Summer time brings vacations, travel, and many other activities.  Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be posting some of the ministry activity that happened here at Summit Woods throughout the summer with our members, students, and children.  We start this series with a report from the Naler's on their trip to Dubai.  

It has taken some time for Sarah and I to compose our thoughts on our recent trip to the UAE. We returned from our week and a half visit to Dubai and Ras al Khaimah with some greater clarity of the need and the work that is being done there: there are over 1 million native Emirates in the UAE, with an estimated 10 to 15 genuine believers in that population. The church at RAK has 80 to 100 members, all of whom are expatriates, and they will be completing the construction of a dedicated church building by the end of this year on land that was donated to them by the sheik in RAK - an unusual opportunity indeed.

There is a need in the UAE, and we are interested in forming a partnership with a local church with needs. We met with three representatives from the IMB positioned in Dubai and RAK. We spent significant time with the pastor of RAK Church and his family, and we were able to attend a church service with them. We are challenged, quite honestly, however, to know how a partnership with RAK Church would benefit their ministry. Similarly, we are challenged with the reality of independently providing for our living needs while living intentionally and dedicating time to serving in a local church. I had the opportunity to meet with 5 local dentists (one a believer, the others unbelievers) who are employed in a variety of ways, as well as an interview with their dental school. All of the dentists worked 6 day work weeks, one of them worked seven. The salary the dental school could offer would not cover our annual housing expense.

But challenges from our own vantage point are mere opportunities for the Lord to display His glory! And any seeming obstacles are methods by which God directs our steps, tests our faith, and makes us more spiritually mature. For the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, and its full effect produces spiritual perfection and ultimate completion - James 1:4.

We continue to pray that God would manifest our goal of making full-time intentional living a reality. You can pray with us! And for us... That discouragement would not be a hindrance, that we would be patient for His timing, that the actions and decisions we make today would be Christ honoring and for His glory, and that He would reveal to us a church that would benefit from a partnership with Summit Woods Baptist.

Thank you for your prayers!

Adam Naler