The story of Reach Out to Romania started sixteen months after the fall of communism in Romania, in the summer of 1991. I had the privilege to return to my home country and begin an incredible journey of mission activity. The very first evangelistic meeting was on the steps of the Opera House in Timisoara, a beautiful city I called home for twenty years.

I remember it like it was just yesterday. After our little band finished playing and couple of the guys shared their testimony, it was my time to address the impromptu audience. After sweeping over the crowd gathered to watch, my eyes wandered on the surrounding buildings and I noticed the bullet holes on the buildings in the plaza.

My whole being shivered as a cold chill went down my spine from the sudden realization that on those very steps, in December,1989, men, women and children were exposed to deadly bullets shot into the crowd, indiscriminately taking innocent lives, to stop their demands for justice and freedom from the communist regime.

I remember tears running down my face as I was telling my countrymen about the love of God in Jesus, sent to free them from the oppression of sin. At that time, there was a special edition of the New Testament. On the cover it said, “Good News for Romania”. The words were written over the colors of the Romanian flag. As a sign of protest, the communist seal was removed, and the flag was left with a hole, to symbolize the wounded country. 

On that summer, I started an incredible journey of mission work in Romania. I give thanks to God for his faithfulness and the hundreds of people who joined me in the faith adventure to reach out to the hurting with the good news of hope and justice.

The spring of 2017 marked the start of a new dimension of my involvement in Romania. On that trip I met a small number of young Reformed pastors, who were engaged in what I think will capture the heart of Romania and the whole European continent with the good news of the Gospel. They had a deep desire to plant and develop a network of churches rooted in God’s Word and Christian principles.

I feel that this is a new Reformation wave that will swell from these small church plants scattered all over the continent and sweep over the European nations estranged from God. Beautiful cathedrals in Europe are filled with tourists and empty of worshipers. This is how our journey together started, this is where we are today, and this is why we are passionate about continuing this great work.