OJ Crete Teammates

One of the teams I had the privilege of going out running with to spread God's Word during Operation Joshua was a band of high-octane high school and middle-school aged kids from Crete led by Marlize Niavradakis (far right). Marlize's husband Yiorgos (George) drove the partner van. We distributed hundreds and hundreds of New Testaments hat day and George always made sure we were re-supplied whenever our supply ran low.

On that day we were working in Orestiada and in the afternoon I received a text from my wife saying her mother had passed away after having been in the hospital for two weeks for various problems. I was comforted and encouraged when the young people immediately circled around and laid their hands on me and prayed for my wife and family.

Operation Joshua 5 Numbers

Here's the final count at the conclusion of Operation Joshua 5:

• 126,207 New Testaments shared
• in 515 villages
• by 326 volunteers
• from 6 continents and 22 countries
• driving a combined 67,947 kilometers

More than a third of the volunteers were Greeks with another 200 or so representing Albania, Romania, Cyprus, Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, Great Britain, Afganistan, Uganda, Syria, Sudan, Holland, Brazil, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and France.

Janet Sewell gives the final count

Some Have Ears to Hear, Some Not

Sunday morning I delivered the Scriptures with a delightful--and high octane!--team of young people from Athens. On one street a woman shouted at us and walked ahead bad-mouthing to her neighbors, but across the street another woman quietly asked questions and accepted our gift of a New Testament. She then invited us to follow her back down the block as she told the same neighbors there was nothing to fear. To us she said, "If they reject it, that is their sin; but if they believe, they believe."

Here is Kayla, my partner that day in Alexandroupoli, and our God-prepared neighborhood champion...

Everywhere we go there is a mix of receptiveness and suspicion. The Lord has obviously prepared many hearts to receive the message of Jesus Christ with joy and a word of thanks, but some respond angrily. One man at an apartment building picked up and threw six bags with New Testaments we had left out onto the street. In the village we visited Friday a priest drove up, hair on fire, complaining about the Bible distribution and pleading with us to turn over all the Bibles to him. In the same place our fleet of four cars was rounded up by police and passports were checked to make sure we weren't smuggling people in from Bulgaria or Turkey (we were near both borders).

I'm sure some of the hubbub we encounter has to do with very natural and understandable concerns, but sometimes it's not hard to see that forces of evil are at work hinder what God is doing and to steal away the Word of Christ from those who need it.



As the days pass I think more and more about the harvest to come. Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful." God will make it happen. One day we will see it.

The Mostly-Chicago Team

I flew to Greece with a team from Wheaton Bible Church led by Dan Bostrom, the USA Director of Hellenic Ministries. Lots of great time of fellowship, prayer, Bible distribution and eating with Dan's fleet of two vans.

Dan Bostrom

 

Marylin Bostrom

  

Cindy Spivey

Simon Spivey w/Denny Hoyt

  

Lyne Crye-New Hampshire

 

Jill Fenoglio

 

Steve Rollins

 

Julie Rollins

Helen Collins-Great Britain

Joyce White

John White

 

Our Greek translators, Katie, far left & Sophie, far right. Front center is Hellen Collinw, UK citizen born in Malaysia.

 

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.