Nikol Baldacchino was born in 1954 in Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea with a long and deep tradition of the Catholic faith. His parents were very good and practicing Christians. Attending Mass in the morning and reciting the rosary in the evening were daily events. Nikol is married to Mary and they have three daughters.
On his teenage years Nikol comments, "I did very well at school and was considered a `promising' student. But things started to go wrong when I was fifteen. My father died with an accident at the age of 42. This resulted in a deep and severe crisis of faith. I could not comprehend how a loving God could allow harmful things to happen to me."
His questions about God's mercy led him to rebel against Him and against anything that has to do with Him. This spiritual alienation resulted in a deep void in his life.
"Although from the outside I looked like a normal and a happy young man, from the inside I was searching for something that made sense for my life. I tried music, popularity, alcohol, but to no avail. At this crucial point in my life, I was invited to attend a prayer meeting made up of young people, one of the first Charismatic groups on the island. There I met the Lord! Not through any spectacular sign or wonder, or through any anointed preaching, but through the love and compassion that these persons showed me. Through their kindness and understanding, I could experience that God is love and full of mercy.
"After attending some of their meetings, I was prayed with to receive `the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.' And God really showed up! I knew that God's power had invaded my life. He had a plan for me to be his son and his servant."
Some months later, God used Nikol and Mary, his future wife, to start a prayer group in his parish. Later, this evolved in becoming part of a covenant community, known as the Glory of God Community with a call for worship and evangelization. This community incorporates in it the International Catholic Programme of Evangelization (ICPE), a lay mission which holds schools of evangelization in different parts of the world.
Nikol has been a member of the National Service Committee of Malta for the past 15 years. For the last 8 years, he has been serving as a full time worker where he heads the Renewal Office. This office organizes conferences, leadership training courses, and publishes a magazine in Maltese. It also serves as a network between the different charismatic groups and communities, and with other renewal movements in the diocese.
He joined the ICCRS Council in 1994 as representative to the Renewal in Southern Europe.
Nikol has ministered in different countries throughout Europe and Africa. He has a particular interest in teaching on evangelization, holiness, worship, and community life.
Nikol remarks that the Charismatic Renewal is a force in the Church in helping restore and revive a deeper spirit of prayer and worship. Moreover, the experience of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit helps us to live more fully the call to Christian fellowship.
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