Ovidiu and Adina Patrick – Following His Game Plan

“Hello from Romania! As the pastor of Susani Baptist Church I want to thank you for joining me and my wife Adina as we serve our community and those around us. Please allow me to share with you about my family. God allowed me to meet Adina while I was in seminary in Oradea and in the last year of school we got married. Since then, God has blessed us with a great marriage of 6 ½ years. I have a degree in theology and my wife Adina has a degree in social work. Since July 2007 she works as a social worker in a small city hall one mile away from our home. Every Sunday I preach the Word of God twice, once in Susani village and in the afternoon I preach in Lugoj city, 13 miles away from Susani. We are excited about our church in Susani and the efforts our members are making to reach our community. We are also happy about our new ministry in Lugoj. We have started a Bible Study group where we have young people that come to study and to have fellowship with our team. We love helping people and show them the love of Christ. For those that will join us in Romania soon we cannot wait to see you. For those that are not coming we pray you will visit us soon.” - Ovidiu Patrick

As I reflect upon the years I’ve known Ovidiu and Adina many things come to mind. The first thing I think of is a great team. All good teams have a game plan for their opponent. However, it is usually the ones that are most capable of taking the circumstances they face and altering their game plan that come out winners. Ovidiu and Adina exemplify what it means to allow God to be in control when it comes to making a “game plan” for their life and ministry. Ovidiu has served as pastor of a small Romania village by the name of Susani since graduating from seminary close to five years ago. Early in his career Ovidiu and his wife Adina decided to remain in Susani long-term in an effort to reach the youth and adults of this village and a number of surrounding villages. All too often these remote villages are forgotten by missionaries and local believers. Ovidiu is young, educated, and trustworthy, all of which are characteristics necessary to pastor a large church in Romania. However, Ovidiu and Adina feel God has called them to serve via the remote villages, not the large cities.

Through VBS, camps, weekly prayer meetings, and now short-term mission teams, Ovidiu and Adina are reaching hundreds of children in these remote villages. And, by reaching these children, they are also paving the way for their parent’s salvation. Are there consequences to this decision? Absolutely. Are they greater than the consequences of not following His will? Absolutely not. John F. Kennedy observed, “There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

As Kacee and I were toiling with the idea of moving to Romania a friend made this statement, “When God’s will is for something to happen, it is going to happen, with you or without you. If you are not willing to help make it happen, He will find someone that is willing. The people He is calling you to serve will not suffer due to your lack of commitment; however, you will!” Thank you, Ovidiu and Adina for your willingness to follow His “game plan” and teaching all of us to be receptive to His will for us.

Ovidiu once sent me an email containing the following verse, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them." Hebrews 6:10. What a joy it is to partner with such Godly servants. See you soon good friend. See you soon.

Aspire to new heights.