel. The whole park was listening to Christian music. On the following day, Saturday, both Welsh and Bulgarian Christians went for a day trip to Belogradchik. (This is the small town where we used to work in the orphan home but due to the new orphanage director’s anti-Christian sentiment the door for us was closed.) We had a time of praise and worship in the open air amphitheater of the town. Some of the youth from the orphanage joined us. Then we had a time to play outdoor games and even to pray for a man who insisted on treating me and Tim O’Hare with beer. The man was touched by the Holy Spirit and cried as we prayed for him.

 

On Sunday morning the Bulgarian and Welsh groups joined together for praise and worship and mutual encouragement in the Lord. It was a great time which I had to cut short and say good-bye because I had to travel to Sofia to catch my flight back to the US early the next morning. Thanks to all of you who prayed for my trip and gave me words of encouragement and focus from the Lord.

 

PRAYER POINTS

Prayer for Noah. Noah’s outpatient surgery for child hernia has been postponed for a second time now. This time it was some insurance plan legal issue with the hospital that did not allow the surgery to go through.  Please, pray that we have a better understanding about this surgery and for gracefully going through the steps the health bureaucracy requires from us.

 

Ph.D. Please, keep me in your prayers regarding my research work. Especially that I keep my focus. Recently someone I barely know over email criticized me for going for a Ph.D. degree. I dismissed the “corrections” as ill-informed and rash. However, the incident was important enough for me to revisit again the long-term discussion I’ve had with the Lord and to seek affirmation that this pursuit is within His plan for me and for our ministry.

 

Yavor’s family and the church in Vidin. Please, hold him and his wife Maria in prayer. After the significant spiritual input during my visit and the Welsh short term missionary group, she had a serious break-down. At this point she’s on medication for her erratic and inconsistent behavior and Yavor is in turmoil. The situation is very serious and could affect the small church community and the work of the Lord there. Your earnest prayers, as the Lord leads you, will be much appreciated. This is evidently a weak point that the enemy uses to attack and divert the church from its focus.

 

Links and Media

*  This is a link to a clip of video and music presentation of the orphan youth work. Best viewed if you have a fast internet connection and Windows Media Player:

http://kmission.org/video/yw2007a.wmv

 

*  Email us with your mailing address and we’ll send you a 10 minute promotional DVD which describes the orphan youth work we do. (Thanks, Tim O’Hare, for the great job producing it!).

 

*  Pictures from my trip to Bulgaria – April 1-9, 2007:
http://www.kmission.org/pics/2007-04_bgtrip/page_01.htm

 

Thank you again and again for your prayers and for being a part of the missionary Church of Christ that helps us in our work.

 

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