{"id":1070,"date":"2016-11-16T22:53:49","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T22:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?p=1070"},"modified":"2016-11-16T23:11:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T23:11:54","slug":"centrul-crestin-betania-celebrates-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2016\/11\/16\/centrul-crestin-betania-celebrates-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Centrul Crestin Betania Celebrates 25 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 22, 1989… It seems like a random date. Do you happen to remember what you were doing that day or what took place in your life?<\/p>\n

I have no earthly idea what was going on in my life. I do know that I was a senior in high school; that it was the day before we got out for Christmas break; but that is about the extent of it. However, if you happen to be from Romania, I am sure this day is one that you will not forget because on this day, after 23 years of dictatorial rule, communist leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown in a revolution.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine what it must have been like to live under that communist regime? Living in the United States, I wonder how much I truly take for granted. By the time of Ceausescu\u2019s downfall, Romania was the most repressive\"betania-25th-anniversary\"<\/a> and economically backward country in Europe. There are so many questions\u2026<\/p>\n

What was it like to be under so much control one day and by the end of the week, you are free?<\/p>\n

What was the church like in Romania? And for that matter, was the church permitted?<\/p>\n

What was it like to pastor during that time?<\/p>\n

It was not long after this historic event that Rev. Teodor Bulzan felt led of the Lord to begin Centrul Crestin Betania in Oradea, Romania. A plant from another Pentecostal congregation in the region, Betania has grown to a thriving congregation numbering well over 900 attendees.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, members of the IPHC Global Leadership Council (GLC) had the privilege of attending the celebration of the 25th<\/sup> anniversary of Centrul Crestin Betania. It was a wonderful experience; the song selection reflected both the traditional as well as the contemporary, the children\u2019s choir sang an energetic song that was contagious, the teen drama team presented a story from Scripture, representatives from the GLC, including Hong Kong, Chile, Canada, South Africa and the United States, shared words of encouragement and congratulations \"betania-25th-anniversary-2-adb-bulzan\"<\/a>and IPHC General Superintendent Doug Beacham preached an impactful message. All throughout the service, I was praying that at some point during the morning, I would receive the gift of interpretation so that I could actively participate in the service more. Even then, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.<\/p>\n

In addition to his role as pastor of Betania, Rev. Bulzan also serves as the founder and leader of Romanian Mission and Bible Society. The goal of the society is to train leaders across Romania and equip them to plant churches. It is our prayer that the Lord will continue to bless both Betania and the Society to spread the gospel message all across the nation of Romania.<\/p>\n

~Wesley Samuel<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A video of the full celebration service is now available online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[403,402,404,406,405],"class_list":{"0":"post-1070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"tag-25-years","9":"tag-anniversary","10":"tag-betania","11":"tag-centrul-crestin-betania","12":"tag-wesley-samuel","13":"entry"},"title_es":"Centro Cristiano Betania celebra 25 a\u00f1os","content_es":"22 de de diciembre de, de 1989 ... Parece una fecha aleatoria. \u00bfPor casualidad recordar lo que estaba haciendo ese d\u00eda o lo que ocurri\u00f3 en su vida? No tengo ni la m\u00e1s remota idea de lo que estaba pasando en mi vida. Yo s\u00e9 que yo era el \u00faltimo a\u00f1o de la escuela secundaria; que era el d\u00eda antes de llegar a cabo durante las vacaciones de Navidad; pero que es sobre el alcance de la misma. Sin embargo, si quieres pasar a ser de Rumania, estoy seguro de que este d\u00eda es uno que no olvidar\u00e1 porque en este d\u00eda, despu\u00e9s de 23 a\u00f1os de r\u00e9gimen dictatorial, el l\u00edder comunista, Nicolae Ceausescu, fue derrocado en una revoluci\u00f3n. \u00bfPuede usted imaginar lo que debe haber sido vivir bajo ese r\u00e9gimen comunista? Viven en los Estados Unidos, me pregunto cu\u00e1nto de cierto os dan por sentado. En el momento de la ca\u00edda de Ceausescu, Ruman\u00eda fue el m\u00e1s represivo \"Betania-25-aniversario\"<\/a> y el pa\u00eds econ\u00f3micamente atrasado en Europa. Hay tantas preguntas ... \u00bfQu\u00e9 se siente estar bajo control tanto un d\u00eda y al final de la semana, usted es libre? \u00bfCu\u00e1l fue la iglesia como en Rumania? Y para el caso, se le permiti\u00f3 a la iglesia? \u00bfQu\u00e9 se siente al pastor durante ese tiempo? No pas\u00f3 mucho tiempo despu\u00e9s de este acontecimiento hist\u00f3rico que el Rev. Teodor Bulzan sinti\u00f3 guiado del Se\u00f1or para comenzar Centrul Crestin Betania en Oradea, Rumania. Una planta de otra congregaci\u00f3n pentecostal en la regi\u00f3n, Betania ha crecido a una floreciente congregaci\u00f3n de numeraci\u00f3n m\u00e1s de 900 asistentes. Hace dos semanas, los miembros del Consejo de Liderazgo Global IISP (GLC) tuvieron el privilegio de asistir a la celebraci\u00f3n del 25\u00ba<\/sup> aniversario de Centrul Crestin Betania. Fue una experiencia maravillosa; la selecci\u00f3n de la canci\u00f3n refleja tanto la tradicional como la contempor\u00e1nea, el coro de ni\u00f1os cant\u00f3 una canci\u00f3n en\u00e9rgica que era contagiosa, el equipo de drama adolescente presenta una historia de la Escritura, representantes de la GLC, incluyendo Hong Kong, Chile, Canad\u00e1, Sud\u00e1frica y los Estados Unidos, las palabras compartidas de aliento y felicitaciones \"Betania-25-aniversario-2-ADB-bulzan\"<\/a> y el Superintendente General de IISP Doug Beacham predic\u00f3 un mensaje impactante. Durante todo el servicio, yo estaba orando que en alg\u00fan momento durante la ma\u00f1ana, iba a recibir el don de interpretaci\u00f3n para que pudiera participar activamente en el servicio m\u00e1s. Incluso entonces, disfrut\u00e9 much\u00edsimo de la experiencia. Adem\u00e1s de su papel como pastor de Betania, Rev. Bulzan tambi\u00e9n sirve como el fundador y l\u00edder de la Misi\u00f3n de Rumania y de la Sociedad B\u00edblica. El objetivo de la sociedad es la formaci\u00f3n de l\u00edderes a trav\u00e9s de Rumania y equiparlos para plantar iglesias. Es nuestra oraci\u00f3n para que el Se\u00f1or siga bendiciendo tanto Betania y la Sociedad para difundir el mensaje del Evangelio en toda la naci\u00f3n de Rumania. ~ Samuel Wesley<\/strong>","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/11\/Betania-Church-Romania-3-e1479335875190.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-hg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}