Standing Firm in the Midst of Uncertainty
Beirut – Lebanon, July 2026
Prepared by: Rabih Wazir
As 2026 began, I looked forward to a year filled with fruitful ministry. After enduring the devastating war of 2024–2025, we were hopeful that a new season had finally arrived. Ministry plans were taking shape, new partnerships were developing, and I was connecting with church leaders and ministers across the MENA region. We were preparing to move from planning into implementation.
Then, everything changed.
As our first ministry initiatives were about to begin, war once again erupted across the region. The skies over Beirut lit with the sparks of supersonic missiles passing overhead. It was difficult to believe we were facing another conflict so soon. We hoped Lebanon would remain outside the fighting and that, although life would remain tense, we would be spared another devastating chapter.
Sadly, that hope lasted only a short time.
On the night of March 2, our night suddenly turned into day as massive explosions shook Beirut. We were awakened shortly after midnight by heavy airstrikes targeting the southern suburbs of the city. Like many others, we assumed it would be a brief escalation. Instead, the conflict intensified.
Within days, more than 1.2 million people were displaced. The streets of Beirut filled with families searching for safety. Everywhere we looked, we saw fear, exhaustion, grief, and uncertainty etched on the faces of both children and adults. The cries of frightened families became the soundtrack of everyday life.
The first 48 hours were overwhelming. Although security conditions were extremely dangerous, we knew we had to be present. Relief work began on the second night of the war. Together with my wife, Alice, and many members of the Beirut Baptist School staff, we helped provide food, shelter, mattresses, blankets, and pillows for more than 300 displaced people.
Only one week later, the number had grown dramatically. More than 5,000 displaced people in the neighborhoods surrounding Beirut Baptist School and Moussaitbeh Baptist Church needed assistance.
At that moment, every ministry plan and every personal agenda came to a complete stop.
Our focus became simple: be present every single day and serve those in desperate need.
Because I was already serving daily in Beirut, I was able to assist in relief efforts, encourage families living under constant threat, work alongside churches and ministries coordinating aid, and support my wife Alice as she faithfully led Beirut Baptist School through one of the most difficult seasons in its history.
Many of you watched my war update videos shared through CBM’s social media channels. Those videos reflected reality. We were physically exhausted, emotionally drained, and often running on very little sleep. Like everyone around us, we carried the weight of uncertainty—not only for those we served but also for our own families, many of whom live in areas regularly targeted by airstrikes.
I wish I could tell you that this is where the war ended.
It didn’t.
Although the intensity has fluctuated, the conflict continues.
One experience, however, remains deeply engraved in our hearts.
On April 8, around 2:00 in the afternoon, Alice, several Beirut Baptist School staff members, and I were driving home when multiple airstrikes suddenly struck the neighborhood around us. Within moments, a building only a few feet ahead of us collapsed.
We simply could not believe we had survived.
Dust, smoke, rubble, and shattered concrete covered the streets. Cars disappeared beneath a blanket of debris. Several people lost their lives only meters from where we were.
We looked at one another, realizing that we were unharmed.
There is no other way I can describe that moment except this:
The Lord shielded us—miraculously.
I drove slowly over broken concrete and through clouds of smoke as additional missiles continued striking the heart of Beirut, searching for a safe place to shelter.
We remain profoundly grateful for God’s protection and sustaining grace.
The ongoing conflict forced us to suspend nearly all of our regional ministry plans. Airports across Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and neighboring countries were repeatedly closed, making travel and ministry coordination nearly impossible.
In recent weeks, conditions have become somewhat more stable, allowing us to begin planning again—but only in very short stages. Every plan is made with the understanding that it may change tomorrow. Uncertainty continues to define daily life throughout the region.
Even so, the Lord continues to open doors.
A new ministry project among Sudanese refugees in Egypt focused on the education of children, is moving toward implementation, while several additional initiatives are being developed as we carefully navigate the region’s ongoing instability.
Amid these challenges, God has also opened an unexpected and exciting opportunity.
CBM and its long-standing ministry partner in Beirut, the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS), have been exploring ways to strengthen our partnership and expand our shared ministry throughout the MENA region. After several weeks of prayer, conversation, and careful planning, CBM and ABTS established a collaborative liaison role to help deepen this partnership and increase our collective impact.
As part of this exciting new initiative, I have been invited to serve in this collaborative role while continuing my primary ministry responsibilities with CBM. In addition, I will also serve as Alumni Engagement Supervisor at ABTS. These two roles are designed to complement one another, creating stronger connections between CBM and ABTS and allowing us to work more closely together in equipping and serving churches and ministry partners across the MENA region.
In this liaison role, I will help strengthen collaboration between CBM and ABTS by identifying opportunities for shared ministry and fostering deeper engagement with ministry partners throughout the MENA region. A key part of this responsibility will be connecting with ABTS graduates serving across the Middle East and North Africa—encouraging them in their ministries, supporting their ongoing development, identifying opportunities for collaboration, and helping expand ministry initiatives that proclaim Christ in both word and deed. I officially began this new responsibility on July 1, 2026, and I am grateful for this opportunity to serve in a way that strengthens both ministries as we faithfully advance God’s work together.
I see this as another evidence of God’s faithfulness. Even while war continues around us, He continues to open new doors for His Kingdom.
Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray:
- For God’s protection over our team in Beirut as the conflict continues.
- For wisdom as we navigate ministry in an environment marked by constant uncertainty.
- For the new ministry opportunities God is opening across the MENA region. For the partnership between CBM and ABTS, that it would strengthen churches and equip leaders throughout the region.
- Above all, pray that Christ would be glorified and that many would encounter his hope through his Church.
The words of the prophet Habakkuk have become especially precious during these difficult months:
Though the fig tree do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like hinds’ feet, he makes me tread upon my high places…”
Habakuk 3: 17 – 19
