Jack Gilliland, a long-term volunteer, meets a few Russian women who attended his spiritual gifts seminar in Izhevsk, Russia. Jack is from Arkansas and serves as a virtual strategy coordinator to the Republic of Udmurtia.

Baptists in Texas are hosting the Engage Europe Summit Oct. 11-13 at First Baptist Church (FBC) of Forney, Texas. The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention are joining the International Mission Board (IMB) and FBC Forney for the event.

IMB workers from more than 15 Eastern European nations will travel from their ministry locations to interact with conference attendees and share their visions for planting churches among Europeans. They represent missionary work in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, southern Europe and Ukraine.

IMB worker Russell Kyzar, who helps lead the efforts of reaching out to Europeans across the globe, said he looks forward to the opportunity to connect with volunteers.

“This summit is like an NFL draft—missionaries come eager to find new team members, and church leaders come ready to sign up,” he said. “The enthusiasm is really contagious. It’s an exciting time for everyone.”

The event will start Sunday night with two missions encounters at FBC Forney and Lakeside Baptist Church in Canton—churches of the Kauf Van Baptist Association of Texas—with testimonies from the field. The following two days will include opportunities to meet one-on-one with IMB workers and discuss partnering with them to reach their respective people groups. Attendees will also hear a challenge from IMB President Dr. Jerry Rankin and “best practice” testimonies from churches aggressively involved in international missions.

Missionaries are looking for volunteers to pray and lead others to pray. They’re also looking for those interested in visiting a ministry location to prayerwalk; help with children’s and youth camps, concerts, student ministry and evangelism projects; conduct English as a Second Language courses; and build relationships with businesspeople, teachers and others for evangelism and discipleship—to name a few opportunities.

“In most places in Eastern Europe a church can’t be started ‘from scratch’ in a week or even in a few months,” Russell said, “but long-term partners can greatly reduce the time that is required and give an encouraging boost to our field personnel.”

Churches looking for long-term partnership opportunities with an unreached city or people group are urged to attend to discover how they can be strategic partners in Eastern Europe.

Register for the summit online at fbcforney.org/EngageEurope.

“The people we work with are Muslim, but they’re nominal Muslim,” said Carol. “This is a benefit to us because they are somewhat religious, but aren’t sure what they believe and are willing to consider the Gospel.”

In fact, though the people are slow to convert to Christianity, several villages are open to the Harders coming and sharing what God is doing in their lives and even praying for the people of the village. A village nicknamed “Clean Apple” is a good example.

Last year, they held a medical clinic in Clean Apple and treated 720 people. Every one of those took home the message of the Gospel, either through a tract, a Bible or the JESUS Film. Later, the Imam came to the team and said, “I didn’t get one of those tracts. Why are you giving them to everyone but me? I want one!”

Three weeks later, they held a sports camp in this same village and found that the JESUS Film videos were being passed from home to home and many people were reading their Bibles daily. Robert has been back many times in the past year and the mayor has basically given him the keys to the city. “He says that if we ever want to do anything there they will cancel school, stop working the harvest…whatever it takes. Anything we have to say, they want to hear.” The mayor has even requested that someone from Robert’s team come and live in their village!

Robert and Carol have a problem—no on-the-fied team members. This is Robert and Carol’s greatest need. They are seeking others to help reach these 400,000 Albanians for Christ. Currently, there are only 10 known believers. “It’s just Robert and me—in a country the size of Vermont!” said Carol. “We need people and we need them fast. The window is closing.”

More and more frequently, Al Qaeda has been seen in the area, and radical Muslims are beginning to make their voices heard. In an effort to influence the general populace, they have even begun to pay people to wear the full burka and to push ideas of Islam. The pay is more than the average worker’s monthly salary. Robert and Carol have also had threats made to their family and were forced to move to another town for security reasons.

But Robert and Carol are determined to stay despite the danger and the resistance because the people want to hear and God wants them to hear. Please pray for the Albanians of southern Europe, that they will discover the truth of the Gospel and boldly claim it as their own.

*Names have been changed for security reasons

Without a doubt Southern Baptist missionaries are the best cared for missionaries in the entire world, and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a large part of the reason why. Our family would like to say thank you, Southern Baptists, for ALL that you give to this tremendous missions offering. But our family is not the only ones who benefit from what Southern Baptists give through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Our people group benefits as well.

The people we serve are an unreached Muslim people group located in Central and Eastern Europe. Recently Southern Baptist gifts have helped take the Gospel to our people through the massive distribution of the New Testament. Two years ago the translation of the New Testament was completed in our people group’s heart language. Since that time your gifts have helped place God’s Word in nearly 18,000 Muslim homes. You are helping to build a foundation of church planting upon the only source that can serve as a true foundation – The Word of God! You are helping to introduce people to the Gospel who previously had no access to the Gospel.

One Muslim man who was opposed to the giving away of God’s Word to his people said:

“What you are doing is like dropping a bomb among our people. It would be better if you dropped a real bomb because you would only kill maybe 10 people. By giving this book you will kill many Muslims because they will turn to Jesus when they read this book.”

On behalf of our family, our team, and most importantly, our people group – thank You, Southern Baptists, for giving to reach the world with the love of Jesus.

A family in South Europe

Dear Family,

Southern Baptists have sent missionaries to live and work among Albanian Gheg Muslims in Kosovo and Macedonia. Lottie Moon gifts have made it possible for war torn houses to be rebuilt, food to be provided for the homeless/jobless, wood stoves to be given for the harsh winters, and, most importantly, lives to be changed.

Southern Baptist missionaries were one of the first organizations to help during the 1999 war. Out of thousands of refugees, long days organizing food boxes and listening to heart wrenching perils of war, I met a man named Esat. He had been beaten and threatened at gunpoint by the opposition’s special forces. God spared his life. He had a family, children, no money, and one room in a house in Tirana, Albania, where refugees from Kosovo found help from Southern Baptists. Esat volunteered to help in our food warehouse alongside Southern Baptist missionaries and myself. Esat saw a difference in us, a light that he could not explain, which he later shared in his testimony. He could not understand why we would come during war time – out of love. We shared the gospel with him. His life was changed.
Today Esat is an open believer living back home in Kosovo. He is one of many new believers in post war Kosovo. He has Bible study in his home and tells whoever will listen about his Savior.

Thank you, Southern Baptists, for making it possible for many changed lives among the Albanian Ghegs.

Another missionary living in South Europe