Prestoncrest Missions

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

September Photo Slide Show 

Our beloved brothers and sisters in the faith,

We thank God for blessing our trip to the U.S. in so many ways. We thank Him for keeping us safe through all our travels.

The first leg of our journey took us to Atlanta, Georgia where we visited with our daughter, Nikki, son-in-law, Matt and our newest grandchild, Ashtyn, 6 months. Debbie’s father and step-mother joined us there for a wonderful visit.

We rented a car in Atlanta and began our drive toward Dallas. Our first stop was Kimball, Tennessee. Dino spoke at the Sunday evening service there and the preacher, Billy Watkins and his wife, Connie graciously hosted us overnight. We enjoyed getting to know them better during our brief stay.

We stopped in Nashville to embrace our beloved parteners in the ministry, Prentice and Barbara Meador. They moved from Dallas to Nashville a year ago and we have missed seeing them in Dallas but rejoiced in our reunion with them in Nashville. They showed us around Lipscomb University where Prentice is now on faculty. We shared lunch and memories in our short but meaningful visit.

It has been many years since we had been in Searcy, Arkansas, on the Harding University campus. But we have a close relationship with Harding due to the International Studies program in Greece, so we couldn’t pass through Arkansas without visiting the campus where each of our children have studied at one time or another.

President David and Leah Burks showed us wonderful hospitality in their home and at a luncheon in our honor. We were so happy to reunite with the Burk’s extended family and Harding faculty members that have been part of our lives for many years.

On to Dallas. We were thrilled to be back in Dallas, our home away from Greece. We found our daughter, Melody, son-in-law, Andy and two beautiful grandchildren, Jackson and Zoe waiting for us with open arms. We spent precious days visiting with them before we moved on to Arlington to the Global Missions Conference which initially brought us to the States this time.

Dino was one of the keynote speakers at the conference, a week full of many inspiring messages and interesting classes. It was a blessed time to reconnect with fellow laborers in the kingdom and recharge our spiritual batteries to continue on sharing the message of Jesus with the world, or that part of the world which he has given us.
Now, Stephen has completed his course work and will stay in Abilene to study and sit for his GRE exams for graduate school. He hopes to be accepted into a master’s program in Zoology or Wildlife Management by January.

We have been back in Athens for two weeks and have jumped full force into our life and ministry here.
With the conference finished, we spent some more time with the children and visiting with our Prestoncrest family in Dallas. One weekend we went to Houston to visit with the Memorial congregation. We love Memorial and the special relationships we have there. We’re thankful for the opportunity to share our work and fellowship with them.

We traveled to Sayre, Oklahoma to be with the church on a Wednesday evening. Although we had to travel many hours to get there, we enjoyed their love and hospitality. This is a wonderful congregation. They love Jesus and missions.

We also visited and spoke at the College St. Church of Christ in Waxahachie, Texas. We thank God for missions-minded churches and their leadership.

We are so happy that all of our activities in the States coincided with our son, Stephen’s, graduation from ACU on August 8th. Stephen was still taking his last two courses toward his bachelor’s degree in Michigan when the commencement took place in Abilene, Texas. Stephen wanted so badly to walk at his graduation, that his professors allowed him two days out of class to fly to Texas for the ceremony. He met us in Dallas, and the family, including Melody, Andy, Jackson and Zoe drove to Abilene. We missed Nikki, Matt and Ashtyn being with us. Dino’s sister and her family, who live in Abilene, planned a wonderful congratulatory dinner for Stephen after the ceremony.

Philadelphia - Women’s Retreat in Corinth

This is the seventh year that the ladies will come together for fellowship, Bible study and spiritual encouragement. Our Greek sister, Eleni Melirrytos, is the coordinator of this event and it will take place in a lovely resort near Corinth. The dates are September 27 and 28. We are expecting more than 60 ladies to participate.

We thank God for the love, care and Christian maturity that we have seen among the members of the congregation. This is a good opportunity to evangelize women who come for the first time in our fellowship.

Publications

Eastern European Missions has asked me if they can print a second edition of my book, “The Church of Christ During the Apostolic Years”, in the Russian language.

Demas, our dear brother from the Church in Donestk, is making some corrections before we have the second printing. This book also has been published in Bulgarian, Greek and Albanian languages.

My new book, “Human Traditions and Divine Revelations”, is already written in the Greek language and ready for publication. My sister, Dr. Katerina Lenhert, has already translated this book in English and we hope to publish it in English as well.

Reorganization at the Omonia Church of Christ

As we start the new school year, we are in the process of reorganizing the various ministries. We want every member of the church either, Greek, Bulgarian, Russian, Ukranian, Philipino, Iranian or American to use their talents given by the Lord in reaching out and touching the lives of those in need. This year’s emphasis will be given to leadership.

As you know, we have already converted many people in Athens and have trained them through the Athens International Bible Institute. They are now preaching the Word of God in Romania, Albania, Bulgaria and other places around the world.

We will continue to find capable men who will become church leaders and be able to lead the churches of Christ in the future.

Court Decision for the Omonia Church of Christ

After months of waiting, a decision was finally handed down concerning the charges brought against the Omonia Church. The central issues have been decided in our favor. The judge granted that we have the right to meet as a church at our facility and the location of the bathrooms is legal. However, he has ruled that doors were added to the terrace and we must remove the airconditioning compressor from it’s present location due to noise. He also said that the original blue print did not include a kitchen. These things must be remedied. We do have a right to appeal, which we will do, because we believe there is a misunderstanding concerning the terrace, and we will try to obtain permission for the kitchen in the meantime.

Harding University in Athens

Tim Brinley (second from the left), former missionary in Moscow, Russia, has been selected by Harding University to be the new director of their program in Athens. We are very happy to have Tim and his wife, Rebecca with us. We have been friends for many years, and have worked together for the glory of God when Tim and Rebecca were missionaries in Greece at one time.

Tim was the coordinator of the conferences in Moscow where I have spoken several times in the past. Tim and Rebecca speak Russian and they will be able to be involved with our Russsian ministry in Athens as well.

We plan to involve the Harding students in our mission efforts as we have done in the past.

Richard Bagget From EEM Coming to Athens

A group of EEM supporters will be coming to Athens from October 6-9 with the director of this ministry, brother Richard Bagget. We appreciate very much the ministry and effectiveness of EEM to so many nations and we want to cooperate with them and assist their efforts in every way.

Charles

Charles and his wife are recent graduates of the Athens International Bible Institute. They are from the Cameroon in Africa and live and work in Athens. Charles is a gifted speaker and, now with the training he has recieved, is able to do a great work for the kingdom of God. He has spoken at the Omonia congregation a couple of times and has gone to Crete to preach for the newly established church where our brother John labors. John was especially thankful for Charles’ help and fellowship.

Brethen, we want to thank you for your love and hospitality while we were in the States and we pray for the Lord’s blessings upon your families and congregation.

It is wonderful to serve the Lord and His church.

Praise His holy name.

In His Service,

Dino and Debbie Roussos