The new building of our church started to rise in the spring of 1992. It was the expression of the liberation and enthusiasm that fueled the churches following the fall of communism. Even before that, our church was in serious need of space to seat its members and also the increasing number of visitors in the old meeting place The number of our church members almost doubled ten years after the revolution, reaching 860. This figure did not include the over 400 children and teenagers who attended our meetings. As it is well known, one can become a member in the Baptist church only when mature and he or she has to willingly choose to follow the Savior. The person then seals his or her decision by a public testimony through baptism. As years went by, many who saw themselves ‘in debt’, reach and poor, learned or with little education, bowed before our Lord Jesus’ feet asking for forgiveness. All these believers of the church worked together on building this new establishment for themselves but also for the ones that would come to know the Lord in years to come.
God has always used people and circumstances to carry out his plan through history. Building this religious establishment in the town of Alba Iulia is but a small link in His Master Plan. God not only uses circumstances, but He is also the Creator of favorable circumstances for His Church. The Romanian people, enslaved by the communism regime for half a century, publicly stated in December 1989 that God mastered the downfall of Ceausescu even if in doing so he used people. Although there are some that have forgotten or have stopped believing this fact, we continue to sate it strongly. The new post revolutionary authorities, fully aware of the persecution and the privations that the churches were subjected to in the past, whatever the denomination, started to undo the damage. One of the means to do so was a decision made by the Romanian Government to assign church building land to various religious cults. The available peaces of land were to be located in central areas of the cities. Enjoying such a legal right and our church being in great need of space, we applied to the local authorities for such a peace of land to be assigned to us for building purposes. We first looked for a suitable peace of land out of the local authorities’ offer. A team made up by our brothers Nelu Muntean and Marginean Nicolae, joined by architect Barbieri Marius, a representative of the mayor’ office, traveled all around the town visiting different available locations. Our brothers, supported by other decision factors concerning the church, laid their eyes on the field were today’s church is. The necessary steps were taken in order to obtain the land on Avantului Street (currently called Dr. Ioan Ratiu Street). At that moment in time there were also other applicants for the field. In such a situation, the neighbors had a say. Our previously mentioned two brothers approached the neighbors to sign a paper which stated that they preferred a religious establishment to all the other options. We want to use this opportunity to thank again all the neighbors that supported us. Using this new data and not without a fight, the long claimed land was assigned to our church after several meetings. It was first lent to us. Later on a deed of property was issued. The first and greatest battle had been won. It was May 1991. We wish to thank all those who contributed with their support to help obtain the land. Shortly after that the land was fenced. But still it took over a year for the actual building process to start because of two reasons. The first one was that the Church was also involved in building some afferent meeting rooms to its building in Doinei Street. These meeting rooms helped us carry on with our activities through the seven years that the new building took to completion. The latter reason that delayed the works was the surprises that the land had in stock: it was all covered in electrical cables and drainage pipes which had to be diverted. Although it caused a lot of difficulty we managed to overcome this discouraging factor with God’s help. In the meantime, the church leadership team decided that the project for the new building was to be written by architect Voica Florin, the neighbor at our old address. At that moment in time the necessary steps were taken towards getting the legal approvals and the building permission. We wish to thank again all those who supported us in doing so.
God uses ordinary men to initiate and accomplish great things. When He chose to bring many to salvation, our Lord Jesus chose average men to be His disciples. The Lord worked in the same way in starting this project. The people that knocked the most on all the doors to get the field and all the necessary permissions were our brothers Marginean Lae and Trif Timotei. It was also them that became involved with organizing the site in the first building phase. The man that led the work team, starting with molding the pillars and all the way to the completion of the building, was our brother Popa Onu. He had worked for ten years on building sites and had retired, so he dedicated himself to this work all throughout its development. We cannot over look Vintan Ioan’s special contribution. He is an orthodox believer that proved to be hardworking, skilled, dedicated and calm all throughout the works. If we are to mention the name of the man that served the most the cause of the new edifice it would be brother Dragomir Ioan, one of the church’s pastors. When asked about how he came to be involved in the work he gave an interesting answer: “Imperceptibly”. He first worked on the excavator preparing the pit for the underground and the pillars that would me molded, as he was working at an equipment and assembly trust. He never suspected that, due to a great need and also his skill in mechanical drawing, he would become the architect’s right hand. As the work advanced, brother Ionut, known by this name in the Christian circle, became more and more involved in coordinating the work. He was the man that God used the most. We give all the glory and all the thanksgiving to God for all his protection and help. May He pour all his blessing over these dear brothers.
Homage to our ‘unknown’ co-worker
The high officials and the representatives of the institutions lay crowns of flowers at the monument of the unknown warrior in commemorative days. He is a symbol figure for all the heroes that fell in a certain battle and whose names remained unknown. Common sense gave birth to such a symbol figure because it is well known that the victory is due not only to the generals, officers and all sergeants. It is also common sense that prevents us from over looking an army of co-workers that contributed to the building of the new establishment. We are limited in space and time from mentioning all of them. They are people from among the believers of this church and also our co-workers from outside the country. We are thinking of our dear brothers and sisters from the Church that have sacrificed themselves for so many years. We are thinking of Romanian brothers that are now living abroad. We are thinking of our partner church from Tampa, Florida and all the other brothers abroad that stood by us. We are thinking of all the co-workers from Alba Iulia and from the entire country. Some of our dear ones are no longer among us for they have gone to be with the Lord. We are happy that most of them are still here and take part in our joy, either in body or in spirit. We will definitely never be able to reward them, and that was never our purpose. The bottom line is that we all tried to do something for God by taking part in the building work. Still we wish to thank them, to thank God for all of them and to let God reward them.
