Rev.
and Mrs. Atif Himadeh
Mission History
First Baptist Bible Church of
Jerusalem started with 12 members on
September 16th, 1962. Pastor Atif Himadeh
was ordained from First Baptist Bible
Church of Beirut, Lebanon. He was sent
from his home church to Jerusalem as a
missionary. The mission was first
supported only by the home church in
Beirut.
The mission support was small, but the
Lord increased the needed support in His
time. In 1965, Dr Don Lougheed, pastor of
Flint Baptist Temple in Flint, MI,
started to support the mission. Further
support came in 1968 through Dr. Rodney
Bell, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist
Church, Virginia Beach, VA.
The Lord increased the support in 1971
when pastor Atif Himadeh went to present
the mission to churches in the United
States. As the supporters increased,
Pastor Atif asked Dr. Ralph Sexton, Sr if
Trinity Baptist Church in North Carolina
would handle the mission's financial
support. Dr. Sexton agreed and later on,
the church started Trinity Baptist
International Mission which still
oversees the mission's support.
|
The Testimony of the Pastor
I attended a meeting on
24 of April 1959 and I heard for the
first time "For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God."
This verse ended the falasy of salvation
by works. Then I heard the preacher say
"For the wages of sin is death; but
the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord." God spoke to
my heart that night and I accepted Jesus
Christ as my Lord and Saviour. That night
I had joy and peace.
GOD'S CALLING
In December of 1960 God
called me to preach, but I made excuses
to God not to accept the calling. The joy
and the peace I had when I accepted
Christ started to depart because of my
disobedience. On the last Sunday in
December, in the young peoples meeting I
stood up and said, "God called me to
preach. Pray for me."
As the Pastor of this
church, my aim is to serve the Lord who
has called me to this ministry in
Jerusalem. I have seen both young and old
accept Christ as their savior. Some are
now members, teachers, deacons, and
pastors.
The Lord lead me also to start a
Correspondence Bible School to reach
students from all over the area. The
school has eight courses and about thirty
tracts and pamphlets. More than three
thousand students have completed some of
these courses. It is exciting to see many
of them accept Christ as their savior.
My aim is continue to reach more people
for Christ whether it be in Jerusalem or
all over the world.
|
