One of the cohort members from our new cohort in Iasi, Romania shared these thoughts:
Crosstalk team came to our city Iasi. We spent two great weeks together with Dr Edwards and Dr Stroie. During this period, about 20 pastors, elders, youth leaders and ministers were trained to better communicate the word of God. People from different countries from Eastern Europe and different regions of Romania joined the cohort. What was very interesting about this cohort was the diversity of students. In the class we could find pastors and missionaries, but also lay people who preach regularly in churches, like a surgeon, IT professionals, engineers, an architect or hairstylist. All of them, godly people with a deep passion for Scriptures and for God’s Kingdom.
Iasi is the largest city at the Eastern boarder of European Union, close to the conflict zone between Ukraine and Russia. It is a strategic city, because it is well connected to Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Some of the students of Crosstalk Iasi serve as missionaries in Rep Moldova and Ukraine.
Right after the New Year Eve, on January 3rd students gathered in order to study how to effectively preach the epistles of the New Testament. Most of them said that the course helped to discover why their preaching had so little impact. Also, they mentioned that understanding the Big Idea of a passage and communicating with a clear structure were really useful.In the mid-weekend of the residency, Dr Edwards and other Crosstalk team members traveled to different cities to preach. Kent visited Suceava and Vaslui and a number of churches were blessed by his ministry and he gave an interview to the largest evangelical radio in Romania. George Cojocaru, a Crosstalk alumni from the first cohort in Oradea, Romania preached at the largest Brethren church in Romania, that housed the Iasi cohort.
Next year, we are looking forward to have Dr Edwards and the Crosstalk team to study the narratives of the Old Testament. The students are eager to explore the Old Testament and to learn how to best use their abilities and gifts given by God for the glory of the Lord. The next residency of Iasi cohort will take place in January 2017.
Stefi Carlescu