• Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • About
  • Home

Pathway

Missouri Baptist Convention's Official News Journal

  • Missouri
    • MBC
    • Churches
    • Institutions & Agencies
    • Policy
    • Disaster Relief
  • National
    • SBC Annual Meeting
    • NAMB
    • SBC
    • Churches
    • Policy
    • Society & Culture
  • Global
    • Missions
    • Multicultural
  • Columnists
    • Wes Fowler
    • Ben Hawkins
    • Pat Lamb
    • Rhonda Rhea
    • Rob Phillips
  • Ethics
    • Life
    • Liberty
    • Family
  • Faith
    • Apologetics
    • Religions
    • Evangelism
    • Missions
    • Bible Study & Devotion
  • E-Edition

More results...

Romanian preacher pours his heart into Missouri

March 12, 2007 By The Pathway

Romanian preacher pours his heart into Missouri

By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer

July 26, 2005

JEFFERSON CITY – One of the more visible Romanian faces in the pulpits of Missouri Baptist churches during the first two years of the Missouri-Romania partnership has been 37-year-old Elijah Soritau, the American-trained professor of pastoral theology at Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania.

“There’s no question he’s got a Romanian accent, but you never have any problem understanding him,” said David Tolliver, Cooperative Program specialist for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC). “When he preaches, he is so eloquent. He’s one of the better preachers I’ve ever been around.”

Tolliver first met Soritau in May of 2003, when the partnership was being born. He and Roy Spannagel, MBC associate executive director, were in Arad, Romania, when Tolliver felt a tap on his leg. It was Soritau, and he asked Tolliver if Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C., was going to become president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Tolliver replied that he did not know. Soritau, who earned his master’s of divinity degree from Southeastern with an emphasis on preaching, said he happened to know that Patterson was going to take the job. Tolliver was impressed.

“I just found him to be somebody who’s just totally connected to what’s going on in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and what’s going on in Romania,” Tolliver said.

Soritau, who serves as the personal assistant to Emanuel University President Paul Negrut, has preached a total of six times in Missouri during the time of the partnership. Nov. 13-16, he will preach again at Kahoka Baptist Church.

“I’ve found your people to be very attentive,” said Soritau, who sat down for an interview with The Pathway during the annual meeting of the SBC in Nashville, Tenn., June 21-22.

His first opportunity to preach in Missouri was at Tolliver’s former church, Pisgah Baptist, Excelsior Springs, in September, 2003. Soritau has since preached on two other occasions at the church. He also has preached at Highview Baptist Church, Chillicothe; Springhill Baptist Church, Springfield; and Jamesport Baptist Church.

“My parents prayed that God would give them a son, and that son would become a pastor, a preacher,” Soritau said. “So my main focus is preaching.”

Whenever he prepares a message for a Missouri Baptist congregation like the one in Kahoka, he considers how little his listeners really do know about true persecution. Soritau served in the Romanian military under a Communist dictator before the dictator was killed in 1989.

“I will probably take some major doctrines and discuss them,” he said. “Probably some of the messages will be challenging the American believers to stand fast. You are viewing a different kind of persecution. You are not persecuted by the Communists, but you are persecuted by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and Hollywood. It’s a peer pressure that’s really very hard to cope with. Hollywood is trying to give a direction to the country, and even to churches. So what I’m probably going to talk about is how to live in the world but not as the world.”

Soritau is a firm believer in the work of the SBC.

“This huge machine which is the Southern Baptist Convention creates a platform to have a voice,” he said. “What’s really happening is, Americans overseas go in and help a country, and the people welcome the American help, but then they bite back. The exact same thing happens to the Southern Baptist Convention. Whenever a moral crisis or an issue comes up, the Southern Baptists as a machine go in, fight against it, and then you have all of these small denominations and independent churches that bite back at Southern Baptists. I think that Southern Baptists are the majority voice.”

He has been living in Fort Worth, Texas, with his American wife while their daughter undergoes treatment for cancer. While his family is under duress due to the severity of the medical treatments, one of the benefits of this season is that Soritau can watch a total of eight televised sermons on Sunday from some of the finer Bible teachers in America.

“I take notes every sermon,” he said. “I just love preaching.”

Comments

Featured Videos

Lick Creek Fellowship - A Story of Cooperation

A declining rural church faced closure after years of dwindling attendance and aging members. But after the doors closed, a small group stepped in to build something fresh from its legacy. Watch this video to hear this story of cooperation and new life.

Find More Videos

Trending

  • The blessing of staying

  • Amendment on role of women in pastoral ministry fails to achieve 2/3 vote

  • Citing challenges overcome 100 years ago, Iorg urges Southern Baptists to choose cooperation

  • Churches partner to start children’s Bible club

  • ‘Stand together’ for the sake of reaching nations, Chitwood tells SBC messengers

  • MBU sports team focuses on more than athletics

Ethics

FIRST-PERSON: Liberty for all – a Baptist distinctive

Baptist Press

As the echoes of Fourth of July fireworks fade and we turn our attention to the week ahead, Southern Baptists also will take a moment to celebrate a key freedom that Americans have long enjoyed and that Baptists have continually sought to defend.

Religious liberty ‘the best blessing’ America has, Baptist immigrants say

Baptist Press

More Ethics Stories

Missouri

Resolutions due 60 days before MBC annual meeting

Staff

Resolutions must be submitted in writing to the Committee on Resolutions at least 60 days prior to the first session of the annual meeting. Persons submitting resolutions must certify that they are messengers.

Copyright © 2025 · The Pathway