Mission team to Romania

WorldReach will soon be sending a short-term mission team to Romania. Since 1999 we have been sending teams to minister alongside churches and assist Emanuel University and Seminary in the training and discipling of their students.

During this trip we will have the opportunity to not only share the gospel, but team members will be speaking at a mission’s conference sponsored by a Romanian Baptist Association. This is an historic event. Since the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, the Romanian Baptist churches have focused on planting churches in their local area. The commune system, from which the word communist is derived, provided for a large village or small town surrounded by smaller villages. The commune was where the schools and government offices were located, as well as the government owned factories and stores.

Many of these villages had a Baptist church before the communist came to power. While the growth of the churches was stunted during the communist years, it generally was a strong church spiritually. Persecution of Christians was rampant. To withstand it, believers had to be firmly committed to their faith.

In the almost 18 years since the Revolution, the churches have concentrated on evangelizing within their own Jerusalem and Judea by planting new churches in the local villages scattered throughout the countryside.

Pastors are now catching the whole truth in the Great Commission and believing that God is inviting them to join Him in other areas of Romania and throughout the world. They are seeking to lead their congregations into mission fields beyond their own Jerusalem or Judea.

The upcoming mission’s conference is an outgrowth of this movement. This is especially exciting when looked at within the context of Romania’s entrance into the European Union. The Romanian believers now have easy access to other EU nations. They can travel with nothing but their Romanian driver’s license as identification, bypassing the need for a passport and expensive visa’s. The barriers for them to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth are slowly being removed by a Sovereign God who sent His Son so that no one should perish.

You may never travel to Romania to share the gospel, speak at a mission’s conference, or teach at a Seminary, but you can be involved with what God is doing there. The team departs October 28th and will return November 6th. You can reach right into the hearts of those who will be hearing the gospel and receiving the messages from God’s word by praying. Pray for the spiritual preparedness of the team. Pray for their protection. Pray for the Spirit of God to prepare hearts to hear the gospel. Pray for the pastors and church leaders who will be attending the mission’s conference. Pray for God to raise up Great Commission Christians’ who will, by faith, trust God for the resources they need to evangelize, disciple, and plant churches outside their local area. And pray that Jesus will be lifted up in all that is done.

Imprisonment of an Azerbaijani pastor

While reading the World Net Daily web page, I read about the persecution of a Christian pastor in Azerbaijan, an overwhelmingly Muslim country. Earlier this month, an appeals court spent two minutes affirming a two-year work camp sentence for a Baptist pastor who was holding Christian church services, a case on which Voice of the Martyrs, the worldwide ministry to persecuted Christians, has reported.

The pastor, Zaur Balaev, had been in custody in Azerbaijan since his arrest in May. He was convicted in August under the national criminal code that punishes the threat of violence against a "state representative" carrying out his or her duties, and sentenced to prison.

Because the accusations were so outrageous – one pastor attacking five police officers – supporters had hoped for a positive result at the appeals court level, even though they didn't expect a complete exoneration because that would have been incriminating to the police officers who testified against him.

However, the pastor's supporters were surprised by the appellate court affirmation of the two-year sentence, which likely will be served in some unknown work camp.
It was reported that Blaev had been allowed to speak briefly in the hearing on the appeal, but the verdict followed immediately.

The pastor had been targeted for his activities, along with his congregation, in his village. Other Baptists in the village also have been targeted by authorities, who in Azerbaijan require that church groups be licensed by the state in order to operate.
They then can control church activities by denying licensing to groups they don't like.
After the sentencing, the pastor's wife and two children met with him briefly, and gave him warm clothes for the oncoming winter.

An appeal is being prepared to the nation's Supreme Court, or even the European Court of Human Rights if needed, officials said.

Balaev, 44, had been leading his Baptist congregation in the northwest corner of Azerbaijan near Georgia, but repeatedly was refused in his applications for legal status, a situation that led to harassment from local authorities for not having that permission.

He had been arrested May 20 during what police said was an "illegal" worship service. He then was accused of attacking five police officers.

Reports confirm that Balaev told the court the church teaches members not to resist with violence, and Balaev's father, who witnessed the raid, told the judicial officials it was the police who used violence.

It is now reported that with Balaev in prison, police have been harassing the leader of another Baptist congregation. Homes of several members have been searched by police, and religious literature was confiscated.

Estimates are that 200 million Christians around the globe are subject at any time to punishments up to and including death simply for believing. As the battle over the persecution of Christians worldwide rages so does the need for information for those who are not yet on the more violent front lines.

Voice of the Martyrs is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith and to educate the world about that persecution. You can stay abreast of these issues by subscribing to their online newsletter or email updates at http://www.persecution.com/.

Direct link to the article from which this posting is heavily excerpted on World Net Daily here.

Join God as a Journeyman or summer intern

It is such a joy to see God working in the young people to draw them into mission endeavors around the world. The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention has two excellent programs for college students.

The Journeyman program provides an opportunity for young men and women who have recently graduated college to serve on the mission field for up to two years. Some use it as an opportunity to validate a call in their life to full time mission work. Others use it as a way to experience God working around the world at a time in their life when they have the fewest obligations.

Whatever the motivation, the selection process guides the new graduates through a process that helps them understand their preparedness to serve full time in a cross-cultural, church planting ministry. They have the opportunity to meet and talk with leaders from various global regions to seek where it may be that God is inviting them to join Him in what He is doing. Once chosen for the program, there is a concentrated time of orientation with others who are called to the same ministry. Not only do they learn about the culture in which they will serve, but they learn the value of teamwork, the exciting life of walking by faith, and things about themselves that God reveals to them as He prepares each heart for the task to which they have been called.

Another opportunity that God is using through the International Mission Board, is the summer intern program. This program enables college students to commit to serving during a summer semester in a cross cultural situation. God uses this in different ways, but one way is to help His children understand how He is at work around the world. It builds within these students an appreciation for missions. Whether they become business professionals and tradesmen who support missions by praying, giving and going, or whether He uses it to draw them into the Journeyman program, it is time well spent for those who accept the challenge.

It is only logical that the sphere of influence for the Journeymen includes many students that are willing to step out in faith and accept the challenge of a summer internship, so one of the tasks given to the Journeymen is to recruit interns. Once a church becomes involved in this perpetuation process, they can see the ripple effect it has within their local church body. More people praying for more that are going, and more people going who are called to serve that God works through to draw more into missions.

It has been said that you cannot have a Great Commission church without Great Commission Christians. Serving with the International Mission Board in these positions helps to develop both.

For more information about the Journeyman and intern program, visit the International Mission Board web site for college students mission opportunities at www.thetask.org/students.

Bible Training Centre launches new web site

Bible Training Centre for Pastors and Church Leaders is a WorldReach partner in our WorldReach Bible Institute. They have just launched a new web site that is worthwhile to check out at www.bibletraining.com.

A short term mission opportunity for you

Since 1999 I have been taking mission teams to work in various parts of Romania. It has been a blessing to be involved with what God is doing in that country. Our partners are Emanuel University and Seminary, and various churches located in that country’s northwestern and southern regions.

The Olt River basin gives its name to Oltenia. This is an area where witchcraft and occultism have kept people in spiritual darkness. Many towns and villages have no exposure to any religion, even the Romanian Orthodoxy.

But God is at work in this region to draw people to Himself. As we have worked there for five years, we have seen new churches planted and existing churches grow. Yet there are thousands of villages and towns with people that have never heard the gospel.

At WorldReach we are continuing to go into this area as God provides opportunities for ministries. We recently started working in the town of Rovinari. It did not even exist until the communists built it in 1984. After the 1989 revolution, a young pastor planted a church in that town and it is now strategically placed to be a light to the geographic area around it.

Because of the young age of the town, it has a relatively young population. There are families that need the hope and peace only available through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

On December 3rd we will be taking another mission team to Rovinari to work help the church through evangelism and discipleship. We will also be working in some of the towns and villages in the area to help in planting new churches or helping expand the new works already begun.

We need workers for the fields that are ripe unto harvest. Some of you listening today have sensed that God wants you to go on a short-term mission trip, but you have been giving Him all of the excuses as to why you cannot go. It is always easier to stay in our comfort zone. But you know that God’s Great Commission was not to stay at home and be comfortable. He wants us to go and He provides opportunities for us to go.

Perhaps this is the reason you read this blog today. God has a place for you on our mission team and He wants you to be part of it. Will you pick up the phone and call me at 888-540-6534 or go to our web site www.worldreach.us and get additional information about the trip?

God has given you special gifts and talents. He wants to use them in reaching others for Christ. No matter your circumstances, if God is prompting you to go, He will provide all that you need to get there.

Take that step of faith that God wants you to take, and commit to becoming a Great Commission Christian. You will never experience Him working through you to bring others into His kingdom, if you are not willing to obey Him. My prayer is that you will not miss whatever invitation He may be extending to you to join Him in Rovinari.