Perieti

"So should your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Perieti

About Missionary

My name is Ion (John) Vlad, I am married to Vlad Cristina and we have 3 girls: Rebeca, Tabita and Adriana. Both me and my wife are coming from orthodox families.
18 years ago, in the village called Lisa there has been a Revival service through the movie “Jesus Christ”. At that time, I was sent by the Orthodox Priest to go and chase away the Protestants. At that time I was part of the Organization Committee of the Orthodox Church. The Priest managed to manipulate me so that I would hate the repentants (protestants), telling me “ They are coming to corrupt the religion!”.

At that time I was a very violent person and I had a lot of conflicts in my village. People were terrorized and they did not felt comfortable because of me. A had a problem with alcohol consumption and the people from the village fear me as a dangerous person. I went to that revival service thinking of beating them and ruin their equipment. I addressed directly to the Pastor Raul Costea, who was responsible of the service and searching for a reason to make a scandal, I asked him if he knew that the Bible speaks about the liar prophets. To my surprise, the Pastor was not embarrassed by my question and did not repulsively respond to my question, but kindly and lively started to show me what the Bible was saying about the lying prophets. That was the moment I had the first real contact with the Word of God. And so I started to study the Bible with brother Raul.

During the winter of 2000, I was invited at the youth meeting in Alba Iulia, where I publically received Jesus in my heart. I went back home animated by the wish of telling people about the wonderful experience I had! I gathered all the christian literature I had at home and I started to knock on peoples’ doors and tell them about our Lord Jesus, the One who forgave all my sins
After a little while, brother Raul started a Bible study in our home. In about two months my wife also accepted Jesus as her personal redeemer.
I decided to quit that job and get more involved in missionary service in Olt county. I served four years in the orphanage of Grace Church in Slatina, then God spoke to me through Matthew 5:16. In the summer of 2011, we decided to return with the family in Lisa and serve in pastoral circle Perieti. Together with the family, we are involved in discipleship and evangelism projects. Cristina works with children and teaching the Bible. Ion gives sermons at the church in Perieti. We also have a study group and prayer in Lisa.