Dino & Debbie Roussos - November, 2008
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 brothers and sisters in the Lord,
We are so happy to share with you exciting news from the mission work in Greece. For more photos of the work here, you can see our recent photo gallery slideshow. You will see that the last few weeks have been very busy serving the Master in a variety of ways.
Niko was Baptized into Christ
Niko is a 19 year old young man from Moldavia, who has come in contact with the church. His mother brought him to Greece and enrolled him in an English speaking Christian high school here. His speaks four languages; Greek, English, Russian and Romanian. He graduated last June and has visited the Omonia Church on several occasions, and even came to the retreat we had in June. He is a very mature and a spiritually minded young man. Niko has also been attending our youth meeting on Saturday evenings and on several occasions has translated my sermons from Greek to Russian or from Greek to English. We have been studying with Niko and praying that he would come to know the truth more fully. The fabulous news is that Niko was baptized last Monday.
Monday was a holiday in Greece and, as we always do on holidays, we organized a church excursion. It was a beautiful day and 47 members from all the congregations went on an excursion to the town of Loutraki, lunch in Mycenae and to Nafplion for coffee by the sea. As we returned by Cenchrea (Acts 18:18 & Romans 16:1), we stopped at the ruins of an ancient Church building half submerged in the sea. This is the place in Corinth, where the Apostle Paul departed from, to go to Ephesus. It was a beautiful, warm day. We prayed and studied the scriptures before baptising Niko into Jesus Christ! I had to explain the meaning of Baptism, as there were several people there, who had never witnessed an adult baptism. We look forward to Niko becoming a vital part of our church family at Omonia and join with us in spreading the Gospel.
Russian and Greek Groups Blend
For the past month, we have decided to combine the Greek and Russian congregations. The Russians were more than willing to join the Greeks at their service in the morning. We have songs in both languages and we are using our translation system once again. God is blessing this move with a great spirit.
We sing songs in Greek and Russian and several of the men participate in prayers. We see a wonderful spirit among all believers to work together for the GLORY OF GOD.
Youth Group
On Saturday evenings we have begun a time of fellowship for the youth of all our congregations, as well as any of their friends they wish to bring. Matt is a great asset in organizing and executing youth activities. Each week we do something different. We have played basketball, had pizza, visited a young mother with a brain tumor in the hospital and had discussions.
We have Bible studies and encourage each other to live according to the teachings of Jesus.
Eastern European Missions
As you know Eastern European Missions have done a GREAT work spreading the Bible to Europe. I have personally been involved with this ministry for the last few years. Writing books, speaking in the States at their dinners and lectureships on behalf of this work and receiving in Athens for our congregation, Bibles and Christian literature.
Last month five couples who support EEM, along with the Director Richard Baggett and his wife Denise, came to Athens for three days to visit with us. They had the opportunity to tour the Biblical sites at Corinth and Athens.
We had a wonderful time sharing together dreams and plans for expanding our cooperation and spreading God’s Word to the many nationalities living in Greece.
We thank God for these faithful men of God who are assisting to spread the gospel to the nations and start new Churches of Christ.
Church on the Island of Crete
The newly established church in Crete is going through a struggle right now. The preacher, John has moved to Ireland and we are so sad and concerned about what this means for the young church. This congregation is now without a preacher or any strong leadership. There is a brother there who is trying to fill the void, however, he is inexperienced and untrained, so it will be a heavy burden for him to bear. John has asked me to oversee the church there, so I will try to go more frequently until a permanent preacher can take over the responsibility.
I plan to spend a few days in Crete and preach for their congregation on November 23. They need to mature in Christ and they should not feel that they are alone. Please do pray, as we try to keep the Lord’s work going on in Crete till we find a couple that will be willing to become missionaries there. Already there is a group of 25 Christians, who were baptized over the last two years.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, the annual women’s retreat, was held September 27 and 28 in Corinth at the same location we had the summer retreat. This was the first time that Philadelphia took place out of Athens and it was an overnight event. It was well attended with 70 women participating.
The theme was “God’s Will in Our Lives”. Lee Burgess of Nashville, Tennessee was the main speaker. Lee did extensive study of the scriptures, which was evident by her excellent presentation. God blessed the whole event with wonderful fellowship and spiritual food.
Eleni Melirrytos was the coordinator of the event as she has done since the beginning.
Friendspeak starts in Athens
For the last three Sundays we have started teaching English using the Bible as a text. While I was in Dallas, Texas last July, I received the material (the gospels of Luke, Mark, John & the Acts of the Apostles).
We have already FIVE persons who are improving their English. Tanya, Natalie, Svetlana and Artem from Ukraine and Maria from Romania. I have been teaching the last few Sundays but we will involve students from Harding University as well.
Since most of the immigrants who come to Greece, want to learn Greek rather than English. I have an idea to use the same system as “Friendship” but instead of English teach Greek.
Court Appeal
Since we have appealed to part of the ruling of our last court case, a new date has been set for a hearing on January 13. Please pray that we will be victorious in order to put an end to these charges and the stress and strain the church has endured for so long.
One Night Retreat for the Church Leaders of Athens
Debbie and I, Matt and Nikki, also Ron and Dianne Kretz (Ron is the Director of the Bible School in Athens) have just returned from the lovely seaside, Athens suburb of Mati. Here we spent two days attending a wonderful Christian Seminar. More than 60 Gospel preachers with their wives, from various denominations in Athens, came together to hear lectures on “Refreshing our ministry”. They had invited a guest speaker and they asked me to be the translator.
For two days I did all the translating for over 10 hours! We learned a lot and made new friends.
Pot Luck
On the first Sunday of October we shared a pot luck meal with the combined Greek, Russian, and Bulgarian congregations. The building was packed and it was great to have fellowship with all three congregations together.
Thursday Evening Bible Study
Last Thursday evening was the kick off, of a brand new Bible study that we will host in our home every week. It is designed to serve the English speaking residents of the area where we live. We are hoping it will be both evangelistic and edifying. Tim Brinley, the director of Harding University in Athens has been teaching the last three Thursdays and Ron Kretz will continue.
Nikki, Matt & Ashtyn
Our daughter Nikki, her husband Matt and their seven month old baby, Ashtyn arrived in Greece a month ago. Matt will be working with an organization called Hellenic Ministries, which ministers in a variety of ways to refugees and the youth of Athens. Matt has a bachelors degree from Harding University in Youth and Family Ministry. They have a commitment to work in Athens for three years. They were living with us until they found an apartment to rent and their container of household goods arrived. They moved into their own apartment last weekend. It is about a 20 minute drive from our house. We have enjoyed having little Ashtyn with us. Debbie gets to keep her twice a week while Nikki teaches private English lessons to a couple of neighbouring children.
New Preacher for Prestoncrest
We thank God for leading the elders of the Prestoncrest Church of Christ in making a selection for their new pulpit minister. The announcement was recently made that Gordon Dabbs will begin serving as the new preacher from February 2009. Gordon is coming from Brazil where he has served as a missionary for the last 10 years. I sent him my congratulations and a letter of encouragement, as he starts his new ministry with the Prestoncrest Church that we love for many years. We look forward to cooperating with him in the ministry.
Please keep us in your prayers.
May the Lord bless you all.
In His love,
Dino and Debbie Roussos