Many of us have heard how POSB continues to impact preachers, teachers and lay leaders. Pastor Bob Patty of Bartlebaugh Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee can testify to its impact as he recalls members in his church telling him his sermons were powerful and full of passion. This Tennessee pastor’s ministry has been radically changed. Pastor Bob Patty will tell you his ministry changed when he started using POSB in his own church and that it helped fuel his passion to introduce it to Romanian pastors and lay leaders after a 2012 trip to Romania. During that trip Bob was introduced to Pastor Nelu Aliman, a founding member of the National Baptist Mission Board in Romania. The POSB has the potential to reach its full impact when the Romanian people have their own Bibles. Bob and Pastor Aliman shared a vision of distributing the Bible to 10,000 people in Romania, along with the Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible® (POSB) for those who preach the Word.
Pastors Aliman and Patty’s vision ignited a passion to raise the money to translate and print POSB’s Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians editions in Romanian.
By the end of 2013 eight thousand Bibles had already been purchased and distributed. Their goal of 10,000 Bibles required a lot of prayer for money and other resources to provide Romanian translations of God’s Word. In 2013 the Lord opened the door when Bob met a Romanian Gideon and was able to purchase more than 1,600 Bibles and New Testaments. God’s blessing did not stop there as Bob was able to distribute the Bibles and New Testaments and see the joy of the Romanians who received the Word and be a part of many people accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
In 2013 Bob also conducted a conference on the Book of Romans with the goal of presenting everyone in attendance with a Romanian translation of Romans in the POSB. Nearly 200 individuals, including pastors, ministers, evangelists and other church workers, attended
the conference on Romans. An added blessing of Bob’s trip was presenting a number of complimentary copies of the then released Romanian
Galatians-Colossians volume of the POSB to Nelu Aliman and Crinel Ignat, another pastor in Romania. During that trip, Bob was also able to preach and teach in nine different churches across Western Romania with even more people coming forward and accepting Christ into their lives.
Early in 2014 Bob Patty returned to Arad, Romania teaching and distributing the Galatians-Colossians volume of the POSB in Romanian to approximately 200 pastors and deacons at a day-long conference at Maranata Baptist Church–all received copies of POSB’s most recent volume.
LMW is grateful to Pastor Bob Patty for using POSB and following the leadership of the Holy Spirit and making two men’s vision a reality in the lives of hundreds of pastors and leaders in Romania. There is great power in the preaching and teaching of God’s Word especially when pastors can become confidently equipped for every good work using the POSB!