Archive for November, 2022

Thank you for your prayer support during the mission – it was much needed and appreciated!

Mission 2 finished on Sunday and it has been another wonderful week with our 4 evangelist + Mark McCormick (the organiser from Moldovan Mission) speaking in a total 48 FRANK groups sometimes in pairs sometimes in singles.

There were an approximate total of 497 unsaved FRANKs (Friends, Relatives And Next of Kin) that heard the gospel with 171 of them making commitments to Christ, of these each evangelist saw people responding and often with tears in their eyes. Please pray for the Pastors who will follow up and invite who responded to a weekly discipleship course.

NOTE: We had fewer meetings this mission due to the glorious sunshine that we enjoyed each day! The sunshine allowed people to get ready for winter by gathering and cutting up firewood etc, but the downside for us they were not available in the daytime to attend the house meetings. We were surprised by the number who instead turned up to a combined evening meeting held in the Baptist Churches!

So we praised God that together we prayed and rejoice together how God has answered those prayers.

At Chisinau International Airport waiting for my plane home!
Exhausted and exhilarated, a great time!

Final team meal together!
Joshua, Lance, Marie, Ecaterina, Angela, Serge, Steven, Mark (& GC taking the photo)

NOTE

I have cribbed some thoughts posted by Bob telford on his Whatts App support group page – I think they are relevant to my mission as well!

We have seen a high response of people responding to the gospel. I want you to be clear about 4 things:

1. Weeks of prayer from the believers in the city and villages has led to many people having been prepared by God to listen to and receive the message and I believe the mission has been especially fruitful because of that.

2. I have been careful to UNDER REPORT the numbers rather than risk exaggeration. With the language and culture differences it is not always easy to get the bottom of how much people have understood, so I’ve been conservative in my reportage.

3. No one is claiming that all the people who reponded have been converted, that is why we call them ‘responders’ not converts.

4. Local pastors and missionaries have been present at every event collecting names, noting responses etc. The follow up will, for the most part, be thorough and many will come to a clear understanding and a conversion experience during the discipleship course.

I hope this summary and these comments are helpful. Other evangelists have been working in the area as well as myself and they are reporting people turning to Christ as well. Thanks again for love, prayers. Pray us safe home tomorrow please. I’ll send a final update when I’m home. God bless.
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‘5 Things to Want!’ – Philippians chapter 4 verses 1-9 – preached at the Biserica Baptista Giurgiulești, Moldova – sermon by Gordon Curley Translation by Ecaterina Negru

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Preaching today in Giurgiulești
Morning in the Church followed by four additional home meetings throughout the day at 2pm, 4pm, 6pm & 8pm.

(Giurgiulești is a commune in the Cahul District of Moldova. It is also a border crossing point to Romania).

It was super to work alongside Pastor Sasha today, we (Ecaterina my translator and myself) shared the good news of the gospel from five different Bible passages, I had not intended a different message for each group but that is how I felt led by the Holy Spirit. Maybe the different messages helps to keep me fresh but that makes it harder work for Ecaterina!

The last meeting of the day (sorry no photo for this one) was also held in a home. A Christian lady invited us to enjoy a meal and while we were eating her non-Christian husband, Father and teenage son also joined us for the food. I was asked to give an impromptu talk and it was so natural to pick up a loaf of bread and use it for an illustrative talk, I was able to link together three Bible stories, Jesus the bread of life, Jesus and the last supper and Jesus on the road to Emmaus, all three men of this house (representing three generations of the family) listened attentivly to the talk and eye contact was maintained throughout. A great end to a busy day!

‘The gospel is good news’ – 1 John chapter 4 verse 14 – preached at the Biserica Baptista Slobozia, Moldova sermon by Gordon Curley Translation by Ecaterina Negru

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A quiter day today, Steve, myself and our translator Ecaterina went to Slobozia to speak in a meeting organised at the church building. About 40 unChurched people attended and great to see 15 people respond to the gospel.

I do not expect much has changed since this video was made in 2016!

Meeting #1: A visit to the Consiliul Raional Cahul to meet Președintele Raionului Cahul (Nicolae Dunas). Good to chat over coffee and pray with and for him.

Meeting 2: A more traditional house meeting at Iepureni.
Steve preached on Luke chapter 15 and folk responded well to the message.

Meeting 3: Another traditional house meeting at Iepureni.
Sad to hear the story of how the man in the photo was paralysed but good to share the story of the lame man with him and two of his neighbours (Luke chapter 5) that Jesus healed. Bringing hope into a home of sorrow.

Meeting #4; This time at the Church in Iepureni.
20 people from the village came along and although I messed up the appeal (I tried something different and confused folk), it was a thrill to know of several men who responded to the call to trust Christ!

4 evangelists in two teams of two, meetings @

•Chircani:
•10::00.
•11:00

•Gotesti
•10:30
•10:30
•14:00
•16:00
•17:00

•Tiganca
•18:00.

Photos from two meetings in Tiganca, one in a building (almost a bunker) and one in home, very contrasting venues, perople but same gospel, once again God blessed both men & women responding to the gospel.

Day 4 – three very different meetings today.

Meeting #1: a traditional house meeting with folk squeezed into a conservatory. lots of singing by the ladies of the Church and a good response to the gospel.

Meeting #2: a Church meeting full of adults & kids, Steve shared the message and concluded with a simple childrens talk, great to report that both both kids and adults responded.

Meeting #3: a youth meeting (no-one told us in advance!) but great to see so many young people streaming into the basement hall. We had disturbance with people leaving and then coming back in and also from 5 lads and 2 girls but eventually they calmed down.
I spoke and at the appeal just as I was about to make it one of the young men got up out of his seat and walked up to me, for a minute I thought he was going to punch me but to my surprise he just stood there looking at me, when questioned what he was doing, he replied, “I am here to repent!” so I invited anyone else who wanted to repent to join us at the front, two other young adults came forward and prayed to receive Christ – a ‘holy’ moment that quieted the room and gave witness to the power of God at work.
Thank you for your prayers on occasions like these when there are so many distractions going on and you know that you are in a spiritual battle, your prayers are making a difference!