Buddy and Joyce Mewbourne, members of First Baptist Church, Pell City, waited anxiously July 21 to hear from their son Bruce. He was scheduled to fly from Cyprus to Atlanta that day following his escape from Lebanon to Cyprus aboard the USS Nashville.
At press time, he was still in a refugee camp in Cyprus.
“He’s OK,” Joyce Mewbourne said.
“He’s just waiting on a flight out. He said it is unreal to see the number of refugees there, but they have cots, food and water.”
Bruce Mewbourne, minister of global outreach and evangelism for Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church, McDonough, Ga., and eight others were on a missions trip in Lebanon when the bombing raids began July 13.
Mewbourne and his group joined the thousands of Americans attempting to flee the war zone of Beirut.
The recent events began when Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel July 12, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two.
Israel responded with an aerial and naval attack, launching a series of bombing raids that shut down the Beirut airport and blew up several bridges. As Hezbollah continued to retaliate by launching rockets at Israel, Israeli tanks and troops lined up on the border July 21, preparing for a likely ground invasion. At press time, the fighting was in full force and evacuation efforts were picking up speed.
It was anticipated that the estimated 25,000 Americans living or working in Lebanon would be evacuated by July 22 or 23.
All Baptist personnel and organizations in Lebanon were reportedly safe following the initial raids.
John Brady, International Mission Board (IMB) regional leader for Northern Africa and the Middle East, said workers in the area asked for prayer for the safety and ongoing ministry of Lebanese Baptists and other believers affected by the fighting.
Officials from the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary reported that the school and the Beirut Baptist School (BBS) were safe.
Nabil Costa, executive director of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, which owns the seminary, asked for prayer for the seminary, school and related organizations, which “are looking at a three-track relief intervention.”
The intervention includes housing and providing supplies for refugees at the seminary, BBS and Lebanese Baptist churches, he said. As of July 18, Costa reported there were more than 750 refugees staying at BBS, which is located near the seminary. Among the refugees is a pregnant woman who is expected to deliver within a couple of weeks, he said.
“Needless to say, what we see and hear could be quite saddening and depressing had it not been for our daily energizing prayer meetings at the [seminary],” Costa wrote in a letter July 19. “One starts us off in the morning, and the next helps us settle down following the challenges of tending to so many needs.”
He is helping organize volunteers to work with the refugees, especially the children. There is a team of volunteers that is on-site day and night, Costa noted.
“As we begin the second week of this war, we ask ourselves how long we will be able to continue (the work with the refugees).
“Frankly, this burden is too heavy for us to carry alone,” he said. “We have already seen God move the hearts of our partners to give generously for this relief effort and this has been a huge encouragement to us all, bringing us to praise God during our twice-daily meetings of prayer and praise.
“It’s been quite some time since we worshiped God with sounds of bombs falling in the not-so-far distance,” he added.
Costa, who noted the seminary was shaking as he typed an e-mail July 20, said Mewbourne and Eagle’s Landing First Baptist also were helpful to the school during the initial days of the bombings. The Eagle’s Landing group, along with a group from First Baptist Church, Forney, Texas, was participating in various summer ministries with Lebanese Baptists through churches in Beirut when the fighting started.
A third group from Virginia was also in the area, Costa noted. “We brought these brothers and sisters to our (seminary) campus, to care for their needs until they were able to be evacuated. Their presence during these horrendous days was of great spiritual and emotional encouragement to us, and to them, as well as to the believers from the local churches,” he said, noting that just after the bombing of the airport July 13, the Eagle’s Landing team didn’t hesitate to continue leading a children’s camp near the seminary campus.
During Sunday services at the seminary July 16, Jimmy Pritchard, pastor of First, Forney, Texas, preached, while Mewbourne preached at a church in the area.
“Indeed despite the raging storm on and off throughout the day and the mounting death toll, we felt strengthened by both morning messages of our visiting brothers,” Costa said.
The two groups arrived in Cyprus from Lebanon early July 21 and were assisted by Southern Baptist workers there.
“They were elated to be out of Lebanon and praising the Lord for His protection,” Brady said. “They’re heartbroken for the people in the Middle East, and they’re praying God will resolve this tragic situation soon.” (Compiled from wire services)
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