Southern Jordan

​Kendra took this photo when she and Max assisted w/ a CPR class to families in southern Jordan

I have been learning a lot about how to engage pastors and other leaders here in conversation about parenting ministry. There are only about 70 evangelical churches in Jordan. Most have approximately 50-100 attenders. There is only one evangelical church in southern Jordan.

Last month I was given contact information for the pastor of this church. After texting back and forth, I told him that I would eventually visit him in his southern city, which is 5 hrs from us. Well, last week when a taxi driver told me that he was a Christian, I asked him which church he attended. He told me that he does not attend church often but that his brother is the pastor of an evangelical church in southern Jordan. Knowing there is only one, I told him that I had been texting with his brother just a few weeks ago! The taxi driver had just picked up his brother from the bus station in Amman to attend a funeral. He was to return to the south the next day in the afternoon. He called his brother and we arranged a meeting for the next morning.

Like initial conversations with most pastors, we got to know each other and talked about the challenges that believing parents face here in Jordan, such as the limited opportunities for education, the influence of media, Islamic culture, etc. Please ask God to continue to use this pastor and the families of his church as a bright light in the midst of spiritual darkness. Please ask God to give me wisdom how to serve him and other leaders as they train couples in biblical parenting.

Thanks to those of you who have supported the Haddad's adoption. Unfortunately, the girls' home country refused the adoption. However, Issa and Abbi have already begun the adoption process with another agency in another country. I'll keep you updated. I met with Issa this week to help him prepare a parenting class for families in his church.

Thanks for praying for my wife's back pain. She is feeling better :-) We had wonderful Thanksgiving dinners with two different groups of families here and look forward to doing the same with Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!