Praying for "Lift"-off

My friend Kevin was back in town last week to nurture the Dubai Camps for Christ movement started earlier this year. (See link in the right-most column on this page.) Suffice it to say, momentum is building.

It appears that Jesus is breaking the break of His Word shared with one Telagu-speaking (Indian) congregation at one labor camp and is multiplying it - giving it to other workers to feed to other people groups and at other camps!

Here's an example of what I mean...

While Kevin was here, he led a “Train the Trainer” event for 30 people interested in replicating this discipleship ministry at other labor camps and among other language groups. One couple in attendance was an Egyptian couple. They told me of a group of Egyptian believers the husband has been working with for a few months. They asked if I wanted to meet them and explore the possibly of initiating a similar bible-storying track among this group. We went the next night.

We walked into the dimly-lit, one-room villa last about 9 p.m. These Egyptian brothers were expecting us and were eager to talk. All of them have been in Dubai less than a year and came here to work for a “lift” (elevator) company. Most of these men left young families back in Egypt. I was saddened by their basic living conditions: 15 men sharing a very small room and sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor. But I was encouraged by their heart-felt sharing. They spoke of their loneliness and their struggle to live the Christian life in this land.

God led me to share with them the parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew 25 – five were prepared with enough oil for their lamps when the bridegroom returned, five were not. We talked about what it means to be ready for Jesus’ return – our lamps full of oil (walking in the Spirit) and being found doing what he asked us to do. We talked about Jesus’ last words to his disciples – the mandate to make disciples of all nations. We prayed. God broke into our meeting as the men cried out to Him in surrender.

Tomorrow night, I will meet with these Egyptian brothers again. I want to express to them what God has put on my heart over the last week. My goal is simply to equip and mobilize them to make disciples. Should they agree to work with me, I will commit to meet with them every week for the next 3 to 4 months. They have potential to share God's love with people I could never reach. There are tens of thousands of Egyptians in Dubai. And of course, they are much closer in culture to our priority target group.

If all goes well tomorrow, we will begin the next week by teaching them a story track on some of the prophets (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, etc.). Then we will focus our study on the life of Christ.

Studying this prophet story track will accomplish two objectives: 1) it will build them up in their knowledge of God and His Word and 2) it will allow them to build bridges with friends with whom they share these stories.

If you are reading this, we need you to pray for us. We need your church to pray for us. A church planting movement “lift”-off among our people group will not happen without MUCH prayer and FERVENT prayer from God’s people. Thank you in advance for your partnership in the Gospel through prayer.