Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)
The Father’s
Heart Project—is a
work aimed to show kids without families that God loves them. We aim to teach the children the Bible and
forgiveness through modeling Christian relationships. This ministry was started in the year 2000 and is aimed at
children 7-19 in state-run orphan institutions in North Western Bulgaria. Currently we work with two orphan homes and
120 children total.
The first school
year, 2001-2002, we ended by holding a week long Vacation Bible School
(VBS). To see a brief report on the
work of the Vacation Bible School 2002 and photos click here.
One significant
hurdle to overcome is the suspicion of the administration of these homes toward
anything called “Christian”. Yet we are
not shy to clearly state that we are Christians. We also point out that we care to bring in people to have
relationships with these outcast children—something that the directors and
supervisors in the homes know well that few people are willing to do. Thanks to all of you who prayed for us and
the kids in this demanding ministry!
Please, keep us in your prayers so the light of the gospel may shine
into these young lives! In Oct. 2002
we expanded the Father’s Heart ministry to an orphanage in Novo Selo. There the team will minister to about 70
kids age 7 to 20. Our work in the two
homes reaches 120 abandoned children.
During the
Christmas season we held a shoe drive and 60 children in Novo Selo got new
winter shoes. We had Christmas parties
for the children in both Belogradchik and Novo Selo homes.
The ministry began in
the summer of 2000, with God’s guidance.
During a Sunday morning service at our church in Pasadena I felt the
Lord telling me to “Take My love to the orphans.” I had no interest whatsoever in orphan ministry at that
point. Yet I had plan a short ministry
visit to Bulgaria that summer. So I
decided that I should do something about what I heard from God. I contacted Yavor, my brother, who is a
pastor of a small congregation of believers in NW Bulgaria and told him about
my idea and vision. I started exploring
the Bible and I saw that the heart of God goes out to the orphans and the
widows. I felt that this is an
important part of the Church’s ministry—to help the weak ones, and to bring the
love of God and the dignity to the despised ones. Yavor contacted several orphan institutions and we chose one of
them for a visit. During my trip to Bulgaria, in August of that year we visited
the home for abandoned children Nadezhda (Hope) in the small town of
Belogradchik. Belogradchik is a small
town in NW Bulgaria, the poorest region in the country. At our first visit, when we sang worship
songs with the kids, delivered small gifts and Bibles. Since then a regular
ministry is going on in the orphanage: the Father’s Heart ministry entails a
bi-weekly visits to the two orphan homes for 3 hours of Bible study, teaching the
kids practical life issues, and games and fellowship. We also provide food, clothes and for other physical needs in
these needy homes as the need comes up, or our financial resources allow us.
With the support of
churches in the US and some individual donors we have been able to maintain the
ministry for a 3rd year and to expand it to yet another home. As the Lord leads we will seek to train more
workers so we can launch the program in a third institution. Your gifts to this ministry are highly
appreciated. They will go to food,
clothes and shoes, school materials, and occasionally for sports gear for the
kids and transportation expenses for the workers. Some of the workers receive minimal support to cover costs. Your can donate by way of Door of Hope
International or wire the money to Transfiguration an organization
in Bulgaria (in this case donations are not tax deductible).
Teresa is behind
the program for the VBS and much of the initiatives for ministry with the
orphan kids. Viktor and Yavor train the
workers and organize events with them and teach the kids Bible studies. The
ministry team—Yavor, who is the pastor of a church in Vidin, and of these kids,
his wife, and a youth leader from the church travel 70 miles every two weeks back
and forth to the home to be with the children.
The other two weeks—he and the group, sometimes accompanied by
volunteers from the church, go to the orphanage in Novo Selo 25 km (15 miles)
from Vidin, where they live. Teresa and
Viktor visit the two orphanages for events, training and occasional visits.