Movement

Brian Steck

A Monumental Movement Amid War in the Middle East

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Against a backdrop of missile attacks, an outbreak of war, and a flurry of shelter-in-place alarms, a remarkable Gospel movement arose among Middle East Christians in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai.

On February 25-28, Movement.org convened over 350 leaders for Scholars training, national strategy sessions, and Impact Day (Movement Day) Middle East. The conflict in Iran, just 80 miles from Dubai, started on Saturday morning as Impact Day was underway.

A PLEDGE TOWARD UNITY

“God is at work here,” said Mac Pier, founder of Movement.org. “Leaders across the Middle East have strengthened relationships and pledged toward greater unity while the region spirals in chaos.”

The 2026 gathering in Dubai marked the eighth consecutive year that Movement.org has hosted Movement Day in the region. This year, our teams from the United States, the Middle East, and Asia equipped leaders from nine Middle East countries to bring spiritual and social transformation to their cities.

“It was an extraordinary several days here in Dubai,” said Mac. “It feels like we are living in a world-historic moment. We hosted many of the great spiritual leaders of the Middle East.”

Because of travel restrictions following the outbreak of missile attacks in the city, Mac Pier and Movement.org Board Chair Bob Doll, along with about 100 city leaders who attended the Movement Day events in Dubai, had to spend several extra days at the host hotel. That time together bonded the group even tighter as they met for prayer in the morning and evening.

“Over the last week, there have been hundreds of missiles sent toward the UAE. It has reminded me of the early church, which was meeting in the context of being a minority religion against the backdrop of the Roman government,” Mac said. “And the church actually grew and thrived because believers were so dependent on God and dependent on one another. We have had that same sense here. There is a really strong sense of community.”

EQUIPPING MIDDLE EAST LEADERS

On February 25–26, Movement Day Scholars Training was conducted in Arabic and English for 130 leaders from nine nations: Egypt, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the UAE. The sessions were led by leaders from across the region and globe, including Movement.org board members Bob Doll, Rev. Gabrielle Beam, and Annie McCune, along with Josh Miles (Managing Director), Ilona Nagy (Global Ministries Coordinator), and Mac Pier.

The next day, each of the nine groups met as national teams to begin their decadal (10-year) planning. Lebanon has had three Movement Day Expressions. Jordan, the Holy Land, and Saudi Arabia are scheduled to start this year. Egypt will begin by 2027.

Dr. Andreas Zaki, President of the Protestant Churches of Egypt, was named chair of Movement Day Egypt.

“This Middle East community could double in size by our 2027 conference in Dubai,” Mac Pier said.

Sona Kazanjian, Middle East Regional Director for Movement.org, said the time in Dubai was transformational.

“It was amazing to speak in Arabic, sing in Arabic, pray in Arabic, and have a very structured program built around the Middle East. The Scholars will go back home encouraged, knowing they have a mission to fulfill in their cities, and knowing they are not alone. They are partnering with God and with us. I’m believing God for big dreams.”

Impact Day Middle East was held on Saturday (February 28) for 356 leaders who prayed, worshipped, and collaborated around tables. The program was led by Dubai leaders who presented themes on family, marketplace and AI. Mac Pier and Bob Doll shared the history of Movement Day and its impact in New York City

“The New York story is inspiring leaders to dream big dreams for their cities,” Mac said.

THE CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY 

Bob Doll was impressed with the enthusiasm for the gospel among the leaders who were gathered.

“The Middle East is where it all began and, as the book of Revelation tells us, where it will culminate,” he said. “There is a deep need for the gospel here, and Christianity is growing. I would love to see the Middle East become a pioneer and leader in global Christianity.”

“This moment could be a demarcation point in history.”

The significance of the moment was also noted by Mac Pier who talked about the resilience and determination of the Christian leadership here and their ability to endure under many trials and hardships.

“What’s really special about being here in the Middle East is an awareness of how much the church is suffering in this region of the world,” he said.

“We are at a historic juncture similar to 9/11 in New York City. Just as Movement Day grew out of the ashes of 9/11 as the result of profound collaboration, I believe we are entering into a new season in the Middle East.”

What God is doing in the Middle East is a reminder that movements grow when believers stand together. We invite you to participate with us—PRAY for the leaders who are serving faithfully in their cities, ADVOCATE by sharing the vision with friends and inviting others to explore how they might become involved and INVEST in the work so that more leaders can be united and equipped. As we move forward together, we trust that God will use this faithfulness to multiply movements across the world. Click here to give.

Important Update for Pastors Prayer Summit Registrants

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Dear Colleagues,

Thank you so much for registering for the Pastor’s Prayer Summit. We are deeply grateful for your commitment to gather with the broader body of Christ across our region.

Considering the impending winter storm and the potential risks related to travel, we have made the decision not to gather in person at Tuscarora Inn this year. The safety of our participants is our primary concern.

What this means moving forward: Monday, January 26 | 7:00–8:00 PM (Zoom) We will gather on Zoom for an evening of connection, devotion, and prayer together. Zoom link: https://movement-org.zoom.us/j/3432187989

Follow-Up Zoom Gatherings: Signs of Hope
We will also host four additional Zoom sessions on February 9, 10, 11, and 12 at 7:00 PM (30 minutes each). These gatherings will allow interaction with leaders contributing to the upcoming Signs of Hope book, which will be released this April. Zoom link: https://movement-org.zoom.us/j/3432187989

Looking Ahead

  • Regional in-person gatherings: June 2026
  • Movement Day: Saturday, October 17, 2026 – Bethel Gospel Assembly, Harlem
  • Pastor’s Prayer Summit 2027: January 25–27 at Tuscarora Inn. Dwelling Together will continue to be our theme and program focus throughout 2026 and into PPS 2027.

Registration

All PPS registrations will roll over into new transferable registrations for PPS 2027, January 25-27, 2027, at Tuscarora Inn & Conference Center. If you would prefer to request a refund, the deadline is Friday, February 6, 2026. Please complete this Refund Request form: https://forms.gle/ziqdGbuQDYWdLPe9A & you can expect that it will be processed within 5-7 business days of receiving your form submission.

We are deeply thankful to Tuscarora Inn & Conference Center (https://www.tuscarora.org/)  for their extraordinary hospitality and gracious partnership year after year. Please continue to support their great work by hosting your retreats and events with them.

We are also grateful to our convening team who extended invitations to thousands of colleagues, with special thanks to Gabrielle Beam, Pura Coniglio, and Doug Goulding for supporting the registration of more than 60 participants.

We look forward to praying together this Monday evening at 7:00 PM.

If you need further assistance, please contact us via phone at (718) 593-8626 or via email at afraser@movement.org.

With gratitude,

Mac Pier

Founder, Movement.org

City Gospel Movements Impact São Paulo, Rio De Janeiro, and Natal

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In August, Mac Pier and Josh Miles of Movement.org joined Movement São Paulo for 10 days of powerful ministry in Brazil. Highlights included a Running for Cities event benefiting World Vision; three forums on the racial-reconciliation book Required with authors Mac Pier and Bishop Claude Alexander; teaching sessions on The Hospitable Leader with Pastor Terry A. Smith; a faith-and-work gathering; two days of Movement Day Scholars training; and the third Movement Day São Paulo.

The schedule also featured a special ministry day in Metro Rio de Janeiro with 100 leaders preparing to launch Movement Day there in 2026. Another milestone was the release of the Portuguese edition of Ian Shelton’s book God Is a City Builder. Across the ten days, the team cast vision to more than 5,000 leaders.

In October, ALEF hosted its 20th Annual Congress in Natal, Brazil for pastors, church leaders and ministers. For the past four years, Movement.org has sent a team to teach for the week. This year, 66 leaders in the Movement Day Scholars Program attended. Movement Day Brazil was featured Saturday morning for more than 300 leaders from 75 cities. Two Movement Day Scholars faculty, Tom White (Frontline Ministries) and Eric Swanson (City Leaders Collective), led sessions.

Movement São Paulo, under the leadership of Rev. Samuel Pereira De Lima, is training leaders across Brazil to cultivate the spiritual and social flourishing of their cities, including a bold effort to evangelize 15,000 households in Felipe Camarão. The Movement Day Scholars Program in Brazil has had 11 graduates who have developed 10-year city transformation plans. The Natal Scholars team is committed to planting 100 new churches, revitalizing 200 others, and reaching 30,000 people for Christ. Together, these efforts reflect a growing movement of collaboration, service, and Gospel impact across Brazil.

Forum Unites Church and Marketplace Leaders to Impact 500 Asian Cities

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By Mac Pier
Founder, Movement.org  

On September 28-30, SG 500 Asian Cities hosted its annual forum, which was attended by 300 delegates from 30 nations and 70 cities.

Represented nations included Iran, Israel, Indonesia, Iraq, UAE, Jordan, Mongolia, China, and Russia.  Gen Z made up 55% of the total attendees. The program was formatted around the “5 Opens,” including Open Heavens (prayer), Open Hearts (generosity), Open Homes (discipleship), Open Highways (media and business), Open Hallways (government and education) and Geo Networks (Movement Day and Arise Asia). The strategy is to create integrated, contextual models for each of the 500 cities, resulting in measurable church growth.  A 2% growth in Christianity in a decade would result in 100M new conversions for Asia.

Jess Chin, a member of the Movement.org Board and Global Advisory Team, spoke powerfully on the potential of the next generation, reflecting on leaders from American Awakenings including Jonathan Dickinson, a Presbyterian Minister as the first President of Princeton University. She said there are stirrings presently on 300 American campuses.

Movement.org is functioning as the backbone organization to provide Asia wide coordination and leveraging the Movement Day Scholars Program training to inspire, connect, and catalyze a 10-year collaborative model in each city. Arise Asia is a fresh movement challenging young Asian Christians to go where there is no gospel. There are 4.4B people in Asia outside of Christianity, representing 1.1B more than the combined populations of the other five continents.

A primary outcome of this SG500 has been the creation of a modified Scholars curriculum for young urban leaders called Metro Movement Collective. This will be launched in July 2026 at the Kuala Lumpur Arise Asia Congress with 5,000 delegates. The operating conviction is that 85% of the attendees of this congress will stay in their respective cities.

SINGAPORE HOSTING

The Singapore Team, led by Tim Wong, brilliantly and generously hosted the Forum.  They provided significant scholarship assistance to many under-resourced leaders to travel and attend.

His hospitality initiative reflects 50 years of leadership from Canon James Wong, now carried forward by his son Tim and their dedicated team. Singapore is the most strategically positioned city in Asia to host and catalyze Asia wide efforts.

DISCOVERY 

In the past year we have learned a great deal about how God is stirring in Asia. The biggest discovery has been China Partnership, which is present in 192 cities in China. Movement South Asia is present in 140 cities. Frontiers, a Muslim outreach mission, has presence in ~300 cities. Of the 500 largest cities, these three agencies are working very serendipitously. Our primary point of contact with China Partnership, Jeff Kyle, lives in NYC.  We have met several times in the past year. Another NYC colleague is Yucan Chiu, who is a senior leader at City to City. He very much wants to build on our history for the future. We were able to create a map that showed our current collective presence across 300 cities in Asia

FORUM OUTCOMES

We are working off the TABLE acronym:

  • Testbed: An invitation to experiment with missional models across Asia beginning in Singapore (creative ways to engage Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists)
  • Annualize Gathering: We will meet next September 10-12, 2026, in Singapore.
  • Backbone Organization: We will continue to provide platforms to recruit, train, and collaborate across the continent with our 5 regional teams.
  • Leader Development: Our Scholars training will continue to grow exponentially and in more languages. Across Asia we are training in English, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi. We will expand into Bahasa in Indonesia. In India alone we forecast training 2,000 leaders in the Scholars program by 2028.
  • Engage in Prayer: We will continue to use the 500 City Prayer Guide to pray for the largest cities. The link: bit.ly/SG500PrayerGuide

POSSIBILITIES

  • New Regions: We are poised to fully launch in Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim nation in the world. We have identified leadership and supervision. There is a plan to host Movement Day Indonesia next September post SG500.  We also believe we can develop MD expressions in Taiwan and Cambodia in the next year.
  • Middle East Expansion: In March 2026 we have plans, under Sona’s leadership, to establish Movement Day gatherings in Jordan and Israel. Bethlehem will host us on March 5-7.
  • Renewed Partnership: City to City is making very strong overtures in wanting to work a joint strategy in the Middle East and India. A desire has been expressed to create new longer-term funding models together. One idea is to create a Global Philanthropic Advisory team that can raise funding for our efforts.
  • Expansion Funding: We are currently raising $1.015M in new funding to double our capacity in our 4 core regions and new territories. There is a great and urgent need to have full engagement with the board and the Global Advisory Team to reach this goal in Q4.
  • New Projects: Ram will be sharing with us at the upcoming board meeting an emerging strategy to impact high caste Urban Hindus. This is desperately needed given the terrible persecution in India currently.

In light of these days in Singapore, I am joyful, hopeful, and determined. May God give us the necessary resolve to steward our moment in world and church history.

Movement Day NYC: Collaboration to Impact the Next Generation

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“Dwelling with the Next Generation” was the focus of the 16th Annual Movement Day NYC on October 17 at Bethel Gospel Assembly in Harlem.

Hosted by Movement.org, the event united 320 attendees composed of church, parachurch, and marketplace leaders and featured the release of the Movement.org 2025 Generations Survey report.

Earlier this year, Movement.org commissioned a youth survey in Metro New York City. The data was compiled and analyzed by Dr. Tony Carnes (A Journey Through NYC Religions Data Center), and Arik Nabie, assistant pastor of First Assembly in Queens, NY.

In the first session of Movement Day NYC, panels and keynote speakers gave insight on how to better understand and reach the next generation. In session two, attendees applied those insights during interactive table discussions that encouraged collaboration.

Movement Day speakers included Mac Pier, founder of Movement.org; Fernando Cabrera, a former NYC Councilman and pastor of New Life Outreach International in the Bronx; and Dan Buttafuoco, founder of Historical Bible Society and founder and senior partner at Buttafuoco and Associates.  Panel discussions featured Kirk Foote of Young Life NYC and his team, and Pastor Gabrielle Beam and a team of young leaders from Bridgeport (CT) Movement Day.

Dr. Mac Pier opened Movement Day with an exhortation entitled, “A Global Spiritual Awakening Among Youth,” citing encouraging reports from Asia, the United Kingdom, and campuses in the United States.

Fernando Cabrera’s message, “Dwelling with Next Gen: The Tide Is Turning,” emphasized that this is a pivotal and hopeful moment. He framed it as a season of divine opportunity, urging attendees to recognize God’s invitation to partner with Him through spirit-led systems and strategies that connect this generation and the church.

Dan Buttafuoco stressed the importance of apologetics, especially among teens and young adults. He cited research that indicated how over 70 percent of students who enter college as Christians leave with little to no faith. At Movement Day, Dan Buttafuoco released his latest book, Unapologetic: Clear Answers to Tough Bible Questions.

The All People Free Documentary was featured at Movement Day NYC, offering attendees a powerful look into the harsh realities of modern-day slavery in the brick kilns of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Later that evening, the full version of the documentary premiered at Cityline Church in Jersey City, NJ.

With an emphasis on impacting the next generation, Movement Day NYC gave a platform to 12 local youth ministries, enabling strategic networking opportunities for church, ministry, and marketplace leaders.

As a result of Movement Day, Pastor Fernando Cabrera is now collaborating with Cru to plant a campus expression at Lehman College. Several churches are seeking to connect with Inspire Sports Camp to send urban young people to camp. These are only a few examples of how the event strengthened the Gospel ecosystem of New York City.

“Hundreds of connections were made, and possibilities were created to collaborate on a much larger scale,” said Mac Pier. “Movements are about speed and scale.”

Click here to view the Movement.org 2025 Generations Survey Report.

Movement.org Releases Survey on Youth Faith Trends

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One of the highlights of Movement Day NYC—held on October 17 at Bethel Gospel Assembly in Harlem—was the release of the Movement.org 2025 Generations Survey report.

Earlier this year, Movement.org commissioned a youth survey among churches and ministries in Metro New York City. The data was analyzed and compiled by Dr. Tony Carnes (A Journey Through NYC Religions Data Center), and Arik Nabie, assistant pastor of First Assembly in Queens, NY.

Each of the 320 attendees at Movement Day NYC received a copy of the report. Four key insights centered on prayer habits, Bible reading, trust in leadership, and teaching relevance in the Church:

  • Prayer Habits: Adults remain deeply anchored in prayer, while Gen Z’s consistency is notably lower. Although most respondents affirmed prayer as important, frequency and depth declined with youth. Ministries should reignite prayer culture among youth through structured rhythms, peer-led prayer times, and digital devotionals that meet them where they are.
  • Bible Reading: Bible engagement shows a similar generational divide. Many teens confessed irregular reading habits, with daily readers being a minority compared to adults over 30. This suggests a need for creative approaches to Scripture engagement such as Bible journaling, app-based reading plans, and collaborative study groups that connect Scripture to real-life issues.
  • Trust in Leadership: A pronounced trust gap exists between generations. Teens and young adults often perceive pastors as distant or institutional, rating their trust levels around 6–7 out of 10. To close this gap, churches should elevate authenticity, mentorship, and visibility of younger leaders, fostering trust through relationship rather than authority.
  • Teaching Relevance: Youth rated the relevance of church teaching to their lives around 7.5/10. This signals the need for more contextual, life-connected teaching that addresses modern challenges like anxiety, social identity, justice, and purpose. The Gospel message remains the same—but its delivery must meet the next generation’s context.

“The survey results reveal both opportunity and urgency: The Church must reclaim its formative voice by engaging Gen Z authentically, creatively, and compassionately. If we fail to disciple them with intentionality, we risk raising a generation that believes in God but no longer finds the Church essential,” said Rev. Arik Nabie.

“The findings of this survey are not simply statistics—they are a prophetic call to action. The next generation is listening; the question is whether the Church will speak in ways they hear.”

The entire report can be viewed by clicking here.