The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps

Greetings to the brethren in the name of our risen Lord!  

Bart, Amy, and I returned safely yesterday to LA.  I don't think I've ever been so sad (and yet so joyful!) to leave somewhere.  Christ Evangelical Baptist Church embraced me like a family and I felt like one of theirs from the beginning.  The Lord opened our hearts to one another and knit our hearts together in love.  "We feel like we've known you for years," someone remarked to me.  "I know, I feel the same way."  It was surprising, but true.  Never in my travels have I found so humble, loving, passionate believers as I have in this working class neighborhood church in Beirut.  Their elders, and their pastor, Michel, are trustworthy men of God who love the church, who love her to the very end (John 13:1).  As I told the six newly baptized believers, the members of this church indeed are so very blessed!

Before we left, the elders and some others from the church came out to the airport around midnight to see us off.  My soul was humbled greatly and I was left without a word to say when the church provided us all with generous parting gifts.  Understand that these are all working class people who barely make ends meet in Lebanon. 

In response, I can only think of what Paul said about the churches in Macedonia (2 Cor 8:3-5), "that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. ³ For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, ⁴ imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. ⁵ And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God."

Please pray for the next steps in ministry, as a mighty and effective door for ministry has opened and I seek the counsel and ministry oversight of faithful leaders and supporters in the churches here.

Your servant always,

Bent

Pastor Michel's ordination!

Hi everyone!  Bart and Amy Horton have arrived here safely and are now, according to them, 80% over their jet lag.  It's a real joy to have them here.  Their first night here, we all had the privilege of attending the ordination of pastor Michel Abbas.  The ordination has been in the works for a number of years, but kept getting postponed for various reasons.  What a blessed time for the church  to rejoice; I was encouraged by the many stories of pastor Michel's dedication and faithfulness over the years.  Praise be to the Lord!

Baptism surprise

Saturday night's baptism was a surprise for me.  Not that it was happening, but that I was the one who was doing the baptizing!  That's right, I was tremendously honored to have the chance to co-conduct the baptism with Pastor Michel Abbas.  There were actually six people who were baptized, including Rima, pictured here.  

  

Strengthening the church

In July I am teaching from the book of Acts each Thursday night, with the theme of how to become a 'world-shaking' church.  Last night our text was Acts 11:25--12:1-4.  By the grace of God, the response continues to be extremely positive and the word of God is growing and multiplying (Acts 12:24).

The Lord has granted me some more unique and unexpected opportunities to witness for Christ.  In Beirut, a man invited me to spend some time with him in the city.  We visited the patriarchate, or 'headquarters' of one of the major traditional Christian sects.  This sect is very influential in Lebanon.  I met a young priest that they seem to be grooming for leadership, and he graciously admitted us to a large reception hall where the head of this sect conducts meetings the top clergy of Lebanon.  Along with some others, I was able to share the gospel of grace with him and prayed!  Surprisingly, the young man was moved and grateful.  He even sent greetings to me later and I hope to visit him again. 

I had a really encouraging conversation with Bekass (the young man with a Majority background whom I mentioned recently made a profession of faith in Christ) and Salim about the Lord.  Bekass talked about how there's nothing in this world that he desires besides Christ.  Not material wealth, not family, only Christ.  He also desires greatly to be baptized.  There's no other explanation for this sort of thing except that the Lord is sovereign!

A friend of mine who founded a pioneer missionary work in a Majority country was here with his family for a few days and we had a wonderful night to fellowship, discuss ministry plans and goals, and generally for me to be sharpened.  I praise the Lord for him and his work, which is a strong example to me of biblical missions, and was really glad we could connect here in Beirut. 

There are five believers being baptized at Christ Evangelical Baptist Church and I look forward to hearing their testimonies tomorrow night.  Many blessings to you all! 

Bent

"Come and help us"

Warm greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!  This past week, Bekass brought a friend (since this is a public site I won't mention his name with Bekass) from his country.  He too expressed faith in Christ and the church is following up with him.  

I also met with another pastor whom I will not name since he is in the heart of a Majority area.  This particular church is in a very strategic area for the gospel.  The people of the church were amazingly sacrificial--and bold--to build the church here.   This pastor had a remarkable encounter with a family in an area quite some distance from the church where there is no evangelical church at all.  Some members of the family were moved by the Spirit to call on the pastor and to hear him speak.  They appointed a day, this past weekend, and gathered the rest of their family - nearly forty people! - to have the pastor come and preach to them all the words of this life (Acts 5:20).  I'm as eager as you are to hear the results of this meeting!  

For those of you who were concerned about me, I want to say thanks.  I'm fine, the internet was down for several days here.  Like just about everything else here, you can't really rely on it so please keep that in mind if you try to contact me but I don't seem very responsive.  Blessings to all the saints and thanks for your encouragement!

Appointed to eternal life

Last night I taught again at CEBC on lessons on shepherding from the life of Moses in Deuteronomy.  By the grace of God, this message was also well received and it's exciting to see how people are responding to the exhortation of the Word.

A young man named Bakass from the Kurdish area of Turkey is working in Lebanon and was drawn by God to the fellowship last night.  "Ente MeseHieh? (Are you a Christian?)," I asked him.  "La, lakin biddi! (No, but I would like to be)" was his response.  Unfortunately, his Arabic was not much better than mine!  Elder Salim stayed after the meeting with the young man and explained the Way to him.  "I have read about Isa (Jesus)" in the book used by the Majority, Bakass said.  "His name in the Bible is Yesua," responded Salim, who explained to him more accurately the things concerning Jesus to him from the Scriptures.  "I would like to give all my heart and life to this Savior."  Salim prayed with the young man and then encouraged him to persevere in the faith.

Yesterday I also met with a pastor of large evangelical church.  He is an expositor and churchman who is likeminded in theology and ministry.  He discovered the ministry of John MacArthur by accident while he was working in the country of Bahrain.  We talked about a vision of training up Arab pastors and church planters in the Middle East.  Unfortunately, it appears churches here suffer from division and discord, often not strictly speaking on theological issues.  For the church to be most effective in winning the Majority, we must pray for true unity, based on personal humility and sound doctrine.

I was reflecting on this for a while and it occurred to me that much of Paul's ministry involved helping to resolve disputes and strengthen churches, even as he prepared for new ministries.   Please pray that the Spirit will move to heal divisions in the church! 

Putting my hand to the plowshare

Another man from the Majority, who lost almost his entire family during the Israeli war in 2006, has come to blessed faith in Christ!  He shared with great gratitude to God how the family of God here has embraced him, and become his new family. 

On Sunday, I taught at Christ Evangelical Baptist Church here in Beirut.  By the grace of God, the reception was extremely positive.  I'm beginning to sense an opening to the need for in depth expository teaching in the churches.

The past few days have been spent meeting with ministry leaders and members of various Lebanese churches.  Two days ago I met with Michel Bassous, the head of the Bible Society in Lebanon.  Later I met with the pastor of a church in the Bekaa valley, in a town called Zahle.  

Yesterday I met with the official governmental head of the Evangelical churches for the countries of Syria and Lebanon.  He is a Spirit-filled man by the name of Salim Sahyune who served for many years as a pastor of a Presbyterian church.  Unfortunately, because of the confessional political system in Lebanon, political responsibilities are essentially 'enforced' upon leaders of ministries, and Rev. Sahyune helped me to understand how this impacts ministry here.  I then met with the head of the Baptist convention in Lebanon, Samuel Kharrat.  Both of these men provided insights into the dynamics of ministry in Lebanon, as well as for preparing visas and other details of long-term ministry.

Building relationships with these leaders and others has proven to be an extremely delicate process.  Christianity began in the Middle East but unfortunately some workers have come here from the States with a rather high-minded attitude toward ministry, leaving a perception of Westerners that must be overcome.  Please pray that the Lord will continue to open doors and give me the right words to say, in the right way (Col 4:6).  

Blessings - Bent