On October 21st, 2023 in Sofia, a National Mission Conference was held, launching the project SEED 2023-2024, a joint venture of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Union in Bulgaria, Adventist-laymen’s Services & Industries (ASI) Bulgaria and ASI Europe.
Over 1000 people all over the country participated. The main speaker was Kris Lenard, vice-president of ASI Europe, who was responsible for the development of ASI. He sent a powerful message to all presenting in the hall – “Let’s be part of SEED and not just part of its audience; let’s join with our talents, time and donations, for this project to be carried out, and even not only once”. It is not by chance that this project is named SEED.
“SEED means following the farming process of preparing the soil, sowing the seed, taking care of it, harvesting, and storing the grain”, shared pastor Trifon Trifonov, Personal Ministry Union director. “There are often many evangelistic events but they are separate, for themselves, so to speak, and the preliminary preparations are [overlooked] or there’s uncertainty about how to move on. And it is good, these things to last for a long period of time. So, the Bulgarian team decided that it needed a bigger picture, in which to put everything in its place; to explain the concept to every church and every pastor, so that when they start a mission program, they would know how to begin, the steps to follow, how to organize the event itself, and how to work after that”, he added.
“The SEED project originates from ASI Europe, and it was put into practice, for the first time, in 2019, in France. It was very successful, then it was presented before ASI Bulgaria, and the team liked it very much. Then it was agreed that this would be a triple cooperation – ASI Bulgaria, ASI Europe, and the Bulgarian Union. What kind of project is this? Generally speaking, this is a cyclic evangelism project, following a well-structured and purposefully planned line that moves people from contact to baptism. And after the baptism – to preparation for discipleship – the people become disciples who make new disciples”, shared Michael Grakov, president of ASI Bulgaria.
The conference program was enriched with many musical performances by groups from different congregations – from the church in Radomir, in Kyustendil B, and in Sofia, the church on Solunska street. In the afternoon, the The Voice of Hope National Adventist Choir and Quattro Piano group had their special parts.
After the end of the conference there was a big concert in the same hall. It was dedicated to another big mission project in Bulgaria, “150 Years Slaveykov Translation of the Bible [1]. Vidin Philharmonic, The Voice of Hope choir, Quattro Piano and many solo musicians performed. The hall was full to capacity.
God has blessed the program abundantly, again.
The start of the SEED project in Bulgaria was given.
[1] Constantinople Translation or Slaveykov Translation is the first complete translation of the Bible (the Old and the New Testaments) into Bulgarian language. It was printed in 1871, in Istanbul.
