Kent brings an exciting update about what God is doing in Eastern Europe!
Update on Ministry in Romania and Moldova
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Nathan Norman
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2025 CrossTalk Global
Nathan: Even with all the conflict in Eastern Europe, God is still on the move. Equipping biblical communicators through crosstalk Global. Today going to hear an update about what God is doing in Moldova and Romania, both which border Ukraine. Welcome to CrossTalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all of our lives. I'm Nathan Norman. Today we take a brief break from the book of Galatians to hear about exciting news the from Moldova and Romania. Let's listen in.
Kent: It's my privilege today to give you a brief update on some of the exciting ways that God is using crosstalk Global. As many of you know, crosstalk Global exists to equip biblical communicators so every culture can hear God's voice. And that's important because according to the center of global Christianity, some 95% of all Christian leaders have had no theological education, no training whatsoever. So we exist in order to change that, to equip the leaders of Christchurch to faithfully and effectively communicate God's word to their people. But our real goal is also transformation. We want, yes, to equip church leaders, but we want them to be able, with the skills and their knowledge of God's Word, to transform the lives of those who sit under their ministry. And that's happening around the world. I just got back the other day from a trip to both Moldova and Romania and I'm really excited about what's happening in those countries. They're separate countries, very close together, that both share the Romanian language, but they're independent. In Moldova this spring, we graduated our first class. So after three years and six in person residencies, we graduated 24 students and developed six apprentices. That's critical because that means that next generation, when we have another Crosstalk cohort formed, which is going to happen this fall, we'll have enough Moldovans trained so that they can begin to equip other Moldovans for the cause of Christ. This past weekend, I found myself in Moldova. We had a one day event to introduce crosstalk to some new people. We had a good turnout of students, a number of which indicated they want to join the upcoming Crosstalk cohort. And when the taste of crosstalk was over, one of our key laypeople in the town sent me a message telling me that he then heard from 12 additional Moldovans that they wanted to join the cohort as well. In fact, Nathan, you'll be surprised to know that it's spreading across Europe at least a little bit, because the same gentleman told me that he got another text message from a potential student from Denmark and another from Sweden. Wow. So I am really excited about what's happening in Moldova. But in my whirlwind trip out to Eastern Europe, I spent some time in Romania. Yes. We held a one day event to introduce people in Romania to what crosstalk is and the potential benefits it could bring to them and to their people. And I was glad to be able to do that. But we also had a discussion with the president of the Baptist Theological Institute. This is the oldest seminary, the original seminary, if you will, in Romania. It's got a great reputation across the country and beyond. And they have approached us to ask if we would enter into formal partnership with them. Wow. We've had contact with them over the past few years, and I think they recognize that we have an expertise that they do not have, that our ministries are transformative in a way that other programs are not. And they're asking us to help them to equip the Baptist churches of Romania to become more effective communicators and more effective in transforming lives of their congregants. This is very rare. Often schools of higher education may misunderstand our ministry to be just another seminar on a subject that doesn't make much difference, or maybe in competition to them, which of course we certainly don't want to be. But as we met and I went with one of our board members to join me in this discussion, and we sat down with the president and had a very helpful conversation with him, they really see that crosstalk can help not only equip their students, the students in the institute, but also a number of the village pastors who are doing their best to nurture the small congregations God's entrusted to them, but really haven't had any training. And they feel, and I think it's likely that we can enter into an agreement that will allow them to be far more effective in their ministry for the cause of Christ. I'll be taking this opportunity to our executive board members for approval, but it sure looks positive in the next couple of weeks that partnership could become a reality. That's exciting.
Nathan: It is, yeah.
Kent: But as I mentioned, our goal is not just to equip biblical communicators, but to transform lives as a result. And one of our students in Moldova recently wrote a letter Talking about how CrossTalk has had an influence on his life and ministry and the potential he sees for Crosstalk to have a transformative effect on his country as a whole. Nathan, would you mind reading that letter for us?
Nathan: Yeah. We're going to call this student Alex. Hello. Dear friends, my name is Alex. I was born saved and am involved in teaching ministry primarily in one of the churches located in the capital of our country, the Republic of Moldova, and other churches. When invited, I've been preaching the Word of God for almost 24 years. And over the years, my preparation for teaching and delivery of the message was primarily influenced by sincere and at the same time deficient models of my pastors and teachers going to seminary. I thought I would fix all of that, although I found I was still ill equipped to handle the ministry of teaching efficiently on a regular basis and this brought frustration to me personally and not much benefit to the church. I was inefficient and had the conviction that the most important part of my calling was not fulfilling my potential. This is where I made a decision either to quit doing something that I was called and loved doing the most for the Kingdom of God, or to do something to have better communication skills and to be better equipped to handle the Word of God. This is when, providentially, my path crossed with crosstalk. During the process of relearning how to preach more faithfully the text of the Bible, I learned to respect the genre, the structure of the text, the intention of the author, and all the principles of healthy preaching. This brought two benefits. First, I became more confident in understanding the Bible better. I was more equipped to handle entire books of the Bible, and I was able to simplify the message, giving the main ideas of each text and not trying to show everyone how every single detail in the text fit together. It's been a blessing to be able to be more confident in teaching. Second, the church was able to grow in their spiritual life and they themselves can now remember more of the Word of God because they feel like they can handle it themselves. And because preaching was modeled this way, they're able to understand the Bible text more clearly. Another benefit of taking crosstalk courses is that it created like minded ministers of the Word that became a group of support and encouragement. Having more people that share the same calling and the same vision in accomplishing it seems more of a movement than solitary soldiers trying to do everything on their own. Crosstalk has been a blessing, but it's not enough. Having over a thousand churches in our country and only 22 of the ministers going through crosstalk courses, the need is still overwhelming. If more churches have more qualified teachers of the Word. I think more people will come to hear the Word of God for themselves. Teaching better today will enable future generations of ministers to have a better model to reach their current generation and our culture with the eternal Word of God. I am praying that less people start preaching like I did without any idea how to handle Scriptures in the beginning. But we'll have more that are confident in preaching the Bible faithfully like I've learned through crosstalk Global. It's a good investment.
Kent: With respect, Alex well, that pretty well summarizes the whole goal of crosstalk, doesn't it?
Nathan: Sure does.
Kent: How do we equip the present people and equip them to equip others? Because we want every culture to hear God's voice. Many thanks to those of you who are listening who have supported us in this endeavor. We don't do it alone. We can't do it without God going before us. And I appreciate your prayers and words of support. It means a lot to me. And I appreciate those who have helped us financially because all of this requires an investment. An investment in helping the materials be produced and go forward. The investment of investing in other people's lives by coaching them on a regular basis and investing in support staff back here in North America to help everyone keep organized moving forward and better able to accomplish the purpose God has made for their lives. Thank you so much for all you've done and we'll keep you informed about other ways that other places where God has and is moving through crosstalk Global.
Nathan: God is working through crosstalk to make a difference in Romania, Moldova and around the world. I trust the news about what God is doing has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers together. Let's bring God's Word to life to to all of our lives all around the world. This week the crosstalk Podcast is a production of crosstalk Global equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more about this educational nonprofit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. we are getting ready for even more crosstalk events around the world and in America. Help us train the next generation of biblical communicators. All all you have to do is click donate in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by rating it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you find it. Be sure to listen next Friday as we return to the Book of Galatians. You won't want to miss it.