Project Thessalonica

We had a great day today. It was the last day of our trip that we would be on the streets of the square preaching the Gospel. But to make the day better, there was a protest taking place. Over 100,000 Greeks gathered in the streets of Thessaloniki, chanting and protesting … demanding the government pay them more money for their jobs. But through all the chaos, we managed to get our scripture signs and banners up above the crowds. While the march took place,we passed out tracts and made sure that everyone in the protest saw our banner. We followed the path of the protesters until we came to our usual spot in the square, where we then preached Jesus Christ and his love to the people of Thessaloniki. After passing out thousands of tracts, we called it a day. All the labor we did for the Lord was worth it. Hopefully this country will see a revival soon. Attached are some pictures of the day. Thank you for your prayers.

Sunday October 14, the Lord’s Day. It was a great time of fellowship this morning with eight in attendance. It was a blessing to hear songs and prayers offered up to our God in the Greek language. Joe Tillman gave a brief message at the beginning of the service. Ray Pettit preached the gospel while those in attendance listened intently. After the service, there was a brief time of fellowship before parting our ways until Wednesday. Several pictures below show those in attendance as the Lord met with us.

The two man group from Sweet Springs Baptist Church arrived late Tuesday night. Wednesday ended with a church service where Bro. Angelo taught as Joe and myself listened as he taught all in Greek to two hungry Greek souls. What a blessing!

Today we got down to the square around 10:30am. We sang, preached, witnessed, and passed out tracts to the multitudes. We ended our afternoon at 2:00pm because of siesta time where there is a law banning loud noise. Below are several pictures of when we were on the square.

There is a fair amount of noise on the streets from various and sundry conversations going as the multitudes walk by. The minute the preaching would start people would stop, look, and listen. The noise level on the streets would become virtually undetectable. Many pointed and asked questions of why we were there.

Pictured below is a short gray-haired gentleman that believes Jesus Christ died when he was 70 years old. He also faithfully worships his 12 gods. The other man being spoken to knew very little English. He was able to tell us that God was still giving new Biblical revelations today through him. Everybody we possibly could was dealt with as far we we could take the conversation. So many people confused and in need of constant, faithful witnessing and preaching.

One Nigerian man named Wesley Kingston was spoken to by Joe Tillman. After about an hour this Nigerian man bowed his head and trusted Christ as his Savior. Wesley promised to be at church Sunday. Please pray that he will follow through. We are grateful to be here with our dear Brother Angelo. Please lift him up in your prayers. He is such a faithful man, but he’s under constant attack by the enemy. His heart longs for home, but he is so excited about being in Greece. Please continue to pray for us. We are having a BLAST! It feels like we’ve been transported back to the Acts time period. I count it a privilege to be here. GOD IS GOOD!

Greeks Still Protesting, We’re Still Preaching

Blessings remain with wonderful opportunities to sow the seed of the word of God to the multitudes in Thessaloniki. The Greeks continue to protest the hardness of economic life while we continue to preach, and preach, and preach to them the way of eternal life through the gospel. Tracts by the boxful continue to go out, private conversations never stop with those passing by, and the word of God is sung and spoken to the masses. What a privilege to represent the Master. He deserves more than our labor can give. Our Lord has told us to go to the world and PREACH. The voices of Pastor Suttle, Bro. Logan, Bro. Angelo, and Benjamin rang out to the crowd in joyful obedience to the Bible. Some mocked. Some were angry. Other curious. Most awestruck. A few promises were made to consider, to read, and to come to church with us. May Jesus Christ be praised for all these things!

Thank you for your continued prayers for Project Thessalonica. We have been blessed to have had our lawyer from Athens here this week. Bro. Vassilios (pictured below) has been such a help in so many ways. He flew to Thessaloniki to tie up some loose ends on the visa work for the Logan family and Bro. Angelo. Nothing is done all at once in Greece. It is a long process if you want to continue to stay here legally. The last few days have been extremely tedious and time consuming with paperwork, but we have been very pleased with the results thus far. It has also been an expensive process, but we thank the Lord that He knows how to provide for His work.

Pastor Suttle and the rest of the team continued to go door to door stuffing the gospel in mailboxes. At least one call has already been received with a promise to come to church on Sunday. We sow the seed, but God must be trusted to give the increase.

While the Greeks Protested, We Preached

We had a unique opportunity yesterday within Thessaloniki to give the gospel. All of Greece was striking, marching, and holding city-wide protests. Since we were already going to the center of the city to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, the opportunity was taken to reach many more multitudes of Greeks than otherwise could have been done. Some had warned us of the unruly and unstable crowds, but there were absolutely NO altercations. We had perfect liberty, given to us by our Lord, to preach for hours and distribute untold numbers of tracts.

The Greeks lifted up their voices, sang, and held signs as they marched for the cause of their rights. We lifted up our voices, sang, and held signs as we marched for the cause of the rights of Jesus Christ upon sinners. A great time was had by all. Our team got out into the middle of the protesters as they marched down blocked off main city streets. Tracts went like candy. Praise the Lord!

We also had a good mid-week Bible study last night. This was our second mid-week service. Keep praying…

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New Team Arrives in Thessaloniki, New Suburb is Being Reached

Pastor Scott Suttle and his daughter have arrived from Spring City Baptist Church (Cleveland, Virginia) to help with Project Thessalonica. They are pictured together with the Logan family and Bro. Angelo.

As you know, in addition to our city wide outreach, we are going door to door placing gospels of John stuffed with tracts and our contact information in the suburbs surrounding Thessaloniki. This has already been accomplished in the towns of Neo Rysio and Thermi. We are now reaching out to a third place called Pelea. Pelea is a very large suburb of Thessaloniki, maybe the largest, which lies not far from the team houses. See map below. There are thousands upon thousands of doors in this area. It will take many weeks, if not months, to cover every dwelling in Pelea. By the grace of God, we will do our best so that no one can ever say there was no attempt made to reach them with the saving truth found in the word of God.

FIRST MIDWEEK SERVICE IN THESSALONIKI

As we continue to reach out to the lost in evangelization, it is evident that more time must be spent with those who have professed faith in Christ to us. Our Sunday service continues each week, but as most understand, new babes in Christ need more care than just one service a week. Therefore, this week we began a Wednesday evening Bible study. Our intent will be to teach 17 lessons from Salvation to the Second Coming in order to firmly ground in the faith those we are reaching. Simple doctrinal truths with Biblical explanations is foreign to a world where the Bible has not been taught.

While teaching on the new birth, we were all excited when Avra spoke up. Bro. Logan was saying that just as you have a birthdate for your physical birthday, if you are born again, you have a date for your spiritual birthday. Without hesitation, Avra speaks up. “My spiritual birthday was Monday, August 27, 2012. I will never be able to forget that day.” Hallelujah! In response to the teaching, she also spoke of how others thought she was crazy because she felt like a new person was on the inside of her, communicating in a still yet strong voice. “I feel like I am possessed or something.” We almost shouted while explaining to her that, indeed, when you are born again you have been possessed with the Holy Ghost, and there is a new man on the inside of you. She laughed and beamed with joy of understanding. “This is exactly what has happened in me. When I do wrong now, something is speaking firmly with me. I don’t want to do wrong every again. Why do I still do wrong after the joy and experience of peace I have found in salvation? I want those wrong desires to stop permanently.” The teaching continued. Two very distinct natures battling daily for control. She listened intently as we went through the Scripture. What a change has come in the life of this dear Greek lady who was raised in an Orthodox environment without hope. THIS is what has made the money, effort, time, and sacrifice all worth it. You will meet your dear Greek sister in heaven someday where she will be able to thank you that you cared enough to send someone to preach the gospel in the open-air of her city so that she could be eternally saved. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Please also continue to pray for Alexandru. He has been faithful to our Sunday services since his profession of faith in Christ, but he needs to grow more in the grace of God. His wife had to go back to Romania for an operation but should be back soon. We are glad the Lord led us to them as well.

Below is a picture of Mrs. Logan with Avra after the Bible study.

Successful Public Evangelism Continues

Thanks to your prayers and the good grace of our God, we had a successful evangelistic effort without any problems. The Lord granted liberty in spite of the difficulties previously reported. There were no police encounters. Of course, we had the usual confrontations with the unsaved, but many tracts and gospels of John went out. In the pictures below you see the trash can full of the good news of salvation. This represents the majority of the opinion of the lost world concerning Jesus Christ. However, you also see a man sitting quietly reading the tract that tells him of eternal life through the Savior. I watched this man read the entire tract cover to cover and then put it in his bag to take home. We are seeking to reap the wheat among the many tares. Bro. Angelo is also pictured witnessing to a lady after being invited to sit down and discuss the truth of the gospel.

Bro. Joel’s family and his team has departed. Their work was a great help. Since we had a cancellation of a team, the reports will be sporadic for a few days. Please pray for Bro. Angelo as he takes this opportunity to go to the village of his parents and witness intently to his aunt and relatives.

We continue to have need of nothing but your prayers and rejoice in the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.