Somewhere over the Atlantic

After a dynamic and blessed ten days, the team is headed home. We are just south of Iceland aboard a Lufthansa A340-300 and have about five hours to go. Yesterday, Sunday, was another day of ministry in Galati, Romania. We started the day at Holy Trinity Baptist Church with Pastor Ovidiu. Bruce preached the morning message and brought his Watchman on the Walls Godly wisdom sermon. It was the same church where we taught the youth on Saturday night. The people were a little hard to read but a few approached us afterward and told us how encouraged and inspired they were. Of course, this is a big vision we're casting and it's not really fair to expect everyone to leaping from their seats in immediate agreement. The pastor was very receptive and encouraging, though. He is a member of BIG Impact with Mihai of Emanuel Christian Church, Adi Stanciu from last year, and Isaac Matei. There are definite possibilities and tentative plans for some broad training next year for both pastors/church leaders and youth.

After the morning service, we did our best to entertain ourselves for the afternoon. We did a little shopping for Florin's daughter and got her some shoes, bought ourselves some blanks DVDs to burn pictures from the trip, and got some chocolate for our wives and children waiting for us back home. The afternoon really seemed to drag on as there wasn't a whole lot to do, and we knew that our journey home today was waiting for us just a short night's sleep later!

Our final event was a youth service at Emanuel Christian Church. It was the group's standard Sunday meeting that we were invited to. Darin crammed his "Four Questions to identify one's worldview" lesson into 25 minutes and did a great job (as always). Of course, he again felt that he did it no justice. Bruce followed that with his exhortation and "you are the hope" of Romania message. The youth were very receptive and encouraging with their responses both during and after the services. During the entire message, Pastor Mihai was listening very carefully and taking it all in. I could tell that he was really checking us out, not in the sense that he was looking for something with which to disagree but really just to figure out our hearts and vision for his country. Can you blame him? Afterward, he was so complimentary and gracious. I really think we have some opportunities with him. He is a leading figure in the church in the southeastern part of the country and garners a lot of respect. I got the impression that if Mihai gives his stamp of approval, others will fall in line pretty confidently. God definitely blessed us with contact with him. If was a chance thing really as the trip down to Galati instead of Deva was not planned until just a day before we left Sinaia and was one of those unknowns that tend to face on these adventures. Should we really have doubted, though, that God would deliver? (Plus, the worship at the youth service last night was tremendous and so ministered to me after this long time away from
home.)

Immediately following the youth service, we piled in the car and drove back to Bucharest for a short night's rest at Florin's apartment. We slept for about three hours before having to get up and go to the airport for our 6:00am flight to Frankfurt from Bucharest. Ugh! We're all pretty tired, but it was a good end to the trip. It said a great deal about the trust that we've built with Florin that he would invite us to his house. We've found that the people we're working with in eastern Europe are typically very hesitant to invite us to their homes, simply because they are so very small and modest compared to the riches of the U.S. Praise God that Florin was so comfortable with us! The ride back to Bucharest was a hoot, too. We were doing our best to keep Florin awake, and so we spent much of the ride giving him various American idioms for various categories of words. Hilarious! Our favorites from him were "Home, James" and "Put down the crack pipe!"

Another great trip, another set of miracles following miracles. God is simply too good to us. Over the next few days, I'll try to think about the bigger picture that came from this and analyze a little. More to come...

The home stretch

I'm sitting at the desk in my room at the Hotel Galati in Galati, Romania. It's Sunday morning, and we're getting ready for our final day of ministry before we head home. Only a day ago it seemed, we had five more days to go. Now the end is very close. I have to admit, I sure am ready to see my family! Ten days is along time to be away, no matter how supportive ones family is.

We arrived in Galatia on Friday night. It is one of the ten largest cities in Romania and sits on the Danube River in the southeastern part of the country. It has the largest steel factory in Romania (the 5th largest in Europe) and the second largest shipbuilding yard. The population of the city is nearly 340,000, but the people to church ratio is 16,515:1. We spent yesterday meeting with Mihai Dumitrascu, the pastor of Emanuel Christian Church, and Ovidiu, a Baptist pastor.
Both are members of the BIG Impact group that we became familiar with last year and are dynamic church planters. Mihai's church especially is fantastic in this regard. They have developed some great programs to plant churches and then disciple, equip, and train believers for doing the same. Our meeting with him was very profitable, and God led us to several concrete ways that we can connect with them and provide
specific areas of training next year.

In the evening, we went to the Baptist church where we talked a little with the pastor and then shared at the youth service. There were about 30 youth present, and while they weren't nearly as responsive as the Sinaia youth, we felt like four or five of them were really penetrated by the worldview definitions and Bruce's exhortation to them. Darin was disappointed in the outcome, but Bruce and I really
saw it as a successful seed-planting night that will pave the way for follow-up. Plus, we had some really good dialog with the pastor that will almost certainly lead to future training opportunities.

Between lunch, after our meeting with Mihai, and the evening youth service, we had a few free hours in the afternoon. Darin went back the hotel to take a nap while Bruce, Paul, Florin, and I visited a 15th century Orthodox cathedral and the local history museum. In the cathedral, a wedding was in progress, and we were able to watch and take pictures. The priest crowns both the bride and groom as a symbol
that they are the king and queen of their marriage and must rule over it. Interesting. The fascinating part of the afternoon, though, was the museum. We took about an hour-and-a-half to walk through, and the history of Romania was presented from Paleolithic time through WWI. It gave us a real sense of the flow of people groups through here and how the country has come into being. The museum encompassed 13 rooms over two floors, and it cost us a total of $2.40 to go through!

I finally got my shaorma! Those are the fabulous wraps with pickles, french fries, roasted meat, and sauce that I've been craving. We stopped at a stand to get them after church an then walked along the Danube for a while. The funniest thing happened down there, too. Darin was determined to touch the river so that he could say he had touched the Danube. In the process of trying, however, he stepped right into the mud, and his dress shoe-clad foot sunk up to the ankle in mud! We all screamed with laughter! So, he tromped along the riverwalk among the hundreds of people with a muddy foot and pants leg. What a memory.

Today, Bruce is preaching at the Baptist church and then we share at the youth service in Emanuel Christian Church. God's going to work again. I know it! More to come...

The past two days

I haven't written since we arrived in Sinaia late on the 26th. It is now late on the 28th, and we are in Galati ("Galahts"), but the last two days have been indescribably fantastic. Our purpose in Sinaia was to bring two days of teaching at the youth camp run by Florin's church. We met many of the youth last year when we were in Bucharest. When we arrived on Wednesday night, they rushed up to us with big smiles and hugs, thanking us for being there and giving us the most wonderful welcome. We had dinner at the camp on Wednesday and then moved on up to our the Vila Camelia, the hotel in the mountains that was our base for the last two days. It was nice with in-room high-speed Internet access and spacious though dated rooms for $50. The highlight of the trip thus far, though, was the time we got to spend with the youth in Sinaia. They were so receptive, so eager to learn. Of course, the worship was so wonderful, as it was when were among them last year, and we also got to meet the pastor of the church for the first time. (He was visiting the States last time we were in Bucharest.) What a sweet, sweet man. He looks like a rugged guy but is so warm. When we arrived, he grabbed each of us one by one, called us by name, and gave us each a big bear hug! Just great.

There were two sessions on Thursday and one longer on today, Friday. Darin and Bruce brought some deep philosophical and theological worldview basics and comparative worldview teachings. Much of it was tough, deep stuff, but the kids soaked it up. They asked some really intelligent questions that showed that they really understood. God really showed Himself in the first sessions.

On Friday, we wanted to give them some real practical stuff to go along with the theoretical, so Darin, Bruce, and I took questions about their concerns and immediate issues that Romania is facing. Again, the kids really showed themselves as understanding and searching. They really grabbed what we were presenting, and, at the end, when Bruce exhorted them to be the transforming generation for Romania, there more than a few lumps in throats and tears. What a sweet time of the Holy Spirit's move!

Between the sessions and after meals we had the tremendous opportunity to hang out with the kids and just do things like talk and kick around the soccer ball. Of course, we always got out into the mountains a little bit. Florin, Bruce, Paul, and I took a cable car up near the top of the mountains (we're in the Carpathians) and then hiked back down. We walked from the cable care to the summit, and my GPS unit said we were out 6900'. Then we took only 35 minutes to walk, slide, roll, and tumble down to 4500' at the parking lot. Some of the way was so incredibly sheer, but it was beyond wonderful to be out in the fresh air of the mountains in the thick meadow grass. My legs are killing me today, and I sprained my wrist pretty badly, but it was just incredible!

After the last teaching session today, we took about eight of the youth with us to Pelisor a local castle/museum. We paid their admission and enjoyed seeing a slice of Romania's royal past. We went back to the camp for lunch and had a group picture with us and the youth. Hugs all around and then "hit the road not the lady" for Galati. We arrived around 8:00pm and are now safely ensconced in the Hotel Galati for the night after a dinner of pizza. Of course, this journal could never fully capture our experience of the last two days. They were truly indescribable. But God moved powerfully in and through us, and it was an honor to be among such zealous youth that want so desperately to be salt and light to their country. Wow! More to come...

Look at me, I'm on TV!

Today was a first for us--we were on Bulgarian TV. And not once, but twice! As we were planning this trip, we found out about an opportunity to be on a couple of shows hosted by a Christian guy named Zarko. Zarko was at both of our meetings yesterday and told us what to expect. The first show was in a small but very nice studio and was shot to tape for editing and broadcast later this week. All four of us were on set but all of the questions were directed to Bruce and Darin (by design). We were given a BBC piece last night to view about creation versus evolution and we commented on that and then further about our mission in Bulgaria and reformation/biblical worldview. There is no specifically Christian TV in Bulgaria, so this show is one of the few Christian-themed shows available to people. It was a great opportunity to explain what we believe and give a direct evangelistic call as well. After that show was done (1 hour), we went to another nearby studio for the broadcast of a live show, "Sports, Religion, Culture." For this show, we all talked about the sports we participate in and about reformation/worldview. What a bizarre but edifying and tremendous experience. Zarko was really good at asking direct and penetrating questions that set up some great answers where we were able to share reformation truths and our beliefs. This show is typically more "spiritual" than Christian in nature, so the Word was definitely put out there to those that might not otherwise hear it. Very cool!

After the TV shows, we hustled around some of the main sites of Plovdiv like the old town and the amphitheater, another 2nd century Roman site. It was mind-blowing to walk around the theater and up and down the same stairs that Romans walked on! It really is almost more than one can take in. We left Plovdiv in a rush and drove back the almost two hours to Sofia for our flight to Bucharest, Romania. As we arrived at the airport, it absolutely poured down rain. Absolute deluge. Marina pulled under the awning, we jumped out (we were late), gave her our profuse thanks and blessing, and ran inside. We made it on the flight with plenty of time to spare after all, and, after an uneventful hour in the air, we landed in Bucharest. Florin was there to greet us with a friendly smile and a hug. It was great to see him again and be back in Romania. We drove directly to Sinaia where the youth that we will be teaching are encamped and ate dinner among the glorious chaos of 20 or so teenagers and younger kids running in and out of the same room. This will be a fun couple of days! We can tell that Florin is very excited for us to be here and many of the kids are familiar to us from last year. God is good! More to come...

The Roman Road

Yesterday was fabulous and just built on the great time we had in Sofia on Monday night. We left Sofia about 10:30am and traveled by car not quite two hours east to Plovdiv. This is truly an ancient city and was the seat of the Roman empire in this area centuries back. It has a much older feel than Sofia. There is even some scholarly debate, apparently, that this city was the Philipi that Paul wrote to. The Roman name for Plovdiv was Philipopolis, and the geography of the area matches the Biblical description as well. Evidence of purple dye making has even been found.

We met Marina Dimitrova who took us her own renovated apartment where we settled in and had a break for an hour or so. I liked her right away. She has been remodeling the place for two years, and it is beautiful. After she gets a refrigerator and washing machine, she will move in in September. So, we felt pretty special being able to stay there. About 2:30pm we met with a group of pastors from in and around Plovdiv, laid out our purpose and vision, and took questions. As always, a big area of interest was home-schooling. It is not legal here, and there was much interest in what could be done to both change the law and homeschool in spite of it.

After that meeting and another dinner at "Happy," we went to Life Through Christ Church near the old town for another meeting with interested lay leaders. There were about 25 people there including business people, teachers, and even a judge. Bruce and Darin shared briefly and then we all took part in a panel discussion taking questions and expounding further on what was said. There were some good business questions that I was able to address. It was a great meeting. About a dozen people gave us their contact information for follow-up, and we were really charged up when we left.

As I said, Plovdiv is a very old city. We left the evening meeting and drove to the old town. After stopping in a fantastic Internet cafe, we walked down the main street of Plovdiv. To start, you walk >past an archaeological museum that houses a Roman mosaic floor, intact, from a house that has been excavated. That lies directly next to a Roman road from the 2nd century! And that road is a part of the main walking street. We walked right down a 2nd century road! It was amazing and we were all sort of in awe. As we walked past all of the shops, we came to part of a Roman stadium, also from the 2nd century and well-preserved. Incredible. Another late night but the day was worth it. It was fabulous! More to come...

Thoughts on Bulgaria and Bulgarians

The stereotype of the Bulgarian weightlifter that we see from the Olympics and such is true. The men here are very stocky and swarthy. Most have heavy beards and are very dark, though some are less so. The women tend to be very pretty in younger age but don't necessarily age too well! Of course, life is a bit harder here than at home. It is interesting, too, that most of the younger women very thin but most of the middle age and older women are heavy.

Having eaten the food here for the past three days, it's a wonder that everyone doesn't weigh three hundred pounds. The food is a lot of meat (of all kinds) and potatoes with heavy sauces and cheese. Meat is typically served either in the form of skewers or in patties with cheese and bacon/ham pressed in. The main cheese is much like feta but slightly different. It is creamier and little sharper. Of course, I really like it. It's cheese, isn't it?!

Sofia and Plovdiv are very busy big cities--much like other European capitals and cities back home. In Sofia, however, the traffic and flow of things seems much more orderly than we saw in Bucharest last year. That was pure chaos. Right now, I'm writing from Plovdiv where we have only just arrived within the hour. So far, it is a little more disorderly on the streets.

A few more thoughts:

* - Lots of underground passageways in the center of Sofia with shops, archaeological markers, etc.
* - Loads of advertising on everything, most very sensual
* - Many casinos in Sofia. Theodore explained that they are popular for money laundering.
* - Most municipal signs are written in Bulgarian (Cyrillic alphabet) and English (Latin alphabet).
* - Very little mineral water with gas, most is without.
* - Not quite as much juice as in Belarus but still very plentiful and popular.
* - Many of the women are very short and petite.
* - Bulgarians are extremely proud of their country and concerned about the Islamic influx.
* - On the whole, things seem much wealthier here than in Romania (even in the small rural towns we drove through), though on average they are statistically not.
* - Not as many Russian-style skin-tight jeans with spike heels on the women.
* - Many people wear shorts--the first time I've seen that in Europe!

It's going to be a busy couple of days in Plovdiv. More to come...

Oh happy day!

Oh, what a tremendous day was yesterday! We've discovered that Bulgarians are very friendly, but that they hang back a bit at first until they see if they like you. Once that initial wall is down, they are fantastically warm. And so it was with Victor Virchev. After the rush, rush, rush of Sunday, we had a mostly free day yesterday. Theodore took us to see the Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the largest and most significant Orthodox cathedral Bulgaria. It was incredibly impressive with its soaring domes and gold covered interior. Every square inch was painted with images of icons, saints, and Biblical scenes. On the boulevard leading to the cathedral were scores of kiosks selling all sorts of souvenirs from t-shirts to old miltaria to old photographs and instruments to handcrafts and jewelry. I bought a few handmade trinkets to take home.

We walked around the city for a couple of hours and then headed a couple of hours south to Rila and the Rila Monastery. What a fabulous place! It is one of the most visited sights in Bulgaria, and there many, many tourists on the grounds when we were there. But, it was up in the mountains, the weather was cool, and the grounds were amazing. The monastery was founded in 927 and moved to its current location in 1335. So we were walking around a monastery that has stood there for more than 650 years! It was arranged kind of like a castle with four stories. In the huge central courtyard was a magnificent cathedral with four domes and a tall brick watchtower. The monastery doubled as a fortress and the monks defended the area on several occasions from invading Turks. We really enjoyed being there and seeing some of the countryside and small villages on the way. The countryside looked a lot like rural Romania and western Virginia.

After returning to Sofia in the afternoon, we had a meeting at Victor Virchev's church with several lay leaders. We didn't quite know what to expect and we were amazed at the people God had in attendance. There were three professors, a leading media figure, the President of the Rule of Law Institute, the President of a Pro-Life organization, a medical doctor, the leader of a Christian political party, and so on. We spent two-and-a-half hours laying out our reformation vision and answering their questions. We found that they were very well along in their thinking already and asked questions about things like reconstruction versus reformation and the like! We especially connected with the Rule of Law and Pro-Life people (they were husband and wife). Our conversation with them spilled out on the sidewalk and street afterward. The whole evening really confirmed that God has connected us to the right people here and that there will certainly be future opportunities here.

We ended the evening with dinner at "Happy" with Victor and Theodore and said our farewells. What a wonderful and family! More to come...

A good day with a less than compelling ending...

It's the end of a long, tiring day of ministry and guess what our team is doing? We're all gathered round a laptop watching Napoleon Dynamite. I have to say that I think Napoleon is among the stupidest movies ever, but Darin and Bruce think it is so wonderful and profound. Paul's never seen it so we're initiating him, and Bruce and Darin are convinced that a second watch will convert me. I'm not so sure.

Actually, watching a movie together is a good wind-down after the last couple of days. It's 11:00pm on Sunday, and we still don't have our luggage. According to the baggage service at the airport, our bags are expected in on the 11:00pm flight from Frankfurt (right now, in other words) and will be delivered to us at our rooms around 1:00am. We'll see!

Speaking of our rooms, they're really simple but very nice. We're staying a guesthouse in downtown Sofia. The owner and his wife are Christians and attend the church of Victor Virchev, our host here in Sofia. We have two double rooms with two bathrooms off of a little private common area. Breakfast was served in our common area this morning and was quite the spread. We had various sausages, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheeses, breads, jellies, nutella spread (yum!), peanut butter, meuslix, milk, juices, tea, and coffee. Wow! The rooms are remarkably cheap, only $38 per night.

Now, on the real stuff of today. We attended two different Pentecostal churches, one in the morning and one in the evening. These were the two largest Pentecostal churches in Sofia and quite influential. Victor Virchev is the pastor of the largest (the morning church) and the head of about 500 Pentecostal churches in the country. Bruce preached his Watchmen on the Walls sermon (Isaiah 62:6-7) in both. The message is far-reaching and so new to many of the congregants, but there were many specifically positive responses and the pastor of the evening service, Rumen, was very positive. He had some tremendous remarks as a follow-up to Bruce that showed that he was really listening and took to heart the message.

Rumen, Pastor Virchev, and several other business, political, and church leaders will be with us tomorrow night at another meeting. The meeting is rather informal but will allow us to really expand on the message Bruce brought today and see where the leaders feel the nation is and what we might be able to help them with. It will be really helpful.

Another answer to prayer today was on the Romania side of the trip. We were able to finalize some plans that have been hanging out there for a while. As it turns out, we will not be heading to the central city of Deva and Hunedoara County after all. The planned seminar with political leaders just wasn't coming together. This time of year is hard to plan around in Europe because so many people go on holiday. As a result, Dani Raducanu wasn't able to pull together an effective teaching opportunity for us. Instead, however, we will be going to a couple of cities in the eastern part of the country near the Black Sea. Last year we met with a representative of BIG Impact, a cross-denominational organization that is developing a teaching and retreat center. We had been hoping to converse with them some more, and now we have a chance. I'm disappointed that we'll miss seeing Dani, but it seems that God has other doors for us to walk through this time. It will be good to see another part of Romania and connect further with influential organization that can give us a real sense of ministry opportunities in Romania.

That's all for now. I think I'll have to relent and watch Napoleon Dynamite for a while. Yuck. More to come...

In Sofia... minus a few things

Well, we made it to Sofia. Unfortunately, our luggage did not. Apparently, our mad dash through the Philadelphia Airport was not equaled by our luggage, and it did no arrive on our flight from Frankfurt with us. We filed the claim and it was handled very professionally, but in the mean time we're all without bags. We're due to preach of the largest evangelical church in Sofia tomorrow morning, and we'll all be in two day old clothes! All of us except Darin who thought it would be a good idea to be ultra-casual on the flights here and wore a t-shirt and old sweat pants. After we got situated in our hotel, we went out and scoured the downtown area for some decent clothes for him (and a shirt and tie for Bruce). It took us more than an hour-and-a-half, but we found something!

After we took care of that, we spent the better part of two hours walking around the center of the city looking at the old churches and buildings. We saw two churches from the 11th and 14th centuries and one from the 4th! Yes, the 4th! Next to that church are a whole variety of Roman ruins that you climb on and around at your leisure. It was fascinating; my wife would have loved it. Sofia is a very interesting city. It feels progressive, the stores can be very expensive (even by our standards), and the advertising is very western, even overtly sexual. The feel of the city is very old but definite traces of western influence and new development everywhere. We went to a mall today that would rival most in the States.

One interesting connection as I close. We were met at the airport by Theodore, the 20-year old son of Victor Virchev (our host in Sofia, pastor, and head of the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance). He lives in studies in Wales, and his sister lives in Australia. She attends Hillsong church and is married to the youth pastor there, Scott. Scott is one of the best friends of Steve Kelly, pastor of Waves Church in Virginia Beach. So how 'bout that?! More to come...

Dispatch from Seat 40K

Finally in the air to Frankfurt and on to Sofia!  After a 45 minute delay leaving Norfolk because of weather problems in Philadelphia, a literal sprint through Philadelphia International to catch our flight to Frankfurt, and then sitting 60 minutes in the plane on the ground because of weather holds, we're finally in the air headed east.  Bruce and I have had some great conversation already about this ministry and the direction we see God taking it. I'm excited! More to come...

24 hours before leaving

I'm sitting at my desk at work eating lunch and thinking about tomorrow.  About 24 hours from now, I will rendezvous with my team, and we'll travel together to the airport for the first leg of our journey to Bulgaria the Romania.  This trip has been on the horizon since early spring, but it has only come together in the last few weeks.  Emails have been flying back and forth between our team and Europe, especially the last few days.  God has been faithful, as He always is, and we have a full agenda ahead of us.

 

At this point, I'm most excited about visiting Bulgaria.  It's a new country for our team, and our primary contact there is really first rate.  Marina has really worked hard to line up our itinerary and connect us with influential people.  What's more, she offered us her own newly renovated apartment as a place to stay while in her city!  Most importantly, though, she has demonstrated some very good spiritual discernment and steered us well with regard to the spiritual climate of Bulgaria and the dynamics of the Church there.

 

Bulgaria will be fascinating--a true mix of cultures from the Roman to the Ottoman Empire and Turks to the Soviets.  I can't wait!

 

As always, however, my excitement is tempered by the thought that I'm leaving behind my precious family.  Karen is in denial mode, denying that I'm leaving tomorrow while trying to put on a brave face as reality slowly seeps its way into her psyche.  I know that Jonathan has only a limited grasp on the fact that I'm leaving him for ten days.  He knows that my trip is coming up in "one more wakeup," but he doesn't really understand that I won't be there at bedtime or in the mornings for the rest of the month.  And poor Andrew is going to be so confused!  He won't have any idea what happened to Daddy.  I know without a doubt that I am called to this ministry and that I will be traveling again in the future, but I must admit that it is very hard to leave my family behind for such a long stretch.  Please pray for us.  We could use it.

 

it's time to get back to work if I can actually focus on work instead of tomorrow.  The next time I check in may very well be from the window seat of Lufthansa flight 427 or maybe even from Bulgaria itself!  More to come...

One week to go...

Yesterday marked one week out for my trip to Bulgaria and Romania. Things really started to fall into place this week, and I'm getting excited. It always seems like our trips will never get scheduled in time, but God always shows Himself faithful in the end. We travel to Bulgaria first and will spend time in Sofia, the capital, and Plovdiv, the second largest city. We have confirmed that we will have several meetings in both cities with pastors and various lay leaders to share our vision and seek their input as to what they feel the Lord is doing in Eastern Europe. On Sunday, we'll bring the morning message at a large church in Sofia. Also, we have the opportunity to be on two Bulgarian TV shows in Plovdiv! These shows are more "cultural and spiritual" in nature as dedicated Christian television is unheard of in Bulgaria, but it will be a fantastic chance for us to share our hearts to a large audience. Isn't it interesting what God makes available to us? If you remember our trip last year to Romania and the brief interview we had with a local TV reporter, the people we come across can be quite surprised at our message! Bulgaria has one of the oldest cultures in Europe, and Sofia is older than Athens, Rome, and Constantinople (now Istanbul). It was the center of the Thracian and a portion of the Macedonian empires long ago. The Cyrillic alphabet (those funny Russian letters) was invented in Bulgaria by a monk named, oddly enough, Cyril. All of this will make for a fascinating journey, and God is throwing wide open many doors.

After Bulgaria, we make our way onward to Bucharest and then the rural mountains of Romania. As I said before, our first target in Romania is a youth camp where we will teach on the basics of a Biblical worldview. From there, who knows?! We are still trying to line up the remainder of our week and chase down the various opportunities that have opened to us. This time two weeks ago, we had invitations to return to Romania but no real confirmations beyond the first two days. Now, we have offers and opportunities from all over the country, and we're just trying to sort through and pray for God to direct us toward the most effective ministry points. Our time is limited, and it takes twice as long to travel distances in Romania as it would back home. Please pray that we are targeted and effective in our time.

Of course, there is always prayer needed for various things. Please pray for the protection of my family while I am gone. Also, our team is still somewhat short financially for the trip, though my support has come through almost completely (thank you!!). One thing in particular that I would ask prayer for is for my heart and growth during this trip. This is my third trip in this ministry now, and I remain as excited as ever about it. However, I want to be sure that I continue to grow in what God has for me to do. Please pray for a fresh word for me to share with these people, for increased effectiveness, and that I not go as simply "a well-intentioned tourist." I want to learn/impart whatever it is God has for me this time around, and I would covet your prayers for a deeper walk with Him within the context of this ministry.

Thank you so much for your support, prayers, and words of encouragement. We leave Friday, July 21, at 3:45pm, and I will carry you all with me! More to come...

Romania and Bulgaria Update #2

Two weeks from today! That's when we leave for Bulgaria, and things are starting to hop! Yesterday was a big day as we booked our airline tickets. We knew that traveling in the summer to Europe would likely make things more expensive, but we were shocked to find out that our airfare alone turned out to be about $200 more per person than we had anticipated for the entire trip budget! As you can imagine, this has necessitated some prioritizing and I would ask that you please continue to stand with me as I seek to raise the remaining funds that I need over the next couple of weeks. God is faithful, though, and I know that He will provide.

We're beginning to finalize things, and our schedule has us flying into Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on July 22. We will spend four days there forming relationships and doing some introductory teachings before moving on to familiar territory in Romania. We arrive in Bucharest, the capital, on the evening of July 26. The next day, we will travel a few hours north to Sinaia to be a part of a youth camp sponsored by one of the churches we spoke in last year. We will spend two days there talking to high school/college-age youth about Biblical worldview and comparative studies to what they are being taught in their public education. Some of the kids will be believers and some won't, so it will be a good time to stretch our worldview legs and talk practicalities with those that can truly put it into practice as they prepare for the "real world." From there, we will head on to Deva and Hunedoara County, the site of us of our most enjoyable and effective times last year. In Deva, we plan to teach a seminar to elected officials at all governmental levels about the definition, function, and application of Biblical government. It will be a challenging time as most of these people are totally unfamiliar with such a topic. Yet they are eager to learn and eager for us to come.

Please continue to pray for finances, for my family, and for team unity. Four of us are traveling this year. Three of us have been a part of teams in the past and one is new this year. It's a good team with diverse and complimentary gifts, and I feel that God has big things in store for us. More to come over the next couple weeks, and I would remind you to check my website at http://scottsreformation.blogspot.com for more updates and a running trip diary as things progress. Thank you so much for your continued support. I couldn't do it without you.

Romania and Bulgaria Update #1

All of you have been such solid support for me through prayer and giving as I've embarked on this journey into International Reformation ministry over the last couple of years. As you know, I have another trip upcoming, and I wanted to update you on what I'll be doing. Our team was thrilled to receive invitations this year for a return trip to Romania and for a first-time visit to Bulgaria!

If you had the opportunity to read my journal entries from last year, you know what fertile ground Romania is for reformation and the implantation of a Biblical worldview. We are excited to return and begin to really work there. We are finalizing plans to teach basic Biblical worldview in a church youth camp, hold an in-depth teaching seminar on Biblical government to elected politicians, and to meet with local pastors about shepherding their own flocks in reforming the country. It is an exciting opportunity to get in on the ground floor of what God is doing in a country that has been truly decimated by Communism!

Shortly after my trip to Belarus and Romania last year, I really felt like the Lord was saying that Bulgaria was going to be one of the next places opened to our ministry. Bruce Anderson, the head of this ministry at my church, agreed with me, and not a week later he was contacted by a lady from Bulgaria who had heard of our work in eastern Europe and wanted more information! The end result is that we will be traveling to Bulgaria on this trip as well and will spend four or five days meeting pastors, evangelical leaders, and politicians and getting to know Bulgaria a bit. More spying out the land!

You can see that God is working, and I can't wait to be on the ground again and watch it all happen in person. Right now, our team of four is scheduled to leave for Bulgaria on July 21 and will return home from Romania on July 31. Those dates are rapidly approaching, and I would covet your prayers for a few things:

* - We are still trying to finalize our dates and appointments. Please pray for a smoothed calendar and quick confirmations of everything in the works.
* - I only need about $500 more to be fully funded for this trip! I am so grateful for those of you who have so generously given financially. Please pray for full funding in the next couple of weeks. I know that God will provide.
* - It has been a challenging year for my family spiritually and healthwise. Please pray for good health and the Lord's protection over Karen and my boys while I'm away for so long.

I've run out of new ways to thank you for all of your support. I hope you know how much I appreciate your prayers and gifts; they have truly humbled me.

I'll keep you up to date on the latest. It's only a little more than four weeks away now! More to come...