MTM has been co-laboring with a group of pastors and leaders from many different regions of Egypt since 2010. May 8-11, 2016 Naomi and I traveled to Egypt to facilitate a “Kingdom of God” pastoral leadership conference by invitation. This was now the 4th conference with this group of church leaders in the past 6 years.
The conference was conducted at Prayer Mountain which is a beautiful “Church Camp” retreat type facility but it is not situated on a mountain. The region is basically a desert region located mid-ship between Alexandria & Cairo. There was an attendance total of 123 which most were couples and approximately 30 were pastors & their wives. There were also many young brothers & sisters and emerging leaders.
The Full Conference Group At Prayer Mountain, Egypt
It has been a great joy for me in the beautiful relationships that have been established with this dear group of Egyptian leaders over the years. They requested that Naomi & I come alone and I do all the preaching which we accepted. This ended up being a real ministry marathon for me with 10 messages in 4 days. God’s grace was sufficient but needless to say I was exhausted after it was all completed.
Over and over we heard testimonies that Kingdom theology teaching is new to the churches in Egypt. A few of the subjects that were preached and taught were, The Biblical Centrality of the Kingdom, The Kingdom of Peace, The Kingdom Treasure, Kingdom One-anothering, The Two Kingdoms, The Kingdom Prayer & The Kingdom Power. One older brother told me that he has not heard Kingdom of God teaching in 20 years. Another brother said that even in their Bible colleges and seminaries the Kingdom of God is not really taught.
In all the travels and preaching opportunities that God has granted me…the most exciting times are when God comes and moves mightily among His people. This happened twice at this conference towards the end. After the preaching was finished there was a spontaneous response (not at all an altar call) of much prayer where they came together in small groups of prayer, others kneeling and on their face in prayer, some were mourning & weeping, confessing one to another and still others coming to the front and packing out the altar…AND THIS WENT ON FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR AFTER THE MESSAGE, well into the night! In all of my preaching in many different countries and meetings I do not recall something like this. It was overwhelmingly obvious that God had come by His Spirit and was doing a deep work in the hearts of His people. Blessed Be God Alone!!! May these sweet visitations of God inspire God’s people to advance God’s Kingdom in the land of the sons of Ishmael.
A Very Special Thank You to All Who Support MTM Through Prayer & Financially,
Raymond Burkholder
MTM Director
MTM News Flash; Ernest Witmer from Los Angeles, CA. & Myself along with a team of 6 IGo students are headed to Mumbai, India May 18-28, 2016 for a MTM Leadership conference. Please do pray for this MTM ministry team. Thank You.
