What Matters Most
In ministry there are always many needs and opportunities. We work very hard to set what requires our priority efforts and attention, or very important things (people!) “could” get lost in the shuffle. I was asked recently, “What MATTERS MOST?” Glad you asked!! Here are just a few examples of WHAT MATTERS MOST:
Ovie — was a fierce Indonesian Muslim fundamentalist who not only persecuted Christians but also Muslims whom he felt were weak in their faith. All who lived in his town feared him and he rather liked that reputation. For several nights, however, he began to be confronted by Jesus, who not only appeared to him in his dreams but put the cross against his face. After sleepless nights he finally told the only Christian he knew—someone he had nearly killed weeks before and who is part of our network. Through their many conversations, Ovie became so convinced, that he turned from Islam and became a bold spokesman for Jesus. Ovie matters!!
Hazara father and two sons living in Pakistan contacted one of our staff members stationed nearby with an urgent request. They all three wanted to be baptized! Hazara people have been severely persecuted throughout time. As a minority Shi’a sect, they have faced continual discrimination. However, when Christians share their life and faith, we may not know who is watching or listening. This father and his two sons were impacted by faithful followers who shared Jesus at great risk to themselves. The result is that their eternity is changed forever and all three were baptized! This precious Hazara father and his sons—matter!
Khaled – was born in the United States to a devout Muslim family who previous had moved to the U.S. from Kuwait. In most every respect he grew up thinking of himself as a normal American young man. As he got into his teens, then to his university, he struggled balancing the faith of his family with “real life.” He had endless opportunities to talk to others from all faith backgrounds but was moved most by his Christian classmates who showed great care and compassion, never judging him. His classmates had gone to a training much like our Bridges Seminar and put what they learned directly into practice. Ultimately, he renounced Islam to become a Christ follower, but kept this change secret from his family. Khaled eventually fell in love with a Christian girl, which forced the conversation. To his surprise his mother had been a “secret” Christian for many years and his father, who knew it all along, despite his disappointed, could not disown his wife and son whom he loved dearly. One day, perhaps this father will also accept Jesus as his only route to true life now and paradise eternally. Khaled -and his mother- matter!
We have now trained well over 400,000 Christ followers to be the link between the curiosity of Muslims and a personal relationship with Jesus! Next week we will see hundreds engage our Master’s level intensive training, Sahara Challenge. If there were a “marker” on a world map, our alumni of this and other trainings would look like dots all around the globe --doing ministry as career missionaries, pastors, teachers, physicians, technicians, salespersons, parents, grandparents and more!
In early May we will be gathering Nashville leaders as we continue to develop a strategy to reach and serve the 20,000 Kurds living in Middle Tennessee—the largest group of Kurds outside of “Kurdistan.” This is right in our back yard!
Pray for our “fresh” army of church planters in India who are right at this moment cultivating their groups who will eventually become worshipping bodies of Christ!!
Pray for the “undercover” groundwork we have begun in Pakistan! This is some of the most challenging work we have ever attempted and will require years of faithful cultivation.
Please pray for us as we mobilize the family of God to reach from our “neighborhoods to the nations.”
