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ABTS
The Lord’s Fingerprints
Six months following the Beirut Explosion, ABTS has helped a number of families to get back onto their feet. Despite the hardships, the Lord is still working through this calamity.
ABTS: A Shelter from the Storm
For many displaced victims of the August 4th Beirut Blast, the Lord has been using ABTS as a shelter. Injured, traumatized, and having lost everything, these people had no idea where they were being sent, just that they were going to a place that would host them.
Housing the Homeless: ABTS Welcomes 70 Displaced Persons
With the Beirut explosion leaving approximately 300,000 people homeless, ABTS decided to open its arms and its residences to those in need. Upon hearing the shocking news, ABTS staff and partners jumped into action to repaint, remodel, and fix up their student dorms to house those whose homes were destroyed.
Learning from a Distance: the ABTS Online Program
In the current world of social distancing, we are more than ever called to be the salt and light to others around us. Starting April 8th, we at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) will begin to provide online classes for our current residential students so they can complete their training from the safety of their homes.
BBS
Staying Focused on My Call
“Yet I believe God placed me at BBS for a time such as this, and I believe He wants me to live with love, faith, and enthusiasm, not fear.”
Overflowing Nets: God’s Provision for BBS
The start of school is like New Year’s Day for educators: there
is something invigorating, and hopeful ushered in by the beginning of a new academic year.
More Than Just a School
“I recently received several calls from my children’s school and did not answer. I wanted to avoid embarrassment in case they were calling about my children’s tuition payments. When I didn’t answer they ended up sending me a message via email describing the actual purpose of their calls: they had a gift for all families. Today, when I opened it, I was surprised by the content of that gift.”
The Plight of Lebanon’s Teachers
While the compounding crises in Lebanon have impacted virtually everyone in society, there is another—less noticed—group that has been significantly affected by the nation’s crises: Lebanon’s teachers.
BCYM
A Successful Return to Kids’ Camps After a Two-Year Interruption
Planning a kids’ camp in restricted health conditions was no small challenge. However, with the heartfelt calling of our partner, First Baptist Church Alexandria, a new hope arose.
From Broken Homes to a Home of Hope
Sara went from one broken home to another until one day she filed a complaint with the police and was given the chance to move to a new sort of home: a Home of Hope.
Finding Jesus, the Healer
“From pain grew peace and love.” These are the words of 20-year-old Nour, a recent graduate of Home of Hope, a shelter for former Street Kids. Join us as she tells her story of how she met Jesus, the Healer during her time at Home of Hope.
BCYM Christmas in a Box
The Countdown to Christmas has begun at BCYM. Our team and volunteers have been busy printing, buying, packing and putting the final touches on the Christmas Camp in a Box just in time to distribute to over 1,000 special children across Lebanon.
DMAH
The Voices of Arab Women
From February 4-5, Dar Manhal al Hayat (DMAH) hosted a writing workshop as part of their ongoing A Voice for Arab Women project—a three-year project that seeks to elevate the stories of women throughout the Arab world.
Cultivating Disciples in the Arab World
Only 20 years ago, there were only a few hundred followers of Christ in the Middle East and North Africa region. Now, we’re seeing miraculous growth, even in times of war and crisis. In light of these changes, there is a critical need for discipleship training and spiritual resources – for both new and mature believers alike.
Discipling the Arab World through Local Authors
Local writers are essential communicators of the Gospel because they wrestle with the same questions as the people in their churches and communities, which may be very different questions discussed in Western resources.
A Bible in Baghdad: How Bookfairs Change Lives
Do you ever wonder if distributing Christian litterature even makes a difference? For one woman in Baghdad, simply receiving a Bible changed her life.
MERATH
Where Does Our Help Come from?
Lebanon has been enduring a severe and prolonged economic depression, and it is hard to imagine that the situation could still get worse. Yet it does, every single day, and an even bigger storm is coming.
Warding Off Winter Woes
After a relatively warm December, winter hit Lebanon and Syria hard in January and is expected to continue bringing heavy rains, hailstorms, and snow at higher altitudes. As many vulnerable families in both countries lack indoor heating, we are thankful for our local partners who have reached almost 10,000 families with winter items so far and helped rehabilitate 100 homes damaged in the Beirut explosion, among other much-needed assistance.
Love in the Time of Corona
The coronavirus is now officially spreading through Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, as well as in other countries in the Middle East. This follows a harsh winter and unprecedented economic and financial crises that have already severely impacted the most vulnerable.
Drops in the Desert
The war in Syria is far from over. Since early December, over one million people from the Syrian province of Idlib have been displaced with nowhere to find refuge. In other places that are considered “safer”, humanitarian needs have never been greater.
SKILD
Royalty in God’s Eyes: Night to Shine 2022
Every year in February, Night to Shine sweeps the world, bringing prom to individuals with special needs. It’s a joyful night to remind them that they are royalty in God’s eyes. With the support of the Tim Tebow Foundation, over 600 global sites hosted more than 100,000 individuals with special needs to illustrate God’s love for them.
A New Frontier: Extending Inclusion to Higher Education
For most young people, finishing high school is just another milestone to add on the wall of family pictures. But let us imagine for a second that all of this is not possible.
Celebrating Special Needs Parents
As SKILD enters its tenth year of ministry, we are proud of parents who defied their community, took a stand against its shame and honor culture, and fought for their children to be recognized as an integral part of society.
SKILD’s Parent2Parent is Changing Lives
SKILD’s Parent2Parent was created as a support group that is a comfortable space for parents of special needs children to share their experiences and grow together. Watch Anna, a mother of a young girl with Autism Spectrum Disorder, describe her journey from despair to hope after joining Parent2Parent, where she found a listening ear after struggling with unanswered questions and fears for five years.
Devotions
From a Spectator Church to a Priesthood of All Believers
Instead of being overcome by despair, we realized that, in the same way Christ entered the darkness of our fallen world as “the light of men”, we need to be the light within the tunnel for those around us for “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).
Poetry: Light in the Tunnel
But there is light – light in the tunnel! Followers of Jesus Christ are in the tunnel: Keeping the Beirut Baptist School and SKILD going and growing!
A Hymn of Faith: “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow”
This song was recorded on August 4, 2020 – the morning before the Beirut blast. Like the song says, we “don’t know about what will come tomorrow”,but our God does. There are many things we don’t understand, but we can trust in the One who holds our hand.
Are You Okay? We’re Focused On Him.
Faith grows in pain. We learn to surrender to Him when we feel helpless. We then fix our eyes on Him, and we plant a seed of hope.
Updates
Appeal: Sustaining Light on Campus
Lebanon has been living at the mercy of power cuts by the state provider and rationing of private generators due to fuel shortages. Public electricity is only available between 0 and 2 hours a day, while diesel has been in short supply and at a very high cost.
Exodus: The Existential Threat Facing Christians in the Middle East
Driven by increasingly desperate living circumstances and no visible resolution in the near future, a significant number of Lebanese have been forced to seek a sense of normalcy abroad.
Where Does Our Help Come from?
Lebanon has been enduring a severe and prolonged economic depression, and it is hard to imagine that the situation could still get worse. Yet it does, every single day, and an even bigger storm is coming.
8 Months Later
It’s been eight months since the August Port Explosion and what has Lebanon seen change since then? LSESD’s COO, Wissam Nasrallah, shares with us his thoughts on Lebanon and the direction that it is headed in.
Annual Reports
Impact Report – Oct 2020 to Oct 2021
Impact Report 2019-2020
The fiscal year 2019-2020 was an exceptional year for both Lebanon and LSESD. Find out more in LSESD’s 2019-2020 Annual Report.