The Chairman’s Report for November

In this issue of the newsletter
New: Islamic terror attack on church kills nine Christians in “safe” Jordan
New: Christmas programs will be held in same area as church attack in Jordan
New: Military checkpoints forced change to food programs in Bethlehem area      
Update: Christmas programs in Nigeria will continue regardless of terror attacks

Islamic Terror Strikes! Nine Killed Near Our Event Sites in Jordan:
Why We Will Not Abandon Jordan’s Christian Children

The deadly terror attack that struck a Christian church in Jordan on Friday, October 23rd, hit directly in the backyard of our frontline ministry.

I received texts about the attack before Western news outlets reported that gunmen opened fire during a funeral service at St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in the Karak Governorate of Jordan where we have worked for decades.

My contacts on the ground sent raw video footage directly to my phone from a church member showing the horrific, unvarnished truth: at least nine innocent Christians were murdered, and more than 30 were wounded. (The video shows the dead and dying and is too graphic to post at our Internet site.)

The savage reality captured on that footage is gut-wrenching. The video shows the tiled floor of the church complex awash in blood, discarded shoes, bullet fragments, and grieving believers desperately pressing cloths against the catastrophic wounds of dying family members.

On one audio recording, captured by a phone held tightly against a terrified parishioner’s chest, the gunfire and the chilling shouts of the jihadist attackers ring out clearly: shouting Allahu Akbar and declaring vengeance against the Christians of Karak for the sake of Islam.

This was not a random, distant event. This attack took place in the small Christian village of Hammoud (Hmoud). We have held events there; I have been to Hammoud.

Just last year, our Heart for the Persecuted Church Christmas program presented an event and meal for 200 Christian children right there in Hammoud.

Even closer to my own heart: in 2019, I stood just one kilometer away—barely half a mile down the connector road, at St. Michael’s parish in the direct sister community of As-Simakiyah, celebrating Christmas and distributing gifts to children whose families have maintained a Christian witness in these biblical hills for nearly two thousand years.

Hammoud and As-Simakiyah are practically one contiguous community. The drive between the church where these believers were just butchered and the parish where I personally served children takes less than three minutes.

An atrocity of this magnitude violently shatters the peace in an area long considered an  oasis of stability for Christians in the Middle East. It casts a dark, dangerous shadow over all Christian gatherings in the region, directly threatening our logistics and raising immediate security concerns for our upcoming Christmas for Refugees events this year.

My concerns and prayers are always for the children first as we prepare Christmas events!

My heart breaks for the families mourning their dead. We all grieve for the parishioners of St. George’s, and we lift them up in fervent prayer.

The attack came during a funeral and the family should be lifted in prayer as their grief is doubled.

I want to make one thing clear to the enemies of the Cross: We will not run.

We have held several events in Karak Governorate including three in the village of Hammoud where this last attack occurred.

Islamic extremists target Christians in places like Hammoud precisely to strike fear into their hearts, isolate them, and drive them from their ancient homelands.

If we cancel our programs in Karak, Jordan and run for cover in larger cities like Amman, the Islamic terrorists win.

I will not abandon traditional Christian towns where refugees from the fighting in Syria have relocated. We must show Christians in Muslim areas that we care for them.

Preparations are already underway for our 2026 Christmas for Refugees outreaches across Jordan and the Holy Land. We are coordinating closely with our local ministry partners and taking every prudent security precaution necessary. But by God’s grace, we will still be in the Karak Governorate this Christmas.

These traumatized children, now living in the terrifying aftermath of gunfire and funerals, need the comfort of our Lord and the reminder that the wider body of Christ has not forgotten them more than ever before.

We will bring them the joy of the Savior’s birth, we will feed them, and we will stand faithfully alongside their families.

Please pray for the physical safety of our mission teams and the local believers in Karak, and pray that the Prince of Peace will comfort those who mourn.

Please pray for the security of all of our Christmas events in the Middle East and Nigeria. Please pray that all Christmas events will be fully funded as early as possible this year.

Dodging Military Checkpoints and Restoring Dignity

As Fall approached the Christian families in the Holy Land faced a stark reality.

With tourism dead and local unemployment hovering above 85% because of the ongoing wars, the start of the school year in September created difficult choices.

Parents who were already struggling to put food on the table suddenly faced demands for school supplies, books, and children’s transportation. When every single dollar is critically needed, hunger is often what follows.

Military checkpoints and blockades also brought a reality to our ministry workers and volunteers working to help those families in the most need. Just a dozen boxes of food for families could take an entire day to deliver because of military checkpoints.

The “flying” checkpoint problem: In Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour where we work most often, there are eight permanent checkpoints that include cement barriers and gates. Daily there are also “flying checkpoints” set up by the Israeli military to catch suspected individuals often at the Aqabat Hasna Bridge in Western Bethlehem, the Beit Ta’mar Bridge in East Jerusalem and at the al-Nashash southern area. Passage past checkpoints can take hours.

Delivery of the prepackaged boxes by our Heart for the Persecuted Church food program has become nearly an impossible daily task because of the roadblocks. We had to take a different approach beginning in September to help relieve food delivery problems while working to restore dignity to families in need.

Rather than continuing with pre-packed food boxes, we partnered with a centrally located Christian food store to establish a voucher system.

Participating Christian families are now given vouchers with a set value to select staples their individual households needed.

Our ministry coordinator negotiated with the shop owner to provide these families with wholesale prices. We also arranged special distribution days offering deep discounts.

The store is not a sprawling American supermarket but a modest local neighborhood shop. Handing parents a voucher allowed them to walk into a Christian-owned food store as regular paying customers rather than waiting all day for our volunteers to pass various military checkpoints that open and close randomly.

The vouchers allow some variance for a mother with growing children with different needs than a disabled elderly couple.  The vouchers are good for a large list of staples negotiated with the owner and cannot be used for non-discounted items.

For the homebound, the disabled, and families who could not reach the store or afford transportation, our team continues to deliver food parcels directly to their doors.

While monthly food needs are handled through store vouchers, our special family Christmas meals will be delivered directly to the homes of the Christian families in greatest need. The Christmas meals are mostly furnished to the elderly and families with special needs.

Christmas Amid the Carnage in Plateau State, Nigeria

The terror across Nigeria’s Middle Belt is not slowing down. In fact, the violence against Christian farming families has reached a fever pitch this October.

During just the first week of October, coordinated sweeps by Sunni Muslim Fulani militants across four Local Government Areas in Plateau State—Bokkos, Riyom, Barkin Ladi, and Mangu—left at least 27 Christians dead. The raids were ruthless.                              

On October 4th, armed jihadists struck the villages of Mangor and Bakanuk in Bokkos County, opening fire and hacking villagers with machetes. The victims were not combatants; they included elderly residents, young children, and two pregnant women.

This is the exact area where our ministry operates. These attacks are deliberately designed to wipe out Christian villages, displace the survivors, and terrorize the Church into silence. Instead of retreating, Heart for the Persecuted Church is moving directly into these displacement camps to bring the love of Christ this Christmas.

For the young survivors living in muddy, overcrowded Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, we are bringing back our “Happy Birthday Jesus” celebrations.

Older orphans from our Jos home travel with our teams to stage a full Nativity play, lead praise songs, and recite Scripture. We serve hot, nutritious meals and distribute durable new shoes and clean clothes.

Most importantly, we bring the healing message of the Gospel to remind these brokenhearted children that the Savior was born for them, and that the body of Christ has not abandoned them.

To make this possible, our Leadership Circle has established a $200,000 Matching Gift Fund. Every dollar you give before December 1st will be doubled dollar-for-dollar to fund these Christmas programs in Nigeria and provide hot Christmas meals delivered to isolated Christian families in Bethlehem.

Prayer Focus: Please pray fervently for Christians under attack in Plateau and other Middle Belt States in Nigeria. Pray for the Christians in the Holy Land.