Welcome to the September 2022 Life Center Newsletter.
The news cycle continues to turn and with the awful events in Ukraine it’s fair to say that other areas of the World have been pushed into the shadows. The challenges in these areas continue though, and Lebanon continues to be amongst the most demanding places to live and work.
As you read the following report from Pastor Said please remember the team in Beirut. They absolutely need our ongoing support.
Greetings faithful friends of Beirut Life Center!
First of all, I would like to express my heart felt gratitude for all your support and prayers over the years. Without them Life Center would not exist, and we would not be able to do the things we are doing!
Thank you!
I would love to bring you a message that all is going well and give you a nice feel-good chearful newsletter. Maybe this won’t be one of those letters, but Hope & Faith in a Loving God will overcome all circumstances.
Things in Lebanon are as bad as they have ever been – we are lucky to get electrical power for 2 hours a day. We’ve had to install solar panels enough to keep the building functional only during the day and when the sun shines. A big thank you for all those who helped with that.
The economy has tanked, inflation is running wild, and people are starving because there is just not enough work to be had and even if you do have a job, it doesn’t pay enough to support a family for one week. According to the Central Administration of Statistics, surpassing Zimbabwe and making the economic crisis one of world’s worst since the end of the Second World War.
See following article.
The daily attacks continue on Lebanese banks in an attempt to get what is left from their savings and deposits, that lost 95% of its buying value. Only today (Friday 16th) there have been five bank ‘heists’ as Lebanese demand their frozen savings.
Today (Tuesday Sept. 20) as I am writing this message, all banks in Lebanon have been closed since Friday and it seems will keep closing all this week and the weeks to come. This to protect their employees and workers. I hope that they find a solution and re-open before it is too late. This is not a joke please pray with us!!!
While many pastors left Lebanon in the past few months, and others are considering to leave, we struggle to stay positioned, to pay our staff and keep the ministry operational. Workers are getting discouraged and leaving the country at any price, big numbers of Lebanese and Syrian refugees are still using the death boats riding the waves and risking their lives to migrate from Lebanon.
We are believing that the Lord kept us for such an hour. We are still surviving, feeding as many people as we can but the needs are so far outpacing what we have – it tears us apart when we have to say, “Sorry we dont have any more to give you or your family”
I’m writing this to let you know just how bad things are. Our situations is what we got when the government officials dont care about the people, only their pursuit of power. This is where it leads.
I’m sure most of you are in far more prosperous countries – we thank God for that, we are not jealous – we rejoice with you in your blessings!
What we so dearly need from all our friends and partners is prayer.
Prayer changes things.
If God does not move and move in a big way Lebanon will continue to become closer to a preview of what Hell is like.
Please pray for us that God would move over the entire country. If there was ever a time for us to beg and plead with you its now and its to pray.
Moving forward, you can also send us lots of money too!! If you have a few million dollars you could send us we could feed a lot of people, pay our people better and up the tempo of ministry.
So that’s the bad news. How about some good news…
Events at the Life Center
Because of you, the “Life Center” has steadily been upgrading its capabilities and we now have a top notch facility.
With the help of the church family and friends we’ve been able to install a Solar system that provides power from 9AM till 6PM when we have sunshine. This power is enough for lamps, fridges, and computers, but not for air-conditioning, night meetings and cell groups and leadership trainings at nights.
We are thankful to God for this miracle to have power and light during the day. Hallelujah. However, we have people and missionaries staying at the Life Center without power during hot nights. We are hoping to upgrade our inverters and solar system from 15KW to 30KW so we can get more energy to cover the first 3 to 4 hours of the night and use some air-conditioning during the day.
We have concerts all the time and outreaches as fast as we can put them together. Several churches are using the building, we feed refuge kids – and lots of them.
As the crisis has no solutions on the horizon, the relief and food distribution department is continuing to serve at its full potential. We have hired sister Joumana as a full-time worker to help us organize the workers, volunteers and beneficiaries. In addition to distributing food parcels to church members, discipleship institute students, Al Massira Students, small groups members, and many random hungry families come asking for something to eat. We are still giving a hand with medicines, baby milk and nappies, rental support and other urgent matters.
Life Center Pastoral Team
This photo is for the Leaders of Small Groups, Al Massira courses, Bible studies and Bible institute Leaders.
Spring of Life
In addition to our Homework Assistance program, this year we are partnering with W.V. on a special education program for children between 4 and 5 years old.
SOL+, The school financial support for children and young youth need is growing, as most of the Lebanese lost their jobs at a time schools are raising their school tuitions and fees. The number of students in need for our support is growing, more Than 50 students are totaly depending on us or they will be on the streets if we don’t help them every month. those children mostly are from church members, and Syrian refugee kids, the need is about an average of 45$ per student every month.
Children's Summer Activities at the Life Center
We’ve been able to reach hundreds of children with different kinds of events, daily activities and Bible teaching.
Youth Work
This August we had so many leadership conferences, but I would love to highlight the youth Summer camp, the youth Eagles are having a revival breaking through, daily Bible studies in small groups.
Thanks to the church in Denmark, we were able to support this initiative, more than eighty youth went together for 5 days outside Beirut just praying and seeking God’s face, in addition to fun activities together It was a breakthrough in the lives of the majority, life-changing encounters with Christ. Hallelujah
Eagles in Christ Youth Summer Camp August 2022
And Much More...
We are partnering with other local churches and praying together. Lots of other churches, ministries and NGOs use the Life Center building and facilities.
National Day of Prayer
On September 3, we had a special event of its kind, for the first time, we’ve organized a National Day of Prayer for Lebanon where dozens of Pastors and saints from all Christian backgrounds joined us to fast and pray for Lebanon. it was live broadcasted on the Catholic television. We will continue doing it at a larger scale next year.
Bekaa Valley Mission
Like in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley outreaches are developing and growing beyond our capacity. Gaby and Abo Abdo are going three days per week to follow up with our staff there. Lots of good things are going on. The Lord has been gracious to us and I can write hundreds of pages, however, I will keep it short for now, unless you have any question, I will be pleased to answer and share many heart touching stories about souls coming to Jesus, being discipled, equipped and sent.
It’s really heart-warming to be a part of all that (again, thank you for your part in all of it)
When things get bad, more and more people look to the committed believers and see a peace and joy that they don’t have – and can’t have. In this way Life Center is ministering and communicating the Gospel, sometimes without opening our mouths. People are becoming Believers and God is moving in our services like never before.
We don’t just hope for miracles, we depend upon them – and God delivers consistently.
Thanks for your prayers and support, in this day and age we need them like never before,
Warmly
Said for the Life Center tribe.
Thank you all for your love, prayers, encouragement, and support! We are so grateful to our friends and partners who help make the work we do possible!