Egypt Trip Update 2 - June 27

We had another great meeting last night with the Egypt team. Mostly we were helping to hold each other accountable with writing our support letters and applying for passports (that's a whole other story in itself) but we did cover some more particulars which I will share with you now. For starters we went into greater detail about what we would be doing with our church partner there in Cairo. We will be holding nightly prayer and worship meetings for the church and community from 7-9 pm and that's Sunday through Thursday. Friday in Egypt is like our Saturday here and thus Saturday is like Sunday and so on. So, Friday we will be organizing an event for the youth in the area. I'm not exactly sure what that looks like yet but it will most likely be music and soccer and loving on them and listening to them. One of the really cool things we, well the women in particular, will be doing is offering women's groups everyday. As you have probably seen on TV or read about somewhere women in the Middle East are mostly marginalized and not always treated with the most respect. This gives the women on our team a unique opportunity to invest time and encouragement and education into their lives.

We will also be spending time at an orphanage, a hospital, and with sick or elderly members of the church there. I am particularly excited about this aspect of our service because the love of Christ shines most brightly in the darkness of those places. All cultural differences aside people who inhabit those locations just want to be touched and loved and reassured regardless of skin color or nationality. I visited an orphanage when I was on a mission trip in Romania and I'll never forget it. That was 17 years ago and the images of the dirty children pouring out of every opening in their tattered and shabby accommodations with huge smiles on their faces. Its such a small sacrifice of time and comfort for us and yet it brings such lasting joy to them. Its impossible in those moments not to gain a new appreciation for people like Mother Theresa of Calcutta who lived in those places and gave everything to serve those people.

As I was leaving last night I was pulled aside by the leader of our team Colin. I mentioned in my last update that I would be preaching one night or more while in Cairo so Colin wanted to give me some more specifics about that. I will be speaking with a translator for 30 + minutes on the topic of God's leading. I'm so nervous I can't even tell you. It helps a little that I will have the translator there with me polishing up the things I am saying as he relays them to the audience but ultimately I am responsible for the content and the delivery. This is truly an act of faith for me as public speaking is not my forte. My father, who was a pastor, even struggled with it to the point of getting diahrea sometimes when he'd have to speak. So, pray for me as I prepare my sermon (that's weird but awesome to say) that God will give me the right words, the right tone, and the right heart. God is always increasing my skill set and more often than not I find myself utilizing my new tools so I am anxious to see what He does with this one.

In closing, if you are visiting my blog because you received my support letter or email thank you. Thank you for investing your precious time and your precious prayers. If you are considering giving I would urge you to do so. You are not just enabling me to go and do this marvelous and much needed work but you will be equipping the small but bold church in Cairo to be a beacon of hope in a place where the people are oppressed religiously. Our liason in Egypt, who is a high ranking government official whose name we are not able to disclose, has said to us that for every one Christian Egyptian you minister to 50 to 100 muslims are ministered to as well. I am praying for the gospel to spread across the middle east like the wildfire Paul described in the book of Acts and I pray that you will give whatever you can to ensure that I can be a part of that. Thanks again and please check back often.

P.S. My next meeting will be August 18 and I am supposed to bring $800 of my $2700. I wrote in my letter that the deadline for funds is Sept. 30 and if I have all the money by then that would be ideal but as I said if you can't get it to me by then send it anyway because whatever I am not able to raise I will have to pay back to the church after I return. Also remember that I am not just asking for your financial support. I want you to be a partner with me in this incredible mission. I will keep you posted on this blog as things develop further and I look forward to posting pictures and stories from the trip when I get back. So, please be prayerful and please be obedient to whatever you are feeling and know that I will squeeze every penny and prayer for the service of others.

Egypt Trip Udate 1 - June 15 2007

This past Monday night the team of people who will be going to Egypt from our church met for the first time. There is about 16-18 of us who are committed and there are a couple of openings if anyone else wants to join. I was informed that being too specific about the trip details had the potential to jeopardize the people we were going to minister to so for now I'll have to be kind of vague. I can tell you that the main purpose of our trip is to assist a local church, with whom we have created a partnership, with a variety of things like computer labs and painting and other items.
Another aspect of the trip will be nightly ministry meetings where we will share music and the message of Christ with believers and non-believers from the Cairo community. For some insane reason the leader of our expedition has asked me to preach one night. I agreed but hesitantly. I have such a passion for communication but because of an underdeveloped sense of self worth it has been relegated to writing and blogging. However, because I am working diligently on becoming a full time writer and I know that public speaking comes with the gig I have been praying that God would present opportunities to hone this unpolished skill. Standing on a stage for forty five minutes sharing my heart and, hopefully, God's heart in front of almost 200 Egyptians is what I take to be the first response to that prayer.
We have been told by our liason in Cairo that the gospel is being received like never before in Egypt specifically and the Middle East specifically. What a powerful tool we can utilize in the diffusing of religious and ethnic hatred, particularly in that area of the world which has historically been a hothouse for such animosity towards the gospel and us. I remember in 1999 when I was in Jericho, which is about an hour outside Jerusalem, a conversation I had with a man of Muslim faith. He was the owner of the market in which our tour group was shopping. We were sitting in front of the market sharing a water pipe (they use tobacco soaked in molasses) and he began to tell me of his intense hatred of America and Americans. He said that we had robbed his people of their land and their legacy and any war against us and the Jews was holy and justified. And yet as he was talking to me, a pasty white suburbanite from Atlanta Georgia, he was always kind and softspoken and always maintained eye contact in which I never detected any disdain directed towards me. He even offered me some free fruit and told me jokes. It was surreal. The most amazing thing element of that discourse was the absence of all tensions. We had a wonderful time just chewing the fat for a half hour. I knew where he stood and he knew where I stood but it never affected how we related to each other. I feel confident that this will be the type of thing I will run into in Cairo and I am really looking forward to it.
The part of all of this that is most difficult is the asking for funds. No one likes doing it and I certainly wouldn't be but I believe that there is a great work going on in the Middle East and I desperately want to be involved in it. The cost of the trip is $2700 dollars and the total is due by October 6th. If God leads you to give I would be so grateful to Him for the leading and you for your obedience. We have five or six more meetings and we will be given more details each one. I will try and keep you as informed as I am. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for investing in my writing and my life. Sincerest thanks.

josh