BULGARIA

November 2004

 

 

 

Bulgaria

 

I was honored to be able to go to Bulgaria with Sue and Dave Fletcher, and JoAnn and JR Young. So, from November 10 through 13, 2004, we visited a minister named Svetlio Petrov, his family and his church in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. I saw how this emerging church is seeking for God's leading in order to move into the next level that God is calling them into. From what we saw and understood, the culture has been very hard on men. The previous Marxist government took away the leadership of the family in order to lord over the people. We were talking about the past and communism and it was very revealing to hear that if the people could vote communism back in to power, they would do it right away.

 

I work with prisoners in Italy and I have some familiarity with the principle of institutionalization. What I saw in Bulgaria, was an entire nation with institutionalized thinking and they don't see the value of freedom. It reminded me of the Israelites coming out of Egypt.

 

I believe there is a very good opportunity to support the church we visited and to stand with them. In the future (2007) they will be part of United Europe (European Union) and a lot of things are starting to change. I see the possibility for Svetlio and his people to be a stand for their nation and to assist the people of Bulgaria to take off the shackles that have bound them all these years. It will require a lot of courage and endurance, but it seems to me that God is calling them to take the lead into the liberty that Christ has for us and it will be a matter of responding to the call of God and standing fast, in the middle of the different currents that will, for sure, go through Bulgaria in the coming years.

 

I am always honored to see how God chose and called a people to take a stand and I am always challenged by it. I know it is not easy and the obstacles are many, I have seen in the past people giving up and others enduring until breakthrough comes. So my prayer for the church in Bulgaria, and for ourselves, is that God will hold us up in the middle of the storm and let us fulfill His call for our lives.

 

Davide Zaccariello

 

I am grateful and thankful to God for His promise,

The Fletchers, Davide, Svetlio, his music minister and his 12 year old daughter.

JoAnn, Vesselina Petrov, Davide and David Fletcher.

Svetlio Petrov, JoAnn and J. R.

Davide and JoAnn

Davide, Svetlio & Dave

David & Susan Fletcher