SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #143 ---- 10/08/00
Posted by: root <root@...>
As We fight The Good Fight
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #143 ---- 10/08/00
TITLE: "Joel's Army"
My Dear Friend in Ministry:
Tonight as I write, I am looking out the window of a newly renovated small apartment Jo Ann and I are occupying, overlooking the lighted city of Sarajevo. This is not a new scene to us; yet it is as fresh and envigorating as if we were viewing it for the first time.
Situated across the street from the church where we are head quartered, in a building that was nearly completely destroyed during the war, we find ourselves on the top floor with an incredible view out the windows and off the balcony overlooking the city of Sarajevo.
We can see the indestructible communications tower across the valley on a mountain peak. Tito had it built to withstand the most severe attack of western enemies in order to retain command to his military masses. When it became apparent the Yugoslav Army would have to abandon its stranglehold on the city in 1995, Milosivic tried to have it blown up, but Tito had done too good a job. It stands today.
Then there is the newspaper office whose main 20 story tower was a shambles after the war a,nd now remains as a permanent monument to the staying power of the people. Every floor collapsed downward around its mighty elevator shafts, leaving them standing as a giant finger pointing skyward, a testimony to the wonderfully stubborn strength of the Balkan people.
Down the street a few blocks is the Holiday Inn where all the reporters hid out during the war. I can still remember hearing reports being broadcast live from the inner chambers of that big yellow target.
Across the street is the Bosnian government's 36 story Parliament Building, the upper tower floors still in ruins and unoccupied since the war.
To my right and down the street is a row of apartment buildings ---- or at least what remains of them. They appear to be absolutely uninhabitable, but there near the top floor I see a window with a curtain on in and a flower box still filled with the late colors of a coming Fall. It's hard to believe someone lives there. It's probably a widow lady who has no place else to go. Further down still remain some families from Kosovo, living in bombed out buildings with no water, heat, or electricity, and the gaping holes in the walls covered with plastic that won't stay in place.
To my left is a small house, much like the one I'm in ---- only the roof is still gone, probably blown off by a mortar round that found it as a random target. Next door is another house, probably looking much like the first one once did. From its tiny chimney drifts if whisp of smoke ---- someone is cooking a late supper.
Just below us I spot a tree ---- actually two trees, filled with fresh fruit. At first glance, I detect it to be pears. A closer look reveals that one is filled with nearly ripe pears, and the other with yellow apples. "Probably Golden Delicious", I think to myself. Jo Ann suggests we see if Melissa or her twin sister Mirella would climb the trees and pick some for us. But then we remember the trees are not ours.
Then, back from memories past, I recall a moment I watched on television years ago when the great skater Katarina Witt came out of retirement to eloquently but with broken heart skate a tribute to the Sarajevo she knew and loved where she had won a gold medal in the Olympics.
Whenever I see Sarajevo from above, I think I catch a brief sense of what Jesus must have felt as He overlooked Jerusalem from atop the Mount of Olives the day He cried over the city. I don't know if I will ever get Sarajevo out of my mind.
The pastor with whom we are working on this journey shared with me today an experience he had recently when he took a missionary to the top of one of the mountains overlooking the city one night.
As they sat there in the quiet darkness with the lights of the city glistening like diamonds arranged on black velvet, the time for the Muslim call to prayer drew near. Then, off in the distance the call was dispatched. Then another . . . . and another . . . . and then two or three more, . . . . and then still more ----- until over a period of several minutes the air was filled with the pathos of wailing voices from over 150 mosques imploring people to cry out to Allah, their god.
As he described the picture, I wanted to shudder. It was then I began to realize just how deep is the darkness that covers the city tonight, no matter how beautiful the lights.
It made me wonder about other cities and towns around the world, and even the countryside, where futile voices call people to cry out to something that will give them peace . . . . purpose . . . . hope.
There is but One who can do that, and only one prayer that can gain His ear ---- and you and I have the message.
I wonder why we so often keep it to ourselves, preoccupied with excessive meaningless and fruitless religious activity and fervor.
A SPECIAL BLESSING:
This past week I received the following letter that encouraged me greatly. I never cease to be amazed at how God uses some letters, apparently written at just the write time for just the right person. That's something I could never choreography myself, no matter how skilled I might try to be.
"Dear Mr. Tolliver,
"'Be ye steadfast,...' is a verse of great comfort to us lately. We have been taking care of my mother for over 3 years now. She is in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease. She is so bad that her doctor admitted her to hospice over 7 months ago, thinking she might have 6 months to live. And yet she lives on. Our labor is not in vain.
"We have 6 children, ages 5-20, all still at home. Many days we pray to be relieved of this adversity. We don't want to put her in a nursing home; we just want her to go on to Glory. But evidently the Lord still needs to work on us, because as long as she is here with us, God is seriously working in our lives.
"Some days we just can't see any fruit. But we know we are being obedient. Maybe all the fruit is dormant right now. Here is a woman who accepted Jesus as her Savior when she was 9 years old. That means that she is on the doorstep of entering the presence of God! When I think that we are probably the last ones that are going to care for her in this earthly life, it awes me. Any day now, she's going to be escorted by angels to the Throne.
"Thank you for your newsletter. I found great encouragement in it this week."
JOEL'S ARMY ---- THE NEW WARRIORS:
>From 1992 until 1995 Sarajevo was surrounded by armies trying to destroy her. Even today, over five years after the bombardment ceased, more than half the buildings in the city are either totally destroyed or still in need of repair. The mighty armies are gone, but the scars remain.
For every physical scar on a building, there are a dozen scars in the minds and hearts of her citizens. In case you think I am exagerating, the house next door to where Jo Ann and I are staying has more than 400 pock marks from bullets that hit it during the seige. Last June when we were here, I watched soldiers still searching areas of the city for land mines and unexploded mortars and grenades.
The UN personnel and the SFOR troops can still be seen everywhere. Just six blocks or so from our apartment is a huge building, once a dormitory, that now serves as headquarters for the Balkan UN operations.
But, there is another army moving through the streets and the mountains of this land. Though miniscule in size, its weaponry far exceeds that of the former Yugoslav Army. With a manpower smaller than an understaffed platoon, it has armament that cannot be penetrated by anything man has created, and it has a strategy that cannot be deterred.
It is called the Balkan Division of the Army of the Lord God.
There are less than 200 known believers in all of Sarajevo, a city of over 350,000 people, of whom 90% are Muslim. There are perhaps six or seven churches in and near the city, all small. The one with whom we are working this week is the largest, with 50 members. The newly formed Baptist Union of Bosnia consists of fewer than ten churches in all of Bosnia.
Then there are those who have come from other countries to help ---- the church planting Pioneers from Florida, the IMB of the SBC, Campus Crusade, Moj Blizni a Christian humanitarian aid organization, and scores of independent ministries and indivuals such as ours.
All together,though, they are digging in for the long haul and are developing a strategy to see a nation changed ---- a nation already exposed to the Gospel as early as the First Century when Paul entered Ilyricum and Titus came to Dalmatia.
It's a heart pounding sight to behold ---- these determined and deliberate people who have suffered so much, paid so high a price, and yet keep on going.
We've met some of these new warriors of the Balkans in the past few days.
Tomislav and Lidija: Tomo, as we call him, comes from a pastor's home in eastern Croatia. God sent the two of them to Sarajevo with almost nothing ---- except for a vision and a call.
Today he pastors a small but strong church, serves as first president of the Baptist Union of Bosnia, is Director of Moj Blizni (meaning "My Neighbor"), and coordinates a series of practical ministries such as ESL classes, humanitarian work, and the like. The only church members employed in his congregation are employed by Kairos Center, the church, or Moj Blizni.
On top of that he is coordinating the construction of a building addition on the church that will includes dormitory space for volunteer teams, a place for rehabilitation of drug and alcoholic addicts, a sanctuary that will seat 200 people, and a kitchen and dining hall to feed hungry citizens.
Last night, after a long day of services in Sarajevo and Novi Travnik and several hours of travel on mountain roads, he and Lidija spent the night guarding the unheated church building from vandalism because it cannot be secured due to the construction. This morning he will meet with his staff of nine for several hours of prayer and planning. Tonight the two of them will each lead a Bible study group while others on the team teach ESL classes.
They don't realize that they can't do such things as they are. But, don't tell Tomo ---- he's not 30 years old yet.
Others: It is well past Midnight, and yet I am so tempted to tell you about others in this mighty band of militant ministers. I could tell you about Mark, Kay, Susie, and Cristi ---- a missionary family recently come to help Tomo. Mark, following the death of his wife, returned to the Balkans with his daughters and his new wife to serve, love, support, minister ---- whatever is needed.
If anyone had the right to turn in his uniform, Mark did. He had already served in the Balkans for over 14 years. Yet, with his daughters' urging, the family returned. Kay is a valiant trooper and great asset to the family. Susie, age 15, and Cristi, age 13, are simply full of God. They attended the seminar on forgiveness that I attended, and then again the church services yesterday morning. The two things I noticed about them both was how they worshipped God fully, and how diligently they took notes on everything I said.
Or, I could tell you about Sasa, a young single man recently driven by the Spirit to Konjic where he is trying to stir up and revive a struggling church. It has had a history of difficulty. When I spoke there Thursday night, Sasa and two older women were the only ones there aside from Tomo, Mark, and me.
Yet, Sasa won't quit. His father, the pastor at Novi Travnik, was never known to be a quitter, and Sasa is the same. If that church can survive at all, Sasa will make it happen.
Then there are people like Candy, Luciana, and Tami ---- all single young women from America. Candy and Tami were members of our very first two teams we brought to the Balkans. Now they are missionaries in Sarajevo. God has called them here, and their hearts embrace the city. They have no transportation, but will walk or take public transport all over the city, spending time one on one with young men and women they have met, teaching ESL classes, preparing meals, working with youth, cleaning up after meetings, ---- anything they are called to do.
And the list goes on . . . .
God is teaching me so much again on this trip ---- about sacrifice, about slothfulness, about what the true church is really like, about how lost people really are without Christ.
At the moment, however, He's teaching me how important it is for me to get back over to the apartment and spend at least a few minutes with Jo Ann ---- if she's still awake. It's 12:40 a.m. Monday morning.
Have a great week, my friend.
By the way . . . . . .
Would you be interested in signing on with Joel's Army?
In His Bond,
Bob Tolliver
Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright September, 2000. All rights reserved.
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