Last month my team was placed with four other teams in the southern part of Romania to partner with Hope Church. We were split up to work alongside different ministries within the church, but we all reported to one “general.” Our host, Raul Costea, is the Pastor of Hope Church. On our first day in Romania, Raul sat us all down to ask us about ourselves. He told us to prepare answers to questions such as: where are you from? What are you passionate about? What role do you play in the building of God’s Kingdom? As we all sat and individually answered these questions, he had a secretary take notes and when someone said something that stood out to him, he would turn to his secretary and say “star” or “highlight.” At first we laughed at this notion. We later realized this was Raul’s way of taking intentional notes, knowing who to seek out for one on one conversation later about further partnership with Hope Church.
Raul is very wise. He can quote specific scripture for any circumstance and boldly walks in the way God has asked him to: leading a church, leading a family, living as a sacrifice. He has a heart for Americans, but his passion is for Romanians and their souls. He takes everything he does very seriously and works tirelessly to make things excellent. Raul is detail oriented, quick to ask for forgiveness and quick to offer Biblical perspective. We soon learned to call him “general” and he would call each of us “captain.” Raul Costea is someone I want to continue to learn from. His bold nature, knowledge of scripture and pursuit of souls will stick with me the rest of the Race and beyond.
To show him appreciation for all he did for us, one of my talented friends put together a video showing how much we learned from him this past month, check it out!
If you have any interest in partnering with Raul or Hope Church please contact me directly or reach out to their Facebook page: Hope Church Romania
http://www.hoperomania.org/contact-us.html
