ATLANTA – At dinner one Wednesday night in Cairo, Egypt, Chaouki Boulos invited a restaurant waiter named Mario to the final night of a four-day Celebrate Jesus rally. The next night Mario joined nearly 900 people at the rally, heard Boulos speak, and became one of more than 300 new Christians that week.
"I am very excited about what God is doing," said Boulos, who along with his wife, Maha, serves as one of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s field personnel in Beirut, Lebanon.
For several years, the Bouloses have helped coordinate celebration rallies in Lebanon and neighboring countries. Church members from the United States and Lebanon have helped at the celebrations, where thousands of people have heard about Jesus Christ – some for the first time. At a young adult celebration in Lebanon this spring, "many people came forward and accepted the Lord," Maha said. "Some got baptized and joined local churches."
The ministry stems from a vision Chaouki had in the late 1990s to share Christ with large groups of people. Because he and Maha grew up in Lebanon he knew the religious freedom in Lebanon might provide "the open door to reach the peoples of the Middle East," Chaouki said.
And it has, but it’s not the only way this couple is the presence of Christ. They’ve facilitated Vacation Bible Schools, sports camps, children’s ministry and prison outreach. They help distribute food and medicine to families in need. They have given street children shoes and provided women with dental care. Now, one of their priorities is opening a conference and training center for churches in the region.
"Several years ago the Lord laid on my heart the need for a conference, refuge and training center in Lebanon, the one nation in the Middle East where there is religious freedom," Chaouki said. "There is a great need for a place where Christian churches in Lebanon can take their people on a retreat for a few days."
Twelve acres of land has been purchased and building has begun at what will be called White Stone Conference Center.
"We envision it being the host facility for international conferences, sports camps for youth in the summer, and ministry to people [struggling with addictions] in the winter," Chaouki said. "Since Lebanon is a natural meeting place for business people from east and west, we will also host business conferences and meetings."
The Bouloses continue to do relief ministry in the aftermath of a Middle East conflict in 2006 that displaced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese. There were drastic needs for food and medicine. The Fellowship helped provide families with food coupons as well as food boxes. Now, most have returned home, but many struggle to rebuild.
"The traumatic event has definitely opened many doors for ministry," Maha said. "People have shared with us stories about how one-on-one ministry was effective and how they shared the Lord with many."
To learn about how your church can become involved in Bouloses’ ministry, contact the Fellowship at (800) 352-8741. Or to give to the CBF Offering for Global Missions, which provides the financial support of Bouloses’ work, at
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.