Dino & Debbie Roussos - November 1, 2007
posted in Missions, Europe |DINO & DEBBIE ROUSSOS
P.O. Box 70127 Glyfada, Greece 16610
Tel : 011 (30) 6944 344167
Fax : 011 (30) 210 8974405
E-mail : DinoRoussos@gmail.com
Our dear brethren,
Greetings and Christian love from all of us in Athens Greece.
On the 18th of October the Omonia Church of Christ had to face a court trial in
Athens.
The manager of the building, where the church meets, brought a variety of charges
against the church, including that we should not be permitted to meet as a church
in this building.
Basically, he wants us out because we are not Orthodox.
We spent several weeks collecting documents, such as permits from the Ministry of
Education and Religion, stating that we are a recognized church. Blue prints and
drafts, verification that the first floor of the building where we meet belongs to us
and that we have all the legal papers, ect.
We had to work hard, but with the cooperation of our members and our engineer,
who is a longtime friend of mine, we were able to face this trial. Our lawyer
presented 32 documents and 18 pages of defense arguments. He answered all the
accusations and now we are waiting for the judge’s decision. It could take two or
three months before he will reach a decision.
Yes! Our faith is being tested once again. We believe that the Lord will not allow the
church to be hurt in any way. We do hope, however, that we will be able to find
another meeting place that will give us more space to expand. Please do pray that
the Lord will open the correct doors for our ministry.
We want to thank you for your prayers,letters,phone calls and care for us during
this time of difficulty.
EASTERN EUROPEAN MISSION (SUMMIT II ) IN DALLAS, TEXAS
Debbie and I flew to Dallas, Texas on September 4th to participate in the Eastern
European Missions Summit II. I was on the speaking schedule for the three-day
event, September 7, 8, and 9th.
It was a time of wonderful reflection on what the Lord has done in Eastern Europe
the past 17 years.
The Summit fueled the dream and reaffirmed that the Kingdom of Christ has
grown, is growing and there is great vision and hope for the future of the Lord’s
church in Greece and Eastern Europe.
NEW MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH IN ATHENS, GREECE
Yianni and Natalia came to Athens from Kiev , Ukraine. Yiannis is of Greek origin
and recently was able to obtain the Greek citizenship that gives him the right to live
and work in Greece, legally. Since he does not speak Greek I was able to assist him
to put together his CV and send applications to Greek companies for work.
Yiannis is a physicist and we hope that soon he will find a job in his field.
We need more Russian speaking leaders for the church in Athens, this couple came
at the right time. He has a great voice, knows most of the Russian songs and he
has a very good knowlege of the Bible.Yiannis has been with us only for a few
weeks and he is a great blessing to our fellowship.
DINO TEACHING AT THE UKRAINIAN BIBLE INSTITUTE
November 2-9 Debbie and I will be travelling to Donesk, Ukraine where I will be
teaching for one week at the Bible School of the Churches of Christ. This is the
second consecutive year that I have been invited to teach the graduating class on
“Teachings and Practices of the Orthodox Church”. We also intend to visit some of
the orphanages.
On Sunday, November 4th, I am scheduled to preach at the congregation where
Alexander preaches and broadcasts his television program. This church of Christ
meets at the main audotorium of the university at Donesk.
THE NEW CONGREGATION IN THE ISLAND OF CRETE
While Debbie and I were in the States in September, brother Mike Hall who assisted
in starting the work in the island of Crete gave us two big boxes full of booklets (Christian publications from WEI) to take to the congregation in Crete. Two weeks
ago Alex Melirrytos, our coworker, was invited to speak to the church in Crete and
was able to deliver the booklets. Several of the members in Crete now participate in
the courses taught by WEI (World English Institute) in Texas.
We are so happy to know that the church in Crete is developing in every way.
CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE IN CORINTH ABOUT THE APOSTLE PAUL
Last month I had the priviledge to introduce Dr. Wendell Willis ( New Testament
professor) of Abilene Christian University to participate in the international congress
held September 23-25 in Corinth Greece.
The conference was organized and supported by the University of Athens, the City
of Corinth and the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Corinth. Over 90 scholars
from Greece, America and many European countries presented papers on the city
of Corinth in Paul’s day and on the Corinthian letters.
This conference was unusual in several ways. It was the first conference held in
Corinth ,Greece on the mission work of Paul in the city where Paul spent 18 months
on his first mission work, wrote two letters to this church and also probably wrote
Romans from this city. It was also unusual for the Greek Orthodox church to host
such a conference and invite scholars of other faiths. They said at the close of the
conference that they were very pleased and hoped to repeat such an event in the
future.
After the conference, many of the speakers were taken on a tour of various
archaeological sites around Corinth, including the archaeological site of old Corinth,
the city which Paul visited. These excavations have been on-going for over a
century. Dr. Willis stayed on in Greece with us for a few days, to explore sites in
Athens and to worship with the Omonia Church in downtown Athens.
Debbie and I enjoyed visiting and spending time with him .Dr. Willis and his wife
Sandra have been good friends to the Roussos family for more than thirty years.
PREACHING AND TEACHING THE WORD OF GOD
I thank God for the opportunities He gives me to preach the message of the gospel
every week in Athens Greece and often to take trips to other countries
encouranging the new churches of Christ to remain faithfull in the TRUTH.
MEETING WITH THE EVANGELICAL PREACHERS IN ATHENS
Last Thursday (october 25th) I was invited to Steve Dotton’s house for a gathering
of about 30 church leaders from various Protestant denominations .The purpose
was to pray,sing and exchange ideas of each others ministry.I spoke about the
work of the churches of Christ and our plea to return to the spirit and practices of
first Century Christianity.
I enjoyed seeing young gospel preachers who have a desire to share the message
of Jesus and His love to the Greek people .It was nice to see that the church of
Christ in Athens has the respect of other Protestant groups in the area.
FAMILY NEWS
We want to thank all of you for your prayers, cards, letters and phone calls during
the difficult time that our family had to face, after loosing Tony Lenhert (my sister’s
son) in Abilene, Texas. We are so thankful that we were able to go to Abilene
during the funeral and support my sister’s family.
Since Melody and Andy are now living in the Dallas area, we were thrilled to be able
to spend some time with them and our beautiful grandchildren, Jackson and Zoe.
Stephen also came from Abilene to spend a weekend with us and we enjoyed being
with him there. We only wish Nikki and Matt had been able to come for a weekend
as well.
I returned to Greece September 18th. Debbie stayed one week longer to see the
babies and take care of some other matters. She became ill the night before she
was to travel back to Greece and had to postpone her return trip for three days.
Unfortunately, after she arrived back in Athens, her father had to undergo
unexpected open heart surgery. The surgery went well but there is concern over
congestion in his lungs. Debbie has been in touch with the family every day and is
waiting to see if it will be necessary for her to go there to assist with his care when
he goes home.
Nikki is now in her sixth month of pregnancy and we have learned that she will
have a girl! We are all very excited with anticipation of the birth in February.
Dear brethren,
We thank God for His love, care and strength in our lives. We appreciate all you
have done and are doing for us and the mission work in Greece and the Eastern
European countries.
We are here to serve the Lord’s church and lead the lost to the Truth. God is at
work but the devil is looking for ways to attack the work of our Master.
Please keep us in your prayers.
We love you all.
In Christ,
DINO AND DEBBIE ROUSSOS