Addicts to Pastors: The Gospel Transforms the Lives of Two Bulgarian Pastors

God is in the business of redeeming sinners, a truth Boris Kolev and Niki Genchov, two of Mission to the World’s national partners in Sofia, Bulgaria, understand intimately. From early adolescence through their young adulthood, both men were ensnared in the throes of drug addiction. Each man was homeless, lonely, and desperate until the Holy Spirit flipped the script—pulling both out of their hopeless situations into loving relationships with Jesus, and eventually calling them to full-time ministry.

Boris's Story

Boris was born in a small Bulgarian village in 1984. He never knew his father and lived as an only child with his mother and grandfather. Boris’s mom died tragically when he was only 12 years old. Before she died, Boris was placed in institutional care, but the conditions there were not always very safe. Gangs of kids would bully other kids who were considered weaker. He would participate in the bullying to avoid being bullied himself. He survived by avoiding thinking about his situation and living one day at a time. Orphaned and completely alone, Boris learned to fend for himself.

He spent his teenage years couch surfing from one friend’s house to another, wondering why he was in this situation and longing for a normal family. During this time, Boris found solace in drugs. He continued his nomad lifestyle well into young adulthood, wandering from city to city trapped in a cycle of theft, incarceration, and substance abuse.

He eventually hit rock bottom at the age of 30. “I was so broken. Everything I had was broken and I heard from friends about this Christian community that lives together,” says Boris. His friends were talking about Reto—a Christian rehab center in Sofia that provides housing to men struggling with substance abuse while addressing their addiction. When he first heard about Reto, Boris had no interest in seeking help and told himself he would only go as a last resort. He kept thinking his circumstances would improve. Eventually he realized this wasn’t true and admitted he had a big problem that he couldn’t fix on his own.

He went to Reto and quickly realized he was in for more than he had bargained for. Every morning the Reto staff began the day with a Bible study and worship, and they regularly told him about Jesus.

“I started to listen to the gospel, but at the beginning I didn’t really understand. I thought that everyone was crazy and that I was the only one who was a little bit normal,” he says. “I told myself I would stay two months then I would leave.”

Day by day God began to open Boris’s heart. For a while he was annoyed the Reto staff kept preaching the gospel to him, but he saw how the Christians on staff fostered deep relationships with each other and the residents. Boris had never experienced a community in which everyone did everything together, and, after being on his own for so long, he found this way of life attractive. Then, a year and a half after Boris first came to Reto, everything changed. He attended the morning Bible study and felt as if the speaker was talking directly to him.

“I was at the end of my strength … and after the meeting I prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, forgive me,’” says Boris. “I’ll never forget that moment because after that I was free. This was when Jesus came into my heart and showed me who I am and that He was something I really needed. It really changed my life.

Niki's Story

Niki was raised in a non-Christian home by atheist parents. He delved into drugs when he was 12 years old. He prefers to keep the details private, but mentioned that for 13 years he tried everything from marijuana to heroin. When he was 25, an acquaintance told him about Reto and he decided to go and seek help.

“I went to this center because I was very broken and in a very bad situation. Even my parents didn’t want to see me. My mother told me that she didn’t care whether I went there or lived on the street.”

At Reto he heard the gospel and read Scripture for the first time. He attended every prayer and worship service and, like Boris, he thought everything was strange and everyone was crazy.

He couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. He had come to Reto looking for help and the staff kept telling him Jesus was the solution to his broken situation. But Niki, having never heard the gospel before, didn’t believe them and just wanted everything to stop—he thought the Bible was boring, he was weary of constantly hearing about finding new life in Jesus, and he didn’t know what to do. He said that leaving the center was a horrible option because the only life he knew was that of a drug addict, but staying at the center felt intolerable.

“I thought to myself, ‘I’m 25 and in a desperate situation. I have no friends, no money, no job, no past, and no future. I don’t know what to do with my life. I have absolutely no idea.’”

He decided he had no choice but to stay, and that if he was going to stay he may as well try to understand Christianity. He continued to read the Bible, started praying, and asked the Christians around him why they were so different. But the more he learned about Christianity, the more he didn’t understand, and the more disappointed and depressed he became. Finally, one morning about six months after he came to Reto, the Holy Spirit sparked a breakthrough.

“I was scared about my past and my future and started praying. I didn’t understand the story of the Bible, but I remember this particular morning. I realized just two things and they are the most important things in my life—that God was the creator and that He sent Jesus,” says Niki. “It was the moment that God’s grace came into my heart and I decided to surrender myself.”

This transformed Niki’s entire outlook. He realized the Bible was the truth and he recognized God’s grace in the hearts of the Christians at Reto and everything they did to lead him to this moment. Gratitude for Jesus and His love replaced the depression and disappointment he had experienced for so long.

“My situation was exactly the same. I still had no money, no job, no friends—but my heart was different, and everything changed,” said Niki.

The Path to New Life

After calling Boris and Niki into a saving relationship with His Son, God set each of them on a new path. Following his conversion, Boris spent another year at Reto then stayed in Sofia to look for a job and a church. Despite his natural ability to connect with people, Boris struggled to find a church that mirrored the inclusive atmosphere he enjoyed at the rehab center. A recommendation from a friend led him to a church planted by MTW missionaries called New Life Church, where he found a welcoming and open gospel-centered church family.

“They didn’t speak Bulgarian very well but they were very kind and inclusive. Many invited me over as their guest,” says Boris.

Niki on the other hand stayed at Reto for eight years to serve men who, like him, struggled with substance abuse and addiction. He left in 2018 in search of an opportunity to study the Bible and theology in Sofia. For two years he was involved in a charismatic church, and though he enjoyed the community, he wrestled with theological differences and a lack of opportunity for deeper biblical study. He started visiting New Life Church in 2022 and found warmth, friendship, and compelling preaching.

At this point in their journeys both men were content and grateful for how God had seized them from their previous lives as addicts to new life in Jesus and led them to a supportive church family. But God wasn’t finished redirecting their lives. Shortly after each became members at New Life Church, the interim pastor and MTW missionary Trevin Hoot asked each if they were interested in the church’s new pastoral internship program.

A New Calling as Pastoral Interns

Trevin and his wife, Ruthie, joined Mission to the World’s Sofia team in 2019 to help plant New Life Church. Team Bulgaria thrives at training missionary interns, mainly from America and fresh out of college, for full-time ministry. One day, about three years ago Trevin and his teammate, Vlado Hristov, were discussing ideas for how this internship could be a blessing to the Bulgarian church. Since New Life Church wants to plant other churches, including Bulgarians in the team’s internship program would help raise national pastors and Christian leaders for new church plants. Vlado had the idea: “Why don’t you start an internship?”

With the help of the team, Trevin outlined a two-year program for men interested in exploring a call to be pastors but don’t have the resources or theological background to pursue pastoral ministry. The church would pay the interns part time while the interns receive a comprehensive theological education, lead various ministries, and, eventually, preach regularly. At the end of two years the interns would be fully equipped to get ordained as pastors in the Reformed denomination Mission to the World works with in Bulgaria. Once these plans were in place, Trevin recruited Boris and then Niki to be the test case interns.

Each jumped at the opportunity to pursue pastoral ministry and have thrown themselves into their calling with vigor and enthusiasm. The pastoral internship has provided a way for both men to exercise their natural gifts and passions. Boris, who began the program three years ago and just finished in August, has used his outgoing personality and ability to make connections to lead the church’s outreach efforts and a Bible study at the local hospital. Niki’s love for studying and conversing about theology has made him a great fit for the teaching and discipling responsibilities he has taken on at the church.

“Our philosophy is that there are plenty of people who have really good doctrine but don’t have good hearts,” says Trevin. “So if we can find a good person with a good heart who is interested in being a pastor we are more than willing to train them because the Lord has already done the hard work. These guys definitely have good hearts.”

It is difficult for both men to put into words their amazement and gratitude for God’s grace in their lives.

“I was so broken before that I never thought I would be in the church and especially be a pastor preaching in the church. Ten years ago [when I left Reto] that was only a dream. It wasn’t ever going to be real,” says Boris.

Niki echoed saying, “It was so unexpected and surprising to me when two years ago Trevin just offered me this pastoral internship position and I think it is a way God continues to work in my life. It was a big testimony to me.”

Boris and Niki recently experienced another significant life change that may be more exciting than their work as pastoral interns—this summer both married women they met at New Life Church. They are living examples of God’s redeeming work in the lives of sinners. He set them free from bondage to sin and drugs, gave them new hearts, brought them into His kingdom, and now sends them out to tell others of His great mercy, compassion, and love.