Foursquare Middle East and Central Asia Regional Update

Dear Prayer Partners. Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support.


RAMALLAH UPDATE

For 10 days various young Muslim men came to our center each day. They met with some Bible College students from a Christian university in America. Each day the Bible College students and the Muslim men spoke and dialoged together for two hours on every subject from religion to politics. It was a great opportunity to sow the Gospel into the lives of 50 Muslim men.

We continue to teach English classes through the ministry of our ministry center. I would especially request your prayers for a middle-aged Muslim man to whom I have just started to give private English tutoring. He is very open to the Gospel, so we are using a curriculum that incorporates the Bible, spiritual themes and the Gospel into the lesson plans.

TURKEY REGIONAL CONFERENCE

In mid-July the regional conference of the Foursquare works in the Middle East and Central Asia was held in Istanbul Turkey. We had leaders from our churches in Bahrain, Dubai, Armenia, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Lebanon as well as guest pastors and leaders from the US. On the last day of the meetings all the national leaders stood in a circle, with eyes closed praying, and speaking out one by one how many churches, works in new nations and redeemed individuals we would believe God for in ten years. Then we began to speak out how this would be accomplished. One of the leaders’ reply was especially striking as he proclaimed that it would be the blood and the testimony of martyrs that would be the ingredient that would release God’s outpouring in our region. These leaders are putting their lives on the line for the sake of the Gospel. Continue to pray that they would proclaim the Gospel boldly

Country Highlight: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Country Statistics
Area:
32,000 sq. mi.
Population:
2,563,212
Languages:
Arabic, Persian, English, Hindi and Urdu
Religion:
85% Muslim
8% Christian
5% Hindu
1% Buddhist
1% Non-religious/other

OUR NATIONAL LEADER

Vincent Yusef came to the Lord while living in his native country of Pakistan. Before coming to the Lord he was a boxer with a reputation as a gangster and trouble maker. Shortly after accepting Christ he approached a Foursquare pastor to baptize him. The pastor could not believe this ruffian had accepted Christ and refused, Vincent, still working out the rough edges of his faith, threatened to beat up the pastor if he did not baptize him.

After completing his Bible college education and serving on the board of the Foursquare work in Pakistan, Vincent moved with his family to Dubai. His first job was carrying air-condition units up flights of stairs on his back in the 120 degree heat of Dubai. He began witnessing to co-workers and fellow foreign workers. In 1996 he opened the first Foursquare church in the nation. A couple of years later he gave up his day job and went fulltime in ministry.

Vincent’s home is a constant hub of activity. He lives with his wife, four children and niece in a small three bedroom apartment. His family usually hosts recent arrivals to UAE from Pakistan and India until these individuals can find a job and their own home. There is also an almost constant stream of individuals coming to the home for prayer for healing, deliverance from demonic oppression or other needs. They also host weekly Bible studies and prayer meetings in their home. Vincent is known as a powerful evangelist both in UAE and back home in Pakistan.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK

The Church in the United Arab Emirates is largely reaching out to Pakistani and Indian workers, who make up nearly 85% of the population of UAE. Most of those that they are reaching out to come from Muslim and Hindu backgrounds. Besides leading the central church in Dubai, Vincent has planted home groups in “labor camps”. Labor camps in Dubai are large compounds of many two and three story buildings that look something like 20 “Motel 6s” crammed together. In each small hotel size room, three or four single men live who work for construction or other companies. It is the law in UAE that foreign single men cannot live in regular apartment buildings, but must be housed in these “labor camps”. Vincent has trained workers living in several of these camps to hold Bible studies there.

Another key component of Vincent’s ministry is the training of leaders who will in turn plant churches in other nations. Recently one of their trained leaders moved to Afghanistan and in six months has won and baptized 10 new believers (six members of the NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan and four Muslim Afghanis).

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

1)The law in Dubai is that once a child turns 18 a visa at the price of $2,300 must be purchased from the government. Vincent’s son, Sunil has just turned 18, and needs to purchase a visa as soon as possible or will be forced to leave the nation. He needs at least an additional $1,300 to have enough funds to pay for the visa.

2)The church recently lost their former meeting hall and is now having to rent a hall in a hotel at an increased price. The monthly rent is about $1000 a month.

Contributions for the work in Dubai can be sent to:

Foursquare Missions International
Attn Paulette McCammon
PO Box 26902
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Please note on the contribution that it is for the work in Dubai.

Thanks again for all of your prayer and support.

Scott M. Winter
Serving in the Middle East