Why Albania
Dignity & Testimony
Pastor Ermal is a "tentmaker" as his congregation is poor and cannot support him financially. As a college graduate it is easy for him to find work. He had been working as a teacher, but the administration started asking him to be dishonest in his grading so that the school would obtain better funding.
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Around this time he also was finding that he wasn't able to put as much energy in as a pastor because of his work teaching in the school. So, he came to Operation Mobilization when he heard about our business training course.
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It was decided that a having a honey business would provide the money he needed and extra time for him to do his work as a pastor. The first year in business it was one of the driest summers and most seasoned bee keepers said there would be no honey that year. Well, no one had honey except for Ramal. He had so much honey that he made more in that harvest than he did as a teacher. He even paid off his loan! That was three years ago, and he is excited to have had the ability to focus on Harvesting Souls because of people like you who invest in Kingdom work.
Miracle Honey
A Need For Christ
Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. - Galatians 6:10
It was the fourth day of our vision trip. This day confirmed that we were to come to Albania to join these Christians. We want to "Do Good" for them as they impact in their world as only people from their own culture can.
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We spent the day with a Roma pastor and his English wife. He showed me the small church at the back of his house where 180 kids come each week from three villages. He shared his vision of building a free standing church, coffee house, and recreational center. He is a man of vision. A man who's hands are calloused from working the land, but with a smile and energy that only comes from the Holy Spirit and working with children.
Late morning we went to a beautiful castle that looked over the town of Berat. As I stood beside the ruins of a church built into the castle walls and looked out over the city, I saw a mosque and heard the call of prayer echo up over the mountain side. My heart broke as I thought of the need for Christ.
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Under communism Albania was announced as the first Atheist State. It has not been officially communist since 1991, but still the darkness persists. With a population of around 3M, Albania is around 70% muslim and only 0.7% consider themselves Evangelical Christians. For most, religion is just another form of cultural identity and its practice is heavily tinged with folk-belief and superstition.
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Please consider joining us in this ministry. We need your prayers, financial partnership, and hands and feet on short-term trips.
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Dignity & Testimony
In Albania, the Roma and Gypsy people groups are marginalized by other Albanians. In many cities there is a Roma/Gypsy community who are often not well thought of by other Albanians. They have very low self-esteem, generally have little education, and very few opportunities for work.
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Operation Mobilization provided business training and loans to help Riza, a Roma Albanian, start a metal fabrication business. He is one of the only Roma business owners in the town of Luchnje a town of around 70,000 people.
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He has a deep heart for Christ and asked me when we met if it is possible to serve God and run a business. Having struggled with the same issues years before, I was able to answer "Yes!". And share with him my experience in trusting God with the business while allocating intentional time with family and ministry work.
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Riza is often asked by his Muslim friends how as a Roma he was able to start a business. His response is always, "Because of my God."
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