Employee of the Year

The security concerns are frustrating because they tie my hands with what I can write back to you. With just a little experience in this region, and in this country in particular, I can’t quite discern what is perception and what is reality regarding what is safe to put in an email or the web and what is not. So I error on this side of caution and I’ll try not be annoyingly generic. But the concern is real. Here’s an example: A few months ago two of my e3 colleagues went with two local pastors into a country here in the Middle East that contains an unreached people group the local pastor believes God is calling him to work with. They visited believers in this country, encouraging them and planning an effective, God-ordained strategy to plant churches among this people group. When they crossed back over the border into the country the local pastor is living in, he received a visit from a few security officials from the country they just toured. In the security officials hand was a sheet of paper that listed every single place they visited—Every house, every restaurant, every business. They had been followed the entire time and hadn’t had any idea it was happening. Our pastor was undaunted (these guys are really amazing), and after answering the security officials questions in a satisfying manner, was left without any trouble. Christianity is—to me—shockingly free in that country. More on that in a sec. Keep reading.

Is that happening where I’m at? I seriously doubt it, (at least with our group) but it was an effective reminder of the caution we need to take. So with that, let me describe our first day as best I can, but with some filtering. It is cold and rainy here, which is also surprising. I expected it to be very dry and, stereotype alert, sandy. We grabbed a few taxis in front of our hotel and climbed a few winding narrow streets until we came to the church where we’re holding our conference. After about an hour, the church pews filled with men and women from five countries from the Middle East. We worshipped and then kicked off the church-planting training.

You know how smells connote memories? We had lunch in the basement of the church and as I walked down the steps and into the “dining hall,” it smelled exactly like every little church I’ve been in. You know what I mean, don’t you? I spooned a heap of rice with seasoning, vegetables, nuts and some meat (lamb?) on my plate and grabbed a seat next to a 23-year old guy, “Keenan,” from a neighboring country. This country is same one that I wrote about earlier with the security services. Keenan’s uncle immigrated to America and managed to bring his parents and three brothers over as well. Keenan’s family are nominal Christians, but the Lord has lit a fire in Keenan. The fire burned so hot that Keenan felt called to go back to his home country. He worked in a hotel in the U.S. and two weeks after getting promoted and named employee of the year, he quit and moved back to the Middle East. God has laid a burden on his heart to work with young folks in his country—those 35 and younger. With no real training, he began calling prayer meetings in his apartment. I asked him if he encountered much resistance. He said he did, but not from whom I expected. It is the “Christians” in his country who have opposed him. He is essentially persona non grata in his home church. The elders do not want growth and want nothing but to hold traditional services. Sounds like some churches in America, huh? Ha! He continues to mobilize young believers. He prays with them and trains them, then sends them out across his country to evangelize and start home churches. God has now given him a bigger vision to send more young people from his country to other Middle Eastern countries as well.

I’m making this too long now, so I’ll cut a few other items short and give you a few highlights. We heard from an 84-year old woman who many believe is the oldest believer in the country we’re in. We asked her to give a testimony of using the Evangecube and she ended up preaching a little. In a nutshell she told everyone in the room she wanted to go to heaven and stand before Christ and God the Father and tell them she shared the gospel. She wanted to finish strong, and she is doing it.

Later we met with some key leaders from the five countries and heard the visions they have for their ministries. More on that later.