The Call for Muslim Evangelism

October is coming to an end, and I couldn’t be any more excited about it.

Here in Peru (not so sure about other Catholic countries), this month is the celebration of “El Señor de los Milagros” - The Lord of the Miracles - or “El Mes Murado” - The Purple Month.

Throughout the day, the most religious people in the community will wear purple robes to remind everyone what month it is.

Every night a different section of the city will have a huge procession where dedicated crowds gather in the street with anticipation of receiving a blessing or even a miracle from God.

Fireworks explode right outside our window for hours at a time. When the excessive and colorless explosions aren’t waking up our two week old baby, we can hear the local band right outside our bedroom window striking up the world’s most depressing song ever written (to honor, of course, the Lord of the Miracles).

Reminds me a lot of the monks in Monty Python’s “Search for the Holy Grail.”

A giant image of Jesus on the cross and Mary crowned in glorious splendor is carried by the most devout and evidently sincere admirers.

When the initial irritation of constant noise in my back yard fades away, it’s hard not to be broken for the people so dedicated to a false god that will never hear them or love them.

With tear-filled eyes, religious followers will cry out for hope and mercy to some statue only to wake up the next morning with the same sense of hopelessness they had the day before.

Trusting in their works and the empty promises of their religious leaders, millions of souls remain lost and on their way to hell.

Satan’s greatest tool to deceive the people has always been and will always be religion.

Whether the person is a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, or confessing Christian and is trusting in anything other than the finished work of Jesus Christ alone for salvation, that individual remains hopeless.

What a responsibility we have as the children of God to share that hope with those around us.

Norah got her first full bath tonight. Up until now, it’s been all sponge baths. Norah absolutely hates to have any part of her body exposed (let’s hope and pray that never changes), so it was quite an emotional event for everyone involved, but she pulled through it all right. She couldn’t have cared less about the rubber duckie we put in there for her, but it made the scene complete.

Every day get’s better and better.

The last few days, I’ve been working on a video that tells Gretchen and my personal story as well as explaining our ministry in North Africa. My friend Travis Snode wanted to use it in his mission conference this week.

That’s why I’ve not been able to write or send out pictures lately.

I really appreciate media ministry more now than ever. A 5 minute video took me more than 30 hours in editing alone - my curse of being anal retentive.

The day came for me to send it to Travis and strangely enough the program I did all of the work in wouldn’t open.

Luckily, I saved all the info on my external hard drive…or so I thought.

I tried to open the project on Benjamin’s computer, only to find out that the data files were empty.

If the “PC guy” were around, I would have punched him in his fat nose.

I tried to uninstall, reinstall, and every little Geek Squad trick I could think of, but my “Satan” Vaio (which comes up as a misspelled word in its OWN system) couldn’t handle the emotional pressure evidently.

Needless to say, I missed the deadline, and I have nothing to show for booku hours of retina damaging work.

On the bright side of things, I at least know how I want to do the video next time, and that it is the last time I try to do something important on a PC.

Sorry, John, but it looks like I’m turning to the dark side.

A friend of mine has been working with Muslims in Southeast Asia for several years now.

Check out his blog Ministry of Grace, and get some exciting news about his ministry and learn how you can be more effective in your outreach to the world of Islam.

The Hindus of North Africa just inagurated a new temple in the city of Ceuta.

For those of you who speak Spanish, this video (the one on the left) may interest you.

Ceuta, prides itself as being a cultural and religious melting pot in North Africa.

Gretchen and I are excited about the opportunity God has given us to make a difference in the world through this diverse city.