Let me Explain

Anywhere in the world where ministry is done, there must be an effort to find the people that God is preparing to receive His word. Many times we use the term 'fishing' for this. In a country like this you must sow the seed to hundreds, thousands, and millions to find those people who are questioning. We have had some opportunities of late to do some basic outreach. One way has been through a survey. It is a simple survey with about 5 quotes from the Bible. The survey is about personal improvement and the Holy Book(Bible). The aim of the survey is to point people to a website if they want more information.
Another opportunity we had was to simple take some guitars and sing hymns for the Psalms. Especially those written by David. We went with a friend who has been in the country for a long time and just simply asked people if they new anyone who was sick or needed encouragement. We ended up singing to a group of five. It was a great way to sing of how God is our salvation, helper, protector, etc...
I'd love to hear if you have any creative ways to help reach people!

Ok with Hell

It boggles my mind. How could anyone be ok with going to hell. My friend and I were talking with a young man. He was 21 years old. He started talking about the Bermuda Triangle. In Turkish it is called Satan's Triangle. I asked what he thought would happen if he flew over the Bermuda Triangle. He said he would probably die. So I asked him if he was sure where he would go after he died. He said no, but probably hell. He commented that he drank alcohol, had relations with girls outside of marriage, etc... all of which were sins. He didn't even blink. It didn't even seem to bother him. Which just flabbergasted me. I know that the Holy Spirit uses what we say and even what we don't say to plant seeds or convict hearts. Right now I'm wondering what we can do to get people like this begin to think about eternity seriously. There are so many people in this city who are following the god of materialism and they are ok with the fact that they are going to Hell.

What Are You Living For?

Today Nelson Mandela turned 90. It has been all over the news. I don't know how you feel about Mr. Mandela's accomplishments. He is known for many things, which we won't get into. Everyone is singing his praises, and maybe he deserves some. I must give the man some credit. At 90 he is still speaking and fighting for what he believes in. Oh, that Christians would fight as hard as this man has fought for what he believes in. He is fighting for a lesser cause. We have a high calling. We have good news. The best news that anyone could ever hear. Yet, in comparison to the zeal that Mr. Mandela has shown fighting for human rights, I wonder if we are found lacking. What are you living for? What are you spending your time on? We have the opportunity to lay up treasures in heaven, and to bring praise to the living God. May we be found faithful in the work of the Lord.

Update

It's been a while since I've updated all you thousands who read this:) God continues to bless. We continue to work on our language. It's exciting to be able to go deeper into the Gospel message with contacts we have. Pray that we would have boldness in our witness. God has allowed us to learn some things from some people who have been here a while. We are eagerly anticipating trying some things that we have learned. We have also been blessed to be able to rent an office. We should be able to begin using this next month. We have started a blog in Turkish. One, to help us with our Turkish and two, maybe people will stumble across it. I'm not sure if I mentioned it on the blog, but there is a website in the works. Be in prayer for this. We have some people committed to helping us with it. We want to honor the Lord with this site, as it will be all about His Word. I would like to put a plug in for my language helper. He is a Turkish believer, and has great skills. If you need any kind of web design work done, and you would be interested in having my friend help, let me know. I can send you his blog. He has some of the things that he has designed on his blog.

Ephesus Update 3- Opportunity

Well being in the region we were in, we were surrounded my biblical history. The city of Izmir where you can fly into then bus or drive down to Ephesus is the biblical city of Smyrna. The rest of the churches we read about in Revelation on all relatively close to this area. This gives one a great opportunity to talk about the Bible. While waiting at a gas station because Angie's flight was delayed 2 hrs., I spent time talking with two of the employees. The one man had a biblical name. He began to ask me if I was a Muslim. I told him no and he asked what I was. I told him I was a Mesihci(Mesee-je), or follower of Christ. I learned this from the two believers we met at the camp we worked at. Many people use the word Christian but in this country it carries baggage with it. He didn't know what a Mesihci was so he asked me to explain so I did. Well long story short he is a young married man with a young child and he invited me over for dinner while I was waiting. He and his wife asked me if I had ever considered becoming a Muslim. I told them no. I explained that the only way to heaven is through Jesus. He asked if I thought the Koran was Holy and if Muhammad was a prophet. I told him according to God's Word the answer was no to both questions. I had a great opportunity to share what we believe from the Bible on how we get to heaven and why good works can't save us. In the end, he gave me a Turkish Koran, which I was ok with, because that gives me the opportunity to give him a present, God's Word! I don't think it was an accident that we met. Pray that God would give us more opportunities to visit him.

Ephesus Update 2- What we saw

So we stayed at the camp and worked three days. After three days of hard work, it was refreshing to be able to visit the Turkish church there. It was really cool to think about that we were in a house church in Ephesus. So after working Angie and Braxton met me and we stayed 2 days, and visited the ruins of Ephesus. It was amazing to be standing there in a city that Paul had spent so much time in, and he wrote such a great letter to the people there at Ephesus. The ruin site is huge and covers a lot of area. The amphitheater behind us is said to have held 25,000 people. Above is a picture from the top of the ruin site. I could try to describe it, but it wouldn't do it justice. What was really cool was on Monday morning before we left the camp we were at we took a hike up the hills behind the camp. When you reach the top you have a beautiful view of the Aegean Sea and of the amphitheater in Ephesus. If you like history, and seeing historical sites, Ephesus is a great site. Furthermore, it really brings the New Testament and the apostle Paul's journeys to life. They even have little statues of Diana, the god of the Ephesians, that you can purchase. So what all this means is you should plan on coming to visit us and you can also visit Ephesus.

Ephesus Update 1-What I Learned

We just got back from the Aegean Sea region. A group of men, 4 in all, went to work for three days at a summer camp. This camp was shut down by the authorities last year because they said they weren't up to code, which usually doesn't matter unless your a Christian camp. So I and my teammate and 2 other men were able to help a little bit with the repairs that they needed. I and my teammate like to practice our Turkish whenever we can. There were two believing men that work at the camp that we were able to talk with. So the first thing that I learned is that the majority of the people come to Christ the same way. I see this more and more as I meet believers and talk with them. For some this process may only be 2 weeks for others though it could be months. First, their faith is in question. They have heard about Jesus and don't understand. Whether it is from someone asking them questions about Christ or their own questioning, something makes them begin to think. Many times this is because a family member or friend has trusted Christ and they began to wonder about this. Next, they began to watch the Christians that they have met. This is a problem because many people don't know a true Christian. They watch and see if that person's life matches what they say. Throughout this time the gospel is being explained to them, by the Christian that they have met. God opens their eyes and they are saved. The two men that we talked said that the love that the Christians showed them made a big impact in their lives. The first time they visited the Christians made them feel liked they belonged.
Now here are some of their observations about foreign Christians in the country or people that visit:
1. They need to show respect to God's Word. Many Americans put their Bible under their seat or pew or in front of them on the ground, but if it is God's Word it needs to be treated with respect.
2. The need to show respect for God's Day. This was directed more to people that visit their camp. Many times they come and visit and come to the services dressed in shorts and t-shirts. When Muslims go to worship, especially on Friday, they are always in nice clean clothes.
So needless to say I love talking to the Turkish believers and getting their opinions on all kinds of topics. We helped them with some work and they helped us with our Turkish. Once again we see that how you live is much more important than what you say.