Greetings from Beirut.

I am Emad Botros. I serve as a Global Field Staff, teaching here at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut with Almess, my wife, who is serving as a Tutor in the Certificate Program in the same Seminary.

Join us in praying for our ministry. As a seminary, our Master of Theology program launched last October. The purpose is to help those students who want to continue their higher theological education in Arabic and to engage in developing theology written in a Middle Eastern context. In other words, making the Bible more relevant to the people of the Middle East. Currently, I am teaching an Advanced OT Studies course with another colleague. Let us continue praying for the personal growth and formation of those students as they work hard to make the Word of God relevant to their context. All students are involved in a full-time ministry and studying at the same time. Please pray for strength, wisdom, and for their families as they continue to carry many responsibilities while studying.

As you know, CBM has been involved in a new partnership in Egypt. We praise God for the fruitful results of this partnership. We just finished a 4-day leadership training with about 100 people for the churches in the Egyptian Baptist Convention, where we had the pastor of the church and 4 key leaders from his church. There was a sense of reunion and unity once again after many years of not having such a gathering. This training helped the leadership of some churches to go back and to ask some hard questions about the future of their churches. There is a deep desire for follow-up and to continue this training in different parts of the country. Let us pray for these churches and their leaders as they discern what God has in store for their churches and communities.

We thank God for every and each one of you. We are grateful for your prayers.

Please pray:

• We will be visiting Canada from August to December as a family. Please pray for our preparation for this trip. Also, pray for Timothy as he prepares to move to Canada to start university this coming September.
• Please continue praying for our students that God grants them wisdom and to learn how to balance their different responsibilities. Let us ask God to fill them with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives so that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1: 9-10).
• We praise God for fruitful leadership training for about 100 pastors and church leaders in the Egyptian Baptist Convention. Pray for the churches and their leaders as they discern what God has in store for their churches and communities.
• As you know, our Sudanese students and graduates face serious challenges because of the war in their country. The updates we receive are very devastating. Many of them had to leave their homes and re-located somewhere else, whether inside or outside of Sudan. Please continue praying for peace, protection for the people, and strength for the churches there as they strive to serve amid this difficult situation.