…A quiet winter evening..  It is cold and snow is creaking under our feet. In a such freezing winter evening nobody wants to get out on the street, instead, everybody want s to find a warm place in their home comfort, to watch a TV program, to read an interesting book or to do some work in the house. An usual day approaches its end.

It was a similar day, when our Jesus Christ was born, our Lord and God, Creator, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Everything was going its way, people were busy doing their usual work, spinning in the circle of life problems and not knowing that next to them, very close, something great is taking place, not knowing that the event seeming to be ordinary, will change the way the history goes and will open eternity to every person. In that night the Lord sent his angels to tell the shepherds in the field the joyful news for all humankind “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) When shepherds believed this message they became it’s messengers. They overcame their natural fear and stepping in faith “they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.”(Luke 2:17)

From door to door, from heart to heart

Over two thousand years passed since then. Life goes on. Technology and science din not give us more time in our daily life. We are busy with our earthly efforts and cares that claim majority of our time and many times it is difficult for us to be pulled out of all of that. In spite of this our Lord is calling us today to become messengers that like old shepherds will proclaim the Good News about Jesus Christ. On the eve of Christmas, brothers and sisters from our churches decided to congratulate people in many cities of Moldova, such as Cupcini, Balti, Edinet, Briceni, Parcova, Hasnasenii Mari, Stolniceni – visiting them door to door with carols programs. So, we organized 10 teams from 5 to 15 people in each and went caroling from house to house. 130 doors were opened and people stepped out in the 10 below zero temperature and with eagerness listened to the songs about Jesus’ birth and Bible verses recited solemnly in the dark. We also explained what does Christmas mean for us and why it is such a joy. At least 213 people heard the gospel at their doors in one evening. Many were surprised to see church come to visit them. Many began singing with us. Other were crying being touched by the Word of God. Some hugged us and invited to come again. Almost in every home we were presented with some kind of gifts – cookies, oranges, apples, candies. Some people even gave some money to pay church bills. Some begged we go and visit their neighbors and tell then the Good News about Jesus.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come…”(Revelation 3:20)

In this evening we saw many doors – old and cracked, other were new, armored and expensive. We knocked and some doors were opened wide, some were opened just a little, and other were not opened – people just looked through the door eye and being not brave enough to open the door listened to the program from the other side of the door. Some doors were closed and seemed frozen and lifeless with no sign of any movement. It was just as people’s hearts! In the same way we open the doors of our hearts for Jesus Christ. At the same time we know that we were God’s messengers and He gave a chance to every person to hear the Good News and put their faith in Jesus Christ. And we are thankful to God for the opportunity to share the Gospel with many people.

Psalm 96:2
Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

Over 120 teachers came to the reception

As the school year starts in Moldova on September 1, we try to encourage public school teachers for the important work they are doing and to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the same time. God gave us the idea of organizing a reception for high school and technical school teachers in cities where we have an established church or we are planting a new church.

This time, with God’s provision though the First Baptist Church in Jackson, MS, we were able to organize the reception in the city of Cupcini, Northern Moldova. In this city there are three public schools, one orphanage, two technical schools, a music school and a driving school with more than 250 teachers in all of them. Going from school to school, we invited each teacher personally. Many teachers received our invitation with joy and promised to come. Since the previous year, more teachers showed up than we expected and the place we rented for the reception was too small for the group. This year we rented a bigger place. And the Lord blessed us again with even larger numbers of teachers who came to the reception and filled the place.

Pastor Stan Buckley is presenting the Gospel

A light meal was provided to everyone, which included national dishes, a piece of cake and drinks. And teachers began to come. All Cupcini schools were represented including their principals, and a group of teachers with their principal traveled from the village of Stolniceni to attend the event. All teachers and school principals who are members of our churches were also invited in order to get to know everybody better and to be able to answer the questions teachers might have personally.

The program we presented included several songs by our worship team, the Jackson team presentation, testimonies from both Cupcini and Jackson team members, and Precept materials presentation by our Bible teachers. Than, senior pastor from First Baptist Church in Jackson, Brother Stan Buckley presented a Gospel message to everybody. All teachers listened very carefully. When the sermon was over, one teacher stood up and asked a permission to speak. He brought a Bible with him and he began reading from it and calling everybody to follow Jesus and His Word!

The Cross will remind teachers of the Gospel

At the end, each teacher was presented with a gift bag, which included school supplies for the work in the schools. Then, every teacher could come and see all the Precept Bible study books we displayed. Our brothers and sister purchased a number of books and presented a gift to the interested ones. Most of all, these dear teachers were interested in studies that speak about God’s character – studies on family and relationships, for example, “Lord, I want to know you” – a study on God’s names,” Marriage without regrets,” “The truth about sex,” “How to have real relationship with God,” and other Precept books. Some books they took for personal study, some to teach in schools. As the meeting was over, one by one, these teachers came to thank us for the reception telling us that it was the only gesture of thanks they receive at the beginning of the school year. Many discussions were continued long after, and many teachers had questions about our church, Bible study and salvation.

It was so encouraging to see all these men and women from different educational institutions and different localities who also speak different languages unite around the Word of God and listen to the Gospel, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”! (Romans 1:16)

Jesus Christ commended his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. To accomplish that mission, we need to plant the seeds of the Gospel into the hearts of people, as it says in Romans 10:17: “Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God.” One of the strategies we used was our partnership with Campus Crusade for Christ in bringing the Jesus Film Project to Moldova.

Since its release in 1976, the Jesus Film has been watched by more than 6 billion people and has been translated into more than 1,000 languages and shown in more than 200 countries. This does not come as a surprise because it is an actual, dramatized presentation of the Bible from the Gospel of Luke that describes the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a very interesting and attractive way and filmed in Israel.

Jesus Film Shows Planning

Our first mass project and shows were in the summer of 2001. The Moldova for Christ vision is that every person in Moldova will hear a clear presentation of the Gospel and be given the opportunity to trust Jesus and be saved. Since this is our mission, we decided to show this movie in 65 cities and villages in Moldova.

The project began with a prayer conference with about 100 brothers and sisters coming to pray for this project, for the people of Moldova to be receptive to the Word of God, and for us to be guided by the Spirit of God when we were going from village to village and from city to city.

Jesus Film Teams Training

Five teams were formed to take the Jesus Film into five locations at the same time. We rented and borrowed equipment for our teams, and with much prayer, in obedience to the Lord’s command, we went to these cities and villages. Two to three days before the show, our teams went door to door inviting people to the program and putting up posters. On the day of the show, Christians saw the result of their labor and prayers. As soon as the sun went down and the time of the show was approaching, people began to gather – starting with children, then youth and followed by adults and grandparents.

During the program we watched their thoughtful faces as they were watching the story of Jesus, and we prayed that they would trust Jesus with their whole hearts. At the end of the show, we gave an invitation to trust Jesus as personal Savior and Lord, and we saw hands going up at every show. We heard the sinner’s prayer repeated out loud by children and adults, and our hearts were filled with joy and thanks to our Lord for saving new people again and again.

During this project that lasted three months, we showed the Jesus Film more than 120 times, and more than 15,000 people watched it and more than 1,200 trusted Jesus. Praise the Lord! After each show, we had discussions and answered questions for up to two hours. People did not want to leave, and they asked us lots of questions about God, the Bible, eternal life and salvation.

And of course, we did not miss the opposition. In many places the evil one made himself visible to us and our team members. In some places our teams were met by angry people, who were sent by Russian Orthodox priests. In the village of Burlanesti our team was stopped in the middle of a forest by a gang of angry and drunk Russian Orthodox people with sticks and shovels in their hands ready to beat our team up in order to prevent the Jesus Film show from taking place. In the village of Stolniceni right before the show pieces of wood with nails going up were hidden in the grass right in front of the Culture Hall where our team arrived and where people from the village had to walk to enter the place. It did not surprise us because throughout history the witnesses of God’s Word had many who opposed them. Opposition was further proof for the Apostle Paul that he was on the right path, as he stated in Philippians 1:29: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him.”

God uses ordinary people for his extraordinary plan. And all glory is His. All we need to do is to surrender to His will. We strive to bring people into personal relationship with God in every place He sends us: in schools, in places of work, in neighboring villages or in far away countries. And the results of our obedience are His.