Dino & Debbie Roussos - July, 2008
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 beloved Christian brothers and sisters in the Lord,
We have just finished a very successful, 4th Christian Seminar at the city of Corinth in Greece.
We spent four unforgettable days with Gospel preachers coming from Russia, Bulgaria, Israel, Romania, Greece, USA and Austria.
More than 100 precious souls were with us. Also, the Harding University students and their professors came to visit us for a day. The topic was “Holiness”.
We had 14 teachers and assistants teaching children’s classes, daily, each morning and evening.
Debbie was the coordinator and organizer of the children’s classes and our Greek sister Mary taught at these classes everyday. We were delighted to involve new Christian ladies and also our teenagers in assisting the teachers.
The ladies had an hour of prayers and fellowship which Eleni Melirrytos coordinated. All sisters enjoyed the encouragement they received from one another.
The sermons on holiness given by Gospel preachers of the churches of Christ were powerful:
Joe Shulam from Jerusalem spoke on “Be Holy as I am Holy” and “Father keep them from the evil one.”
Alexander Melirrytos from Greece spoke on “Holiness in young people.”
Igor Egirev from Russia spoke on “Holiness in the workplace.”
Dr Bill Richardson from Harding University spoke on “Holiness in marriage.”
Tim Brinley from Russia spoke of “Holiness during crises in our lives.”
Ron Kretz from Greece spoke on “Holiness in the family.”
Also we had the opportunity to hear about the work of Eastern European Missions from brother Brant Rybinski. Rick Walker from Kiev, Ukraine, spoke about the importance of been educated in the Word of God.
I thank God for the opportunity He gave me to be in charge of this year’s Christian Seminar in Greece.
It was an amazing feeling to see so many nationalities of Gospel preachers, of the churches of Christ, come together in fellowship. Some preachers met for the first time. Also we had many visitors from around Athens.
We strongly believe that the Lord’s work will be more productive due to the precious time spent in Corinth, Greece.
We are sorry that a group of nine Albanian Christians with their Gospel preacher; Alfred Zike, were unable to receive their Visas in time from the Greek Embassy in Tirana. Although they had presented all the necessary documents in plenty of time. We missed them, but we hope that they will have the opportunity to join us another time.
On June 29th we had a SPECIAL worship service at the Omonia Church of Christ in the heart of Athens. Joe Shulam and Igor Egirev were the speakers. Songs were sung in Bulgarian, Greek, Russian, Romanian and English.
After our worship, I had the privilege in baptizing into Christ a Russian Muslim lady called Irena. She has studied the Word of God with us for several months and now she dedicated her life to Jesus. We were ALL very happy with her faith in Christ.
Debbie and I are flying to the States on July 8th to attend the Global Missions Conference. They have invited me, to be one of the keynote speakers. I will be speaking on July 26th in Arlington, Texas. You may receive more information at www.globalmissionsconference.com.
While in the States we will visit several congregations and we will spend time with our children and grandchildren in Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas, Texas.
We will return to Athens on August 13th.
Please keep us in your prayers.
May the Lord bless you all.
We will see you soon,
In His love,
Dino and Debbie Roussos
Holiness in Corinth
“Holiness” was the general topic for the Conference we had in Corinth in June 25-28, 2008. It sounds like a very good one for the Conference in a place which in 1st century was notorious for the lack of holiness. But for us, modern Christians, who gathered there from different countries, the topic still was very relevant.
There are several things which made that event special.
The first noticeable thing was of course the beauty of the place. Many people compared Kalamaki Beach with Paradise. Although we never seen Paradise with our own eyes, after being there, we got impression we have been there… done that and got a baseball cap with the sign “Holiness” in 3 languages: Greek, English and Russian. After staying in Kalamaki Beach we could not help, but compare all other beautiful places with it and say: Kalamaki is better.
Another important thing is the number of countries represented there. Being at the Conference we had chance to meet brothers and sisters from Greece, Israel, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, USA, Ukraine and Russia. In a way, it was like traveling to all these places. We shared stories about our congregations and religious situation in our countries. It helps to get a better vision of the Church of Christ in general. Unfortunately, we did not get to see brothers and sisters from Albania. They could not get visas to Greece. That reminded us that the World is still divided, but, as famous Christian song goes, “we are one in the Spirit” in spite of that.
Wonderful teaching also was a remarkable feature of the Conference. We heard lectures on the subjects “Be Holy as I am Holy”, “Holiness in the family”, “Holiness in young people’s life”, “Holiness in our workplace”, “Holiness in marriage”, “Holiness during crises in our life”. We were privileged to hear brothers Dino Roussos, Joe Shulam, Ron Kretz, Alexander Melirrytos, Bill Richardson, Tim Brinley and Bartosz Rybinski. I am very thankful for the opportunity to speak with such brothers.
The trip to archaeological sight of ancient Corinth was short, but very educational. We got to see the place where Apostle Paul was judged, the evidences that support Bible story and signs of presence of Christianity in Corinth.
Last evening in Corinth, June 27th, was unforgettable. One Greek couple had their 50th anniversary on that day, and Alexander Melirrytos, a minister of the Greek congregation, had his 55th birth day. He shaved his beard on this occasion and “looked like a baby” (quotation from A. Melirrytos). There were enough reasons to have good calibration. We had a lot of singing and rejoicing that night.
We left Corinth on Saturday, June 28th. We went to Athens and our acquaintance with this wonderful country and its people continued.
Sunday morning, before the worship service, Dino took us to the Mars Hill and Acropolis. We stood at the place where Paul was standing and delivering his famous sermon, recorded in Acts 17.
On Sunday we’ve been to several worship services at the same location (Omonia square). People speaking different languages get together at different time, because they would not fit in the auditorium all together. I was surprised to hear so many languages in Athens and in church particularly.
It gave a good sense of International brotherhood, where no one feels left out. There is rather big Russian speaking community in church. They got together at 4 pm. There were so many Russian speaking people at the Conference in Corinth and in church in Athens, that brother Dino asked me to speak in Russian, which made a perfect sense. In Corinth Bulgarian brother George Vassilef translated for me into English.
In Athens at church assembly I also spoke Russian, George Vassilef translated it into English and Dino Roussos translated from English into Greek. Usually translation shortens the message. But the good thing about it was that while one sentence was translated I had enough time to think about my next sentence. I made a lot of friends among Russian speaking Christians and think that I was encouraged by them much more then they were by me. I heard their stories, their confessions, their prayers, the way they sing to God, and all of that lifted up my spirit. But I do hope that our fellowship had a mutual encouraging effect.
The highlight of the trip was the baptism of a Russian lady, former muslim on Sunday during the worship service.
I was leaving Greece with feeling that I’ve found another home. Part of me did not want to go and leave my newly found relatives: Artur, Anatoliy, Luda, Natalia, Sveta, Nicolas, George, Tanya, Bogdan, Gabriela and many others. Not mentioning my good old friends that I had chance to visit there with.
We are very thankful to Dino and Debbie Roussos and all brethren in Greece for providing such a wonderful opportunity to get together and think about the way God expects us to live as Christians. And ultimately, we thank our Lord for that event; for He knows we need meetings like that to strengthen our faith, hope and love. Let all these end up in our holy life for His glory.
2008, July 5th
Igor Egirev
Dear Dino,
Thank you very much for organizing the seminar, for your tour-guidance in Corinth, Athens and on the islands! We really enjoyed the time of teaching and of Christian fellowship. You chose such a beautiful place for the seminar! It was wonderful combination of the God’s creation around us (palm trees, blossoming bushes, singing birds and cicadas) and tranquil friendly atmosphere that was created by you and other Christians from Greece. We also enjoyed the Kalamaki Beach hotel stuff hospitality.
We look forward to meet you and Debbie again!
With Christian love,
Sergey and Tanya Shishkin