Participants:
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000100A
|
00:06 For 45 years the country of Albania
00:09 existed under the iron shadow of communism. 00:13 It was a particularly vitriolic type of communism 00:16 that banished all forms of religion 00:18 totally from society, 00:20 except for the religion of atheism. 00:22 Today, the new, young, fledgling 00:25 Seventh-day Adventist church 00:27 is growing despite many challenges. 00:30 That and much more coming up on today's program. 00:37 Just before He went up to Heaven, 00:40 Jesus gave us a command. 00:43 He gave us a mission. 00:46 Jesus said go, go unto all the world, 00:51 telling them of His love. 00:53 This is our mission, this is our Global Mission. 01:03 Hello, and welcome to Global Mission Snapshots, 01:06 coming to you today from the city of Tirana, 01:09 the capital city of Albania. 01:12 It's a bright afternoon here 01:13 and this is a place where the Adventist church 01:16 is relatively young. 01:18 The fall of communism came in the early 1990's 01:21 and so the church has started to grow, 01:24 and Global Mission is starting new congregations 01:27 around the country. 01:28 We will be talking to the mission president, 01:30 a missionary from the country of El Salvador. 01:33 We'll also be talking to one of only two 01:37 ordained Albanian pastors working here in this country. 01:41 We will be traveling to Balice, but first up, 01:44 let's visit three Global Mission pioneers, 01:47 planting new congregations in South Africa. 01:52 Three pioneers, one common job. 01:55 Gift, Steward, and Moketsi, 01:57 are an energetic Global Mission pioneer team, 02:00 with a mission to reach 02:01 the city of Pretoria, South Africa 02:04 These men understand the local context. 02:06 They speak different African languages 02:09 and they are ready 02:10 to creatively face the mission challenge. 02:13 Daily they look for an opportunity 02:14 to relate to people. 02:17 Some they encounter door to door, 02:19 others they are only able to talk to 02:21 during a work break at the gas station. 02:24 Hollen works here, 02:25 for a few weeks he has been actively learning 02:27 the Bible with the three pioneers. 02:29 One of the many important life lessons 02:31 Hollen has learned is to share 02:33 the knowledge of Jesus with friends. 02:36 And before long he invited Maria, 02:38 a co-worker to study with him. 02:40 Now, they are both waiting to finish 02:42 their last lesson before baptism. 02:47 In Pretoria, there are many train preachers, 02:50 it's a common sight while traveling by train. 02:54 Pioneer Steward frequently travels by train 02:57 and one day he decided to address 02:59 the many misconceptions presented, 03:01 as he rode the train. 03:02 But instead of confronting train preachers, 03:05 he chose another wagon, 03:07 where he speaks directly 03:08 from the Bible on a daily basis. 03:11 He always prays with the fellow riders 03:13 and he's found encouragement through the growth 03:15 he has seen on regular commuters 03:17 in his church wagon. 03:19 And so far I have discovered 03:21 that many people have benefited from these presentations. 03:25 Because right now, they are able to identify 03:30 who is saying the truth 03:33 and who is saying the false doctrine. 03:37 Because people are beginning to even follow me 03:41 wherever they see me getting into a coach. 03:44 People, they are now knowing me, they follow me. 03:48 Some audience they follow 03:49 because they want to learn more about what I am presenting. 03:56 As the three pioneers dodge traffic, 03:58 navigate crowds and climb endless sets 04:01 of stairs in the city's towering apartment buildings, 04:04 they know God is working with them 04:06 to find hearts hungry for truth and hope. 04:10 One day the three pioneers met an interesting woman. 04:13 As usual they spoke kindly with her 04:15 and gave her a study guide. 04:17 I introduce the lessons 04:18 and she showed interest in this lesson. 04:21 And in two days when I left there, 04:25 she called me because I had supplied 04:27 my contact number on the paper piece. 04:29 And she called that, 04:30 come I am done with your lessons. 04:32 You know, I went back there, think that in two days, 04:35 I know people can take a month, some weeks to complete, 04:38 but in two days she was done. 04:40 I went there, I took the lessons, 04:42 and I marked them. 04:43 You know, when I was marking, 04:45 I could see that really she read them. 04:48 The pioneer team was surprised to see that this woman 04:50 had been up all nights studying all of the lessons. 04:53 She couldn't put them down. 04:55 Although tired, she still had many questions 04:58 about the Bible, God, salvation, and prophecy. 05:02 So, Gift, Steward, and Moketsi, continued to visit her house 05:06 and strengthen her faith. 05:07 It was clear that the Holy Spirit 05:09 was moving her heart and mind towards God. 05:13 The spirit of the Lord is always 05:15 waking in peoples lives. 05:18 We had people who are willing to come to the church. 05:23 Some they have already decided that they are coming to church. 05:27 In fact during the past two years, 05:29 the pioneers have studied the Bible 05:31 with some 1,500 people 05:33 and baptized more than 200 of them. 05:36 Through this they started two new branched churches 05:39 and they are encouraged to continue 05:41 reaching many more for the kingdom of God. 05:44 Thank you, for your prayers 05:45 and financial support of Global Mission Pioneers 05:48 across the world. 05:50 They are making a difference in reaching the cities. 05:55 I'm talking with pastor, Leo Espana, 05:57 and we are in Albania. 05:59 Well, Pastor Leo, 06:00 you are serving as the president of the mission. 06:02 Yes. 06:03 Plus you're also pasturing a church in this city. 06:06 How many years have you been pasturing the church here? 06:08 I came here in 2008, end of 2008, 06:11 and since then I've been pasturing here 06:13 in the church of Durres. 06:14 Yeah. How many people do you have worshiping on Sabbath? 06:16 We have an average of 30 people to 35 people 06:19 coming every Sabbath. 06:20 Wonderful, wonderful. Yes. 06:21 Now, this is a port city obviously. 06:23 Yes. 06:24 Now, what happened here in the early 1990's? 06:27 Well, this is a city very important. 06:30 It's a second largest city of Albania. 06:33 And also it's important because of the harbor, 06:35 just across we have Italy about 300kms 06:38 from here at the city of Bari. 06:41 After communist time, many Albanians 06:42 wanted to go away from Albania and to know other countries 06:46 and to look for a better living. 06:48 So, many people came here and tried to go to Italy. 06:51 Right, so there's pictures of the boats 06:53 that are just full of people trying to get away-- 06:55 Yes, it happened just right here-- 06:56 Yeah. Yes exactly, this is the place. 06:58 Now in the last couple of days, 07:01 we've seen Global Mission projects 07:03 here in Albania. 07:04 What are the good things that are happening here? 07:06 Well, we thank God 07:07 because the best thing that can happen in Albania 07:10 is people coming to Jesus. 07:11 Yes. 07:13 And through the Global Mission projects 07:14 we have seen that people are coming, 07:17 for example, here in the church in Durres, 07:19 one of our projects is to run language courses. 07:23 Spanish, English, and people like 07:25 to learn languages and they have come. 07:27 We have a computer lab there and people come 07:31 and they register and then once they are learning 07:34 they say, what is here? 07:36 What are you doing here? Yes. 07:37 We say, well, this is a church 07:39 and we also teach about the Bible 07:41 and we invite them to come. 07:43 So you're really a central influence in this city. 07:46 Yes, I am. In the heart of the city. 07:48 Wonderful, now, I have heard you speaking Albanian 07:52 and it seems to me that you speak it very well, 07:55 but that is not your language, where are you from? 07:57 I'm originally from El Salvador, Central America. 08:00 So what is a family from El Salvador doing in Albania? 08:04 Well as you know, Gary, God has plans for all of us 08:07 and once we decided to follow His will, 08:10 He knows where He wants you to be. 08:13 We are serving as missionaries here with my wife, 08:15 my wife is from Honduras. 08:17 Wonderful. 08:18 And by the way, we have two children 08:20 and of our-- just five months old. 08:23 We have a baby girl born in Albania. 08:25 What a blessing. 08:26 Yes. 08:28 What are your plans for the future 08:29 here in Albania? 08:31 Well, we wanted to see 08:32 the church growing even much more. 08:34 We have many cities that still have not been penetrated. 08:38 Even though Adventist church is in most of the main churches, 08:41 main cities here in Albania, 08:43 we're still lacking to penetrate 08:44 in north Albania and very south of Albania. 08:46 Cities like Shkodar, and Saranda, 08:49 are cities that are need to be a rich for Jesus. 08:53 We recently started a new Global Mission project 08:55 in the city of Fier as well. 08:57 It's very good, now, after many years, 09:00 45, 47, years of communism where religion was banished. 09:05 Yes. 09:06 There is a high rate of atheism in this country, 09:08 is that still the case? 09:10 Yes, there's still some people that are skeptical to religion 09:13 or there is that just don't want to talk about God. 09:16 Yeah. 09:17 However, that people are more open now to the gospel 09:21 and I believe it that's an opportunity for us 09:24 to spread the gospel here. 09:25 Now what about pastors, 09:28 how many Albanian pastors do you have? 09:32 Okay, we have a presently three Albanian pastors. 09:35 One is our secretary of the mission as well, 09:38 but he is also pastor in the central church, in Tirana. 09:42 Pastor Julian Kastrati, 09:44 we have also Pastor Genti from Vlora, who is in Elbasan, 09:47 the Prague that you recently visited. 09:48 Yes. 09:49 And we have a Pastor Trifjol Ngjela 09:51 who is in the church plant in Fier, 09:53 the city that I just mentioned to you. 09:54 Okay. 09:55 He was previously working in Korca 09:56 and now he has moved to work in the church planting at Fier. 09:59 Yeah, so you have a small team and a big task. 10:03 Yes, you said so. 10:05 We understand what it means 10:06 when Jesus said that we need to pray for more laborers. 10:09 Yeah, so what would you say are the bigger, 10:12 what is the biggest mission challenge facing you here? 10:15 I believe we need to be more open 10:20 to the, to the communities still. 10:21 Yes. 10:22 We need to get to know people, 10:23 Albanians need to know who the Adventist are. 10:25 Right. 10:26 We thank God for ADRA 10:27 because ADRA International was the first, 10:29 also an NGO organization that came to the country. 10:32 Yes. 10:33 But also we need to spend more-- 10:36 The most well known religions here in Albania are, 10:39 is Islam and orthodox, Greek Orthodox Church. 10:42 Right. 10:43 And Catholicism variance, it's a 10%. 10:46 And then, so we are not that well known. 10:47 No. 10:49 So we need to work more on that. 10:50 I will say that as Adventist we still need to invest 10:53 in Albania in education. 10:54 Yes. 10:55 In health. Yes. 10:56 And we don't have a school here yet. 10:59 Yeah. 11:00 We don't have any hospital or clinic even though with ADRA 11:04 we had been working with that, with health as well. 11:07 But we still need to get to know more 11:10 the Adventism in the community. 11:12 Yeah. Pastor Leo, thank you so much for sharing with us. 11:15 It's my pleasure. 11:16 And viewers at home, 11:17 please remember the challenge here in Albania, 11:21 remember, Pastor Leo, and his team 11:23 as they follow Gods leading, as they seek to build 11:27 His kingdom right here in Albania. 11:29 We have got more mission coming up 11:31 right after this break. |
Revised 2015-04-02