Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Thank you for your prayers and support they keep us going to share the Gospel with the unreached and disciple the body of Christ here in the Middle East.
Evangelizing Muslims
One of our major tasks here in the Middle East is to clearly present the Gospel to Muslims. Here in Turkey the population is around 99.6% Muslim. We have developed a very effective and Biblical approach to sharing the Gospel. God honors our zeal to be Ambassadors for Him and sends many our way. Just in the last seven days we have shared the Gospel with several Muslims; it was the first time they ever met a Christian or heard the Truth. Here are a few stories from this week:
1. Hasan: Hasan is Kurdish and “M.” whom we work with made first contact with him and introduced him to us. Yesterday “E.” and I spent 5 hours with him explaining the differences between Islam/Christianity and the Qur’an and the Bible, and the truth of the Christian faith, along with our testimonies and answering his questions. Hasan said to us, “I have never heard any of this before, I now have to search out for myself by reading the Bible and the Qur’an to see if what you say is true or not.” He did not want us to leave him that night and wanted to spend even more time speaking about such subjects. We will be meeting him again next week. Pray for Hasan he is young, married and has a child. E. and I brought him to a point that he must choose Christ and reject Islam. In this society it is very difficult to make such clear cut commitments and many pastors even have wavered between being a Muslim or Christian because of societal and family pressures. Pray that the world and or Satan will not choke out the seed that has been planted in young Hasan.
2. Suleyman: Suleyman also Kurdish, befriended “E.” on a bus yesterday and for 1.5 hours. “E.” clearly presented the Gospel and the differences between Christianity/Islam the Qur’an and the Bible. This young man was also shocked to hear this for the first time in his life and was in disbelief. Like Hasan, he wanted to bring his own Qur’an and begin to read the Bible concerning what “E.” challenged him on. “E.” shook Suleyman’s world-view and beliefs at the core by sharing that Jesus is the Christ that was prophesied to come and not Muhammad. Pray that the Lord would enlighten the heart of Suleyman.
3. Barish: Barish also Kurdish, is friends of another in our church (Beytel). From 10 P.M. until 4 A.M. Kenan, “E.”, “Ah.” and a new member of our church “Bh.” Shared their testimonies and the details of the Christian faith. They also challenged him on the differences between Islam/Christianity, Bible/Qur’an. This man was so happy about what he was hearing that when he left them in the morning he said, “May the Lord bless you all!”. Please pray for Barish as we stay in continual contact with him.
Church life at Beytel: One of the most difficult issues that Christians from a Muslim background deal with is loneliness. Their families, friends and society as a whole reject them and all they have is the church. The local churches here are usually made up of 10-30 believers. Within many of the churches there is much back-biting, division, gossip, slander, jealousy and pride. Many are disillusioned with what they have seen. One believer I know has been a Christian now for 3 years and has already seen two church splits in two different churches! Our fellowship is now being known as “The 10th Village”. There is a proverb in Turkish: “The one that tells the truth is thrown out of 9 villages, long live the 10th village!”. We are considered now by many as the “10th village” which tells and accepts the truth. Everyone that has visited us has said the same thing, “We have never seen a church act like a real family, you guys really love each other and no one is out to see what they can “get” out of someone else”. Another person said, “When I saw that you guys were trying to do everything according to the Bible I became afraid of the accountability, because I have never seen anyone do this before”. Another person has said, “This is exactly the type of church that we need as an example for this country.” One man said after a worship service, “I have been in churches for 4 years and I will never forget this night, I have never worshipped God or seen the Spirit like this present in a church in my life”. This is not because our worship is so great, or our sermons are the best, but it is because of the love and care that we show one another. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another”. (1 Jn. 4:11) We also pour out our hearts before God and ask Him to create a revival in us that would be shown to the world. Continual confessing of sins and coming back to the blood of Christ keeping our focus on His word alone is our heart.
Pray that God would: Create a full and continual revival in the hearts of those at Beytel Church. Pray that God would cleanse us, protect us and grow us spiritually/numerically.
Urgent need: We never made it to the East last week, 2.5 hours into the drive our vehicle “blew up”. The engine is gone and needs to be re-worked. We have decided to retire the vehicle and just use it for local trips and now purchase a new vehicle for longer Zacchaeus trips to the East. The repairs for the car are upwards of $3,000. To purchase a used vehicle in good condition we need around $8,000 more. If anyone can help with any part of this, you will be helping put the legs on the Ambassadors of our King to take the message of the Gospel to unreached villages. Thanks for your help and prayers.
For the King,
J. from Istanbul.
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