Wrapping Up-The Ladies in Plovdiv

On Saturday, Pat was the featured teacher at a conference for ladies in Plovdiv. This was the fifth year in a row that she has done this.

About 100 women from five different denominations were in attendance. This year, the topic was Transformed Temperments and the ladies seemed to really enjoy the testing and learning about their own temperments and those of their friends and loved ones.

Several of the ladies testified about what they have learned during the past conferences. It was humbling for Pat to hear how they have taken what they have learned and put it into practice.

I was in Stara Zagora where I taught a course in Biblical Ethics to the seminary students there. We had a good time and some thought provoking discussion. I thought it was a good two days, although it wore me out!!

We are done for this time now. Today we have been taking it easy and tomorrow we fly home. Once again, our Bulgarian adventure comes to a close, but only until June when we come back to do the Equip conference.

Thursday Night Church

Last night, Thursday, March 25, Pat and I had the joy of doing a tag-team sermon in a gypsy church. We had a great time and it seemed that the people did too. The worship was lively and joyful and the welcome we received was very humbling.


The Pastor's name is Salcho. Last fall, we taught leadership in his church and had a grand time then. So we wanted to come back. We didn't realize it until we got there but apparently, this was not a normal church service night for them; they came because we were coming. How humbling! I will just let the photos tell the rest of the story!

Plovdiv

For three evenings beginning March 22nd, we taught the bible school students in the bible schools in Plovdiv and the surrounding area that is run by our friend, Marina Dimitrova. Marina is a fellow Regent graduate who earned her PhD there in 2008. She has been running these bible schools for years. The schools are often a stepping stone to higher education for these students. We had several of their graduates at the Bulgarian Theological Seminary last week.

These are essentially church based bible schools. Marina has about 60 of these operating all over Bulgaria. Most of the students are Roma (gypsy) people, although there are also some ethnic Bulgarians. Virtually all of them have jobs and come to these evening classes simply to learn. Many are what we would call lay people in their churches, although there are some pastors among them. Many never go further in their theological education although, as I mentioned, some do.

Teaching these people is a unique challenge for us because their cultural background is so radically different from our own and because many of them have only an elementary education. Trying to simplify some of the complex concepts of leadership is a huge challenge for us and we always wonder how much they really got out of our sessions. However, we think that they are learning because, although they have little formal education, they are obviously intelligent and have a lot of "common sense." They ask good questions and give good answers to ours, although sometimes it takes a while.

We always have a good time with Marina and Mimi (our translator who is such a joy to work with) and with the people.

Blaga Vest

On Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday afternoon, we taught our basic leadership course to the leaders of Blaga Vest Church. Considering all they have done in the last few years, we were humbled by the fact that they asked us to do it. Clearly, they are a very well led church already. We hope that we were able to contribute just a little to their effectiveness.

Few churches would have the vision or the courage to do what they have done. I will share just a few examples, and remember, this is all been done in a post-communist nation that has only been free for about 20 years or so. Prior to that, the churches were underground churches.

A few years ago, they were able to buy a plot of land for a church. They had little money and loans were not available. So, they got the idea of building a condominium on part of the land, selling the units and using the profits to fund the construction of their church. They got mostly volunteers to plan the project and obtain the permits. Then, on the basis of the plans, they pre-sold the units, built them and used the profits to build their church. Yes, they have had some help; but not much. Truly a visionary and courageous undertaking and a wonderful witness to the community.

Every Sunday service is streamed live on the internet. They have "attendees" in many countries; Bulgarians living abroad. They have a worship team comprised of some of the most outstanding musicians in the country. Most years, they put on a Christmas production in a large hall and invite the citizens of Sofia. It is their witness to the community. I could go on, but I think you get the picture; this is a church and a group of people that we greatly respect and admire and we are so thankful to be partnered with them!!

And now, off to Plovdiv with our dear friend, Dr. Marina Dimitrova (a fellow Regent graduate) to teach in her bible schools.

March 20, 2010

Our hardest day is now behind us. Yesterday, we finished at the Bulgarian Theological Institute at 5:00 PM and started again at 6:30 PM at Blaga Vast Church. That was a long day!

For three days, we were at the Bulgarian Theological Institute with their extension students. We had a great time with them! They were very engaging and interested in leadership and we had many great discussions and even a few debates! It was a lot of fun for us and they seemed to enjoy it a lot too.

The BTS is an interesting collaboration among a number of different denominations. They are all under one "umbrella" organization for the purposes of administration, government registration and accreditation, but each denomination (or in one case a group of denominations) has a separate faculty. It is common for instructors for one faculty group to teach courses in other faculty groups as well. So, for example, we began teaching in Stara Zagora for one faculty group several years ago. Now we are also teaching for another faculty group on Sofia. Maybe at some time in the future we will teach for another group. We will see.

Now we are back at Blaga Vest Church, this time to teach our basic leadership course for all of their church leaders. We started last night and will continue all day today and finish tomorrow afternoon. This too will be fun for us. We feel so much at home in this church because we have been coming here for about 10 years and we know a lot of the people. Also, it is a bit like deja vu for us; we began doing this work in a big church very much like this one but in Slovakia in 1998! On Monday we go to Plovdiv, which is about 60 miles from here. The adventure continues!!!

Off To a Quiet Start

It is Tuesday, March 16 and I decided I better put something up on the blog even if there is not much to say. We are going to get to the real work starting tomorrow.



We arrived on schedule last Thursday and went to the Casa Farrari, our usual place here in Sofia. It was great to see Ludmill & Marianna again.


It was still quite cold and there was a lot of snow on the ground. Friday was a rest day and then Saturday, we did an all day seminar for Blaga Vast Church (Blaga Vast means Good News)on marriage.

We had about 40 people in attendance, including a few single people and engaged couples. We talked about marriage from the Biblical perspective and how our marriages are supposed to be lived out according to God's plan. On Sunday we went to church at Blaga Vast and then had a meeting with the family life ministry group in the evening where they asked us to share our story.


Yesterday and today were supposed to be spent in a couple of gypsy churches but we got our wires crossed with our host and it turned out he was translating for a professor at the college in Stara Zagora so we had more rest days. We were able to meet with Grozdan Stoevski and Nik Nedelchev and plan our June Equip seminar. Grozdan is the Equip Country Coordinator for Bulgaria and Nik will be teaming with us to teach the seminar. It also looks like we may be doing the Equip seminars in Macedonia as well so we had some time to discuss that too.

Tomorrow we start at the Bulgarian Theological Seminary teaching our basic leadership course. We finish Friday at about 5:00 PM and start again at 6:30 PM at Blaga Vast where we will do the leadership course for their entire leadership team Friday evening, all day Saturday and the Sunday afternoon. Then Monday we move to Plovdiv and start teaching in the Bible School on Monday night. So, once we get started tomorrow, we will be going full out for the rest of the trip! I should have more to talk about after today so don't give up on the blog!

Here We Go Again

Once again we will be traveling to Bulgaria, this time on March 10, 2010. You are invited to "go along" via the blog. I will be posting photos and narrative much as I did last time. I hope you follow along and enjoy the journey.