Sunday School Camp "Leaving and Returning"The Sunday school camp “Leaving and Returning” was organized by our Church for the kids that attend Sunday school as well as the kids of Nabaa. Gaby was the leader with a great team that included Louis, Samia, Joumana, Rein, Anwar, Elie, Young Shim, Rymco, Noura, Hadi and Simonda. Noura cooked all meals! The camp took place from August 24th till the 27th in Ajaltoun. About 30 kids, ages 8-15, had a chance to learn about God’s great love through the story of the Prodigal Son. That was the goal of the camp.The kids watched and discussed a series of short movies produced by Hadi, Louis, Anwar, Elie, Rein and Simonda.
There were also lots of fun games such as “Find a Princess”, etc. Check the pictures!
Slideshow (If you don't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)Sunday School SurvivorThe Sunday School survival took place on July 26 - 27 in the forest of Joured El Balut in Broumana. 17 kids, ages 8 to 15, divided into 2 groups (red and green) were challenged by the leaders in various ways. No junk food was allowed into the camp. All hidden chocolates and chips were taken out of the backpacks by the leaders upon arrival.The leaders did prepare some food for the kids, BUT! Day 1: The food was hidden by creative leaders. The kids had to find it! If they didn't find it... they'd have no dinner. Thankfully, no one went to bed/tent hungry. Bedtime was at 11pm, and before that there was also a campfire with songs, prayers, stories and a skit.After all the kids were in their tents, the leaders enjoyed some barbecue... Yum! Hopefully, the kids don't read the news... Hadi and Gaby stayed up all night guarding little survivors.Day 2: The next day everyone had to be up at 5:30 am. 6:00 - 6:45 am the kids had their quiet time with Jesus, and the breakfast was at 7:30. Even though, the food was brought for the kids, it was not easy to eat it! The leaders tied the food and 2 kids' hands together and wanted them to access it with those very hands! Poor things! They had to suffer to eat!During both days each team was getting points for being kind, cleaning up or winning in the games. There were quite a few challenges such as going up the tree to answer a question, treasure hunt with water guns, crafts with ropes, crafts with beans and other exciting things. The kids went home at 5:30 pm, they liked the adventure a lot and would love to do the camp again. We also had 3 kids from Nabaa with us, 2 of them were Muslim. Check out the slideshow below!Slideshow (If you don't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Gaby, Hadi, Samia, Christelle, Rachelle, Louis, Anwar, Young Shim, and Samar got back just few days ago. They were in Bekaa Valley, Deir El Ahmar area, in Btedhi village... June 29 - July 4 there was a camp called "Tutty Frutty" organized by a Catholic Church to teach the kids about the spiritual gifts. People from our Church were asked to come and train young camp leaders. There were about 100 people. The children - 4 -13 years old, the camp leaders - 13 - 19 years old and our folks. Children were primarily from a Catholic background. However, there were also Muslims and Maronites.The camp was great! The weather was beautiful and the activities were a lot of fun. You can see the pictures as they are worth more than a thousand words! Slideshow 1 (If you don't see some pictures in the slideshow, please, be patient,- it may need a little time to load)Slideshow 2(If you don't see some pictures in the slideshow, please, be patient, - it may need a little time to load)The most exciting of all, though is that many of these precious kids gave their lives to Jesus... Praise the Lord!
DECEMBER 2008
Nabaa Kids at the "Golden Body" Club
It was a privilege for us to have Maroun Khalil, the President of the “Golden Body” Club at our Fundraising Dinner (September) for “Spring of Life” Center in Nabaa. He was touched when he heard about the children in Nabaa and decided to do something for them. Christmas was a wonderful opportunity to bless the kids. So, Mr. Khalil invited all of them (around 60 children) to his Club for dinner and a special Christmas program with gifts. It was a very special evening for the kids. All this fun happened on Friday, December 26th, from 5pm till 7pm, at the “Golden Body” Club.
Slideshow (If you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Celebrating Jesus with Bekaa Children
On Monday, December 29th, 15 people from our Church went to Bekaa to celebrate Christmas with the kids there. Their mission was to share about the real meaning of Christmas. It’s all about Jesus! Not Santa. Children from all over Shlifa (Bekaa village) and the surroundings came to this exciting celebration of Jesus’ birth. They had a great time worshipping, playing games, eating lunch together and much more from 10 am till 4:30 pm. They also had some special visitors, such as Santa, Clown, etc. Santa was a part of drama, which explained children why he brought them gifts, - all because of Jesus’ was born! The kids also heard the complete story of Jesus’ birth.
Slideshow (If you don't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Merry Christmas!!!
On Sunday, December 21st, we had a very interesting service... because... IT's CHRISTMAS!!! Besides the worship and a Christmas message we also had dramas prepared by kids and... 2 Santas (Louis and Hadi)! The kids of Nabaa were with us as well. All children got gifts.
Special Guest
Keith Hershey (Mutual Faith Ministries) was our guest speaker on Sunday, December 7.
Christmas Fair and Christmas Choir with Nizar Fares
On Sunday, December 14th, we had a very special gathering in our Church and some very special guests. Many people came to check out the Christmas Fair, get some gifts and... to enjoy some beautiful singing performed by Nizar Fares and the choir.
St. Barbara!
No comments! Check out the pictures!
NOVEMBER 2008
Ordination
Pierre Bitar is officially a Pastor now! But... not in Lebanon.
He was ordained on November 23 in MBC (Mediterranean Bible College).
Congratulations!!! Slideshow (If you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Special guest
Chris Ragg and Iain (both from the UK) were with us on Tuesday (25/11) and Wednesday (26/11) nights. Chris was our guest speaker these 2 nights.
Conference in Ashkout
The conference took place on November 21-23 in the College of Constant Lighthouse in Ashkout.
It was mainly for our Church members; however, we also had quite a few guests.
The speaker, Chris Ragg (UK), his wife Carmelitta and their friend Iain were a wonderful blessing to us during these few days.
It was a great time of worship and learning more about our Father together. We also had a chance to meditate on such problems as fear, anger, and rejection in our lives, about marriage, and many other things.
Carmelitta presented some mimes and the youth some skits as well. Surely, playing games, and sharing meals together was fun too!
Even though, most of us were quite frozen, we still enjoyed the conference and went back to our daily lives refreshed.
Check the pictures!
CDs/DVDsOur Church has a partner, - Mutual Faith Arabic Ministries. This organization is here to help local Churches primarily with media resources and support, as well as in many other ways. You can get any sermon that you heard in our Church, conferences, etc on CDs or DVDs in any format. In particular, we have available:
- Kingdom Fiesta 2008 (3 days videos);
- Food Distribution Event (sermon and prayer time);
- Dr. Lee and Keith Hershey preaching in our Church;
- MBC conferences for singles and couples;
- Church annual reports in 20 minutes each with pictures and videos;
- Church photo album (meetings, Sunday school, outings, events, etc).
The cost is $5 for 1 CD/DVD with video and 5000 LL for CD/DVD with data (audio/MP3/pictures, etc)
Our Church has a partner, - Mutual Faith Arabic Ministries. This organization is here to help local Churches primarily with media resources and support, as well as in many other ways. You can get any sermon that you heard in our Church, conferences, etc on CDs or DVDs in any format. In particular, we have available:
OCTOBERConference in AlexandriaIn the end of October Pastor Said participated in the Mutual Faith Arabic Ministries Conference with Keith Hershey. Click here to see a short video.
Visit to Nigerian Church
Movie timeOn Saturday, October 25, we had a movie night in our Church. The movie "Luther" was related to the Reformation Day. It was also a neat opportunity for fellowship with various snacks that our youth kindly prepared for us.Slideshow (If you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Special guestEmile Samuel (Egypt) was our guest speaker on October 19.Baptism of Sri-LankansSlideshow (If you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
SEPTEMBER 2008
SPECIAL GUEST
Dr. Lee was our guest speaker on Sunday, September 20th and during 3 nigths of revival meetings on September 23rd - 25th. We also had leadership full day conference with Dr. Lee on Saturday, September 20th.
If you've already watched the slideshow below, you may want to do it again, because quite a few new pictures have been added)
Slideshow (if you don't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
"Kermes" in Nabaa
The Youth of Church of God in Mansourieh together with the Youth of Full Gospel Church organized 3 exciting nights for the kids of Nabaa.
They prepared various fun activities and gifts for the children. Everyone ended up being a winner!
They also shared Bible Stories and brought in some snacks, such as sweet corn, manaish, pop-corn, etc.
It took place at "Spring of Life" Center on September 11, 12 and 13th from 6 pm to 11 pm.
It was lots of fun!
Great job, guys!!!
Slideshow (If you don't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)I'll add more pictures to the slideshow next week ;)
Trip to Kazakhstan
Pastor Said just got back from Kazakhstan. He had a great trip and many opportunities to pray with and for people there. He loved the country and those he met. You can see the pictures!
SPECIAL GUESTPastor Franco Santonochito was our guest speaker on Sunday, September 7th. Slideshow (If you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)FUNDRAISING DINNER FOR "SPRING OF LIFE"
We just had a Fundraising Dinner!!! It took place on September 5th at Kasr El Assoufara Restaurant.
Lots of people came to support the ministry of our Church in a poor area of Beirut, Nabaa. You can read about the Center below.
The dinner was just great. Over 150 came to participate. We watched a nice presentation about "Spring of Life" prepared by Hadi Jammoul and even had Lilian Hayek with us singing for the guests.
Check out the pictures!
Slideshow (If you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)Click here to find out about "Spring of Life" Center for Children at Risk.
JUNE and JULY 2008KINGDOM FIESTA 2008MAY 2008 Evangelistic Event with Food Distribution Global Day of Prayer. God's Answer Youth Meetings Alpha Course/Session 1, 2, 3 & 4 Church of God PicnicAPRIL 2008 Kingdom Fiesta 2008 Thank You Dinner Alpha Course Introductory Dinner Egyptian Festival
We also had Joseph Zorob and Full Gospel Church worship team with us on Sunday, August 24th. They led the worship.If you would like to find out more about Naji Bejjani and his ministry, you may visit his website: www.nbmi.org Wedding
Simon and Yuliya got married on August 10! Slideshow (if you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Climbing Hermon
Some of our Church members, such as Pastor Said, Vicky Zgheib and Maya Abou Jaode went to Mt. Hermon on August 5th-6th. This mountain is believed by many (not only Christians!) to be the mountain of transfiguration.Around 500 people from Lebanese and Syrian villages from various religious backgrounds (mainly Druze) went all the way up to the top to see the beauty of sunrise. Going up was tough, but the scenery from the top was definitely worth of all effort. Those who made it to the top could also enjoy seeing Lebanon, Syria, Israel/Palestine and Jordan. Our Church members had a wonderful time of worship as well. Some people were curious and stood nearby listening to the songs, while the others joined in singing! They also had a chance to visit Grotto of Elijah where Pastor Said had an opportunity to share the Bible story related to the place with many visitors. It was a great trip!
Check out the pics!
Wedding
Andre and Naim are married!!!They got married on August 2!Slideshow (if you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Special Wednesday night meetingIt was special, because...Naim Rizk was sharing about how God brought him and Andre together and how God has been working in their lives.THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED ON AUGUST 2!The families of Naim and Andre came to the meeting as well, which was a great since some of them don't know Jesus personally.
Sunday School SurvivorThe Sunday School survival took place on July 26 - 27 in the forest of Joured El Balut in Broumana. 17 kids, ages 8 to 15, divided into 2 groups (red and green) were challenged by the leaders in various ways. No junk food was allowed into the camp. All hidden chocolates and chips were taken out of the backpacks by the leaders upon arrival.The leaders did prepare some food for the kids, BUT! Day 1: The food was hidden by creative leaders. The kids had to find it! If they didn't find it... they'd have no dinner. Thankfully, no one went to bed/tent hungry. Bedtime was at 11pm, and before that there was also a campfire with songs, prayers, stories and a skit.After all the kids were in their tents, the leaders enjoyed some barbecue... Yum! Hopefully, the kids don't read the news... Hadi and Gaby stayed up all night guarding little survivors.Day 2: The next day everyone had to be up at 5:30 am. 6:00 - 6:45 am the kids had their quiet time with Jesus, and the breakfast was at 7:30. Even though, the food was brought for the kids, it was not easy to eat it! The leaders tied the food and 2 kids' hands together and wanted them to access it with those very hands! Poor things! They had to suffer to eat!During both days each team was getting points for being kind, cleaning up or winning in the games. There were quite a few challenges such as going up the tree to answer a question, treasure hunt with water guns, crafts with ropes, crafts with beans and other exciting things. The kids went home at 5:30 pm, they liked the adventure a lot and would love to do the camp again. We also had 3 kids from Nabaa with us, 2 of them were Muslim. Check out the slideshow below!Slideshow (If you don't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)Revival meeting at "Spring of Life" Church at Sassine SquareIt was a great joy to participate in the revival meetings at the Church that was just started for Armenians. Pastor Said and Church of God worship team were leading one of the meetings. The sermon was “Anointing that Breaks the Yoke.”Slideshow (if you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)
Alpha Course 2008 GraduationThe Alpha Course 2008 is over!!! For the first time Church of God had Alpha Course right in the Church. It was quite challenging! But!God is good! He provided the Church with all necessary resources and blessed the project greatly! Alpha took place from May 2 till June 11. It was a wonderful time of sharing about our Father with the guests. Many came, and the faithful remnant, 14 people, received certificates of Alpha Course Completion and… accepted Jesus into their hearts!The graduation program included worship, watching last episode of Alpha, sharing testimonies, handing out certificates, and a nice dinner with cake that had a picture of graduates on it. It was a wonderful experience and we are hoping to repeat it over and over again!TestimoniesMireille: “Alpha helped me a lot. I learned many useful things and a lot about God. The most important and exciting for me was experiencing the Holy Spirit. During the weekend away I grew closer to God, thanks to Alpha team’s prayers. It is true that Church is not stones, but it’s alive. I’d like to thank Pastor Said and Cecile, but first of all God, because He allowed me to meet them. There is a reason for me to be here. I ask the Holy Spirit to touch every person’s life. I pray that Alpha Course would go on all over the world and will challenge people’s minds and change people’s hearts. I also pray that the number of Christian believers would increase. “ Lina: “I came to Alpha Course by coincidence through Milad the lawyer. I and my husband needed something like Alpha as we were going through some difficulties. We needed something refreshing in our lives that would help to renew our love and lift up our spirit. We just wanted to try Alpha, but the more we were coming the more we felt Jesus’ presence. We’ve heard about it, but for the first time we experienced His presence during the Alpha. Alpha helped us to find God. Nicole: “Firstly, I’d like to thank people who gave me an opportunity to be with all of you. I’d also like to say that every Alpha session was a message that indirectly reached my heart, washed me, and purified me, my soul. I cry every time when I think of it. I thank God that we are Christian believers, we have grace. Sometimes we don’t realize its value and sometimes we forget that Jesus is in our lives. We are Christians; we have Jesus in our lives.” Praise God for using Alpha project in these people's lives and blessing our efforts!Thanks to all who were on Alpha team!Special THANK YOU to Alpha Coordinator Rola Issa and Zgheib family for their hard work and faithfulness!Slideshow (if you can't see all pictures right away, please, give it some time to load)"Tutty Frutty" Camp
Alpha Course 2008 Weekend Away(Slideshow)
Alpha Course this year is quite facinating. We have it right in the Church and every meeting God has been bringing someone new.
So far we've been through 6 sessions:
- "Who is Jesus?"- "Why Did Jesus Die?"- "How Can I Be Sure of My Faith?"- "Why and How Should I Read the Bible?"- "Why and How Do I Pray?"- "How Does God Guide Us?"And... we just had a WEEKEND AWAY!!!
It took place on Friday and Saturday, June 20-21, at Le Crillion Hotel in Broumana.People arrived at about 6 pm on Friday night after a long work week. Surely, everyone was ready for some rest!FRIDAY- Arrival/around 6pm/about 25 people;- Dinner;- Worship;- Intro Video;- Coffee Break;- Talk 1/"Who is the Holy Spirit?";- Prayer time;- Rest.SATURDAY- Breakfast/8am;- Worship/9am;- Talk 2/"What Does the Holy Spirit Do?";- Testimonies;- Prayer Time;- Coffee Break;- Talk 3/"How Can I Be Filled With the Holy Spirit?";- Worship;- Prayer Time;- Lunch/1:30pm;- Taking pictures;- Fellowship time and departure/around 3pm.Praise God for all the Sessions that we've had and for the wonderful weekend away together!
Young adults meeting
We had a great Young adults meeting on Sunday, June 15th.
A group of young people from our Church had a nice lunch together in"Lamoushe" restaurant in Bzoumar. Yum!
After the nice meal everyone went outside to the nature for worship and discussion. It was a very pretty place!
Gaby was leading worship and Cecile facilitated the discussion.
The discussion was based in Amos 7:7-9 and challenged folks to evaluate their inner selves and the way they build their lives. It was also aimed to encourage young people to live according to God's standards, let Him build their lives, so they could grow in their knowledge of our Father and develop a more intimate relationship with Him.There was also a fun game!
May God bless our young people and help them as they seek to live in His will.
Special Sunday Morning Service
We had a wonderful Sunday morning service on June 8th. Pastor Lucien was preaching and a well known Christian singer Ziad Chehadeh touched everyone's heart with the songs.
Kingdom Fiesta 2008 was organized by Church of God Mansourieh, and "Mutual Faith Ministries Arabic" in partnership with "Mutual Faith Ministries" (USA). It took a lot of prayers and preparation, but God really blessed our efforts.People from various nations and backgrounds came together to worship our Lord.Nations that participated:- Lebanon;- Ethiopia;- Sri Lanka;- Philippines;- Ghana;- Nigeria;- Egypt;- USA;- UK.It was a glimpse of heaven to hear different nations singing to our Lord in their lanugaes. It was also a priviledge to see the nations peforming dramas and traditional dances wearing colorful costumes. What a great experience it was to see how big our God is!We were especially joyful to see people who didn't know Jesus personally and yet were interested to come and join us in Kingdom Fiesta. Many of them left their contact information and we are hoping to continue these relationships that started during Kingdom Fiesta. Hopefully, may of them will join us in the upcoming Alpha course.It was a great priviledge to have with us guest speakers from the US (Keith Hershey and his team), and well known Lebanese artists, such as "Militia". We are very thankful to all those who worked hard to make this beautiful event happen. God certainly used it for His glory.Please, pray for all those who accepted Jesus during Kingdom Fiesta 2008 and for Kingdom Fiesta 2009.All 3 nights video of Kingdom Fiesta 2008 is available on DVD! It's about 2 hours video and it costs $5! ($10 - including shipping, if you're outside Lebanon). If you would like to purchase the DVD, please, contact Hady:
Phone: (+961) 03-412911E-mail: hady@mutualfaitharabic.orgSlideshow(If you don't see some of the pictures, you may need to give it some time to load) Click here to watch a short video about Kingdom Fiesta.
EVANGELISTIC EVENT WITH FOOD DISTRIBUTIONMay 18th, Church of God in Mansourieh had a beautiful evangelistic event. We had an opportunity to show God's love to a group of needy people through giving them food, and taking an opportunity to tell them about a much greater gift that God has for them.The meeting began as usual at 10:00 am with worship. The Church was filled with people the majority of which didn't know our Father personally.
After the worship Church of God presented popular evangelistic drama "Creation".
The drama was followed by presenting the Gospel of Salvation. Pastor Said explained more about what happened in the drama. He shared about how God created the world, about sin, God's love and Salvation. 25 people were touched and came up front to accept Jesus.Members of our Church were happy to pray with people and will continue helping them learn more about our Father through their ministry in Nabaa.The meeting continued outside. Everyone came out to the Church yard to celebrate! What a great time of fellowship sharing lunch together!During the fellowship, after the lunch, people could receive bags with food (rice, lentils, pasta, chick peas, sugar, cheese, canned meat, poweder milk, instant soups and sunflower oil). We hope they felt how much God loves them.Special THANK YOU to Mutual Faith Ministries USA for donating money for this great event!GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER. GOD'S ANSWER.As we were looking forward to have some really exciting events, the situation in Lebanon made it quite questionable whether or not we'd be able to do what we planned. Alpha Course/Session 2 (May 9th) and some other events were postponed.All of it was because of the polictical clashes here, in Lebanon. A number of roads were blocked (including the ones to the airport), and there was fighting once again in this beautiful country. Around 70 people were killed and many are injured.
On May 11th, people from various backgrounds from 208 countries lifted up their prayers to the Lord.Lebanon, in spite of the difficult situation, was one of those 208 countries.
Evangelicals, Maronites, Catholics, etc... all came together to pray in Jounieh, Square, Municipality. Michel Matar, Grace Dib, Militia, and other gifted folks led the worship. Ethiopian Church made many want to dance. Church leaders of different denominations touched everyone's heart by asking forgiveness from each other and expressing their desire for unity of the believers.
The square was full of people who came united to pray for the peace in Lebanon, right while in other parts of Lebanon others were fighting.
A number of people from our Church also came out to join this beautiful prayer. And... God answered it! Soon after this event the fighting ceased and the roads were opened. Things started getting better. The leaders went to Qatar for few days for negotiations and then... on Sunday, May 25th, Lebanon finally had it's President!!! The country had been without one since November 2007!
May God bring peace to this land! . Click on any picture to view slideshow.
YOUTH MEETINGS
We are very happy that we have young people in our Church. They are a great blessing and the future of our Church. We have 2 youth groups: young adults and teens.On May 4th, young adults went out together to "Red Deer" restaurant in Baabda. The day was sunny and relaxing. Waitng for the food took awhile, but there was a mini zoo and it's always nice to simply chat without rushing anywehere. So, time went by quickly.After the meal, the youth discussed subjects that could be relevant for future meetings.There were following options:- Discovering God's gifts;- Developing intimate relationship with God;- Love languages;- God's role and our role in building our character;- Homosexuality;- Masturbation.
On May 18th, our youth went bowling! Looking at pictures, you can see that was a lot of fun!
If you are interested in any of the subjects mentioned above, would like to discuss any other subject with your peers, or simply want to hang out with us, please, contact Cecile: 70-171849. All are welcome to join us!
ALPHA COURSE 2008/SESSION 1, 2, 3 and 4We all certainly were overjoyed seeing God's blessing upon Alpha Intro Dinner. It was exciting to see people signing up for Alpha and we were looking forward to meet them again.In the meantime, we continued seeking God's help and provision in making final arrangements. Some of us were a bit scared, because for the first time we decided to do Alpha right in the Church meeting hall.So, besides shortage of money, we were also lacking supplies and time. But! God is good! We can trust Him even when things look impossible to us!We had 2 weeks to prepare for the first session. It was quite hectic as we had to purchase basically everything, from salt shakers to tables. What exactly to buy? Where? Who's going to do it? Why didn't we do it in a restaurant like before? Why did we get into it at all???!!!Oh well, first time is never easy. We learn and experience that with God... eventually... step by step... things get done! He provided us with everything we needed to start Alpha 2008!Friday, May 2, came quicky and a bunch of us got to the Church long in advance to pray and set up everything for the 1st session. The chairs had to be moved, the tables had to be unpacked and put together, etc. It took us awhile to figure out the best set up and put everything in it's places.People started coming around 7:30pm. We were ready and happy to welcome them in our Church!While waiting for everybody to arrive they were chatting with people from our Church at the nicely decorated tables. We hope they'll feel at home in our Church, will become friends with our people and... most importantly will get to know our Father.When most people arrived, Pastor Saeid invited everyone to the food. We are very thankful for Samy and Fadia, who cooked and served us.
After everyone enjoyed the dinner, we all moved to the sitting area for worship. It was a blessing for us to have our worship band and Pastor Said leading us in singing. Not all new people participated in worship and yet we hope that the songs touched their hearts.And, of course, we watched Alpha Course Session 1. Everyone received a workbook and a pen to take notes.People were challenged to evaluate their beliefs and their view of Christianity.
We continued the evening around the tables playing some ice-breaking games. The atmosphere was quite relaxing and we all enjoyed the fellowship.All of us were happy with Session 1 and it was quite sad when we had to postpone Session 2, because of the difficult situation in Lebanon. We waited for 2 weeks before we could get together in our Church for Alpha Session 2. It was a bit easier to set up for Session 2 as we already had an idea about it from Session 1. It did take quite a bit of time, though! We are still learning...At 7:30 pm, everything was ready and we were waiting for our new friends. Only few people came. I thought to myself, "Yeah... that's what usually happens, - the number decreases and especially if you can't have meetings consistently. People forget or loose interest...". To my surprise, Pastor Said didn't share my pessimism. In fact, he was convinced that we were going to have more people than for Session 1! I was quite sceptical... However.... around 8 pm our Church was full of people! Yes, it was more people than before!Sessions 3 and 4 went well too. It took only 1 hour to finish most of the set up. However, we didn't have Pastor Said and his wife Cecile with us for Session 3 as they were travelling to Jordan to attend a wedding. So, because Pastor Said was absent to lead us in singing, we had a short skit on 1 Corinthians 13:13 in the beginning of our meeting.
Famous Lebanese comedian Mrs. Mireille P. Abi Haydar once again made everyone laugh in the beginning of Session 4.Please, keep praying for the project and it's participants!CHURCH OF GOD PICNIC
On May 1st, Church of God from different parts of Beirut and surrounding areas got together for a picnic in Theopolis.
The majority of people got there by 10 o'clock in the morning and were welcomed with hot drinks and cakes. Yum!
After most people arrived and had a cup of something hot, everyone got inside for a meeting.