An Amaryldian in Albania

Where I will be in 4 weeks:

Like the title of my post? "Amaryldian" is a word I just learned this morning - from Jay Adams, of course - which apparently means "Four-Point Calvinist". From Wiki: "Simply stated, Amyraldism holds that God has provided Christ's atonement for all alike, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then elected those whom he will bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election."

Works for me. That describes my church's position on Limited Atonement pretty well, and while it's certainly not a hill I'd want to die on, that is where I stand, as well.

However, that's not the point of this post. I chose the word for it's alliterative properties, so I could share my REAL news: four weeks from today, I'll be headed to Albania on a short-term missions trip with the British ministry, Albania Evangelical Mission. Whilst my original plan was to go with my "alma mater" Campus Crusade for Christ, who was severely short of teachers for one of their seven camps in Albania, due to a sequence of events causing CCC to change their camp dates I was unable to join them. It all worked out for the best: this British group runs Christian camps all summer in the same location (near Saranda, in southern Albania) and I could join them much less expensively.

Most of the 17-18 year olds who will be attending this Christian camp the week I am serving there have not made a profession of faith in Christ. However, they are attending the camp with interest and in the full knowledge that we will be presenting the Gospel to them, teaching the basics of Christianity, and using the Bible as a medium to help them improve their English skills as well. Besides all that, I anticipate a lot of fun camp-type activities in the afternoons, worship, and fellowship as well! I have never been camping before, so this will be a new experience for me in that regard. I have taught English (in Bulgaria) before, as well as having led Bible studies for many years, both in the US and in Bulgaria....but I have never slept in a tent, so we shall see. (Cold water showers, on the other hand, are nothing new to me - that was par for the course in Leningrad and Sofia during the summer.)

I have read camp reports and seen photos from years prior, and many new young Christians have been baptized right in the Ionian Sea right there at the camp. I am hoping and praying to be able to develop lasting and fruitful relationships with some of the kids (and staff) I will be serving. (Given the rustic situation, it's unlikely that I'll be able to blog from there, but afterwards perhaps.)

Montenegro Mission Bearing Fruit

More mission team news from Stoneworks International (the umbrella ministry that funds Spring of Revival Belarus, MIR in Russia, and church plants/summer camps in Montenegro, part of the former Yugoslavia). The following is from the latter ministry's monthly newsletter.

Summers are always a busy and fruitful time for our ministries. The work in Russia, Belarus and Montenegro continues to grow, as the Lord gives grace. He said that if we're faithful with little, He will entrust more to us. We are blessed to have many faithful servants who pour out their lives, serving in the name of Christ. Please keep them in your prayers, that God's blessings will be on them and their families.

We had another team come from the United States, this time from a church in Texas that has committed to building a church plant in Bijelo Polje, a mostly Muslim town in the mountains. The team basically had two jobs for their week here: one was to encourage the church in PG, and the other was to host a small event in Bijelo Polje to raise interest for the gospel.


Those of us from the church in PG, who were able to go, went with the Texas team up to the Tara river gorge and had a sort of retreat. The team taught out of Philippians and it was a really encouraging time for all of us.We also helped the team distribute fliers in Bijelo Polje announcing their event, which was a lecture on "Authentic Christianity," basically calling people to go back to reading the Bible instead of just believing what a priest says.

The lecture drew some attention, more than we predicted for a small town that didn't seem particularly open to new ideas. We know that some Orthodox people were there, and at least one Atheist.

Some good discussions ensued after the lectures, and people were at least encouraged to go home and read the Bible.

This is a start, because "...faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). Speaking of "hearing the word," TEENAGE CAMP BEGINS IN 10 DAYS!!!!

PLEASE please be praying for our teenagers, and for us a we prepare for camp. This is the best opportunity we have to build relationships with our teens and to present the gospel to them. We are collecting the last of their registration forms these next two days.

Please pray that the teens who come will really listen and take in what the Bible has to say about Love (this is our theme): what it means for God to love us, for us to love Him, for us to love other people, and what dating/marriage/sex looks like from a biblical perspective. Thank you all for your interest, and especially for your prayers and financial support. :)

-To hear more about teams arriving for ministry in Montenegro click here.

Good News from Belarus...

Last year, I wrote about the orphanage/post-orphan ministry Spring of Revival is doing in Belarus, a country with 36,000 orphans and the most repressive in Europe regarding religious freedom. Last fall, Olga visited here in Massachusetts with her husband and children, and despite opposition (and the deportation of most American volunteers), they are continuing to minister to the "least of these". The children are thriving, spiritually and otherwise....a true miracle, considering their circumstances.

This morning, I received the latest ministry update from Belarus, with great pictures from the Christian summer camp SoR runs for kids from two orphanages. For more information and previous newsletters, see the Stoneworks International site.

Camp Time in Belarus
June 11, 2010

Olga Goncharenko just sent this wonderful update from Belarus about Camp that started May 28th:
There are 180 children at camp. We have brought 40 kids: 20 of them are from Stankovo orphanage (7 girls and 13 boys) and 20 are from Mozyr area that remains polluted by Chernobyl (8 girls and 12 boys).

Days at camp are full of different events. Every morning the children get up at 8 and then they do morning exercises. After that they get ready, clean their rooms and go to breakfast.

When breakfast is finished the children go to Bible class (there are 3 classes for different ages 7-9, 10-12, 13 and up).

When Bible class is finished it is time for a big game, in which the whole camp takes part.

Then it is lunch and after lunch it is quiet time when children stay in their rooms and read or take a nap.

Following nap time is snack and then it is movie time or time to play different sports, such as volleyball, golf, running, rope-jumping, etc.

Next, it is dinner and group time; afterward it is ’second dinner’ time. At the end of the day it is a meeting for the whole camp, where the director tells the results of the day and wishes everyone good night.

The children all sing together a good night song and go to their rooms. Then they get ready for bed, read Bible, talk and pray together. And then they all go to sleep.

That is how we spend each day at camp. The children learn more about God and Bible and also they get to have a good time.

...And Just in Time for St. Stefan's Day...

As some of you may know, today, December 26th is the day which honors the feast of St. Stefan, the first Christian martyr. Acts chapter 7 details the fearless testimony Stefan gave before the Sanhedrin, before being dragged outside to his death (by stoning). I was so impressed by this young, politically-incorrect hero of the faith that I named my second son Stefan in his honor. (In fact, if we were adherents of the Eastern Orthodox faith, we'd be celebrating his "name day" today. Maybe I'll just read him "Stefan Stands Strong" before bed tonight.)

Stefan of the first century immediately came to mind this morning as I read the AP report below. This Korean-American witness for Christ is almost certainly walking to his death, a fact he must know. Very few people come out of North Korea alive - even fewer of the Christians.

This guy doesn't seem fazed by what they do to people in the gulags. Amazing witness for Christ.

Activist: US missionary crosses border into NKorea

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer Kwang-tae Kim, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – A Christian missionary from the U.S. has entered North Korea carrying a letter to leader Kim Jong Il in order to call attention to the tens of thousands of political prisoners believed held in the communist state, an activist said Saturday.

Robert Park, a 28-year-old Korean-American, crossed the frozen Tumen River into North Korea from China on Christmas Day to urge Kim to release political prisoners and shut down the "concentration camps" where they are held, said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the issue's sensitivity.

It was unclear Saturday if Park was in North Korean custody. Illegal entry into the country is punishable by up to three years in prison. The communist regime held two American journalists for nearly five months earlier this year before freeing them during a visit by former President Bill Clinton.

Park is a missionary from Tucson, Arizona, according to the activist, who works for Pax Koreana, a conservative Seoul-based group that calls for North Korea to improve its human rights record.

"I am an American citizen. I brought God's love. God loves you and God bless you," Park was quoted by two activists as shouting in Korean as he crossed the North Korean border, according to the activist who spoke to The Associated Press.

He said Park was last seen by the two other activists, who saw him enter North Korea near the northeastern city of Hoeryong from the poorly guarded border late Friday afternoon. He added that the crossing was videotaped and the footage would be released Sunday.

North Korea holds some 154,000 political prisoners in six large camps across the country, according to South Korean government estimates. The North has long been regarded as having one of the world's worst human rights records, but it rejects outside criticism and denies the existence of prison camps.

North Korean state media did not mention any illegal crossing. The country's criminal code punishes illegal entry with up to three years in prison.

Park carried a letter to Kim calling for major changes in how the country is operated, according to Pax Koreana.

"Please open your borders so that we may bring food, provisions, medicine, necessities, and assistance to those who are struggling to survive," said the letter, according to a copy posted on Pax Koreana's Web site. "Please close down all concentration camps and release all political prisoners today."

The activist said that Park also carried a separate written appeal calling for Kim to immediately step down, noting alleged starvation, torture and deaths in North Korean political prison camps. The second letter was addressed to the leaders of South Korea, China, the U.S., Japan and the United Nations.

North Korea is expected to react strongly because Park raised the issue of its political system, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University.

Demanding Kim step down is "a kind of hostile act" and "the North won't likely compromise on such an issue," Koh said, predicting it will take time to resolve.

Kim wields absolute power in the communist state of 24 million people. Any acts seen as hostile to him and his leadership carry harsh punishment, said Choi Eun-suk, a professor on North Korean legal affairs at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said it is looking into Park's case, but it had no details.

"His fate to us is unknown," said embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson. She said a charitable organization, which did not identify, had notified the State Department in Washington of Park's actions.

The activist said Park came to South Korea in July and stayed there until leaving for China earlier this week to enter the North.

"I would not go to North Korea to live. Even if I die, world leaders should really repent for keeping silence" on North Korea, Park said in Seoul before leaving for China, the activist said.

The activist said Pax Koreana is affiliated with another organization called Freedom and Life For All North Koreans, which is a coalition of advocacy groups for North Korean human rights. Park is a member of the broader group, he said. The coalition and other activist groups plan to hold rallies in New York, Tokyo, Seoul and other cities from Sunday to Thursday.

In August, North Korea released two U.S. journalists it had sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for trespassing and "hostile acts." Their release came amid a trip to Pyongyang by former President Clinton aimed at winning their freedom.

American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were captured by North Korean guards near the Tumen River in March while reporting a story on North Korean defectors.

Park's reported entry comes weeks after North Korea held one-on-one talks with the United States and signaled its willingness to return to international negotiations on ending its nuclear weapons programs. Pyongyang said earlier this month it would try to resolve remaining differences with Washington.

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Associated Press writer Cara Anna in Beijing contributed to this report.

Guest Post from Lizzie at "A Dusty Frame" - Angel Tree Needs You!

Please consider a donation to this wonderful ministry this year. I have written about Angel Tree in the past, and this post comes from a lady who has been touched personally by the program.

Angel Tree needs you!

by adustyframe ~ December 10th, 2009. Filed under: Family, Holidays, Prison/Incarceration.

Angel Tree is short gifts for 50,000 children this year. There’s a map on this page showing each state that still needs help.

You can provide a gift for one child for about $35.20, but you can also give any amount by going to this page.

The rest of this post is my old recycled post, but it’s still pertinent. I still choke up when I watch the video or when I re-read my post.

Tonight, James got out his jammies he got from his daddy from Angel Tree 2 years ago. They’re so small on him now. He had a big smile as he came to me and said, “I love these jammies.”

Angel Tree truly makes a difference.

1 in 40 American children has an incarcerated parent.

“When your parent is in prison, so are you. Your heart is locked behind a wall of loneliness. Your future is bound by shame. But Jesus came to set the captives free, and through Angel Tree your church can bring the love of Christ year-round to prisoners’ kids across America.

In Matthew 18:5 Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”

Through Angel Tree, you can welcome children into your heart as if you were welcoming Jesus Himself. Right now in your community there are some children who are among the most at-risk children in the nation. It is so easy to connect with them through Angel Tree.

Although, I knew about Angel Tree in the past I never participated. This year, is different. Angel Tree is bringing a gift to our home. My husband is in prison. My son is a “1 in 40”

I wrote about the night Angel Tree called us here.

I was very conflicted about being on the receiving end of this ministry. In my heart I felt as though it shouldn’t be us needing this. We should be the ones doing the giving.

As I look at my son this Christmas, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for this ministry. I see the pain this separation causes all of us. My son misses his daddy so much. My husband misses our son. I struggle through days barely able to breathe with the enormity of the loss our family is experiencing.

Each time I view an Angel Tree video I sob. The pictures of precious little ones with huge smiles. The caregivers with thankfulness in their eyes. When you watch the video, you are seeing people just like my son and I. The pain is often too much to bear. The reaching outand love that Angel Tree offers is just as overwhelming.

Angel Tree gives an opportunity to connect. My husband had to request a gift before Angel Tree would contact us. I love that the gift comes from daddy. My son will be thrilled.

The purpose of Angel Tree is to minister to hurting families. They share the Gospel of Christ with the recipients. I contemplated the at risk children this week. The “1 in 40”. I truly believe that as hard and sad this continues to be for us, we are much better off than most families in our situation. We know the Lord. We have family support and church support. God is mending our hearts and home. Our marriage is being rebuilt. So many families with an incarcerated loved one, don’t have the things that God has blessed us with. I have said repeatedly that I don’t know how people do this without the Lord.

I thought this week of all these families. All these babies. Muddling through life. Hurting and aching. Drowning their pain in things we find distasteful. How wonderful it is that someone cares for them. Angel Tree reaches out. Hugs these babies. Prays with the caregivers. Shares with them the most wonderful news anyone can share. By giving a gift they say to people like us,“You are loved.” “You are not a leper.” “We care about your incarcerated loved one.”

For a few moments, someone knows about the shame that we try to hide. The elephant in the room we try to not talk about. They hand a gift, a message of good news and give encouragement to those who think they cannot make it one more day. What a small way to reach out to hurting people. For this year perhaps it’s too late to help. Please tuck Angel Tree away in your heart and remember them next year.

Links:
To donate

To find a local contact

To get involved

Angel Tree Video

(I especially like the slide show and the 7 minute video) The slideshow and video take awhile to load. I’d like to ask you to consider watching them. They show the true heart in this ministry.

Related Posts:

• Angel Tree
• It's time to think about Angel Tree
• Angel Tree~ you can help this year
• Angel Tree called tonight…
• Christmas Meme

Birthday Presents for Jesus

As I am in the midst of preparing my entire book for a second publisher's review, (as well as homeschooling my older son), I have not had time to launch into any in-depth expository blogging. In fact, I haven't had any in-depth thoughts of late, beyond incorporating interactive web sites into our fourth-grade science curriculum. Yipes!

As we are approaching the dreaded frenzy of the Christmas season, I do want to draw your attention to a simple, fun and meaningful way to experience the true meaning of giving this year. Salvation Army's Angel Tree program allows you to select an impoverished child (from your zipcode) of any age online, receive his or her wish list by e-mail, and gives you the address of the local drop-off center where you may bring your (unwrapped) gifts.

In fact, JC Penney (who is sponsoring the site), will ship the gifts to the donation center for free if you order them from their online store. You literally never have to leave the house to shop for your chosen child! You can pick out the gifts online, supply the Salvation Army drop-off address and child's ID #, and go back to reading blogs - without ever getting up from your chair. It's that easy.

Of course, this exercise in giving is much more fun if you have kids of your own, whom you can take to the store and allow to pick out the gifts for the Angel Tree child(ren). Let them come with the boxed presents to the Salvation Army center with you - that way they feel much more a part of the giving process. On Christmas morning, your children will have the pleasure of knowing some other child, not too far away, is opening up surprises that they had a hand in choosing.

The deadline for donations is December 14th, less than 2 weeks away. Please consider this fun way to share the love of Christ this Christmas.

Random Thoughts and Scattered Sharing...

"The believer is unspeakably precious in the eyes of Christ, and Christ is unspeakably precious in the eyes of the believer."~Robert Murray M'Cheyne (quoted over at Puritan Fellowship, which has some wonderful material arguing against an extreme application of Limited Atonement from historical Christianity). Kevin, your sermons and the excerpts you post are a real blessing to many of us.

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Like this gem from Spurgeon on the love of Christ and abiding in Him. Well done.

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Ha! This morning's patient just canceled at work. Thus I can stay home and blog, send my proposal to agents....and maybe, just maybe, wash the kitchen floor. Oh, the joy.

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I need snow tires. Like now. It's mid-November, and in New England, that's really living on the edge with bald tires.

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To answer the question 3 of you e-mailed me about: NO. I am NOT the same Theogeek who is on Twitter. Different person. I have 2 blogs, 2 e-mails, a Facebook account, a job and 4 kids. Twitter is the one thing I don't do (but I'm sure with a name like that, he/she has some interesting Tweets).

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To my faithful reader in Colorado, who visits every day, wouldn't it be easier to just bookmark my blog? That way you wouldn't have to search "Theogeek" every time. Glad you're here and enjoying my posts. :)

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Here's a great idea for making Christmas more meaningful, especially if you have kids: The Salvation Army Online Giving Tree, hosted by JC Penney. You don't have to do this through a church/group program to participate. All you have to do is click on the link, enter your zipcode and e-mail, and choose a needy child by age and gender from your local Salvation Army's online registry. You will see his or her gift needs - usually a warm winter jacket; boots; a toy - and you will receive an e-mail with the child's identity number and address of the Salvation Army office where you may bring the donation.

For those who don't care to go to the mall, you can shop online - and JC Penney provides FREE SHIPPING if you purchase gifts from their site. However, this is a cool way to get your own children excited about Christmas - by involving them. Choose a child the same age and sex as your own child(ren), then bring them to the store with you. Let THEM pick out the gifts, and make a personal Christmas card for their "Angel Tree" friend.

My kids have been bugging me about going shopping, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. It's gratifying to see your children excited about surprising someone else for the holiday! The deadline for gift drop-offs is December 14th, I believe.

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I wish I had more time to read Ed Buckley's "Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology". I quoted him several times in my own book, but getting through the entire book seems to elude me. I have the attention span of a gnat. Hey - maybe I have Adult Onset Attention Deficit Disorder! Yeah, that must be it.

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One of the things I love most about God, on top of everything else I love about Him, is that He forgives instantly and repeatedly upon repentance of the believer. The tenderness of His love cuts right through the shame and the hardness that comes from self-righteousness. It's human nature to want to "run and hide", but His Holy Spirit invariably calls to mind a verse, a passage, a specific incident from Scripture that speaks directly to the sinner's current predicament.

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Difficult, unsaved relatives who you are dreading seeing during the holidays? Remember, the Lord Jesus had dinner with Pharisees who invited Him. It may be a challenge, but Christ wants you to go. He is faithful and will provide ample opportunities for you to be salt and light. (Psst...don't take the bait when they try to put you on the spot for being a Christian.) If you get into an apologetics debate, be sure you have the goods to back it up...just do so lovingly. Neil's blog has some great resources to help you brush up if need be, but most importantly stay in the Word and pray for those "Pharisees" in your life who are perishing.

The Children of Leningradsky Train Station

Recently, one of my blog entries on an orphanage ministry in B E l A R U S was picked up by Shepherd's Purse, an American aid organization which helps street kids (most of them abandoned rather than technically orphaned) on the streets. I like to focus on Christian ministries that work abroad from time to time, in order to to call attention to the plight of the kids they are helping.

Michael Wetzel is the director of the organization, which operates in the Ukraine. You can check out their website and specific projects at their web page, here: http://www.shepherdspurse.org/pictures_

Please take a half hour to watch the following documentary, "The Children of Leningradsky". It was filmed in 2004, on the streets of Moscow. This video follows a group of youngsters who beg in the city's central train station by day and sleep in the sewers on hot water pipes by night. (It's in Russian, but subtitled - uses some raw language). The music is haunting and beautiful in parts, but the film will bring you to tears.

Here are some interesting facts to consider.

Moscow is now home to more millionaires than any other city in the world. Notwithstanding this, Russia and the former Soviet republics are plagued by poverty and a wide disparity of haves and have-nots. (Many elderly are also on the street or close to it, living at a lower standard than they were during World War II). However, children in these societies do not wind up on the streets because their parents are too poor to take care of them. Sometimes poverty will drive desperate parents to leave their newborns in orphanages, but not put their 8, 9, and 10-year-olds out on the street.

Broadly speaking, there are two reasons why kids in Eastern Europe beg, sniff glue and sleep on the streets:

- organized "mafia" of adults who abuse and force kids into stealing and prostitution, pocketing the money (trafficking). This is sometimes, but not always, the case with groups of Gypsy (Roma) children who "work" certain sections of a city.

- alcoholism and/or drug addiction. Long the scourge of Russian society, this is the #1 cause of misery, poverty, and abused and abandoned children in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states. None of the children in the Moscow footage were Gypsies or connected to any mafia-type trafficking ring. Across the board, all of them had been abused by parents who loved vodka more than they loved their kids. Sadly, this is very common. Most of the street kids and institutionalized "orphans" are not actually orphans at all, but have drug or alcohol addicted parents.

Another interesting fact: Western aid organizations are the only ones doing anything about it. There is, essentially, no social safety net for these children, who are either ignored or seen as discarded refuse by their own countries. (There is footage of a policeman brutally beating up an 8-year-old boy in the video.) Shelters are non-existent. If it weren't for the American Christian ministries helping them, the situation would be even worse. Many of them perish on the streets.

The population of Russia is imploding, and they are destroying their most valuable resource: their children. Besides the spiritually unhealthy, excessively materialistic society in which they live, even the lucky ones in "stable" families grow up amidst the allure of drugs, alcohol and corruption. Seven out of every ten children never makes it out of the womb - 70% of all pregnancies in Russia end in abortion. (In the US, it's 30% - Bulgaria, about 50%). In a country with a negative birthrate, ten percent of all Russian women is sterile due to repeated abortions.

The crisis is not simply economic, but spiritual, and the young are most affected. The Christian missions tirelessly serving and teaching the children about their Savior are a true ray of light in a very dark, cold world. These children, and their parents, desperately need to know Christ.

Of Orphans and Widows.....

I have just received this ministry newsletter from a friend of mine who runs a Christian orphanage aid program in Eastern Europe. "Elena" (not her real name) lives and serves in a country where Christians are currentlybeing severely persecuted. The government of her country (which I will not name, but it starts with "B", is not Bulgaria, and is located just north of Ukraine....take THAT, search engines!) is trying to stop her ministry and prevent the orphans from attending church or having anything to do with the mission.

I have removed all references to the ministry name or names of towns/villages in "Elena's" ministry report, for her own protection. Her e-mail and phone lines are being monitored, and as she alludes to in the last paragraph, they are holding on and struggling to continue to operate legally.

There are currently 36,000 orphans in the country, but international adoptions are banned. A common misconception is that these millions of orphans and abandoned children around the world are available to be adopted by loving, but childless Americans. The truth is, it is almost impossible to adopt orphans from these dilapitated institutions, even in cases where the childrens' birth parents have signed away their rights. Logically, it would seem that trying to adopt would be the best way to help one of these children who desperately needs to know love. However, the sad fact is that only a very tiny percentage of international adoptions are approved. In Eastern Europe, the process is especially mired in corruption and bureaucracy. Put it this way: if you are considering international adoption due to infertility, your odds of having a child through IVF are roughly 6 times HIGHER than they are of bringing home a child from overseas.

Nevertheless, there are other great ways to help institutionalized children in virtually every corner of the world. The most effective way of helping these kids, both materially and spiritually, is by supporting a Christian orphanage ministry that operates within the country. They are usually run by dedicated, Christ-centered volunteers who pour themselves out into teaching and discipling these kids. Since I personally know the head of the small ministry featured today (it's basically a two-woman project with an account overseen in the States), I can vouch for the honesty, hard work, dedication, and agape love that they lavish on the 6 orphanages where they minister. They bring the kids food, shampoo, clothing and soap, as well as run Bible studies, Christian camps (staffed by national volunteers, since missionaries are now banned from the country), teach them life skills and organize Christmas parties at each of the orphanages. The goal is that each orphan will receive a gift for Christmas. If you would like to help make that a reality, please leave me a comment in the combox and I will give you more information.

"Elena" is pictured on the far left in the second photograph below.


Greetings dear friends and supporters,

As we celebrated Thanksgiving we counted our blessings and thought of you as one of them. Thank you for being with us and for all your prayers. We are alive and well despite all the pressures, and we are blessed because we have Jesus.

This fall was very fruitful in friendship and things we did. First of all, the pigs made it to (town's name) orphanage barn with pig food for the year. And the orphans were blessed with potatoes, carrots and cabbage as well for the whole year. We presented orphans at (orphanage #2) with a washing machine, so now they can do laundry themselves in their group area.

Three times we did a "cutting project". A group of Christian ladies from a different town asked us to share our experience of how to start a ministry to orphans. Our staff members shared some things and we wanted to follow with practice, so we took them to the orphanages with us and since all of them are hairdressers, they did hair cuts for kids and shared about their faith too. Moreover, we found a contact person in the orphanage in their town (that's where my parents live) and made a connection for the ladies to visit the orphans there.

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Also, we did a cooking class at No. 2 orphanage for one family group of kids (brothers and sisters of different ages). We like this project as it's very practical and helps orphans a lot. We had a girl Ira in our group this time, and I asked her to boil eggs for the sandwiches but she didn't know how to do it. And Ira will graduate this coming May. After our lesson, I asked her if she knew how to do it and she said "yes". And while we are eating, we like to talk about their future and help them to build self-esteem, as many of them think that they are not worthy or not able to go to college for further studies.

Twice a month or so, we sit around the table, having tea and cakes, with a group of orphans. We discuss different topics and give a Christian view on them. And in between all the visits to orphanages, we try not to forget those orphans who are in the hospitals. Andrey, 11 years old from (town name), had surgery on his leg (it was 2 inches shorter) and now he has to spend a long time in bed.

We continue to open the doors of our home for orphans and graduate orphans. During the Fall break we had an orphan, Masha, who is in her last year of the orphanage, stay with us for a week. She made good friends with my kids and really enjoyed family stay, rather than staying at the orphanage. Also, it's a great opportunity to disciple. Besides, we have graduate orphan girls come to our home and church.

This month we have a special praise report as after one of our visits to (town name), the teacher has asked us if they may visit our church with the kids. And they did. We took them to children's Bible school and after that we went to McDonald's. It was 15 kids and two teachers. It was a double blessing for us at this time as our government is trying to put down the work of all organizations that have connections with Christianity (as you know they have turned down many foreign missionaries and now the national Christians are pressed), but despite all of that we see good results from our work, and we are ready to go on for as long as there is a way.

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We ask you to continue to pray for our ministry and for us personally as we continue to have pressure from the authorities: they have made a determination to shut us down. They have done everything possible to do it. We have had all sorts of check ups, starting from local tax police and ending with the General Prosecutor's office trying to find a way to shut us down. But nothing was found, so we are still on. So, a few weeks ago they went to the owner of the building we rent an office from (it's a private place) and talked to him for three hours trying to make him kick us out, and if we were to lose our address they were going to close us. Usually a 30 day period is given to find a new place, but they use a date that has passed (like a month ago) and shut you down immediately. The guy is tough and didn't do it their way. It helps at least for a while, but they may try to do something else. And we do not know what they will do next. It's really very serious and we need prayers. A lot of them, and especially for protection.

Also, we ask you to pray for our Christmas projects, and we are still looking for Christmas gift donations. Thank you dear friends and may you be specially blessed this season.

We continue to put our trust in Jesus and let him rule our lives and (our ministry).

Gospel for Asia's Christmas Program

For a few years now, Gospel for Asia's Texas-based ministry has been offering a Christmas season outreach to impoverished families in India. Much like the seasonal gift catalouges you receive in the mail this time of year, they send their supporters a catouloge of various types of practical gifts we may purchase for souls who are both spiritually and physically hungry.

The purpose of this Christmas giving program is not simply to inundate the Dalits and other poverty-stricken Indians with material possessions, hoping the generosity will lead to conversions. As GFA founder K.P. Yohnanan writes:

As you are well aware, the mission of Gospel for Asia is to proclaim the Gospel and establish New Testament churches among the most unreached people of Asia. How, then, do buffalos, goats, chickens and other farm animals fit into the equation?

The answer is simple: Many of our native missionaries work among the Dalits-the poorest of the poor who daily struggle for survival and who live in slave-like conditions. It is not only painful to see them suffer, but as followers of Christ who deeply care for the poor, we cannot close our hearts to their distress.

Besides livestock (a donor may purchase a pair of egg-producing ckickens for $11; a milking goat for $55, or even a cow for $350), other gifts are available which will help enable the recipients to make a living. For example, a sewing machine ($85) enables a widow to sell clothes in order to feed her family. A tool set ($80) can be used by laborers to make a living, and a new fishing boat ($1,500) provides the means for villagers who lost everything in the tsunami of a few years ago to make a living. Even a sement house can be built through this program for only $5,000. For $30, a donor can choose to purchase a BioSand Water filter, thus providing safe and clean drinking water for several families. A blanket can keep a child warm for only $5. Any of these gifts, given in love, would make a great birthday present for Jesus!

Showing compassion in practical ways to the poor goes hand in hand with telling them about the God Who loves them. As James writes, "If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" (James 2:16).

Gospel for Asia's steadfast commitment to spreading the Gospel of salvation and improving the existence of people their missionaries love deeply is exactly the type of tenderness expressed by Christ and the early Church. Few of us will ever know the extreme poverty so commonplace in Asia, but most of us have it within our means to show concern for just one family. To read more about Gospel for Asia's Christmas ministry, click here: http://www.gfa.org/donation/letter-from-kp

Angel Tree Ministries

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." -- Jesus (Matt. 10:42)

Even though it still seems a long way off in mid-November, Christmas is fast approaching. The holiday season seems to bring both a whole new level of worries and needs to many, both in our nation and abroad; but we are also faced with unique opportunities to show compassion and the love of Christ.

Of course, the need to do all we can for others and, above all, to spread the Gospel is one we should keep foremost in our minds all year long. From time to time, I profile certain ministries here that fit the criteria for what a true Christian mission should be: both evangelical and humanitarian in nature. After having read the Bible thoroughly several times, I am convinced that God's will for us to serve (what some churches refer to as "social justice") is secondary only to His desire to keep sinners out of hell. Isaiah, James, Amos, 1 Corinthians, the Penteteuch and all of the Gospels drive home this fact. (That's a good chunk of Scripture right there)!

Christmastime presents an ideal opportunity to bring tangible aid to vulnerable people who may otherwise never ask for or receive it. As Angel Tree and many other related ministries have noted, this often softens a hardened heart and opens the door to an opportunity to talk about Jesus. Angel Tree is an offshoot ministry of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship that was started in 1978 by Mary Kay Beard, a former felon and convicted bank robber. Mary Kay had grown up in a Christian home, but had been abused by her alcoholic father and later started down the wrong path in life. She turned to Christ while in an Alabama state prison. After serving her sentence, in 1978 she was released and joined the staff of Prison Fellowship. She became Alabama's first woman state director for Prison Fellowship, and it was out of her Christmas prison experience that Angel Tree, a ministry that provides gifts for inmates' children, was born.

Mary Kay remembered how the women in prison would attend church-related events put on in the prison in order to receive trial-sized bottles of shampoo, soap and toothpaste - which they would then wrap and give to their children when they came to visit them. Recalling the children's joy at the care their incarcerated mothers showed, Mary Kay decided to collect names and addresses of the inmates' children, put them on two public Christmas trees, and allow members of the public to purchase gifts for them in the imprisoned parents' names. “Within six days we were out of names and I had to go back to the prison to get more. At the end of that first Angel Tree in 1982, 556 children had received up to four different gifts each,” she says in her testimony (the whole story is available here).

Just as in the beginning, inmates who register their children's names in the Angel Tree program typically participate in prison Bible studies and discipling afterward. The ministry, whose slogan is "It starts with a gift, it leads to lives transformed by Christ", has expanded to every state and has regional offices to help churches and individuals coordinate their giving programs. Volunteers purchase, wrap and personally deliver Christmas presents to the children whose parents are behind bars and visit with their families. Prison Fellowship even trains the volunteers on presenting a clear Gospel message.

However, Angel Tree does more than just coordinate delivery brightly-wrapped packages to children and sharing the Gospel in one visit. The ministry encourages participating churches to build ongoing relationships with the families they are serving, and offers camping and mentoring programs to reach out to these youngsters long after the holidays are over. Some of the ideas on Angel Tree's website include putting on a church-wide "Family Fun Day" to introduce the children and other family members to the congregation; helping them write letters and make visits to the incarcerated parent; and enrolling the Angel Tree kids in the church's VBS program.















Individuals can also send tax-deductible donations directly to the ministry if their church does not participate in an Angel Tree outreach. With the state the economy is in, donations to charities and missions are bound to be down this year. Still, we all should do what we can, and look at small ways we can help someone who has it worse off than we do. Ensuring that a child receives a gift on Christmas morning....and a lonely prisoner hears the Gospel (perhaps for the first time) is a worthy cause. A gift for one child averages out to only about $11.00. Angel Tree's website also has suggestions for getting your church involved, if there is collective interest in doing so, but missions committees tend to move slowly so it might take until next year.

Please keep these children and their families in your prayers. There is much pain and difficulty not only for the person incarcerated, but for their families as well. Their struggle is often an "invisible" one, and they deserve our compassion.

Social Justice: Part of God’s Heart

...and another one from my archives of unpublished "stuff":

“Feeding a man without sharing the Gospel with him is like giving a sandwich to a man on his way to the electric chair…it is, in essence, simply making him more comfortable on his way to hell.” – K.P. Yohannan, Founder, Gospel for Asia

"The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." – John the Baptist, Luke 3:11

Here in the United States, Protestantism has largely given way to a post-modern, liberal church where the “social gospel” is preached exhaustively. The term “born again” is usually taboo, as is evangelism (“the dreaded e-word”, as one church I attended called it). The fund-raising pitches each Sunday often take longer than the feel-good humanistic messages, and week after week the flock is subjected to fund raisers and promotions of secular service projects. Before transferring to a Gospel-preaching evangelical church, I commented to another woman, “If I hear one more pitch for Heifer Project, Habitat for Humanity or Crop Walk, I swear I’m gonna scream and jump off a cliff.”

This is my background with “social justice”, and why the very mention of the words has long made me cringe. It is not that helping those in need is wrong or not a part of the Bible; on the contrary, Scripture is clear that we should do all we can to help others. The problem comes in when churches get out of balance in their teaching. All the humanitarian aid in the world is of no use spiritually if the Gospel of salvation is not being preached. Additionally, the oft-heard argument that “a hungry man will not accept the Gospel” is a myth, as the ever-increasing numbers of destitute Asian converts attest.

Of course, it is equally possible to get out of balance in the other direction, too – when conservative evangelicals get so wrapped up in political agendas, church “fellowship” suppers and tract distribution that they forget God’s basic call to compassion. One pastor I know, who champions social programs and humanitarian aid projects under the label of “missions”, mentioned the polarization between the two extremes that needs to be balanced. “Traditionally, conservative evangelical churches have been criticized for not doing enough to help the poor…..feed the hungry, help the widow and orphan….while the liberal churches can be long on mercy but short on sound doctrine. Many in the ministry want to bring the two sides together to work in unity.” A noble goal, indeed. Another pastor, a charismatic whom I greatly respected, once made the comment: “You know….the liberal churches take a lot of flak for their stance on a lot of things, and rightly so – there’s much they’re doing wrong. However, there’s one thing they’re doing right, that we in the Pentecostal church have largely missed the boat on – helping the poor. Social action is a huge part of God’s heart.” While it is so common sense as to be a no-brainer, evangelism and works of mercy were never meant to be in competition – they are both important commands of God and are meant to complement each other.

Recently, I began John Macarthur’s “James” with my church’s ladies’ Bible study. Quite by chance, I began digging into Isaiah in my personal study to dig out the eschatological references. The first week, as I transitioned from my "James" homework into reading the first couple chapters of Isaiah, I noticed something interesting -- there are several very specific parallels in those two books. It seemed like God was taking advantage of my attention span to drive home a couple of points about social justice – the term that made me shudder back at the UCC church. Besides calling us to live out our faith by helping others, both books indicate this does not happen in a vacuum. In both books, the expectation of charity to the oppressed is prefaced by a call to personal holiness.

1) In Isaiah 1:11-20, God stresses the importance of moral purity (which leads to righteous action); NOT the empty religious ritual (which He hates). This is the passage where he tells rebellious Judah how He despises their endless sacrifices and New Moon festivals - not that there was anything wrong with the ordinances themselves; but the people were acting hypocritically and deceiving only themselves. Compare this passage with James 1:19-27...which ends, 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. 26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless."

2) Isaiah 1:17 echoes James' call throughout chapter one to social justice. God is concerned with how we treat one another as fellow believers. As mentioned above, ONLY focusing on social justice to the extent that the Gospel is neglected leaves the impression that one can work his way into heaven by volunteering enough and helping the "needy". We do have a very real civic responsibility in this world, but a call to compassion doesn't exclude evangelism. It goes above and beyond it. James gives a discourse on what the balance looks like. God, speaking through Isaiah, simply lays it on the line as a command: 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

We shouldn't neglect the Word in the name of social justice, or vice-versa. What good is memorizing Scripture if we don’t have love for fellow believers? Isn’t this what Paul meant by “a clanging symbol”? We cannot conjure up the kind of love that motivates us to action on our own – only a deep-seated surrender to Christ and a yielded spirit will allow for this inner transformation. God knows this, and so the first step He’s given us is repenting of our…

3) PRIDE. The age-old problem...and the solution spelled out so clearly in both books. Repentance, purifying your heart, washing your hands - and humbling yourself before God is a MAJOR parallel theme.

Isaiah 2:11-18 speaks of the pride of man being brought low, while James has to say:

James 1:21: "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."

All pride springs from the same root: thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to, and placing our value on superficial things. He continues all through chapter 2 to forbid favoritism, as humans have a tendency to think more highly of themselves and each other judging by materialistic standards. One woman in my Bible study shared how shamed she had been made to feel when using food stamps in a well-heeled community’s supermarket. This is exactly the type of odious pride James is talking about, and flies in the face of the Christ-like compassion God expects of His people. Expository preaching is important, but a humble heart should be the result.

Sometimes 2 Thessalonians 3:10 is misused to justify an attitude of indifference (or even disdain) towards those “taking advantage of the welfare state”: 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." Not only is such an attitude selfish, it is patently unbiblical. Verses cannot be wrenched out of context to justify our own carnal meanness, and Paul’s condemnation of idleness (v. 11), laziness and “mooching” (vs. 6-9) in no way negate a Christian’s responsibility towards the brother (or sister) in lowly circumstances through no fault of his own. (Interestingly, the founder of the Bulgarian Communist Party, Georgi Dimitrov, used the phrase “He who doesn’t work shall not eat” as his party’s motto. My Bulgarian in-laws were quite surprised to learn that it was plagiarized from the pages of the Bible.) Communism is an evil, godless ideology; and is not at all what Paul and James were promoting.

The concept of “noblesse oblige”, or moral obligation of the privileged charitably assisting the less fortunate, originated with Anglo-Saxon aristocracy. Today, while abuses of the welfare system have misconstrued the Biblical basis for this virtue in the minds of many, the American church remains head and shoulders above the rest of the world in this respect. The Gospel must be taken to the ends of the earth, and we in the West are indeed the ones with the burden of responsibility to make it happen. Our AWANA programs must be run, and we should be constantly in the Word in order to correctly divide and explain it (2 Timothy 2:15). However, this in no way lessens God’s call to relive suffering in the world. If we use our means to do so in His Name, we might find our tracts and evangelistic outreaches better received as well.

Matt. 25:37-40 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

A Helping Hand

This ran in the Thursday, Sept. 25 edition of my local newspaper. Currently, the British and American representatives of Bulgarian Partners are meeting in Sofia, discussing the outreach's progress and plans for how to proceed. Sure wish I were there instead of here!!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Church aiding Bulgarian community

PARTNERS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

By Marie Notcheva SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Rev. Teodor Oprenov of Sofia and Wolf

After 39 years as a principal with Wolf Coach, Richard Wolf had earned a quiet retirement.

Instead, the Worcester man committed to helping orphans, Gypsies and the destitute families of Bulgaria.

Why would a successful businessman devote such energy to a country and a cause so far away? The answer lies with his father, Paul Wolf, who grew up in an orphanage in the U.S., and with a presentation he attended as a member of Worcester’s First Baptist Church.

Richard Wolf, second from right, and Ken Swenson, right, mission board chairman and head of TABCOM's Mission Explosion program, with four program volunteers in front of Nevski Cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria.
(SUBMITTED PHOTOS)

The elder Mr. Wolf and his wife, Lois, had nine children. He started Wolf Coach in 1967 after a long career in the Air Force, intending to convert buses into motor homes. Instead, the company became a leader in mobile telecommunication, developing vehicles for the National Guard, state and local police, and roughly a third of the news vehicles in the U.S. It became part of L-3 Communications in 2002 and was moved to Ayer. Richard Wolf worked with his father at the company for many years, retiring this past June. Paul Wolf died in 1992.

The memory of Paul Wolf’s experiences as a youth in an orphanage combined with a program of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts just a few years ago to push Richard Wolf toward a new path in life.

In 2005, Compassionate Friends, a Littleton group, encouraged TABCOM to include Sofia Baptist Church’s Good Samaritan Foundation as part of its rotating mission support program. TABCOM raised $100,000 for the foundation, which is in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. A significant portion of this sum came from Worcester donors.

In 2006, as part of the program, the Rev. Teodor “Teddy” Oprenov spoke at First Baptist Church of Worcester, where Mr. Wolf is a member. Rev. Oprenov, better known as Pastor Teddy, is minister of the Sofia church. First Baptist held a benefit concert, at which the pastor’s daughter Ann-Marie Oprenova performed, as well as an auction, both of which provided considerable funding. AnneMarie, Pastor’s Teddy’s elder daughter, is now 16, and plays the violin at the master’s level, and this was her first international concert. The pastor’s younger daughter, Sophie, is 8.

In 2007, TABCOM completed its support commitment to the program, but Mr. Wolf promised Pastor Teddy that he would continue to help. After a trip to Sofia in 2006 that he describes as when he began his “process of learning,” Mr. Wolf fronted all the money to create Bulgarian Partners USA and to register with the IRS for 501(c)3 nonprofit status. The organization’s goal is to address the root causes of some of Bulgaria’s societal problems by providing education.

Richard Wolf said he sees his father when he looks into the eyes of the institutionalized children of Bulgaria. “As difficult as orphanages were in the 1920s and ’30s in the U.S., there are some similarly tough situations in Bulgaria,” he said.

He has concentrated his efforts on developing the American arm of Bulgarian Partners, a nonprofit that assists the Good Samaritan Foundation. The foundation started as a simple program created by Pastor Teddy and his congregation to distribute food to the impoverished of his country, as well as to minister in orphanages and train Romani, commonly called Gypsy, youths in job skills.

Mr. Wolf describes Pastor Teddy and his wife, Dimitrina (“Didi”) Oprenova, as “principled individuals with a mix of Christian faith and hard-nosed business sense.” He cited the plan for the center to rent offices to local businesses, charging enough to sustain the church’s humanitarian aid work, as an example of the couple’s business acumen. “That kind of realism, blended with faith in action, needs to be supported,” he said. The minister, who is widely respected among Bulgarian Christians for his uncompromising stance on the gospel message, is as passionate about social justice as he is about hermeneutics.

“As a pastor, and as a Christian, I cannot stand by and do nothing. To tell them that we believe in Jesus Christ, we must first show them what we believe,” the pastor contends.

The Good Samaritan Foundation has grown, and with assistance from British and American churches and individuals, is building a six-story complex to house a feeding station and soup kitchen, a job training center, an outpatient medical center, a library, a sanctuary and office space for businesses to rent. Wolf hopes the center will be operational by 2010.

The need for the program has grown as well. The economy of Bulgaria is not good. Since joining the European Union last year, inflation has driven the cost of living up dramatically, beyond the means of most Bulgarians — 36 percent of whom live below the poverty level. Bulgaria is the poorest EU member state, with unemployment among the Gypsies as high as 80 percent. The average salary is $150 per month, and many pensioners live on half that amount. Although 25,000 Bulgarian children are institutionalized (one of the highest rates in the world), the state’s budget to orphanages has been drastically reduced since joining the EU. Rev. Oprenov said last month that the government plans to shut down all the orphanages in Bulgaria by 2010 and “disperse” the children.

Another distressing problem in Bulgaria is human trafficking. According to a 2006 Europol Report, 10,000 girls in Bulgaria are forced into human trafficking each year. With little access to education and no job skills, girls (and boys) in the Gypsy communities and those in orphanages are most vulnerable.

Mr. Wolf continues to seek individuals and churches interested in partnership — which he describes as financial support and more — through informal talks at his church and a few area organizations. He is headed to Bulgaria again in October, and plans to use the information he gathers from that trip to complete a more structured presentation that he will take beyond his church community.

“To write a check is the first step,” he explains. “One of my goals is to help bring people together with the 21st-century tools of communication. Videoconferences bring us face to face with people over there — 21st-century pen pals,” he said. He added that when he does presentations about Bulgarian Partners, he closes by asking for viewers’ trust, as well as partnership. He maintains that the program is a partnership in bringing about change. “We’re not doing it for them; we’re partnering with strong Bulgarian people who want to help one another.”

Mr. Wolf and his wife, Denise, have two grown children, Stephanie Gaudette and Jonathan Wolf, who both live in Worcester.

For more information about Bulgarian Partners, visit http://bulgarianpartnersusa.org/Home.html.