Daily Manna from Heaven

By: Dr. Harold Sala

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15

”Why were you willing to come to our village and teach us?” asked the Pastor. Before I tell you how I responded, you need to know where we were and what the circumstances were.

First, I was in a mountain village about two-and-a-half hours from Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria. About 80% of the population of Bulgaria, once part of the former USSR, is Orthodox, about 12% are Muslims, and less than ½ of one percent are Evangelicals—making Bulgaria a much neglected mission field.

Ruins of churches built in the 4th century are well preserved in Plodiv, which at one time was known as Philippopolis—named after Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Walking through the ruins of ancient Plovdiv, you would think you were in Greece or Rome, with amphitheaters and marble columns which have been reconstructed. Today, however, things are radically different.

How did I happen to be in a Pomak village—where a handful of people live–representative of the 700,000 Bulgarian Muslims, isolated from the mainstream of Bulgarian life? The story begins with a brave and courageous woman, Svetlana Bakardeieva, who was one of our students at Donetsk Christian University in Ukraine.

Svetlana’s grandfather was a full-blooded Bulgarian, and after she graduated from DCU, she felt God was calling her to this country as a missionary. When churches there discovered that she had no large missions organization behind her, they quickly lost interest in her desire to do evangelism.

Meeting a warm-hearted pastor from a village in the isolated mountains of Rhodope Mountains, she began taking the difficult bus ride to the area on Fridays, returning home on Mondays, braving storms, isolation, and hardship, encouraging, teaching, and integrating the love of Christ into her ministry.

Then Svetlana married Kenneth Morikang, who has worked with Guidelines for about 7 years, and they formed a team, ministering and working among a very neglected group of people.

Getting to the village requires several hours of travel through mountains. The last 13 kilometers are over a rough, unpaved road filled with potholes and hair-pin curves, but at the end we were warmly greeted by the pastor who invited us into his home for breakfast—opposite the mosque, the largest building in the village.

On that Saturday I did the first-ever-to-be-held-in-that-village marriage and family conference. The audience–former Muslims who listened intently and responded enthusiastically to the teaching. When the pastor asked why I would be willing to come there, I responded, “Because you are important to the Lord and you are important to me as well.”

I hope you will pray for Kenneth and Svetlana along with their baby girl, Kristina, asking God to use them to reach many for Christ. We have all agreed to pray for at least five converts between now and the end of 2009.

Ultimately an issue has to be faced: “Is every person important to the Lord?” I explained that, on occasion, I minister to groups consisting of thousands of people, but that I go just as readily to small groups who need the Word. There are implications to what I just said—ones which we often prefer not to address.

This also means that people we come in contact with on a daily basis—perhaps the ones who drive buses or clean houses, or sit in the convenience store and address you with an accent, are in need of the Good News, just as you were once. They count in God’s sight as well.

Remember, Jesus taught the multitudes but also walked all the way to Sidon, where He had a conversation with one woman. I think He would have done the same thing in Bulgaria. If you would like to become part of this ministry reaching Muslim families, contact us at Guidelines.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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