A good friend of mine recently left for France to do missionary work broadcasting the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the channel into Algeria across the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the population of Algeria follows Islam and there is a small Christian population at this time. When people watch the broadcast on television and want to follow Jesus, receive a Bible or speak with someone more about what they had heard, he catches a ferry into Algeria and secretly meets with them. He will give them a Bible, pray for them, connect them with underground churches, and answer their questions. This model, while dangerous, has been incredibly fruitful as thousands of followers of Islam in Algeria are leaving Islam to follow Jesus.
I started thinking of this model recently as I heard the testimony of a Laotian man I came into contact with at FIRM. He, like many Lao followed Buddhism for most of his life. He had a powerful testimony of how He met Jesus and I was left astounded at the many ways that Jesus draws people to himself. These testimonies need to be heard by Lao people in our community. This is the same for the many testimonies from the Hmong community of those that have left the traditional Hmong religions (Shamanism/Animism) to follow Jesus, which has significant cultural implications in most cases. We have the testimonies, the media outlets for the Hmong and Lao communities and the motivational desire to see all come to know Jesus! FIRM will be the follow-up hub for those that hear the message and want to know more, receive a Bible, receive prayer or connect with a local church. I am pleased to announce that we will be pursuing this new ministry, partnering with what is currently going on and I am excited to see the fruits of this exciting work.
If you would like to assist FIRM in these efforts to spread the Gospel throughout the Southeast Asian community, please contact me and I would be happy to speak more with you about this goal! I already have several donors that are ready to help fund these efforts, but we need more support to do so! This is certainly part of fulfilling the Great Commission as we spread the Gospel to “all nations” and I hope you will consider partnering with us. Please feel free to reach out to me over e-mail or by phone at (559) 487-1509.