As United States Marines began evacuating Americans in earnest from a besieged Beirut July 19 and U.S. Baptist groups reported their missionaries in the region safe, a Lebanese Baptist leader said his people's suffering would seem “quite saddening and depressing” if he weren't upheld by the power of prayer.
Nabil Costa, executive director of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, said Baptist communities in Beirut were relying on prayer to sustain them.
In a July 19 letter to friends of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, Costa, who directs the group that owns the seminary, the affiliated Beirut Baptist School and Arab Baptist news publications, wrote:
“Eyes half closed from fiercely interrupted sleep (if any) at the sounds of air raids and deafening bombs, we listen to the early morning news before heading to work. 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 Arab Baptist Theological Seminary. One starts us off in the morning, and the next helps us settle down following the challenges of tending to so many needs.”
The schools are housing and providing humanitarian assistance to displaced Shiite Muslim families from the nation's southern region, which has been hit hard by air strikes from Israeli forces since hostilities erupted July 12. As of July 18, Costa reported, there were more than 760 such refugees staying at the Beirut Baptist School, located near the seminary.
July 19 was reportedly the deadliest day yet in the eight-day-long siege, with more than 50 killed in Lebanon's heavily Shiite southern and eastern regions. The areas are hotbeds of support for Hezbollah, the Shiite political-militia group that sparked the conflict with a cross-border raid on an Israeli military outpost. Since the conflict began, Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon have fired about 100 rockets a day into northern Israel, striking several cities. One Hezbollah rocket killed two Arab Israeli boys July 19 in the city of Nazareth, Jesus' hometown.
United Nations and Lebanese officials estimated that, as of July 19, there have been more than 300 deaths in Lebanon due to the attacks. The vast majority of the dead were civilians. Only a handful of Israelis have died.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan decried the Israeli operation as an “excessive use of force,” according to the New York Times July 20.
Israeli officials have said they are only attempting to destroy Hezbollah's military capacity in Southern Lebanon, which constantly menaces the northern part of Israel. A U.N. resolution requires the group to disarm, but it has not been enforced.
But Lebanese and international critics dispute that characterization of the attacks. According to multiple media reports, Israel's Lebanese targets have included bridges and other infrastructure, fire stations, schools, homes and the Beirut International Airport.
For the first time, a July 19 attack targeted one of Beirut's Christian enclaves. Nobody was reported killed or injured in the attack, which reportedly struck well-drilling equipment parked in a lot.
Costa, the Lebanese Baptist leader, said in his July 19 communication that “new areas [of Beirut] were hit early this morning and at noon today — both being areas where there are no Hizballa [sic] presence. Rationale? No one knows!”
Costa reported that the areas of the city around the seminary and school “have not been directly hit so far. With that in mind, can you imagine the situation of those who live in targeted areas? May God be with them, for without the comfort of his presence no human being can sustain such insane cruelty and violence,” he said.
Costa said employees and visiting partners — including international missions volunteers — had assembled “200 hygiene and food packs for internally displaced families” housed at the Beirut Baptist School and a nearby public school.”
He asked Baptists around the world to continue to pray for those displaced, mourning and still endangered due to the attacks; “wisdom for the leaders;” and “[t]hat we be salt and light in our community [so] that he may be glorified in all that we do or say.”
Costa also asked for continued prayer for “[s]afe arrival of our non-Arab friends in their respective countries.” As of July 20, missionary officials from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the American Baptist Churches USA and the Southern Baptist Convention reported that their personnel in the region were either safe or had left the area.
Lance Wallace, a CBF spokesman, said July 20 that he had just learned “that our field personnel in the Middle East arrived safely in the U.S. this morning.”
The SBC's International Mission Board reported July 20 that all its Middle East workers were “accounted for and safe.” A group of 10 people from First Baptist Church in Forney, Texas, had been detained for several days in Beirut as the missionaries tried to return to the United States.
ABC International Ministries reported July 19 that its three missionaries currently assigned to the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary — two career missionaries and one volunteer — were safe. A press statement said the career missionaries — seminary professor Dan Chetti and his wife, seminary administrator Sarah Chetti — ”have chosen to remain and minister with our partner in Lebanon.”
The British Baptist Times newspaper reported July 20 that British Baptist officials as well as the European Baptist Federation and the Baptist World Alliance have pledged to help deliver financial aid to Lebanon to help those displaced by the violence.