Let Us Now Praise (Not So Famous) Men…and Women
I did not have the privilege of meeting Labib Madanat. He died in 2021 of a heart attack. But if the true measure of a person is the legacy he leaves behind, then I think I got to know him — at least a bit — last weekend at a conference hosted by Strategic Resource Group (SRG) in Amsterdam. I’ve got to know him because I met many of the people he touched, and I got a taste of the impact he had in the Middle East. 
The people who knew Madanat told me that “love for Jesus was the driving passion of his heart.” He was described as a peacemaker, bridge-builder, encourager, advisor, and strategic thinker. His “day job” was as a Senior Middle East Advisor for the American Bible Society, but that relationship hardly begins to describe the depth of relationships he had throughout the Middle East.
Madanat was born to Jordanian parents serving with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) in Jerusalem. He studied at Mosul University in Iraq from 1981 to 1985, where – according to a statement from the American Bible Society – “his heart was broken by the intense violence he witnessed between Muslims during the war with Iran.” In 1993, he became Executive Director of the Palestinian Bible Society. According to the ABS, “Over the next fourteen years, he helped grow the Palestinian Bible Society from just three employees to more than thirty people serving in several centers across East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. He worked closely with partner organizations, including American Bible Society and United Bible Societies, and formed lifelong friendships with ministry leaders around the world.” He worked for the American Bible Society from 2012 until his death.
To honor his legacy, SRG inaugurated the Labib Madanat Kingdom Impact Awards in 2022. The 2024 awards were presented Thursday night at the Antara Grand Hotel Krasnopolsky in Amsterdam. The awardees were:
Dr. Bishara Awad. Awad is the Founder and President Emeritus of Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem, Israel. He was born in Jerusalem in 1939, his father was killed bya sniper in the 1948 war. He and his six siblings were raised by their widowed mother. However, far from making him bitter or angry, this experience fueled his peacemaking work in Israel and Gaza.
David Benware. Benware is the Founder and CEO of Media Impact International. Benware and his organization have served more than 300 ministries that work in 58 countries. His work helps these ministries communicate the Gospel in innovative ways to unreached people groups in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Cliff Daffron. Daffron is the President of Greater Reach, which serves the church in Sudan with teaching, coaching, prayer mobilization, and advocacy. He also served as a missionary with HCJB World Radio for 18 years, where he planted and pastored churches in Ecuador and Panama.
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Betty Hawkins. Born in 1925, Betty Hawkins – at age 99 – is still active as a prayer intercessor and mobilizer of other “prayer warriors.” With her husband Herbert Hawkins, who died in 1999, they built one of the largest real estate firms in Southern California. He served on the board of World Vision, and she was active with him, traveling to countries in Asia, Africa, and Central America undergirding that work with prayer and financial support.
Dr. Hrayr Jebejian is the General Secretary of the Bible Society of the Gulf. Jebejian began his career with the Bible Society of Lebanon and has been General Secretary of the Bible Society of the Gulf since 1990. He has been active in educational, cultural, and media organizations throughout the Arab speaking world.
Rev. Dr. Sameh Maurice has been Senior Pastor of Kasr El-Dobara Evangelical Church in Cairo, Egypt, since 2007. He has grown that church to be the largest evangelical church in Egypt and in the Arab speaking world. Trained as a doctor, he was a surgeon for a decade before getting ordained in 1993. He has also pioneered sports ministry throughout the Middle East.
Dennis Neal serves on the board of directors of Strategic Resource Group, and is chair of the audit committee. He also serves on the board of Urban Youth Workers Institute and the Church Transformation Network. He works with ministries in South Sudan, East Africa, and India.
Beverly Pegues-Tucker has been a leader in the global prayer network for more than 30 years. As Co-Founder and President of Window International Network she has been a key figure in mobilizing the American evangelical church to pray for and resource financially work in the so-called 10/40 Window.
The men and women on this list are not media celebrities. They don’t have “platforms” or book deals. But they have been quietly going about the business of the Kingdom of God. At MinistryWatch we often report on Christian leaders behaving badly. Sometimes it’s right and proper to pause and recognize those men and women who have quietly been engaged in what Eugene Peterson calls “long obedience in the same direction.”
May we all be encouraged by their lives and – more importantly – may be all go and do likewise.
