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
January 2008
Dear Brethren in Christ our Lord,
As we start the New Year 2008, we are thankful to God for the HEALTH we enjoy and for the Ministry of preaching the gospel He has called us to perform.
The New Year has opened new doors of opportunity to strengthen the Churches of Christ in Greece and Eastern Europe, to encourage the gospel preachers and to train new national Christians to carry on the Lord’s work.
More Precious Souls Were Baptized in Athens
Valentina is an elderly Russian woman who has been attending the Russian worship service sporadically for several months. She is very disadvantaged and not really able to take proper care of herself. She appears to have physical health problems. Our dear sister Irini realized Valentina’s dismal situation and God put it into her to intervene. Irini has been a member of the Russian Congregation for a couple of years and is truly on fire for the Lord. She is a good servant of God and began tending for Valentina’s physical and spiritual needs. At one point she felt it was necessary to take her into her own home for a while until her health improved. During that time she studied the Word of God with her and Valentina believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and wanted to be baptized.
Debbie and I went together to Irini’s house one evening and found Valentina in a very poor state but she was baptized that night in the bathtub of Irini’s apartment. She was immediately filled with joy. We saw to it that Valentina received proper
medical attention. After a short time she was doing much better. When we went to visit her on New Year’s Day, she was full of energy and thankfulness. She called Irini her “angel’ sent from God.
Two Sundays ago we rejoiced in the baptism of Fotini (Stetlana). She is new to Greece having only been here a couple of months. She was introduced to the Russian congregation by another Russian sister; Natalia, who has helped us a lot in starting the new Russian Church in Athens and translated the first few months.
Jesus deeply touched the heart of this young woman. Only God knows where she has been but she was obviously grateful for the salvation. She has a husband and two children still living in Russia. With tears in her eye’s she confessed the name of Jesus and was immersed for the forgiveness of her sins.
After her baptism every member of the congregation gave a few words of encouragement for her new faith in Christ.
It was a very touching moment and we are glad to see our members working for the Kingdom of God bringing new souls to the saving knowledge of the Truth.
Titania 2007 – Evangelistic Meeting in Athens, Greece
Every Christmas time, we always have a special program and banquet at the Church building. This year we decided to plan something extra special to which we could invite many people and make it also an evangelistic opportunity. We booked
a banquet room at a Hotel near the Church building and sent out invitations to many in the community. There was an excellent response and people came to fellowship and remember the birth of Jesus. The program consisted of a group of Romanian singers, children singing carols, a husband and wife duet, short spiritual message from Alex Melittytos and Dino Roussos and a wonderful buffet dinner. The Lord really blessed the day.
160 members of the Omonia Church of Christ, friends, relatives and leaders of various organizations came to be with us. Now we have made new contacts, we believe that the New Year 2008, will give us the opportunity to introduce them to our Saviour; Jesus Christ and invite them to come and worship with us.
I was personally involved with the organization of this GREAT event and I praise the Lord for the effectiveness of this meeting. We had participation from all the members of our Church. Greeks, Bulgarians, Russian, Americans, Philippines, Ghanaian, Iranians, Egyptians, Ukrainian, Romanian, etc.
New Year Celebrations
The Russian congregation organized a fantastic Russian meal to celebrate the New Year. They prepared all their favorite Russian specialities and invited the members of the English congregation to join them.
They prepared the food and paid with their own money to feed everyone invited.
The Russian children sang beautiful songs and they all participated in the program. There is a WONDERFUL excitement in the Omonia church, where we have been serving the Master. We are glad to see the new Christians maturing and been willing to participate in the ministry. In our sermons we emphasize the importance of working for Jesus and to utilize our talents effectively for His glory.
Dino Preaching To The Bulgarians
In December, while our Bulgarian minister brother Christos Arnautor was in Sofia, I preached for the Bulgarian Assembly in Athens, in conjunction with preaching for the Greek, Russian and English services.
Although many of the Bulgarians had gone to Bulgaria for the Christmas holidays, our auditorium was full of precious souls.
Pepperdine University in Athens
From March 10 to April 10, 2008, Pepperdine University will bring 40 students in Athens, Greece to study. I was asked by the administration to teach a short seminar for a few days on “Religion and Culture.”
This is a great opportunity for the young students to learn about the importance of Christianity in their lives, future families and their communities.
Omonia Church Trip to Israel
For a long time now, members of our congregation were asking me to take them to the Holy Land in Israel to visit the places where our Lord Jesus Christ lived, taught His GREAT teaching, died and was raised from the dead.
From the Omonia Church of Christ in Athens, thirty members and friends have already confirmed that they will come to join us on our six day trip.
It will be a time of spiritual fellowship, strengthening our faith in Christianity and see first hand, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, the River Jordan, Cana, Nazareth, Tiberias, Capernaum etc.
I believe that when Christians travel together they create new friendships and learn to love and appreciate each other even more. This is a ministry for the members of our congregation and new contacts that we will make during the trip.
Church Retreat in June 2008
From June 25-28 we are planning our annual retreat for the Omonia Church in Athens. This will be our fourth year and they have proved to be very successful. This year we plan to invite the leaders from Churches of Christ in Greece’s neighboring countries to come and join us. After the retreat, we will plan a Leadership Training program for these National Church Leaders.
Family News
During the month of December, God blessed us by bringing many people into our home. We had about eight gatherings of Church members, neighbors, friends and Debbie’s English Bible study group. We’re thankful to be able to share our home in order to bring people closer together and encourage fellowship.
We were happy to have Stephen with us for the holidays. He had a good semester at ACU and he was excited about seeing his old friends in Greece and enjoying some rest and recreation. He and his buddies spent four days in the mountains snowboarding. This should be his last semester at ACU. He will take some courses at the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies in Michigan in the summer, which, will enable him to graduate in August. He is now preparing to apply to graduate school.
Our second daughter Nikki who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, will give birth to a girl due February, 20th. Debbie is planning to fly to Atlanta in order to assist Nikki for the first few weeks after the birth.
We love you and may the Lord bless you.
In Him,
Dino and Debbie Roussos