Grigore Buia, born and raised in Maieru, Romania was known to follow Christ no matter what the cost from a young age. Below you will find an interview of the zealous leader.

Q: Who was the most influential person in your life that helped you decide to dedicate yourself to the field of evangelizing?

My grandfather Vasile Mogovan, was a great man of God and leader. He pastured 7 churches in the county Bistrita Nasaud, Romania. My grandfather would eat not one apple without thanking God for it first. After traveling with him, and experiencing the power and majesty of God, I devoted myself to being pure to be used by God. My parents as well as Vasile and Marioara Mandru were a great influence as well.

Q: Why the children’s ministry?

I believe children need a mentor and guidance to develop the talents that God instilled in them. They are small but mighty.

Q: What were the beginnings like in the children ministry?

People wrote that Sunday school did not exist until the Revolution because it was not permitted, this is not true. In Cluj on Septimiu Elbini street Sunday school was fully functioning, I was 20 at the time. A few years later I moved to Bistrita after I got married. There were so many children yet no room in the church. My wife's brothers (Nelu, Petrica, and Ezeckiel Sigartau) decided to open up their home to hold all the children for Bible lessons and songs on Sunday mornings. Parents would leave their house headed to church, while children from all around would go to the Sigartau's house from 9-12pm. The children were never late!

Q: What happened when you had to leave Romania?

In 1988 my family and I moved to America where I felt free to develop Sunday school and work with all my heart and energy that God gave me. I encouraged young people to grow a desire to work for the Lord; I trained them to be receptive, friendly, and good listeners. I instilled in them all the principles I learned from my grandfather, and taught them values from the Bible of living what you were teaching. For example, I told my Sunday School teachers, the lessons should be prepared on Monday so that there would be time for prayer and divine inspiration. We were so united, even after some of the teachers moved to churches in the surrounding area.

Q: Where did this passion come from?

My passion would increase the more I let myself be used by God. The more I surrendered my time for Him, and the more I made myself available for Him, the stronger I felt the urge to move forward. I took the children out to visit the sick, the elderly, and the unchristian as it says in the Bible to do. We even visited an Orthodox church where the children sang songs and recited Bible verses during a church fellowship they had. I only found out years later while visiting some friends in North Carolina, that a man among them was so moved by the children that he decided to move away from all the negative influences of his family and turn to God. He came to find me in North Carolina to thank me for brining those children to the church.

Q: How did this idea of children’s camp begin?

In 1992 my good friend Florin Pindic from the Little Samaritan Mission said RIGHT NOW is the time to work the fields of the children’s hearts. I took my son Joseph with me to the Republic of Moldova to an abandoned communist camp. My heart broke seeing those 700 neglected children found in trash cans and on the streets, steeling food. The forms of discipline there were brutal and with no mercy. That pain ignited a fire within my heart to focus even more on children and open summer camps.

The following year my son Joseph, my youngest daughter Anca, and I went to the Republic of Moldova again, this time I was the director. The first thing we did was check the entire camp for lice and give the children a new set of undergarments after teaching them to shower properly. For the first time these children learned how to eat an orange, for the first time they felt love, they sang songs, they were hugged, and were able to experience joy. My mind still can not grasp the miracles of God in that month spent at camp.

In 1998 I dragged along even more young people to assist me in the children’s ministry. My brother Aurel and his children, Cristian and Utu, joined my entire family on a mission trip to several European countries.

Q: So you basically encouraged more youth to get involved.

Yes, in 2000 the Brass Ensemble at Alleluia Church of God in Dearborn Michigan went on a missionary tour throughout Romania to minister to the sick, the orphans, the elderly, the poor, and in prisons. They spread the good news of Jesus Christ with their music to many whom for the first time have heard a brass ensemble. In 2001 I stirred up enough youth to be able to have our first children’s camp here in Michigan.

Q: Is Camp Emanuel limited to the Detroit Metropolitan area?

Praise God for the past 8 years of camp thus far, I do not want to stop here; I would like to expand the borders. In 2007 we helped a church in Chicago get organized and hold their first children’s camp. My youngest daughter is moving away and plans on opening camps where she settles down.

Q: What is Camp Emanuel’s plan for the future?

Camp Emanuel held a “One Day Camp” in September 2007 with all the children in the surrounding area, and plans to hold One Day Camps in the future on a bimonthly basis. My desire is to give children in other neighboring countries of Romania the opportunity to experience God at camp. However I pray that God spreads this passion He has put in me to other young leaders so that some day take the reigns. He clearly has been listening to my prayer: my youngest daughter became the camp director just last year. I praise God for Brother Aurel Buia, Estera Maris, Liviu Vlad, and other youth that are taking this vision further