In places of desperate need, Baptists can be found – offering
physical and spiritual hope
When Romanian pastor Florin Vasiliu notified the mayors of Dancu and Tirgu
Frumos villages that he would like to hold Christian meetings in their villages
public parks, the officials all declined.
In places of desperate need, Baptists can be found – offering
physical and spiritual hope
When Romanian pastor Florin Vasiliu notified the mayors of Dancu and Tirgu
Frumos villages that he would like to hold Christian meetings in their villages
public parks, the officials all declined.
Undaunted by the fact that stray dogs seem to have more legal
freedom than evangelicals, the pastor continued witnessing efforts with the
hope of finding new sites for the meetings.
Remarkably, local businessmen in both villages offered their
facilities, even though they were the most unlikely of places for the meetings
– bars. However, not only were the bars private property, which made the
meetings legitimate, they were strategically located in their communities.
“The locations were better than the ones we were originally
targeting,” says Vasiliu, pastor at Biserica Crestina Baptista Nr. 1 in
Iasi, Romania. “The evangelistic meetings were held in the same places
where much of the daily activity took place,” he said, explaining how the
evening gatherings followed a day of medical clinic ministry, home visitations
and youth/children Bible school activities.
Youth from Vasilius church began each nightly program
with praise and worship songs followed by skits, testimonies and evangelistic
messages. Each evening ended with a viewing of the “Jesus” film, a
straightforward presentation of the life of Christ from the Gospel of Luke.
The meetings were all part of a recent missions effort involving
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary students. The students were part of
a team of American and Romanian volunteers who spent part of their summer ministering
to those in need in the Eastern European country.
The environment was challenging as efforts focused on unreached
villages. Only three years before, nine Romanian Baptists were attacked by hundreds
of people led by Romanian Orthodox priests in the village of Ruginoasa. Mob
members then assaulted the Christians, some of whom were women and teenagers.
Some of the Baptists were beaten until unconscious, observers reported.
Recent volunteers wondered if the village of Tirgu Frumos would
provoke similar opposition. However, despite some apprehension and potential
trouble, volunteers say they were surprised at the receptiveness of the people.
“The power of God was so strong,” New Orleans Seminary
student Quanna Smith recounts.
The experience of children and youth workers in the village
of Tirgu Frumos offer an example. In their first meeting, the five Americans
and their teenage translators faced more than 200 people, many of whom were
older teenagers ready to mock their efforts. Hot, tired and burned out from
four straight 10-hour days, the youth workers say they felt inadequate and even
fearful about their ministry the next day.
How many more people would show up, they wondered. How would
they handle the opposition?
That evening, New Orleans Seminary student Ashley Bell shared
prayer concerns from Romania with others back on the seminary campus in New
Orleans. A team of seminary students posted bulletins around
campus, requesting prayer against the opposition. The bulletin read, “Romanian
trip is having difficulties. Come join us for prayer.”
Unbeknownst to the Romanian mission team, eight to ten students
banded together in the seminarys Intercessory Prayer Room, offering prayers
of protection and for God to perform miracles in Romania.
The Bible school team experienced dramatic answers to their
prayers, volunteers say. Not only were the children well-behaved and attentive
the next day, but they were eager to learn about Jesus, the workers report.
“It was as if God swept his hand over the entire day,” says Ivona
Selea, one of the Romanian translators who helped lead the music and lessons.
One child named Alex even said in nearly perfect English, “We
are having the best time.” When asked later what they were most thankful
for, he responded, “I am most thankful that all of you have come here today
to teach us about Jesus.”
But the impact went beyond the children of the villages.
For instance, when Bell traveled to Romania, she knew she would
be working with youth and children. What she did not know was that her life
and the life of her translator would be forever changed on a rainy afternoon.
Even as the afternoons activities with the children were
going well, storm clouds brewed above, bringing along with it a gusty wind that
was blowing away the childrens paperwork and the fields loose sand.
When the children began running home to take cover, it became obvious to the
volunteers that it was time to move along themselves.
While taking cover in an apartment where they had met for lunch,
fellow seminary student Shannon Baker began sharing her testimony to the Romanian
youth group with the help of Bells translator, Andreea Macoveschi. After
Baker finished, Bell asked Macoveschi to share her testimony.
Meekly, the 13-year-old Macoveschi declined the invitation
and left the room. Following her, Bell asked about her relationship with Christ.
Macoveschi acknowledged she had never accepted Jesus into her heart.
However, as the tears streamed down her face, she did that
day. “Things were never the same after she asked Jesus into her heart,”
Bell says. “Andreea suddenly became this bold leader, willing to share
her faith with anyone who would listen.”
In fact, the next day, Macoveschi shared her testimony with
a group of 20 children from the village of Dancu. One young teenager, Romana,
approached Macoveschi and asked her how she could know Jesus, too. Macoveschi
led her in the same prayer that she had prayed to receive Christ. Romana then
was given the opportunity to help coordinate the rest of the childrens
activities with Macoveschi and Bell.
As the mission team moved into a new village, Macoveschi continued
her newfound boldness in helping lead 82 children in Bible school activities.
“When I think of Andreea, I am amazed at what God can do in a person to
make them a bold witness for his names sake, …” Bell reflects.
“She may be starting right there in (a little Romanian village), but the
whole world is before her now.”
Meanwhile, in Comanesti, Romania, 11-year-old Albert, had been
diagnosed with leukemia six months earlier – and doctors already had done
all they could. Nevertheless, he served as a translator for volunteers and confessed
to them that he wanted to be a missionary for the gospel.
“Albert, you are already a missionary,” New Orleans
Seminary student Jerry Guthrie told him, reminding Albert of his faithfulness
in providing translation as Guthrie preached and provided pastoral leadership.
Indeed, in addition to helping with translation, Albert took
with him multitudes of commitment cards, yellow cards that are normally filled
out when someone makes a decision in faith. Every day, Albert would bring back
scores of cards filled out as a result of his personal witnessing, Guthrie says.
Alberts faithfulness was just one example of the impact
of the recent Romanian effort, participants report.
Volunteers engaged in a host of missions activities and provided free medical
advice and supplies to some 1,750 persons. An estimated 700 professions of faith
in Jesus Christ were recorded. More than 2,800 Bibles and tracts were distributed
as well, helping to set the stage for future Romanians to go into the world
and make disciples, workers say. (BP)