“I’ve decided to follow Jesus,” Daoud announced. Laughter rippled through the crowd of men gathered for prayer in the mosque.

“Here he goes again,” someone chuckled. “He’s mocking Christians again.” The villagers waited expectantly for Daoud to continue.

As a prominent imam in the region, Daoud’s reputation afforded him a large following of students and leaders. People loved to hear him preach. He had often ridiculed non-Muslims—especially Christians.

“I have decided to follow Jesus,” he repeated loudly above their laughter. He explained that as he studied the Islamic texts, God showed him that following Jesus leads to the fullest life. “Jesus is the King over all, and we should follow Him—not the other prophets.”

Laughter turned to rage. The crowd surged forward to seize Daoud.

“Leave Daoud alone,” the village elder shouted above the roar of the small crowd. “His great learning has caused him to go mad!”

Reluctantly, the crowd in the mosque let him go. But a few hours later, a couple villagers tracked him down and attacked him. They left him for dead, beaten and bleeding from a machete wound.

Daoud managed to escape into the forest and hid for a month. Meanwhile, his house was burned down. His wife and children fled to her family in a nearby village.

Some nights, Daoud sneaked out of the forest to find food. Occasionally, he visited his former students and told them about Jesus. But the villagers still pursued him. He knew they’d kill him if he were found. So Daoud fled across the country.

In his exile, Daoud met a team of Frontiers workers who were training people to start Bible studies and help others follow Jesus. As he started studying Scripture with Luke, the team leader, Daoud’s understanding of Jesus’ authority grew quickly.

Daoud started going to Muslim villages with Luke and his team to introduce people to God’s Word. In one village, Daoud witnessed dozens of men and women studying the Bible together. Afterwards, the people huddled around the team and begged them to stay and share more of the truth with them.

Their hunger for God’s Word amazed Daoud. He’d never seen such responsiveness to new information and eagerness to learn more. He decided to do everything he could to replicate these Bible studies—starting with his own village.

In spite of the danger, Daoud returned to his village with a passion to share God’s Word with them. Providentially, the threats on his life had diminished.

Daoud tried gathering villagers together to study God’s Word, but at first, no one came. The people felt they couldn’t trust a deserter of Islam like him.

Then he invited Luke’s team to come speak in his village. Dozens of skeptic villagers showed up, ready to defend Islam at the slightest hint of offense.

One of Luke’s team members began by posing questions—challenging the crowd with scriptural truths they’d never considered before. He shared about the hope of the Kingdom, drawing on passages from the Bible.

Furrowed brows softened as men and women heard, for the first time, about God’s great love for them.

Luke’s team closed by offering to pray for anyone who needed healing. A small crowd gathered around them.

“This is good,” the chief said as he pulled Daoud aside. “We must gather like this often.”

Since then, the villagers have gathered regularly to study God’s Word.

Daoud also meets with leaders in nearby villages to read the Word and discuss the Kingdom of God. With the help of Luke’s team, Daoud is coaching them to use a Bible study model that helps their villagers engage with the Word and apply it to their lives.

The influence of these leaders reaches over a million people. As Luke and his team help Daoud build a network of Bible-based leadership, the Gospel’s impact is spreading to communities all across the country.

Luke, the team leader, reports:

We’re seeing an unprecedented eagerness among the chiefs, elders, and authority figures of this region to share God’s Word with their people. We’ve met with dozens of leaders to discuss passages of Scripture and how they can lead their communities into a godly future.

One local leader—a new believer—has authority over dozens of elders and their villages, amounting to several tens of thousands of people. Another authority figure brought together 30 of the elders under him to study the Word of God.

These leaders are now promoting the Scriptures among their people and are encouraging their villages to gather in fellowships for Bible study.

In these village fellowships, people discuss God’s Word and pray together. At first, most groups have no believers. But we teach discipleship to Jesus from day one. When people start coming to faith in Christ, then we consider it a church.

Luke and his team are seeing other imams like Daoud come to similar conclusions about Christ after encountering Him in the Quran. After discovering hints about Him in Islamic texts, they’re driven to learn more.

Hamid is another imam, and he provides leadership for more than 150 villages in his region. Like Daoud, Hamid discovered Jesus through his independent study of the Quran.

Now Hamid partners with Luke’s team to start fellowships in each of the villages under his authority. He’s formed a coalition with other elders in his region to start dozens of new village fellowships every year. Several new fellowships have been planted and are already multiplying.

Moreover, entire societies are being transformed as people study God’s Word. Luke says,

Some elders are beginning to judge civil cases more justly because of what they’re reading in the Scriptures. They use the Bible as they counsel people, especially husbands and wives who are seeking divorce. They encourage spouses to reconcile and embrace God’s purposes for marriage as outlined in His Word.

One elder says God’s Word is removing the filth from his people’s hearts. It’s promoting righteousness in them.

Recently, dozens of leaders met with Luke’s team to begin producing a curriculum for biblically-based leadership training. They also want to create a children’s book to help instruct the next generation to walk in godliness.

Praise God for the ways He’s drawing an entire country to know and honor King Jesus. Pray that similar movements of faith in Christ will grow throughout the Muslim world.