Final Thoughts

On October 14 & 15 we returned to Sofia and conducted another Equip Level 1 seminar for 15 people at the Church of God headquarters building. Then on the 16th we conducted a marriage seminar for a small church there.

On Sunday, October 17, we flew to Vienna where one of our dear friends, Milan Sefcik, picked us up and took us to Bratislava, Slovakia for the rest of that day and Monday. We had not been there for a couple of years and wanted to stop and see some of our friends there. Slovakia was our main focus for a number of years and we came to know and love many people there so this was a real treat for us. On Tuesday, October 19, we flew home.

While we were in the Sofia area, as has become our custom, we went and bought basic foods at the Metro store (their version of Costco), filled bags and delivered them to poor Gypsy families living in the slums of Sofia. God has given us a heart to serve these people and try to help them lift themselves out of their pitiful circumstances. In many respects, this is why we do what we do. I will let the pictures tell the story.

Equip Level 1 Seminar in Stara Zagora

On Monday and Tuesday, Oct 11 & 12, we presented Equip Level 1 again. This time it was to a group of 15 people in Stara Zagora. We were in the Bible School there which is where we taught a class the very first time we came here about 10 years ago. A lot has changed over those 10 years but not our warm friendship with these faithful people.

We had taught leadership to just about everyone there in the past. So this was almost like a refresher course for them. We were careful to emphasize the differences in that we were asking them to go and teach this material to five more people, something we had not done before.

This multiplication factor is why Equip is working in about 150 countries around the world, and growing. It is why after setting out to train a million Christian leaders, they have so far trained five million, and that number is growing exponentially. And not only is Equip training happening in unlikely places (like North Korea for example) but it is changing leaders because it is a process. We are excited to be part of it!

Equip Level 2 Seminar in Stara Zagora

On Friday and Saturday we teamed up with Grozdan Stoevski and Nik Nedelchev and presented the second of six Equip Level 2 seminars. We had about 20 Bulgarian business and church leaders in this class. This was the same group that we worked with last June and we will be working with them for two more years.

The focus of this seminar was working with and winning with people. Leaders must have excellent people skills if they are to succeed. Academics call this emotional intelligence. Some people are gifted with a lot of it; others not so much. However, it can be developed and that was our mission; to help them improve their people skills.

We had an excellent time and I think they got a great deal out of the seminar because they were actively involved. We decided that lecturing was not the way to work with these people and so we broke them down into discussion groups. We handed each group a series of discussion questions designed to really make them think and wrestle with some tough issues. Then we gave them about 20-30 minutes to discuss their questions. At the end, each group appointed a spokesperson who briefed the rest of us on what the group concluded about the questions.

Their insights and comments made it very clear that they have been paying attention and that the level one training has stuck with them. They are changing and growing as leaders. The process works!!!

Equip Level 1 Seminar in Pyrstrica

Monday through Wednesday nights, we conducted our first Equip Level 1 Seminar for Gypsy leaders. We had about 30 Gypsy church leaders show up and enroll in the course. Just doing that is a big step. First, we charged them a small fee for it. They are not accustomed to paying anything for education but we wanted to establish the principle that there is no "free lunch". This training costs money to produce and deliver and they need to participate. We made it clear that they were getting a bargain rate, but they had to pay. Second, we asked them to commit to a three year program. This too is new; they are not used to making commitments to anything. Whether or not they keep this commitment, time will tell, but at least they made it. Third, we asked them to commit to training five other people. This too is part of trying to build in accountability, something they are not accustomed to in their culture.



There were six lessons of about an hour each in this first series. We teamed up with a young man named Radko who is a Gypsy and a YWAM missionary here. His mission is to reach into the Gypsy community to help them change so this is a perfect vehicle for him. He has been through the program (Level 1) and is currently enrolled in Level 2 (so we will see him again on Friday). He taught the first two sessions on Monday evening. Then we taught the last four sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.


These Gypsy leaders were very positive and enthusiastic about the training. They recognize the need to change in their culture and we think they will take this opportunity seriously. Again, time will tell but we are certainly off to a good start!


Today, we are making the final, detailed preparations for Level 2 which begins tomorrow night in Stara Zagora, a city where we have been going for years. Our hostess, Marina Dimitrova is leaving for South Africa today and our friend Grozdan will pick us up tomorrow on the way to Stara Zagora.

Off To A Good Start

Well, it's Monday morning here in Plovdiv. We are seven hours ahead of Chesterfield time. Tonight, we will be in our first Gypsy church of the trip. We will be working with our old friend Grozdan Stoevski and a new friend, a Gypsy pastor who we have not met, and delivering the first of three nights of training to a group of Gypsy pastors and leaders. We have worked with these people before so we know it will be fun.

Yesterday was our first day to "work". I did the preaching in the AG church here in Plovdiv on Sunday morning. For some reason that totally escapes, me, they really like my preaching and ask me to do it every time we come here. It is fun for me because I don't get to do it very often. Yesterday, I used what we know about genetic diseases to explain the problem of sin. I wasn't sure I could tie it all together and make sense but everyone seemed to really like it.


Sunday afternoon, Pat did a woman's seminar for 50-60 ladies from several churches. They are struggling with inter-generational issues, so she was asked to share ideas on how to bring the younger and older ladies together. By the time she got through with them, they were amazed at how much they had in common and had several initiatives under way.


Last night, I did a 90 minute presentation to the leadership group of the church. Like so many churches in this part of the world, this one has difficulty getting people to step up and lead in different parts of the church. Part of the legacy of communism is that people tend to be very sheep-like; they wait to be led rather than to be pro-active. This is often true even of people who are gifted in leadership. As a result, the weight tends to fall on the Pastor far more than is healthy. Businesses have the same problem. So, we spent some time trying to encourage and motivate the church leaders to step up. They want us back next March so hopefully, we did them some good.

Less Than A Week to Go

We will be leaving on Thursday, September 30 and flying to Sofia. From there, our friend Marina Dimatrova will take us to Plovdiv where we will spend the first six days in her gorgeous flat. We will start by doing a couple of short seminars in the Assembly of God church in Plovdiv and then we will team up with Grozdan Stoevski, a good friend for years now,to teach Equip Volume 1 material to our first group of Gypsy leaders for three days. After that, we will move to Stara Zagora for six days. While there, we will team up with another good friend, Nik Nedelchev to teach the more advanced Equip Volume 2 material to the same group that we worked with in June. Then, we will be working with our long time partner and friend, Dinko Zlatarov to do the Equip Volume 1 material with a second (different) group of Gypsy leaders. From there we will go to Sofia for the last four days. We will be working there with Dinko again to teach the Equip Volume 1 material to a third group of Gypsy leaders there. At the end of our trip, we will do an all day marriage seminar for a group of churches that are working together. As we go,we will post commentary and pictures so we invite all of you to come along with us!