I was born in Athens, Greece, in 1967. Till the age of 24 I had lived away from God. Though I had some inward quests and inquiries, yet I wasn't in any sense a religious person. During that period of my ignorance of God and His love for me, I tried to fill the void of my heart and to quench the thirst of my soul with what the world offered. But in vain! Neither pleasure, nor friends, not even reading, which I liked so much, could give me that "something" that my soul desired and which I could not specify. So, with my heart empty and my soul thirsty, Christ sought me and found me! Praise His holy name! Ιt was then that I met Neta, who was to be my wife. She had been brought up in the Evangelical Baptist Church in Athens. She talked to me about Jesus and asked me to go and hear some Bible preaching. I consented with some hesitation and curiosity. At that time I couldn't realize what was happening and, of course, neither could I appreciate it. But God was at work! The time had come for my soul's thirst to be satisfied. Glory to God! Then I didn't know it, but later on I realized that God had placed me at the front-sight of His love. I listened to the preaching from the Bible. It was entirely different from what I had imagined and expected. The pastor spoke about sin and its terrible consequences in this life, but especially in the one beyond the grave. He spoke about Christ and His death for our sins on the cross of Calvary, and invited those that felt the need to be saved to believe in Him. All the while I tried to resist, but God's love was closing in on me! And it was exactly then, and most particularly, when the preacher appealed to his heares not to put their receiving Christ off for some better opportunity, for such an opportunity never comes, and stressed especially the scripture: "behold now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6: 2), and also: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16: 31), that I owned what a lost sinner I was and how desperately I needed a savior. I was convinced that there was no other Savior but Christ and my heart broke! All my doubts and objections of reason vanished and the Holy Ghost convicted me and threw me at Jesus' feet! With tears of godly sorrow and heavenly joy I received Christ as my personal Savior. What happened inside me cannot be described! I was saved! I was born again and "sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."(Eph. 1:13). An unspeakable joy and a deep peace flooded my soul. It was so strong a feeling, that I couldn't restrain my joy and enthusiasm from being expressed! I praised the Lord all the time. Right away I asked to be baptized, which came in a few days. I became member of the church and began to actively participate in the services. God was blessing me and edifying me through His word and the fellowship of His people.
Soon after my salvation I felt a strong desire to witness to others about my Lord. I also realized my lack in knowledge of Bible doctrine and truth, and my joy was beyond description when I learned that the church had a full course Bible School going on in order to train gospel workers and ministers. I asked to be enrolled and what I learned by attending those classes furnished me with what I needed as a prospective preacher of God's Holy Word. What a wonderful answer to my prayer!
Now I am happy to be used of God in the preaching of His word from the pulpit and consider it a great privilege and honor, as well as a great responsibility. I pray God will bless me with much fruit for eternity!
Finally, I thank God for the church where the word of truth is rightly divided, and also for my family, my wife Neta, who became instrumental in my coming to Christ, and for my two children, George and Eleftheria. Both my wife and myself pray that God will give us the joy and blessing of hearing our children profess faith in Christ as their personal Savior, seeing them being baptized, leading a holy life, and humbly serving Him. Amen. Rendered into English by Markos Boussios.
