February 8, 2002
Can you see the hand of God in the following developments?
For more than a year, the leaders of the church in Tirana, Albania have been talking about starting a new church in Lushnja (pronounced “Loosh’ nya”), a city of 70,000 people located approximately 50 miles southwest of Tirana. Several WEI students in the Lushnja area have been baptized into Christ, but they have had no local congregation with which to worship, study, and grow.
About a year ago, Tom Bonner (part-time Singles Minister at the Metro congregation in Gresham, Oregon) felt a tug on his heart — as though God were calling him to Albania. He couldn’t get Albania out of his mind. He studied the map again and again and felt drawn to the city of Lushnja.
While Tom was experiencing this internal tug, the Lord was also working on some people in Albania. In early July 2001, Bill Morgan (director of the WEI campaign in Tirana), Dr. Bob Threlkeld, and Jim Fox made a trip to Berat (in central Albania) to visit WEI students. On their way back to Tirana, they drove through Lushnja. As they passed through town, Bob felt an overwhelming burden and started praying for the people there.
Later, in Tirana, Bob told us about his spiritual experience and urged us to join him in prayer. Every morning during our devotionals, the campaigners prayed for Lushnja. Every Sunday and Wednesday, the Albanian Christians prayed for Lushnja. We sensed that the Spirit of God was moving among us and stirring us to action.
On Saturday, July 28, 2001, twenty-four Albanians and six Americans made a trip to Lushnja. These 30 participants broke up into small groups and walked through the city. As they walked, they prayed for the people, posted advertisements in store windows, and talked to people about studying English and the Bible by correspondence. The residents of Lushnja were very receptive.
In January 2002, Tom Bonner asked the Metro elders to pray for him, asking God to show him whether or not he should move to Albania. He even went forward during the invitation one Sunday morning and asked for the prayers of the entire church.
On March 16, 2002, Tom went with me to Albania to “spy out the land.” He attended the third annual church leaders/missionary conference in Tirana and met missionaries and Albanian church leaders from various parts of Albania and Kosova.
Following the conference, Artan Xhaferi took Tom and two other men to Lushnja to look at apartments and to check out empty stores. They found the perfect store on a main street that was available for $350 a month. The store was beautifully tiled inside and had large plate glass windows across the front and on one side. It also had pulldown metal window covers. Tom came back to Tirana full of excitement.
On March 23, Tom went back to Lushnja with a group of Americans and Albanians. As they walked through the streets, they talked to people about our plans to open a new WEI teaching center in Lushnja. The people responded with enthusiasm.
The next week, Erik Qirjaqi and Artan Xhaferi went to Lushnja, rented the store, ordered furniture, and made arrangements to put up a WEI sign. Artan and Erik plan to spend one or two days a week in Lushnja teaching WEI students. The men in Tirana plan to take turns preaching in Lushnja on Sunday.
Upon returning to the States, Tom told his four grown children about his trip to Albania. All of them encouraged him to go back as a missionary. Tom decided that God had answered his prayers, so he resigned his job at the credit union and started looking for a sponsoring church. At the time of this writing, Tom is in Abilene, Texas attending ACU’s missions training program. What a leap of faith!
This July, Bill Morgan is scheduled to lead a summer campaign in Lushnja. One of the teachers will be Dr. Bob Threlkeld, the man who started the avalanche of prayer last July. Two young Albanian preachers-in-training will work with the Americans in an effort to establish a church in Lushnja by the time Tom Bonner arrives in early August.
Please spread the word about this new church planting, and help Tom raise the support and working funds he needs to build a good church in Lushnja. If you know of a church that would like to help send this good man to the mission field, please let us hear from you. The opportunity is great, and the need is now!
