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To: The members of the Sword of the Spirit
From: The President

Beirut, 1 November 2009

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings!

A few months ago (May 2009), Steve Clark passed on the baton of the
presidency of the Sword of the Spirit. This was not just another routine incident in
the life of our international community, both because of who Steve is and because
of the particular season we are in.

Steve is the founder of the Sword of the Spirit, and from' its beginnings he
has worked tirelessly at establishing, maintaining, and defending the vision he
received from the Lord to build a Bulwark, a community of disciples on mission.
This required from him courage to start the work, and more courage and boldness
to build in good times but also in times of difficulties and persecution. He
demonstrated an even greater measure of courage and trust in the Lord in handing
on the leadership to other brothers when he was still capable at all levels to go on -
something rare in the history of founders of movements in the church. He did not
simply retire when things were not going well. On the contrary! The Sword of the
Spirit is now experiencing a season of unprecedented growth with a promise from
the Lord of a season of grace and more open doors for mission, a season, according
to Steve, like that at our beginnings.

Brothers and sisters, I believe that in this season the Lord is inviting us to
trust Him and move forward in boldness and courage in the mission that is ahead of
us. All of us need this in our daily evangelism, our communities need it for their
outreaches, our regions in their missionary efforts. A couple of months ago, I
participated in a mission trip led by more than a hundred university young men and
women from Europe and the Middle East to try to establish a University Christian
Outreach in a very resistant and difficult environment, Aleppo, Syria. During the
day they reflected on the book of Acts, and many were struck by the secret of the
success of the beginning of the mission of the church: the boldness of the apostles
(see Acts 4). During the evening, with trust in the Lord, expectant faith, and
courage and boldness, these young men and women evangelized, and miracles
happened both in their lives and in the lives of people they had never met before.

1
 The apostles had another decisive weapon for the success of mission that our
young people discovered: the power of prayer and intercession. "And now, Lord, ...
grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out
your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your
holy servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place in which they were
gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
spoke the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4: 29-31) In this "Year of Personal
Prayer" I invite you all -as well as the regional presidents and the senior
coordinators- to integrate intercession for the mission as part of your regular
personal, family, community, and regional prayers.

As the apostles moved in faith, the Lord provided them with all the
extraordinary gifts as well as the human and material resources they needed for
the mission. The Lord has promised us the same in this season. The members of
the first community were generous in offering the Lord and the apostles their
resources, their time, their talents, and even their lives, "for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was
sold and laid it at the apostles' feet" (Acts 4: 34-35). May the Lord make us even
more generous in offering what we have to His mission, to our mission.

Finally, I hope to be able to visit your communities during the coming four
years, especially in conjunction with my participation in regional council meetings or
regional Kairos conferences.

Your brother in Christ,

Jean Barbara
President of the Sword of the Spirit
 COMMUNITY PC ;Y
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What tbe Lord Has Been Saying to Us f) ~ _,0
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t. Background: What the Lord Is Saying About the State of the ,y {\'?_.t-
Christian People and What He Is Doing About It P 4J'1 f-'T
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A. Many churches are in a state of serious decline and de~

1. ~ny are "weak, divided, confused."

2. Most churches are in a weak position to deal with the increasingly

open attacks of western and westernized society.

B. The Lord is now taking definite action to deal with the situation.

1. God is going to take away his protection from many areas of God's
~ people and let the true state of things be seen.

2. God is giving direction to ~is people ~o gather them together during

this time of difficulty, an:: those who fail to r~spond will
experience ~he consequences.

~ It will become increasingly difficult for Christians in many parts of

,..-. the world to cling to their Christian belief except at serious
()~l!jtJ (OMMVIJI-r,! I _~ personal cost.
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71i€- 1'f:,l{)Ot-t MJD 4. God will, in these and other ways, purify the churches and enable
Poef1. OJ f(()phl'C'Cs, them to face the battle and win.
wi- fe.[.:1 11iU£ ~
\'IIt\, Nf) arH~A C. ~ays of dar~ess" ~nd "hard times" ~=-i~arilY refer to a time in the
~ when th~ngs w~ll become very d~ff~cult. That will be a time when
~At::~ PiAG.t. 11> V!J[, Christians also find things very difficult (because of persecution and
VIA FeAr, pec>{il~ because of the general difficulties) but it will be a time when
ItJt1e cA~ Christianity reasserts itself as a powerful force and when Christian
AIIIO C&NTp!'>L£!), ~expansion through evangelism reaches unequalled proportions.

~ D. The time of darkness is not very far off. It is a matter of years, not
\ ~ a matter of decades.

E. There will be a time of great difficulty for us prior to these "days of

darkness· when we will encounter serious opposition from within
~Christianity . "0 FAI"T/trVt...t...

1. That time will come quite soon. C .

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2. We have to do some things in obedience to the Lord even though we <;''t'JlJOVS ., u
think they may provoke 'f
persecut~on rom i
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Edited excerpt from Sword of the Spirit Leaders Newsletter 14 (April 2009)

Jean Barbara was born in 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon, and is married to Marie-Therese.
They have four children: Victor, 22, who is serving as a gapper in Michigan; Nicole,
20, a UCO leader in Lebanon; Peter, 19, a youth leader in Lebanon, and Philip, 8,
currently the only child providing his parents with some company at home. Jean is
a coordinator and Marie-Therese a senior woman leader in "the People of God,
Lebanon.
Jean received a Master of Business Administration from the American University of
Beirut, and is currently a Tax Advisor (working part-time) in his own company. Jean
served as Senior Coordinator of the People of God, Lebanon, from 1990 until 2008
and now leads the Sword of the Spirit mission in the Middle East. He was President
of the Europe and Middle East Region of the Sword of the Spirit from 1999 until
2005, and Moderator of Christ the King Association until 2002.

According to the Constitution of the Sword of the Spirit, the President is responsible
for the following:-
• preside over the Sword of the Spirit
• lead the Sword of the Spirit Assembly, and the International Executive Council
• coordinate the legislative process
• represent the Sword of the Spirit both within and without the Sword of the Spirit

The President is the primary international leader of the Sword of the Spirit and a
key focus of unity. The President meets regularly with the various Regional Councils
so that he can know first-hand the issues and opportunities the regions face, and so
that he can know personally the leaders of the regions. It is through this first hand
contact that he is able to guide the work of the International Executive Council and
set direction for the Sword of the Spirit overall.