3/1/2017  Egypt  (True News) More than 100 families have fled the city of el-Arish in North Sinai after seven Christians were killed in 3 weeks. According to locals, the Islamic State militants were working their way down a list of 28 Christian targets. The death lists circulated online and in the streets of el-Arish are leading many to flee south. A Reuters reporter saw 25 families gathered with their belongings in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia’s Evangelical Church and church officials said 100 families, out of around 160 in North Sinai, were fleeing. More than 200 students studying in Arish, the province’s capital, have also left. Please pray… Pray for the protection of the 100 plus families who were forced to flee the city of el-Arish. Pray for Coptic Christians to receive the encouragement and boldness they need to stand firm before their oppressors. Pray that Egypt’s Coptic Christians might have a positive and transforming effect in the nation.

2/21/2017 Egypt (WWM)  A video released from the Islamic State swearing to rid Egypt of Coptic Christians shows the sad mindset behind extremist Muslim ideologies. “To my brothers in captivity…rejoice…we will come bearing explosives, I swear we will, so rejoice you believers,” was one statement made by a man in the video. The group says removing Coptic Christians from Egypt as their duty in order to “liberate Cairo.” One of the men in the video is reportedly the one behind the December Cairo Church bombing that killed about 28 people who were mostly women and children. Let’s pray… Because God split open the Red Sea, because Christ defeated death, and because only God has the power to do the impossible, pray that many, many Muslims come to receive Christ in the Middle East. Pray for the protection of believers in Cairo who will be targeted for their faith; pray that their faith would remain strong and that they would be protected. Pray for those who are called to keep peace in Cairo, that they would have the wisdom and ability to keep their citizens safe.