What are you willing to die for?

by Kate Taylor on June 29, 2009

Victoria Stargel is 19 years old, a sophomore at Union University in Jackson, TN.  She recently went to Sierra Leone, West Africa with a team of ten people from her church, First Baptist of Humboldt, TN.  After her return, I asked her about the process of going on the trip, whether her age impacted her ability to serve the Lord and why she was motivated to journey across the expanse of the Atlantic to visit a people she has never seen.

WHAT PURPOSE? You get so much life experience just going and experiencing new things.  You can get the same thing from the Peace Corp.  But there is a deep spiritual fulfillment in seeing what God is doing around the world.  It deepens your walk with God when you realize that he is the same no matter where you are in the world.  When you realize that his power transcends Kentucky and Sierra Leone, you realize how great a God you serve.

When I asked Victoria how she knew that God had called her to go, she said, “I believe that all Christians are called to a lifetime of missions wherever they are.  For me, I feel called to a lifetime of international missions.”  Victoria felt excited about the trip when she first heard of the possibility and the excitement, she said, just built as she learned more details.  She began to look at the date and time, the possibilities.  When she talked to her parents, they were immediately supportive and she said that was a green light for her.  Looking back, she realized, “God had been developing a heart for Africa in me for several years.”

WHAT MOTIVATION? Obedience to the Great Commission through my church.  A desire to work in Africa and work with Muslim people because I feel like that’s where my life calling is going.  Seeing lost people come to Christ; God’s glory across the nations is my passion.

Victoria’s team was connected with a ministry called Susu Gospel Mission which was founded by one West African tribe who felt God’s call to reach out to another West African tribe.  They traveled with national believers to new churches and areas where churches were being started.  “The presence of foreigners helped strengthen the ministry of the nationals,” said Victoria.  “It showed the locals that what the national people had to say was important enough for Americans to come all the way to their country and walk to their village.  Because it’s a relational culture, the fact that we went, ate with them, slept with them, danced with them, walked with them meant something.”

WHAT CHANGE?  God moved.  One cool story is that (in the village of Somaya) they had hired a witch doctor who had been there for a month praying for rain.  It hadn’t rained.  When we got there, it rained every night we were there and it stopped raining when we left.  And so the talk around the village was, “The Christians’ God is more powerful; they brought the rain.”

I asked Victoria whether, as a college student, God was able to use her to accomplish His purposes through this trip.  She gave an emphatic yes.  “God worked through me and used me simply as a willing vessel. Now, as in the past, each time I am used by God, He uses the experience to prepare me for the future. A verse that God has used to direct my life and which I used when speaking to the youth in the church in Somaya is 1 Tim. 4:12. This verse talks about being an example to the believers even in one’s youth.”

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DIE FOR? I will die for that which motivates the heart of God - His glory and His people. However, my willingness to die means nothing if I am not willing to live as a “living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1) for the same purposes. My life is to be spent “do[ing] all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31) and being a witness to all the world (Acts 1:8); if obedience to these commands leads me to death then, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

I will die rather than verbally or physically reject the name of Jesus. I will die in the stead of a nonbeliever; my fate is eternal life, his is eternal death. If by my death I give him even a few more minutes to decide to follow Christ, I will die willingly.  I am willing to die for fellow believers; Christ loved His church and gave Himself for her, why should I do less?

Jesus Himself declared that, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” (Luke 9:23-4)

Victoria in Sierra Lionne

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Beginning

by Kate Taylor on June 26, 2009

With excitement, I look forward to being involved in the conversation here on Mission Leader.  As part of my introduction, I would like to offer you a few of the articles I’ve written for Baptist Global Response.  They are available on baptistglobalresponse.com or on Baptist Press by clicking the links below:

Aid targets famine in Kenya’s Rift Valley

Skills training improves Thai village life

As you know, this site is designed to be a dialogue on everything missions; as I begin blogging on here, I’m eager for your input.  Which topics would you like Mission Leader to tackle?  What questions do you have that need answers?  What conversations have yet to be started?

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Generational Transfer of Leadership SBC

by Mark Morris on June 25, 2009

The Southern Baptist Convention met this week and for the first time that I can recall in a number of years closing ranks is not what will be the most reported issue that hits the media.  Someone said about our convention that its like a large family reunion where there’s always some crazy aunt or uncle or cousin that says and does something idiotic.

We certainly have lots of those crazy relatives who like to present resolutions against everyone and everything.  Honestly - I’m embarrassed and ashamed at the foolishness that has occurred over the years in some of those actions and resolutions.  Evidently, I’m not alone because increasingly, young leaders have disappeared from the halls of those frustrating meetings.  Well, this year, was markedly different.

Earlier in the year I had the privilege of participating in one of Johnny Hunt’s gatherings with young leaders. At the gathering, there were some of the “old guard” SBC leaders present.  But Johnny really wasn’t concerned with what they had to say.  He was there to listen to the 40 or so young pastors who overwhelmingly stated, “We aren’t going to fight over the Bible or Calvinism or whatever the old folks want to fight about. We would rather walk away than fight.”  Their message was, “We are busy in our local churches fighting to share Christ with the Lost and to mobilize our members to the ends of the earth. Only that is worth fighting about.” WOW!  How refreshing.

Over the year Johnny has listened long and hard to these young leaders. Here’s my paraphrase from something I heard Johnny say in one of those meetings.

One of the most significant things that happened in the US elections this past year was the generational transfer of leadership.  Black president or not, the point of no return is that a young leader has taken the helm.   The same thing must happen in the SBC or the SBC will dwindle away. Those of us who are greying aren’t going to like everything about the change in leadership.

Johnny’s goal seems to be to serve as the president who issues in that transfer of leadership from those the generation of yesteryear to the generation to come.

I have friends on every side of every aisle in this SBC world.  I’m friends with some old folks who want to keep fighting the battle for the Bible.  The young folks are saying, “Duh!”  That one is over. Let’s move on.

I have friends who lost that battle and say, it wasn’t a battle for the Bible at all - it was a battle for power and control.  Those friends are looking at this and distrusting anything  that could be coming from the SBC.

I have friends in new churches that have remained uninvolved and detached from  denominationalism because of their embarasment at the crazy aunts and uncles.  Some have been shunned or insulted because they were too calvinist, not calvinist enough, too culturally relevent in their preaching, too graphic in their language, too open to drinking and other “vices” etc, etc.

Here’s what I want to say to all of us about all of this -  Wait. Watch. Listen. Pray. Just practice what your reading in the Bible.

One of the most important statements made this week was by David Platt, “God doesn’t need the SBC.”

Another one of the most important statements made this week was by Johnny Hunt who told about a conversation he had with someone in which Johnny was rude and offensive.  God didn’t let Johnny rest until he went to that brother and confessed his rude tone.  Johnny’s statement was, “The small things are important.” We must go to our brother and be reconciled.

If the young leaders resonated with anything this week it was those two statements.  This battle is not about the SBC. It’s about living the faith that God has called his children to live.  It’s about walking in faith and obedience.  What I recall about the battle for the Bible that occured in our denomination is that there was a lot of rude and offensive behavior. I heard Johnny saying that the way and manner in which we contend among ourselves IS important.  We can’t ignore scripture to fight for a higher cause.  We have to act like the body of Christ. Both of these two statements resonate with young leaders and grow out of God’s Word.

Johnny Hunt and David Platt preached repentance this week.   They preached the Great Commission. They taught reconciliation and love. They challenged us to humility.   If there was a difference this week - it came from sincere, Godly men calling everyone to live according to God’s word, not fight about it.

Expectantly waiting.

Other blogs on this topic

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/06/sbc-report.html

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/my-thoughts-on-todays-southern-baptist-convention-meeting-62309

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Introducing Kate Taylor

by Mark Morris on June 24, 2009

I want to introduce you to Kate Taylor.  She is a a double major at Union University in Jackson, TN. She is majoring in Journalism and Intercultural Studies.

Kate was an assistant news editor last semester at her campus newspaper. She’s writing for Baptist Global Response and for Last Letter (more on that later.)

Kate also has the unique perspective of spending a significant portion of her life in Kenya and the Far East.  She literally has friends around the world.   Kate is going to be a regular on Mission Leader. Watch for her posts coming your way in upcoming issues.

Kate Taylor

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Do the Google Wave!

by Mark Morris on June 7, 2009

How many of us are building communication strategies around email, facebook, text messaging, and other digital and social networking tools?

While this is not a techie site, we all better be watching the up and coming Google Wave! It’s set to be the lastest innovation and future industry standard in what could replace some common tools like email, wikki’s,  sms, chat, etc.

Not being a techie, but being someone whose organizations are putting money into online resources and tools, I need to know about this and watch where it’s heading.  Take a look and be amazed at what is coming…

What is a Google wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Some key technologies in Google Wave
Real-time collaboration Natural language tools Extending Google Wave
Concurrency control technology lets all people on a wave edit rich media at the same time.

Watch the tech video

 Server-based models provide contextual suggestions and spelling correction.

Watch the tech video

 Embed waves in other sites or add live social gadgets, thanks to Google Wave APIs.

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Guidelines for Churches Sending “Their Own” Missionaries

by Mark Morris on May 27, 2009

Here’s a local church sending question - one that is only important if you are dealing with it.

The question - What if my church wants to send our own missionaries without the aid of a mission sending agency?

Many churches come from a tradition that believes this is the best way to send and support missionaries.  No question - missions is the responsibility of the Local Church.  No question - when a small or large church takes complete responsibility for the sending, the financial supporting, the field mentoring, the financial oversight, the transportation and housing needs, the ministry guidance and the spiritual support of a missionary family thousands of miles from the US, there are issues to address.

I’ve been in a setting in which missionaries felt called to go, they were qualified, but for some reason were not able to join one of the existing mission agencies.  That fact alone is worthy of asking some serious questions.  Why wouldn’t this  individual go with one of multiple excellent sending agencies? Why aren’t they qualified to go with an agency?

There are clearly situations in which a particular project really merits the local church sending their own team.  That decision is wrought with potential land-mines.  That decision can also be a tremendous means to involve the church in a great way than ever before.  With everything riding on the church’s effectiveness to send, support, pray and engage the missionaries and their ministry - opportunities abound for the entire church to get involved.

My own experience with local-church sending outside of a partnership with an existing sending/supporting agency/partner is this -  only experienced, mature, cross-cultural workers should endeavor such an effort.

Why?  Here’s two reasons that I recommend when sending as a local church, to make sure you partner your chruch’s missionaries with great field partners.

1. Cross-cultural learning requires guidance, accountability, and repeated encouragement from someone who has experienced the value of going deep into the language and culture.  Even the best North American mission leader, committee, or pastor doesn’t have the time and touch to constantly monitor and encourage an inexperienced missionary to make steady progress in appropriate cross-cultural learning.  As an experienced missionary who can speak a second and third language fluently, I was never able to insure that the missionaries our church sent separate from a partnering agency ever learned the language.  Even today they continue to use a translator and thus will never be able to communicate deep spiritual truths in the heart language of their audience.  This, in my view is one of the greatest tragedies and greatest risks to the spread of the gospel through a means that indigenous communities can understood.  It’s a fallacy to think that getting the gospel out there is enough. The message must be communicate not only through intelligible words, by means of messengers that understand the subtle non-verbal communication that often carries more weight than words.

2. Isolation, personal spiritual crisis, and marriage and family issues are nearly impossible to monitor and support without lots of opportunities for presence and touch.  I’ve had the unfortunate responsibility as mission pastor to travel from North America to Asia to meet with a family whose marriage fell apart on the mission field.  The warning signs were apparent to many, but there was no one on the field who was responsible for sharing those concerns with their sending church. In fact, there were two sending churches and both of us assumed the other was doing their part.  We failed and the children and marriage suffered the loss.  Avoidable, personal tragedy is too easy without hands-on care.  Add to that the fact that the right agency might have better screened the couple and rejected them, encouraging them to stay and work on their marriage.  In our case, the couple was connected to people of influence in the church, which made it nearly impossible to not send them.

Not every story ends in tragedy so that my message is not “Don’t Do This.”  Rather, my advice is when a local church sends, do it right. Don’t send novice missionaries on your own.  Don’t send any missionaries without some kind of prearranged field support system.

This subject was raised by a pastor who recently wrote a group of us and asked for policies and procedures related to local church sending absent from an agency.

Gary Coombs is the Mission Pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, CA.  Gary’s church is diligently seeking to be an effective sending church.  He sent a copy of his church’s sendingagencypolicy for local-church-sent and supported missionaries.  Thanks Gary for allowing us to make your guidelines available.  If any of you have similar documents to share - please jump in and pass them on so the rest of us can benefit from your experience.  That’s code for “we want to steal your ideas.”  It’s for the kingdom!

Take advantage of more free tools and resources from mission leaders by checking out the resources and links on missionleader.com.  If you have a resource you would like to share with others and you are willing to give them away on this site, please send them my way and I’ll post them for others to “borrow.”

Mark Morris

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Gloves Off Over International Missions’ Meager Cut

by Mark Morris on May 21, 2009

The economy is a great motivation for the mammoth SBC denomination to address the elephant in the room of the denomination’s allocation of missions funds.  Pres. Johnny Hunt is attacking it as a spiritual battlefield.

At the heart of Southern Baptist life is a passion for the lost. The mechanism for doing missions has been through cooperative giving and colaborative implementation of North American and Global Missions.  Yet, Dr. Jerry Rankin points out the disparity between the location of the lost and the allocation of Southern Baptist’s funds.  The two are so out of whack that is frightening.

Today, for the first time that I  can recall, the President of the International Mission Board is publicly challenging the State and National distribution of funds toward international missions. Hurray!  Of  course I’m biased but have known this to be true since the first time that I delved into the subject in 1997.

The game we play is to call any thing that moves (or does not move) “missions.”  So one can easily challenge the claim that too little goes to “local and global missions” with a description of why this or that institutional endeavor is “real missions also.”  But the day is gone when the church of today and tomorrow buy that bill of goods. Information about the bottom line is available for all to see.

Thank you Dr. Rankin for pointing out that of the $12 billion that Southern Baptists received in offerings, only 2.5% serves international missions.  Yet the SBC was born for the purpose of International Missions.

Thanks Johnny Hunt for “taking off the gloves” to attack the issue. Imagine the impact if the percentages were reversed - if 90% of the $12 billion were spent on International Missions, and North American church planting.  Isn’t that what followers of Christ would expect - More for Missions - Less for Us?  Of course that’s what Jesus Would Do!

Read the article below for a fresh, authentic look at how conviction, stewardship and passion for the lost are rising to the surface of one of the largest mission sending forces in the world.

Mark Morris

TAG: Taking off the gloves

TEASER: SBC and IMB presidents say it’s time to refocus on the Great Commission and ‘rise to the occasion.’

Hunt says take off the gloves, Rankin challenges Baptists to adjust priorities

By Shawn Hendricks

DENVER, Colo. (BP)—After a vote by International Mission Board trustees to suspend some short-term appointments and limit the number of new missionaries it can send, Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt told trustees it’s time “to take the gloves off.”

“We need to take the gloves off in Jesus’ name and tell the truth so the people will know,” said Hunt, as he spoke at the IMB’s trustee meeting May 20.

Lack of funds is forcing the IMB to limit the number of missionaries it can send to the field.

“I think Southern Baptists are going to say there are some things we can cut, but sending missionaries is not one of them,” Hunt said. “That is not an option.

“I personally believe that with all my heart that the people of God will rise to the occasion.”

Hunt’s message echoed an earlier report by IMB President Jerry Rankin.
In that report, Rankin gave unequivocal endorsement to the concept of a Great Commission Resurgence as advocated by Hunt. He indicated that the health and vitality of Southern Baptist churches and the future effectiveness of the denomination are dependent on reclaiming this focus for which the Southern Baptist Convention was formed.

Rankin also challenged Southern Baptists to retool “outdated” denominational formulas to reach a lost world for Christ.

“God has blessed Southern Baptists in numbers and resources, and we will stand accountable before God for whether we use those resources to serve our own needs, church programs and denominational entities or fulfill our mission task to reach a lost world,” Rankin said.

With 95 percent of the world’s population living outside the borders of the United States, Rankin said the percentage of Cooperative Program funds being channeled toward overseas missions is not enough. In order for Southern Baptists to adjust to a changing world, that percentage needs to be increased.

Last year, the Annual Church Profile reported that Southern Baptists gave $12 billion in offerings. Of that amount, less than 2.5 percent made it to international missions through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering — which provide the means to send and support overseas missionaries.

“The number of missionaries we can support is totally contingent on the voluntary giving of Southern Baptists and determined by the allocation of Cooperative Program resources as determined by state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention,” Rankin said.

“Although we are driven by a vision to reach a lost world … we must operate within available resources.”

Rankin acknowledged that the problem begins with personal stewardship. The number of Southern Baptists who tithe regularly is diminishing.

Yet now is the time to act. The opportunity to reach a lost world has never been greater, he added.

Last year’s IMB Annual Statistical Report showed that 565,967 people had been baptized, and 26,970 churches had been started overseas through IMB missionaries and their Baptist partners.

“God is using global events to provide unprecedented opportunities for global advance,” Rankin said.

“The harvest is accelerating, unreached people groups are being engaged as never before, but we are on the verge of forfeiting the opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission.”

If the IMB doesn’t send those who have a passion for missions, Rankin said, many of them will find other channels, other mission agencies. Many of them will be forced to raise their own support. Churches then will begin diverting resources to support those called from their congregations.

“They will be forced to be obedient to God’s call by going independently,” he said. “The Cooperative Program will suffer as a result.”

“We need to recognize that we must get on board with God’s agenda of going into all the world and making disciples of all nations.”

Hunt’s letter to the Southern Baptist Convention calling for a renewed commitment to the Great Commission is available at greatcommissionresurgence.com. To see a chart on how Cooperative Program funds are channeled, go to imb.org/main/give/default.asp.

Shawn Hendricks is a writer with the International Mission Board.

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Restrictions lifted on IMB travel to Mexico

by Mark Morris on May 8, 2009

After initial travel restrictions for IMB personnel, the International Mission Board resumes non-emergency travel by its personnel to Mexico.

5/7/2009
By IMB staff
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)—The International Mission Board has lifted restrictions on non-emergency travel to and from Mexico by its personnel. The decision, announced May 7, was based on updated information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
Though ongoing outbreaks continue to spread in the United States and internationally, reports on the severity of the symptoms indicate that the strain is not as dangerous as public health officials originally thought. Last week, the IMB suspended non-emergency travel in response to the CDC’s recommendations that U.S. travelers avoid all non-essential travel to Mexico.
All missionaries who were previously restricted from travel may now return to Mexico. U.S. churches with imminent mission trips to Mexico are encouraged to continue to stay in touch with local contacts and to monitor CDC recommendations as they make travel plans.

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A Different Perspective on Mother’s Day

by Mark Morris on May 3, 2009

A friend sent me this letter from a Muslim background follower of Christ.  The letter gives a different perspective on the role of mothers in his land.  Remember your mother this week.

Mark

Excerpt of a Letter Below —

As most of you know I grew up in a Muslim Family, and brought up with a combination of Muslim and Central Asian cultural values.  Some very good values, while some not so impressive. One of the teachings of Islam is about honoring your parents especially mother. Mohammad said: “Paradise is under the feet of mothers.” So in order for a person to go to paradise his/her mother has to approve of his/her good behavior and ask God to send her child to paradise. While she herself is not sure where will she end, to paradise or to hell or to a place in between called Barzakh.

On the other hand even for the most righteous Muslim to go to paradise is that they have to cross a bridge called SERRAT. Which, according to Mohamad and the Mullah of our neighborhood Mosque the serat bridge is thinner than a string of hair and sharper than Sword.

And the legend in our neighborhood says that one day when a famous drug addict and gang member of our area was in the mosque for Friday prayer. There he heard Mullah say that all Muslims have to cross the Serat Bridge to get to paradise otherwise they would fall down in everlasting Fire of hell; he got up, shook his prayer mat and leaving the mosque he said to Mullah: “if that is the way to paradise not even you can cross it, so why should I waste my time here” and he left.

I am reading you this so that you know how hopeless I was as a Muslim. But today I thank and Praise God, because now I don’t have to cross the Serat Bridge. I don’t have to go to bed with fear that if I die I will fall from Serat Bridge in to the flames of hill that Allah has prepared for me.  Today I have a promise and that promise with Confidence says: “my child, if you leave this world today, you will be with me in Paradise”

We thank God and Jesus the living son of God for his sacrifice on the cross, and for this GREAT ASSURANCE and Promise. That whoever who believe in Him shall not parish but have eternal life. And where will that eternal life would be? IN PARADISE WITH JESUS.

Now that you know about the role of mothers in recommending God to take their children to Paradise I should also let you know that it gives some mothers a bit more power of persuasion . And the example of that would be my mother who lives in Central Asia.  When I told her that I am a Christian. She began weeping and saying “if I am your mother please come back and be a Muslim. Or I won’t forgive you” in other words: “you won’t go to paradise”. And crying she mentioned “I sent you to the Islamic school to learn Quran so that when I die you read Quran on my grave, and now you become an infidel. Now God not only punish you but God will punish me as well for your sin.”

So should I be afraid that because my mother is not happy with me I will end up in hell. No of course not. Because I love Jesus and he is enough for me. I am content with Jesus. Because I have Jesus and he takes my hand and take me with him to where he is. And I am sure wherever he is it is much nicer than (the writer’s home city) in winter.

One day Fatima the daughter of Mohammad asked her Father to make sure she goes to Paradise when she dies. Mohammad got angry and said: “I am not sure if I am going to paradise and you ask me to promise you that. Everyone is responsible for himself or herself.” Wow. Isn’t that a risky business to follow a leader who doesn’t know where he is leading you?  That was my situation 10 years ago.

We are so blessed to have Jesus Christ, the great leader, friend and savior who not only knows the way, but HE IS THE WAY, The truth and the life. Isn’t this a wonderful promise?! “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) and he says this with authority and confidence. He doesn’t say if I go then you can come with me.
Jesus not only takes us straight to God but He also gives us the right to become children of God.  “To all who received him (Jesus Christ), to those who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
And of course children are always allowed to stay in their father’s home. And guess where our Father’s home is? PARADISE.  Imagine a place where there is no war, everybody loves one another, no one cuts you off while driving, and we even don’t have to pay taxes any more, And we might never see any pothole again.

Just remember if Jesus says to a dying thief on the cross: today you will be with me in paradise. How much more does he want you and me to be with him in paradise?  And this promise is not only for the dying man on the cross but to all of us here who believes in him.
And we have this confidence in Jesus Christ. That one day we will be with him in Paradise. Because in Jesus we have eternal life, and we have the assurance that we will not be condemned, and we have the promise that we have crossed from death to life.

“Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed from death to life” (John 5:24).

P.S: you are free to share it with friends without mentioning my name and address.

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Amazing Conversations

by Mark Morris on May 3, 2009

A dear Afghan brother, Hussain Andaryas does a weekly, live call-in television broadcast into the Muslim world.  In today’s post-9-11 world, Americans tend to rule out any thought of Muslims coming to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. We’re distrustful and simply do not believe it.  In fact we struggle with the question - “God, how could you love a Muslim?”

Take a look at some excerpts from recent telephone calls from Iran and Afghanistan as well as Saudi Arabia.

God is at work, even among Muslims.  Could it be that God loves All Peoples?  See excerpts from his recent newsletter.

Here are a few more of the many, many calls we receive:

1. Mr. H. from Turkey: “My salams (Greetings). For a long time I have been trying to call you and thank you for this very good TV program, I am so happy… in fact right now many of us are together just like every week, watching. We are so blessed. We all have committed our lives to Christ and we now have weekly Home Church. I am 34 years old. I have spent 30 years of life as Muslim but God has shown me the right path. I am so glad I have met God. Yesterday We celebrated Eid-e-QiyAm (Resurrection day) and some of our Afghans obeyed in the water baptism. In fact just minutes ago I led one person to Christ. Brother Andaryas, we want to always be in contact with you. We really need some Dari Bibles. We want to request you to please increase the time of your show. May God bless you so that you can fulfill my wish…”

2. Mr. I. from Kabul Afghanistan: “Hello, I have been listening to your show. I have now come very close to following Christianity. I have one important question: If I become a Christian how can I get baptized? Is baptism important to be saved?…”

3. Mr. N. from Herat Afghanistan: “Hello brother, I really need a Bible…”
 This man also called another day and he asked me very important questions. Here are few words from our 28 minutes long talk over the phone: “You have answered my questions. I am very thankful that I found my answers. I would like to study the Bible now. I have been watching your TV shows for a long time now and I am happy that it is now live. Please pray for me so that I can fully understand Christianity. I now almost call myself Christian, I am, how to say it… very close to becoming Christian…”

4. Mr. and Mrs. A family from Iran: “Hello brother Hussain, My name is … and I am actually your countryman. I am from Shamali (North of Kabul) We are all Christians in the family now; we love your program. We never miss…” When I asked him to share his testimony, he said; “I am a man of few words, I will give the telephone to my wife because she was the first one to become Christian and she let all of us to Christ…” And the rest of time his wife, sister Nargis, shared. If you want to hear them and if you know Dari, you will really enjoy hearing them. See the program titled, “Revenge” in section called: Past Programs.

5. Mr. A. from Saudi Arabia: “Salam brother Andaryas, I just called you to let you know that I have been watching your TV show and I have accepted Christ now. I have only one request; please pray for me now…”

The above calls were just few of the programs of April 14th and 21st.

These same programs are also compiled and put through radio by our sister organization. So not only do these go through Live TV and 8 hours of repeat through TV, but also through Radio and 24/7 through the internet.

There are so many emails that we receive that reflect the above phone calls. We also get some threatening calls and emails but it is all part of our work.

For us, it is a joy to be part of this wonderful ministry and we praise the Lord for all of you who pray for us and support us in this work of the Lord.

God bless you,

www.afghantv.com

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