Recently I went on a 10 day trip to southern Europe with 10 other Assemblies of God pastors and spouses. It was a highlight of my year, and rejuvenated me. We visited churches (current and old), pastors, missionaries, Bible schools, sights, etc., in 5 countries. It was a little like Amazing Race-8 flights, 10 days, 15,000 miles! I gave my testimony on the red box with Kevin Prevost in the center of Madrid, and preached in Abel Aureli's church south of Rome. Southern Europe is so needy, it has not been evangelized since the days of the early church, and is functionally secular and post-Christian. Until recently, Catholicism persecuted evangelicals bady in these countries (ask me about the Mussolini-Pope pact in Italy). Very sad, even Italy is now mostly post-Christian (we were in Spain, Portugal,Italy, the Vatican and Malta (more on that in a separate post). Our host was area director Gil Rodriguez, one of our missionaries (see the right photo). It really gave us a burden to pray for him, his area needs revival.
Some things in the photos of interest-
-smart car- we saw a number of these, tiny, but easy to park and drive in small ancient streets.
-The Colosseum, a terrible place where countless Christians were martyred, but today a tourist attraction. The movie "Gladiator" has made this even more famous.
-The arch of Titus (not pictured), which shows the furniture of the Jewish temple being carted off in 72AD. This still stands, right near the Colosseum.
-The steps are the original steps where Luther crawled up on his knees to get merit with God, and to do penance. People still do this by the masses!! It was here he had his great revelation that "the just shall live by faith."
-St. Peter's Cathedral (the ornate dome in the photos) in the Vatican may be the world's most beautiful building, but its opulence caused the Reformation, as the Pope commissioned the selling of indulgences to pay for it.
An amazing spiritual trip, with spiritual leaders and fellowship.
Pastor Ken,
ReplyDeletePaul & I serve Assemblies of God World Missions as Regional Director for Europe. I came across your post from April 2012 as I was doing a search for some information on Southern Europe. I had to stop and say a very special thank you for the time you took with Gil Rodriguez and the other pastors that you traveled with across Europe. Thank you for the encouragement. I know you were a blessing to the churches and missionaries you visited as well as to Gil. Thank you for your voice that has helped to describe how spiritually dark Europe. Thank you for helping us raise awareness as to the need for dedicated workers now more than ever to share the gospel. Your visit and voice to these needs speak volumes. Thank you for your continued prayer for Europe and for those countries within the region that have less than 3% who call themselves evangelical Christians (http://break3.com).
With Much Appreciation,
Paul& Angela Trementozzi
Paul Trementozzi
Regional Director
Ptrementozzi@ag.org
angela.trementozzi@agmd.org
europemissions.org
“A rope made out of three cords is not easily broken.” Eccl. 4:12b