From May 23rd to 26th, the youth missionary training IMPACT was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, as part of the SDA’s Bulgaria national mission project "SEED", with the support of ASI Bulgaria and ASI Europe. The guest speaker of the training was Joakim Hjortland - one of the founders of the IMPACT movement and a long-term organizer of mission projects and campaigns in Europe. He is currently the head of AFCOE Europe and Chairman of ASI Scandinavia.
The four-day training was divided into two parts - a theoretical and a practical one. The participants applied what was learned from the morning lectures in the afternoon activities, which included conducting surveys, distributing books, praying with people on the street, and more. Joakim Hjortland shared practical advice as to inspire young people to serve God and gave them the confidence to share God's Word with strangers.
"The main thing I want to address to the participants is inspiration. I want to inspire them to get involved in missionary work and serve God. This is a great blessing and a transformative Christian experience. You start to see answered prayers, miracles, and how God works in different situations," says Joakim Hjortland.
Michael Garkov, Chairman of ASI Bulgaria, announced that Bulgaria is the eleventh country in which the IMPACT training is held, and this is the first one in our country. More are planned in the future.
"We are launching this initiative, and we hope it will become like a wave. I believe that these young people will inspire other young people, who will inspire other young people, and this will become like an avalanche,"commented Michael Garkov.
The goals of IMPACT are, apart from carrying out various mission activities, also to give young people the necessary skills and confidence to give their lives in the service of God and share their faith with friends, colleagues, and classmates. Lecturer Joakim Hjortland is an example of this as he started preaching and leading Bible courses when he was only 17 years old. Today he preaches in over 10 countries, on 6 continents. He shared many stories and experiences from the IMPACT training in Europe and across the world.
"IMPACT has been incredibly successful in Europe and there are many strong and impactful stories from almost every country, which we want to happen in Bulgaria as well. In neighboring Romania, for example, the project is growing particularly dynamically and soon there will be over 70 baptisms as a result of the IMPACT project there," the speaker encourages.
The very story behind the launch of IMPACT sounds like a miracle. The first official IMPACT training was held in 2009, starting with a helicopter crash involving a Norwegian Adventist pastor. The pastor used a helicopter to travel through the mountains and fjords in western Norway, but one day a crash happened. He got out of it unscathed, and all the Norwegian media covered the incident and talked about the "Adventist pastor who fell off from heaven" and the "pastor with angelic protection". The pastor asked God, “God, why did you take this tool from me? What do you want me to do now?” The Lord directed his thoughts to a quote from Ellen White: "With such an army of workers as our youth are...how quickly could the message be carried throughout the world..." . Shortly after, Joakim Hjortland and his team contacted the pastor and launched the IMPACT project, which has achieved impressive results since then.
"Pray that God leads you and will meet you with people who are open, and He will give you wisdom... Go out and try it, your life will change", appeals Joakim Hjortland.