Prayer points for July

Dear praying friends, 

I appeal to you to lift our ministry to children, youth and families in prayer! In the last 2 months, we have been praying and preparing, planning and recruiting volunteers and here we are - ready to go and make a difference in the lives of many children and youth. The Lord spoke to me today taking me to the book of Zechariah where He told the young priest and his company, that His House will be built, but it won't be by human effort, might and strength! We all know this verse - "Not by might and not by strength, but by my Spirit" says the Lord of Hosts. 
So, here's my most earnest desire and request - Pray for our ministry to children, youth and families in these upcoming weeks! 

1. Pray for the Spirit of God to flow and move through us and to touch the lives of the ones we serve in a way that cannot be mistaken for a mere human effort, but rather to be recognized for a sovereign work of our God. 
2. Pray for us, the Lord's workers to speak clearly and serve with compassion, mercy and power of Christ. 
3. Pray for safety and provision for our team of volunteers.

    

Leadership Training in June 10-14, 2013 - Update

         Dear praying friends and ministry partners, 

New Hope BG team members Rado and Simeon

       Thank you for your prayers for the leadership training which our team at NH BG facilitated last week. From our perspective it was a great success. Twenty-nine church leaders from 5 denominations attended and really interacted with the materials which we had prepared and most of it was basically Scripture. We believe that we live in a critical time, when above all, we need to encourage one another to seek the Lord in prayer and make bold steps to obey the Lord and truly be doers of His Word rather than simply talk about it. So, we encouraged one another to actually go out into the streets of the city where we did the training and immediately put the Lord's teaching about reaching out to the lost and to seek to make new friends, who God willing could be potential disciples of Christ. 

Facilitating a dynamic discussion on Scripture

     Our hearts are broken for our nation - the country of Bulgaria - and we see how the waves of human anxiety, desperation and discontent flood our streets today - literary! At the same time, we see how the Lord commanded his disciples to care for the sheep, build up the Body of His church and seek the lost. So, one of our main goals in these days is to encourage leaders and ordinary believers to be naturally supernatural - to pray and seek the Lord's face, to trust in His great power to save and to step out in the streets of our cities and seek the lost by sharing about Christ in love, mercy and compassion. In a nutshell - live out loud our confession of faith. 

Pastor Plamen and wife Maya share a powerful testimony

     You see, our goal as ministers is to encourage people to live naturally in ways that reveal we love God by what we say and do. For many of us this requires intentional practice to live a conspicuously godly life (not to be confused with an obnoxiously religious one). We had people like Pastor Plamen and his wife Maya share about how God has used them to start new churches and how He leads them to people who need the Lord and seek Him. There are many souls out there, who already cry out to God and we have the joy of bringing in a harvest, that is already ripe.  

      A few days ago, I had an interesting experience which the Lord used to teach me obedience. What I did seemed kind of weird, but I needed a lesson in obedience. I was having my weekly bike ride and when I got to the seaside park I felt kind of hungry. I thought, "Dimitrie, why don't you get a snack and then ride for 10 kilometers along the beach." But then, I felt this strange desire to just ride up north and have a snack in the neighborhood next to the city airport. So, I skipped dinner snack and when I got to the place next to the airport, I thought, "Now, I'm really hungry and I'm having Arab kebab for dinner". I did get it and went to sit at a bench overlooking the beach. I had just had a bite from the pita bread and started my dinner snack, when a young man sitting on bench across from where I was came up to me and asked me like, "Where did you get the snack?" I said, "Well, 100 feet up this street." He said, "Aha, thanks" and he got back to his bench." Then, as I was just getting back to my snack, I heard a voice like, "This young man is dressed OK, looks OK to you, but he is very hungry, because he has no money to buy food today. Stop eating! Offer him your dinner!" I looked up and saw a young woman standing like 20 feet away from me and she was looking into my direction. I said like, "Well, this would be awkward. I'm already eating the bread and had a piece from the meat. How is this guy going to react and what would that woman think?" But then I heard the voice speak again, "I don't care about her opinion or about your fears of being refused the food! You don't need that food! Give it to the hungry young man and He will realize that I love him!" 

Interacting with the trainees

I stopped right there, motioned to the man and when he came up to me I said, "Listen, I'm not going to eat this food. I had only a bite from the bread and a piece of meat. If you are OK with it, you are welcome to eat it." He looked at me and said, "OK. I'll have it, thank you!" I was like, "Glory to you Jesus!" I heard then, "This young man just realized that miracles of mercy happen! I'm speaking to His heart, right now!" To God be all the glory! Really, to Him alone! He will share His glory with no man!      

       Why I'm sharing all of this? I came to realize that I need to be obedient to the Lord's leading in situations, that seem weird and strange. If I speak to leaders, youth and children about being obedient to the Spirit's leading, then why I don't do it? That was a lesson for me. I went to have coffee after that experience and didn't want to have another snack. I began to thank God and realized that I need to learn to be obedient just like I teach others to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  

June 10-14 Leadership Training

   Now please pray that the truth that was heard and learned will be put into practice by those who attended. Meanwhile, our team continues to meet and prepare for our summer camps, the special retreat for families of ministers in July and children and youth outreach programs in July and August. 

Pray for us and support us as the Lord leads your heart! 



The Lord bless you and keep you!

Dimitrie and Maria and team

Dimitrie and Maria's June Ministry Update

       

      Dear praying friends and partners in ministry,

      Greetings from Bulgaria!

Our 2013 end-of-school year photo

I thank God for your prayers and love for the ministry to which we have been called! In the last two months, we have witnessed God’s mercy and steadfast love, as I was traveling away from home for meetings and ministry appointments in your beautiful country. My wife Maria was “keeping the fort” as many of you would say with a smile and she is a real champion in multitasking – making sure, that Vicki and George keep up with their homework, dealing with the exciting job of filing and reporting our expenses and now with the new summer season, she took a second job at the busiest airport in Bulgaria – which is our regional Burgas airport. It is a seasonal airport, but it has more traffic going through it in 5 months, that the capital city airport in a year! This year, she is serving there as an information service supervisor, which doesn’t exactly mean more pay – it just means more responsibilities. This job really helps us with balancing our family budget out. You know … things like Vicki’s out-of-school math classes and some winter bills.

        I was so blessed to see all of our National Directors in Vienna, VA! We had a wonderful time of sharing about our ministries and each of us shared for a few minutes at a luncheon at Vienna Presbyterian Church. Our time there was short and after 1-2 days, we headed different directions. We were going to meet again for our international leadership retreat and conference in COS, but for a week or so, we had other appointments.

Our Eastern European Staff and hosts from Vienna Pres, VA

       I had the privilege and joy of visiting the home and church of Dennis and Helen Gudz. They have been committed supporters of the ministry of New Hope for many years and now, I had a week of fellowship with them and hey what do you – I visited the Big Apple! I am thankful for the opportunities I had to share and pray with believers and some non-believers. Dennis has been a great advocate for our ministry at his church and he introduced me when I shared there for a few minutes. The response was very positive and I pray and trust the Lord that God willing, we can develop a ministry relationship which would serve to touch the lives of many in our country.      They have a family much bigger than our usual Bulgarian families, so I could meet the two sons who live with them and just before I flew to COS, I took a tour of the historic part of the city of Philadelphia with one of their older sons. Dennis and I had great fellowship and we enjoyed some very honest and prayer filled conversations. And last, but surely not least in importance, I really appreciate Helen’s generous hospitality and great cooking! Thank you Helen! 

Dennis and I on the Staten Island Ferry

In COS, our team of National Directors sat down for 3 intensive days of reporting, brainstorming ideas, discussions and prayer. We are grateful that we could meet all board members of NHI and pray with them. God was truly present during our prayer and worship time and we touched by His Spirit moving among us! We needed that experience so much! We really appreciate the great job that our COS staff did in preparing and hosting the leadership retreat. Great work!  Well, we sure missed the nuns and the deer this spring, but what’re going to do … life is never perfect (Just a reminder that last year, we had our leadership conference at a Convent with a herd of deer gracing the premises with their presence)! 

       I will never forget the time of intercessory prayer we had just before leaving on our way back home and off to some more meetings! The Presence of the Lord filled the room, where we prayed for our COS staff and the board of NHI! I had 4 more days of special time with old and new friends. Several years ago, I met with Susan Palmer and Dave Lyons for the first time, respectively in VA and FL.  

Howard and I in front of the house we were fixing

They have been trying to get me to meet with people from their church in VA and finally, in the Lord’s timing, it did happen! I was hosted by a very family in Alexandria – Howard and Carole Borgstrom. He and Dave are men of merciful and compassionate hearts. They had me join a team of volunteers and we had a day of volunteer labor for the poor of their community. The initiative their church is part of is a national project called “Rebuilding Together”. So, I was cleaning gutters, painting shutters and made new friends with people from their good church. During my stay with Howard and Carole, I had the privilege of sharing with their church congregation and what a generous group of believers they are! Thank God for churches like Heritage Pres! I pray we continue to nurture this new relationship and develop a long-term partnership for the glory of God and for the lives that we will be able to touch through the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ!  

    

Painting shutters, cleaning gutters 

     And here you go, 20 or so days were gone and I flew back to Bulgaria. There are so many things to look forward to in this busy summer season of harvest for both churches and ministries like New Hope Bulgaria. I cannot list all the prayer needs here, but I’ll make a list of top 5.

     Please, please, uplift us in prayer for:

1. The Lord’s Presence to fill our ministry to youth and families in June, July and August.

2. The leadership training and workshops for children and youth workers June 10-14.

3. The summer camps for children and youth starting the end of June.

4. The family retreat and training for families of leaders of new churches July 15-18.

5. For Maria and our children – Maria will have a busy summer with many night shifts and our children will be staying with their grandparents for almost 2 months. 

We keep praying for you, your families and churches! May the 

Lord bless you and keep you!