Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2007

graduating in philosophy in Germany. He then studied theology in the United States at the turn of the century. He spoke German, English, French and almost certainly Turkish. He was the mayor of Kavadarci, a city in Macedonia, from 1921-1923, when he left to pastor the church in Radovis, probably from the year 1923, up until the destruction of the church in 1929. For a few years afterwards, he was in the nearby town of Strumica, and could have visited Radovis easily. Whether there was direct influence by Daskalov on Grozdanov is unclear, but the legacy of Daskalov’s powerful intellect and ministry was surely still present in the church in Radovis, where Strahil was growing up. In addition to the legacy of Daskalov and the persecution experienced by the church during Strahil’s early life, it was probably his father’s decision to offer the family house as a meeting place for worship which was to plant lasting impressions on Strahil. In 1932, three years after the loss of the church building, the congregation started meeting again in the family house of Nikola Zlatanov, even though the church had to allow a police officer to be present at every meeting. From his twelfth to his eighteenth birthday, every meeting, sermon, prayer and song of the congregation would happen under the eyes of Strahil. Nikola, Strahil’s father, was never an active preacher, and until this time, there is little evidence he was an active member of the Baptist church he now belonged to. However, Nikola’s courage in offering his home as a meeting place at this time enabled the reestablishment of the Radovis church, and would help pave the way for Strahil’s development as the future leader of the 9 Strahil Grozdanov, Kratok istorijat na pojavata na Baptizmot vo Makedonija [Short History of the appearance of Baptists in Macedonia] (Unpublished, 1988), p. 5; [Short history 1994], p. 5. 10 John David Hopper, A History of Baptists in Yugoslavia: 1862-1962 (Doctoral Thesis, 1977), p. 5. 11 Grozdanov, Kratok Istorijat, 1984, p. 3. 12 Strahil Grozdanov, Kratka biografija na Vladimir Daskalov [Short Biography of Vladimir Daskalov], (Unpublished, 1977). 13 Grozdanov, Kratok Istorijat, 1988, p. 11. 24 Journal of European Baptist Studies Baptists in Macedonia. The life of the church at this time was not easy, and there is at least one recorded incident where Vinko Vacek was thrown out of the pulpit by the authorities in 1933. 14 It was soon after this, in 1934, that Strahil was converted and baptised. 15 In the 1930s another phenomenon taking place in the Balkans was the so-called ‘exchange of peoples’. 16 Hundreds of thousands of Turks were leaving the now liberated lands, and other groups of people were moving into their new homelands. Not many people were being moved into Macedonia, but a lot of Turks were leaving it, which meant that a large number of properties went on sale, probably under-priced. In 1938, the Radovis congregatio