Can I tell you about someone I met in a small Romanian village?
Her name was Domnica. Whenever our volunteers gathered with the kids, she was almost always nearby. Not in the middle of things—just quietly watching from the edges. You could tell life hadn’t been easy for her. Poverty had left its marks. But she always had this warm, steady smile.
One day we decided to stop and talk with her...
As we celebrate thirty years of Remember the Children in Romania, I’ve been thinking about how this journey has shaped both the ministry — and me.
My earliest memories there are not easy ones. They’re marked by the lingering weight of communism, by hardship, and by the quiet tragedy so many children endured. For many Romanians, those scars are still close to the surface.
What I remember most clearly, though, are the children on the streets — and sometimes beneath them, living in the sewers.
One of them was a boy named Florin.
Then his wife passed away. The group ended soon after, and life moved forward. My own wife is still here—a gift I don’t take lightly. I often wondered how he was doing, but we had kept our lives fairly private, and time passed.
Until the letter arrived.
The envelope was simple, but the return address stopped me. As I read his words, I felt that familiar connection return. He wrote to say thank you—for the conversations, for the honesty, for being known in a season when everything felt uncertain. Then he shared something I hadn’t known.
Four years after war forced families from their homes, the effects of displacement are still deeply personal. I felt that reality most clearly through the story of one young Ukrainian man I met shortly after he arrived in Romania. He came with little more than a backpack, carrying the weight of leaving home, loved ones, and everything familiar behind. The loss was heavy, but even in those early days, there was a quiet resilience in him—rooted in faith and a longing to belong again.
One of the most powerful ways the Gospel reaches people is through new churches—places rooted right in the community where real life happens. Agape Church is one of those places. Supported by Remember the Children, this church plant exists to bring hope, faith, and belonging to people who need it most.
This February, Agape Church steps into its fourth year of ministry. Like many young churches, the journey hasn’t been easy—especially because Agape intentionally serves individuals and families who are…
Can I tell you about someone I met in a small Romanian village?
Her name was Domnica. Whenever our volunteers gathered with the kids, she was almost always nearby. Not in the middle of things—just quietly watching from the edges. You could tell life hadn’t been easy for her. Poverty had left its marks. But she always had this warm, steady smile.
One day we decided to stop and talk with her...
As we celebrate thirty years of Remember the Children in Romania, I’ve been thinking about how this journey has shaped both the ministry — and me.
My earliest memories there are not easy ones. They’re marked by the lingering weight of communism, by hardship, and by the quiet tragedy so many children endured. For many Romanians, those scars are still close to the surface.
What I remember most clearly, though, are the children on the streets — and sometimes beneath them, living in the sewers.
One of them was a boy named Florin.
Four years after war forced families from their homes, the effects of displacement are still deeply personal. I felt that reality most clearly through the story of one young Ukrainian man I met shortly after he arrived in Romania. He came with little more than a backpack, carrying the weight of leaving home, loved ones, and everything familiar behind. The loss was heavy, but even in those early days, there was a quiet resilience in him—rooted in faith and a longing to belong again.
I want to share the rich and heartfelt history of Christmas with Remember the Children in Romania—a journey that began in the late 1990s through our deep partnership with Caminul Felix Children’s Homes.
Our mission started with a simple goal: to find sponsors for each of the 100 children in their care so we could provide new outfits, essential toiletries, and special treats that would brighten their Christmas. Every year, we packed 75-pound army duffel bags filled with carefully chosen gifts and traveled to Romania, eagerly anticipating the celebration that awaited.
As I reflect on my time in Romania, one conversation stands out as both the hardest and most meaningful moment of the trip. During a week of church youth camp with Bethel Baptist Church and the kids from House of Hope, we spent our days full of energy—playing games, doing activities, and learning about Jonah and Jesus.
One day at lunch, I was talking with a girl from House of Hope Orphanage whom I had grown close to. The conversation shifted to faith, and she looked uneasy as she admitted…
Remember the Children recently hosted four Romanian couples at the Exponential Global Conference (EGC) in Orlando, Florida.
Exponential Global is the premier conference in the US totally focused on the topic of church planting. Experiences like this are unique for our Romanian friends as they do not have access to this kind of development and training in their homeland.
Planting a church can be long, slow and discouraging at times. It is opportunities like this, thanks to your generosity, that encourage, inspire and refresh our team members for their next season of ministry. By investing in them, you are ultimately investing in the lives of the orphan children, refugees and communities they serve.
We believe in the power of local leaders – and so in 2025 we are prioritizing leadership development for our ministry partners in these two ways:
1) Church Planting: RTC is providing scholarships to future church planters to attend one of two Exponential Conferences – in Orlando or Berlin. Training like this is key to the success of new churches by providing access to invaluable insights, strategies, and networks. We are praying for God to use this opportunity to inspire our Romanian partners to know how to do this important work.
