Pray for Christians in North Africa

There is a lot going on in North Africa right now, and this article will help us know how to better pray for them.  Pastor Gardner wrote this on his blog. 

I want to ask you to be praying for our friends that serve God in Northern Africa. There is a lot of turmoil there. Satan plays with their minds to cause them to worry. There is every reason to worry unless you consider the greatness of God and how He will work through all of this.

Here are some things to help you pray better:

The largest national newspapers are putting articles about Christianity on their front pages. One of the papers dedicated about half of the paper to the subject.

The paper reports that the American Churches have a goal to convert 10% of Moroccans by 2020. They reminded the Moroccans that the penalty of conversion is 6 months to 3 years in jail. They highlighted the testimony of one Moroccan family who had become Christians and then returned to Islam.

Though not true they reported that there are about 40-50,000 Christians in Morocco with an attempt to stir up the people.

Another day’s headlines in the newspaper were the following:

“9 centuries of missionary activity in Morocco”

“800 missionaries in Morocco. Casablanca at the forefront”

“Said Oujibou: A Moroccan running a campaign to evangelize Moroccans in France”

“Missionaries target the hearts of Moroccans”

Though Satan is attacking God is still working. Attendance in church services is actually growing. God is working in the hearts of new believers to make them more bold as they learn the Word of God.

Some churches have stopped having services but others are seeing God’s blessings.

Pray for faith in times of fear for these believers

Pray that the missionaries and believers will reject the thoughts of the accuser and hear the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Moroccans Speak Out

This was taken from the the blog of the family I will be working with. Check out their blog.


I just received the following press release from a friend of mine living in Morocco:

We, the members of the Worldwide Union of Moroccan Christians, declare that:

We are following with great anticipation these waves of convocations, interrogations, arrests, and detentions, practiced these last few weeks by Moroccan security forces against Moroccan Christians, as well as the deportations of foreign aid workers working with humanitarian organizations in Morocco.  With this press release, we hope to clarify the following points:

As Moroccan Christians, we are proud of our rich Christian heritage. Some are first generation, others second and third, and all of these people and families have different functions in Moroccan society and abroad.  We live our daily lives peaceably, in total harmony and respect in our society that we serve according to our abilities and with zeal.

Contrary to the regrettable claims repeated by certain media that attempt to question the validity of our faith using any and every means possible, we hold fast in affirming that our faith in Christ is a personal choice that was never the result of pressure or material or social motivations.  Our convictions are religious and are not the result of any foreign influence.

The abuses and persecution coming from Moroccan authorities affect us as Christians and deprive us of our fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution and by all the internationally recognized charters and conventions. They contradict the Moroccan government’s declarations pronounced by its spokesman and communications minister by which Morocco guarantees religious and ideological freedom. It is our duty to question the legitimacy of these claims, because if they were true, why are Moroccan Christians being persecuted? Under what laws are they being interrogated and arrested?

We hold fast in affirming that the declarations of the foreign church leaders in Morocco do not reflect in any way the opinion of Moroccan Christians.  In fact, as foreign Christians residing in Morocco, they benefit from privileges for which Moroccan Christians have been denied: places of worship, churches, a total ban on gathering together and practicing our rituals in both private and in public sectors.  We are not even allowed to defend our faith when asked to do so.  In the end, we don’t even have right to possess Bibles in Arab or in Amazigh (Berber language) in our dear country, as our Bibles are confiscated and considered as tools for proselytizing.

We denounce the harassments that we are suffering as Moroccan Christians as being religious persecution that have absolutely no link to any political position.  On the other hand, we as Moroccan Christians pray for our king, our people and our homeland from Tangier to Laguira, for more goodwill, more progress and more prosperity.

It is on this basis that we are asking the Moroccan government the following:

To stop all forms of systematic security threats, arrests, detentions, and inspections with the sole objective of humiliating Christians and to pressure them to renounce their religious convictions.

That the government would open formal channels of dialogue with Moroccan Christians to establish true clarity, transparency and understanding, because we are looking to maintain the country’s integrity as well as its security.

The official recognition of Moroccan Christians and their right to have services and to practice their rituals and Christian rites freely without harassments and restrictions.

The permission granted to Moroccans to convert to the religion of their choice, including Christianity, without being submitted to any interrogation or harassment from security forces, as it is guaranteed by the Moroccan constitution.

Weekly Update

For the Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever. I am so thankful I get to serve Christ. This week has been a very busy week, but also such a blessed week.

Bro. Larry Brown from Washington, IA preached Monday and Tuesday nights at my home church. Each and every time he comes I am convicted with truths he brings from God’s Word. Wednesday was a very exciting day. I was able to book 4 meetings! So far, this is the most meetings I have booked in a single day. 3 of those meetings are for next year, and one for this November. I am so excited to begin to see next year’s calendar start to fill. Wednesday night began the Missions Revival at New Life Baptist Church in Dalton, GA. What an incredible blessing this church has been to me this week! Today, I went shopping with a couple of the ladies from the church. It was great just to spend time with the ladies and other missionary wives. The services each night have touched my heart in a different way. I am constantly amazed at how God pricks every person’s heart with something different, even though we all heard the same message.

Things are really taking shape for my trip up to Ohio in October. This past week, a pastor called to ask me to be a part of their mission conference. I was a little worried that it would be the same dates as another mission conference I had already scheduled, or perhaps it could be a couple weeks after we were going to leave. Praise the Lord it will cover some open dates in the middle that I needed to fill!

Prayer Requests:

• Christian "Volunteers" in Morocco: this past weekend, a new minister of justice took power in Morocco and deported many Christian “volunteers”. One orphanage’s workers were all taken, leaving 33 children to go to other state run facilities. You can read the full article from the Christian Post here.
• Muslim Majority Country of the Week: Egypt. Population: approximately 79 million. Percentage Muslim: 90%.
• Safety Traveling: this week we will be heading up to Indiana.

Christians Expelled, Forced to Abandon 33 Foster Kids in Morocco

The following was taken from The Christian Post.

Christian volunteers and foster parents at a Moroccan orphanage were forced to abandon dozens of children on Monday after they were accused of proselytizing.

"Watching the children be told by their parents that they had to leave, that they would maybe never see them again, is the most painful thing I have ever witnessed," said Chris Broadbent of VoH.Moroccan authorities raided Village of Hope and said they were expelling the 20 workers and parents. The 33 children who were being cared for cried out "hysterically" for their foster parents as they were left behind.

Village of Hope registered with the Moroccan government in 2002 as an official Christian organization and received permission to talk about Christianity to the children in their care, according to Broadbent.

The North African country is a predominantly Muslim country where Christians make up only 1.1 percent of the population. The government restricts non-Islamic religious materials and proselytizing and monitors the activities of non-Muslim religious groups.

Also, it is only legal for Muslims to adopt children. Volunteers at Village of Hope were thus acting as foster parents, though the children considered them to be their parents, Broadbent noted.

For nearly ten years, VoH volunteers had been open about their faith to the authorities and were allowed to take in and foster abandoned children, who would otherwise be killed or placed in state-run "mega-orphanages," the organization stated. Despite that, authorities accused them of trying to convert the children to Christianity and forced the foster parents to board a bus heading to the airport to leave the country.

click here to read the entire article

Putting Prayer First

This week was a fairly typical week. Made lots of phone calls, dropped into a few churches. As I tried to turn on my computer this morning to get started making my calls for the day, nothing happened. That is a scary feeling. I can’t work without having my computer. All the churches I call to try to get meetings are on my computer. I have a special program just for that. Since my computer crash back in November, I have been much more careful about backing up my data, so I wasn’t worried about the data. Nonetheless, I have to have a computer to access the data. Of course my mind swirls to the worst case scenario. If I take my computer somewhere to get fixed, it may take several days - days I would not be able to work. My mind swirls deeper into the “more worst” case scenario:  What if my computer officially died and there is no reviving it? I was hoping to make this computer last at least another year (if not three). Then a thought hits me – pray about it.

It’s amazing how my mind swirls to worst case scenarios and how I will fix it and I will make it work. Well, it’s not about me. My first response is “what can I do to remedy this?” My first response should be “pray about it.” Prayer puts things first and foremost in God’s hands, not mine. Prayer shows where my trust is: in Him. Prayer helps to alleviate the worry that creeps in and soothes the frantic worst case scenario thoughts. Prayer also reminds me where my sustenance comes from. It’s amazing how something like a computer not turning on can remind you of a lesson you didn’t quite learn fully in the past, or perhaps never put into practice.

After I prayed, then called tech support, my computer did turn on and function normally. Praise the Lord! He answered that prayer quickly!

Prayer Requests:

• Scheduling more meetings
• Safety traveling
• Muslim Majority Country of the Week: Nigeria. Population: 149 Million. 50% Muslim.

And as a side note, I am starting this month to put in my budget savings for that computer for when mine finally does die. If you’ve never heard of Dave Ramsey, I would highly recommend his book, The Total Money Makeover.