Paul Botica's Site

They specifically persecuted the local Christian churches and imprisoned many ministers and priests.  They also closed many church buildings and demolished those that stood in the way of their construction projects.

In 1982 when I was about 14 years old, my mother started attending Golgotha Baptist Church of Bucharest and shortly thereafter she gave her life to Jesus Christ and accepted Him as her Lord and Savior.  A year later, when I was about 15 years old, she invited me to church one Sunday evening and I accepted her invitation.  That evening a Baptist pastor from America visited the church and he preached about salvation through Jesus.  At the end of his message he challenged unbelievers to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.  I was among those who that night received the gift of salvation.  I will never forget what I felt in my heart the moment I gave my life to Christ, how my soul emptiness was lifted up and how Christ gave me a true sense of joy and an un-surpassing peace, as He forgave me and cleanse me of my sins.

Also that evening, I decided to dedicate my life to serving Jesus in ministry and shortly after that, I got involved in several ministries one of which was to visit the sick in the hospitals and the shut in at home.  About two years later, I became the youth minister at Golgotha Baptist Church and began to involve our youth in different ministries and missions.  One such mission was visiting smaller churches from the country side and worship God together.

The communist authorities did not like Christian believers to do mission activities and they tried to intimidate and stop us from getting involved in ministry projects outside our church.  Soon, I found out that I was out on a “black list” among several other youth ministers and church leaders to be intimidated and even eliminated if needed in order to cease our mission activities.

I prayed to God for help and guidance and He told me in His Word not to fear but continue witnessing our faith and helping other churches.  Jesus told me through His Word that “You will receive the truth and the truth shall set you free…” and indeed in our hearts we were free although the communist could persecute us physically.  And when we as followers of Christ have true freedom and peace in our hearts we don’t fear anything; we are not afraid even of dying, as well as nobody could take away the truth that Jesus gave us and which set us free.

A little later, I met pastor Vasile Talos a courageous Baptist minister from Bucharest, who together with other church pastors and leaders were serving Christ in spite of persecution.  The communist secret police tried to kill pastor Talos twice because he signed a protest against communist injustices and sent it to Ceausescu the communist president at that time.  God however spared his life.  His church in Bucharest was also growing rapidly because of their dedication to serve God in spite of persecution.  I also met Corina, pastor Talos’ daughter, who few years later became my loving wife.

In 1990, after the fall of communism, we came to United States to prepare for ministry and attended Liberty University in Lynchburg VA and Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore KY.  God blessed us with two children Philip 14 and Cristinne 7 and since 2004 we have been serving Cedarcrest Community Church in LaGrange GA, but have been going back to visit Romania on a regular basis and keep in touch with the God’s work on that mission field.

We are glad to serve our church in LaGrange and see how God is helping us to witness the good news of the gospel to the unchurched and bring them to church.  We are extremely thankful to God for helping us finish building a new sanctuary, and our prayer is that God will use it for His glory and for reaching the unsaved for Christ.

In His Name,

Paul Botica