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 Short bio on Tommie and Gunilla Naumann
Tommie & Gunilla are happy parents of four children and equally happy grandparents of seven. As they started out their Christian journey in 1972 they very soon found themselves involved in leadership running a ministry reaching out to the down and out.
Later on they were in a team that pioneered a Christian Community in the south of Sweden. This Community became influential in all of Scandinavia. One of the many outreaches and ministries of this Community was work behind the Iron Curtain, something that Tommie got involved in. As a result of this work Tommie & Gunilla moved to Vienna to be strategically situated for the Eastern European work. Living in Vienna Tommie became part of the leadership of a Catholic Charismatic Community; it was also during this time that Tommie established a lot of contacts in former Yugoslavia, which later on led to the moving to Skopje, Macedonia. Moving back to Sweden from Vienna they became pastors of a Church in Sweden. Serving for six years as pastors in Sweden they moved to Skopje and have planted a Church Movement in this nation. Christian Center Macedonia is today led by local leaders that Tommie has raised up. Tommie still oversees the work in Macedonia and is involved in leadership development and the movements Church planting work. Presently Tommie & Gunilla are presently living in Thessaloniki, Greece where they have planted a Church that is growing. In addition to this Tommie works in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon with setting up Bible schools and assisting in Church planting.
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As you know we are living in a country that has made and is still making a lot of headlines in the media around the world these days. Many years of mismanagement and corruption has led to this crisis and it is sad for the little man on the streets that is now hit due to a lot of absolutely necessary cutbacks that needs made. The strikes that have been going on here seems to be done with dual emotions, yes we understand the necessity but you need to know that we are disappointed. Then we have a hard core group of anarchists that always sees a chance to pick a fight with the police. They take advantage of the situation and sadly three people got killed as some one from this group threw a Molotov cocktail in to a bank a couple of weeks ago. Now however life is back to normal again and Greeks are as usual enjoying life at the coffee bars, they are packed out in the warm nights down here. The malls and the shopping centers are equally packed late in to the evenings, seems like a poor country filled with people that have a lot of money in their pockets, this is understandable with the low tax morale that exists here.
For us as a Church things are good though, some weeks ago at the end of one of our services I was inspired to lead us all in a prayer were we broke any financial restrains hindering us in our private life, a couple of weeks later I asked if there were some testimonies of God’s activity in peoples lives, four people immediately responded and they all testified about financial freedom that had occurred. A few days later it dawned on me that we had broken financial restrains. Praise God he had responded and it was apparently a Holy Spirit thing. The Church is growing slowly but surely and we are now around fifty people and momentum is picking up. A new and warm relationship have been established with a pastor on the island of Thasos just south Kavala an hour and a half to the east from here. A number of us are going there for a conference at Pentecost, personally I will be one of the speakers. It is a little bit exiting as my heart is to plant Churches towards the east and we have already been speaking about networking concerning this.
We are really sorry to have missed Andy coming down here for a weekend, but the team you sent to help us in Lebanon did such a great job. As a Church you are a fresh wind, not religious but very spiritual, it is an honor to be linked with you guys.
Middle East
For the third year I arranged a conference in the Middle East, first time was in Syria and then we had to move it Beirut last year due to the fact that the Church I work with in Syria are forbidden to meet. The Church in Damascus is doing good however growing in the midst of opposition. Emil my friend from Damascus gets a real breath of fresh air on these conferences though and it is sheer joy to see him in action. We held this years conference in the center of Beirut and we had participants from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and then friends from England, Greece, Sweden and the USA joined in as well. One of the main speakers Rick Sizemore said on this conference it is aloud to drink and drive, and man did he get drunk in the Spirit, he was on the floor several times in heap together with other participants. One of the ladies from Jordan wrote me afterwards and said it had been as she was in heaven. I do not think I exaggerate if I say that all who attended was powerfully met by God. I heard so many say that they got healed both physically and in their souls, lots of restorations took place and the theme of the conference which was The Presence of God was not just spoken of. Adam Gough as he came said we don’t have to do anything here it is enough just to be here and enjoy the Spirit in this place. My wife Gunilla who is not one of those that runs for conferences said that she had been lifted to a new level. As she was taken up front to be prayed for she told me that she was not going to fall, but the power of God was so strong she could not stand on her feet.
As the Lord opens for us to continue and do an annual conference in Syria it has now come to the place were we most surely will continue in Lebanon as well. The Church I am working with in Beirut is doing really well and their team served in a fantastic way. I am talking with Josef about planting new Churches in that nation, it is so exiting, plus the Lord is adding new friends in Lebanon. Having had this word The Motherlands of the Gospel shall give birth again, living in me for seventeen years now it is so exiting to see things starting to unfold slowly but surely.
 
The work in the Strumica region is going on very well, recently we baptized 6 people in the public swimming pool in Strumica. Another Church has been started in the city of Radovis. Vane Eftimov writes the following.
“We have Church services every Friday and people constantly give their life to Jesus. On the first service we conducted we prayed for a woman who had demonic problems, she was set free and is now a very happy person. Two drug addicts gave their life to Jesus and it was a big breakthrough in their lives we talked with them and they agreed to go to a Christian based rehab center named RETO. People in Radovis are really open to the Lord Jesus.”
Years ago we started a Church in Radovis but due to lack resources we could not proceed, therefore it is so great to see this thing come alive again.
In Bogdanci close to the Greek border we have started yet another Church. It is another place that we worked in years ago and are now reviving and putting shape to. As was there recently the couple in who’s home we meet was so touched by the Spirit of God. The wife spontaneously out of pure joy took her husband for a little dance at the end of the meeting. A girl that was in a meeting like this for the second time in her life was touched as a word of knowledge hit home to her heart.
A 2nd mission team that we have founded have started to reach out to a town called Sveti Nikole they are regularly visiting and a Church plant is being formed there as well.
The 24-7 prayer we did together with the Churches in Veles and Skopje at the end of January changed the atmosphere totally in our Church here in Thessaloniki. Everything since then has intensified, the prayer meetings, the cell groups the Sunday services and the love in the relationships. It is hard to describe in any other way than to use the word intensified.
In addition a lot of new people have joined our Church. One of them whom have gone through a difficult divorce said in a conversation with one of our leaders that the love and acceptance he finds among us is outstanding.
Costas, preparing our Easter lamb
Recently I talked with another guy that have started to attend our Church. I asked him who told about us and if he liked it. His response was I do really like the teaching and the worship and that there is a family atmosphere, plus, he said you do things differently, there is nothing else like this in town. Nice words and it spurs us to go on. People have gotten saved and we have connected with really good people on the island of Thassos.
Our Cell group in Michaniona
Personally my vision is to plant new Churches towards the east of Greece and these new connections may prove to be friends that we can work together with in this matter. Another good thing is that I was contacted by one of the leaders in the city. He had read about me in the book Red Moon Rising and asked if it was possible to do a city wide 24-7 prayer, at the moment the work for this is going on, but in a city with much division it may take some time.
Giannis, my LTG friend
My LTG friend Giannis is coming on so great he has picked up the idea and is himself meeting with a guy in his neighborhood. Finally on our special Easter Friday service three of our friends from our adopted coffee bar in town attended and was moved to tears.
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Dear Highway Friends
As we visited England in November Gunilla and I we were hosted by you in such a generous, thank you millions for that. As a Church you are such an inspiration, do think that you are doing such a great work over there, being an influence to the people around you and in society. My prayer for you is to continue to stand firm, draw strength from the Lord and do not get weary. Keep on loving on one another and on your neighbors.
Down here in Greece something is definitely cooking. One of the young women in our Church just told me that this season seem to like the time in the chronicles of Narnia. You know after the long winter there came the time when the snow started to melt foreboding the coming of Aslan. No one had seen him yet but the signs of him coming were visible. In our cells the atmosphere of a sense of belonging is growing, it is a real kick to partake. People are being touched by God in a most visible way. The same thing on our Sunday services. The meetings are not much different from before it is just an atmosphere change and it is visible. The last couple of weeks five people have come to the Lord, does not sound much but for all of this is a biggie. We are continuing to work hard with Evangelism targeting young people in the city and some results are showing but we have not yet seen a real breakthrough, so please help us in praying for this.
Otherwise love you a lot and be sure we are with you in prayer.
Greetings Tommie
Greece
Prayer
On Saturday the thirtieth of January we launched a week of prayer around the clock. We did this in co-operation with two other Churches. Meaning here in Thessaloniki we took on praying from Saturday afternoon 6.00 pm until Tuesday morning 6.00 am after this the Church in Veles carried on and later the Church in Skopje will finish the week. As we kicked off a group from Skopje and Veles came down to help kick start the event. We spent a whole night together in prayer and did various things. The room was set up after the model of the 24-7 organization prayer rooms with various stations in it. One corner was designed as a place of intimacy another was for praying for the world then we had a wailing wall and a place for worship and another for repentance and taking communion there was a lot of emphasis on creativity and as a result the walls were eventually filled with drawings, prophetic, inspirational for worship and lots of notes with prayer requests. The first hours was filled with intense worship first from our local worship team. This evening we had a guest on our team, his name is Likurgos, you may well pray for him. He was for the first time in his life in a Protestant Church and his appearance was nothing but an answer to prayer. For a long time now we have asked the Lord to give us someone that plays the Greek national instrument Bozouki. An instrument banned by Greek Protestant Churches as this instrument is used in bars with a bad reputation. Bringing it in on the Christian stage is similar to when rock music hit Churches in the late sixties. William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army said “Why should the devil have all the good music.” So let me say why should the devil monopolize good music instruments. Bozouki makes a beautiful sound and if we want to connect with the people out there then lets use it. Alek from Skopje continued and led us in his very alternative worship. He has studied Orthodox liturgy and developed his own style and we could feel the manifest presence of God in the place. Later on in the night we split up and some stayed in the prayer room while others went out on the streets prayer walking. As we did this Kiko from Skopje walked up to a group of young people and started chatting with them.
 
Orama
Is the name of a coffee bar we have adopted. The idea was inspired after having read Organic Church by Neil Cole. The bar is the old hang out place of Argiris on our leadership team. His old friends visit this bar almost every night and we are a group from our Church going there once a week. I was thinking to myself as I drove home from the place late one night that I am really starting to become Greek. Apart from Argiris we are getting more and more befriended with the people there. The fact is that we are on a mission in this bar doesn’t make it just a work it is really enjoyable to be together with these people. We play card games, backgammon and having the traditional frappe coffee or beer, chat and laugh a lot. Personally I do think that one of the secrets of being successful in evangelism is finding common ground to enjoy life together with your not yet Christian friends. Our objective is to be able to start an Alpha course in the bar but so far the result has been that some from the crowd that hangs out there have visited one of our cell groups. During the time in the cell group one of the guys broke down in tears and the others had their eyes really wet. God was obviously touching them doing a work in their life. This week as I had my birthday people in the bar that I don’t even know came up to me and said Happy Birthday Tommie. Please pray for us as we continue this kind of Evangelism.
Cell Groups
We have a number of people that are definitely a part of our Church that only visits our cell groups, for us this is fine. One of them a middle aged couple have for some time started to come to cell I am personally attending. The husband has never been in a protestant Church and this all new to him. As the cell is very interactive he has started to read the Bible and a couple of weeks ago to his wife’s astonishment he prayed out loud for the first time in his life. A miracle is taking place right in front of our eyes as this man is getting transformed by the power of God.
Baptism
We have a lot of clear blue sky and sunshine in this nation, this does not mean however that winters are warm. This season is definitely to cold for baptism in the sea and as we do no have a baptismal pool in our facilities we conducted this one in the bathroom at Costa and Eva’s house. Eleni that just has given her life to Jesus wanted to get baptized. As we prayed for her and celebrated the Lords supper after her baptism she was so touched by God. Her whole face was completely wet from tears.
This is yana with eleni the woman we baptized
Middle East
Please pray for the conference we are hosting just outside Beirut this coming April. We still need finances for the conference, pray as well for the friends down there preparing for it.
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Connections