Personal Faith Statement of Ivo Stefanov Koychev

I am married for 23 years and have two sons. My wife has accepted Jesus as her Lord back in 1982. After we married she started testifying to me about Jesus. In the course of two years and a half, without my knowledge, she, my mother and my sister, and three other sisters in the Lord had been fasting on a chain basis for me and had been gathering to pray together, because they had heard from the Lord that He wanted to call me.
During 1991 I felt that many things in my life had been blocked and I started raising many questions about life. This condition in which I found myself was very strange to me, because I did not understand what was happening with me. Often, when I was left alone, I cried without knowing why. Then, exactly at Christmas, late in the evening after the celebration, I was awaken and the Lord came upon me so strongly that I was crushed and falling on my knees, I surrendered my heart to the Lord. The same week I went to the then existing Pentecostal Church and publicly confessed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. My turning to the Lord had a key meaning not only for me personally, but also for my whole house, including my parents.

In the end of 1995, the Lord called me into ministry with a word from the book of Joshua 1:8-9:
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. /Joshua 1:8-9/

On the basis of this word, I believe that the Lord has called me to lead the Church that He has given to me, into His inheritance and during 1996 I established “Life in Glory” ACC. Today, together with my wife, we are building a mature multiethnic community (Bulgarians, Gypsies, Turkish people and Ukrainians), which is worthy to enter into its inheritance. My two sons are also involved actively in ministry. The elder is a youth pastorand preacher, and the younger is actively involved in the Praise and worship team in our Church.
I believe in God, Who is Triune – God the Father – the origin of our salvation; The Son Jesus Christ – The Savior and Redeemer of the world and in the third Person of the Godhead – The Holy Spirit, Who is sent to reveal the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am convinced in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as in all the dynamics that proceed out of them. I believe in the baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit, as well as in the speaking of tongues, which is typical for the Protestant Charismatic Christianity. I believe in the infallibility of the Scriptures and in their application in our life through the grace of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the doctrines listed in Hebrews 6:1-2, that form the character and life of the saints, as well as in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed through the five fold ministry. I also believe that today we are living in the era of an Apostolic Reformation and the raising of the Church in the stature and dynamics of the Kingdom of God.

:: Testimony
:: Family
:: MInistries
:: Contact
:: Donation
:: Links
:: BG / RUS