Looking Back & Looking Forward
—By Ben Ebner
January is a time for looking back and for looking forward. What was accomplished in the past year? What do we hope to accomplish in the new year? At Frontline, our goal in 2022 — as it has been in every previous year — was to see the Gospel advance in some of the world’s most difficult places.
As I look back over the past 12 months, God has clearly been at work as the Good News has spread in some surprising ways.
New Team Members
In May I had the opportunity to visit K. and E. in North Africa and see the work they are doing. K. and E. run a medical clinic, where they minister to health needs in one of the most desperate areas of their city. They are using their skills of medicine and administration to meet people, develop friendships with them, and ultimately introduce them to the One who can feed their souls. There are few comforts in this location. The days are long and hot, and the work these faithful ladies have committed themselves to is often discouraging. Sand covers everything — even the roads. The people are generally kind, but they are completely unfamiliar with Christianity and the God who made them and loves them. In isolated cases the situation here is dangerous, and in the past missionaries have been killed. In the face of all of this resistance and darkness, K. and E. have found a way to stay here and to serve here. And by staying here they are able to share Christ with people who in many cases have no other way to meet Him except through the testimony of K. and E.
New Family Members
In a country where you can travel mile after mile and never see a church and never meet a Christian, a wedding took place. And not just any wedding — this wedding was different. A Christian man (and Frontline team member) from the United States and a Christian woman who has lived all her life in this country were married. There were dozens of believers there to celebrate what God was doing, and I watched with joy as this band of believers spoke excitedly about the new couple and the Christ they follow. We have no idea what God will do over the next years, but I believe that this couple and this wedding and the many who gathered to celebrate are just the first-fruits of God’s work in this place.
New Interns
For months, our team in Southeast Asia has been praying about launching an internship program that would train local men to travel to remote islands and share God’s Word with people who have never heard. In the last months of 2022 the internship came together, and just recently I received this note from our SE Asia team leader:
Will you pray today for the beginning of a 2-year extensive internship that we are doing with several men? Each week we will lead them in 2 sessions (how to study, handle, enjoy, obey, and communicate the Word; heart topics; practical strategies for engaging & communicating Truth), then lots of time in the field connecting with souls.
Pray for our team as we mentor and disciple these men in their relationships with Jesus. Our heart desire is from 2 Corinthians 3, that we would “be transformed into the same image (of the glorious Lord) from one degree of glory to another.” Pray that through these efforts, God would raise up more faithful workers, and that God would direct us to more unreached people that He is drawing to Himself.
New Year
Looking back on what God did in 2022 gives me great confidence as we lay our plans for 2023. We know we will encounter difficulties brought about by war, disease, and dozens of other causes, but in the face of these trials Jesus has promised to be with us (John 16:33). And because Jesus is with us, we look forward to more Gospel advance in the coming months and can confidently say:
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
—Isaac Watts
Would you pray with us? Your involvement in God’s work is vital, and asking Him to continue advancing the Gospel in these difficult places around the world is a prayer we know that He loves to answer. I’m eager to see what He will do in 2023.
Happy New Year!