Islamabad Church
Survives Quake
Islamabad Church
Survives Quake
It took me several days to get a line through to Safeer Akhtar, the young pastor we are working with in Islamabad, Pakistan. Our connection was terrible but I was able to get enough from him to understand that no one in our church was injured in the devastating earthquake on October 8th. Our church is only 60 miles south-west of the epicenter so it surprised me that there was no property damage. I received an email from Safeer a few days later and he shared with me some of the horrors his nation is experiencing.
October 13, 2005
Dear Pastor Rick,
This has been a big trial and the people of the northern areas are suffering. They do not have shelter and food and more and more, it is raining and turning cold. The government is doing good and foreign aid is coming in but the mountain areas are difficult to reach..
We are fine and all in our congregation are well. We are thankful to the Lord that He has saved us but we are sorry for the people who are without homes and those who are no longer in this world. We are worried that this disaster will lead our country to the past for many years. The northern areas are the most beautiful of our country but now people are running in fear out of the mountains and into the cities. We are becoming even more crowded than before and the people coming have nothing but their clothes and a few belongings. The aftershocks are still occurring and children are frightened.
I feel that this is the time when we must stand in the gap for our country. These are warnings of Christ’s return and that people should turn from sin. Our leaders are praying and fasting that we may be effective during this time in ministering to the people who are hurting. We are planning to help as much as we can with our own resources. Thank you for your help to us and for your prayers.
Safeer
The church has continued to grow steadily and though the congregation is only seven months old, we are well over 350 adults in Sunday services! This is absolutely amazing growth! The rapid growth has actually put us in a bit of a difficult spot. When we purchased the property in April, I realized that we were going to need more property than we had anticipated. The piece we purchased is still a small lot but it leaves us room to eventually build for 2,000. That left us with less money for the building. I’m planning to build in stages but my original design of starting phase one with a building for 100 is now obsolete. We’re going to move ahead then and build for 1,000. We could actually fill that building now in special services and I think by the end of 2006 we’ll be filling it in our regular Sunday service. I can build for twelve dollars a square foot which is pretty cheap! I have a friend who has committed $20,000 toward this project and I plan to build 5,000 square feet for a total of $60,000. We’re already one third of the way there! We’ve been meeting outdoors through the summer, in spite of 110+ degree heat! The winters in Islamabad are cold and wet and now that the rains have come we cannot continue to meet as a congregation. We plan to meet in home groups until we can get a building up. Thanks for all you have done to help us launch this remarkable work in Pakistan. - Rick