Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2007

them Adolf Lehotsky and Ludevik Drobny, came and met with Strahil in his home.” The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Missionary for Yugoslavia, John Allen Moore, who was providing assistance to the Yugoslav Baptist Union, also visited him in the fall of 1955. 27 Seeing the dedication and giftedness of Strahil, they recommended that he leave his state job, and commit to formal theological training at the Baptist Seminary located in Daruvar, Croatia (later moved to Novi Sad, Serbia). Moore promised full financial support for his education and would also try to provide financial support once he took on the role of pastor of these churches in the south of Yugoslavia. All his life, it seemed that Strahil was being prepared for this, and the call of these people, whom he undoubtedly viewed as men of God - leaders in the faith - was not to be turned aside. At the age of thirty-five, and considered fairly old for a ‘career change’, he committed to the seminary and studied there for the next three years. The years spent in Daruvar and Novi Sad, 1955-1958, gave him a broader perspective on the life of the church. With other students of the seminary, annual evangelisation campaigns were held. They visited hundreds of believers and dozens of towns, where they preached the word of God. Strahil graduated as a part-time student in May 1963. 29 24 Grozdanov, Kratok Istorijat, 1988, p. 12. 25 Prior to the war, Moore noted that the only Baptist church south of Belgrade was the Radovis church, almost 600km away. McConnell, Indigenous Baptists and Foreign Missionaries, p. 146. 26 Grozdanov, Kratok Istorijat, 1988, p. 13. 27 Report, (7.11.1955) SG, UDBA. 28 Ibid., (16.11.1955). 29 Strahil Grozdanov’s Personal Documents [Original diploma. May, 1963, owned by Ivan Grozdanov]. The life and legacy of Strahil Grozdanov 27 The years at seminary were, nevertheless, also a time when Strahil encountered the dark side of ecclesial life - the politics of struggle and power within the leadership of the Baptist Union. He had grown up in a provincial town and had served in churches of peasants where there was neither trained clergy nor financial gain for the preacher. As he testified later in life, the financial dealings of some of the leaders in the union had come as a shock to him. The internal struggles between Lehotsky and Klem on the one side, and Horak on the other, came to his attention. 30 At the time he was probably neither capable nor courageous enough to speak to these old men of the faith, but the seed of discomfort with their leadership had already been sown. The war and post-war years were important to Strahil’s educational development in two major ways: he was educated on how to deal with totalitarian authorities and was trained in the practice of ministry through hands-on experience. The balance between these two would have to be carefully controlled throughout his leadership of the Baptist churches, and