International Ministries (IM) has confirmed missionaries Dan and Sarah Chetti
and volunteer Jennifer Wallace are safe in the Middle East country of
Lebanon following Israeli air strikes Thursday on the capital city of
Beirut. The Chettis serve at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in
Beirut. Jennifer Wallace, from the First Baptist Church in Hamilton,
Ohio, is currently a volunteer at the seminary.

IM staff is in continuing contact with Wallace, the Chettis and the 

seminary. Rev. Reid Trulson, IM’s area director for Europe and the
Middle East, is urging American Baptists to be in prayer for our
personnel, the students and staff of the seminary as well as the people
of Lebanon and Israel.

According to media reports, fighters from Hezbollah – considered a terrorist 

organization by Israel and the United States -- launched a Wednesday
morning assault into Israel, killing six Israeli soldiers, and
kidnapping several others. Hezbollah reportedly hopes to swap the
Israeli soldiers for the several hundred Hezbollah fighters now in
Israeli prisons. In response, Israel sent armored forces into southern
Lebanon for the first time in six years, and it bombed the runways at
Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, shutting down the
facility. Israeli naval ships are also blockading Lebanon's ports, to
prevent Hezbollah from receiving weapons shipments.

IM is a Baptist mission agency, established in 1814, which serves the more 

than 5,800 churches of the American Baptist Churches USA.

Globally,  IM relates to more than 500 educational institutions and 125 hospitals 

and medical facilities. Missionaries work in partnership with some
15,000 trained national workers, who serve about 22,000 congregations
and nearly 3,000,000 baptized members.