Young man changing a community with a church

Greetings to you all. My name is Martin and I live in North Macedonia. I am married to Angela and have one child named Toni.  God is using us to share the love of Jesus and change our community. We have raised up a church of people, now we are building a church in which to minister. I have studied theology, but first I would like to share with you my testimony.

I was very young, around 14 years old, when I sincerely decided to follow God. After my conversion at an English camp called Speak Out, I grew up in faith through my brother in Christ and mentor Adam. Through him, God allowed me to begin to taste the love and salvation of God. Never had I seen respect from any man. Adam didn’t see division between people, whether they were black or white. He always believed in me. He gave me something that I’d never thought I’d find: self-confidence.

Why am I telling you this? I had a serious problem because I was always insulted because of the color of my skin. When someone doesn’t like your ethnicity, you feel hurt and belittled and humiliated. I returned the same disrespect. As I grew to know the Lord, He freed me to have love for every person, no matter what nation or color.

Fast forward nine years and I have finished theological school and like my father, I am a pastor. My father ministers in the town of Sveti Nikole and nearby village of Peshirovo. The last three years I have been given the main teaching roles there. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we have Bible teaching. God is doing great things.

There was a man who was around 60 years old and lived in the capital city of Macedonia, Skopje. He was very sick and lying in bed. God brought me close to him and I shared the Gospel with him. I asked him, “Do you believe what I am telling you?” And he said, “YES, I believe, please pray for me.” God had a special plan for his life. I prayed for him and God did a miracle. The man got up out of his bed. Praise God! Then, after some time passed, this man came to my home and said, “Young man, thank you for praying for me. I want to give you something. I want to give you this half-acre plot of land as a place to build a church building and to make your home there.” I was very surprised. Then he signed the land into my name.

He gave me land in my village where there is no church building. From that moment on, every day, I have prayed and sought God for guidance. I knew that God has a big plan. He answered my prayers as I began to share the Gospel in the place where I live. I started to have Bible studies with three married couples, and month after month more couples began to come. The group grew to 20 couples! Also, I have a group of young people who are meeting with me to hear about God. Some of these are the guys are in the picture praying with me and volunteering help with the building work.

I would like to invite every person who is reading this to pray for this vision which is from God to have a church on this land where these people can gather and continue to learn to follow the Lord Jesus.

Praise God we already started, and you can see pictures of the progress. One floor will be designed for the church and the other floor will be an apartment for me and my wife and son to live. I trust God will put it in the hearts of many brothers and sisters in Christ to help and finish the whole project. We offer a great big “thank you!” to all the donors that God has used thus far to enable us to get this point. We are thankful that God has used Adam to share this vision with many and that he is still looking to find a solution to provide the finances to finish this project to the end. Be encouraged to join these few at this historic time to help build the first church in my neighborhood.

This is my vision and I believe God, when He starts something, He’ll finish it. Now I request, that you pray and whosoever wants to help to build God’s house, a place for my village to come and worship, to go ahead and please send your gift.  May the Lord bless and keep you.  Martin Maksimovik”

From Adam: My wife and I are so proud of Martin and his family. Martin is just 23 years old. He has a passion to make Jesus known to everyone he meets. I think he has the spiritual gifts of evangelism and teaching. His vision is to share the gospel with his whole village and gather them to this church to minister and regularly teach truth from the Bible. Martin and his father are always dreaming of new ways to serve and reach the neighborhood and beyond. I heard two new ones today as I talked with them over Facebook Messenger. Their excitement is contagious, and all these workers are volunteering their time to help build the church in their neighborhood. They are already praying together, trusting the Lord for the funds to finish, and for Jesus’ name to be glorified through them and this place.

In this age of million dollar church building projects. You’ll be happy to hear that this will only cost $34,000. It includes a church that can gather over 100, and an apartment for Martin and Angela and their 2 year old son Toni. (Currently they live with 4 generations in a 700 sq ft home.)  You are welcome to join us in this. It is worth the sacrifice.  

Thank you for considering this,  Adam & Amy

Funding Deadlines:
$8,000 by July 31 (there is a special temporary discount for young married couples in Macedonia that they qualify for that saves them $3000 in building taxes, but the program ends August 1st.) This will finish the supporting structure, walls, roof, windows, and doors, and secure the discount. 

$26,000 by September 30 - To finish interior: electric, water, heating/cooling, furnishing all rooms in church and apartment.