Author/Speaker/Pastor John Piper in the UAE

One of my favorite authors, a highly-respected pastor from Minneapolis named John Piper, was in town last weekend for a conference that was co-hosted by our church (Redeemer Church of Dubai) and one of our sister churches in town (United Christian Church of Dubai).  He preached at UCCD, spoke at the conference, and taught at a special event for youth and university students. 

Cindy and I were at the university student event and thoroughly enjoyed it (photo below - sorry for the grainy iPhone picture - we mostly wanted you all to get a sense of the size of the room).  There were probably around 200 students at this event - including several from our campus.  We really enjoyed being there - especially since John Piper is someone who had a significant influence on Cindy and I when we were university students.

Cindy and I continue to be thankful for the openness of the rulers of the UAE who allow us to meet freely and openly with other Christians.  Some of our most memorable moments here have been with our friends at church, listening to great speakers, and enjoying great concerts. 

A Day (or Week) in the Life Of...

by Cindy

I was playing bunco last week (yes, we have bunco here, too) and one of the ladies mentioned how much our university had been in the news and in particular, she was impressed with everything happening.  I was encouraged by the compliment and thought I would pass along all of the cool stuff to you, too.

Recently we've had:

Senator George Mitchell - The Senator, a former US Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, reflected on his time in the Middle East and spoke about his peace negotiations in Northern Ireland.

Qunicy Jones - Mr. Jones spoke on his experience in the music industry.  He left us with this quote, “The best advice I ever received was no matter where you go in the world, eat the food the people eat, listen to the music they listen to and always learn 30-40 words from the language. This was advice I received when I was 18 and it allows me to feel at home anywhere in the world.”

Act of Congress concert - This is a great acoustic band (from Alabama!) that was touring the regional Embassies and Consulates.  With the government shutdown, most of those concerts were canceled but we still got to hear them at AUS.  They were awesome and we are looking forward to their Christmas album.  You can check out their sound on their webpage.