July 2023 - Updates & Ministry Overview
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First and foremost, we thank God for your continuous love and prayers for us and for our ministries. God has continued to bless us while meeting people’s needs.
2023 Family Camp at Restoration Acres – Hillsboro, OH:
We are set to travel back to the U.S. for three weeks at the end of July. We will be visiting a few of our supporting churches and attending the 2023 Family Camp. If you will also be at the camp, we would love to meet with you. Please let us know so we can make that happen.
Amman, Jordan:
We are currently based in Amman Jordan. We began by conducting two regularly scheduled Bible study groups at our apartment, one group for couples and the other for singles.
Our most recent baptism recipient was Khawala, a female neighbor. We met her and her husband when we visited another neighbor in the same apartment building.
We invited them to join our Couple's Bible Study Group. After studying the Bible for a few weeks, both in person and over Zoom, she was ready to place Jesus as Lord and Savior over her life. We then baptized her in the Jordan River.
Online Arabic Ministry:
Sunday’s - We have regular Sunday Zoom meetings for fellowship and breaking bread. We have Arabs join us from all over the world.
Online Bible School - To develop leaders equipped to plant new churches in the Arabic speaking communities, our team is developing culturally sensitive online classes and programs. We are also pursuing partnerships with other Restoration Movement ministries to develop our leaders.
We are producing a class on pastoral care and servant eldership. Our team relies mainly on books written by former professors at Cincinnati Christian University, especially Dr. Jack Cottrell's book “Faith Once for All”. |
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Amman Community Center Project:
We continue to work toward obtaining the necessary legal documentation.
We are also striving to raise the funds for the initial cost to set up the building and the first-year budget. A couple of suitable locations in heavily populated low-income neighborhoods have been identified.
To open the community center doors costs $20,000 with an additional $18,000 for the first-year budget ($1,500 in monthly expenses). We still need $14,500 to meet the initial cost to launch the community center.
We are praying for committed partners to help us sustain the center financially for years to come. We would be happy to answer any questions or give further clarification about the community center.
Available Workshops (Local and online):
George is available to visit and conduct workshops on Islam and the Arab world missions.
Xena is available to speak about Women in Islam and How to help Area refugees in Jordan and the USA.
For information, please visit www.SALTimpact.com or email us at george@saltimpact.com |
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SALT Ministry (Serving Arabs Leadership Team).
As the first century disciples benefited from the Roman Roads network to spread the Gospel to major cities, God has also provided His modern-day Kingdom with a “New Roman Road.” The Internet is a very useful tool in reaching Arabs and Muslims in closed countries.
As an Arab Christian, my dream is not only to restore the teachings but also the practices of the first church to experience similar impact in the Arab world. The first century church was able to thrive in the midst of the hostility of the Roman Empire’s occupation. which is similar to the Islamic religion's and culture influence on Arabs.
During our time at CCU, we researched existing models on church planting and had many conversations with theologians and missionaries. On May 14th, 2011, SALT was launched as a new Arab ministry to integrate technology in the church planting process.
SALT’s Mission is to proclaim Christ to Arabs globally. Our vision is to facilitate planting New Testament churches in the 22 countries of the Arab World (Middle East, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula). Out of the 1.8 billion Muslims, 450 million speak Arabic and only about 15 million Arabs believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Arab Christians face many challenges in the region. The Sharia Islamic law forbids Christian evangelism and will punish any Muslim who becomes a Christian. To obtain church registration or legal permission to congregate is nearly impossible. Radical Islamic groups are a constant threat. Western missionaries lack adequate knowledge of Islam and the Arab culture. They also lack the ability to obtain and sustain a residential visa. Securing adequate funding is always a struggle.
Since 1990, we participated in planting churches in Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Egypt and Dearborn (Michigan). We have witnessed many Arabs get baptized. But because of wars, persecution, and many other hardships, we saw many Christians get discouraged. Some became refugees, and a few underground churches were shut down and their leaders were imprisoned by the local authorities.
SALT is imitating the holistic approach of the first century church and it’s main elements of effective ministry.
In Acts 2, the early disciples assembled in the Temple to learn about the faith. They developed intimate relationships and broke bread weekly in their homes. The local church was able to identify potential leaders and provide discipleship. Each congregation p sponsored missionaries to plant new churches. To grow and govern the church, they developed local elderships. Additionally, the local church cared for the poor.
SALT Evangelism Process:
One great example of our evangelism process was the conversion of a highly educated Tunisian couple. We met them online and they were open to hear the Gospel. After many Zoom sessions, we were able to build trust and answer their questions concerning Jesus and how to get right with God. A few months later, when they were ready to become disciples of Jesus by confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior through baptism, we traveled to Tunisia to meet them, stayed at their home, and were able to baptize them in the Mediterranean Sea. We continued to mentor them online as they grew in their faith, using our online community and classes. As always, we encouraged them and all our ministry partners to share their faith. And as disciples grew in number in their city, counseled them on how to start a house church without getting in trouble with the local authorities.
Education and Ministry History:
George - Founder and Director of SALT Ministry
In 1990, George was baptized as an international student from Jordan at Xavier University in Cincinnati as part of the Church of Christ campus ministry. Immediately after that he joined a team to plant the first Church of Christ in the Middle East in Amman. In 1995, he met his wife, Xena, who came to Jordan with her family from Iraq as refugees and was baptized at Amman church of Christ. In 1997, they were married and started their journey as church planters in five Arab countries and Dearborn, Michigan.
George has a degree in Computer Programming (1992) from Cincinnati State College, and a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies (2011) from CCU.
Xena has a degree in History from the University of Baghdad. And in 2014, both George and Xena graduated with a master’s degree in professional counseling from CCU. |
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