In July we held our church youth camp. It was held in Bosnek, a village not far from Sofia. The themes were creation vs. evolution, God in education and the schools and relationship with God and others. Our theme was from Psalm 14:5 – “God is in the generation of the righteous.”
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Category Archives: Missionary Diary
Pornography and religion — equal moral value?
I still remember how 30 years ago, during the years of the atheistic communist regime under which I was growing up we, 10-12 year old boys, had a fun thing to do. We used to go to one of the central streets of our town to look at a window which displayed items of Western diversion and propaganda. Among those items were pornographic magazines and films, and…Bibles and evangelistic tracts.
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State run orphanage in the news
The state-run orphan home in Novo Selo got in the national TV news several weeks ago. Not for a good reason however.
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The vision of the Christian Mission Center – Vidin
Our leadership team has been discussing the vision of our church and ministry in Vidin. At this point we have agreed on the title Christian Mission Center – Vidin. Our tag line that sums up all of our work is: A place for Biblical study, worship and outreach. The genetic code of mission is being placed in the church Teresa and I helped nurture since 2000 through all of our activities.
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Appliances delivered to the Youth Club
Here are several photos of the delivery of the fridge and stove we will use in the kitchen of the Youth Club. Thanks to a generous donation by one of our supporters:
Prayer Letter – Sept. 2009
For video and picture links, please, scroll to the bottom of the letter
Dear Friends,
The newly formed band of teenage music students in the Youth Club had just finished practice. Two stayed behind and started a conversation about God and “religion” with the staff. One of the teens, Laura, 15, defended her school textbook view on faith. God was “something invented in the old days” to help people explain their inability to deal with life and the elements.
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Walking the Path of Life
The essay below was written by Rosa, one of the former “inmates” of the orphan home in Novo Selo, who pretty much we saw grow up in the last 6 years. I translated the essay in English because I find it to be one of the few moments of vulnerability and honesty that Rosa has allowed during the time we’ve known her.
She is 24 and is still trying to define a direction in life where she could live with dignity. After a long time of seeing the work of the Lord among us, in the life of her peers and her own life, she finally gave her life to Christ and was baptized in the Danube. On the photo to the right, Rosa is in the far, right corner. Barely visible, typical for her.
The essay was written as part of the assignment for a young writer’s course which we designed and started as one of our outreaches in the Youth Club. She has written before, but any attempt to encourage her has resulted in her shrinking back and rejecting any attempt to help her express herself in writing. Reading the piece really shows the struggle of this former orphan, now a young Christian woman, to be someone who lives with a purpose. Only Jesus can make this happen for her. She is on the right path as long as the “I” in her story remains surrendered to God.
–Viktor
The photo on the right: Rosa awaits her baptism.
All are hurrying somewhere
By Rosa Dobreva
Imagine a busy street – cars, buildings … people, people. All are quickly going somewhere, each buried in their problems, pain, joy and trying to live one more day, to do more work or to get lost along the street, to kill the next twenty-four hours of life. This is the world – everyone is in a hurry to somewhere. Everyone is fighting for his or her own survival. Everyone has their dreams and aspirations, no one stops at nothing, and everyone strives to be fine as it can.
All these people emanate such coldness! You want to love them, to trust them, but how? How can I trust them when they continue to lie to me? How to love them when they hate you and all they want is to use you and bring you down? How to stay clean and pure while striding in mud and depravity? What do I have left? To lie, to cheat, to leave behind morals and dignity, to compromise my values in order to achieve my goals, all in the name of success.
But maybe this compromise will lead to others after it and ultimately I will become a hypocrite? To go up in this world, certainly you should make a compromise with your dignity, and even accept humiliation. I fear this! I do not want to become a slave to greed and money. Everyone strives to have it, believing that it brings happiness. But no! Money does not make you happy, it turns you into a miser, you want more and more and gradually, without realizing it, you become a monster. But you cannot fight money. It has already overtaken the whole a planet since long time ago. But, No! I will not give up.
I am beginning to stride confidently down the street called “Life.” I have already solved my dilemma. I decided not to be like them! But it is terribly difficult to stand for what I want to be, my values and my ideals. I know one thing that should be alive my life with dignity, but that will be hard to achieve. However, I will put much effort into it.
I hope that the ugly picture that I see at the beginning of my path will not destroy me, but will give me the resolve to walk it all the way. And to get to the end of the street, proud that I stood up for myself that I was a person, that I am “I.”
Copyright (c) 2009
Prayer Letter May 2009
Scroll down for photo slide shows.
Dear Friends,
A teenager, a former skinhead and a member of an ultra-nationalist group, gave his life to Jesus as part of God moving among the youth in Vidin. Ilian, 19, who is also an orphan, testified during the church service: “My heart was filled with hate. I hated gypsies, Jews. But now I don’t feel hate any more. It is gone.”
April short- term mission week
Early in April we had a “convergence” of mission visitors and friends, from the UK/US and Romania. Mary, who lives in the UK, and her two daughters were with us for a week. During that time Stuart also visited with two young short-term missionaries. One of them, Karina (18), is planning on living for a year in Vidin and helping out with youth work starting this fall. We did church worship services, community outreaches in the poorer parts of Vidin and local villages, and did a couple of trips back to Sofia. There was a good-bye party to mark the end of the week of ministry and fellowship. On the way back to Sofia one of the missionaries had health issues while traveling that quite scared us all but by God’s grace was fine and all flew back home ok.
Youth club up and running for a month and a half with a few more things to buy We were amazed at how quickly the work with young people took off! God’s grace can really surprise you sometimes. Here are some highlights of the club’s activities:
• 15 weekly students coming for lessons in English and guitar. We charge a nominal “suggested donation” to meet some costs (2 leva per half hour lesson, which is a little over $1.00);
• 15 aspiring young authors between the ages of 16-25 are attending a short-story course for 8 weeks;
• A local TV station made a half-hour show in their “Culture” segment, and interviewed Yavor about the work of the club;
• It was just yesterday, May 20, that we were able to put the sign up for the youth club. We named it “Vertical Reality” – in Bulgarian of course.
• Daily one hour Bible studies and the conversion of two teens: Ilian and Gery!
Viktor goes on a TV program (April 24)
Viktor was invited as the main guest in a morning TV show discussing family issues and the change in legislature. There is a strong push by the EU and local interest groups to introduce same-sex partnership as a prelude to same-sex marriage. Viktor was able to comment that traditional values are important to keep in mind when writing new laws. There were a number of callers during the show.
Academics Religious Liberty Ministry
Viktor submitted an article to two scholarly journals (Religion in Eastern Europe and the Journal of Baptistic Studies based in Prague, Czech). The article addresses post-communism and church, state and liberty from a missiological perspective. The publications will be released respectively in May 2009, and the spring of 2010.
Bulgaria continues to be in bad shape politically. The justice system is constantly criticized for being ineffective and corrupt. Recently a high profile murder case involving three young Bulgarians in France was solved by the French police but the Bulgarian courts quickly acquitted the suspects because they were the sons of influential lawyers related to the former power structures (State Security). In this context, the case which Viktor, and several other evangelical pastors, brought before the Commission for the Protection against Discrimination has still not been decided, long past the legal limits for issuing a decision. In this case the law for freedom of conscience and religion is being tested against the trends of the state to instill official support for the Orthodox Church. Viktor is planning to bring forward another pilot case on freedom of religion later in the year.
Family Matters
Dan and Matt were able to go to a youth art camp for a long 4-day weekend. The camp was held in northern Greece and their old art teacher led the group. They won second place in the art competition. Noah turned four this week. His question the day after the small birthday party to his mom was: “Mom, do you think I am still four?” Mattias now wears glasses (sometimes). Not very important but he wanted this fact included in our prayer letter. Teresa has been working 15-20 hours a week in the youth club and enjoying every minute of it!
Viktor kept a schedule of teaching in the church on Sundays
The main subject has been on how to be loyal to God and not to money. Vidin is officially the poorest town among the larger ones in the nation. However, the lack of economic strength does not prevent people from struggling with money issues and a weaker loyalty to God who provides for our needs.
Back To the US for the Summer
Viktor submitted recently the final “final” copy of his dissertation complete with index. We will be back in the US for the summer and part of our job will be to attend graduation at Fuller! We are looking forward to seeing and talking with some of you.
Prayer Needs
If you can pray for our time in the US we will be very grateful. One need, of course, is to have a car to use for our family. God always provides, we are trusting that this will be the case this time around as well.
• We’d appreciate your prayers for a vehicle – to find one to borrow or to buy at a very reasonable (for us, that is) cost.
• Please, pray for proper contacts and fundraising for the religious liberty ministry and the work in Vidin.
• Pray, for Ilian and Gery, the new Christians, that they will grow strong in the faith and resist temptation.
Thank you much for your support and partnership in prayer. Love, The Kostovs
Below is the club at the start of repairs, last August (2008)
Video from our last orphanage visit- Novo selo, Spring 2008
Prayer Letter – March 2009
Prayer Letter – March 2009
Dear Friends,
The last two months were quite busy. It is God’s grace that works in us and helps us do what we do.
Mission in the Orthodox Context Prague, Czech, Feb. 8-11. Viktor presented a report on the totalitarian state and its tendency to use ideology or religion to impose a union of state and society and how this dynamic plays out in the post-communist Bulgarian situation. The report was presented at this scholarly conference held in the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague with participants from England, Czech, Romania, Armenia, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria and other places. Viktor was able to connect with missionaries, missiologists and theologians working in the Eastern European context of various situations where the Orthodox Church is largely perceived as the national church. Our latest spring issue of Freedom for All which will go online before the end of March features several articles presented during the conference.
On the radio. Viktor was the guest in a midnight show on the national radio program “Horizon.” The subject was homeschooling as an alternative to the collapsed Bulgarian state-controlled educational system. There were many callers and a lively discussion. One of the callers almost in an accusing tone said: “You speak like an evangelical!” I told her that I have the constitutional right not to inform her of my convictions but that she is thinking in the right direction.
Moving, moving, moved! The move was a bit extreme since it was cold and snowy, but by God’s grace we are now almost settled into our new apartment in Vidin. We have unpacked all boxes and currently have only an electrical problem to deal with (the way some electricians do wiring here is beyond simple comprehension or explanation) and a few more leaks.
In the courts. Viktor was the counsel at the hearing of a group of Christian pastors in proceedings against a newspaper and a non-profit leader for disseminating false accusations against evangelical Christians on March 9. The next, and possibly final, hearing will be on April 9, in Sofia. This case of national and international importance was filed in order to fend off other church-like slander against certain evangelical groups in the media.
Freedom of the Faith: Legal and Biblical Dimensions, March 13-15. Viktor prepared and was the main speaker at a seminar hosted by a multiethnic Church in Stara Zagora, a town of 150,000 people, 350 miles from our residence, in the southern part of Bulgaria (the announcement on the web, in Bulgarian).
This seminar dealt with complicated ideas so I brought it down to concepts and ideas which non-specialists could relate to, although freedom is not a difficult subject to connect with. I spoke at five meetings in three days and held two conferences with the main church leader. One attendant wrote to me after the seminar was over: “I would like to express my excellent impression from meeting you these several days at the seminar. All that happened, the understanding and the attitude toward the subject of freedom, gave light and set fire in the meetings. A new way of treating one another as believers was established. Some Jericho walls fell down. This was felt especially when a “strange quietness” was coming down in the room…I’d be happy for you to visit us again. I was seriously shaken and refreshed!”
The Bible is clear – do not brag about yourself, let others speak well of you. I am mentioning this positive feedback because it was the Holy Spirit who was moving and touching the lives and understanding of leaders and church-members during this conference. God’s desire is to bring His freedom to the church so that it will not bear the marks of a culturally burdened society but that of the love and truth of the Son of God and His community. But the words of encouragement by this believer were powerful for me.
Teresa led the church service and the teaching during Viktor and Yavor’s absence on the ministry trip. She had engaged several church members to act out parts of the message. The roles were those of Nicodimus, the woman at the well and doubting Thomas. The Vidin believers, who tend to be less interactive, gave feedback to Teresa only several days later. She was eager to grasp whether the message God had given her had reached the listeners. The remarks were positive.
The first activities have started in the Youth Club: the Sunday church meetings, daily prayer meetings, guitar lessons for unchurched teenagers and English lessons, and making hand-made jewelry to sell for support of the club projects. We are meeting every Tuesday with the small leadership team to work out the vision, the activities and the schedule and the management. Danny and Matty have joined the worship band – Matt is playing drums and Dan is on the piano. Yavor, who is a long-time worship leader, forms the band along with his two kids – Sara and Philip. During Sunday church services Viktor is teaching a series on depending on God, not on mammon, especially in a time of economic hardship. We will also be starting a course for young writers (age 16-25) which will last 8 weeks. The course will be hosted weekly in the club and will be lead by Yavor – an author of a collection of short stories, which we published in 2005.
Prayer needs: (1) please, pray for our hosting of 3 visiting teams of short-term missionaries between April 2-11. That we have wisdom about logistics and clear vision of the ministry and outreaches we are to do together; (2) Dealing properly with hostile neighbors in our new place.
Thank you for all your support and love,
Viktor, Teresa, and the boys
To make a donation visit this web page on our site:
http://www.kmission.org/support_us.htm.
To be added to, or removed from, our email prayer letter list write a note to:
vikkostov@kmission.org