Hearing how in the early days of the fall of Kabul, how dark it was, how he felt hopeless. But then just to hear this triumphant faith coming out of this brother. Because he has seen God do miracle after miracle when he thought there was no way. Welcome to Updates from the Field, produced by HeartCry Missionary Society. Hello. I'm here once again with another update from the field. I'm here with our Middle Eastern coordinator, and we're going to talk about his most recent trip. So where did you go? Well, I was able to visit a couple of countries on this trip. I can say Jordan, and then also another country in the region. All right. Well, tell us first about the named country. All right. So in Jordan, there were a few highlights. First of all, brother, just getting out, you know, as you know, the Middle East region has been rather dark lately with Afghanistan and the things we've been dealing with. So I was just really looking forward to getting out and seeing some encouraging things, some exciting things that God's doing, and I was not disappointed. In Jordan, first of all, our leader there was holding a conference. He recently returned to Jordan after, as you know, a few years in the U.S., studying in seminary, doing pastoral internship. And also being, like, I want to bring up just being trained in a sister church and by some men that we greatly respect. And in that, he became a very, very mature local church man, elder qualified. And you could see it. Yeah, that paid off. It was really neat. So he was, you know, the starting place, as we see in most systematic theologies, is Scripture, right? So he and a sister church there got together and he did a conference on the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Right. Which I know is a topic dear to you. You often, you know, you'll talk about inerrancy, inspiration, and sufficiency. Right. What's the importance of that? Well, the thing that is so important is, of course, we want someone to believe in the inspiration of Scripture. It's absolutely indispensable. The inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, but none of that matters if someone does not believe in the sufficiency of scripture. That with regard to faith and practice, we need no outside opinion. We just simply need to expound the scriptures. And that's especially true with how we care for Christ's church. As we like to say here, you know, Christ's church, Christ's way. And one of the things that I feel like our dear brother gleaned while here in the United States was that he was able to be in a biblical church with biblical elders who truly believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. And he saw that when he got back to his country, that he would have to manage Christ's church and supervise Christ's flock only according to what is written. And that's exciting. It is. It is. And he really drove that point home. I just got to sit and eat a lot of good food. hang out with fun Middle Eastern believers, and just build relationships. Another highlight in that highlight was, I think on the second day of the conference, those two churches went to a local church building to borrow their baptistry, and I got to see six people baptized into those two churches. That was precious, including the wife of a very dear friend. After that conference, we went back to his home. And so then that night, his church met, his new church group. It was so neat to see his living room full of young families that are eager to learn the Word and to live it out together. This is in the Middle East. Yeah. And we took the Lord's Supper together. And then that night, I just happened to be there the night he was introducing to them the church confession that he had had translated into Arabic, and then also their membership covenant. That's why I was talking about just seeing his time here in the U.S. and what he gleaned from that church, and he's being so careful and methodical to lay a good foundation for this church, and it was exciting. And I can say to our viewers, you know, we all have different gifts. And within Scripture, there are also different ministries. But all of those should contribute to the goal of seeing people converted, growing in discipleship, and the formation, not of a bunch of scattered independent disciples, but the formation of a biblical church. And then, that that church becomes a mature church with biblical elders, biblical deacons, preaching the gospel, practicing church discipline, and hopefully also evangelizing others and starting other churches of like faith. All right. So tell me also about the highlights to the other country. Yeah, well, one of the ministries we're very excited about there is the student ministry that we've been partnering with for a few years now. It's a student ministry like we've not seen very many other places, right? I was there, I have to admit, several years ago, but when I was there, the circumstances, difficult circumstances under which they were working I shared with a brother who was traveling with me, it felt first century. It really did. What I love, two things that we love about this ministry, right, is their absolute confidence in the gospel. The staff members and the students that then work with them, all they do is get an unbelieving student from countries all over the world, and they say, would you just read through one of the gospels with me? And they have that much confidence that reading through Mark or Matthew, and then that generates questions, and then they begin to question their own worldview, and, oh, the testimonies I heard. No gimmicks, no innovations, no inventions, no reshaping the gospel, just giving them Jesus Christ as He's revealed in the Scriptures, absolutely. And to get to hear from some of these students, I had coffee with them and hear their testimony and how They were absolutely convinced after a few months of this that Jesus is who the Bible says he is. You know, Spurgeon, I don't know if it originated with him, Spurgeon made a remark, and we've all used it. we don't need to defend the gospel. But like a lion, we just need to let the gospel out, and it'll defend itself. Absolutely. The other beautiful thing about that ministry, Brother Paul, is the centrality of the local church, that all of the staff are involved in their local churches. Many of them are elders, are on track to become elders. And as soon as a student responds to the gospel, They don't just disciple them in their little group, they get them into a local church to be discipled. And that's something very important. You need to know that throughout the history, well, at least the last 300 or 400 years, God has mightily used people preaching the gospel on college campuses. But one of the things that's kind of... hurt that ministry in recent decades is somehow divorcing that ministry on campus from the local church. And that should never happen. Because even a college discipleship group or a student get together every Thursday even to preach the gospel is not a substitution for the local church. That's right. Okay, so what else? Well, another highlight was spending time with an Egyptian brother that was asked to come back to that country to pastor an Arabic-speaking church. They had struggled with some previous pastors. This brother had been discipled in that area, and so he's come back to pastor that church. When he came back, there were only like five or six gathering. The night I was there, the room was full with 20, 21 people. Now, I say full because one issue they're battling is COVID restrictions. So this was a room that could have seated 60 people plus, but they're only allowed to have 20. So there was a chair every five or six feet. And so after that, we began praying, Lord, please, could you provide a larger space? He was pretty skeptical that he would get that. But just this week, I saw he announced that they did have a larger room now to meet in. So they'll be able to bring everybody in? Now the church can continue to grow in their weekly meeting. So that was exciting. Right now, as we have reported over the last few weeks about Afghanistan and all that's going on there, And again, we would like to share so much more, and we're not trying to be secretive, but, you know, it's the age of the Internet, and so we always have to be very, very cautious about the things we say. And before you... share, I would just like to say HeartCry has been playing a small part in trying to help believers, to get believers out. But also know this, there are missionaries, cross-cultural and indigenous missionaries and preachers, and so many people, even unknown to us, who are doing so much, even risking life and limb, to help believers in Afghanistan. And HeartCry, we've reported on this, but we don't want you to think that we're the big deal there. We, like so many others, are just making the contribution we can to help. So having said that, can you tell us some news about Afghanistan? Yeah, it was really sweet to be with our brother and his family, have dinner together, and obviously they're exhausted. Now, this is the brother that's been... The Afghan brother that's... Almost 24-7 around the clock. Yeah. So even while I'm with him, you know, constantly messages coming in from Afghanistan from the believers, they're trying to help. And then about the time that winds down and they're sleeping, then people in the West are waking up, and so then goes all that communication, trying to access help. And then there's a nameless cross-cultural missionary and his wife that have also contributed, who are not, they're friends of HeartCry, but they don't work through HeartCry, and they have also just done a tremendous job, haven't they? Yeah, I was sitting on the couch in the middle of the night as they're on calls with D.C., people in our government who are helping with visas and with other things, and to see their exhaustion and just to see how they've poured themselves out. It's one thing to help from the U.S., but to be there and see it firsthand what they're doing, it was a blessing. And then even though we haven't given the names and won't, there was a special group of people among all the other groups that we were trying to extract. How has that gone? Well, praise God, they are out of Afghanistan. I think we've mentioned that, given that update. They're in another country. There's challenges with getting refugee status in that country and then getting them visas to somewhere else that they can stay permanently. There are so many political pressures and maneuverings happening in that region. So I'm amazed at how complex it is trying to get help to them. But they are safe, and the Lord is caring for them. I remember in a Zoom conversation, I think it was last week or so, with a brother that has worked so diligently. With regard to this one family, I told him, I said, honestly, I gave it about a 2% chance that we would be able to extract this family through those who are working so hard to do so. And he said that he gave it even less than 2%. God, one day I hope we can share all the miracles that He wrought to do that. And as time goes by, I'm sure we're going to hear countless stories of how God, in His providence, cared for His people. It was so fun riding in His car and hearing how in the early days of the fall of Kabul, how dark it was, how He felt hopeless. But then just to hear this triumphant faith coming out of this brother, because he has seen God do miracle after miracle when he thought there was no way. It is amazing. It's beautiful. And then never forget, also, there are brothers and sisters who have, by their own choice, have decided to stay behind in order to continue preaching the gospel. I can think of one in particular that is very dear to us. And so, again, we report this. So many of you have called in and say, how can we give? We don't need you to give. We do need you to pray. And that is not a cliche. Prayer is not the last resource. It's the first. It's the first recourse. It's what we ought to be doing. And I'm convinced that the prayers of many people around the world have led to so many miraculous deliverances of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Well, what else? Anything else? No, that pretty well sums up that trip, brother. It was just encouraging to see that the gospel continues to march in that region. Churches are being established. Faithful brothers and sisters are laboring there. There's one last thing that I would like to say. Last week when we were on the phone with our brother on Zoom, We kept, you know, coming back to one main theme. Are our brothers and sisters okay physically? Are they safe? Are they in the places that we wanted them to be, knowing they're protected? And the Afghani brother that was working with us, he would acknowledge that they were, and then he would go, But the main thing is, how do we pastor them? How do we keep them growing spiritually? You know, how do we protect them once they move to other countries from getting into places with bad theology or cults or prosperity gospel and all these things? And it just was so amazing to me that while we're just thinking about their physical care because they're under persecution, he's thinking about them remaining pure in their heart for the gospel. and going on with the Lord. It wasn't a rebuke. It was more of just a delight to see that. Well, any last word? Just asking the people to continue to pray for that region. I know, being there firsthand, it can seem hopeless, but our God does the impossible. Yes, He does. We continue to plead with Him to move in a mighty way in that region. And even in this, although we don't understand the ins and outs of it, even in this, God is sovereign and He has a purpose. and it will, in the end, benefit His people and bring about His glory. Well, thank you, and please continue to pray, not just for Afghanistan, but for everything mentioned here. And God bless you. Thank you for listening to Updates from the Field. Visit HeartCryMissionary.com to view our other productions and to find out more about HeartCry Missionary Society. you