Early Sunday morning in Kristiansund, Norway

A weekly review from my point of view

This week we have had our 24/7 prayers in Latvia. Every hour day and night the whole week one or several people have been praying. It is great to be part in such a prayer chain. When I woke up early Monday morning and started to pray I could almost sense within me that somebody else just said Amen. And when I, one hour later, said Amen, somebody else went on with the prayers.

Tuesday we had Officers´ Meetings in Latvia and we talked about our covenant with God. Directly when the Officers´ Meetings ended we travelled to the southern parts of Sweden to take part in the Leaders Conference for the Sweden/Latvia Territory. In the Conference Ruth and I were asked to speak on the subject "From dreams to reality".

In the Conference we also had the opportunity to meet the coming Regional Commander i Latvia for the first time, Christine Bailey.

Christina Bailey to the left, talking to Mona Stockman

After the Conference we went to the the very far west coast of Norway to speak at a Bible Weekend in Kristiansund. And here we met the first winter storms for this year. They told us there was 16 meters high waves on the ocean when we arrived in Kristiansund.

The Atlantic Road to Kristiansund, Norway

The Salvation Army building in Kristiansund

Now it is Sunday morning and tonight we will have the final meeting in the Bible Weekend and then it is time to return to Latvia for a new week.

I pray it will be a blessed week for you.
Peter Baronowsky

A Tsunami of Revival is Coming

"As I have mentioned before in the Vision of the Harvest that I was given 25 years ago, I saw two waves of revival coming upon the earth. The first was the greatest move of God in history for gathering people to the Lord. That wave of revival began just a couple of years after I received this vision. More people came to Christ during that move than had come to Him before in all of history. I was also shown a period of relative spiritual quiet before an even bigger wave of the Holy Spirit swept across the earth. That wave is now approaching, and it will be the biggest move of God on the earth of all time."

Rick Joyner. 
Read more on CharismaMagazine

Early Sunday morning in Riga October 21

The blogposts this week on rupeba.se have been very much from the Prague-conferencies last week. Now I have also received the pictures from the week. Here you can see the Latvian group taking part in the Congress...

...and here you can see cadet Arturs reading from the Bible....

...and you can see many more pictures here.  You can watch the Sunday meeting here.

The past week I made a short visit to Stockholm to take part in the board meeting of the Clapham Institute. The Clapham Instistitute is mainly publishing articles in the Swedish daily press promoting a Christian view on life.

Now it is Sunday morning and soon time to go down to the meeting at Riga first Corps. After that we look forward to a week full of activities. Tuesday we have Officers´ Meetings in Riga. In the evening after those meetings we travel to Sweden to take part in the Swedish Leaders´ days, and after that we  continue directly to Kristiansund on the Norwegian west coast to lead a Bible weekend at the corps.

I pray that it will be a blessed week for you.
Peter Baronowsky

Testimony from General Wickberg

From Army Barmy blog:

General Wickberg gives this short testimony:
"We were 500 Cadets in my Session. Our Training Principal was Commissioner Charles Jeffries. But we did not see much of him except in big meetings and lectures. He had opened our work in China, and he loved China. He often spoke about that great country. But it impressed us more to learn that he had been the leader of the "Skeleton Army" that fought William Booth and his Salvation Army on the streets of Whitechapel until he was converted and became a Christian himself. He was a 'he-man', a quick-witted Londoner, a man of few words, always to the point, who could preach about hell-fire and the tail of the devil, so that we seemed to smell sulpher and brimstone!"
----
Notable on many fronts. First, the leader of the Skels gets saved. And he becomes a pioneer to a missionary land. The Session had 500. He preached hell-fire effectively. Praise the Lord.

"My heart's desire and my prayer"

One of my reports from the Congress in Prague has been translated into English on fsaof.blogspot.com.

You can read it here:

Report from the Prague Congress, Friday October 12, 2012

Friday in Prague was an intense day. It began with General Linda Bond joining the conference sessions and speaking to the delegates. Then there was a grand reception at the British Embassy where ambassadors from the European countries were invited. Unfortunately the Latvian ambassador did not attend, but many of the diplomats were presented to his country's Salvation Army representative.

In the evening it was time for the opening ceremony and meeting. More than a thousand participants came and filled the large conference hall. The General spoke on Paul's words from Romans 10:1 - "Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God (for the Israelites) is that they may be saved"

Linda Bond spoke passionately about her own dreams and aspirations. She said:
"My dream and desire is that we be:
-an army with dynamic worship. A deep and transformative worship.
-an army that boldly testify of Jesus.
-an army with a vibrant prayer life.
-an army with a community where they can grow. Spiritual growth of each member is a must.
-an army where the soldiers are soldiers and not only called soldiers.
-an army with a strong holiness preaching that leads to that you can see God's work in and through each member.
-an army that focuses on men to be saved
-an army that is at war with the devil and evil in the world "

Peter Baronowsky
Regional Commander
Latvia

Early Sunday morning in Prag, October 14

Presentation of the participating countries

This week we have spent in Prague. During the week we had a Central- and Easteuropean Conference and in the weekend the European Congress.

The meetings have been filled by joy, music and good preaching.

Yesterday (saturday) we had on open air meeting in central Prague and later in the evening a Congress Meeting which started by a flagparade with the 19 participating countries.

The big Congress Choir (180 people?) sang the theme for the Congress: "One Army, One Mission, One Message".

1500 participants in the Congess Hall

General Linda Bond preached about the five pieces of bread and the two fishes which were transformed to food for more than five thousand people. Linda Bond said that there are many Liberal Theology thoughts that try to explain the miracles of Jesus in a natural way. For example saying that the amount of food appeared because everybody share the sandwiches they had brought with each other. But Linda Bond stated: "I believe in miracles!"

Other people say that the miracles are signs pointing at spiritual things. But the miracles was not signs of something else. It was Jesu meeting real needs in real people, either they were blind, ill or hungry.

Prague from the river

The week is coming close to an end. During the week we also had a few opportunities to see the beautiful city of Prague, well worth a later visit. One of the evenings we had the opportunity to see Prague from the riverside.

Now it is Sunday morning and soon time to go to the final Congress meeting. After that we return to Riga and a new working week.

I pray it will be a blessed week for you.
Peter Baronowsky

The Salvation Army Rocks Malmö

The Salvation Army is a candidate for the big Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö. With the rocky song “You and me” by Hitmill, Switzerland’s leading hit producer for stars like Tinkabelle, Pegasus, Lovebugs, etc.

Read more here and listen to the music here:

Healines week 40

You Can Change Your World

- Bill Bright at CRU - "You must bring a lot of happiness into this world," said the young businessman with tears of joy and gratitude in his eyes. He had just prayed with me and received Christ as his Savior and Lord. He and his wife had been looking for God for some time, he said, and now he was eager to take the Four Spiritual Laws booklet home with him so that he could in turn introduce his wife to Christ."

What If “No Creed but the Bible” Is Unbiblical?

- The Gospel Coalition - "In his new book The Creedal Imperative Carl Trueman writes:
    Christians are not divided between those who have creeds and confessions and those who do not; rather, they are divided between those who have public creeds and confessions which are written down and exist as public documents, subject to public scrutiny, evaluation, and critique; and those who have private creeds and confessions which are often improvised, unwritten, and thus not open to public scrutiny, not susceptible to evaluation and, crucially and ironically, not subject to testing by scripture to see whether they are true or not."

 Brian McLaren's Son Marries Same-Sex Partner

- Christian Post - "The son of author and speaker Brian McLaren, who is often identified as part of the controversial emergent church, married his same-sex partner this past weekend.
Trevor Douglas McLaren, 28, wed Owen Patrick Ryan on Saturday in Washington, according to The New York Times. The marriage ceremony was officiated by a Universal Life minister, and his father, Brian McLaren, led a commitment ceremony with "traditional Christian elements" afterward."

Early Sunday morning in Riga, October 7

Weekly review from my point of view

Las Sunday we had the official opening of our new Corps Planting in Saldus between Riga and Liepaja on the westcoast of Latvia. The opening meeting was held outdoors since we do nat have any facilities yet in Saldus.

Tambourines, singing, testimonies and more at the opening meeting in Saldus. You can find more pictures here.

After the open air meeting in Saldus we went on to Liepaja and the afternoon meeting with the first enrolment ever at the corps. Ten young teenagers became junior soldiers.

Ten new junior soldiers in Liepaja

Eight of them were given time to give their personal testimony

Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Salvation Army work in Iecava. All former corps leaders were invited.

The Hall was full of people

The Corps Leaders Karina and Liene leading the worship team

The Songsters from Bauska were singing

Ruth Hansen, told about the first days in Iecava

Rut and Peter played "To God be the Glory"

The Mayor of Iecava and many others spoke

Many gifts were given to the Corps in Iecava

And now it is Sunday morning and soon time to go to the meeting. After the meeting we have to make preparations for our trip to Prag. During the week there will be an Eastern European Conference and next weekend the Europe Congress "Forward".

I pray it will be a blessed week for you. Maybe I will meet you in Prague next weekend?
Peter Baronowsky

Headlines week 39

Preach the Gospel wherever you go
- Lausanne Global Conversation - "Rev. Derek Simpson believes there is a lack of confidence in preaching. He discusses the important role of evangelists and evangelism in the proclamation of the Gospel." 

The Arab Spring and TSA's response...

- Sven Ljungholm FSAOF - How should Salvationist react to the recent conflicts engulfing Arab nations?
In December 2010, Tunisian protestors filled the streets, sparking a revolution that resulted in the overthrow of their long-standing dictator, President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. What happened in Tunisia set off an often violent chain reaction around the Middle East now referred to as the “Arab Spring”, and I know of no world leader or policy maker who didn’t appear off-guard.  But the rioters weren’t limiting their actions to political ambitions, the overthrow of national leaders, but their fanned violence targeted western embassies and religious institutions."

8 Reasons Jesus Wants You to Witness

- Bill Bright at CRU - "Permit me to give you, briefly, 8 reasons God desires all believers to share their faith.
First, as you witness, you bring glory to God. Jesus says in John 15:8, "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."