Marian has planted a church in Pitulicea, and labors in the planting of four other churches in Florica, Amaru, and Ileana. He and his family live in Pitulicea. His passion for souls and zeal for evangelism has made him a useful servant of Christ in Romania.

Testimony of Conversion

I was born in Pitulicea, Buzau County. After graduating from middle school, I went to high school in Ploiesti, where I was trained to be a motor mechanic. I worked in this area until I had to go to the army. When I came back, I was hired at the Rulmentul Factory in Brasov and I worked there until the Revolution.

One year later, a group of missionaries came and sang Christian songs in the city center. A person from that group shared the Gospel with me, and I received a Bible shortly after that. I started studying the Bible by myself, but then I asked a colleague of mine to explain to me some things from the Bible that I did not understand. She invited me to the Baptist church where she was going. I was baptized on December 1991, and a year later, I married a beautiful and faithful young girl from our church. In 2000, we decided to move to the country in Pitulicea.

We have two children. Our first child, Filip, is twenty years old. He has graduated from high school and is studying to become a nurse. Our second child, Maria, is 10 years old and is in the fourth grade. They are wonderful children, and I am thankful to God for giving me such a beautiful and faithful family.

My wife and I felt that God was calling us to Pitulicea, but we had no plan for what we should do next. We were just putting ourselves at His disposal and trying to understand the calling we had received. We did not necessarily come here to be missionaries, but God showed us that this was what He wanted us to do. He qualified us for the missionary work and blessed us.

I knew there was a small group of believers that used to gather together in Pitulicea in the house of an elderly brother in Christ. When I came back to Pitulicea, that old brother had already passed away, but I found three women that were still meeting on Sunday in the same old room. Our coming there was a great encouragement to them, but also for other Christians scattered in the surrounding villages.

In time, new people were added to our number, and in 2006 we were able to get our authorization as a church because we had more than twenty-one members. The next year, I finished my studies and was ordained as a pastor of that church.

Our church now has thirty-five members and twenty-one other visitors that come regularly. Through God’s mercy and grace, we were able to build a very nice church building, and we pray that God will fill it with saved people.

We also have mission points in several surrounding villages, such as: Margineanu, Casota, Glodeanu-Sarat, Amaru, Ileana, Dulbanu, Scorteanca, Florica, and Vacareasca. We organize different evangelistic events in these villages, but our most effective works are street evangelism and Bible studies in homes. This way, the Orthodox priests cannot find us, and the people who study the Bible with us are not exposed to their oppression. When these people are converted and determined to follow the Lord, the courage that they have in front of the priests is amazing.

My vision is that Hope Church in Pitulicea will become a mission center from where the Gospel can be taken to every village in the surrounding area. Our prayer is that there will be a church and a well-equipped minister in very village.

Our children’s ministry has also developed because of our summer camps, Bible study meetings, and music classes (we teach the mandolin and guitar). This year, we rented the gym in Glodeanu-Sarat from Monday to Thursday, and for three hours a day. Thirty children came on the first day, seventy-five on the second, one hundred and five on the third, and one hundred and thirty-seven on the last. It was a very successful event because we were able to share the Gospel with so many.

We love missions and prayer. We organize periodic meetings in the evening that are dedicated to celebrating God in worship. They build us up spiritually and are a great occasion to invite new people to church. We also organize at least four to eight different mission campaigns each year. On such occasions, we give out Christian literature, and sometimes we also use medical teams. Last year we gave out five hundred New Testaments. This year we intend to hand out two thousand.

Finally, we also collaborate with the Baptist Theological Institute in Bucharest. Each year, two of the students spend one month with us and help us in our street evangelism ministry. We praise God for what they do here. They are a great encouragement for our youth.

Thank you for praying for us and for all those that will hear the Gospel during these days!