The Difficult Side

What comes to mind when you think of the Middle East? Is it miles of desert, conflict and political tension between nations, or reminders of Islam everywhere? These characteristics are certainly true. But, I believe God is raising a generation to wholeheartedly serve Him and do ministry in a challenging region of the world. It may be difficult. But, I am thankful First Priority Global has decided to join God in what He is doing in the Middle East and North Africa.

In late March, our team spent a week training leaders in a Middle Eastern nation. Then they spent a second week encouraging our leadership in a North African nation. In this first location, our team trained adult and high school leaders from 6 churches and from the largest evangelical school in the region. We trained them in the First Priority Strategy. This is designed to help students grow stronger as followers of Jesus and empower them to be Missionaries, Ministers, and Gospel Messengers to their own generation.

In addition to the training, our team conducted several strategic meetings with key Christian leaders in this nation. These leaders will begin training others in the First Priority strategy across their nation in the months to come.

After an amazing first week, we boarded a plane to North Africa to participate in a First Priority Conference with adults and teenagers. They celebrated what God had done with the strategy in their first year in this region. While not everyone could attend, we had well over one hundred who did join the celebration. The students were so hungry to see God use their lives to impact a generation for Christ. Besides the conference, our team partook in strategic expansion meetings with Pastors and business leaders in the capital.

The Fun Side

On the fun side, our team was able to take in some Biblical sites on our journey. We even were treated to a traditional meal in the home of a Middle Eastern family, which was really special. Another special memory for me was spending a day with our Regional Ambassador’s family before leaving the city.

As you can tell, it was a busy but successful couple of weeks for our First Priority Global team. Thank you for praying for us as we meet the challenges of training leaders to do ministry in a challenging region.