Church Like A Family

my wife's mini-farm

A professor at a seminary in the Middle East introduced me to an Arab student who desires to plant house churches so that even believers from a Muslim background can attend. He grew up in a Catholic family but was saved after seeing the change in his older brother's life as he began attending an evangelical church. He is married with 2 young kids. When I asked him about his ministry passion, he said, "Rather than seeing 1,000 people in my church, I want to see 1,000 house churches." He asked if we can meet online every other week. In the past 2 conversations, we have discussed my fatherhood questionnaire. Pray for this brother, as well as these other Arab brothers.

I want to invite any of you to visit our house church here in our city. Of course, you may continue attending your church but just know that we meet at 10:30 am on Sunday mornings. We are currently team-teaching through the book of Acts, then the guys and ladies separate to pray for each other. We eat the Lord's Supper as a full meal and kids play together outside.

Coronavirus and Christ

In 5 minutes read Piper's "Coronavirus & Christ" at bit.ly/coronachrist

It is important for Christ-followers to be humble during this pandemic. It is tempting to let our insecurities get the best of us in one of two extremes. Not only the insecurity of the fear of the future but also the insecurity of wanting to come across to others like we know more than we really do. May God give us the grace to take captive insecure thoughts and make them obedient to Christ (2 Cor 10:5), finding our ultimate identity in Him. He knows what will happen and He will be using it for His glory and our good (Rom 8:28). But we must define "good" as being conformed to Christ's image (v29) rather than defining it as "comfortable" or "easy" or "going my way". Let us pray for our governing authorities (1 Tim 2:2), assuming that they are doing the best job possible with the counsel they are receiving.

Thanks for asking God to move some of my Arab "acquaintances" to become "friends". He actually has been doing that! The strict lockdowns that many of my Arab friends are under have given them more time to connect online. I've been reminded that video chat is more than a little better than audio-only. It's a lot better! Please pray for these brothers and see their updates. Also, pray for our house church as several families are moving from our city and we have faced some challenges.

Iron Sharpens Iron

A younger Egyptian brother told me today that he appreciated my ministry of "serving in the shadows". He described my ministry well. Though I promote many things like reproducible church planting, biblical parenting, and abundant evangelism online, I'm mainly focused on "personal ministry". Paul Tripp defines personal ministry in his book Instruments In The Redeemer's Hands as "the careful ministry of Christ and His word to the struggles of the heart that have been uncovered by good questions from a committed friend." With most of these younger Arab brothers, I'm only a "friend" by Facebook's definition. More like an acquaintance. Friendship requires logging lots of listening hours, doesn't it? In these weeks of quarantine in the Middle East, through online conversations, would you ask God to move some of my acquaintances to become friends as we sharpen one another by God's grace?


Our son Sam is living with us while finishing his junior year in college online. Our younger kids are homeschooling 5 days a week rather than two. Now may not be the best time, but let us know if you know of any work opportunities in our city between now and the end of summer for our 16 and 14-year-old girls and our 12 and 10-year-old boys.

A Typical Day

Some have asked, "What do you actually do?" A typical day for me usually begins at 5 am online because it is already noon in the Middle East. Breakfast with the fam then we read one of the 3 chapters from the Bible that will be taught by us men at house church that Sunday. Then I'm back online to continue relationships through conversations and messages. After lunch, I usually take a 20-minute nap. So much screen time means I need to do burpees, squats, run, walk/talk with my wife, or shoot basketball with the kids in the church/school gym... which is a huge blessing. My schedule is very flexible... which is another huge blessing. I usually finish my work online at 6 pm then walk 30 seconds to my home for dinner... another huge blessing! In the evenings we might play games (current favorite is Monopoly Deal), sing these worship songs, or watch these videos. For a few hours each week, I usually visit a few friends to discuss family or church or missions. Saturday is the day off so we do fun stuff... anything but screen time.

Click here to see prayer updates for 12 friends/leaders from my December trip. I leave next week for 3 weeks in the region, including 4 days at a conference to connect with leaders from the Middle East and North Africa to discuss shepherding in the home and in the church. Please pray for these conversations and for relationships to continue online.

Jesus of Nazareth

Merry Christmas from where it all began with the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary... Nazareth, Israel... where Jesus grew up. Tourists and families walked downtown last night with Christmas paraphernalia everywhere. It makes me wonder... what % of the Muslim majority of this city have ever truly understood the purpose of the annunciation, sinless life of Christ, crucifixion, and resurrection. Evangelicals here are less than half of a percent of the population. This trip has been good. I return home tomorrow. Would you take 5 minutes to pray either once or regularly for these 12 friends/leaders in the Arab world? I will update this document if God allows me to see any answers to these prayers.

Some American brothers in the region are doing an EXCELLENT job finding Arab seekers online. Would you click here and support them either financially or prayerfully?

Morocco and Tunisia

This coffee shop in Tunisia offers customers a swipe of roll-on deodorant. How kind!

Whew! The dialect of Arabic in North Africa is very different from the Middle East! But the main problem is that I just don't know the Arabic language well enough, in general, to communicate with Moroccans and Tunisians at the level of family counseling. I need to first improve my Egyptian Arabic. Also, North African believers are already gathering in smaller, private churches due to persecution. It seems to me that God would get more glory if I invest more of my time encouraging believers in Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon to embrace reproducible, biblical principles for gathering. Pray that God will give me discernment regarding when/if I should return to Morocco and Tunisia. Pray for the opportunity that I now have to serve 60+ missionaries and a few English-speaking North Africans online in family ministry and counseling.

One of the Tunisian leaders simplified his Arabic for me. When he was a teen, he and 3 of his friends began asking a lot of questions about their religion. This led them to meet a young lady who was already a believer. God saved all 4 of these friends together, making the discipleship process much easier. One of them is now married to that young lady! Please pray for this leader who wants to connect me with a few younger, believing fathers who speak English well and can train other parents.

Are You A Good Person?

Did you know that Hudson Taylor, pioneer missionary to China, was saved by reading a gospel tract? How can giving someone a small piece of paper bring that person to faith in Christ? Because the gospel itself "is the power of God for salvation" (Romans 1:16).

For the past 20 years, I have tried to develop the habit of not missing an opportunity to hand this gospel tract to anyone that I interact with. I usually say, "Here is something to read when you have time." There is also this 6-minute video version of the same tract. I am now trying to develop the habit of giving it to believers also, encouraging them to develop the habit of sharing the gospel also. But let us not use gospel tracts as an excuse for not engaging others in gospel conversations. Whenever I think I might see the person again, I usually say with a smile, "I'm going to ask you what you think of this message the next time I see you."

A Lebanese man in full-time ministry wrote to me, “I kept the copy of Shepherding A Child’s Heart that you gave me and bought more copies that I gave to my friends.” In the past week, I have visited brothers in Nazareth and in 3 cities in Jordan. I am now in Egypt and will go to Beirut next week. Please pray that those who have completed this parenting questionnaire will follow through on their personal commitments to learn and promote biblical parenting.

Change In Sudan

Protests in Khartoum, where we lived for 2 yrs, led to the ousting of Sudan's dictator in early May.

A few days a year, we get to be with all 8 of our children at the same time. Easter was one of those days! Kendra and Trent are busy photographing (now videoing) weddings. Sam recently qualified for NAIA track nationals in Gulf Shores, AL where we will vacation next month. Anna is rowing and wrapping up her classes. Max turns 18 this week & is pursuing a different full-time job. Heidi just purchased her flight to visit friends in Jordan in July. Petra finds joy in household chores and serving each of us. Henry is really into rollerskating. Nehemiah is really into fishing. My wife is really into teaching at a classical school, walking, eating healthy, Sam’s track meets, and looking forward to moving nearby. Please pray that it would be soon. Details coming later.

Please pray for the following....
1) an Egyptian in full-time ministry who is struggling to parent his 2 young sons.
2) my Iraqi neighbor with young children who is open to faith conversation.
3) an Egyptian pastor whose wife is beginning a homeschooling group in Cairo.
4) a Syrian engaged to a Lebanese girl who wants to serve in children's ministry in Lebanon.
5) Sudanese refugee church leaders deciding whether or not to return to Sudan and when.
6) accreditation options for the homeschooling group in Alexandria, Egypt.
7) two street preachers in our house church as Derby & other events approach.

"Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth?"

Most of my meetings are at the Nazareth Baptist School, established in 1937.

I am writing from Nazareth, Israel where Jesus grew up. Nazareth is the largest predominately-Arab city in Israel. Approximately 1% of them would consider themselves to be born-again or "evangelical". Someone once said about Jesus, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (John 1:46). Would you pray now that reproducible churches of gospel-centered families would come out of Nazareth into Galilee, the Holy Land, and throughout the Middle East?

Thanks for praying for my family while I was away. We video chat daily while I am away or else I miss too much happening there. Thanks also for praying for the 5 North African brothers whom I met with at a conference at the beginning of this trip. I am seeing God's hand of grace in each one of those Kingdom-building relationships. Brothers from Morocco have invited me to promote biblical parenting there. They asked if I would speak at a gathering of parents from their network of churches. I suggested that they identify several couples that I could invest in over the next few years who would eventually begin modeling, promoting, and teaching biblical parenting in their churches themselves. Would you join me in asking for wisdom regarding the timing of when to begin visiting new countries? I also have been invited by a house church planter in northern Iraq to train Syrian and Iraqi parents who are new believers.

North Africa

On my way to the Middle East next month, I will attend a gathering that focuses on Kingdom expansion in North Africa. Would you pray for these brothers below whom I met last year and have continued a relationship with online, as well as new brothers whom I will meet?

1) two Moroccan brothers who want to promote biblical parenting among the churches they serve.
2) a Libyan brother who is discerning whether or not to return to Libya now that his family is more accepting of his faith in Christ.
3) a Tunisian brother also interested in promoting biblical parenting among churches there.
4) a Moroccan brother asking for prayer for his marriage.
5) an Algerian brother who will not attend but is asking for prayer for his health & his weight.

Winter activities for our kids include street hockey with neighborhood kids, basketball & chess club, attending a church with neighborhood kids on Wednesday nights (date night!), roller skating, and spending time with older siblings. Pray for my wife as she juggles all of this while I am overseas.

Smaller, Participatory Churches

Our current house church

Since we began house churching in 2005, it has been challenging. Not just because we have moved 13 times since then and have attended 8 different house churches, but also because these churches have functioned more like a family than a worship service and... as we all know... relationships are messy, challenging, sanctifying..... and worth every minute of it. The primary reasons we model and promote smaller, participatory churches are 1) Kingdom expansion through churches that are more reproducible, 2) more thorough discipleship through participation, 3) knowing & loving one another more thoroughly, and 4) stewarding financial resources more strategically. Read more here.

Currently, we meet weekly with approximately 15 other adults to eat the Lord's Supper together as a full meal, teach one another from the 5 chapters of the Bible that each of us have studied over the past week, then the men share prayer requests & pray together while the women do the same. We recently met to finalize elders then discuss giving, church discipline, speaking limitations for women, authority, and reproducing another church soon. Sound messy? It is. You are welcome to visit. We alternate between Sunday morning and evening. Pray for our church but also for my Arab brothers with whom I am also having this conversation daily.

I send a few specific prayer requests each week via text or email. Email me at kizfam@gmail.com if you are willing to pray with us.

Please delete 502 712 1988 and use 502 445 4985 to text or call me.

Recent Trip to Jordan, Egypt, & Lebanon

It was a privilege to teach on biblical parenting at Heliopolis Community Church in Cairo. Sermon here. 

It has been a good trip to Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. I'm on the way home now. Let me tell you about one guy I sat with. I was visiting a school for Syrian refugee kids from Muslim families founded by a wonderful ministry in Lebanon. When I asked the principal if there are any male teachers, she introduced me to the only one. Emad is about 30 yrs old and started teaching the Arabic class 2 weeks ago with no classroom experience. We talked about the difference between discipline and punishment when dealing with the students and looked at Hebrews 12 together. His dad died in the civil war when he was 1 yr old. Though he has been saved for the past 8 years, he says that he has never had a spiritual father in his life. When he told me that he prays in tongues over each classroom every morning, we talked about the gift of tongues while affirming our unity in the gospel. Later I sent him this article about tongues to consider. Though many of the mothers of the Syrian students attend the weekly church service, very few dads do. Emad is praying for a partner to go with him to visit the fathers in their homes. Would you pray with him for such a partner, as well as for a spiritual father in his life?

When I found out that the booklet Help! He Is Struggling With Pornography has been translated into Arabic, I bought a bunch of them while in Egypt and gave one to each of the brothers whom I met with on this trip. Egypt has one of the highest percentages of porn viewers in the world. I explained to my friends how I have asked 3 older Christian men if I may confess to them if I entertain a lustful thought beyond a few seconds. Repenting of the sin of lust immediately makes it much easier to resist the temptation. Pray that these brothers would walk in purity and help other brothers do the same.

Shaykh Sanders!

What percentage of Kentuckians, during their lifetime, do you think will hear the gospel in a way that they can understand it, and have a born-again friend? Of course, we can only guess but most people to whom I have asked that question say around 90%. I agree. Kentucky has the 2nd highest percentage of evangelicals in the US with 49% (Tennessee 51%), though certainly not all who claim "evangelical" status are born-again believers.

I've asked that same question to 5 career missionaries in Saudi Arabia. Three of them guessed that "1%" of Saudi Arabs will hear the gospel in a way that they can understand it, and have a born-again friend during their lifetime. Two of them said "single digits", so less than 10%. This is the tragedy of the unreached, most of whom live in the 10/40 Window. Jesus is not receiving the worship that He deserves among them. All Arab people groups are unreached since less than 3% of their population considers themselves to be "evangelical", except Egyptian Arabs at 4%.

For the past year, I have been using the app HabitShare to hold myself accountable to form several habits. For example, one habit is "less than 20 minutes a day on Youtube and none after 9 pm". Every evening I rate myself "red" (failed) or "green" (succeeded) for my 8-10 habits. If I were able to share my habits with friends, I would be more motivated to succeed! Would you try using HabitShare by downloading the app, creating a habit or two, sharing them with me at kizfam@gmail.com, and rating yourself daily for a week or so? I'll share a few of mine with you too. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" ~ Proverbs 27:17

Just before we finalized buying the home near our kids' homeschool co-op, someone told us about the possibility of a low-rent home in the same area, possibly available in a few months. Pray that God's will be done regarding this rental home. Also pray for my visit to friends in Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon in late November and early December.

Listening & Moving

When I served with a sports ministry for 8 years, many times I would walk into one of the 30 schools I served, ready to challenge the coaches & teachers to take their ministry to the next level. Yet after sitting down with a coach for a few minutes, I would realize that he needed someone to encourage and listen to him. By nature, I am a good challenger. I can have a wonderful plan for your life! I'm realizing more and more that my role is to be an active listener, a good friend, and then challenging them will naturally come out of me later. It was a joy to listen to, encourage, and challenge approximately 45 men during my 10 days in Egypt last month. Please ask God to give grace to me and my Egyptian tech partner as we fix problems related to the chatbot that trains parents biblically.

This was my 3rd trip to the Middle East after moving from Jordan to our home state. Since trips are going well and our younger children are settling into the homeschool community, we think we should purchase a home here in our city. I can see us growing old in that home, as long as the wifi keeps me connected to the Arab world and I can keep going back there every 3 months! 

Naz, Amm, Alex, & Cairo

It has been a great trip so far. I spent two days with my good buddy Noy Castillo in NYC prayer walking and encouraging missional families there with the biblical principles of Shepherding A Child's Heart. They now are reading the book and sharing one thing they want to obey from each chapter with each other via Whatsapp. I then spent two days in Nazareth, Israel visiting pastors and leaders for the second time. Then I spent six days in Amman, Jordan seeing both old friends and making new ones.

I'm writing this on a flight to Alexandria, Egypt. We lived there in 2010 and were part of the homeschool co-op group of Egyptian families. In God's gracious timing, they will have their annual retreat on two of the four days I am there! I will also attend a half-day of training in biblical counseling in Cairo. Finally, the country director of Cru has invited me to attend their 3-day staff retreat. Pray that "as iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another" as I spend time with these young dads.

Only 25% of my conversations in Nazareth & Amman were in Arabic because they know English better than I know Arabic. However, in Egypt, I anticipate that it will be more than 50%. Please pray that God gives me the ability to understand, express myself clearly, and not tire easily.

Finally, please pray for my wife to manage homeschooling, teaching/coaching at the classical school, serving in our refugee community, & now a bedbug infestation, all while I am not there.

Preparation

This month is the Islamic holiday of Eid Al Adha, a celebration of Abraham's deep trust in God. During this time is the pilgrimage to Mecca. Watch the video here and join our family and thousands of other believers around the world who will be praying and fasting for Muslims during this time.

August is a month of preparation for our family. Kendra is preparing to get married to Trenton at the end of this month. Sam has worked all summer on his campus and is preparing for his cross-country season. Anna is preparing to take classes and be on the rowing team at the local university. Max is working at McD's and preparing to enlist in the Air Force. Please pray for some lab results related to his military medical process. Heidi, Petra, Henry, and Nehemiah are preparing to attend a classical school three days a week while homeschooling two days a week. My wife is preparing to coach cross country at the classical school and will be an assistant teacher two days a week. I am preparing for my next trip to Israel, Jordan, and Egypt at the end of this month.

Since 150 of you opened the link from last month's e-newsletter regarding smaller, private churches but only two of you actually commented on each point, I assume that it was too long. See the much shorter version here.

Smaller, Private Churches

The boys getting rich on the 4th of July with an Iraqi friend in the neighborhood :-)

I enjoyed visiting with both old friends and new friends in Jordan last month. We talked about parenting, online evangelism, immigration, exercise, counseling, church planting, and a dozen other things. When talking about planting smaller, private churches in Egypt and Jordan, the issue of authority came up a few times, such as: Who has the authority to plant a church? Serve communion? Baptize new believers? I have sent my Google Form regarding smaller, private churches to several of them. I am getting feedback before I have it translated into Arabic. If you want to speak my luuuuv language, read the overseas version or the American version and give me your feedback too. Please pray for these ongoing conversations about church planting.

After giving a missionary in Beirut the Arabic version of the parenting book Shepherding A Child's Heart, he later wrote, "Some of the believers here are looking forward to studying through it and were excited to see the book is in Arabic, as was my wife!" A Sudanese seminary student in Lebanon told me that he taught the principles of the book to parents when he visited Sudan. Pray for many other leaders/fathers who have received either a hard copy or the link to the online version in Arabic. Pray that they will read it, obey the biblical principles themselves, and help other parents do the same.

Lebanon Then Egypt

My time in Lebanon and Egypt has been fruitful, as long as I remind myself to measure my own fruitfulness by the depth of relationships and conversations I have. Please pray for an Arab brother who has an excellent evangelistic ministry. He and his wife seem to have allowed their parents' past physical abuse to cause them to neglect biblical discipline of their own children, who are very defiant. Before sitting down with them, I asked them to read chapter 4 of the book Shepherding A Child's Heart which is entitled "You're In Charge". The jist of the chapter is that Christian parents represent God's authority in the life of a child. Neglecting that position of authority, or abusing it by confusing biblical discipline with sinful punishment, misrepresents God's authority in the eyes of a child. All of us parents have leaned toward one of these two extremes. The gospel promises us forgiveness, which actually motivates us to be more like Jesus, full of both grace and truth.

Now I am in Jordan, where our family had been living for the past 2 years. Please pray for more conversations here about biblical parenting and reproducible church planting.

Settling & Traveling

We are now settled into our apartment in our home state. A big 'ole THANKS to so many of you who donated home furnishings. A special thanks to Greg and Josh who spent time helping with repairs.

Anna graduates from high school this month. For the past 2 years, she has lived with some friends who have been surrogate parents more than merely hosts to Anna. We are very grateful for the time and energy that they have invested in loving our daughter. Anna will attend the local university in the fall to study equine business and join the rowing team.

I will visit leaders and friends in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel this month. A special thanks to Alex for allowing me to use one of his Delta buddy passes to fly stand-by. Please ask God to use me to both challenge and encourage these men as we discuss training parents and reproducible church planting. Please also pray for my wife and the kids as I will be away for almost one month.

Grateful For Donors Who Give Sacrificially

One of my favorite things to do is take our younger kids to visit those of you who have supported us financially over the years. Let me tell you about 3 visits this past week...


1) Last weekend we watched a parade with a retired teacher who served with FCA and his wife. How did he know each of the younger kids' names (as well as the older kids)? Because he prays for our family and many others at 5 am!


2) Last weekend we also visited a young couple with young kids who have supported us for several years. During these years, they themselves have been trying to live and serve among the unreached but it has just not yet worked out. Until God opens that door, he works hard and applies for overseas jobs, she raises young kids, they serve in their local church, and they engage internationals & refugees in gospel conversation.


3) Without the kids, I visited a farmer who works 16-hour days during some months of the year. He wants to cut back on production so that he can spend more time with his family. I also visited a carpenter but only for a few minutes because he and his co-workers were under a deadline. Men like these challenge me to work hard in ministry since they give their hard-earned money to support us.


In preparation for my next trip to the Middle East in May, please tell me if you know anyone who works for an airline and might be willing to donate one of their standby buddy passes. Expenses here.


Please pray for my wife and me as we work through some challenges such as how best to train and educate our 4 youngest children. Reasons why we are stateside indefinitely here. 

North African Christian Parents

We recently arrived in our home state. It has been great to be with family, especially our older kids! I arrived two weeks after my family from a conference for ministry in the Arab world, in particularly ministry in North Africa. My goal for attending the conference was to begin as many friendships as possible with leaders who have influence in the lives of Arab Christian parents. I was able to talk individually with 50+ leaders for at least 30 minutes each and give them a copy of the Arabic version of Shepherding A Child's Heart.

Let me tell you about one couple from Tunisia at the conference. He is working full-time and studying theology. The mother of his wife was saved when she was young. When she saw me giving someone an Arabic copy of Shepherding, she told me, "My mom raised me and my 3 siblings by that book!" Please pray for more of these North African believing dads and moms to read the book, begin obeying the biblical principles, and share them with other parents in their countries. I will continue these relationships online from here in our home state. For almost two weeks prior to this conference, I was in Egypt, where I was able to meet with approximately 40 leaders and teach on parenting at two churches.

Returning To The US

We were planning to be in the US only for this coming summer 2018. However, we left in late-February with the option to return to Jordan at some point in the future. We are not discouraged :-) We are excited about what God is doing in our family and ministry. Here are the reasons for this indefinite return to the US, in order of priority:

1) I am trying to promote biblical parenting not only in Jordan but in the Arab world. It seems that I spend most of my time online, cultivating relationships with leaders in the region and preparing to visit them. I would like to see if I can do this online from the US, while making four trips a year for 3-4 weeks each trip, visiting 3-4 countries each trip. My biggest concern is being away from my family for so long, though I know that many of you who serve our country in the military are separated for much longer. My wife approves of the travel because we are living in her hometown. I will be intentional about connecting with the family via video chat twice daily. In future years, my wife would accompany me on some trips. We will test this traveling idea for the next 6-9 months and then decide whether or not to return to Jordan. The Jordan Baptist Convention has allowed me to keep my affiliation with them whether we are living in Jordan or America.

2) We, like so many other volunteers in Jordan, were "on hold" regarding our residency visa. I left for Egypt on Feb 10th and would not have returned until after our residency expires on Feb 25. Rather than my wife and kids traveling outside of Jordan for a few days and then returning on a tourist visa for just a couple of months before leaving for the summer anyway, we felt it was better to leave in February. Update 4/1/18: Two families who have lived there for 25+ years have told us that they are leaving also. One noted, “if one’s name is on the ‘person non-gratis’ list, this means they can never return to Jordan and possibly other Middle Eastern countries” as opposed to leaving on our own initiative and coming back for week-long visits.

3) We now have our 4 oldest children living in our home state. If I am traveling, it is better for my wife to be near her extended family and the older kids. We feel that we should be closer to our 4 oldest children during this time.

4) We have a free apartment in my wife's home town because we will invest around 10 hrs a week managing an apartment complex through a Christian organization, serving refugee families mainly from Syria and Iraq. God has answered our prayer to rent our furnished apartment in Jordan to like-minded folks. We still have the option to return at some point in the future if we think it would please God for us to do so.

We are thankful to God for two wonderful options for our family in the future, either to stay in our home state or return to Jordan. Either way, we feel very blessed. Sometimes we spend too much time thinking about “where” we are supposed to be and “when” we are supposed to be there. God is more concerned with “who” we are. He is more concerned with our hearts being satisfied in Him at any time and in any place. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Our failure to do these three things perfectly should lead us to the cross to find mercy and grace, which actually empowers us to want to be more of “who” he wants us to be.

Max Returns to KY

Nee & Max at the Dead Sea before hiking with several other families.

Max finishes his online high school and returns to Kentucky at the end of this month. He will live with my mom in my hometown of Irvine, working at a restaurant for 3 months. Mom will help him to get his required 60 supervised driving hours to get his license. Pray for her! Long-term, Max wants to enlist in the military. The structure would be good for him. We are proud that he wants to serve his country and develop some skills that will benefit him personally. Max is a loyal friend, a well-loved sibling, and thinks a lot about the welfare of others. Please pray for him as he embarks on several transitions over the next 6 months.

Christmas was great, even though we missed our 3 oldest kids in Kentucky. We attended 2 Christmas gatherings, watched older Star Wars movies, and took cookies to families of the kids who are bullies in the park beside our home. They seemed surprised!

Please also pray for residency permission for us and several other families with the Jordan Baptist Convention. The process has become somewhat complicated.

JETS Students

Petra & Heidi have so many opportunities to serve families here by babysitting.

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Merry Christmas! In a few days, I will attend a Christmas gathering at JETS (Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary). I go there every few months to develop relationships with students and discuss with them how we can best promote biblical parenting in their countries, primarily Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Sudan. Since we lived in Sudan for 2 years and I understand their dialect more, I find myself spending most of my time with the Sudanese students. Here are a few of the guys that you can pray for...

1) A from Sudan- A first-year student who is missing his parents and siblings in Khartoum but it is getting better.

2) M from Egypt- A graduate who was recently and suddenly given the responsibility of overseeing the library of the seminary.

3) M&B from Iraq- Refugee brothers who graduated & recently resettled in the West. 

4) Y from Jordan- A recently married graduate who has taken on more ministry responsibilities.

5) M from Egypt- A married student who has been unable to find work for the past 3 months.

6) J from Sudan- A graduate who has returned to Khartoum to teach at an evangelical school.

Ministry Call?

Read more here about the oldest known (3rd century) purpose-built church, located in Jordan.

My role in promoting biblical parenting in the Arab world became more clear after my 12 days in Lebanon. I taught at an Arab church, attended a conference for the church of Sudan, and had individual conversations about parenting ministry with approximately 50 Arab church leaders. For now, it seems that my role is to have as many of these conversations as possible, asking leaders how they think God wants them to train believing parents, then offering suggestions if appropriate. I was able to begin the conversation further down the road with those who were able to fill out this parenting questionnaire prior to our meeting. While most of the past 20+ years of full-time ministry I have been very task-oriented, please pray that I learn how to be a faithful friend, especially to younger, up-and-coming leaders.
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I've been thinking a lot lately about a "call to ministry", either locally or cross-culturally. I don't see it in Scripture. I see a "call" to Christ. In that "calling", all believers are spiritually gifted and "called" to bring God as much glory as possible. If a believer, along with his/her church and by the Holy Spirit living within him, discerns that he can bring God the most glory by being "freed up" financially to invest most of his time serving the local church(s) through evangelism and/or discipleship, he should do so. No special "sign" is needed. This would be confirmed through a season of fruitful volunteer service, as well as through God's provision of finances through his church and other believers. If a believer discerns that his life can bring God more glory by continuing to financially support himself and others through a job while volunteering in ministry, he should continue to do so. He earns income to meet the needs of his family, to support financially those who are "freed up", and to buy himself time to expand the Kingdom himself. Neither our job nor our ministry should be our source of significance and identify. Our relationship with Christ is our significance and identify. Please ask the Lord of the harvest to send more "freed up" workers into His harvest field, especially among the unreached people groups of the world. This very short article expands on much of what I have just said using Scripture.

Preparing for Lebanon

Max spends 2 days a week using his English to serve at a Baptist School.

What do you think of when you hear "Beirut"? For many of us growing up in the 80s, we think of the 16 year-long civil war in Lebanon that killed 150,000 people. However, Lebanon now has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world, other than the oil-rich Persian Gulf countries. It is the only Arab nation that allows freedom of choice regarding religion. While one-third of the country would consider themselves "Christian", less than 1% would consider themselves "evangelical", meaning that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone.

I will visit Beirut for 10 days at the end of this month. I will meet with Arab pastors as well as a few Westerners involved in ministry, primarily to discuss how to promote biblical parenting. Would you ask God to use these meetings to clarify my role in training parents, as well as to strengthen Lebanese evangelical families?

Also please pray for our church here in Jordan as we make decisions regarding eldership, teaching, reproducibility, etc. Please also continue to pray for my pastor friend's relationship with his wife. Pray that both of them would be humble and clear-minded and that some older sisters in Christ would speak the truth in love to her.

Simplifying

Sometimes I get "into" something so much that I can't see the forest for the trees. For example, two weeks ago I was meeting with the wife of the president of the Jordan Baptist Convention (a pastor who just happens to be taking classes at our local seminary and comes to our city twice a year). We were talking about how to train parents at their church. As I'm telling her about my inability to overcome tech challenges, she says something like, "Well, until you get that worked out, I can create a Whatsapp or Messenger group and send the parents the first chapter of Shepherding A Child's Heart. After reading it, each of them can message the group one thing that they want to begin obeying consistently." That sounded much more simple than what I was trying to do! So here it is in English but don't blink... I will probably change it tomorrow :-\ Please pray for many conversations with pastors and leaders about training parents over the next month.

Please pray for a friend who is a pastor and his wife who are struggling in their marriage. We will begin counseling soon.

Pray for a church that is outgrowing its current location. Pray that their next steps would be highly missional and highly reproducible.

Handling Two Things Well

Click here to quiz you and your family's knowledge of Arabic cities. 

Christian ministry is primarily about handling two things well: the Scriptures and relationships. Certainly, it is important to be strategic, creative, and relevant but it is more important to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart.... and love you neighbor as you love yourself" (Mark 12:30-31). This past month I have had the joy of visiting younger church leaders from Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, and Lebanon. During each of these visits, we primarily talked about living in Jordan, ministry, and family. Please ask God to give me wisdom how to be a good friend to these young dads and love them well.

Please also pray that God would provide volunteer or paid tech support for this project. I believe that God could use this online tool to bless many parents and counselees in this region, for His glory. Please forward this email on to anyone you think could help me create this app

I will be sending short, specific prayer requests several times each week. If you would like to receive these via email,  email me at kizfam@gmail.com and say, "I'm in!" If you would like to receive these via text, email me at kizfam@gmail.com with your cell number and provider name (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, etc.).

The Parenting Challenge

The Parenting Challenge

Are you up for the challenge? If so, click here. "The Parenting Challenge" is training in gospel-centered, biblical parenting. Over the next few months, it will cost you about 10 hours and $10, unless you already have the book above. I created the challenge for Arab Christian parents but why not share the English version with you all? Please forward this email to parents you know who have young children.

"The Parenting Challenge" is all about learning, application, and self-initiated accountability. As I share the Arabic version here with Arab believers, I often hear, "We Arabs are not comfortable with accountability. Therefore most of us will not text our obedience points to other parents we know." I explain that resistance to accountability is less cultural and more a result of our sinful nature. We don't like to humble ourselves by asking for prayer and accountability, even if it is self-initiated. We don't like to reveal our weaknesses. But "The Parenting Challenge" is for moms and dads who desperately want to obey God when it comes to raising their kids, as well as encouraging other parents to do the same. I have been sending the challenge to 100+ cross-cultural workers and Arab leaders whom I know, asking for feedback and asking them to share the challenge with other Arab parents. Please pray that they will actually do so. Your feedback is welcomed also.

Our daughter Kendra recently got all of our family "together" online. Sam and Anna are running track. They also just returned from a trip to D.C. with my wife's parents. Max was invited to play basketball for the local Baptist school team. Heidi and Petra consistently have 2-3 weekly babysitting opportunities. Henry and Nehemiah are making lots of friends at the park, therefore beginning to understand more Arabic. My wife is homeschooling, exercising, taking our nutrition to an even higher level, staying connected to our older kids online, and being a faithful sister to ladies in our local church.

Egypt Trip

CLEAR THE ROAD! Anna has her license now! 

I just returned from Egypt. Four days in Alexandria and 5 days in Cairo. The goal was to learn from others who are doing family ministry and biblical counseling while sharing with them what I have been doing. I was able to meet one-on-one with 30+ pastors, missionaries, and ministry leaders, as well as 7 groups, one being several parents from the homeschool co-op in Alex.

Another one of those groups was 4 Christian couples who asked me questions about parenting for a couple of hours. One of the couples arrived with a 4-year-old who had just woke up from napping in the car. He was NOT happy! His father later told me that he averages 7-8 hours of sleep at night while choosing his own bedtime. We talked about that. We also talked about getting a foundation of first-time obedience through calling his name. Mostly, we talked about parental anger. This precious couple actually believed that they should express anger to prove to their child that they mean what they say.

We read together Hebrews 12:5-11 and talked about the difference between discipline and punishment. Because of God's anger, justice, and goodness, he will punish unbelievers eternally. However, He disciplines the one he loves (vs.6) for our own good, that we may share in His holiness (vs.10) which produces the fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it (vs.11). This is how we should train our children. Parental anger often reveals that we are punishing our children because we are personally offended by their sin.

We talked about the difference between being angry and being serious. We talked about consistency in discipline without expressing anger. Here is a practical way that has helped me to discipline our children while repenting of the temptation to be angry. Please pray that we (both Arab and American Christian parents) would be open to learning more biblical ways to raise our kids.

Please also ask God to give me wisdom regarding my role in promoting biblical counseling in the Arab world. It's fuzzy for me right now.

Refugees

As we think about refugees, let's not confuse the role of government with the role of the church. The primary role of the church is to bring God glory by making disciples of all nations, including the 7 countries listed in the recent executive order (Matthew 28:19-20). Biblically, the primary role of government is to protect people by punishing the evildoer (Romans 13:1-5, 1 Peter 2:14). I'm persuaded that the executive order is excessive and unnecessary. However, my opinion is irrelevant. More important is the fact that each of us as followers of Christ has a role to play regarding the refugee crisis in our world today. In no particular order, I would like to highlight 4 ministries for your prayerful and financial consideration.  Click either 1, 2, 3, or 4. If you would like to receive more information about any of these ministries, email me.

For the past several months I've been visiting a refugee family from Mosel, Iraq each Sunday. They have one son. Initially we talked about parenting but lately, our conversations have moved to other areas of discipleship. The husband is a young believer. He recently found out that ISIS completely ransacked the interior of his home before leaving. He was also discouraged about the executive order, saying that it is difficult for him to discern whether he should go back to Mosel or wait for relocation in the West. I showed him from 1 Thess. 4 that God's will for us is more about "who" we are (joyful, faithful, thankful) than "where" we live or "when" we move. We also talked about the need for Arab believers to return to Iraq to strengthen the church. Please ask God to give believing refugee families like his courage to make decisions based on God's glory more than personal happiness.

Also, pray for my 10 day trip to Egypt next week as I meet with others involved in ministry to Arab families, as well as visit many of the families I used to visit when we lived there in 2010.

Honor and Shame

Our frequently updated list of online family videos here. 

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Honor and shame influence our behavior in the west. However, their influence is super-sized here in the Middle East, especially when it comes to a subject as sensitive as parenting. Perhaps many believing couples genuinely want biblical advice about raising kids but, like all of us at times, are ashamed to admit their struggles. While most may confide in a relative, close friend, or a pastor, perhaps some would prefer to speak anonymously online to an expert trained in coaching parents according to scripture. These experts could help them find answers in the Bible, while at the same time encouraging them to healthy transparency and accountability within their own church community. I'm prayerfully taking steps toward developing such online parent coaching in Arabic. Would you please ask God to give me Arab partners and wisdom along the way?

Recently I summarized some of the teachings of Growing Kids God's Way and Parenting Made Practical into 3 one-page documents in English: Marriage and Parenting, Training ages 1+, and Discipline ages 3+. These are now translated into Arabic and added to my list of resources to train parents (You can see the list in English here). If any of you have questions regarding these resources, message me to arrange a time to talk via phone, Skype, Facetime, Facebook, etc.

Please pray for my wife as it was difficult for her when Kendra left after being here 6 weeks. She really misses her, Samuel, and Anna.

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!

North African Family

Congratulations to our daughter Anna (w/ my wife's parents) for leading her CC team to the state meet

Last night I visited the home of a North African pastor who is studying theology here in Jordan. They have 2 kids under 5 yrs of age. Because they are not from Jordan, their social opportunities are limited. When I asked his wife what her average day looks like, she talked about cooking, taking care of the kids, and visiting a Muslim lady daily who is from her home country. His wife asked me how to get her son to do what she tells him to do. It was my first time visiting them and I had already been there for longer than an hour, so I told her that I would visit again soon and we would talk about it. As the father walked me out to the street, he told me that he thinks his wife spends too much time at the Muslim neighbor's home. She tells him that she can't just stay at home all day but he says that his son is learning bad habits from the neighbor's older kids as they pick on him. He wishes his wife would have more structure to her day so that the kids would be more obedient. As I drove away, I thought about how I first need to read and discuss with them some of the foundational principles of biblical parenting before moving on to more practical lessons.

Thanks to those of you who prayed for the completion of the parenting website in Arabic. While I was waiting, I began using a simple Google doc which I actually like better than the website, at least for now You can see the English translation here. I've visited and sent the Arabic version to more than a dozen pastors/parents over the past month. While they all say that they will do it, no one has contacted me yet. Pray that I have a healthy balance of patience, flexibility, and persistence.

Please pray also for my wife as she has been experiencing back pain that she thinks is related to prior hip pain. She is trying to continue her stretching/strengthening exercises... not exactly yoga as I had thought :-)   

Answered Prayers

Will you thank God with us? We have seen answers to many prayers in our 10 months in Jordan....

• a healthy home fellowship of other American believers 
• older, godly leaders who advise and counsel us 
• good relationships with many Arab believers, especially in our Arab church 
• an opportunity for our family to serve together for 6 months at a center for Iraqi children 
• a language helper and ministry partner, as well as time to study 
• several apps that have helped the kids learn Arabic while homeschooling 
• a vehicle 
• continued financial support from many of you 
• funds to purchase an apartment with good neighbors in a location central to friends and ministry opportunities 
• a park across from our apartment where we can exercise, socialize, and practice Arabic 
• a youth group of 50+ teenagers where our kids have made good friends 
• excellent host families and good learning/serving/working opportunities for our 3 oldest kids in KY 

All of these blessings together do not equal the blessings we have in Christ Himself. "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." ~ Philippians 3:8. Please pray....

1. for my mom Pat as she transitions to life without my dad Jim, who went to be with the Lord suddenly after a heart attack on August 21st. 
2. for many details to be completed related to the online tool for biblical parenting in Arabic. 
3. for my wife and I to parent, as well as relate to one another, according to John 1:14 ~ "full of grace and truth".

Promoting Biblical Parenting.... Slowly

Remember the online tool for biblical parenting in Arabic I mentioned in last month's e-newsletter? After 6 months of waiting on different volunteers who have been working on it, it is still not ready. This has been discouraging to me. I don't want to begin meeting with more pastors/leaders here until this online tool is functional. However, I think I see God's hand in this. The waiting has given me time to focus on Arabic. I have been working with a tutor to correct my speaking mistakes. I realize that I have formed a lot of bad habits that I did not know about. This is humbling for me but at least I now realize it! For long-term effectiveness in the region, language is essential. The waiting has also given my wife and I time to process our recent transitions of moving and sending Samuel and Anna back to the US. Still, I'm itching to promote biblical parenting here. Would you ask God to make it happen, in His timing?

Remember the Egyptian family I mentioned in last month's e-newsletter? We had our third meeting yesterday. In the second meeting she said that while she believes that spanking is biblical, she cannot bring herself do it. Instead, she waits for her husband to come home to do it. She repented of this and says that she has begun chastising her children herself, with less yelling. I asked her if she had a flexible daily routine with the kids. Her reply was, "No... we are Egyptians!" Her children basically do whatever they want whenever they want, including meals. I told her that there are American families with no routine also, but that God wants our young children to understand that they are under authorities who know what is best for them and therefore plan their day for them. The sooner they can learn to live under authority, the easier it will be for them to accept Christ's Lordship over their lives. She agreed to try it. The husband said that he has been experiencing more victory over being angry with his kids. Please pray for this family. They seem very teachable. They are a committed Christian family who has left their country to serve God here in Jordan, where there are fewer Christians than in Egypt.

We like our new home. The park beside us has been a great place for all of us to get exercise and met others. My wife has begun homeschooling the kids. We are not sure how involved we should be with the pre-school for refugee kids. Please ask God for good ministry opportunities for my wife and the kids, especially for Max.

We Moved.... Again

We bought a house! Well, actually it is an apartment, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, on the 3rd floor in a neighborhood centrally located to everything in Amman. We liked living on the outskirts of town in a small community but feel it will be better for both our family and our ministry to be in town. The best thing about our apartment is that it is beside a park with a soccer field, basketball court, playground, etc. It will be a great place to meet families and for our kids to learn more Arabic.

I still have yet to meet with the Egyptian couple I mentioned in last month's e-newsletter. The wife just sent me her evaluation a few days ago. There are a few other couples I hope to meet with soon also. I have been working on an online tool for training in biblical parenting. You can see the beta version here and maybe use your browser to translate it to English. Lord willing, the site will have both the texts and audio recordings of both Shepherding A Child's Heart and The Faithful Parent in Arabic. We may add some video lessons such as these later. After each chapter, the user must submit answers to two questions: What did you learn from this chapter? How will you apply it to your parenting? These answers are automatically emailed to the user's spouse and vice versa for healthy accountability. I have hired an older Jordanian believer with lots of ministry experience to help me finalize the online tool and begin using it in conjunction with home/church visits. This brother is also Max and my language tutor. If anyone would like to learn Arabic, even via video chat, I highly recommend him. Please pray that Kamal and I would be able to discern how we can best serve born-again parents here.

Anna and Samuel have settled back into Kentucky well. Anna got her driver's permit and Samuel got stitches after taking an elbow to the eye playing basketball. Kendra is enjoying being a professional photographer. See her work here.

Samuel Returns to the US

Yesterday our 17-year old Samuel returned to our home state. Over the summer, he will resume working the part-time jobs he had before we moved overseas. He will also participate in summer league basketball practices at a local high school, where he has begun the enrollment process to attend next fall. He has a wonderful opportunity to live with the head coach and a good friend of mine. Samuel is a hard worker..... as a student, as an athlete, and as an employee. He does not draw attention to himself, yet he is a magnet for young kids, probably because he has had so much experience relating to them with 6 younger siblings. Samuel will most likely be successful at whatever he does because he is loyal, consistent, diligent, and does things with excellence. We are looking forward to seeing how God will work in and through Samuel as he leaves our home and spends the next year with another family.

The past month has been about continuing language study, initiating relationships with other evangelical leaders here, continuing facilitation of on-going ministry stateside, and spending 3 nights at the Dead Sea with my wife for our 20th anniversary :-)

Remember the Syrian brother I was counseling? He has not contacted me about having another session but tells me that he is doing well when I see him at church.  He will soon immigrate to Canada.

We bought a vehicle over the past month! Weird to be back in a min-van.

Biblical Counseling

I had my first opportunity to counsel someone in Arabic two weeks ago. It was challenging, to say the least! He is a 30-year old Syrian believer from Christian background. He has been a refugee in Jordan for about a year, along with his mother. His situation is much better that most. He lives with his sister and her Jordanian husband. He came seeking advice. He is supposed to leave for a western country in less than 2 months. However, that embassy learned that while his parents have been separated for more than 5 yrs, they are not officially divorced. So they want his father, who is still in Syria, to go with them. My friend cannot see how God might possibly be using these circumstances to reunite his parents. He only sees how it could postpone his travel, causing him frustration. We looked together at Romans 8:28-29. I assigned homework for him which he had only halfway completed when we met the second time last week. In the second session, this brother was able to express openly how frustrating it has been for him to be a refugee. As I sat there listening to him, I thought to myself, "Wow, how many Syrian and Iraqi refugees have no one to confide in and help them understand their situation from a biblical perspective." Please ask God to give this brother the diligence to complete the homework that I gave him, and that God would use it to help him overcome fear through deeper trust in Him. Please ask God to help me and my family be able to understand what Arabs are saying and be able to express ourselves in appropriate ways. Would you also listen to this teaching from David Platt about how we as believers should respond to the refugee crisis?

I'm excited to see who God will bring together next month for a day of training in biblical counseling at another evangelical church here. I asked one of the leaders in our Arabic church if I might be able to train some believers in biblical counseling by co-counseling with them. I see training laymen in biblical counseling as one aspect of promoting biblical parenting here. Would you ask God to give many Arab believers a desire to learn and serve in biblical counseling?

School in Jordan

This week Nehemiah (6), Henry (8), and Petra (10) began public school here in Jordan so that they can learn Arabic. Imagine being their age and attending a school where most of the kids are staring at you, crowding around you asking you questions in Arabic, and most of the teachers do not speak English but speak Arabic very loudly! However, we saw God's grace through a friend who helped them enroll, a special ed teacher who will give them individual attention to learn Arabic, and an English-speaking 8 yr old Jordanian girl who helped Petra overcome all the stares and attention during the first day. Plus, the school is a 10-minute walk from our home and is only 4 hrs each weekday. They will continue some homeschooling in English. Please as God to help them be secure in Him, make friends, and learn Arabic well.

Thank you for praying for our residency permit, which we received last week. Also, thanks for praying for my wife and me as we have been attending marriage counseling. It has been really good for us. We've learned some things about ourselves and each other that will help us to trust God more as we parent our kids.

Remember the Arab boy with the chair on his head in the photo of last month's e-newslettter? He is doing much better. He even wrote a note to Henry and Nehemiah telling them that he loves them! Thanks for praying.

Community Center

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"Mom" says..... The children and I have had the privilege of teaching at a small community center for Iraqi refugee children the past few weeks.  Many of them are from Christian background families from Mosel. Most of them have not been to school for a year or have no access to school currently. We have been teaching them the Bible and English since most of them will be living in an English speaking country in the future. We are thankful that the Lord has provided our family an opportunity to serve together and to share His Word. Please pray for the children and their families. Also, pray that we would continue to have good relationships with the other teachers in the community center.  We all attend the same church.

"Dad" says... By God's grace, things are going well. We enjoy living in our small community outside of the capital. Yesterday we went hiking with an Arab family and found 2 turtles and a scorpion :-\ The kids are making a lot of friends. Our older kids recently attended a dance at a Christian school. A few of us joined a local gym. I'm having some great conversations with leaders here about biblical parenting. I'm learning which resources in Arabic should be promoted and how to best serve Christian families here. My residency permit should be finished next week, which will allow us to get a driver's license, which will allow us to get a vehicle! Please pray for both the permit and the right vehicle. Also, ask God to continue to give us more clarity regarding language learning for all of us. There are many Arabic-learning options here and each member of our family has his/her own unique language needs.

Fuheis, Jordan

This is a photo from the roof of the rented home we have settled into over the past week. We love it! It is located in a primarily Catholic and Orthodox community just outside of Amman called Fuheis. It is not the same home owned by the Jordanian Christian family that we requested prayer for in our previous e-newsletter. It is bigger and less expensive! It is also within walking distance of the Arab church we have been attending. Our church has been reaching out to many Iraqi and Syrian refugee families who have come to Jordan over the past year to flee the persecution of ISIS. At our New Year's Eve party, I sat back and watched all of these families enjoying fellowship, even though most of them have not known each other for more than 12 months and many of them are still grieving the loss of their former lives in their home countries. There are many needs. There are many opportunities for us as a family to be involved. Please pray that God would give us wisdom to choose that which will bring Him the most glory. Also, pray that we would have discernment regarding how much Arabic language study each member of our family needs.

We have begun the process of applying for a residence permit through the Jordan Baptist Convention. Please pray for God's will to be done through this process.

Please also pray for my wife and I as we meet Tuesday with a biblical counselor. When she and I conflict, 90% of the time it is related to parenting, probably because 8 children means lots of decisions to be made! Perhaps our most recent struggles are not only the stress of living cross-culturally and being unsettled but also spiritual attack, since we came here to promote biblical parenting in the Arab church. We are asking God to use our time in counseling to build greater unity, consistency, and grace in our marriage and parenting. Would you pray with us?