- Eric Metaxas in Prophesy World Watch -
"A Washington Post article tells the story of a tiny Baptist church near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The congregation had dwindled to just fifteen members. With bills stacking up, Deacon Larry Montgomery told the congregation, “We’re just not going to make it.”
Montgomery then told the people of Scenic Drive Baptist that there was a congregation who might want to buy the church. This congregation had been meeting in homes and had a pastor whose business card quoted John 4:35: “Look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
Montgomery approached the pastor, who then called his flock to pray about it. His prayer began “Abuna Semawi, nashkurak.” That’s Arabic for “Heavenly Father, we thank you.” The pastor, Egyptian-born Raouff Ghattas, a nuclear engineer by training, had attended a Southern Baptist seminary with a view to becoming a missionary. He and his American-born wife, Carol, share a mission: “Never rest until you tell every Arab about Jesus.”
For two decades they served in places like Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia. But when they returned to Carol’s hometown of Murfreesboro, they found that their mission field had come to them. The town even had a mosque.
So they went to work telling local Muslims about Jesus, and Scenic Drive Baptist Church became Arabic Baptist Church, a place where Arab Christians and non-Arab Christians can worship together.
In every sense that matters, Scenic Drive Baptist did “make it.” It just did so in a way that suited the moment we are living in."
Read more HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment