This
family has dedicated their lives to serving the gospel in the Balkan region.
They deserve our prayers and our support. Please call NationaLight and
tell us what you can do to help these servants of the Lord continue their
work throughout the region of the Balkans.
One
testimony of their love for the people of the region comes during the
war in Kosovo. Thirty refugees showed up at their church, Pastor and the
family of God took them. They house them in the upper rooms of the church
and fed them with what they had. What makes this story so wonderful is
that, these refugees were not Christians, but in fact Moslems. Again this
act of Christian love, opened the door to brother Akil when the refugees
returned to their home in Kosovo. Now he is able to set down with Moslem
families and share the good news of Christ.
Dr. Mays was pleased to be in the water when this young Moslem man at right was baptized.
Today in Albania we have seen a tremendous open door for ministry to the Balkan Region for the teams of NationalLight Ministries, because of the this family of God.
In the month of August 2000 Dr. Johnny Mays traveled from Northern Ireland via, Ireland, England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and finally Albania to deliver a van to Pastor Akil. Dr. Mays was invited on this journey by Patrick Barden, whose father had donated the van. Patrick had been to Albania five times before and was familiar with the outlay of the land.
After arriving in Tirana the capitol of Albania, Dr. Mays and Patrick were met by Brother Akil. The Pano family open their doors with Christian love and hospitality.
The following day Akil brought Dr. Mays to the radio station, where brother Akil minister four times a week on the radio. The two of them work preached together on the radio to a potential audience of about one million radios.
In a day or so the team moved on to the north of Albania to minister in Akil's church in the town of Shokroda. Here the team met the family of God and again was very warmly received. Dr. Mays preached in three services and met with the leaders of the church in a special service just for them.
To top it off. Just before returning to Tirana, Dr. Mays was invited by the Pastor to join him in baptizing twelve new converts. This was a tremendous service held at a beautiful lake which was bordered on the north by the mountains of Montenegro.
Before leaving Albania Pastor Akil invited Dr. Mays to join him in a crusade effort in the Month of May 2001. They plan to minister in Albania, Kosovo as well as Macedonia and Greece.
This outreach to the Balkan states will be a first for the NationaLight Ministries teams. Please continue to pray for this Pastor, his family and church in this region. They have many personal needs as well as ministry needs. One very important need today is the need of a computer. Please pray about what you can do to help NationaLight provide for this.
You can do so by sending a special love offering to our NationaLight office. Please mark your offering for Albania and the Albanian outreach.
Prayer Needs:
- peace for this area
- a continued harvest among the Moslems
- a computer for the Pano family
Next Trip: Please pray for our return