An unusual Christmas present for just £6

Here’s an idea for an unusual Christmas present for just £6 plus postage. Author John Butterworth is offering signed copies of his book, God’s Secret Listener, for just £6, instead of the normal price of £7.99.

The book tells the exciting story of Berti Dosti, who was a captain and signals and radio expert in Enver Hoxha’s Albanian army.

The Stalinist dictator closed Albania’s borders to the rest of the world for 47 years and abolished God, so he thought, turning the country into the world’s first atheistic state.

Captain Dosti, pictured below, was ordered to scan the airwaves to get an early warning if America, Russia or Britain, the three countries they feared most, were about to invade.

However, he didn’t find an enemy, but he found a Christian radio programme from Monte Carlo, which had been broadcasting into Albania for 24 years not knowing if anyone was listening.

At great risk to himself and his family, Berti became a secret listener. Now he is the pastor of a thriving church in Lushnje and principal of a school teaching 750 Albanians English.

The story, which is published by Lion/Hudson/Monarch, is also about:

• Sali Rahmani who spent more than 20 years broadcasting a Christian radio message into Albania. He was interrogated and accused of being a CIA spy by the Yugoslav police.
• Stephen Bell, who gave up a job in banking in Manchester to spend five years at Prishtina University in Kosovo, so he could learn Albanian and be ready for when God would open up that country. The only way he could keep his student visa was to keep failing his exams. He was one of the first missionaries into Albania and he said it was like seeing the Book of Acts coming to life 2,000 years later.
• Gani Smolica who gave up a lecturing job at Pristina University to go to help the new church in Albania in the 1990s.
• Ganz Raud, an Estonian who founded the European Christian Mission in the early part of the 20^th century. ECM prepared the radio messages and paid Tran World Radio to beam the tapes into Albania.
• Paul Freed, an American, who at great cost started Trans World Radio, beamed the gospel into closed countries such as Albania.

The book has a foreword by author and Christian speaker Stephen Gaukroger, and recommendations by Bishop Alan, former Bishop of Shrewsbury; Bishop Gordon, former Bishop of Stafford; Rico Tice, Associate Minister at All Souls Church, London, and Christian media expert Peter Meadows.

Amazing outcome to unusual group's meeting with Albanian officials

Twenty years ago today an unusual group set off for a meeting in Albania which was to have a surprising outcome.

Dr Janet Goodall had just retired after a successful career as consultant paediatrician in North Staffordshire when she was invited by Ron Newby, of the international charity Global Care, to give medical advice as he had been invited to see the Albanian orphanages.

Although Janet had agreed to accompany Ron the following week, she was slightly concerned by the lack of planning as they had no visas, no local currency, no knowledge of the language and he hadn’t received any answers to his faxes explaining their intentions to some of the government ministries.”

However, she was relieved when just a few days before they were due to fly on Thursday, September 26, 1991, Ron told her that he had stumbled across an Albanian-speaking Christian, Sali Rahmani, pictured below today, who had agreed to accompany them.

Midway through the flight Janet’s heart sank when she learned that her interpreter was on the Albanian Government’s blacklist because of his Christian activities.

“We therefore set off without visas and a ‘suspicious character’ not knowing whether we would all three be clapped into jail on arrival,” said Janet.

However, there was no chance of Sali slipping unnoticed into the country. As he left the plane and walked over to the terminal he was so emotional at being back in Albania that, in Papal fashion, he fell on his knees, kissed the tarmac, and shouted ‘Hallelujah’ in front of bemused passengers and airline staff.

The next day, Janet, Sali and Ron were invited into the Foreign Affairs office of Dr Maksim Bozo, who fished Ron’s faxes out of his shirt pocket and said that he had been expecting them, even though he had never replied to them.

Dr Bozo, whom Janet was delighted to learn was a paediatrician like herself, introduced them to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The room was full of about a dozen people, the equivalent of Britain’s senior civil servants, as Sali began translating for Ron and Janet and explaining why they had come.

Sali was slightly unnerved by a very senior person sitting opposite to him, who kept looking at him and smiling while he was talking.

When there was a break in the meeting the civil servant sidled up to Sali and asked him: “What is your job?”

“I am a missionary, I preach the gospel,” replied Sali.

“Have you spoken on the radio, I think I recognise your voice,” he continued, to which Sali admitted he did.

“Is your name Luan Mateu?” he asked again. When Sali replied it was his radio name, the civil servant embraced him.

“I am so glad to see you,” he said. The official told how he had been ordered by the Albanian Government to monitor the radio programmes, which he did. He later told his bosses that there was nothing to worry about from the broadcasts, but he continued to listen.

“Something has happened to me, thanks to your radio programme,” he said.

When they reassembled after coffee, the minister said to Sali in front of everyone: “I gather you have a radio name and a real name, but that doesn’t matter. We are glad you have a heart for your country and we welcome you and thank you for your visit, even though I gather you have already been visiting us for a long time, in fact every night.”

The meeting was such a success that Dr Bozo took Janet, Sali and Ron in his ministry car, plus chauffeur, on a tour to visit paediatric institutions around the country.

To find out more about their trip email John@jbutterworth.plus.com to buy a signed copy of God’s Secret Listener for the special price of £6 plus postage.

Roaring success as Lion Publishing celebrates 40 years

I felt very honoured to be invited to the special service at Christ Church, Oxford, to celebrate 40 years of Lion Publishing.

More than 300 authors, illustrators, customers, clients, suppliers, shareholders, former staff, present staff and directors packed first the cathedral and then the college’s Great Hall (pictured below) for the afternoon tea.

It was very moving to hear Pat Alexander, who started the company in 1971 with her husband David, talk about their early days in publishing.

They set off for the Holy Land in a VW Camper van to undertake the research and to take the photographs for The Lion Handbook to the Bible, which sold worldwide.

Appropriately, each of the 300 or so guests at the service were given a special 40^th anniversary edition of the handbook.

Pat spoke about renting the first office containing just one electric typewriter and one fax machine and the responsibility they felt when they employed their first members of staff.

She recalled that they didn’t have enough chairs so one of them had to stay standing whenever they had a visitor.

The founder’s wife also spoke of her sadness when they had to take a back seat in the company in 1998 because of David’s unexpected illness and in November 2002 when he died.

But as she looked back over 40 years she said that she never dreamt that the business which began with just her and David would grow into the huge international company that Lion Hudson Monarch is today.

Later in the service, a former director, Tony Wales, reflected on the early days when Lion began selling worldwide. Today it translates books into more than 200 languages.

He told many stories but the one that stuck in my mind was of translating Norman Warren’s book, What’s the Point, into so many languages, one of which helped to convert and transform the life of a Russian soldier serving in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

The sermon was preached by Canon Professor Keith Ward who spoke on the two readings of 2 Kings chapter 22 verses 3-13 and Acts chapter 17 verses 16-34 and encouraged the congregation to carry on publishing God’s Word as commanded to in Scripture.

Earlier in the day I visited the Bodleian Library for the first time. It was fascinating to read that Charles I was refused permission to loan one of their books as the rules stipulated that no books were to be taken out of the reference building by anyone, even if they were the king.

The Divinity School, which is the oldest lectures hall in Oxford, was opened in 1488 and all students then took their exams in oral Latin.

As I left I thought perhaps students today have life a little easier in some respects.

Overall, it was a very moving day and as I travelled home on the train I thought back over the last 40 years and my links with Lion over that period.

I was grateful they had published my second book, Cults and Modern Faiths (pictured below) back in 1981 and my fourth, God’s Secret Listener, in 2010.

 

Christian library is just the ticket

I was impressed by the Robin Woods library in Stourbridge when I was the invited author on Wednesday night this week to speak about my books, God’s Secret Listener and Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury.

 

I was the first writer to speak to the group in a new Evenings with an Author venture by Christians in Stourbridge.

The library in the New Road Methodist Centre on the town’s ring road is in an impressive modern building and houses nearly 4,000 Christian books.

It is open 10am-2pm Monday to Friday and has a steady stream of visitors, said one of the five volunteer librarians, Sue Amer, who is pictured below at the evening with John.

The Church of England library is linked to the one in Worcester Diocese’s The Old Palace.

It started 15 years ago and is named after a former Bishop of Worcester who donated books to the library.

The Right Reverend Robin Woods was a former chaplain to the Queen who baptised Prince Edward in 1964.

He was Bishop of Worcester from 1970 until he retired in 1981. He died in 1997 aged 83.

Eight years ago the library had to find a new home when its original Stourbridge base was knocked down and the Methodist Centre came to the rescue.

The second and third Evenings with an Author are on Wednesday, October 19 with Carol Hathorne and on Wednesday, November 16 with John Lampen.

For more details contact Sue, who is a licensed lay minister with the diocese, on 01562 66625 or email suecelticamer@tiscali.co.uk

As well as being an enjoyable evening it was also very successful as I sold a number of books and I wish the group all the best in their new venture.

Vital few weeks for Albania and its church

An important few weeks loom for Albania and its church. The EU will decide next month whether the country meets its standard for candidacy — a last step before full membership.

Joining the EU would be good news for Albania economically and for the church as religious freedom would be guaranteed.

Albania’s bid for EU candidate status was turned down in 2010 and the 27-member group required that Tirana enact further reforms, including electoral reform, improving public administration and the rule of law, and battling corruption and organised crime while resolving property rights and other issues.

The Boston Globe reported that an important hurdle was overcome earlier this month when the opposition Socialists ended a lengthy boycott in parliament (pictured below) in protest of alleged irregularities in the vote count in local elections in May — allegations Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party of Albania has denied.

The Socialists ended the boycott specifically to help pass the EU-mandated reforms.

The dispute developed out of Tirana’s May 8 mayoral election, when opposition and governing party candidates were separated by just a handful of votes. Opposition supporters held rallies to protest over alleged voter fraud.

The final result showed Lulzim Basha winning with 93 more votes than opposition candidate Rama and Berisha claims there was no manipulation of results or irregular counting.

The Socialists control 65 of parliament’s 140 seats, but its support is necessary for approval of some legislation that requires a three-fifths majority. It remains unclear whether the Socialists will back all the required draft legislation.

But the Prime Minister was very upbeat about the future. “My country has changed,’’he said in comments on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that begins this week. “We have a very friendly climate now.’’

He said Albania, which became a member of NATO in 2009, had come a long way in recent years and was an attractive place for foreign investors.

This small Balkan country once ruled by communists who until 1990 banned contact with the outside world, has been working to improve its government and banking infrastructure and ease regulatory burdens for investors, he added.

Frank Wisner, international affairs adviser for Patton Boggs law firm, told the Globe the fact that Albania was able to resolve the mayoral dispute without outside intervention and that the country has shown no desire to expand its borders indicates a new stability.

Last week, Italy and Greece’s foreign ministers traveled to Albania to push the country’s divided political leaders to pass the reforms required for EU candidacy.

The story of the Albanian church is told in God's Secret Listener, published by Lion/Monarch/Hudson. To buy an autographed copy for the special price of £6 plus postage email John@jbutterworth.plus.com

To read my other book blog go to http://thelionhotelbook.blogspot.com 

From Albania to Andalucia

I have just returned home after a week’s break from writing and marketing my two books, God’s Secret Listener about Albania and Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury.

My favourite European country is Italy, but this time my wife, Jan, and I decided to go on a tour of Andalucia.

I must admit I have never been a great fan of Spain, its food and coach tours believing they were for older people than me.

However, I knew the Alhambra in Granada (pictured below), which was on my must see before I die list, was difficult to do on your own, hence the coach.

But I must say the tour with Riviera Travel of Burton-on-Trent was well arranged while our first class guide, Cilla Cameron, provided the right balance between organised trips and free time. With superb tapas bars and temperatures in the late 30s all week, what more could we want?

After leaving the cold of  Manchester Airport where we had to queue outside for passport control we soon arrived at Malaga and the warmth of the four-star Puerta del Sol in Mijas, which certainly lived up to its rating.

Next morning it was off to Ronda, a spectacular city built on a ridge, split by a deep gorge and joined by a massive stone bridge. Because of its impregnable position Ronda was one of the last Moorish bastions of power, only falling to the Christians in 1485.

That evening we arrived in Seville, one of the most beautiful cities in the world and in the 15^th and 16^th centuries the wealthiest thanks to the discovery of America.

With its imposing cathedral where Christopher Columbus is buried; the amazing fortified palace of the Moors, the Alcazar; plus the majestic 1929 World Exhibition buildings we certainly needed three nights to explore this city, the home of flamenco dancing and the setting for the opera Carmen.

Next on the tour was Cordoba, its immense Roman bridge and The Mezquita, surely the most beautiful Moorish mosque, before arriving in Granada for two nights.

There is a daily limit on the number of visitors to the extraordinary Alhambra so we were fortunate to get 8.30am tickets which meant we could see this Moorish palace, fortress and gardens before it was too crowded and too hot.

The early start also gave us a free time that afternoon and the following morning before flying home.

It was a great holiday and I must admit I am now a convert to southern Spain – and even coach tours.

Mutual friends in Hartshill

The most knowledgeable group on Albania I have met so far in the UK has to be the Hartshill Bible Church in Stoke-on-Trent.

The pastor, Phil Roberts, has visited the country five times while the missions secretary, Lorna Elks, has been there once. Also at the midweek Bible and prayer group was Ida (pronounced Isa) Trinder, who was born in Fier, Albania, and is now living in the Potteries after marrying a member of the group.

When I was told all that on my arrival on Wednesday evening I quickly adapted my talk and didn’t start with my usual formula of showing the group the Albanian flag and asking them which country it was and where is it.

Then Phil told me he had met Berti Dosti, Sali Rahmani, Stephen Bell and Gani Smolica, who are all in the God’s Secret Listener book, so I knew it was going to be a challenging evening for me to talk about  Albania to them.

And then Ida interrupted to say she knew Sali and Stephen, who is pictured below, as they had baptised her in Fier when she became a Christian.

However, the group were very gracious and welcoming and we had a good time sharing our experiences of the country and praying for the Albanian government, the people and the church in Lushnje.

Hartshill Bible Church, which was established in 2000, meets in The Willows School.

The church has close links with other churches in the area and is part of the North Staffs. Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (NoSFEC) and nationally is a member of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC).

It is also twinned with a church in Tirana led by Olti Todo and Ida worshipped there while she was based in the capital.

The evening showed what a small world it is for Christians as Phil said he had been on a number of European Christian Mission conferences and we knew many mutual friends.

Then Phil said he had four sons, one of whom was teaching English in a Chinese industrial city, Shenyang, well off the beaten tourist track in the north east of the country not far from the border with North Korean.

It was the turn of Phil and his wife, Joy, to be surprised when I said I had visited that city in 1986 on the first ever exchange of regional editors between the Newspaper Society in the UK and the All China Journalists Association.

It is amazing when you meet other Christians how soon you find you have many people and places in common.

Sad news from Albania as Vera dies at 52

Some sad news has arrived from Lushnje, Albania, as Berti Dosti emailed me to say that that Vera Pirra, (pictured below), whose story is told in God’s Secret Listener, has died aged 52.

In his email Berti said: "It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that Vera, a deaconess at our church, passed away yesterday (Wednesday). About three days earlier she had had brain surgery, due to a malignant tumour that was detected only too late. 

“Vera, as many of you might remember, was one of the most faithful, and earliest, members of our congregation at the Way of Peace Church.

“Her dedication to Christ was absolute, even in the midst of her many economic and health issues down the years.

“To say that her life was difficult is to understate the case. Vera had to take care of a paralysed husband and had to make ends meet with her meagre salary as a cleaning lady at the hospital.

“On top of all that, her husband died only eight months ago, after a strong battle with his illness that had left him paralysed.

“She is survived by her son, Mikel, and her two daughters, Denisa and Greta. As you may remember, her youngest daughter, Greta, had major back surgery some years ago (thank you for your financial help with her surgery expenses and constant prayers).

“At present, Greta is in the third year of her university studies and will find it extremely difficult, financially, to complete her studies now that her mother is gone.

“We are organising a special commemorative service in Vera’s honour this coming Sunday at 11am at our church. 

“Please, pray for Vera's son and daughters as they face a future without the presence of their beloved mother.

“Also, pray for us, as a congregation; this is the third death among our church members within a month.

“Also, pray as we try to comfort Vera’s children, as well as ourselves, in the knowledge that God, our good Father, does not make mistakes.

“Now, Vera is with him, awaiting the resurrection of the believers, when we shall all meet again.”

I wrote to Berti to add my own tribute to say: “I was very impressed with Vera when I interviewed her for my book and she provided a moving testimony. Her story will live on in my book. Please pass on my condolences to Vera's family. We shall be thinking and praying for you all over the next few days.”

To read more of Vera’s stories in God’s Secret Listener email John@jbutterworth.plus.com

From Croft Castle to the Polite Vicar

I have just returned from a very enjoyable and successful few days promoting and selling my two books,  Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury and God’s Secret Listener.

Over the weekend we went to Hereford stopping off to see the impressive Croft Castle and its ancient church, pictured below, which is a lavish country mansion that began life as a Norman stronghold on the border of Wales.

On Sunday morning I went to preach at St John’s Methodist Church at the invitation of the Rev Dave Meachem. I hadn’t seen him for more than 40 years when we both went to the large and highly-successful Tunstall Methodist Youth Group, but I bumped into him by chance in Hereford Cathedral last autumn and he invited me down to speak.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people come up to talk to me after a service to say that while they were on holiday in Corfu in the 1980s they looked across the sea to the forbidding and dark landscape of that closed county and its large penetrating searchlights. Again many Hereford people were fascinated to find out more about Albania.

In the evening it was on to Newcastle Congregational Church to meet an old friend and journalist colleague, the Rev Ian Gregory.

Ian, who was a part-time church minister and part-time journalist, is the only ordained person I know who has had a pub named after him – The Polite Vicar in Basford, Newcastle-under-Lyme (pictured below).

He had founded the Polite Society in 1986 encouraging politeness in society and in particular in sport. It made national headlines turning him into a well-known figure.

I was a panellist on the inter-church Faith Faces Reality monthly discussion joining Joel Moors, Radio Stoke’s News Editor, and Jackie Whittaker, ex-Sentinel journalist and journalism lecturer at Staffordshire University, to discuss the media. It was a lively evening and a good audience asking many probing questions.

On Monday lunchtime it was off to Stone Golf Club to talk to the town’s Probus Club against the backdrop of the ninth green. It was again a fine occasion meeting up with some old friends over an excellent braised steak lunch before talking about Albania and The Lion Hotel and selling more copies of both books.

Tomorrow night it is off to a fellowship in Hartshill in the Potteries to talk about Albania.

Christmas presents for Albania

One of the many benefits of going to Christian conferences is the chance to meet new people and learn more about other groups.

I was delighted to meet Bob and his team from Operation Christmas Child (poster pictured below) next to our European Christian Mission stand at the Gorsley Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

My wife Jan has been a supporter for a few years and has already started filling her shoeboxes with presents to send to children overseas this Christmas.

However, I was amazed when Bob and his team told me that Operation Christmas Child, which has been going for 21 years, is the world’s largest children’s Christmas appeal.

Last year they sent 1.2 million shoeboxes from the UK to children to 18 countries across Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

I was delighted to see that Operation Christmas Child, through its USA and Germany offices, has been sending shoeboxes to Albania since 1995.

In 2010 America sent 21,330 shoeboxes to Albania and Germany dispatched 14,960, while this year the US is projected to send 21,345 shoeboxes and the number from Germany is not yet known.

Although the charity in Britain does not send to Albania it does distribute to Albanians living in Kosova and Montenegro and this year’s projected numbers for shoeboxes are 31,200 to Kosova and 20,800 to Montenegro.

What was most moving was to hear that the demand is so great that a child will probably receive only one shoebox during their childhood.

I was so impressed I picked up some shoeboxes and I have already started to fill them.

Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is an initiative of Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief and development charity. To find out more go to http://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/  

Amazing economic changes in Albania

Here’s an interesting question which country is a better investment prospect in 2011 - the UK or Albania, the former Stalinist dictatorship which was closed to the rest of the world for 47 years and is the second poorest country in Europe?

Amazingly it is not Britain which is struggling to stop slipping back into recession, but the Balkan state who are expecting economic growth this year of 3.4 per cent, a 1.6 per cent increase in house prices and a drop in inflation.

I am indebted to Barrie Farnsworth, a colleague and journalist friend on The Sentinel, a daily paper in North Staffordshire, for sending me a press release giving those figures.

According to Albania’s Central Bank, the country remains a top investment location for 2011.

Over the past decade, Albania’s economy has enjoyed real GDP growth and despite the economic downturn in 2008, the Balkan nation was one of only two countries in Europe that not only recorded economic growth of 0.4% in the first quarter of 2009 but also an impressive 6% growth from 2001-10, one of the strongest performances to have taken place throughout Europe.

In addition to economic growth, The House Price Index in Albania has once again increased by 1.6% during the second quarter of 2011 with The Bank of Albania stating that from the end of 2009 and throughout 2010, prices remained virtually unchanged indicating stability in the market which will come as positive news for those wishing to invest in property in Albania.

I took this picture of a house in Albania the last time I visited the country with an interesting for sale sign in both Albanian and English.

According to Albania’s Central Bank, increases in the house price index, which saw an overall average increase of 13.6% for the entire year back in 2009, are a reflection of the undervaluation of Albania’s currency, the Albanian Lek, and increased prices within the Albanian property market whilst rising demand, improved credit access and an increase in construction permits have also thought to have pushed up property prices.

Ravin Maharajah, Partner of Lalzit Bay Resort & Spa, the 5* luxury residential development located on Albania’s Adriatic coastline, pictured below, comments: “There are numerous upward forces being applied to land and property prices in Albania – increasing infrastructure investment, EU accession progress and vast differences in property prices between close neighbours such as Croatia.“

Maharajah further explains: “Considering economic growth and stability within Albania (a recent poll by Arrowtrak of businesses in the region discovered that around 37% were considering investing into the Balkans) and with more overseas investment, Albania will see an increase in expats moving to the area which will in turn boost property prices.

“For example Lalzit Bay Resort is attracting the attention of the growing middle classes across the Balkans, with at least 70% of units released having already been sold. We have even had to release additional units to meet high demand.”

“The 5* Lalzit Bay Resort & Spa can provide the perfect investment opportunity for as little as €29,000 for a gorgeous studio apartment.

“The resort will provide outstanding on-site facilities including a beach club, tennis courts and a wide choice of delicious international cuisines available in the restaurants.”

For more information contact Lalzit Bay Resort & Spa on 0845 125 8600 or visit http://www.lalzitbay.com/