State run orphanage in the news

March 4, 2010 by Viktor.

The state-run orphan home in Novo Selo got in the national TV news several weeks ago. Not for a good reason however. One of the staff was caught showing pornography to the children “for educational purposes”, as he claimed on TV. There was also an incident of child-abuse by one of the staff members.This is the same facility where we had our ministry and bi-weekly visits to train the youth and children in the Bible and in practical life-skills. This is also the place where after change of administration in 2007 we were denied access and once we were even threatened by the interim director that she would call the National Service for Fighting Organized Crime if we showed up on the premises!

“The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.”– 2 Peter 2:9

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice.”– Jeremiah 22:13a

Posted in Life in Bulgaria, Youth and Oprhans, Chruch, State and Religious Freedom, Missionary Diary | Print | No Comments »

The vision of the Christian Mission Center – Vidin

November 21, 2009 by Viktor.

Our leadership team has been discussing the vision of our church and ministry in Vidin. At this point we have agreed on the title Christian Mission Center – Vidin. Our tag line that sums up all of our work is: A place for Biblical study, worship and outreach. The genetic code of mission is being placed in the church Teresa and I helped nurture since 2000 through all of our activities.
 
To the question – where do we see the Center one year from now – the joint agreement was that we want to have a renovated new facility to hold about 100 people (the church was packed last Sunday and we have no space for a kids’ ministry), to have possibly 5 new workers join actively in leadership and ministry tasks, to get ready for publication in Bulgarian two missionary texts: God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew and the life of Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary to Burma, the notes for a Bible study on the Book of Revelation in a first-draft format; and to continue with our low-key community service outreach through guitar and English lessons, and arts and crafts and writing courses.

We will continue to be a place for short-term missionary visits for an exchange of spiritual and practical help between the Eastern and Western churches.

Financial challenges. The church, which is approximately 30 people including children, is an average-sized evangelical church for Bulgaria and was in a dire state financially last February. The collection for the month then was 80 leva, about $50, enough to cover only  2/3’s of the rent for the meeting room. Slowly as I added some teaching on generosity for the work of God’s people, we were able to have more people connect with the vision and the ministry. Now the church collects over its monthly minimalistic budget of 500 bgn ($400). The Youth club is aiming at being self-sustaining through the English, arts and crafts, and guitar lessons we are offering.

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Appliances delivered to the Youth Club

September 18, 2009 by Viktor.

Here are several photos of the delivery of the fridge and stove we will use in the kitchen of the Youth Club. Thanks to a generous donation by one of our supporters:

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Prayer Letter - Sept. 2009

September 14, 2009 by Viktor.

For video and picture links, please, scroll to the bottom of the letter

Dear Friends,

The newly formed band of teenage music students in the Youth Club had just finished practice. Two stayed behind and started a conversation about God and “religion” with the staff. One of the teens, Laura, 15, defended her school textbook view on faith. God was “something invented in the old days” to help people explain their inability to deal with life and the elements.

She insisted that astrological signs determine one’s personality. We engaged in answering her, and the other teen’s, questions. At one point one of the Christians said: “It seems like you are missing something in your life.” Laura answered: “Not that I am missing something but it feels like someone is missing me…” And she began to cry. A female staff member gave her a hug. We all know who that Someone is who “misses” the fifteen year-old aspiring grunge singer.

This is exactly the type of work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of these young people we were hoping and praying for.

***

After three months in the USA we are now once again on Bulgarian soil. For all of you who were praying for our safe and uneventful return home – thank you! We had an easy wait at both airports, no problems with our luggage, and best of all, no sickness to deal with as we flew.

Psalm 66:19: “But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.”

The Summer – going, going, gone!

Our summer was filled with travel. We were able to take two long drives to visit family, friends and donors. Our first road trip took us through the Mojave Desert, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana. I can honestly say that we enjoyed every moment of our drive – and though it was ever so hot, there was always a pool to jump into at the end of each day at Motel 6.

Road trip #2 had us driving from Pasadena to Northern California and then onto Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming. We were amazed at the beauty of each state and the changes in scenery along the way. The boys had never been to most of these states so it was fun watching them as they took in the views for the first time.

Wyoming was probably our favorite place – we actually got to go on two hikes in the Grand Teton National Park. Vik continues to brag that he hiked in the Tetons in his “Crocs” and had no trouble at all! We all figure he should be the national poster boy for Crocs in the US.

Kudos to Dr. Kostov

Vik walked in his graduation from Fuller Theological Seminary in June. The entire family was so proud of him and we are all thankful that a new season awaits him. He has begun making inquiries to several seminaries in Europe and the USA and we hope that doors will open for him to both teach and publish. Ambitious as ever, he wants to be able to teach at least three intensives in the next academic school year.

A  Special Thanks

We want to thank all of you who housed us this summer - we felt like we owned homes all across the various states! We so enjoyed your hospitality and our conversations together. So thank you again friends. I believe best of all was the ability to go deeper in friendship and relationship with some of you – it made all the miles driven worth it for us!

The Youth Club

Thanks to a special gift by one of our donors we were able to buy a stove and fridge for the youth club as soon as we got back. This Friday they will be delivered and we will send out photos in our next letter for all of you to see how the kitchen is shaping up. Having appliances in the youth club’s kitchen means that staff can make lunches and dinners for themselves and projects when necessary; and when we have out-of-town guests, rather than eating out for every meal, we will be able to make home-cooked meals for them.

We would ask you to please pray for God to help us meet two more needs concerning the club:

1)      $2000 to be raised for the purchase of a heating system for the youth club. Winter is just around the corner and we need to get heating installed before the temperatures dip too low in order to continue our work with youth.

2)      $600 for insulation in the club’s kitchen and office area. We’ve had some damage to the walls this summer and while all the exterior walls of the house will eventually need to be insulated, these two areas of the club need immediate attention.

New Activities

While we were away in the US working on support-raising, our volunteers were hard at work continuing both a weekly writer’s discussion club and guitar lessons. Roughly 70 youth were visiting the club attending the discussions, taking lessons, and just showing up for jam sessions. Because of the increase in interest we are planning on organizing some concerts for family and friends of the young musicians as well as neighbors of the club during the holiday season.

On the English language front, Teresa and Karina (an 18 year old  from Wales who will be spending her gap year volunteering in the club and being a part of our community) will be organizing three groups: a conversation club (for those who have at least a second-year grasp of the language and are able to converse on specific topics), a puppet show club (for younger language learners which will use puppets to retell children’s stories),  and a drop-in homework assistance program (for English language learners of course!).

Religious Liberty Case – Part 2 *

We lost the case at the first level I believe due to it begin such high profile confrontation with the status quo. An alleged source from the government has informed our party that the president himself has put pressure on the deciding panel to vote against us in the decision.  Viktor filed the appeal during the summer and the case will reviewed by the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court in November. There is a political change in the government in Bulgaria after elections in the summer. The socialists are not in charge any longer and so far there seems to be a will by the new government to fight the corruption plaguing the country. It is still unclear how the change in political power will affect the religious freedom climate.

Church

Viktor will be leading up a weekly men’s prayer meeting on Saturday mornings for the men of the church, while Teresa will be leading (surprise-surprise!) a women’s prayer meeting before the Sunday morning service. As you all know, little can be accomplished without much prayer and since there is so much to do here prayer ministry is essential.

We are also trying to organize two youth retreats this semester, one for the boys and one for the girls. Finances are always tight, so please pray that we come up with unique ways to raise the funds necessary so that all who want to go are able to attend.

Needs Met

Last but not least, if you remember last May we asked for prayer for a car while in the US. Well, four days after we emailed the request, and after we asked the church here to pray, someone offered us to use a vehicle for the summer. So we had a dependable car upon arrival in the US! That was a testimony of God’s ability to answer prayer and a great encouragement to us. Due to generous sharing by other friends as well,  we were not without a vehicle till the last day of our stay.

Thank you for your partnership in prayer and support.

Serving Christ together,
Viktor , Teresa and the boys

***

VIDEO-LINKS
These are recordings of songs based on Christian lyrics and sang by some of the Youth Club music students:

Time and Eternity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXgPzAZIHo8

My Heart Broke (music by Laura)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwmAl2Pssz8

Pictures from our summer in the US
http://picasaweb.google.bg/vikkostov/PrayerLetterSept2009?feat=directlink
 

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Walking the Path of Life

July 28, 2009 by Viktor.

The essay below was written by Rosa, one of the former “inmates” of the orphan home in Novo Selo, who pretty much we saw grow up in the last 6 years. I translated the essay in English because I find it to be one of the few moments of vulnerability and honesty that Rosa has allowed during the time we’ve known her.

She is 24 and is still trying to define a direction in life where she could live with dignity. After a long time of seeing the work of the Lord among us, in the life of her peers and her own life, she finally gave her life to Christ and was baptized in the Danube. On the photo to the right, Rosa is in the far, right corner. Barely visible, typical for her.

The essay was written as part of the assignment for a young writer’s course which we designed and started as one of our outreaches in the Youth Club. She has written before, but any attempt to encourage her has resulted in her shrinking back and rejecting any attempt to help her express herself in writing. Reading the piece really shows the struggle of this former orphan, now a young Christian woman, to be someone who lives with a purpose. Only Jesus can make this happen for her. She is on the right path as long as the “I” in her story remains surrendered to God.

–Viktor

The photo on the right: Rosa awaits her baptism.

All are hurrying somewhere

By Rosa Dobreva

Imagine a busy street - cars, buildings … people, people. All are quickly going somewhere, each buried in their problems, pain, joy and trying to live one more day, to do more work or to get lost along the street, to kill the next twenty-four hours of life. This is the world – everyone is in a hurry to somewhere. Everyone is fighting for his or her own survival. Everyone has their dreams and aspirations, no one stops at nothing, and everyone strives to be fine as it can.

All these people emanate such coldness! You want to love them, to trust them, but how? How can I trust them when they continue to lie to me? How to love them when they hate you and all they want is to use you and bring you down? How to stay clean and pure while striding in mud and depravity? What do I have left? To lie, to cheat, to leave behind morals and dignity, to compromise my values in order to achieve my goals, all in the name of success.

But maybe this compromise will lead to others after it and ultimately I will become a hypocrite? To go up in this world, certainly you should make a compromise with your dignity, and  even accept humiliation. I fear this! I do not want to become a slave to greed and money. Everyone strives to have it, believing that it brings happiness. But no! Money does not make you happy, it turns you into a miser, you want more and more and gradually, without realizing it, you become a monster. But you cannot fight money. It has already overtaken the whole a planet since long time ago. But, No! I will not give up.

I am beginning to stride confidently down the street called “Life.” I have already solved my dilemma. I decided not to be like them! But it is terribly difficult to stand for what I want to be, my values and my ideals. I know one thing that should be alive my life with dignity, but that will be hard to achieve. However, I will put much effort into it.

I hope that the ugly picture that I see at the beginning of my path will not destroy me, but will give me the resolve to walk it all the way. And to get to the end of the street, proud that I stood up for myself that I was a person, that I am “I.”

Copyright (c) 2009

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Prayer Letter May 2009

May 22, 2009 by Viktor.

Scroll down for photo slide shows.

Dear Friends,

A teenager, a former skinhead and a member of an ultra-nationalist group, gave his life to Jesus as part of God moving among the youth in Vidin. Ilian, 19, who is also an orphan, testified during the church service: “My heart was filled with hate. I hated gypsies, Jews. But now I don’t feel hate any more. It is gone.”

April short- term mission week

Early in April we had a “convergence” of mission visitors and friends, from the UK/US and Romania. Mary, who lives in the UK, and her two daughters were with us for a week. During that time Stuart also visited with two young short-term missionaries. One of them, Karina (18), is planning on living for a year in Vidin and helping out with youth work starting this fall. We did church worship services, community outreaches in the poorer parts of Vidin and local villages, and did a couple of trips back to Sofia. There was a good-bye party to mark the end of the week of ministry and fellowship. On the way back to Sofia one of the missionaries had health issues while traveling that quite scared us all but by God’s grace was fine and all flew back home ok.

Youth club up and running for a month and a half with a few more things to buy We were amazed at how quickly the work with young people took off! God’s grace can really surprise you sometimes. Here are some highlights of the club’s activities:
• 15 weekly students coming for lessons in English and guitar. We charge a nominal “suggested donation” to meet some costs (2 leva per half hour lesson, which is a little over $1.00);
• 15 aspiring young authors between the ages of 16-25 are attending a short-story course for 8 weeks;
•  A local TV station made a half-hour show in their “Culture” segment, and interviewed Yavor about the work of the club;
• It was just yesterday, May 20, that we were able to put the sign up for the youth club. We named it “Vertical Reality” – in Bulgarian of course.
• Daily one hour Bible studies and the conversion of two teens: Ilian and Gery!

Viktor goes on a TV program (April 24)

Viktor was invited as the main guest in a morning TV show discussing family issues and the change in legislature. There is a strong push by the EU and local interest groups to introduce same-sex partnership as a prelude to same-sex marriage. Viktor was able to comment that traditional values are important to keep in mind when writing new laws. There were a number of callers during the show.

Academics Religious Liberty Ministry
 
Viktor submitted an article to two scholarly journals (Religion in Eastern Europe and the Journal of Baptistic Studies based in Prague, Czech). The article addresses post-communism and church, state and liberty from a missiological perspective. The publications will be released respectively in May 2009, and the spring of 2010.

Bulgaria continues to be in bad shape politically. The justice system is constantly criticized for being ineffective and corrupt. Recently a high profile murder case involving three young Bulgarians in France was solved by the French police but the Bulgarian courts quickly acquitted the suspects because they were the sons of influential lawyers related to the former power structures (State Security). In this context, the case which Viktor, and several other evangelical pastors, brought before the Commission for the Protection against Discrimination has still not been decided, long past the legal limits for issuing a decision. In this case the law for freedom of conscience and religion is being tested against the trends of the state to instill official support for the Orthodox Church. Viktor is planning to bring forward another pilot case on freedom of religion later in the year.

Family Matters

Dan and Matt were able to go to a youth art camp for a long 4-day weekend. The camp was held in northern Greece and their old art teacher led the group. They won second place in the art competition. Noah turned four this week. His question the day after the small birthday party to his mom was: “Mom, do you think I am still four?” Mattias now wears glasses (sometimes). Not very important but he wanted this fact included in our prayer letter. Teresa has been working 15-20 hours a week in the youth club and enjoying every minute of it!

Viktor kept a schedule of teaching in the church on Sundays

The main subject has been on how to be loyal to God and not to money. Vidin is officially the poorest town among the larger ones in the nation. However, the lack of economic strength does not prevent people from struggling with money issues and a weaker loyalty to God who provides for our needs.

Back To the US for the Summer

Viktor submitted recently the final “final” copy of his dissertation complete with index. We will be back in the US for the summer and part of our job will be to attend graduation at Fuller! We are looking forward to seeing and talking with some of you.

Prayer Needs

If you can pray for our time in the US we will be very grateful. One need, of course, is to have a car to use for our family. God always provides, we are trusting that this will be the case this time around as well.
• We’d appreciate your prayers for a vehicle – to find one to borrow or to buy at a very reasonable (for us, that is) cost.
• Please, pray for proper contacts and fundraising for the religious liberty ministry and the work in Vidin.
• Pray, for Ilian and Gery, the new Christians, that they will grow strong in the faith and resist temptation.

Thank you much for your support and partnership in prayer. Love, The Kostovs

Below is the club at the start of repairs, last August (2008)

 

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Video from our last orphanage visit- Novo selo, Spring 2008

April 19, 2009 by Viktor.

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Prayer Letter - March 2009

March 25, 2009 by Viktor.

Prayer Letter – March 2009

Dear Friends,

The last two months were quite busy. It is God’s grace that works in us and helps us do what we do.

Mission in the Orthodox Context Prague, Czech, Feb. 8-11. Viktor presented a report on the totalitarian state and its tendency to use ideology or religion to impose a union of state and society and how this dynamic plays out in the post-communist Bulgarian situation. The report was presented at this scholarly conference held in the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague with participants from England, Czech, Romania, Armenia, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria and other places. Viktor was able to connect with missionaries, missiologists and theologians working in the Eastern European context of various situations where the Orthodox Church is largely perceived as the national church. Our latest spring issue of Freedom for All which will go online before the end of March features several articles presented during the conference.

On the radio. Viktor was the guest in a midnight show on the national radio program “Horizon.” The subject was homeschooling as an alternative to the collapsed Bulgarian state-controlled educational system. There were many callers and a lively discussion. One of the callers almost in an accusing tone said: “You speak like an evangelical!” I told her that I have the constitutional right not to inform her of my convictions but that she is thinking in the right direction.

Moving, moving, moved! The move was a bit extreme since it was cold and snowy, but by God’s grace we are now almost settled into our new apartment in Vidin. We have unpacked all boxes and currently have only an electrical problem to deal with (the way some electricians do wiring here is beyond simple comprehension or explanation) and a few more leaks.

In the courts. Viktor was the counsel at the hearing of a group of Christian pastors in proceedings against a newspaper and a non-profit leader for disseminating false accusations against evangelical Christians on March 9. The next, and possibly final, hearing will be on April 9, in Sofia. This case of national and international importance was filed in order to fend off  other church-like slander against certain evangelical groups in the media.

Freedom of the Faith: Legal and Biblical Dimensions, March 13-15. Viktor prepared and was the main speaker at a seminar hosted by a multiethnic Church in Stara Zagora, a town of 150,000 people, 350 miles from our residence, in the southern part of Bulgaria (the announcement on the web, in Bulgarian).

This seminar dealt with complicated ideas so I brought it down to concepts and ideas which non-specialists could relate to, although freedom is not a difficult subject to connect with. I spoke at five meetings in three days and held two conferences with the main church leader. One attendant wrote to me after the seminar was over: “I would like to express my excellent impression from meeting you these several days at the seminar. All that happened, the understanding and the attitude toward the subject of freedom, gave light and set fire in the meetings. A new way of treating one another as believers was established. Some Jericho walls fell down. This was felt especially when a “strange quietness” was coming down in the room…I’d be happy for you to visit us again. I was seriously shaken and refreshed!”

The Bible is clear – do not brag about yourself, let others speak well of you. I am mentioning this positive feedback because it was the Holy Spirit who was moving and touching the lives and understanding of leaders and church-members during this conference. God’s desire is to bring His freedom to the church so that it will not bear the marks of a culturally burdened society but that of the love and truth of the Son of God and His community. But the words of encouragement by this believer were powerful for me.

Teresa led the church service and the teaching during Viktor and Yavor’s absence on the ministry trip. She had engaged several church members to act out parts of the message. The roles were those of Nicodimus, the woman at the well and doubting Thomas. The Vidin believers, who tend to be less interactive, gave feedback to Teresa only several days later. She was eager to grasp whether the message God had given her had reached the listeners. The remarks were positive.
 
The first activities have started in the Youth Club: the Sunday church meetings, daily prayer meetings, guitar lessons for unchurched teenagers and English lessons, and making hand-made jewelry to sell for support of the club projects. We are meeting every Tuesday with the small leadership team to work out the vision, the activities and the schedule and the management. Danny and Matty have joined the worship band – Matt is playing drums and Dan is on the piano. Yavor, who is a long-time worship leader, forms the band along with his two kids – Sara and Philip. During Sunday church services Viktor is teaching a series on depending on God, not on mammon, especially in a time of economic hardship. We will also be starting a course for young writers (age 16-25) which will last 8 weeks. The course will be hosted weekly in the club and will be lead by Yavor – an author of a collection of short stories, which we published in 2005.

Prayer needs: (1) please, pray for our hosting of 3 visiting teams of short-term missionaries between April 2-11. That we have wisdom about logistics and clear vision of the ministry and outreaches we are to do together; (2) Dealing properly with hostile neighbors in our new place.

Thank you for all your support and love,
Viktor, Teresa, and the boys

To make a donation visit this web page on our site:
http://www.kmission.org/support_us.htm.

To be added to, or removed from, our email prayer letter list write a note to: 
vikkostov@kmission.org

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Prayer Letter - Feb. 2009

February 6, 2009 by Viktor.

Dear Friends,

Holidays. We had a blessed holiday season and hope all of you did as well. We were able to have two ladies over for Christmas: Poli (a youth-worker volunteer and church member from Vidin) and Rosa (formerly a youth from the orphan home in Novo Selo who now lives with Poli). For Rosa it was a first receiving so many presents and eating turkey. We actually got her to swallow one whole bite of turkey! We traveled to Vidin for New Year’s and spent the time with church members and counting our blessings – one big thing that we are thankful for is Viktor finishing the alterations to his PhD and turning in the final draft before the holidays! Viktor will be graduating/walking in June.    

Social and Political Climate in Bulgaria. Last year Bulgaria was almost officially announced the poorest, and the most corrupt country in the EU. The justice system is dramatically inefficient and organized crime is intertwined with government structures. These are the opinions of much of the Western and Bulgarian press. Thus the EU has cut, for the first time in its history, financing to Bulgaria, a member-nation, due to uncontrolled embezzlement of millions of EU funds.

In this environment of little hope and denial, we are set to be a light in a dark place. During one of our family prayer times, while enquiring of the Lord how should we see ourselves and our work here, His response was with a scripture…to be a voice in the desert preparing the way for the Lord.

Moving to Vidin. As many of you know, we made many attempts during the spring and summer of 2008 to find a home in or around Vidin to either rent or buy. All of our attempts came to not – and Teresa was left discouraged (that the move was not happening fast enough for her liking) and Viktor was thrilled to bits (that the move was going to be a long drawn-out procedure and so he could have a few more months in Sofia)! After taking a long break from house hunting, and with the economical crisis in mind, we visited Vidin just before Christmas for church related work – and lo and behold! A nice apartment fell into our hands – it’s a little bit smaller than what we’re used to, but the price is right and the amount of renovation needed before we move in is not too severe.

We’ve started paying rent on the apartment and have begun painting and renovations to the kitchen and bathroom – along with trying to solve what form of heating we will use while it is still cold here – and hope to be moved in by March 1. Please pray for us: to have the strength to complete the renovations and pack and unpack and for the finances needed to complete the renovations.

Youth Club Vidin. Club renovations had stalled after exhausting all our funds. After an appeal to friends and supporters we received a gift of 1,000 GBP which will take care of finishing the bathroom (which will be fully equipped with a toilet, shower and a new heater), repairs of faulty electricity and purchasing chairs for meetings. Finances are still needed to completely furnish the kitchen, computer/sitting area and music area – so please pray with us that the needed amount comes in soon!

Overcoming Dissent. During one of our multiple trips to Vidin in the past weeks, besides preaching and teaching, Viktor was involved in solving a dispute in the church reiterating the leading of the Holy Spirit toward being a light in a dark place and a true New Testament community. The talks went well and most of the people in the dissenting group were able to see the issues outside of their own perspective and asked for forgiveness of the leadership. Praise the Lord, for such issues often end up not so well among Christians here. God is very good to us indeed!

Engaging in the Public Debate on Church and State. Viktor published yet another spin-off article on church and state and the constitution in post-communist Bulgaria in a major secular newspaper (Jan. 22). The article called for the discontinuation of the caesaropapist practices of state intervention in church affairs (recently the European Court on Human Rights released a judgment establishing the illegal state intervention in a dispute between two wings of the Orthodox Church). You can find the article in Bulgarian here:
http://www.dnevnik.bg/analizi/2009/01/22/619836_curkva_i_durjava_-_razdelenie_na_dumi_vzaimno/ 

Missiological Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, Feb. 8-11. Viktor will participate in an international conference on Mission in the Orthodox Context at the International Baptist Theological Seminary. He will present a study on the importance of the religious right to freedom of religion and freedom of conscience in the so-called canonical territories claimed by the Orthodox Church and the state. Please pray for his travels and work there with the other participants, theologians and missiologists.

 

The Boys and Homeschooling. The boys have started their second semester of school. Noah (3 years old) has begun studying his numbers and letters and often comes to his mom with a piece of paper and asks, “How do I write eight take away negative four?” The boys seem to be teaching him math secretly after school hours! While they are sad to leave Sofia and their friends here (and McDonalds and the movie theater and…) they are struggling and trying to understand God’s motivation in moving us to a small town. Please pray for them to accept the move with joy, to flourish in Vidin and to understand God’s love and care for them in this move.

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Prayer Letter – December 2008

December 20, 2008 by Viktor.

Dear friends,

The following are brief reports and requests for your prayerful consideration. (To view photos related to all these activities, please, go to our web album or scroll down to the end of this post to view the slideshow.)

Youth Club Renovations and Vidin Ministry

November. We are almost finished with the renovations of the interior of the Youth Club. We have raised and spent about $7,000 so far. A generous $2,000 gift last month came in right on time so we were able to cover the costs of materials and work of the last phase of repairs plus two computer tables and curtains. In order to open the club we need another $3,000 which will go toward 2 computers, tables, a sofa, video-projector and some decorations, stove and a fridge for the kitchen. At this point we continue to live in Sofia so we traveled to Vidin in November in order to help with church matters and the renovations of the club. Yavor and Acho are doing a great job coordinating the project on the ground.

Religious Liberty

December 1. Viktor traveled to the Black Sea coast to the city of Burgas for a meeting with several pastors. They discussed a proper legal response for a joint action against a letter of the local city and police which accused evangelicals of destroying national unity and attacked the religious beliefs of Christians.

December 4. We held a round table with about 20 authors (from a total of over 45 authors) from our religious liberty and church-state discussion web site. The subject was the role of the internet in the establishment of a free civil society which respects freedom of religion. It was a time of discussion and fellowship among theologians, lawyers, government officials who had contributed to our web site with articles.

Viktor presented a short report of the history of our publication: this year we have over 110,000 unique visitors to the site, over twice as much as last year. This is without any advertisement and only for the Bulgarian language version of the publication.

December 17. A claim against a certain newspaper and one of their contributing authors who has repeatedly and viciously attacked evangelicals in the media was filed with the Commission for Protection against Discrimination. Viktor helped put together and file the petition which requests that the newspaper and this Orthodox theologian stop the discriminatory and libelous statements against evangelical Christians.

Team Ministry in Churches in Southern Bulgaria

December 6-12. Viktor traveled with Stuart Watkins and Yavor holding services in several towns in Southern Bulgaria – Plovdiv, Assenovgrad, Stara Zagora. The point of the trip was to preach and teach the Word of God and encourage the believers. We re-established some old friendships (Plovdiv) and started some new ones (Assenovgrad, Stara Zagora). God’s Spirit was moving powerfully during the meetings.

Support

God has been faithful and we have met our financial (living budget) goal for the year. However, this month we scored a record – the lowest support month ever in years, enough to cover only rent and part of our bills. We are not concerned, the Lord is a faithful provider, but obviously certain economic realities are hitting home. We want to thank those of you who have shared your financial blessings with us so we can do the ministry we are doing. May God’s generous heart be turned toward you in the coming New Year as well. We are very thankful for all of your prayers and giving.

Teresa’s Health

We just came back from the doctor’s office. The specialist confirmed that all is well with her kidneys and recommended a therapeutic medication for a swifter recovery. However, it was the prayers of the saints that helped her get back to normal within two days during a busy and critical time. Thank you.

Christmas Photo

Traditionally this year’s Christmas photo, which we mailed to some of you, features the boys again. It is a print quality picture and you can open and/or download it here.

Poly, the youth worker from the Vidin church, and Roza, a young woman who used to live in the orphanage we used to work in, will spend Christmas with us, in Sofia.

Have a great time during this season of celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus. As the world is further plunging into crises and darkness our hope is in Him and His unfailing promises.

Love and grace in Christ,
Viktor, Teresa and the boys

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http://www.kmission.org/support_us.htm.

To be added or removed from our prayer letter list write a note
to:  vikkostov@kmission.org

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