Intentional

Yesterday I was worshiping with a group of 20 believers in Jordan, about 10 miles from the Syrian border. Please pray that the fall of the 55-year Al Assad regime would somehow lead to more Syrian Muslims hearing the gospel.

During my recent visit to Cairo, I sat with an Egyptian friend who used to pastor an evangelical church in Gaza. He's been going to the border to provide aid to the few Palestinian refugees who have been allowed to leave Gaza. He told me a funny story about an Egyptian Muslim who lives there and helps him with the distribution. The man has been monitored by the Egyptian police in the past because of previous ties with ISIS. When the police saw his recent increase in cell phone activity and asked him how he made these connections, he said, "the Presbyterian church". Needless to say, the police were shocked!

It is challenging for me to discern why my Egyptian pastor friend and other Arab brothers I know are not sharing the gospel more intentionally with Muslims around them. Perhaps it is fear. Perhaps it is a lack of compassion for their souls. Perhaps it is a lack of passion for God's glory. Perhaps it is a lack of trust that "the gospel (really) is the power of God for salvation to those who believe" (Romans 1:16) and that the Holy Spirit will open Muslims' eyes and hearts. Perhaps it is the reality that my friend is welcomed like a hero by Palestinians when he brings aid but will often be rejected if he challenges their beliefs. I know all of these temptations too well myself. Please pray for me as I try to gracefully challenge these false comforts and identities.

Exploding Pagers

After 4 days in Beirut, I left my host's home on a Tuesday at 3:30 pm to go to the airport. This was the exact time that pagers of Hezbollah fighters exploded, apparently the work of Israel. To get to the Beirut airport, I had to drive through Dahya, one of the most Shi'a Hezbollah neighborhoods in Beirut. It was chaotic. Ambulances were trying to move through heavy traffic. Groups of people were crying on the side of the road along the way. Two guys on a motorcycle drove past me, one with blood coming from his head. My Uber driver learned online that a pager had exploded. "How can one small pager cause this much damage?" I thought. Finally, I arrived at the airport and learned that approximately 3,000 pagers exploded. The next day, walkie-talkies of Hezbollah fighters exploded. Before these two events, the fighting was contained in south Lebanon. This was the beginning of several necessary Israeli operations in Beirut. Israel cannot allow a continuous threat on their northern border. Regardless of our political leanings, would you pray that God uses this war to cause many Muslims and Jews to think carefully about eternity and the person of Jesus?

At a church two days before I left Beirut, I met a brother in his late 20s who grew up in the south. The next day he told me that his dad is an atheist but his mom is a committed Shi'a. He came to Christ through a friend and several dreams, one in which something like wine or blood was being poured on his head. He wants to become a pastor but his dad told him he will receive threats if he does so. Changing his ID card from "Muslim" to "Christian" would mean that he forfeits his inheritance. Will you pray for "A" to follow God's lead in his life, no matter the cost? Keep in mind that Lebanon is the only Arab nation where leaving Islam is permissible by the government. But often there is still persecution from families and communities.

Difficult Decisions

A Saudi brother who grew up in a Muslim family recently wrote to me..."Every year at this time I wonder if I should be here or not as my children start school (ages 10 & 9). It’s confusing to me that I am putting them in a situation where they have to study Islam and sometimes practice it in school (prayer). I am terrified that could affect their identity in Christ. To be honest I don’t know if it’s meant for me to be here also. Is it a calling or a comfort zone (culture, family, etc.)? Sometimes I say to myself that my kids are going to be better servants as they grow up in church with parents who are believers and they know enough of Islam to serve the purpose of preaching the gospel. This kind of thinking is making me physically sick not only mentally."

Would you pray for this couple and many more like them who live in Islamic countries where their kids must attend schools that teach the Quran? Would you pray that God would give them creativity and grace as they make these difficult decisions? This family is blessed to have a wonderful house church. So many others do not. Would you pray that others would?

Would you also pray that God would restrain evil in the Middle East to avoid regional war? This 14-minute lecture seemed to explain the conflict better than others I have listened to.

Training

A missionary in Cairo told me that many local Christians attend "trainings" but are not applying what they have learned. This is something that I have noticed in other Arab countries where I have served. Maybe this is our fault as missionaries. In our efforts to "do something" we host training conferences (often at nice hotels) but training involves more than passing on information. In kingdom work, it usually involves heart change, grace-filled accountability, and some level of relationship with the trainee. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says, "Knowledge puffs up but love builds up." Pray for missionaries in the Middle East, that we trust less in the missional strategies of CPM and DMM and DBS and M2M and 4Fields and T4T. Pray that we will model obedience to God in abundant gospel-sharing and reproducible church planting among all Arabs.

Speaking of training, I've enjoyed training the homeschooled high school boys basketball players this summer. It's been good for me to step away from this computer screen 2 or 3 times a week for a few hours. Recently, we watched and discussed this 10-minute video to get a more biblical perspective on competition.

Name Above All Names

An American friend "K" serving in Lebanon told me about being invited to a home to pray for a man with an evil spirit. He entered the home, unaware of which family member had a demon. As tea was being served, "K" was introduced to a man and immediately his eyes rolled back into his head and he began convulsing on the ground. After 20 minutes of prayer in Jesus' name, he became normal and immediately started confessing sin. Unfortunately, despite his miserable situation and the gospel clearly offered, "K" said that the man did not want to leave his sin.​ ​ ​"K" will soon be moving to serve among very unreached Iraqi Arabs. Please ask God to give him a good church and good friends there.

Years ago, I had a similar experience with a friend that was scary and confusing​, yet clearly supernatural. Yet looking back today, my friend and I both agree that God gave us a great gift allowing us to experience the power of Jesus' name. Whereas before we both believed that Jesus was Lord, afterward we knew it.

Was the Bible Corrupted?

The Bible teaches that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ's death for sin and resurrection alone. The Quran teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross. Therefore, Islam MUST claim that the holy books before the Quran were somewhat corrupted. But when you ask the questions of when, where, who, and how the previous holy books were corrupted, Muslims have no answer. 

I tell them that there was indeed corruption. But it happened in the Catholic church when they sold indulgences to forgive sin. It happens today when Catholics and Orthodox pray to Mary. The Bible says we should only pray to God. But to say that the TEXT of the Bible has been corrupted has no historical basis.

I tell them that this claim, especially without historical evidence, is very dangerous. We Christians do not claim that the Torah of Moses or the Psalms of David were corrupted. They are part of our Bible.

I tell them we have more manuscript evidence for the New Testament than any other book in history... by far. These manuscripts contain the same message in the original language of Greek that I find in the English Bible on my phone.

I remind them that Islam teaches that the corruption of the previous holy books did not happen until after the time of the Apostles. Yet if they study history, they will find that the Apostles took the Bible to Spain, India, and Africa during their lifetimes. How could someone collect all Bibles from 3 continents and change them to say what the Bible says now? This is historically impossible.

We know that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, not just believing in inerrancy. However, faith comes by hearing, and Muslims are more likely to give the gospel a fair hearing if they are persuaded that the source of the gospel (the Bible) is reliable. Pray for such Holy Spirit-inspired persuasion and ask a Muslim you know, "What did you learn that caused you to believe that the Bible was corrupted?"

Ministry in Dubai

The past two trips in September and January have begun in the city of Dubai. The United Arab Emirates is home to 9.5 million people but only 1.2 million are Emiratis. They are 99% Muslim but comfort and materialism may be more of a barrier to the gospel than Islam for most Emiratis. However, most would face at least moderate persecution if they openly followed Christ, especially if they shared their faith with Muslim friends and family members.

There are churches for the expat majority in UAE. Many Asian expats visit churches with Christian friends out of sheer loneliness. Then they hear the gospel and God saves them! There are also Arab churches for Christian Arabs who live and work in the Emirates. However, there is not as much ministry happening among the local Emiratis themselves. Some say that it is even difficult to get to know Emiratis unless you work with them. I'm asking the Lord to help me to identify and learn from those who are ministering to Emiratis, both online and face-to-face. I'm asking the Lord to show me what my little part to play might be in the Emirati church. Perhaps it is biblical counseling, house church coaching, family ministry, evangelism coaching, or a little of each of these. Would you ask with me?

Sudanese Arabs

Sudanese are either Arab (70%) or African (30%), generally speaking. While there are some churches for most of the African people groups, there are virtually none for approximately 35 million Sudanese Arabs. While I'm sure there are brothers exclusively focused on evangelism & church planting among Sudanese Arabs... I don't know of any. Would you ask God now to send more workers into that harvest field? Would you ask Him to raise up workers from within the harvest through targeted social media engagement?

I've known a former M from a Sudanese Arab tribe for 3 years. He has been a believer for several years, has 5 kids, and lives in Cairo so I get to see him on most trips and we zoom between trips. We talk about family, kids' schooling, evangelism to Ms, the war in Sudan, his house church, and the 2 other HCs he influences.

But the conversation in January was a difficult one. He and another brother in his church said that the situation for Sudanese refugees has become so dire that the 3 churches are not meeting because the believers have to work longer hours. They said that all of the humanitarian organizations are corrupt and that the aid doesn't get to refugees. They said that their gospel conversations have stopped because they can't visit homes if they don't bring a food basket. Would you ask God to give me both humility and discernment as I engage in this conversation and others like it?

I hope you find this Greek/English Bible to be as helpful in your study as I have.

Unsaved Or Unreached?

Romans 1 says that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. Romans 10 says that faith comes through hearing. Since 45% of Kentuckians claim to be evangelicals, we can guess that 95% of them will hear the gospel at least once before they die and have a friend who is a born-again believer. We should not be surprised when those around us reject the gospel, for Jesus told us in Matthew 7... "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

You can see here that the only Arab people group that is considered "reached" (>3% evangelical) are Egyptians, who are barely "reached" at 5%. That means that the vast majority of the Arab world will not hear the gospel at least once before they die, nor will they have a friend who is a born-again believer. This is the tragedy of the unreached. The vast majority of them are Muslims, who will begin fasting during their holy month of Ramadan next week. Would you click here to pray for them?

Jesus said in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations, or ethnos meaning people groups. He said in Matthew 24 that the end will come when the gospel is proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all people groups. There are still 7,000 unreached people groups representing 42% of the world's population. Would you pray regularly with Christian friends for Jesus to receive the worship that He deserves among all peoples?

Ministry of Friendship

I recently returned from 3 weeks in the Middle East. I was able to share the gospel with approximately 10 Muslim traveling companions or Uber drivers, then point them to gospel content online with good follow-up. Pray for an Uber driver named Khalid who said, "I have doubts about Islam sometimes." When I asked him to clarify, he sheepishly said, "I probably shouldn't talk about it... but I can't imagine the verses in the Qur'an about killing and wars are from God." It was wonderful to visit a few friends in Dammam, Saudi Arabia after not being there since '12. Surprisingly, my host lived close to the mall where I spent many hours/days meeting Saudis with whom I was in gospel conversation online. 

During this past trip, approximately 80 Arab brothers visited me to drink tea and pray together. Through this "ministry of friendship", I've begun to understand the importance of asking questions and listening carefully. From TikTok to podcasts, everyone wants to be heard but who wants to hear? These brothers will most likely live all their lives in the cities I visit. The Kingdom moves forward as they trust & obey Christ.

A mature, younger brother who lives in south Lebanon where the terrorist group Hezbollah is strongest, recently wrote to me, "Our church started a home church in another nearby area. They believe in it but the goal is not to reproduce it but to do it until it becomes a big church. I am considering maybe starting one at some point since my house will have a big living room. There is no such thing where I live."

Church Change

We love the folks at the house church we have attended for the past 3 years but most of them live at least a 30-minute drive away.  We live a 30-second walk from a Baptist church!  So we've started attending. We know most of the families there so it's not a difficult transition. What is difficult for me personally is not being able to model house church for my Arab brothers. We've made it our goal to attend house churches for the past 20 years. That was easier to do overseas than here in our home state where there are SO MANY solid churches that virtually no one considers attending a house church.

Since everything needs an acronym :-) there are PERKS when it comes to gathering in a smaller, house church...

(1) more thorough discipleship by allowing PARTICIPATION during the church gathering, under the oversight of the pastors

(2) EATING the Lord's Supper weekly as a full meal together like the churches in the New Testament

(3) Kingdom expansion through private churches (not public) that are more REPRODUCIBLE among all people groups

(4) KNOWING one another well enough to discern one another's salvation through baptism and church discipline if needed

(5) STEWARDING financial resources more strategically by giving more to missions.

Our elders at the Baptist church know that we would like to see biblical house churches planted in our city and are supportive of that. Until then, we will enjoy growing in Christ and serving God with them together.

I leave soon for my next trip. Pray for new friendships as I may add 2 or 3 new cities in the Arabian Peninsula to the itinerary. I will most likely not be able to visit Nazareth due to the war.