A Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief team responded to a last minute call to Romania, and was rewarded by seeing many gospel seeds planted among Ukrainian refugees and relief workers through food and Bible distribution.
Tommy Middleton, associational mission strategist for Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, led the team of six individuals who spent time at Suceava, Romania (located on the border with Ukraine), July 11–22.
The team previously was scheduled to travel to Poland to do ministry work with Ukrainian refugees but changed their plans at the request of Send Relief.
During their time there, the team handed out bottled water, power bars, cookies, chips and Bibles that were in both the Ukrainian and Romanian languages to refugees and relief workers.
The Bibles and bottled water had a QR code attached to them, which directed individuals to a website that had a gospel presentation.
‘Open to hearing the gospel’
While the team did not see anyone make a profession of faith in Christ, the group was able to share the gospel with countless individuals.
“While these people were not on the level of the Ukrainian refugees three months ago, they were open to hearing the gospel,” Middleton told the Baptist Message.
“This was not only an opportunity to share the gospel and plant seeds with the Romanians and Ukrainians, but also to engage those with the relief organizations and other workers,” he said. “My prayer is there would be seeds sown in the hearts of people and there would receive compassion.
“We had no agenda but to give them Jesus.”
Stan Statham, Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief strategist, said he was proud of the team’s willingness and flexibility.
“I’m grateful for disaster relief volunteers who are willing to do whatever is needed and are willing to deploy on short notice,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally written and published by Louisiana Baptist Message.
