Hellenic Ministries' Blog

Greece: The Inside Story

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:22:00 +0000

Listen to HM President, Johnathan Macris, describe the times in Greece.

Click on the link below. Moody Radio, Chris Fabry Live Program, February 16, 2012.

http://www.moodyradio.org/radioplayer.aspx?episode=83248&hour=2

Immigrant Aid in Patra

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:41:00 +0000

Last Saturday, members of our team, a suburban Greek youth group, a local Greek church, a French team and a visiting American youth group join forces to deliver encouragement, support and emergency aid to hundreds of refugees living in horrific conditions in Patra, Greece.

The team of 50 descended off the bus, and set up a stage with a microphone and speakers and proceeded to entertain the men with songs in Greek, French and English.

Following the time of music together, the groups split up into different language groups where the men expressed that their greatest desire was for happiness. Our teams were honored to share with them the One and Only Way to find true and everlasting happiness; in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

After more more time for one on one conversations, we all gathered by the bus to hand out sleeping bags, shoes, socks, hats, gloves, underwear, food bags, Arabic New Testaments and Farsi tracts.

Please pray for these men. Pray for them to come to know True Happiness, in a surrendered life to Jesus. Pray for swift solutions to their devastating way of life and sufferings. Pray for wisdom for us to know how to help them more.

To read more about this situation, click here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17094303

Great opportunities for the Gospel in Greece

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:27:00 +0000

Most of you have seen or heard about the situation in Greece these past weeks and months. This past weekend was terrible as a small number of anarchist set banks on fire, burned buildings and raided shops. The greater population demonstrated against the government in a quiet manner. The economic situation here is bleak to say the least and shop after shop has closed. Many have left to look for work in other countries. From a world perspective things are very negative. What a great opportunity for the gospel.

Here’s just one of many, many stories our staff has shared in the last weeks….

“Greece is under a curse – everyone is only looking out for its own interests!” said the travel agent to me as I sat at her desk to purchase plane tickets.

I agreed, ”Yes, but Greece is also a blessed country. God has chosen the Greek language to write His Word to the entire world. It needs to be translated to everyone else, like one of the tribal groups in Irian Jaya just got it last year, but they welcomed the Word of God like God himself visited them. Do you have a NT?”

She said no, not in today’s Greek language and so I promised her to give her one at my next visit.

A week later I returned and gave her the promised NT, a calendar for 2012 and an evangelistic booklet.

She was so excited and said that this was the most important gift anyone could have given her and thanked and kissed me over the counter desk. Finally we talked also about flights and prizes.

When we talked on the phone earlier today, the first thing she mentioned again was how important the NT was for her. It was truly divine timing – and that was what she felt too.

How thrilling to be at the right time at the right place with the right message as God’s ambassadors!

Looking for an adventure this summer?

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:27:00 +0000

Come join us for Operation Joshua 5, July 17-25th, 2012.

Operation Joshua

www.operationjoshua.net

Operation Joshua is Hellenic Ministries effort to facilitate a Bible distribution program throughout the entire nation of Greece

South African Vision Tour

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:41:00 +0000

A group of 11 pastors and Christian leaders from South Africa spent the first week in November on a Vision Tour of the HM work in Greece.

Apart from the obligatory visit to tourist sites such as the Acropolis, Museums, Meteora, Philipi, Thessalonikki, Corinth etc., we also got to see aspects of the ministry of HM - the Love Meals, House of Worship, Morning Star, Porto Astro and the Hope Center.

Gary Steyn, the new HM South Africa National Director, shared his own dramatic testimony with the young people at the House of Worship as well with the refugees at the Love Meals. The team also participated in the staff chapel meeting and were treated to a wonderful lunch at the home of Johnathan and Miriam Macris.

The group expressed their appreciation to the HM staff for an eye opening tour as they were challenged to support the work through their prayers, finance and personnel. They now appreciate that Greece is not just a wonderful tourist destination with a glorious cultural history but is a country in desperate need of the gospel.

Submitted by Nico Bougas

Life International Visit October 2011

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:09:00 +0000

This past week the Hope Center team had the privilege of hosting Fran & Anne from Life International, an organization that mentors and equips ministries worldwide to uphold the sanctity of human life.

These two women are a wealth of knowledge and resources, and we spent the week gleaning from all their expertise about the opening and running of a maternity home. They also helped us develop our vision plan for other areas of needs under the Hope Center Ministries.

The building itself is nearly completed, however we realize that there is still much groundwork to be done to prepare ourselves fully for all aspects of housing pregnant women.

Please join us in prayer:

· As we seek God’s wisdom and timing for the opening of the home.

· That God will be preparing the hearts of the house parents and house assistant that He wants to live at the house with the girls.

· Regarding finances, we still need funds to complete the building, and then we will need to furnish it as well as providing for monthly operating costs.

God is so good! Looking back we can see God’s hand at work in each step of the process, and we are looking forward with much anticipation to see how God is going to use this ministry to touch and change many lives!

Psalm 32:8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

Pictures from a Blessed Summer

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:14:00 +0000

HM Summer 2011 Recap from Hellenic Ministries on Vimeo.

Pre-Operation Joshua madness!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:24:00 +0000

Operation Joshua 4 starts in 2 (TWO) days!

Almost 100 participants + 130,000 bibles= Bible packing frenzy!
Despite the rising temperatures over 60,000 bibles have already been packed and are ready to go!

See pictures below for a taste of what is happening.

Witnessing during the Carnival

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:12:00 +0000

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Eph 5:18

From the 4th to the 6th of March 2011, I visited the city of Patra, where they biggest celebration of the Carnival in Greece took place.

Greece’s Carnival season known as "Apokries" is a period of eating, drinking, dancing, and masquerading for the young and the young in spirit.  Traditionally, it begins ten weeks before Greek Orthodox Easter and culminates on the weekend before "Clean Monday," (Ash Monday) the first day of Lent.

The roots of Carnival celebrations and customs can be traced back to ancient Greece and are linked to the worship of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and festivity.   The processions, costuming, and feasting all derive from ancient ceremonies honoring him and other Greek gods and goddesses. (http://www.grpressbeijing.com)

We were a team of 17 believers from Athens and also some believers from the local church of Patra. We spoke about the Lord to thousands of people who were out in the streets celebrating the debauchery of the season.

In 3 days, we distributed more than 18,000 Christian tracts as well as hundreds of New Testaments. We felt the presence of the Lord among us as we witnessed of the Lord to the people in the rain and cold but with joy in our hearts.

Please pray with us for fruit for the Kingdom from the distribution of His Word.
Panos Karakolidis

Evangelistic Program Airs on Greek TV!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 11:33:00 +0000

Praise to the Lord. For the first time on Sunday, February 27, 2011, Hellenic Ministries, in cooperation with Vasillis Zetas from Toronto Canada, sponsored the airing of an evangelistic program in the Greek language on national TV here in Greece. The program will be broadcast every Sunday from 13:15 till 14:15.

The program called “Zontas Pragmatika,” was shown on the TV Channel “Kanali 1”
(http://www.enatv.gr/) in the city of Lamia (250 km from the city of Athens) and the surrounding neighborhoods from Volos to the outskirts of Athens, an area in which about 600,000 people live.

After the broadcast, about 20 people called our office to thank us for the show and to ask us for a New Testament and other Christian literature.

We thank God for this opportunity and we pray that this program will be shown on other channels and in other big cities of Greece, like Athens or Thessaloniki, etc.

Please pray for this program and also that God will continue to open new doors for us.

Submitted by Panagiotis Karakolidis

Teen Worship-Taking It to the Streets!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Go into all the world and peach the good news to all creation. Mark 16:15

Last week we had a different kind of Teen Worship. Instead of worshipping God upstairs at Evripidou Hall, we took our music to the streets and headed to the main square in Athens.

Imagine 52 youth walking with guitars, singing songs, clapping hands and joyfully singing praise to God as we paraded through the sidewalks with a vision to give HOPE to the city.

It was an awesome time. All glory and honor to God!

Nashville Rocks Athens-Year 2!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:11:00 +0000

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Ps. 98:4

For the second year in a row, Christian musicians from Fellowship Bible Church, Nashville, TN came to Greece to encourage and inspire the Greek youth. The emphasis of this year’s worship conference was on equipping and train Greek worship leaders.

Thank you Carl Cartee, Rob Howard, Tim Head and Dan Vorm for sharing your love and talents and hearts with us.

Here what one of the Greek attendees had to say about the weekend:

I was really blessed by the FBC's guys that came to serve us in their own ways and to show us how to be better worship leaders.

The best lesson for me was the way they were worshiping God. Although they did teach us a lot of things about how we should lead our groups, their worship times were the parts of the weekend I was stoked about the most.

Since I was a little kid, I dreamed of heaven like a really cool worship time with great "worship bands.” I always imagined that when we stand before God, we will be really happy, with huge smiles on our faces and we will be pouring our hearts out singing. That was exactly what I saw in those guys' faces during the first worship gathering and it was exactly how I think worship should be.

Pouring our hearts out again and again until we are called to go back home! :)

Emmanuel Tsoutsas

Christmas Boat in Halkida!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:20:00 +0000

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Is 9:6.

The House of Worship Team, The Morning Star Team, members of the two local churches as well as many friends of the ministry gathered at the port of Halkida, on the island of Evia, Sunday evening to share the joy of the season with the islanders there.

After many years of attempting to make this event happen, this year was the first time that we were actually able to make this dream a reality.

The Morning Star was beautifully adorned with Christmas lights from the bow to the stern as well as all 20 meters high to the top of the mast! Additionally, lights and garland and bows and ornaments decorated the boat both inside and out. It was truly a shining moment for the boat and a living illustration of a traditional Greek Christmas symbol, the boat.

Many who passed by were attracted to the brightly lit boat. This gave us the perfect opportunity to explain to them the history of the boat and how it traveled from California to Greece to be used for ministry purposes.

Dressed in Santa hats, we had multiple forms of ministry happening at the same time. The band was playing on deck, servers were handing out hot chocolate and cookies on the pier, cooks were preparing warm drinks in the galley, others were offering tours of the boat and evangelism teams were conversing with people along the waterfront.

It was incredible. Such a picturesque time, such an opportunity to share the HOPE of the season-Jesus Christ!

Thank you so much for praying for this outreach. Please pray for lasting fruit from the many spiritual conversations we had that day.

Christmas Love Meals

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:07:00 +0000

Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35

What a special time to share the love of Christ at our Christmas Love Meals. This past weekend we served over 700 people as we hosted three different meals for the refugees and the homeless. The hall was brightly decorated with lights and trees and stars, and the room was filled with warm cheer as many hands worked together to bless those who live out on the streets of Athens.

The festivities began Saturday afternoon as we served a gourmet chicken meal to the Greek homeless people. In addition to the warm lunch, we entertained them with Greek Christmas carols and worship songs and the story of Jesus’ birth. After the meal, the guests were served traditional Greek sweets and fruit and each were given a gift as we said goodbye.

Saturday evening the crowd swelled as the hall was filled with Farsi speaking Afghan families. Students from the American Community School entertained with Christmas songs and as a special treat, Shawn Skinner performed a fire dancing routine. The audience was enthralled and we then explained that Jesus is the Light of the World. The children received toys, the families a food bag and blanket, and the young men a coat or sleeping bag.

Monday evening our final love meal was for Arabic speaking people. The hall was full once again. Christmas cheer sang out from the stage as a band played and a skit was performed that told the story of Cain and Abel, and the sacrifice that is acceptable to God. We followed this by sharing how Jesus came to earth to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. After the dinner and desserts, the music continued and spontaneous dancing erupted around the room. This was perhaps the liveliest party of all, and a fitting end to the weekend.

Thank you to so many who helped make these festivities possible, from the coordinators, to the cooks, to the decorators, to the countless volunteers who served and cleaned up and to those of you, our friends, who gave sacrificially to provide for these gifts and meals. A very special thank you to Helping Hands Ministry for the generous donation of numerous toys that we shared with happy children!

Construction begins at the Hope Center!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:58:00 +0000

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in You.
Psalm 33:22

Finally, after a 2.5+ year process, the building is legally in our name and construction work has begun on The Hope Center. The architectural drawings have been completed and clean up has started!

South African Pastors Visit!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. Philemon 1:7

Six pastors from South Africa spent the past week in Greece viewing the
Biblical sites, interacting with local Greek pastors and experiencing the
various aspects of the work.

They were staggered by the need and the effectiveness of the work of Hellenic Ministry (HM) in Greece. They have all promised to return and bring teams with them for the New Testament distribution next summer. This heralds the start of new partnerships for HM in South Africa.

They were particularly impressed by the effective work being done via the
Love Meals and the discipleship groups amongst the refugees. They were also
moved by the plight of Evangelical pastors striving to communicate the
evangelical gospel in a society where Evangelicals are regarded as
"heretics" and are often ostracized by the rest of the community.

We would like to encourage other Christian leaders and pastors from around
the world to come to Greece and see the work that is being accomplished by
Hellenic Ministries. Greece has never had a revival or a reformation -
maybe it is God's time for Greece!

Nico Bougas

Athens Marathon October 31, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:25:00 +0000

Yesterday nearly 13,000 people ran past our house 4 blocks away on Marathon Blvd. It was the commemorative Athens Classic Marathon that marked 2,500 years since the battle of Marathon and that traced the course run by the fabled Greek soldier who ran to Athens to bring the news of the victory.

History records the story of how the Persian Emperor, Darius, attacked the little city of Marathon, 42 kilometres north of Athens and lost to the Athenians. Believe it or not, this was the same “King Darius” who looked down into the den of lions to see if Daniel was still alive!

Times have changed, battles haven’t. There is huge battle raging here in Greece and in the heavenlies for the precious souls of the Greek people. The fabled Pheidippides was the messenger of victory then! Today, it’s you and I who must proclaim that the victory has been won over this land. We must herald the news everywhere that victory is sure.

Thank you for persevering and “running this race” with us in prayer. The battle is dependent on you! The Kingdom of God is gaining ground here in Greece. Keep praying, keep running and proclaiming His victory!

Hebrews 12: 1-1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Johnathan Macris

Teen Worship Begins!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:04:00 +0000

Last night we as teenagers had our first Teen Worship event of the year. A group of 10 teens organized the program and led the worship!

We were surprised at the turn out of kids that came as we had up to 50!

It was a time to grow as a team since there are new members and it was a blessing to see a new group forming replacing those that are no longer teens and not a single person remaining from the original team.

Praise the Lord that this ministry is moving forward!

The evening was filled with music, laugher, worship and a wonderful presentation on Faith, our theme for this year. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

We left encouraged and blessed, believing that the Lord has mighty works to do through this generation as we stand up for what we believe in and reach out to our peers; this being the goal for Teen Worship, to encourage and strengthen the Christian teens of Greece!

Natassa Macris

The Lord is my Shepherd

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:28:00 +0000

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. Ps 23:1

It was yet another Sunday evening where people of all ages gathered together to worship God once again.

Upon entering the room, you could feel the difference of atmosphere that was in contrast to that of the world outside those walls. Being in a room with people you might not even know usually brings about a certain awkwardness or uneasiness you can't escape, and yet in this case everyone seemed to be bonding and uniting on a whole new level. It might have been the candles, it might have been the music, it might even have been just someone's smile, but in my opinion, something beyond our own understanding is what brings us together. This is what being part of God's family is all about, feeling like you belong even if you’ve never been there before.

The night began with a video of a cute little girl singing with everything she had and praising God. The joy of the Lord was reflected in the spark of her eyes as she sang the words of the song. It was a good example to the rest of us, reminding us how true worship should be about where your heart is. Later on we all sang a few songs accompanied by the worship team band. The presence of God could be felt throughout the room. Carrying on in that same atmosphere, the drama team presented a small pantomime showing how God takes all our burdens away. Jonathan Macris expanded on that thought using Psalm 23 and talking about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He then challenged us about how we are following the Shepherd and if we are telling others about Him.

The night ended with everyone socializing over a table covered with snacks and sharing their experiences with each other. It was a really blessed night and we are looking forward to seeing how God is going to continue working through this ministry and what He is going to teach us in the year to come.

Anastasia Papadopoulou

Operation Joshua 2.5!

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:18:00 +0000

During OJ2, in the summer of 2009, some 50 villages in the Peloponnese were left un-reached due to lack of time and resources. We’ve been planning to finish these villages for some time now and last Saturday we finally got the chance.

Joining our staff we had some friends of the mission along with a team from Sweden and the Gideons, who had graciously given us the New Testaments to complete this task.

We met up early Saturday morning to go over the plan, form the teams and load up the cars with the NT packs. We traveled in convoy and then split up to go to our respective villages.

In just one short afternoon and with the help of many enthusiastic participants, we were able to cover 12 villages! The distribution went much faster than expected and by lunchtime we were done. We all enjoyed a great meal together at a seaside restaurant in Kalamata and then headed home.

OJ 2.5 was a great time of fellowship and another step forward in delivering a New Testament to every door in the Peloponnese!

Please pray with us that God’s Word will not return void. (Isaiah 55:11)

For more Operation Joshua news see www.operationjoshua.net

The journey of a refugee

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:47:00 +0000

What does the Lord require of you but to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

I met Reza last week at our Love Meals ministry, where we provide showers and laundry and food for people in need, especially refugees. Reza and I were both sitting down outside on the roof top of our hall in downtown Athens, and when I walked up to him, I noticed right away that he was open to have a conversation and that he was a sincere man. As we talked I learned that he was an Iranian who had been living in Afghanistan for years. He spoke such broken English that at times it was difficult for both of us to communicate what we were trying to say, but in the end we were able to understand each other sufficiently.

Reza is on a journey as a refugee. He told me that he was planning on going to Italy and Germany before he goes to Denmark where he hopes to find a job and establish a life there.

So Reza, on his adventure to find a better life, has found himself at our hall, where he has been introduced to the Gospel. Only God knows how this ministry will affect the life of Reza in the long run. All we know is that at this juncture in his life, we have great opportunity to be a blessing to him.

Please keep him in your prayers and also pray that we will be effective in our service to the refugees here in Greece.

Submitted by Michael Epp

The Blessing of A Multicultural Staff

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:09:00 +0000

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith, if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching…” Romans 12:6-7

John is an HM missionary who lives in Egypt and who does evangelism and teaching there. While he was in Greece this past month, he was able to bring his gifting to the Bible college in Athens to share his vision and strategy for reaching into the Muslim world. We pray that many young people were inspired and challenged by his words.

It is such an asset to the team of our mission to have people from different countries, with different gifts and different abilities, as it gives us a broader ability to minister the gospel to the world!

Please pray for John as he ministers in Egypt and for fruitful blessing that would be encouraging to him.

House of Worship

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 12:32:00 +0000

The first Worship Event of the Fall 2010 season began today! We gathered on the top floor of our hall in downtown Athens and worshiped the Lord and shared in fellowship. It was a very multi-cultural expression of praise to the Lord led first by a group from Sweden and then later by a Greek worship team. It was a small foretaste of the day when people from every tribe, tongue and nation will be worshipping the Father together in heaven.

We were encouraged in the Word of God to “live the life” that God has given us in his Son, instead of begging God to do things when He has given us everything already to do great things for the Kingdom. We have the Living Water dwelling within us and wherever we go, Jesus goes with us… to the streets of Athens and to the ends of the earth. Let our worship have such an effect!

Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38

Mini Missions School 2010

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:14:00 +0000

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Mt 28:18-20

The second annual Mini Mission School was hosted again at Porto Astro the last weekend of September. We enjoyed warm fellowship as were challenged to live lives in obedience to the Great Commission and to the call of God.

It was a time of equipping, where we learned about Animism and Islam and how to communicate with people in New Age for the sake of the Gospel.

It was a time of learning from experienced people who have followed the call of God and have gone before us to the ends of the earth.

It was a time of enjoying Indian, Egyptian, an Indonesian food, just as a sampling of the many different culinary delights of the world.

In the end, as we let the Lord touch our hearts and as we were encouraged to live for Him, these things together made this event worth it’s time and effort.

Greek participant highlights:

Among the 23 attendees, three pregnant women praying for God to touch the lives of their unborn babies to have a part in world missions.

Popi - I would have not missed it for the world even though I was coming
down with the flue/cold and had lost my voice. God spoke to my heart and
touched my spirit.

Irini - I must take the overnight bus to Xanthi and will work straight away
in a coffee shop - but never mind. It was a life changing experience and
worth all the costs.

Christos and Ilias- it was a great time of spiritual refreshment, just what I needed to refresh me in spirit, body and soul.

Operation Joshua 3 Recap

noreply@blogger.com (HM Blog) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:47:00 +0000

60,000 New Testaments delivered in the Peleponese,
in 6 days with over 200 participants!

Come join us for Operation Joshua 4, Summer of 2011.
For more info see www.operationjoshua.net

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.Psalm 119:105