For each of our 12 days of Christmas, we are profiling one of our leaders overseas. Please join us in praying for this leader today.
11
AkbarUzbekistan
Some sects of Christianity, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, consider Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas) the most important day of the Christmas season.
Akbar is one of the key Uzbek leaders who works with Kobe, and Kobe continues to mentor him. He is a pastor of several house churches and uses P2M with them. Recently they have been under scrutiny. When Akbar’s ministry team was at the park, sharing the gospel, the police recorded footage of them, took them into custody, and interrogated them. The police also took screenshots of all the people in their team’s group chats.
One of Akbar’s main challenges is financial sustainability. He has been focused on ministry because he is passionate about biblical teaching and preaching. But the local churches are very poor, so he needs other ways to make money. In fact, 95% of committed workers in this region have this challenge.
Pray for Akbar’s continued protection from government officials. Pray also that God will provide ways for him to be financially sustainable, whether through employment and/or direct gifts.