Operation Joshua 5 Promo Video

Spreading God's Word

"So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."  Isaiah 55:11

The Bible distribution launched two days ago with an outreach to Turkish villages. We loaded up our arms and made our way from home to home handing bags with the Turkish language New Testament to some but otherwise hanging the bags on door nobs or placing them on a fence post or step.



Four young men at a taverna took the bags eagerly and thanked me while some declined with an emphatic shake of the head. Our team distributed in the small farming villages of Passos, Archondica, Vakos and Vragia. About a third of the 300 volunteers are Greeks and all the vehicles have a least one to help with translation and cultural sensitivity. I began the distribution in the first village with our Greek companion, Katerina.

Despite many difficulties, 162 villages in all were reached the first day. The volunteers were delayed in getting started until mid-afternoon and some cars had 2-3 hour drives to get to their first villages. Some got lost; there were breakdowns; some teams distributed in the dark and did not return until 2:00 AM. Even so, 11,600 Scriptures were distributed.

On the second day we distributed to the Greek villages of Ricia and Asperoneron near the borders with Bulgaria and Turkey. One villager, a man named Costas, accepted our gift and in return insisted on giving us all bottles of water and Turkish Delight, a soft powdered candy, and invited us to return to his village to visit him again. In the bag is a phone number to the camp where we are staying, as well as the main office of Hellenic Ministries, and calls with spiritual questions and requests for follow up begin almost immediately, we are told.

It is hard to blog with our days being so long and the internet connection is not good where we are staying. Also, my family is dealing with a personal matter back home. Deb's mom was hospitalized with pneumonia just before I left and has since gone into cardiac arrest and is on a ventilator. Deb was to have joined me mid-way into Operation Joshua but now she has cancelled her flight and it does not seem likely that she will come. We are praying for God's lovingkindness and mercy on Deb's mom, MaryAnn, and for the comfort and strength of the Lord for Deb and her sisters as they support their mother and one another in this difficult time.

Christ for Turkish Villages

"And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."  I John 5:11-12

Today we head to 190 Turkish villages in northern Greece to distribute about 15,000 Turkish language Scriptures and gospel tracts. The women will wear skirts and the men long pants out of respect for local custom.

Pallets of Turkish Language Scripture Packets

The evening session began with a shout-out from the countries represented: Australia, New Zealand, Romania, Albania, Cyprus, Syria, Sudan, Holland, England, Brazil, Germany, Scotland, USA, Canada, South Africa, and Greece. The large contingent of Greeks stood as we clapped, excited to partner with the Greek church to reach their country for Jesus Christ.

The speakers reminded us that the Word of God is the "dynamite" of God, the "living and active" Word (Heb 4:12) that is able to bring salvation and transformation of lives. Greece is in spiritual crisis, said one speaker, its government rife with corruption and its young people without purpose and direction. Nothing can solve this crisis but the words of Scripture. "The single answer for man is found in the Word of God."

 

 

 

Connecting & Preparing

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Isaiah 52:7

Woke up early Monday to the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking. Thought about my need for God, "But I am poor and needy; hasten to help me, O God! You are my helper and deliverer" (Ps 70:5) and read an encouraging email from Hugh Kerr, the Church of Scotland pastor who shared Christ with me when I traveled in Israel when I was 19.  Hugh wrote, "This morning we sang, 'Be strong in the Lord of hosts, and in his mighty power; who in the strength of Jesus trusts, is more than conquerors.' We do pray for you. Courage!" Good words to start the day.

Met a lot of ordinary-extraordinary people today, including Paul Kline, who served in the gospel with warring cannibals in Indonesia (their children have laptops these days).

At the large tent that serves as central gathering place for Operation Joshua, I met a young man from Afghanistan who came to Christ and was baptized only three weeks ago at a Hellenic Ministries' camp program for refugees. He was eight years old when the Taliban came to his village and killed his family members while forcing him to watch. He wound up a refugee in Iran and was forced as a small child to work 12-14 hours a day.

This new Christian speaks joyfully about his Savior and his new "brothers" and the "kind people" at the mission in Athens. But he also confided, "My heart is broken" because of what happened to his family. I shared how, in time, God brings healing to our hearts and memories (Isaiah 61:3), and we put our arms on one another's shoulders and prayed for God to bring healing.

I had coffee at a stand by the beach a Greek cab driver from Australia named Steve. He has a wonderful gift of evangelism and a stock of apologetic approaches and witnessing stories to share, including having handed a gospel tract to Shimon Perez and a New Testament to Mikhail Gorbachev. I said he reminds me of Forrest Gump--popping up at historic moments.

At the large tent we worked on set-up tasks and prayed and gave thanks as a group. Thanks was given for the increase of volunteers from 217 to 308 in just 10 days and for the arrival, despite a host of hurdles, of the semi trucks loaded with New Testaments.

The volunteers are coming from something like 17-18 and most young people staying in tents. (I'm with an older crowd in a hotel near the camp.)

Our team enjoyed a delightful lunch with Miriam Macris and her mother-in-law Alky, wife of the late Costas Macris, founder of Hellenic Ministries.

Ended a long but interesting day with a late-night swim in the Aegean Sea. The Lord is good!

On the Ground in Greece--July 14

"Oh, magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together!"  Psalm 34:3

Some of the Hellenic Ministries team members I flew with

Thankful to have arrived Saturday in Thessaloniki after over 30 hours in transit. The trip was scheduled for about 17 hours but delays in Chicago and Rome made the trip a good deal longer. Uhg, airports are uncomfortable! But the delays gave me and the team from Chicago that I traveled with an opportunity to get to know one another, and I'm very thankful for that.

A big highlight over was talking with a fellow passenger on the flight from Rome. Peter is a young man from Poland who was returning to Warsaw after visiting his sister in Chicago. Peter and I jumped quickly into a discussion about Christ and the things of God and when we parted I gave him my address and a gospel tract.

The final flight from Rome to Thessaloniki touched down around 1:00 AM local time on Saturday . The time difference is 8 hours, so...(calculating)...that would have been 7:00 PM on Friday in Iowa. Rested a few hours in a nice room at the Avalon Hotel and then headed by bus to Alexandroupoli, near the base camp for Operation Joshua.

Today (Sunday) I'm looking to meet up with locals with Hellenic Ministries. Three weeks ago they began assembling 120,000 packets with Greek New Testaments and another 10,0000 with Turkish editions with evangelistic materials that the 300 or so volunteers will distribute in 550 villages in northeastern Greece. Teams of volunteers from around the world will go out to assigned villages each day in the three northeastern provinces of Evros, Rodopi and Xanthi.


This video was recorded a while back, but you might enjoy listening as Johnathan Macris, the President of Hellenic Ministries, talks about reaching the people of Greece with the Word of God through the Operation Joshua project.

Journey Begins--July 12

On July 12 I woke up Jared early for a last hug and goodbye (our little dog Chewie insisted on getting in on the hug) and then my friend Mike Shupp took me to the airport and sent me off with a prayer. Mike was on a small team that met monthly since February to pray for Greece and the region with us. In Chicago, I connected with a team from Wheaton Bible Church led by the US Director of Hellenic Ministries, Dan Bostrom.

Greece Mission Trip Update

“God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns

over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.”  Ps 47:7-8

 

 

Athens at Twilight

Deb and I are thanking God for the support and prayers of our friends and family members as we prepare for a July mission trip to Greece with Hellenic Ministries. Prayer is vital! S.D. Gordon wrote, "You can do more than pray after you have prayed. But you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed."

The Bible distribution project in the northern provinces of Greece is approaching and we thought it would be good to give an update. We also provided a link at the end to a video about Operation Joshua that does a good job of connecting you to the Greek people and this ministry effort.

1. Travel Partner:  I'm praising God for answering prayer for a travel partner...Deb! We had originally ruled out Deb coming, thinking that the driving and walking involved with the Bible distribution would aggravate some pain problems, but neither of us felt at peace about passing up this opportunity to serve the Lord together. So, I adjusted my plans and we figured out different ways for Deb to volunteer her expertise.

Imitating the statue behind us...
in case you wondered!

2. Itinerary:  I'll depart July 12 with a team from Wheaton Bible Church in Chicago and arrive early to help assemble packets (Bibles, gospel tracts) and Deb will come July 20 for the last five days of Operation Joshua. The central campground from which the 300 or so volunteers will travel out to over 500 villages is close to the Biblical city of Neapolis, where Paul first landed on Greek soil in response to his Macedonian vision.

The Bible distribution runs July 17-25. When it ends, we'll take a break and visit an island and then head to Athens to connect with ReachGlobal missionaries Stefanos and Manon Mihalios for 4-5 days. Deb plans to volunteer her computer skills at the Greek Bible College where Stefanos teaches and I plan to participate in a Muslim refugee outreach. We fly back from Athens on August 3. 

3. Prayer Requests:

• Pray for the Greek people during this time of economic, social and spiritual turmoil. Pray for wisdom for their leaders, and pray especially for souls to be drawn to Jesus Christ.
• Pray for our own hearts to be open to whatever it is the Lord wants to do in us and through us.
• For all the volunteers, pray for spiritual protection, servant hearts, unity, and a joyful witness.
• Please pray for Jared, that God will touch his heart in a special way during an upcoming youth conference in New Orleans, and that he will experience the Lord's protection and blessing while staying with family friends until Deb and I return.

Thank you for being a part of our team!

Denny & Deb Hoyt

Operation Joshua 5 Video

Orthodox & Evangelical Beliefs

A young man from Greece attending Iowa State University asked me to explain how Orthodox and Evangelical beliefs differ. I touched on two or three points as best I could--and then dashed off an email to a friend in Athens who teaches theology at the Greek Bible College. Here's his explanation:

The main differences between the Greek Orthodox and Evangelical churches are:

1. Evangelicals believe that salvation (justification) is received by faith alone through Christ alone, whereas the Orthodox Church believes that salvation is gained by faith and works, through Christ and the church.

2. Evangelicals believe that the Bible (Old and New Testaments) is alone the authoritative word of God (sufficient for faith and practice), whereas the orthodox Church believes that the Bible is supplemented by Church tradition, which is equally authoritative and binding for the believer.

3. Evangelicals believe in the priesthood (and sainthood) of all believers, whereas the Orthodox Church believes in the distinction between priests and lay people, as well as the distinction between those that have accomplished sainthood and those that have not.

4. Evangelicals believe that the living believers do not have communion (communication) with the dead in Christ (thus we cannot pray to them), whereas the Orthodox Church believes that all living and dead believers have communion with each other, thus we can pray to the dead who have passed away.

5. Evangelicals believe in the substitutionary atonement of the death of Christ, which results in the immediate justification of the one who believes, whereas the Orthodox Church believes that the death of Christ accomplished only victory over sin and death (in general), which results in the empowerment of the believer to continually resist sin (and eventually gain salvation and be justified at the very end).

6. Evangelicals do not hold to the veneration of icons, whereas the Orthodox Church believes that the saints (or Mary) are spiritually present in the icons, and so their veneration is justified.

There are probably a few more differences (e.g., regarding the sacraments, regeneration, etc.), but the ones mentioned above are the main ones.

Now, when a Greek asks us the same question, we usually answer it in one of the following ways:

·   We redirect the question back to Christ, by telling them that the differences do not matter as much as it matters to know Christ personally and restore one’s relationship with God.

·   We mention one of the main differences, usually a more practical one (like we do not venerate icons), and then redirect them back to Christ.

Greece on Eve of June 17 Election

Links to recent articles...

Greeks pulled their cash out of the banks and stocked up with food ahead of a cliffhanger election on Sunday that many fear will result in the country being forced out of the euro.

Bankers said up to 800 million euros ($1 billion) were leaving major banks daily and retailers said some of the money was being used to buy pasta and canned goods, as fears of returning to the drachma were fanned by rumors that a radical leftist leader may win the election.

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Greece is rapidly running out of money; its residents are withdrawing their deposits and have stopped paying their taxes and utility bills. Even if the country can stay afloat until the June 17 election, a disorderly eurozone exit, default, and currency redenomination will follow. Greece will be dependent upon foreign aid for essential imports such as petroleum and food. Civil order will be difficult to maintain, and the army may be forced to step in (again).

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In an atmosphere that has become increasingly electric before Greece's crucial election, the far-right Golden Dawn has ratcheted up the rhetoric by threatening to remove immigrants and their children from hospitals and kindergartens. Earning loud applause at an election campaign rally in Athens, Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaros said: "If Chrysi Avgi [Golden Dawn] gets into parliament [as polls predict], it will carry out raids on hospitals and kindergartens and it will throw immigrants and their children out on the street so that Greeks can take their place."

Medical supplies and beds at some hospitals are running desperately short. The governor of the state-run Nikea hospital, Theodoros Roupas, called on doctors to stop non-essential surgical interventions because of a critical shortage of gloves, syringes and gauze. The order was revoked when Roupas found emergency supplies later in the day.

"The situation is really critical and getting worse every day," said Dr Panaghiotis Papanikolaou, a neurosurgeon at the hospital. "There is not enough medical staff to cope and huge shortages of supplies. There's no money to even service scanners and surgical microscopes … we're talking about a major healthcare crisis – not in the making, it is happening now." The paralysis spawned by six weeks of political instability following Greece's indecisive poll on 6 May has exacerbated the country's parlous public finances. Sunday's fresh general election is viewed as decisive for the county's future in the euro.

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“It’s the last days of Pompeii,” said Aris Chatzistefanou, a co-director of "Debtocracy," a provocative 2011 documentary about the Greek crisis, as he stood, drink in hand, outside a cafe in Exarchia, a thrumming graffiti-filled neighborhood whose night life remains a rare pocket of defiant joy amid the unremitting gloom.

For many Greeks, the question is not which party will win. The next months and years will be difficult no matter which government is in charge. Increasingly, they wonder whether they themselves — and their country — will emerge from the crisis with a secure future. Giorgos, a 27-year-old economics major who did not want to reveal his last name, said the sense of uncertainty was oppressive.

“There is a depression in the Greek people, in all my friends,” said Giorgos, who has put off plans to open a frozen yogurt shop. “They keep saying: ‘I can’t take it. There’s depression about our jobs, depression on the news, depression about the economic situation, depression in our family, depression and fighting among friends.’ ”

A Mighty Warrior Goes Before You

In the days of Israel's wandering in the wilderness, Moses would pray whenever the ark set out: "Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you" (Num 10:35). 

Though the Christian path takes us through wilderness areas, we, like Israel of old, do not go forth alone. The glorious Lord Jesus, the Divine Warrior, goes before us. "The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name" (Ex 15:3).

Jesus is mighty to save and he is committed to the victory of his cause from the depths of his heart: "The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes" (Isa 42:13).