What is your ministry?
I am the General Secretary of IFES Albania, a student ministry present in nine cities nationwide. I am also the senior pastor of Emanuel Evangelical Church Tirana, one of the first churches that started in Albania after the fall of communism in 1991. I am also the Executive Director of the Albania Leadership Forum, an ELF initiative that began in 2019. I am involved in national and regional initiatives in training university evangelists and preachers.
When did you trust Christ?
I decided to trust and follow Jesus in October of 1991 when I was a freshman at university. I joined an International Fellowship of Evangelical Students group studying the Gospel of Mark and had many questions about the existence of God, pain and suffering, and more. It was not until I found satisfactory answers to my most profound life questions that I trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My life has not been the same since. I have been encouraged by my participation in the IFES group in Albania and the local church that I pastor and my personal Bible reading and study, many Christian brothers and sisters in my life, and good Christian literature.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
Some defining moments have been my participation in the IFES student group in Albania, my involvement in the local church that I pastor, my Bible reading and study, many Christian brothers and sisters in my life, and good Christian literature.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
As a result of attending the Forum, I have seen many changes in my ministry. The Forum has equipped me to become a more effective leader in my church and organisation. The Forum has inspired me with new ideas for ministry. The Forum has given me several helpful friends and partners for ministry. God has blessed me and others at the Forum with rich food from His Word and wonderful fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ. I look forward to returning to Tirana, Albania, to implement what I have learned and grow into what God started doing in me and teaching me at the Forum.
I hope to get tips, advice, knowledge, encouragement, and sound models for mobilising the whole church to be committed to the vision and mission of the church. I hope to see good models of leaders who do this in their contexts. I hope to learn biblical principles of how to help the church be the church Christ wants us to be.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
Someone should invest in my ministry because I believe it's a strategic ministry. The ministry God has entrusted me includes working with students who are the leaders of tomorrow. The local church ministry context is very challenging as we mostly evangelise and disciple people from a Muslim background. The other aspect of my ministry has to do with leadership development, and this is a real need in our country.
