Hi, it's me again—Yves Monnier, the fellow who helped out with It Is Written's Road to Rome evangelistic series in Rome, Italy, one year ago. It's hard to believe that it's been already a year since that epic series of meetings in February and March 2010. So many lives were transformed during that series.
The best news, though, is that the blessings continued well after the meetings ended. Here are a few stories of what God has done in the last 12 months in Rome and beyond...
Do you remember Sergio the barber? How could you forget him? When I left Rome I was a little worried about him. Would he indeed close his barbershop on Sabbath? Would he continue to attend church? You know, old habits are hard to break, especially when your livelihood is at stake!
Good news! Sergio did permanently close his shop on Sabbath, which, by the way, is just a few blocks away from the Vatican. As a matter of fact, he has three signs (not just one or two) to let all his customers know that he is closed on Sabbath.
Furthermore, not only does he faithfully attend the church, but he was baptized there on July 3, 2010. Recently, Sergio flew (for the very first time in his life) to the United States to share his personal testimony with It Is Written Partners. What a powerful testimony!
Then there's Domenico. Domenico is an architect employed by the city of Rome. Over the years he'd had some Bible studies with Adventists but really struggled with letting go of the traditions he had been raised with.
However, Domenico accepted an invitation to the evangelistic series in Rome. There, through Pastor Shawn Boonstra, God clearly spoke to him and convicted him about the traditions he was holding on to. After the meetings, he resumed his Bible studies and made a decision to be baptized Jesus' way—by immersion. The baptism took place on Sept. 25, 2010.
The Road to Rome meetings were filmed by the local church and archived on the Adventist Italian Union's website to be downloaded. Daniele Benini, the Italian coordinator for the series, told us that there have been hundreds of downloads. Who knows who is watching this series and receiving a blessing?
One person we do know about is a lady who lives in New York City (yes, you read that correctly). Her sister, an Adventist in Rome who attended the meetings, downloaded the whole series for her and put them on DVDs.
The lady in New York had over the years rejected her sister's "teachings." To humor her sister in Rome, she started watching the DVD’s and was hooked. She watched them not only once in their entirety, but twice. As a result she made a decision to observe the seventh-day Sabbath.
Aren't these wonderful stories? And there are a lot more. One of my favorites is what happened to me personally. Upon my return to Bakersfield, California, I resumed my duties as the pastor of my beloved Hillcrest district (two awesome churches). You cannot imagine how happy I was to be back home with my family and church families.
However, a few months after my return, I received an invitation from It Is Written to be their global evangelism coordinator. In other words, to do what I did in Rome full-time. Wow! What an amazing opportunity. Imagine, working with It Is Written and coordinating all of their evangelistic efforts. I accepted. So, with a bittersweet feeling in my heart I recently said goodbye to my churches (I'd been their pastor for almost 14 years).
My first project as the new It Is Written evangelism coordinator is the Las Vegas project, Winning Las Vegas—Reaching the World. If you thought Rome was a crazy endeavor, I think Vegas is even crazier and bolder!
I'll tell you more about it in my weekly blog entitled, From Las Vegas (creative title, uh?) which will appear on the Las Vegas blog page (www.itiswritten.com/lasvegas). So, stay tuned for a lot more next week!
Blessings,
Pastor Yves Monnier