n-Svvorcl Lof the Spirit --,

To: The members of the Sword of the SpiritFrom: The President

Beirut, 1 November 2009

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings!

A few months ago (May 2009), Steve Clark passed on the baton of thepresidency of the Sword of the Spirit. This was not just another routine incident inthe life of our international community, both because of who Steve is and becauseof the particular season we are in.

Steve is the founder of the Sword of the Spirit, and from' its beginnings hehas worked tirelessly at establishing, maintaining, and defending the vision hereceived from the Lord to build a Bulwark, a community of disciples on mission.This required from him courage to start the work, and more courage and boldnessto build in good times but also in times of difficulties and persecution. Hedemonstrated an even greater measure of courage and trust in the Lord in handingon the leadership to other brothers when he was still capable at all levels to go on -something rare in the history of founders of movements in the church. He did notsimply retire when things were not going well. On the contrary! The Sword of theSpirit is now experiencing a season of unprecedented growth with a promise fromthe Lord of a season of grace and more open doors for mission, a season, accordingto Steve, like that at our beginnings.

Brothers and sisters, I believe that in this season the Lord is inviting us totrust Him and move forward in boldness and courage in the mission that is ahead ofus. All of us need this in our daily evangelism, our communities need it for theiroutreaches, our regions in their missionary efforts. A couple of months ago, Iparticipated in a mission trip led by more than a hundred university young men andwomen from Europe and the Middle East to try to establish a University ChristianOutreach in a very resistant and difficult environment, Aleppo, Syria. During theday they reflected on the book of Acts, and many were struck by the secret of thesuccess of the beginning of the mission of the church: the boldness of the apostles(see Acts 4). During the evening, with trust in the Lord, expectant faith, andcourage and boldness, these young men and women evangelized, and miracleshappened both in their lives and in the lives of people they had never met before.

1

The apostles had another decisive weapon for the success of mission that ouryoung people discovered: the power of prayer and intercession. "And now, Lord, ...grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch outyour hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of yourholy servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place in which they weregathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit andspoke the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4: 29-31) In this "Year of PersonalPrayer" I invite you all -as well as the regional presidents and the seniorcoordinators- to integrate intercession for the mission as part of your regularpersonal, family, community, and regional prayers.

As the apostles moved in faith, the Lord provided them with all theextraordinary gifts as well as the human and material resources they needed forthe mission. The Lord has promised us the same in this season. The members ofthe first community were generous in offering the Lord and the apostles theirresources, their time, their talents, and even their lives, "for as many as werepossessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what wassold and laid it at the apostles' feet" (Acts 4: 34-35). May the Lord make us evenmore generous in offering what we have to His mission, to our mission.

Finally, I hope to be able to visit your communities during the coming fouryears, especially in conjunction with my participation in regional council meetings orregional Kairos conferences.

Your brother in Christ,

Jean BarbaraPresident of the Sword of the Spirit

COMMUNITY PC ;Y3/88

~&~f Jrf' t:,,/J'

f) ~ _,0I? J.-Ir tf l"

{\~ .sO " fIfrl'< ~ ~~~",.

t. Background: What the Lord Is Saying About the State of the ,y {\'?_.t-Christian People and What He Is Doing About It P 4J'1 f-'T

k"A. Many churches are in a state of serious decline and de~

1. ~ny are "weak, divided, confused."

+What tbe Lord Has Been Saying to Us

Revised

2. Most churches are in a weak position to deal with the increasinglyopen attacks of western and westernized society.

B. The Lord is now taking definite action to deal with the situation.

1. God is going to take away his protection from many areas of God's~ people and let the true state of things be seen.

,..-.()~l!jtJ (OMMVIJI-r,! I _~

,AII/O M€.f. A~,fA~t..@71i€- 1'f:,l{)Ot-t MJD 4. God will, in these and other ways, purify the churches and enablePoef1. OJ f(()phl'C'Cs, them to face the battle and win.wi- fe.[.:1 11iU£ ~\'IIt\, Nf) arH~A C. ~ays of dar~ess" ~nd "hard times" ~=-i~arilY refer to a time in the

~ when th~ngs w~ll become very d~ff~cult. That will be a time when~At::~ PiAG.t. 11> V!J[, Christians also find things very difficult (because of persecution andVIA FeAr, pec>{il~ because of the general difficulties) but it will be a time whenItJt1e cA~ Christianity reasserts itself as a powerful force and when Christian

AIIIO C&NTp!'>L£!), ~expansion through evangelism reaches unequalled proportions.

~ D. The time of darkness is not very far off. It is a matter of years, not\ ~ a matter of decades.

2. God is giving direction to ~is people ~o gather them togetherthis time of difficulty, an:: those who fail to r~spond willexperience ~he consequences.

~ It will become increasinglythe world to cling to theirpersonal cost.

during

difficult for Christians in many parts ofChristian belief except at serious

E. There will be a time of great difficultydarkness· when we will encounter serious

~Christianity .

1. That time will come quite soon.

2. We have tothink they

for us prior to these "days ofopposition from within

C "0 FAI"T/trVt...t...~R.O H E<M'!>£I<$ 1"1-IE:.

. 5i~gfNIIIUJ? IAJ·'f.S~IGA."nMIIS c.B>TtO~""1 P"4Ri d F 1\41!

0'do some things in obedience to the Lord even though we <;''t'JlJOVS ., u'f Lt.h i Chri . 0. bfP~~ITIONmay provoke persecut~on rom W~ ~n r~st~an~ty.

C1PH'-U D F(}o~...I.C l1 i<.(STt Alii fTy .

.J.-\ 1$ ALSo••..•otaf- ()~--=rl

\-

- --.----._-------

.:

/1.--- - -----IVA-.-

Edited excerpt from Sword of the Spirit Leaders Newsletter 14 (April 2009)

Jean Barbara was born in 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon, and is married to Marie-Therese.They have four children: Victor, 22, who is serving as a gapper in Michigan; Nicole,20, a UCO leader in Lebanon; Peter, 19, a youth leader in Lebanon, and Philip, 8,currently the only child providing his parents with some company at home. Jean isa coordinator and Marie-Therese a senior woman leader in "the People of God,Lebanon.Jean received a Master of Business Administration from the American University ofBeirut, and is currently a Tax Advisor (working part-time) in his own company. Jeanserved as Senior Coordinator of the People of God, Lebanon, from 1990 until 2008and now leads the Sword of the Spirit mission in the Middle East. He was Presidentof the Europe and Middle East Region of the Sword of the Spirit from 1999 until2005, and Moderator of Christ the King Association until 2002.

According to the Constitution of the Sword of the Spirit, the President is responsiblefor the following:-

• preside over the Sword of the Spirit• lead the Sword of the Spirit Assembly, and the International Executive Council• coordinate the legislative process• represent the Sword of the Spirit both within and without the Sword of the Spirit

The President is the primary international leader of the Sword of the Spirit and akey focus of unity. The President meets regularly with the various Regional Councilsso that he can know first-hand the issues and opportunities the regions face, and sothat he can know personally the leaders of the regions. It is through this first handcontact that he is able to guide the work of the International Executive Council andset direction for the Sword of the Spirit overall.

3