500 Words about Filip Ologeanu
I was raised in the family of a Romanian Baptist Pastor. Being raised in a Christian environment with God-fearing parents did not keep me from developing a double lifestyle. I was in junior high when my desire to impress my peers at my school began to outweigh the one to please my Sunday school teacher or even my parents. I began doing the “cool” things (i.e. smoking, drinking, and using bad language) to gain attention, approval, and the affirmation of my friends. At the same time I was successfully keeping my exemplary image in Church.
The summer between my junior high and high school I had the opportunity to go to a Christian camp. I had been to Christian camps before and having grown in a Christian home, I had heard the Gospel over and over again. However, I was never challenged to accept Jesus Christ personally. It happened one night at the camp, when I acknowledged my need for Jesus Christ and, with a repentant heart, I asked Him to clean me and give me His gift, eternal life.
Eleven years later I can strongly affirm that Christ has given meaning to my life. In these years I have seen how the author of my faith is slowly but surely growing my faith. He began to change my life dramatically on a clear summer night back in 1998. Being in a relationship with Jesus Christ progressively reveals how wretched and sinful my nature and desires are. But at the same time I come to know Him, who can fill the emptiness in my heart, replace the sinfulness with a desire to be like Him, and I take on the hope of one day being like Him and with Him in glory. Through repentance and abandonment he changes me and I become more like Him.
A call to ministry
In the summer of 2000 the camp where I had given my life to Christ asked me to be a camp counselor. It was a great opportunity to be able to give back to the ministry that had given me so much. However, being a camp counselor at only 17 had its challenges. During those six weeks I became increasingly burdened for the youth of my country. So many of them came from a Christian background, but were so immature and spiritually starving. God called me to dedicate my life to reach out to my generation.
For the next two years I continued being leader in the youth group but also got more involved in the church. I was asked to preach in the church and take part in some of the administrative meetings. My last two years of high school my burden increased from just youth ministry to the entire church. I felt the church of Romania needed a fresh wave of leaders, aptly prepared to reach a new, post-communist society.
