Project Thessalonica

We offer our sincere appreciation for those who you who continue to pray for, be interested in, and support Project Thessalonica.

The church not only continues but is growing a bit under the direction of Brother Charles. He has sent the following information, reluctantly, at my insistence, that it might be passed along to you. We do need some help to keep this work going. After reading the information below please respond if you will take responsibility for a portion of these expenses. Funds may be send to THE BIBLE Baptist Church designated for Project Thessalonica. You may also contribute to this project through the web store. Thank you.

“A couple of months ago, you asked about the financial situation. Here is what the finances look like for the church:

Rent – $520

Electric – $145 (give or take depending on usage)

Translator – 20 euro per service x 9 – $237

The other little things such as supplies, bus fare for Telemachus (for leading music) and such, we take care of on our own. With those three things, the monthly total for church is $902. After paying the latest rent, it looks as if we have enough from the $3500 (that was left in the church fund) left to cover through mid-November. There is a little in the offering on occasion which I put towards the expenses as well.

Our support is such that we have enough for our family (living expenses, etc) but would not really be able to cover the $900 right now. I am not worried – I know God has established this church here and He will provide.”

“As far as tracts, would you be able to put me in touch with some tract publishers that you may have worked with? We are beginning to run low on those and I would like to get some to a brother who is coming in a month. We will be out of the Gospel of Johns soon, but I am working with a new fellow here at church (great guy – we are having weekly Bible studies and he actually wants to study more than once a week because of his hunger!) to translate and get printed church flyers that we will begin using with the Bible tracts for letter boxing. We should be ok there, but the tracts are something we will have people start bringing if we can get some. My in-laws are coming next month as well, so they will bring a bunch.”

Thank you to everyone for your prayers! We have finished our first month here and it has been a blessing.

The Square

The street ministry has been going well. We have been splitting out time between that and letter boxing. The square is quite hot this time of year, so by quiet time, we are sweating a great deal! But we can put up with a little heat and sweat to be able to tell others how to avoid an eternity in flames, right?

It has been difficult without having a translator or knowing the language. I have had a few people that wanted to talk about the tracts but had to continue because they did not speak English. There have been a few that I have been able to witness too, though. One of them was a young Orthodox man who was trying to reason with me for a while. He kept telling me that I was wrong and there was no need for me to be here because God Himself had established the Greek Orthodox church and it is the only one. The sad thing was that for all his religious zeal, he still freely admits that he does not know what will happen to him when he dies. I kept bringing it back to that and he thought I was most prideful to state that I knew with absolute certainty that I was going to Heaven. I showed him in the Bible how we can know that and tried to convince him of his need for a Savior. He started saying he did not speak English enough to talk about that – though he spoke perfect English up this point. Praise the Lord that the Holy Spirit can do His work regardless. Pray for this man – Panayotis.

Another day down at the square, I ran into Avra who has not been at church for a while. We were able to talk for about an hour about things that are going on in her life. She wants to come back but there are some things that she is dealing with – please pray that these would be resolved. The same day, I was stopped by Terry, another man who had come for a while but has been away. I was able to talk to him for a while as well. It was good to see familiar faces from church and be able to encourage them in the Lord.

Door-to-door

The letter boxing has been going well. We are rapidly going through the remaining supply of Gospels of John. We have moved through Kalamaria near the coast and are now approaching the area near church. Elia came out with me one day and is now hooked. He keeps wanting to know when we are going to go out again. He was very happy about being able to give out the Gospel and it was nice to have him with me when some people tried speaking with me as he speaks some Greek. It is so amazing when I walk into a building and see 60 mailboxes. To think that is just one building in a huge city of lost souls can be overwhelming but we are doing what we can do one person at a time.

One day on our way home from Kalamaria, someone pulled out of a street without looking and plowed right into our car. We got to experience the Greek way of handling such a thing – it took an hour for the police to come! The first thing that was said was that I am not supposed to be driving this car in Greece since I am an American, it is from Romania, and I am in Greece. Fortunately, his superior did not think it was that big of a deal and dropped it. This was an opportunity to tell the family who hit us the Gospel, especially since the Lord helped me not get upset (which they seemed to be surprised at). Fortunately, the car was still drivable – especially since it took a few weeks to just get their insurance company to finally tell us we could go it fixed.

On my way to the shop last week, I was one block away when another lady hit me – in the same spot! I have not had an accident in 15 years of driving – until I got to Greece! Fortunately, both of them were not my fault and no one was hurt. Tomorrow, Lord willing, the car will finally get fixed.

The Lord has used situations like this to slow me down. In America, I am always used to being in a hurry and having to do something. Here, I get to use things like this as a way to give the Gospel to the people that have literally been put in my way.

Church

Church has been going well. We are right around 20 people (or more) every Sunday and about 10 on Wednesday. Our translator, Dimitris, had his family come to church a couple of weeks ago and we were happy to get to know them. Last Sunday, the mother of a lady from our church in NY came to church with her sisters and niece and we got to go out for a time of fellowship after church. Today, we had a lady come from an hour away. She had talked to Angelo a number of months back but this was her first time here. Please pray for Vasilka – she is not saved and does want to come back. She enjoyed the service today and wants to make the trip back at some point. Also, we had a new man, Tasos, that came to church. He got saved a number of years ago in a Brethren church in Germany and has been back in Thessaloniki for a little while. He is looking for a church to make his own and will be coming back on Wednesday. His wife and son are not saved, so please pray for them.

We saw our first soul saved here on Wednesday. Telemachos had brought his son Alexis again to church. He asked if I would talk to him because he was not sure he was saved. I spoke to him through the translator for quite a while. He did not really think he had ever sinned so we dealt with that. After hearing the Gospel, he said he did want to get saved and went ahead and prayed on his own. He has many physical ailments but is now a new creature, spiritually. Please pray for him and his situations.

That night after church, we had a long time of talking with the people about issues of the Bible. I had just started to teach a series on Wednesdays on the Promises of God and had taught the first one about Eternal Security. A new man came that night that wanted to ask a lot of questions. He says he is a religious historian of sorts and likes to see his spiritual beliefs “evolve”. I spoke with him for a long time about his spiritual concerns. Please pray that his heart would be open for the Lord and that he would return.

Thank you all for your prayers for this ministry! We have started to have prayer before church on Wednesdays and more of the people are coming to that. It is a blessing to hear them pray for the people who have given and come here over the last year to spread the Gospel. They have not forgotten the sacrifices that you all have made! Thank you for that. The church is growing and you all have had a major part in that. What a joy to serve such our worth Savior together!

In His Service,

Charlie and family

Our youngest son Daniel “singing” at church

Our after church discussion one night

Elia talking with Charlie before church on Wednesday

Dimitris (our translator) and I after a Sunday service

Thank you for the prayers for our family. We arrived back in Thessaloniki late on July 11th. We took the next few days to settle in and get the things that we needed for our new home here. My youngest sister was able to come with us and will be here to minister with us for a while.

It is always great to see how the Lord works. When I had arrived back in Rochester, I was surprised to find that our passports had not arrived yet. We gave it another couple of days and then a friend began calling daily to try and find out when the passports would be sent. On July 5th, we still did not have them and we only had 3 mailing days left to receive them by. We found out that the lady that had handled our passports had left the US on vacation so our passports were just sitting somewhere. Praise the Lord, a gentleman called back (after repeated voicemails) and said he had our passports and asked if we wanted them sent to us in the envelope we had sent – YES PLEASE! 🙂 We received them the next day and much to our surprise and delight, our visas were for 1 year instead of the few months we were told they would be! This means that during our stay here, we will not need to go do any more work on our paperwork! A big thank you to Mrs. Koletas for all of her hard work on getting this done!

Our first Sunday all back was a great blessing. The people of the church were so loving to my family and were so happy to see us back. One of the ladies had taken 6 hours to do a deep cleaning of the church to make sure it was perfectly clean for our children!

We have been able to go back to the square and pass out tracts. It is quite different to not have a translator to assist with the street work. Please pray as I am hard at work to learn as much Greek as possible to communicate with these people. We already had quite a few people who had come back to talk and we were not able to go anywhere with it.

On Wednesday, after service was over, we had a middle-age man named George that came in. He had received a gospel tract and came by the church only to arrive after the service started. He had not wanted to interrupt so he stayed outside the whole service and then came in to talk to us. He said he has been searching for answers and Telemachus was able to talk with him for a few minutes. He said he works Sunday but will be back on Wednesday. Please pray for him and his salvation!

The weekends during the summer have empty streets. We went downtown on Saturday only to find the square empty and most places closed. Most of the people have vacation in July and August so they leave town because of the heat. Fortunately, we still had a full church this morning. There were 18 people at church today, including Kosmas, who is a friend of Telemachus. I had a good conversation with him after church has part of the sermon had been about traditions and he had many questions about the traditions of men. Please keep him in prayer.

Our family is gradually getting used to life here again. We will be looking at some more areas of ministry opportunity in the next couple of weeks as well as continuing in the evangelism that has already been started. Thank you so much for your prayers for this ministry and your interest of it. We count ourselves very blessed that God has allowed us to minister here for a while.

Charlie and family

It has been good to be back in Thessaloniki. I had a wonderful time with the Logans before they left. They have done a wonderful job here and I was happy to get to spend some time with them before their departure. After that, it was getting stuff unpacked and getting some more of the things that our family needs when we all return in early July. In the meantime, I was able to get a lot of tracts out, was able to witness to a few people, and had some great church services. Bro. Brent had finished going through I Thessalonians so I started II Thessalonians and just finished the first chapter. It was good to be able to show them once again the difficulties that the devil tries to bring our way as we live for Christ and also how beneficial the church is to support each other and for the fellowship of the believer. We also covered how to pray for each other and why that is so essential for the growth of the church and our own spiritual maturity.

I am heading back to NY to get the rest of my family and we will all return together to Thessaloniki next week. Praise the Lord, our visa approval came through. We should have our passports shortly and be ready to go. We have a lot of ministering to do when we return to Greece and we are looking forward to it. We do not know how long the Lord will allow us to stay here before continuing on, but we are so grateful to all of you who prayed, gave, and labored to see this body of believers spring up in Thessaloniki. It is a glorious thing to see these faithful people hungry for fellowship and the Word of God. When we return, we are going to do our best to become more involved with the people and to do our best to help them mature more as we continue to evangelize.

Please pray for something – my last time here, I was unable to connect with the Jewish community and that was something I had really desired to do. This is one of my goals during my time here as that is a burden of my heart. The Logans’ last Sunday, a visitor came to the church and we were talking after the service. He mentioned that I look just like the rabbi of the city and that he is a friend of his. Long story short, when we return, he is going to set up a lunch for the three of us. Please pray for the Lord’s will in all of that.

God bless,
Charlie

The highest attendance yet at the church was today – Sunday, June 16, 2013.

“For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.”
I Thessalonians 1:8

As the Logan family completes our labour with Project Thessalonica, the above verse could not be more fitting. The word of our Lord has truly sounded out in Macedonia, Greece during the last year and one month. It has sounded out “from you”. Each of “you” who have had a part in Project Thessalonica have been responsible for the great effort for the gospel of Jesus Christ in this area. “YOU” have reached out to this city by your labour, prayer, giving, and concern. The Project has been successful enough to the point that “we” (the Logan family) need not continue here in our post. The Bible Baptist Church of Thessaloniki continues each week with GREEKS who have professed the new birth by repentance and faith. Brother Charles and family has heeded the Macedonian call and are on their way to Thessaloniki by God’s grace to continue to shepherd these people and give the gospel for the proceeding year or as long as the Lord grants an open door. There is much to grant us pause for a time of thankfulness. Let us thank our great God for the freedom He has allowed to do this. Without a doubt, the hand of Almighty God did hedge about this work for the past year. Without a doubt, it has been a miracle to see several Greeks profess that they have received Christ since we began our efforts. Without a doubt, it is amazing to have a congregation in this city that meets week after week to receive Bible teaching and preaching. Without a doubt, it has been a wondrous accomplishment to see over 170,000 gospel tracts and 80,000 Gospels of John passed out house to house and to INDIVIDUALS within ONE YEAR. This does not include the Greek New Testaments or whole Bibles that have been distributed nor does this account for all the many many many hours of public preaching and scripture sign holding in several public places throughout the city of Thessaloniki each week. In addition to the outreach in the great city of Thessaloniki, we have reached the surrounding suburbs in a 30 mile radius. This means that Project Thessalonica has also spread the gospel in the communities of Neo Rysio, Thermi, Tagarades, Kardia, Perea, Agia Triada, Nea Kerasia, Nea Michaniona, New Redestos, Loutra Thermis, Krani, Triadi, Panorama, Agia Paraskevi, Souroti, and Kalamaria. What a labour of love for our Saviour! Multitudes have literally been reached with a chance to accept the gospel of His Son. These thousands upon thousands may never have had such an opportunity before. This is fruit to your account. Thrilling, grateful, blessed, privileged, excited, and satisfied are only a few emotions that come to mind when considering the open door the Lord has allowed us. As for the Logan family, we are very blessed to have had a small part in this. June 16th is our last Sunday here as we will be making our way back to Romania with a desire to strengthen the brethren there. We are confident that the transition this coming Sunday morning with Bro. Charlie will be both smooth and led by the Spirit of our God.

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Your servant and His,
B. Logan

“STAND FAST IN THE LORD” (I Thessalonians 3:8)

As we continue to study the book of I Thessalonians at the Bible Baptist Church in Thessaloniki, the evident truth is that you cannot boldly proclaim the gospel of God in all the world without opposition and hindrances from the adversary. Praise the Lord for the strength to stand in an evil day. The pleasure of Christ and the souls of men are worth the effort to evangelize. After the recent escalation of police opposition, Bro. Logan re-contacted the US Consulate as well as our lawyer in Athens and an attorney for CLA in the United States. Much help has been received through these contacts. The US Consulate held a meeting with the police on our behalf and the lawyers on both sides of the ocean are ready to pursue things in court and the State Department if needed to secure our religious liberty. It should go without saying that any freedom we enjoy must ultimately come from the God of heaven to whom we have fervently prayed. Two efforts of evangelism have been conducted in the public of Thessaloniki since our last altercation. Both went unhindered by the authorities. While we do not know if this freedom will continue, we are determined to continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in this city to the best of our ability by the grace of God.

The last team of scheduled visitors is now here from Knoxville, TN. What a year it has been as Project Thessalonica has unfolded. May Jesus Christ be praised for this yearlong effort! Joyfully we look forward to the continuation of this ministry. The church is doing well at this point. Excluding the Logan family and the US teams, there are at least 10 folks who attend services regularly of which 6 are Greeks. Most have professed faith in Christ, however, they need to grow in the Lord.

Thank you for your prayers for a translator for the work necessitated by Angelo’s departure back to Australia. God has provided a Greek man named Dimitris. He professes to be born again and does not have a problem with Baptist doctrine although he claims to be a part of a spin-off Orthodox fellowship. Even if he does not agree with us, he is doing a good job translating as a paid position.

Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you. Fare ye well.

Monday, May 13, 2013:
It’s was a real treat to visit Philippi and envision how things must have looked in Paul’s day when he met Lydia by the river. The serenity of this place is a beautiful parallel to the “peace that passeth all understanding” in the heart of a believer. Seemingly forgotten by the world, the traces of civilization lay nearly unknown despite their rich history.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013:
The pace was a bit slower today as Br. Brent had a meeting with the American Consulate regarding the police harassment experienced to date. The rest stamped the remaining Gospel of John booklets in preparation for their future distribution as we fellowshipped together.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013:
We began the day letter-boxing and distributed every piece of literature, literally, that we had in the vehicles, in our bags and our pockets! It was so sad to see Satan’s “fowls of the air” come and steal the seed that had just been sown. We watched as a woman, who was passing out real estate flyers door-to-door, took every booklet from one side of the street we had just finished and trashed them in the dumpster at the end of the street. Another interesting observation while doing this type of work here is that lots of businesses stuff letter boxes, yet, when residents open their box stuffed with these earthly advertisements and the gospel, one cannot help but wonder if they will realize their finger tips hold the truth of eternal life! We must pray that the seed sown will find good ground.

Tonight’s church service was a great time around the word of God as Br. Brent preached on 1 Thess. 2:1-5, with the primary thought being that the Lord did not consider the time Paul, et al., spent in Thessalonica ‘in vain’ because it was about the souls of men and pleasing the Saviour, despite the contentions. May we all keep this thought at the forefront of all we say and do every day! Please continue to pray for the translator situation that the Lord would give wisdom, discernment and guidance for the right man to fill Angelo’s shoes. This person will not only need to translate in church, but be willing to go on the street to make that time profitable and effective.

Thursday, May 16, 2013:
…our time of departure is at hand…we have fought a good fight and finished our course!
Today was our last day here in Thessaloniki as we will be departing tomorrow morning at 800a local time and headed back to Virginia.

We spent the morning on the street to give it one last go before departing, unfortunately, the police were a problem again today. As we calmly talked with Greeks, two officers walked up and started questioning us…”who are you, where are you from, what is this stuff you are handing out…?” After informing him we were Americans and that we were giving away the Bible, he checked our passports and told us to pack up our stuff and leave. Br. Brent calmly asked him what we had done wrong and why they were forcing us to leave. The officer then instructed us to go to the police station. We asked why, he said “go!”, we asked why, he said “go” and began physically pushing Br. Brent to leave. Ultimately, Br. Brent was the only one “arrested”, though none of us were told what had been done illegally. We remained on the street for another hour passing out booklets and earnestly contending for the souls of men in conversations without incident. While at the station, Br. Brent had all his personal belongings taken from him and he spent 2.5 hours in a holding cell with drug addicts, drunkards, thieves and the like, even though he was not officially arrested.

Jesus said the religious crowd hated him without a cause (Jn. 15:25) and we who will live godly in Christ Jesus should expect nothing less. However, for the work to continue in this city, the police harassment issue must be addressed. Please be in prayer for Br. Brent that the Lord would give him wisdom and guidance on what steps to take and with whom he should speak to attain a resolution. The EU guarantees religious freedom, and as a part of the EU, Greece is supposed to recognize and uphold this law, however, this has not been the case. The Christians preaching the gospel have once again been targeted and shamefully entreated (1 Thess. 2:2), yet we know our labour is not in vain! Unfortunately, not much has changed in this city over the last 2000 years concerning those who would preach Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen again for the salvation of men’s souls! Nevertheless, let us be so bold as to say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Continue to pray for those souls that have been saved and for THE BIBLE Baptist Church of Thessaloniki that they would be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord…”

As we depart, our prayer for this work continues to be in accord with 2 Thess. 3:1-2:
“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”

Sunday, May 12, 2013:
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love… (1 Thess. 1:3)

Angelo’s last day and last Sunday has come with mixed emotions for everyone involved in the project. While this humble servant would never desire the limelight, it would do us all good to remember the work of faith and labour of love the Lord has allowed him to do over the past year. His departure marks the loss of a gospel preacher, faithful witness, fellow-labourer and dedicated friend.

As good servants of our Lord and Saviour, we should all desire that our lives would make a marked difference in someone else’s life during our time on earth. This morning’s service revealed just how much Angelo’s presence has meant to those with whom he has made contact. Although many have rejected the preaching, it was evident as he poured out his heart this morning and the tears flowed that his presence has made a profound impact on those here in the church. After Angelo’s stirring message about ‘counting the cost’, Br. Brent expounded on 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, reminding us of the characteristics the church in this city once possessed, which received two epistles by the hand of Paul. The following are highlights from the day:

1. One man in the church has been burdened with the need of Angelo’s father in Australia to be born again. As such, he wrote a heart-felt, 8-page letter for Angelo to deliver to his dad. Please be in prayer for his parents’ salvation as he returns to Sydney!

2. Elias, who was baptized Saturday, gave a wonderful testimony of being born again. Pray for him as Kayode teaches him the Bible / English.

3. A first-time visitor showed up from the distribution of gospel literature on the streets. He believes St. Demetrius saved him and is steeped in Orthodox tradition. He left the service after Br. Logan preached on ‘turning from idols’ (1 Thess. 1:9) but then returned a few minutes later and sat quietly until service was done. Although we parted ways ‘agreeing to disagree’, he heard the word of God clearly, and “faith cometh by hearing”!

4. Alexis and her 7-month old daughter, who we met on the street Monday, kept her word and attended today. She made a hearty go of it, but in the end, a fussy baby and the sound levels in the small room caused her to be in and out during the preaching. She promised to return and speak with us another time. We have not been able to speak with her at length concerning salvation, so pray she will keep her word again and return.

After church, we treated Angelo to dinner at his his favorite restaurant and he was able to pass out Greek New Testaments to all the waiters and owners that he has become acquainted with over the past year.

Please pray for Angelo as he flies out at 930a (Greece time) that the Lord will bless his trip back to Australia and will multiply blessings upon his life for ‘counting the cost’ and deeming the service to our Saviour this past year more valuable than his own life. He has truly hazarded his life for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15:26)!

Finally, let us not cease to pray for the salvation of souls in this great city! The work must continue on so that a foundation in Jesus Christ can be laid. May we all be busy in our respective parts of the world sowing and watering, for “the night cometh, when no man can work”(Jn. 9:4).

To God be the glory, great things He hath done!

What a blessing that the last weekend of Angelo’s service to the Lord here in Thessaloniki included a baptism! We all traveled down to the sea and followed the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ just as believers have done for centuries. There was singing, testifying, and a Biblical admonition on the shores of the sea where believers of past days must surely have also followed our Savior.

This was all provoked by Elias, the Iranian born man that has been attending our services for a little over a month. Elias escaped Iran and Afghanistan after coming to the realization that Islam and the Koran were a lie. After arriving in Greece, he was told of the good news of Jesus Christ by an Arabic speaking man. Then he met Kayode, the dear brother who came from London to work with us for the sake of the gospel. Kayode has been spending much time with Elias teaching him English so that he can teach him the Bible. Kayode brought him to our church where he continued to learn of Christ and Biblical salvation. At the end of a Wednesday night bible study, he declared out loud DURING THE PREACHING with his hands lifted up…”I know I am born again and wish to be baptized! I am ready now!” The Greeks in the service were greatly convicted by such an act of courageous obedience. While the Greeks are scared to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism because of the serious persecution they will experience, it was a shock to see one willing to follow the Savior when it would mean certain death in his homeland and with his relatives. The Greeks discussed among themselves for a good while accusing one another concerning why they were unwilling to reject their baby baptism now that they had been born again. It was an amazing thing to watch. Finally, of their own volition, four Greeks said they wanted to be baptized. We scheduled the time and transportation, but sadly, all of the Greeks backed out at the last minute on Saturday with different excuses. They continue to say, however, that they wish to follow the Lord in this step. We will pray and wait for their growth. Bro. Logan also re-baptized his daughter Bethany at her request. Three years ago in Romania she received the assurance of her salvation after struggling with doubts over her childhood profession.

All in all, it was a wonderful day on the shores of Thessaloniki with a uniquely Scriptural testimony for our Savior. Bless the Lord!