The Bulgarians first request was to send Emanuel and Nellie Naydenov and family to seminary in the West to prepare them for ministry with the Bulgarian Biblical Academy Logos. Also, some MCEE members, fearing brain drain, had reservations about the wisdom of bringing foreign nationals to the U.S. for study. However, the ground rule was, Bulgaria drives the agenda. Bethel Theological Seminary in Minneapolis joined MCEE and provided scholarship help for the Naydenovs. Three churches and a local foundation agreed to cover the balance.
All profits support Bulgarian evangelism, church planting, and Christian literature.
Volunteers from local churches who donate their time to operate the thrift center also take daily breaks to pray for the ministries in Bulgaria. It also has established sister-church relationships between 11 Bulgarian and Minnesota churches, provided humanitarian aid, with particular focus on orphanages, distributed through evangelical churches, supported work on Hebrew and Greek grammars for use in theological education, and assisted in training projects for church planters and church leaders. Plans also are under way for evangelistic outreach to Bulgarian minorities in Macedonia and Moldova. It is, of course, God s work. There are trips between the two countries three, four, or more times per year and most participants have Bulgarian friends.