Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association was recently in Moldova with his wife, Kristi. Together, they led a conference to strengthen local pastors and their wives.

“These ladies are central to the body life of the church, central to investing in families, central to caring for the heart of these men as they serve and preach and teach in their churches,” says Mock. “Yet very often the men are getting together and meeting with others and [are] encouraged in different ways — in ways that these ladies don’t get a chance to be.”

Kristi Mock spoke with the women about how to keep their hearts centered on Christ amid changing seasons of life. 

“It was a wonderful opportunity to minister to these ladies to encourage their hearts, to strengthen them in the ministry that God has raised them up to do,” says Mock.

Children’s ministry in Moldova (Photo courtesy of SGA)

They met women like Natalia, who, with her husband, adopted eight children and serves in children’s and family ministry. Natalia says their family motto is “Together we are stronger, and with God before us, nothing is impossible.” 

“A lot of the pastors and ladies in Moldova are a part of churches that may only have 10 to 15 people. Many meet in homes rather than actual buildings,” says Mock. “They continue, in the middle of the poverty and the small nature of the church, to be encouraged and strengthened to care for their family as well as care for the church.”

Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Situated between Romania and Ukraine, it has a complex history of being part of Russia, “Greater Romania,” and the Soviet Union at different times before gaining independence in 1991. Mock describes the country’s spiritual climate as “confused.”

“There in the middle of Moldova, we have the modernism of technology, where many people are telecommuting. You have the history of the oppression over Soviet-enforced atheism. And then you also have these churches beginning to reach out with the gospel,” he says. “I would say even with the number of churches that are there, a broad number of the population is relatively much like Europe and not really searching for the gospel.”

Moldova also hosts many Ukrainian refugees and faces political uncertainty about the future. Pray for church leaders as they shepherd people through different thoughts and fears. Pray that churches will continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ with great clarity. You can visit SGA’s website here to see and support the work they do alongside Moldovan believers.

“We support them in training and equipping their pastors and leaders in biblical training, as well as supporting village pastors, and then helping them even with summer camps this summer,” says Mock. “[We’re] hoping to help them in a profound way.” 

Header photo: Natalia’s family (Photo courtesy of SGA).

At the same time, Edwin Abnous with Heart4Iran says reports about Iran’s political leadership are conflicting.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (Photo courtesy of Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=150832367)

“Iran International reported that Iranian President Pezeshkian has sent his resignation to Mojtaba Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, but there is no way to verify this.

“It seems like there is an anonymous source sharing this information with Iran International, and we do not know who this source is. After that, a few Western media outlets also picked it up and repeated it, but as of now, no one has been able to independently verify it.”

Yet, there is one encouraging development.

“It seems like the internet is back on again,” says Abnous. “However, there is also severe restrictions for Iranian users. They need to use VPN to get into the outside world, but WhatsApp and Telegram and social media platform connections and messaging systems are picking up again, and we’re receiving some contacts, and that is good news.”

Restored internet communication, even to some extent, means more than exchanging messages. It means believers can better share Gospel hope with Iranians.

(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

Abnous explains, “It is very important for the ministry like Heart4Iran to be able to have this two-way communication and connection with the people inside the country, because that is where discipleship is happening.”

For believers watching events unfold, Abnous encourages keeping sight of the people behind the headlines. While governments negotiate, exchange threats, and trade accusations, millions of Iranians continue searching for hope, truth, and lasting peace.

Pray for stability in the region, protection for civilians caught in conflict, and open doors for Gospel ministry. Ask God to strengthen Iranian believers and draw many people to Himself through the ongoing outreach and discipleship efforts taking place despite restrictions.

Learn more about Heart4Iran and its ministry to people in Iran at heart4iran.com.

Header photo: Tehran, Iran (Photo courtesy of Mohammad Amirahmadi/Unsplash)

When conflict recently broke out between the U.S. and Iran, a team with LIFE International was en route to Bangladesh to conduct their Redemptive Conversations workshop.

Luke Salik, LIFE International’s pastor of partner care, says, “Halfway through that flight is when the U.S. and Israel did the joint attack on Iran. We didn’t find out until I got woken up by the intercom there and the pilot explaining the situation and diverting us to Cairo rather than Doha.”

Training with LIFE International partners in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of LIFE International)

The LIFE International team eventually had to return to the U.S. But in Bangladesh, ministry partners were already gathered. Rather than cancel the training altogether, the local leaders pivoted.

“When they found out that we weren’t able to make it, they decided to hold the training anyway.”

Salik says, “The leadership team, they’re from several different countries in South Asia, they kind of banded together and thought, ‘Hey, what can we do together to help equip a lot of these pastors or ministry leaders who are coming together?’”

The leaders went on to conduct training sessions with the attendees — turning a potential setback into a locally led effort.

The training equips Christian leaders to support women facing crisis pregnancies in light of biblical hope. Its tools are also applicable to many other crisis counseling situations.

Salik explains, “We’re spending time giving people tools to love people well, listen to people well, and be a place where they can safely talk about their situation.”

(Photo courtesy of Theodore Goutas/Unsplash)

At its core, pro-life trainings with LIFE International point people to lasting hope and make known the Father’s heart for life.

“The goal…is to specifically bring the redemptive work of Christ into the story,” Salik says.

Pray for the leaders in South Asia who stepped up to continue this training, that God would strengthen and equip them for further ministry. Ask the Lord to open doors for future life-affirming trainings to happen safely and effectively. Finally, pray that women facing crisis pregnancies would ultimately encounter the hope of Christ and choose life!

Learn more about LIFE International at lifeinternational.com.

Header photo: Training with LIFE International partners in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of LIFE International)

But inside Iran, there’s another story unfolding.

John Cerniglia, President of SAT-7 USA, says Iranian believers inside and outside the country are still finding ways to share Christ, even in secrecy.

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7)

“We understand, of course, in Iran that we’re talking about the underground Church,” he says. “There are no church buildings in Iran, but we understand there could be as many as a million underground believers. These are people who love Jesus, but who are unable to be public in most cases about their faith. So we hear from them because they watch our satellite television program.”

Through satellite television broadcasts, ministries like SAT-7 reach homes across Iran with Christ’s hope, even when other channels go dark.

Cerniglia says, “Satellite continues to be the only reliable way to get information into the country…. The government can easily block the internet. They can easily shut down phone service. So we’re on a primary and reliable signal to get into the country.”

Viewers in Iran can even call SAT-7 and speak with an Iranian Christian outside the country at the ministry’s call center.

“A couple of months ago, a man called into the program…and he was receiving our content in the Farsi language,” Cerniglia shares. “He was in Iran, and he called into one of our inbound call centers, screaming. I mean, he was irate.”

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7 PARS)

A young Iranian female staffer at SAT-7 answered the call – which Cerniglia explains also introduced a level of cultural imbalance, since the angry caller was an older male.

“He said to her, ‘You’ve destroyed my marriage. You told my wife I shouldn’t be beating her.’”

Despite the man’s anger and the layer of cultural imbalance, the SAT-7 staffer responded with the confidence and grace of the Holy Spirit.

Cerniglia says, “Our young Iranian woman paused and said, ‘Well, sir, what we told your wife is that she was created in the image of God, the Creator of the universe, and that her body is a holy temple to be protected and to be honored.’ And then this young 20-something said, ‘And sir, that’s how we see you. You, too, were created in the image of God.’”

“He was confused by this because this is foreign,” says Cirniglia. “In fact, this began a discipleship journey that our team is on with this gentleman! We hope to lead him to the Lord now that he understands the truth.”

Praise God for the faithful witness of Iranian believers, even from beyond Iran’s borders. Pray that many more Iranians would encounter the truth of Jesus and be transformed.

Find ways to come alongside SAT-7’s ministry at sat7usa.org.

Header photo: Iranians rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, voicing support for the United States and Israel, March 1, 2026 (Photo courtesy of MNN).

In Lesotho, that challenge is familiar. But so is the solution.

(Photo courtesy of Lesotho Flying Pastors, MAF)

Groups like Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), Lesotho Flying Doctors, and Lesotho Mountain Discipleship are seeing what’s possible when ministries work in step. Together, they’re meeting both physical and spiritual needs – from emergency medical flights to long-term discipleship and patient care.

So why doesn’t this kind of collaboration happen more often in the ministry world?

MAF Lesotho director and pilot Joe Adams says, “I think one of the challenges that we see is a lack of collaboration and communication…. Sometimes people think, ‘Our way is the best way.'”

That’s where MAF often steps in – not just as a transportation provider, but as a connector.

Adams says, “We’re kind of a hub for the missions community and the people who are doing the kind of work that we support. We can say, ‘Hey, you know what? This is a farming initiative over here, and I just heard from Lesotho Mountain Discipleship that there’s really poor farming practices in this particular village. I wonder if we could connect those people?’ So that’s something that I enjoy doing.”

Pray for those who stay at the Patient House run by MAF’s partner, Lesotho Mountain Discipleship. The house offers patients and their families a place to stay while they receive medical treatment or recover. (Photo, caption courtesy of MAF)

The airplane itself plays a key role.

Adams calls it a “time machine,” shrinking what would be days of travel into hours. Recently, MAF flew a group of rural believers to a two-day expository preaching seminar in the capital, Maseru.

“We were able to bring that group out on a Thursday or a Friday, and then they went back to the field on a Monday,” he says. “It wouldn’t have been even physically possible for them to attend that training if we didn’t have the aircraft.”

That same aviation support also helps doctors reach remote clinics and enables discipleship teams to return again and again to isolated mountain villages – places where consistent Gospel witness is only possible through partnership.

But when collaboration breaks down, Adams says the consequences go deeper than logistics. Disconnection can open the door to pride, competition, and missed opportunities to advance the name of Jesus.

Adams says, “Acknowledging that we’re in a spiritual battle is so important for us who are followers of Jesus. The adversary is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Where ministries choose humility over independence and partnership over preference, the Great Commission moves forward with greater clarity and strength.

Adams asks, “Pray that we’re protected from the adversary and from our own pride, but also that we would abide. That’s how we’re protected from the adversary. When we’re in Christ, we’re unassailable.”

Learn more about MAF’s work in Lesotho!

Header photo courtesy of MAF Lesotho.

Pakistan is number 8 on Open Doors ranking of countries where Christians face the worst persecution. Anthony’s partners also face struggles with finances and rising costs of living, which sometimes make it hard to even put food on the table, as well as pressure to conform to the surrounding culture places not just on them, but on their spouses and children.

Anthony says his “aha” moment came when some of FMI’s US staff spent a couple of days on retreat outside of Pakistan with this team. A large portion of the time was spent interviewing leadership team members individually.

Mob attack in recent years (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“And I remember sitting there thinking, wow, this is so nice, because whenever we visit and we go in country, we have time to talk to all of our team members, of course, but we also have a very busy itinerary to follow, visits to make—and so we’re talking, but it’s also in between events. But for retreat, we had a dedicated time where we could ask, ‘How are you doing? Tell us, what are your challenges? What are you excited about?’ When it comes to missionary care, that’s needed to be able to know where our partners are, emotionally and vision wise, and helps us to see how we can better come alongside them.”

Team members personally reported the individual conversations were positive for them, helping to open discussion on different ideas, future goals, and where they feel the Lord’s leading them. It also gave the ministry leaders a chance to be vulnerable about what they’re truly facing. The ministry’s national director in Pakistan, for example, opened up about his daughter, who faces extreme pressure at her Muslim school, from fellow students and her teacher, to convert to Islam. However, this school may be one of the only opportunities for her to receive an education within the country.

“It’s one thing when a peer says something, pressures you, but when your teacher is coming down on you more than once, that puts a lot of pressure on a student,” notes Anthony. “I don’t know that I would have heard the story of our partner’s daughter’s situation in school if we didn’t have those multiple meetings. He didn’t share that right away.”

Anthony encourages those working in a fast-paced ministry, especially those with people serving around the world, to slow down ask their ministry leaders how they’re doing, what’s on their heart, and what’s burdening them.

“I think it starts personally. Before we ask someone else, it’s helpful to spend some time in prayer for our own reflections with the Lord, personally reviewing, ‘Okay, where am I at? How is my family at?’—talking to our spouse, talking to our families—and let that bleed over into the ministry. We need to care about that for ourselves, to then also care about that for someone else.”

Learn more about FMI’s work at forgottenmissionaries.org.

Header photo courtesy of Aaron Burden on Unsplash .

“People are losing a lot of hope in their countries’ education future, so they tend to give up,” El-Mounayer says. 

SAT-7 staff point kids to Christ while standing in their shoes, as many ministry team members have personal experience with displacement or refugee status. El-Mounayer recalls her own experience growing up in Lebanon:

“I was not a refugee, but I was displaced many times, and all I wanted was for somebody to tell me there is hope.” 

Praise God that the hope of Christ knows no bounds! Please pray that it will reach MENA’s young people before the increasingly radicalized messaging of their cultural environment takes hold. If the Gospel is not preached, El-Mounayer says we lose. 

“We lose this generation that is becoming so confused between the message of extreme hate and the message of extreme love,” she points out. 

Primarily through social media platforms, SAT-7 ministry team members routinely take questions from young people about the love and forgiveness of God. 

“They ask us, ‘Love? God is love?’ They ask us, ‘Forgiveness? We should forgive people who hurt us?’ And we’re very honest when we answer that it’s really not easy – especially in the Middle East when there are many enemies around. But people feel and respect this honesty,” she says. 

After connecting with youth via social messaging apps, the ministry’s next step is to connect them with a viewer support team. 

“They try to connect with the people. They try to answer their questions. They try to pray with them. And then at the end, when we feel it’s safe – specifically their safety – we connect them to a local church or underground church,” El-Mounayer says. 

Please pray for much spiritual fruit from SAT-7’s ministry to children. Learn more about their work here. 

“We are on our knees praying because we really believe that it’s not our work at the end,” El-Mounayer says. “It’s the work of the Holy Spirit.” 

Courtesy of Ahmed Akacha via Pexels. Featured image courtesy of Oussama Ben Slama via Pexels.

Header photo: Courtesy of Oussama Ben Slama via Pexels.

It was only one of several meetings that Lebanon’s Chief of Defense General Rodolphe Haykal attended, but it was probably the shortest — five minutes, according to US Senator Lindsey Graham.

Senator Graham says he asked Gen. Haykal whether the militant group Hezbollah is “a terrorist organization.” Gen. Haykal replied, “No, not in the context of Lebanon.” This stands in stark contrast with over two decades of US policy toward Hezbollah. The meeting ended after that point.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (center) held a productive meeting with Gen. Rodolphe Haykal (left) to discuss progress disarming Hezbollah and other non-state militias as well as improving control over Lebanon’s borders. (Photo courtesy of House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems via Wikimedia Commons)

Nuna* with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says the general’s statement has sparked contention in Lebanon. “Some people, of course, from [the] Hezbollah area are praising this general for his stance. But all the others are just saying that he is bringing the ruin of Lebanon because of that.” 

The issue comes down to disarmament and funding. Last summer, Lebanon’s government pledged to disarm Hezbollah by the end of 2025. The US swiftly authorized $230 million to support Lebanese security forces in this goal. But now, US support may be in question.

After a season of hope for change in Lebanon, the continued uncertainty is crippling many, says Nuna.

“We don’t know if they’re going to take parts of Lebanon and annex it to Syria or annex it to Israel. We don’t know if the US is with us or against us. We’re not sure of the stand of the United Nations. What is the stand of the economic world bank? It’s all intermingled.”

She points to the biblical phrase “deferred hope” in Proverbs 13:12. “It brings sickness to the heart,” she says. “Our job as a ministry is to keep bringing God there. God is sitting on the throne, God has a solution, and God has a plan, and we are not left alone.”

Pray for hope in Christ to guard people in Lebanon against fear. Pray for God’s purposes to be accomplished in this nation.

“I pray that this will happen with no more bloodshed, with no more delays, with no more wars and tensions and hardship,” says Nuna. “It is so hard for people to live — living every day not knowing what’s going to come, living every day knowing that there’s something that is happening behind closed doors [in the governments].”

*Pseudonym

Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon. 

Pastors and leaders gathered for a three-day training.

Though these pastors have no biblical training, they are eager to answer the call of the Lord and learn more about serving their congregations.

Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach says the trainings go back to the Bible, asking, “‘What does the Bible really say?’ and teaching them how to read the Bible and how to present it to the people that they are ministering to.”

Training changes depending on the needs of the groups of leaders that the trainers are working with, as pastors deal with different issues in different areas and churches.

“God has called these people into a ministry and called them as they become Christians. He puts that desire into their hearts to share the gospel to become a pastor, a lay leader, or whatever it might be,” Yoder says.

“They don’t have a lot of resources to be able to get that training that we have available here, but they seek it,” Yoder says. “Anytime they hear about any kind of training, they’re willing to do whatever they can to get that training.”

As Zimbabwean pastors’ needs are met, they are excited and beg for training programs to come back.

“We try to go back to the same areas, (but) sometimes it’s not always available,” Yoder says. “Our time doesn’t always warrant that, but our goal is to keep discipling and keep in touch with those pastors anyway we can. One thing that we do is give them Bibles so they do have a Bible in their language, Shona.”

Please pray for workers to join CWO in the harvest and for continued opportunities for discipleship with these pastors.

Pray also that God will supply the needed resources and give safe travels so that people are able to lead these trainings. Pray that congregations will be blessed by the ministry.

To learn more about Christian World Outreach’s work in Zimbabwe and donate to their leadership trainings, click here.

Header Photo Provided by Christian World Outreach

Russia (MNN) — There’s encouraging news to share about a South Korean missionary detained in Russia — and many are calling it an answer to prayer.

Ms. Park Tae-Yeon, 69, has been held by Russian authorities since January 15. Earlier this week, Mission Network News reported on her arrest and an online petition calling for her release. That story was picked up by South Korean media, and quickly reached people who could help.

(Photo courtesy of VOM Korea)

Eric Foley with The Voice of the Martyrs Korea says those headlines mattered.

“We really believe it is [an] answer to prayer. The Voice of the Martyrs Korea has confirmed that Ms. Park met for 40 minutes with a representative from the Korean consulate on the afternoon of February 3.”

Park is also in a better living situation now. “We can confirm that today, Ms. Park was moved from the detention center to house arrest after submitting a pledge not to leave Russia until the end of the investigation,” Foley says.

Park was targeted at the same time as Child Evangelism Fellowship in a months-long investigation by Russian officials. The charges against her remain unchanged, which means the hard work is still ahead.

Foley says the situation highlights a broader pattern.

Russian flag (Photo courtesy of Dimmis Vart/Unsplash)

“This is an example of the increasing restrictions on religious liberty, especially for evangelicals in Russia. So let’s make sure we’re praying for both of those situations — one, the release of Ms. Park, but also that this is really the tip of a very big iceberg.”

The Voice of the Martyrs Korea continues to collect signatures for a petition calling for Park’s immediate release. The ministry will deliver the petition to the Russian embassy shortly after the Lunar New Year.

Access the petition here.

Please pray for Park’s encouragement, protection, and full release. Pray also for Christian ministries in Russia, asking God to guard believers and keep the Gospel moving forward despite growing pressure.

Header photo of Ms. Park Tae-Yeon, courtesy of VOM Korea.