Suffering shaped her. Obedience sent her. Now she’s building leaders across MENA.
A campus meet-up at Regent University turned into a divine appointment: Dr. Jennifer Murff, alumna and adjunct professor, now serves as President & CEO of the MENA Leadership Center—an organization equipping Christian leaders across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and Pakistan. Her story is equal parts calling, crisis, and courageous follow-through.
Seeds of a calling
Jennifer met Jesus at 16 and felt her heart burn for the nations—first imagining Gambia, later serving in Vienna with the Austrian Baptist Union in a Farsi-speaking Afghan congregation. In education-valorizing Austria, she sensed a mandate: be able to serve the refugee and the PhD alike. That conviction propelled her doctoral studies and a teaching role at Regent.
A foundation focused on the Middle East approached her: could she help design a leadership and capacity-building center? She sourced students. They declined. Then her own name surfaced. Jennifer drafted the strategic plan—thinking she’d hand it off. Instead, she was asked to launch and lead it.
“This isn’t my ministry. I’m stewarding it.”
The MENA Leadership Center began in 2020—oddly perfect timing. When in-person training shut down, the Center pioneered online leadership development for the region. Leaders hungry for help came.
When the leader suffers
In Europe, after being prophetically commissioned alongside leaders from Yemen and Iran, Jennifer walked offstage with a crushing headache that wouldn’t quit. Back home, an ER visit revealed a congenital arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in her brain.
Doors to treatment shut—until a Boston surgeon asked, “Do you want to be treated or healed?” Twelve surgeries followed. Months of rehab. Learning to walk again. No feeling on the right side of her body. House modifications. A long road of tears, grit, and prayer.
“Just because you’re healed doesn’t mean there’s no pain. But God’s promises are still yes and amen.”
A year later, invited by friends from the Christian Economic Forum who had prayed weekly for her, she found herself in Switzerland—hiking in the Alps with a walking stick. Her husband wept as he watched. Doctors had once prepared them for a wheelchair. Now she was summiting.
Jennifer doesn’t romanticize suffering, but she’s honest about its formation: empathy deepened, pace slowed, listening sharpened. “Different root, different fruit—but the same God at work.”
What the MENA Leadership Center does
Mission: Bridge leadership gaps, build capacity, and accelerate the Gospel—safely and sustainably.
How they serve (online & on-site, security-aware):
- Trauma Healing for Leaders (Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical contexts)
- Organizational Capacity & Strategy (planning, process, sustainability)
- Emerging Leaders Program (1-year cohort to build/launch/scale)
- Languages: Arabic, English, Kurdish, Farsi (with expansion in view)
Methodologically, the Center listens first—needs assessments, regional staff, no “imported” formulas. “We don’t assume needs; we serve real ones,” Jennifer says.
Field testimonies (edited for safety)
- Digital Church under pressure: A pastor trained in the Center’s Virtual Church and Human Rights & Religious Freedom courses received a knock from authorities. Because he knew both pastoral and legal wisdom, he adapted safely and kept discipling people online. Today, the work is multiplying.
- Discipleship at scale: The Center is producing an on-demand, “Netflix-style” discipleship series with Dr. Yaser Eric (former Sudanese imam-in-training radically transformed by Jesus). Designed for the region’s realities, this content will equip churches and seekers where physical gatherings aren’t possible.
- Business for mission (in development): Piloting a pathway for Kingdom entrepreneurs (starting in Syria) to launch resilient businesses—simple, local, sustainable—that underwrite families and ministry.
The theology we avoid—and need
An honest word from Jennifer: much of Western Christianity lacks a theology of suffering. Her darkest moment came when neurological complications kept her from unlocking the phone she’d used for 20 years:
“My brain was all I had. I told the Lord, ‘Even if You take it, I will still serve You.’”
That surrender fuels her now—especially when training leaders in places where suffering is daily reality. “God sees you. He knows you by name. And He wastes nothing.”
How you can help
- Pray for courage, protection, and wisdom for leaders across MENA.
- Partner: scholarships for cohorts, production support for secure training, and seed funds for the business track.
- Learn more / Give: Visit menaleadershipcenter.com
Final encouragement from Dr. Murff
“The Lord has a vision for your life and a calling on your life. Pursue it with everything in you. He sees where you are—and He makes no mistakes.”