Hello Friends!

You know how you can be headed so strongly down one path that God has to pull a donkey on ya in order to get your attention? Yeah… that’s how I feel. Only I’m determined not to beat that donkey into submitting to my will. Ha! (Numbers 22:21-23). Let me explain.

First of all, I need to let you know of some significant changes that have taken place. Tommie Naumann, the crazy Sweedish missionary (and friend) who has brought us into his churches in the Balkans, and headed up the ministry throughout the Middle East, has decided to take a sabbatical. He’s remaining in his ministry in the Balkans, but he’s backing down from the Middle East ministry for a season, taking time to refresh and build up himself and his family. He has asked that Craig and I step in over the work in the Middle East. We, of course, are happy to do this. So we have been spending quite a bit of time in various skype meetings with the M.E. pastors and leaders, as well as others who have joined us in the ministry over the years. We’re holding it all before the Lord, asking Him what this next season is to hold.

For now, we are postponing the women’s conference that was scheduled for the fist weekend in November. I’m sad to announce this, to be honest, because I simply LOVE these beautiful Arabic ladies. We WILL hold this women’s conference, and many others in the future. It simply became very clear as I was trying desperately to make plans for the women’s conference and every door in front of me shut (hence, the donkey reference). It was truly like there was an angel in the road blocking my way! So I went back to the Lord to get more clarity on what He was saying.

He spoke many things, that have since been confirmed by all the M.E. pastors. God is speaking and directing our path. Hallelujah! That’s always a good thing, isn’t it?

The first step; We’re going to have a leadership pow wow in Beirut (if the Lord wills). We’ll be gathering the pastors, their wives, and their leadership teams from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. We’ll gather together to build bridges, pray into the Holy Spirit strategies for the advancement of the Kingdom in this day and hour. We’ll minister to and build up each church, do some leadership training, and generally seek the face of the Lord together for His Wisdom, His courage, and His heart for all of the Middle East. This pow wow is scheduled for the first week in December.

Can I please ask you to pray? This gathering of leaders feels absolutely Holy. Every time I turn to pray for this gathering I feel the Holiness of God on it so strongly is shakes me.

There’s so much shifting in the Middle East right now, as you can see on the news. The need is so great. We feel needy ourselves, to be honest! We need prayer, we need wisdom, we need support. We need Jesus.

That’s enough for now! If you’ve read this far you deserve a prize!

Love you all ohsoverymuch,
Chris

p.s. We’re leaving for England in two days! Whoop! That would be a whole different email, but we’re so excited for this trip! For our itinerary, click here.