february ministry update

"The Lord loves righteousness and justice. His mercy fills the earth." -- Psalms 33:5 (GW)

Dear friends,

Tonko, a neighbor who owns the house right next to our club is a bit over 40 and quite ill. He had been coming on and off to ask for loans of 5-10 leva ($3-7) of staff who work in the club. Finally he responded to invitations and came to church. He gave his life to Jesus during one of our January services. We prayed that he be forgiven of his sins and be born again and then he said to me, while I had my hand on his shoulder, "I feel like you've put your hand on my wing." Please, pray for Tonko since we have not seen much of him lately - he has been in the hospital.

Youth Club Activities

Valentine's art-workshop. Many young girls showed up for our Valentines art class. They all worked hard to complete as many projects as possible and took home sweet treats to those that they love most. It was a fun time spent together creating novel gifts - something that all the young girls appreciated very much. We are now preparing for our Easter arts course which will be held for two evenings at the end of March.

One year anniversary. In just a year of existence, the Vertical Reality club has had over 70 guitar students attending lessons. Teresa is currently teaching about 15 hours of individualized English classes per week; and we have organized 5 arts-and-crafts courses with adults and youth from the community. But these are not only numbers. We are delighted to report that God is touching the people through the work of our team here. Many non-believers have testified to the "different sensation" they pick up on while taking a course or visiting a lesson in the club.

Upcoming courses. A group of 20 youth and their leaders from Wales are coming out in April to help in our youth work and outreaches. They will be running two simultaneous workshops in dance and song and guitar technique. Please pray that many youth would join in on the activity and enjoy meeting teens from a different country while acquiring new skills and spending time together.

Street kids. We've been trying to reach out to two sisters, ages 12 and 13, who spend many hours in the afternoon and evening begging on the streets and in front of various grocery stores. They are sent out daily by their parents to beg for finances for the family's meals - there are 11 children in the family! The girls are very sweet and have been coming on an irregular basis to the club to practice their read (the 13 year old girl actually cannot read, she only voices the sounds of each letter of the alphabet) and have a warm cup of tea. We are hoping to provide for some of their needs, like clothing, but more importantly to reach them with the love and truth of Jesus.

Bible teachings

The daily Bible study and prayer meetings are already an established forum for discussion on the Word and growth in prayer and relationship with Christ. We now have 7-10 people coming on a daily basis to study the Word. We are on the last verse of the Revelation of John and will be discussing our next project for study and discussion this coming week.

Religious Freedom

Jan. 12 -- the final hearing was held on the case against the Center for the Study of New Religious Movements and a newspaper which disseminates anti-Christian and anti-evangelical articles. The case was filed due to the derogatory accusations (based on faith) made by an "anti-sect expert." The media did not allow for the offended parties to respond to the accusations and correct the negative image which was created as a consequence within society. Viktor represented seven claimants, persons and churches from two denominations, the Apostolic Reformed Church and the Christian Ecumenical and Apostolic Church. The Decision of the Supreme Administrative Court will be issued by the end of February 2009. A success in this case may have a restraining effect on egregious media accusations against evangelicals.

I also took the case of an Adventist pastor in Vidin, who had been verbally abused by a fellow teacher in one of the Vidin high schools. The teacher felt that this pastor, who was leading a discussion and course on moral issues to some of the upper classes, was a member of a "sect" and should not poison the minds of the students. The pastor, however, was lecturing on ethical issues. He was not even mentioning religion. I joined the case and counseled the pastor and went to a key meeting with him. The overall result was that the situation was resolved outside of the court - the teacher offered an apology before all the classes where he had slandered the pastor. Forgiveness was also extended. Many of the kids expressed their amazement at the scene since admitting a mistake or even more so, extending forgiveness, are categories absent from Bulgarian ethos.

Academics and Media

Viktor submitted his article "State-Control of Education and Charity as a Crisis of the Family" for the volume of the theological consultation held last November by a Dutch Protestant organization, a wing of their "official church" which has a strong ecumenical agenda in Eastern Europe.

Viktor is currently taking a certification course to become an online faculty member with BGU. The course is a prerequisite for their faculty to teach online courses.

Viktor published a commentary article (http://is.gd/91PDG - Bulgarian) in Dnevnik (http://is.gd/91PPb ), a daily secular newspaper. The article criticizes the unjust and oppressive aspect of new changes imposed by the Bulgarian state in health care. The article's title is: "The Terror of State Health Insurance." It is worth mentioning that the Bulgarian healthcare system was long ago nationalized and socialized with few private clinics in existence today. Recent changes in the law require 3 years of back payments to receive healthcare services for all self-insured persons and people can be prevented from international travel if they have not paid their state health tax! The article hit a nerve in the public - median reads for analytical articles average about 5,000-6,000 with 50-60 comments, in the online version of the newspaper, this article scored over 12,330 reads and 218 comments.

Prayer Concerns

We have reported several new conversions since last year. Two of these new believers have returned to their old lifestyles since the pressure they feel both from relatives and their own habit of sin is so strong.

Ilian, the 19 year old young man who was baptized last April. He was challenged by the leadership team regarding his "girlfriend" who was 15 at the time; that they should abandon their "relationship" for a time until they are both more mature and ready for marriage and for the time being should focus on growing in the Lord. The result of this conversation was that the "couple" chose to leave the church.
A woman that had said the sinner's prayer during one of our Bible studies came to church once (Elena) but never came back again. Her words to the sister that had brought her to our meetings were that she does not feel good enough to go to church.

Darkness is fighting back for the souls of those who dare to open their hearts to the Gospel and the love of God. Please, pray that the conviction of the Holy Spirit will work strongly in the hearts of those we named above.

Thank you for all your prayers and support in this work for His Kingdom.

Viktor, Teresa and the boys

LINKS

Photos from the Valentine's Day arts-n'-crafts workshop: http://is.gd/8Wxg4

Viktor's article in Dnevnik (Bulgarian): http://is.gd/91O5q

Viktor's article "Christian Mission in Post-Communism: Missiological Implications and the Bulgarian Context" in the journal Religion in Eastern Europe: http://is.gd/8WxpU

To donate in support of our ministry: http://kmission.org/support_us.htm