Remember Ambassadors

After about 22 hours of flight delays yesterday, I am now back in the office.  You could certainly make the argument that travel is consuming my life, despite my best efforts!

That is not all bad, though, especially when travel plans afford such a great opportunity for ministry.  When I got back into the office this morning, one of the e-mails that I had waiting for me was on just such a trip.  In just a couple of months, Lord willing, we will be following up on our survey trip to Sudan last January and kicking off our building project.

The dates that we are currently planning on are November 24 through December 7 or 8.  Our tentative itinerary has us flying into Khartoum and traveling by bus down to Kadugli, in the Nuba Mountains, where we will be doing the building.

A trip like this takes a ton of planning and coordination, and I would greatly appreciate your prayers as we launch this new, vital ministry.  Our building project has the potential to bless–and even save–hundreds of lives.  And if the Holy Spirit should lead you to donate towards this project, you can indicate "Sudan Fund" in your giving. 

Just wanted to let you know that I'll be heading out of town next week, so posting might be sparse!  (Of course, in preparing to leave, it has been pretty sparse this week too…)

At the very least, though, you can follow along in persecuted church news in "Up to the Minute" on the sidebar.  See you on the flipside.

Despite its official status as an Islamic nation, Egypt has a very real Christian component.  The Coptic church was founded in Alexandria in 451 AD, and continues to have a strong presence amongst Egyptians.  Even outside this Orthodox history, though, God is beginning an amazing work in this nation.

Our Remember team was able to see first-hand just how hard it is to be an Egyptian Christian on our recent Middle East Survey Trip.  We visited a small Baptist church in Cairo, and after sneaking in to avoid arousing suspicion, were absolutely amazed at both the poverty and the passion of these faithful believers, and were quickly made painfully aware of the persecution they were under.  While standing in the church, the Muslim call to prayer began in a nearby mosque, making the whole church shake and prompting many of us to cover our ears.  The believers explained to us that when the mosque found out that there was a church nearby, they specifically pointed one of their speakers at the church to cause disruption!

Recent news out of Egypt has reminded me of these believers, and reminded me to pray for them.  The work that God is doing has not been unnoticed by the kingdom of darkness, and the persecution is intensifying.

• Late last month a young woman, recently converted to Christianity was taken in to police custody to protect her from the death threats of fanatical Muslim relatives.  Instead of protecting her, though, the police ended up interrogating and torturing her, including electrocution!  When they were done, the police released her from "protective custody," allowing those same family members, who immediately began to abuse her–even  before leaving the police station.
• Compass Direct News is reporting that a young man has sued the government for the right to officially convert to Christianity.  While no government can stop a person from turning to Christ, of course, Egypt's government has long made it very difficult, even illegal, to change religion status in official paperwork.  The lawyer handling the Christian's side of the lawsuit has received death threats against him!

Let us pray that these believers would have the strength to stand faithful against the evil that surrounds them.

***Update***

Open Doors USA is reporting that the young man that has sued the government for official recognition of his conversion is in hiding, and his lawyer has backed out of the case.  Keep this young Christian in your prayers!

Pastor Sumat and members of his congregation have been through a lot in the past couple of weeks!  They are in Madhya Pradesh, a province in India that can accurately be termed a "persecution hostpot," and they have found themselves at the center of attacks.  They have been harassed by anti-Christian fanatics, ordered to stop their worship services, and arrested and interrogated.

Despite all of this, God is pouring out his grace, and these faithful believers have been released from jail.  Praise God for His mercy, and please continue to pray for the Christians of Madhya Pradesh.

To read the full story from Gospel for Asia, click here.

If you have been following international news, you have probably read the story of the 23 South Korean Christians who, on a mission trip to Afghanistan, were kidnapped by the Taliban.  The Taliban has made good on its threats to kill two of them, and the remaining 21 are still being held hostage.

This may seem like a strange story to use when talking about "overcoming," but I think that is exactly what we should take from the story of these 21 hostages and 2 martyrs.  So often, in history and in the present, Christians have taken the darkest times to prove God's faithfulness.  By overcoming the most insidious evil, Christians show out God's goodness.

Today we finished a three week discussion of overcoming, from Revelation 12:11, in The Weekly Reminder.  I would encourage you to use these meditations to pray for our persecuted brothers and sister (and especially the 21 in Afghanistan).

The Blood of the Lamb

The Word of Their Testimony

They Loved Not Their Lives