Global Gatherings

Today there were about 600 Christians meeting for prayer at the Holiday Inn in Skopje. Coming from various different streams, this number was over a quarter of the evangelical Christians in all of Macedonia. The gathering was part of the Global Day of Prayer, bringing millions of Christians together world-wide. I found it very encouraging to see so many Christians together in one place.

And amazingly, the day before in Banica, a small town near to Strumica in the south of Macedonia, the Jesus film was shown and about 600 people turned up to watch it. Sashe preached briefly and I understand there were people who decided to follow Jesus. :o)

Reactions of Students

With a team from Blacksburg, Virginia, we had a two week evangelism amongst students in Skopje. A varied range of reactions to our conversations. Some were open, one claimed to be a Christian only to reveal they believed in the "prophesies" of Sai Baba (a Hindu guru), some had other confused ideas, some Muslims were clearly against what we were doing, another one interested in Jesus. One guy took a new testament and a week later told me he'd read it all! (I have trouble getting through a few chapters in that time - normally something stops me and makes me think a lot).

It's important for people to hear the message of our sin and condemnation, and God's grace and reconciliation through faith in Jesus. God loves us and so we are sharing this good news.

Pioneer

Abraham dug wells. It was the first time anyone had dug wells in that place before and he had to put a lot of effort in to dig down to water. He was doing it by faith, believing there was water there and digging down until he found it.

There was a missionary in a remote part of China. When he arrived, there were no Christians in those tribes, they'd never heard the gospel before and some were violent towards him. He called on people in England to pray and together they believed for 100 families to be saved. It took a long time, but over 100 families were converted and it was the establishing of the church in that region.

Lighting a fire. Getting the wood together, it doesn't seem dry and it takes a long time to get the fire started. After a long period of time a flame springs up and burns for a while and then goes out again. More work. Finally another small flame comes and this time the kindling catches. More wood is added to the fire and a small blaze is produced. As more wood, this time larger branches, is added the blaze turns into a raging fire.

Photos from England

Seeing the Harvest!

We are having a team coming from Virginia next Friday, and they'll be here to evangelise to students.

Right on our doorstep here in Skopje we have around 25,000 students. They come from all over Macedonia and they can be found in relatively small parts of the town - whether living in the student dormitories, or studying on the campuses.

All they need is Love!!

Sometimes as I walk through the campus, or just sit there watching people, I find it hard seeing all these students, knowing that most of them don't know where their lives are going and are lost, and for me to not share with them the gospel. My heart is bursting out to reach these lost people.

Oh, that we had more workers in the harvest field - I have found that in a fairly high percentage of conversations we are able to talk about meaningful spiritual things, and I would love for us to be able to make more of these opportunities - the harvest is ripe.

People are coming from other towns of Macedonia to study in Skopje and many of them are getting into groups that are influencing them for bad. Couldn't we do the opposite and bring them into relationship with God and into an active, godly community, and change this whole country?