God on the Move Podcast

What does hope look like for Lebanese teenagers growing up through economic collapse, displacement, and war?

 

In this episode of God on the Move, Maher El Hajj shares how Youth for Christ Lebanon creates safe, welcoming youth centers where traumatized 12–18-year-olds find community, counseling, tutoring, and the gospel shared through relational discipleship. Hear how YFC partners with local churches and navigates ministry in a majority-Muslim context. Maher recounts the story of a displaced 15-year-old whose grief and depression gave way to healing and joy as the center became his “second home,” and explains why many Muslim families still send their children because they see real transformation. He closes with a plea not to forget Middle Eastern Christians and specific prayer requests for perseverance, wisdom, peace, and support.

 

📚 Links from the Interview

Youth for Christ Lebanon

Donate to Youth for Christ Lebanon

 

🧑‍💻 About Maher

Maher El Hajj is married and has two kids. He became a follower of Jesus through a Youth for Christ Lebanon program in 1995. He was invited to join YFCL as a full-time staff member in 2003. In January 2012, he accepted the role of National Director. YFCL actively reaches out to youth from all faith backgrounds to reach the marginalized and often overlooked young people in his country. Maher is passionate about engaging youth and seeing them saved and disciplined through YFCL’s various ministries. Maher also plays the role of Regional Director for YFC MENA, through which he raises funds, trains and oversees work in different YFC chapters in the region.

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What happens when a nation rich in beauty and resources is held back by spiritual syncretism, crushing poverty, and foreign interests—and Christians still refuse to give up? 

 

In this episode of God on the Move, Mahafahatra Vonintsoa shares how Madagascar’s traditions of ancestor worship and zebu sacrifice shape gospel conversations, why discipleship is urgently needed as many mix Christianity with traditional beliefs, and how the 2009 political coup coincided with her being born again and reshaped her view of development as starting with restored people. She also opens up about failed efforts like a stalled solar project, the eye-opening impact of medical missions to remote communities, and the “Sisterhood of Seven Women” dreaming of practical, holistic education initiatives for girls—inviting collaborators, volunteers, and support, and asking for prayer for spiritual strength and a way forward for Madagascar.

 

🧑‍💻 About Mahafahatra

Mahafahatra Vonintsoa is a Malagasy professional passionate about transformational development in Madagascar. Raised in a humble family from the Amoron’i Mania and Haute Matsiatra regions, she was inspired early on to contribute to her country’s growth through education and service. After studying business administration, marketing, and international management, she gained diverse experience across sectors including investment promotion, project development, and sustainable development, as well as missionary work.

Since giving her life to Christ in 2009, Mahafahatra’s vision for development has been deeply shaped by her faith. She believes that lasting transformation in Madagascar begins with restored identity in Christ, leading to renewed relationships with God, others, and the environment. Today, she serves as an Operations and Sustainability Manager for a medical mission NGO, while actively investing in student ministry and mentoring young people. Through her work and community engagement, she is committed to empowering the next generation and contributing to meaningful, faith-driven change in Madagascar.

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What happens when a child from a Manila slum becomes the leader of the very organization that once sponsored him? In this episode of God on the Move, Fred Dungganon shares how growing up in extreme poverty in Welfareville, losing his father, and surviving through odd jobs shaped his life—along with his early involvement in a spiritist cult marked by fear, emptiness, and syncretism. He tells how encountering the gospel at a youth camp led him back to Jesus, into discipleship, and ultimately into ministry with Dawn for the Poor, an OMF-founded work serving the urban poor through scholarships, holistic programs, and house churches. Fred recounts becoming executive director at 26, navigating a near-closure in 2020 that turned into renewed support during the pandemic, and casting vision for “Project 25” as Dawn expands to more communities across the Philippines.

 

📚 Links from the Interview

Dawn for the Poor

OMF International

Podcast: Episode 23, From the Slums of Uganda to Founding a Conglomerate Social Enterprise

Book: A Journey Of The Poor

Book: Journey to Growth

 

🧑‍💻 About Fred

Fred Dungganon is a Filipino pastor and nonprofit leader who serves as Executive Director of Dawn for the Poor, a Christian ministry working among urban poor communities in the Philippines. Having grown up in extreme poverty in Manila’s slums, he benefited from the organisation’s sponsorship programme as a child—an experience that enabled him to complete his education and encounter the Christian faith. 

After later pursuing ministry and leadership within the organisation, Dungganon became its director in 2007, helping transition it into a locally led foundation. Under his leadership, Dawn for the Poor has expanded its work in education, healthcare, livelihood development, and church planting, impacting thousands of families and communities. 

Dungganon is widely known for his story of transformation—from scavenging to support his family to leading the very organisation that once supported him—and for his vision of holistic mission that integrates faith, discipleship, and poverty alleviation.

 

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In this episode of God on the Move, Ed Michaelson shares how his calling to missions led him to work as a tentmaker bi-vocationally as an A&E doctor in southeast London while founding 500k, a charity that trains and supports Indian leaders to share the gospel and plant churches in unreached villages. He explains the vision for 500,000 churches—one in every Indian village—citing research that many villages have no Christian presence, and describes growth from supporting 30 local missionaries to over 1,300, alongside 2,000 trained evangelists. Ed recounts testimonies of healing, family restoration, and a “person of peace” opening a village to the gospel, while also addressing rising persecution and adaptive strategies. He closes with a call to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and to pray for “no place left” in global mission.

 

📚 Links from the Interview

500k website

Podcast: 77. The Essence of Relational Peace: A Journey in Faith, Education and Community

 

🧑‍💻 About Ed

Ed is the founder and CEO of a charity called 500k International, whose vision is a church in every village in India. 500k trains and sends Indian people to plant churches in Indian villages in partnership with local Indian leaders. Ed also works part-time as an A&E doctor in London.

 

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In this episode of God on the Move, Gary Sweeten shares how his small-town, collaborative schooling and cross-denominational Christian upbringing shaped his lifelong focus on relationships, education, and gentle, grace-filled ministry. He describes a pivotal call to serve Christ that led him into higher education leadership and counseling, including opening a house church for troubled university students in 1970. Sweeten explains that change happens through person-centered listening rather than confrontation, and he highlights the importance of addressing shame as well as guilt across cultures, drawing on his ministry in Scandinavia and beyond. He outlines “Relational Peace” as blessing others with shalom, teaching practical skills such as GREW (genuine concern, respect, empathic understanding, warmth) and renewing the mind (Romans 12:2), urging churches to move beyond a medical model, equip laypeople (Ephesians 4), and become healing communities.

 

📚 Links from the Interview

Relational Peace

 

🧑‍💻 About Gary

Shortly after completing his doctorate in 1975, Dr. Gary Sweeten was compelled to live out the biblical exhortation to equip people for ministry. To that end, he launched the “Teleios” ministry within Cincinnati’s College Hill Presbyterian Church. It was there that he trained and equipped everyday lay people to provide care and compassion to the body of believers. The emotional and spiritual health of the community rose. 

He was convinced the same skills could be used in other settings and he held national and international conferences multiple times per year, and thousands attended. Soon, he was invited to travel to other countries to teach these same skills. People were being equipped and the reports of emotionally healthier individuals, families and communities poured in.

Now with the advent of online learning and the reach/access the Internet provides, Gary and team have launched RelationalPeace.org to make his equipping materials accessible worldwide. The online courses are video-based with accompanying workbooks, and can be consumed individually, in families or in a group format.

 

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