We haven’t mentioned it much lately but Steve Wingfield has a powerfully impactful history with the people of Romania.  He visited Romania before and during the revolution in the late 1980’s and was a major influence in the formation of Jesus – Hope for Romania.  Missio Link and the Deborah House grew out of this ministry.  Steve has been friends with founder, Eugene Groza, and has helped cast the vision of these ministries since the beginning in 1992.  Steve currently serves on the advisory board of Missio Link.  Over the years, Steve has visited his adopted second country on numerous occasions often taking teams of workers to minister to the wonderful Romanian people.

One person whose life was changed as a result of meeting Steve is Lorena Rusovan, who has been the director of Children at Risk Ministries in Timisoara, Romania for eleven years.  The ministry operates two locations of the Deborah House, a ministry which shelters abused girls from ages 5-18 and nourishes them to become healthy young women.

As a university student Lorena heard Steve speak and caught the vision of ministering to others freely without fear of government restrictions. After Romania achieved freedom, she felt called of God to pursue ministry instead of the profession for which she had trained. Lorena, trained as an electrical engineer, is currently visiting the U.S. and told us that virtually every student who heard Steve speak back then is now serving in full time ministry.  Recently, Lorena visited our Harrisonburg headquarters during her U.S. trip and spoke at Steve’s Rotary meeting.

Lorena’s story about Steve’s influence illustrates how thousands of lives can be positively impacted when one person obeys God, steps out of their comfort zone, and travels to another country to tell the people about the goodness of God.