Day 19 Mission to Minister to the Persecuted Church

Cairo, Egypt

Time: November 1, 2015

We Are Blessed In So Many Ways!

We finished the Stand Firm Conference in Minya, Egypt yesterday and my heart is full. It was such a joy to spend time with brothers and sisters in Christ who are hungry to know and understand God’s Word. I don’t remember any conference where those attending were more diligent than these in taking notes and asking questions.

The Stand Firm Seminar is all biblically based. It challenges many long held beliefs people have about spiritual warfare. It was a challenge at time to work through some of the concepts and we had many lively discussions. In the end it was clear that God worked in hearts to teach how to recognize and resist satanic attacks on our minds.

Many Egyptians speak a little English, some quite a bit. This enabled Caleb and me to get to know quite a few of these dear brothers and sisters.  They blessed and encouraged us as they talked about living in a country that is openly hostile to Christianity. Everyone in the room had experienced some kind of persecution in their lives. Unlike Christians in America, they assume that persecution is part of their lives.

• Almost everyone got beat up as a child by Muslim Children just because they are a Christian.
• Several told of Muslim teachers in schools giving lower grades because they were a Christian.
• One man was openly denied a job as a professor because he is Christian.
• A business man is harassed by the local government officials which hurt his business because He is a Christian.

In spite of this and much more they were full of joy and hope in the Lord. They worshiped with energy and enthusiasm. They were almost all involved in some kind of ministry.

Let’s remember how blessed we are to live in America where this kind of persecution is rare. It does happen but not as openly as in Egypt.

Today and tomorrow we are going to see some of the ancient historical sights of Egypt. May you be blessed today as you enjoy the love and grace of God!

The post Blessed by God At The Minya Egypt Stand Firm Conference appeared first on To Every Nation Ministries.

Day 16 Mission to Minister to the Persecuted Church

Minya, Egypt

Time: October 29 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm Egypt time (10:00 am – 2:00 pm CDT)

Minya Egypt Stand Firm Conference

We have arrived safely in Minya, Egypt and got a good night’s rest. We are enjoying all of the wonderful sights and sounds and smells of Egypt. Yesterday we had the opportunity to stop at the Nile river. I had to go down and put my foot in the water of the Nile! As we stood on the shore there were boys casting nets and fishing like people have done for thousands of years!

Please pray for us tonight, tomorrow and Saturday as we teach the Minya Egypt Stand Firm Conference to Pastors as well as to Christians from their churches and the MELTI staff. This is set up like a typical church conference we would have in the US, with one meeting tonight, three tomorrow and one on Saturday. By the way, the weekend here in Egypt for most people is Friday and Saturday!

Please pray for us to make the message clear and culturally relevant.

Please pray for healing as both of us have colds.

Most of all please pray God speaks to every heart and that these dear brothers and sisters in Christ learn to Stand Firm in the face of satanic attacks on their minds.

Thank you each one for praying for us. We know God is blessing us because of the faithful prayers of the saints!

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Day 15 Mission to Minister to the Persecuted Church

Travel from Cairo, Egypt to Minya, Egypt

Time: October 28 10 am – 4:00 pm Egypt time (3:00 am – 9:00 am CDT)

MELTI Stand Firm Pastors Conference Update

MELTI is the Middle East Leadership Training Institute in Cairo. It serves the church in the Middle East and North Africa, equipping pastors and Christians in the faith. We had an intense day of training today on Stand Firm. Due to the various factors the conference for pastors in Cairo was one day instead of two. We had around 30 pastors and church leaders as well as MELTI staff, most of whom are shown below.

Even though we had less time than normal to teach the material we had the benefit of having all of the training material, handouts and PowerPoint in Egyptian Arabic. The significantly cut down on some of the translation time. We were blessed with an excellent translator which also made the time more productive. Overall our first MELTI Pastors Conference was enthusiastically received by all who attended. It was a joy to meet and talk with some Sudanese pastors living and serving in Cairo.

Today, Wednesday October 28th, we’ll be driving from Cairo to Minya in Upper Egypt. There we will be having a three day Stand Firm Conference for pastors and Christians living in that area. The conference will begin on Thursday evening.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Caleb and I have been fighting colds as well as having some difficulty in adjusting to the very delicious but very different food in Egypt. These are just trials and things we rejoice in being able to endure to do this ministry.

Please pray for our safety as we drive about 170 miles tomorrow and for the preparations for this conference. God has protected and blessed us throughout our journey. Please join us in giving thanks to Him for that!

I don’t know if I will have internet in Minya. If not I’ll post again over the weekend when we get back to Cairo.

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