For months, my teammates and I had been praying for God to lead us to people hungry to read His Word and learn about Jesus. The first breakthrough came when we met an elderly midwife who was open to the Gospel. She invited us to share the Good News in […]
The Beautiful Word and a Garden of Dreams
My team and I recently committed to 40 days of prayer, asking God to move in power throughout the Muslim world. Each of us on the team chose to fast as we felt led. About 12 days in, I found myself struggling in the fast. I was visiting my Muslim […]
Praise God in All Circumstances
Il-hamdullillah. My Arab friends use this phrase in nearly all of their daily interactions. It means “praise God” in Arabic and is the standard response to the question, “How are you?” I learned to say the phrase on my first day of language class. But it wasn’t until much later […]
Ramadan Night Shifts
Before becoming a missionary, I worked as a nurse in a hospital. In my first nursing job, I worked the 12-hour night shift. And I loved it! I’ve always been a night owl at heart. That’s how Ramadan has felt—like working the night shift. Ramadan is the holiest month of […]
Frontiers President Emeritus Bob Blincoe on 50 Years of Missions Service
In 1970, a campus ministry worker knocked on the door of Bob Blincoe’s dorm room at the University of Oregon and shared John 3:16. Bob’s life changed in that moment as he surrendered to Christ. On a blind date a few years later, Bob met Jan, who shared his ambition […]
The Work of the Spirit in a Muslim Man’s Heart
Eric stepped out of his apartment and locked the door behind him. He entered the building’s old wooden elevator and absentmindedly pushed the button to go to the ground level. Discouragement clouded his thoughts as he descended. For over two years, he had been telling his Muslim friend Sidi about […]
Coffee, Goosebumps, and the Seat of Honor
“Yalla, nit’qahwa,” my Muslim friend says. Translation: “Hey, let’s have coffee together!” Nit’qahwa is my favorite Arabic word. It expresses one of my very favorite things to do here in the Middle East. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve nit’qahwa-ed with a friend or a group of women, […]
A Muslim Family Baptized on Easter Sunday
On Resurrection Sunday, a Muslim-background single mother named Shamsia and her three sons were baptized into the body of Christ. What a joy for my teammates and me to witness this Easter baptism! For some time, we’d been sowing the truth of the Gospel into Shamsia’s life. A couple of […]
Jallab: A Simple and Refreshing Ramadan Beverage
Jallab is a summertime beverage popular in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Sweet and floral, the refresher is often served during Ramadan after sunset, when Muslims break their day-long fast from food and drink. The beverage is made with syrup or molasses made from dates, although some people use sweeteners sourced […]
A Vision to Reach One City and Impact the World
We stood on the flat roof of a two-story school, warming ourselves in the spring sunshine. Sarah, a long-term field worker, pointed toward the city center of Al Jadid, the small, conservative city a short distance away. Fields bursting with the bright green of new shoots lay between us and […]