Sarah and I completed one of the busiest academic years at the seminary, and topped it off with one of the most harrowing as well as exciting months of June in our eight years of ministry in Lebanon. We arrived back in the US on July 8 for bit of a breather, and to promote the World Mission Offering for American Baptist International Ministries. However, we were both quickly recruited to help in the World Mission Conference at Medford, Oregon, July 18-20, for which we felt ill prepared. But God being who He is, fully lived up to the expectation of the theme of the Conference, "Surprised by God's People." Folks from Eastwood Baptist Church in Medford did a superb job planning and organizing one of the most successful and well attended World Mission Conferences I had the privilege of attending, and God of course did the rest! While we are now fully immersed in promoting the World Mission Offering, Sarah and I are still trying to process and catch up with the whirlwind of events that had happened just couple of months earlier.

May is always a busy month for us in Lebanon with examinations and grading, student evaluations, commencement, and preparing for graduation in early June. In the midst of this, Sarah and I were excitedly getting ready to welcome the first ever group of 10 volunteers visiting Lebanon from ABCUSA churches June 13. While the State Department was strongly dissuading any US travelers from visiting Lebanon, we were feeding the group with regular updates about the conditions in Lebanon, encouraging them to visit Lebanon. Praise God, the event was a great success!

Rumblings by the Militia

Beginning May 8, Lebanon witnessed what appeared to be yet another civil war in the making. The Shia militia Hezbollah and its allies, who had been staging a peaceful vigil and protests for the past several months, suddenly blocked the roads to airport and harbor and started an armed takeover of West Beirut. This cosmopolitan part of Beirut, a stronghold of pro government Sunni factions and some Christians, was overrun by the forces opposed to the government.

Final Word on Graduating Seminary Students

Sarah and I had the privilege of hosting our graduating students. Having completed their training they are returning to their home countries of Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Syria, and of course Lebanon.

PLEASE PRAY LEBANESE GOVERNMENT WILL GRANT VISAS FOR OUR FOREIGN STUDENTS, WHO PLAN TO ATTEND OUR SEMINARY THIS FALL.