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For Immediate Release
September 11, 2006

Will you help our brothers carry the light of Jesus Christ to the Middle East?

Please be an Epaphroditus to a pastor in an Islamic country this Christmas?

El Cajon, Calif. - Five years after 9/11, one thousand Christian pastors labor in the Middle East, bringing the light of the Good News to people of many nations and tongues. In Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria these pastors may be poor in the things of this world, but they are rich in the things of God.

These men of God are a thousand points of spiritual light that shine in the midst of lands enslaved by the spiritual darkness of Islam. Ancient Egypt in the time of Moses was covered in darkness so great it could even be felt. Yet, during the same three days that millions of Egyptians were enslaved by such great darkness, God's people had light in their dwellings.

These pastors long with all their hearts to share the gospel, so that many others in their communities may also dwell in the light of Jesus Christ, and experience the love of God in their hearts.

Yet, daily, they, like the Apostle Paul, face the grim realities of pastoring churches in an area of the world where Christians are treated with utter contempt. Whether in cities or in the wilderness, they face danger from their own countrymen, and sometimes, even danger from their own brethren, who reject them when they dare to witness to hostile neighbors. They labor in weariness. They go without sleep, and, sometimes, they feel the pain of hunger. (2 Cor. 11:26-27)

Like Paul, even in the midst of their own afflictions, these pastors also have deep concern for the churches in the Middle East. They ask themselves, like Paul did, "who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?" (2 Cor. 11:29)

Native-born Egyptian David Joseph is founder of The Last Harvest, Inc., in El Cajon, Calif., a Christian nonprofit organization that ministers biblical truth to Arabs and Muslims worldwide. A practicing dentist, Joseph is also a pastor who holds a doctorate in theology.

Joseph came to the United States in 1991, following God's lead in order to establish a base of operations for a ministry to the Arab and Muslim world that now operates throughout the Middle East. The Last Harvest equips indigenous churches, supports church planting efforts in the Middle East, and proclaims the gospel through radio and television broadcasts and the distribution of Christian materials. Joseph became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

Joseph's vision is to prepare the highway of the Lord between Egypt, Israel and Assyria (Isaiah 19), by informing Christians of the need to expose the spirit of Islam, and teaching and encouraging them to pray strategically for Muslims in order to reach and win them to Christ.

Joseph believes God will stir the hearts of His people to provide the provision necessary to bless each of these thousand pastors with a Christmas gift of $100. Using a network of indigenous churches to distribute the funds, The Last Harvest has extensive experience in seeing that donations received for Christians in the Middle East reaches the hands of those who are designated to receive these gifts.

"Perhaps you are called to offer encouragement this Christmas to a Middle-Eastern pastor who risks his life to share the Good News with his people," says Joseph. "These pastors are very poor and have difficulty obtaining the necessities of life. A one-time gift like this will make a huge difference in their ministries."

Joseph asks Christians to prayerfully consider the words of Paul in Phil. 4:11-18. ÒThese pastors have learned to be content in all circumstances, yet we do well when we share in their distress endured for the sake of the gospel," says Joseph. (Phil. 4:14) "Paul tells the Philippians, 'I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.' (Phil. 4:18.)

"There has never been a time when our support of gospel-sharing Middle Eastern churches was more urgent. Because of long-standing discrimination and overt persecution, many believers live in abject poverty. It has been said that Egyptian Christians do not merely live with isolated incidents of persecution; they live within an environment of persecution," says Joseph.

"Your partnership in this ministry is needed, because, truly, the fields are white unto harvest in this ancient and spiritually strategic land," he says.

For information about providing a Christmas gift for a Middle Eastern pastor, call The Last Harvest at 1-877-571-5673; email, or, visit the website at http://www.thelastharvest.com.

You may also mail a tax-deductible gift to The Last Harvest, Inc., Attn: Pastors Christmas Project, 1093 E. Main St., #216, El Cajon, Calif. 92021.