Church Planting, Training, and Ongoing Ministry

Home Church Planting Conferences in the Middle East Raising Muslim Background Pastors & Church Planters 

One of our board members, a Pastor and Missionary himself, has been involved in a ministry called Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI), which is based in San Diego, CA. He recommended DCPI to me awhile ago and told me they are excellent in Church planting and Church multiplication, especially in closed countries such as Iran. In fact, DCPI has helped indigenous leaders to plant over 1 million Churches across the globe. With that in mind, I said in God’s timing we will partner with them to train our people.

Last year, I was invited to a backyard barbeque by a friend here in Colorado Springs. I sat next to a gentleman named Brandon and asked him what he does. He told me he is the son of the founder of a ministry called DCPI. Right away, I knew God had connected us in a divine connection. After a few meetings with them, we decided to do Church Planting training to raise up Iranian pastors and ministers to multiply their disciple making effort.

We prayed, strategized and decided to do two conferences on the same trip. These two trainings were held in very different locations for two very different groups of believers. 2 Timothy 2:2 is being taught, (multigenerational vision for discipleship) – “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” The second conference was a stone throw from the border of Iran. Three random people came out of the woodwork supposedly inspired by God to tell us that we shouldn’t go there and conduct this training. They said, “That city is the armpit of the Islamic regime.” One said, “The Lord pressed upon my heart to tell me that we should NOT go there. It is reckless of me to take my American wife there.” My polite reply was, “I can hear the voice of God for myself.” Usually in these types of situations, I actually know God is about to do something very special, and that’s why these things start to happen. 

After successfully finishing the training in western Turkey, we headed east for the second conference. So far east that it feels like you are in Iran. Almost all of the believers came by bus from Iran to Turkey. 30 were trained at this location. The believers in Iran are just different. There is something about them. There is such a fire and a hunger in them which I have not seen in other places. The persecution, I believe, has purified their faith in God. Many of them have been Christians for a long time but this was their first discipleship conference to attend. Many had never been to a live worship service. Providing them such an opportunity is just a phenomenal privilege. 

There was a man in this conference who came to Christianity through the Alcoholics Anonymous of Iran. In the past 4 years, he has led over 500 people to the Lord inside Iran. At the beginning of the conference, he said to me, “I don’t know what to do with all of these new converts, and their numbers are growing daily.” When he shared this with me, I told him, “God has brought you to the right place, at the right time, with the right people, to do the right thing.” At the end of the training, he knew exactly what I meant. With a sparkle in his eyes he told me, “This conference was absolutely what I needed. A few days ago I didn’t know, but now I am equipped and have a plan to start home churches to disciple all of these people.” 

Providing Farsi Scriptures to Ministries all Across Europe 

“Eliminating the Excuse”

A Pakistani Islamic Organization became aware of the Muslims who were converting to Christianity as they traveled through Turkey to Greece to Western Europe. On this path, many Muslims hear about Christianity and some are getting converted and baptized. This issue was so concerning to the Islamic Ummah of Pakistan that they decided to send Muslim missionaries to Greece to start Mosques and stop people from converting to Christianity. Among these missionaries was a Muslim Imam, by the name of Raza. As a zealot, Raza came to Greece to encourage Muslims to stay Muslim, proselytize the Christians and revert them to Islam. Raza started evangelizing to a Greek Christian couple and tried to convert them to Islam. But, this couple persevered in loving him unconditionally for 3 years. Eventually, this hostile Muslim himself converts to Christianity and gets baptized. Now, the Muslim missionary is an evangelist for Christ. He himself now is preaching the gospel and baptizing Muslims converts. 

We met him at a conference in California, and he challenged the ministries present there to help him distribute a million Bibles all over Europe. Bibles For The World, a partner ministry of ours, was there at this conference too, and they committed to print 200,000 Gospels of John in Farsi for Raza. While Raza is preparing to do this mass distribution of Bibles all over Europe, news gets back to Pakistan that he who was sent to persecute the church of God now is promoting it. The Islamic Ummah in Pakistan decides to eliminate Raza by any means possible. They came up with bounties for his head and a fatwa was released that the blood of this traitor (Kafir) was worthy to be shed. Due to major security concerns, Raza goes into hiding. Meanwhile, two hundred thousand Bibles are sitting in a warehouse in Germany with no one to distribute them. Bibles For the World made us aware of the situation and asked if we could help! 

Our ministry quickly went into action mode. We started to contact partners to see if they or if they knew anyone who needed Farsi Scriptures totally free of charge for distribution and evangelism in Europe. Within a few days, we had orders for over one hundred thousand Scriptures. So, I headed to Germany to oversee this mass distribution. In 10 days, we shipped pallets and boxes of Bibles to Greece, Romania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Switzerland, Wales, United Kingdom, Denmark, and more. Some of those ministries wanted to meet us in person and know if we were really doing all of this with no agenda. So I drove to meet them in person. In two weeks, I drove over 4 thousand kilometers to 3 countries (Austria, Germany, Netherlands). I made stops in 21 cities hand-delivering about 30,000 Bibles. By the end of my time in Europe, 138,000 Scriptures were distributed to a variety of ministries which work with Afghans and Iranians all across Europe. We did all of these things to eliminate the excuse of, “if we only had material in our hands we would evangelize.” 

Iran’s Underground Bible Printing & Distribution

“Changing a Nation from Within”

Iranian Christians Intl. expanded the printing and the distribution of Christian material inside Iran now to 3 locations in 3 different cities. This is one dangerous mission to carry as a believer inside a nation, such as Iran. The Islamic Regime is vicious towards such activities by the underground Church.

Once, a new convert was going back to Iran and at the border, the customs and border officer of the Islamic Regime asked him one question: “Are you bringing back any books?” When the new convert told him no, the officer said you can go. I want to point out to you that the regime is not concerned if you smuggle alcohol, drugs or any other illegal things into Iran. What they are concerned about is books, because they understand if the Iranian people start reading any Christian material they will not stay in Islam. An Iranian believer, equipped with Gospel tracts that we are printing inside Iran, goes into a governmental office to take care of some business. There she meets a man who sings the Muslim call to prayer at the mosques. They start chatting and the Lord leads the believer to give him a tract. When the Muslim man starts reading the tract, he begins to weep. After a few minutes of conversation and when he hears the woman’s testimony, he asks, “What must I do to enter the Kingdom of God?” The woman leads him to the Lord and prophesies over him, “You have been singing for Islam but the day will come that you will be singing praises to Jesus.” What we are doing might be very risky, but it is worth it, and we want to personally thank you for giving to such projects. 

The Local Ministry

“Discipling New Believers”

There is a growing community of Iranian and Afghan Christians in the Colorado Springs area, and the need for a local Persian Church to disciple new believers is great. On a weekly basis, we have been gathering with some of these believers in our home for fellowship and discipleship; and, a few weeks ago, we baptized 3 Afghans in our backyard who converted from Islam to Christianity. With the growth of new believers, a Persian Church is needed. As a result of seeing this need, we are in the process of starting a church. In the next few months an Iranian Pastor, who has been a part of this ministry for several years, along with his wife will be moving to Colorado Springs to oversee this Church. We have a great anticipation for what can be done for the Kingdom of God through this church in this region. We appreciate your prayers, regarding this Church plant – especially for all the details regarding the move of the Iranian Pastor and his wife from the Middle-East to Colorado Springs. 

Opportunities for Sharing the Gospel 

One of the biggest challenges a refugee or an immigrant faces when settling into life in America is learning English. In Colorado Springs, there are a limited number of ESL Classes (English as a Second Language) available, and they all have a several month waiting list. There are mothers who want to learn English, but can not attend the classes because there is no childcare.

For the past year, we have known about the situation and have been praying about what would be our part in helping in this situation to not only meet a physical need but also to give us an opportunity to share the Gospel. The Lord has been divinely putting together a group of qualified ESL certified teachers, one of which is a Christian Iranian lady who has a passion to use her giftings to reach people with the Gospel. 

Over the course of the next several months, we will be developing the program and putting together a plan on how we can meet the needs that are not being currently met.

Your Partnership Fuels the Advancement of the Gospel

Why Become a Monthly Partner? 

Monthly partners are an essential part of the ministry. It is the steady stream of income from monthly partners that allows us to plan and prepare for projects around the world.

Would you consider becoming a partner? Through your partnership YOU are fueling the advancement of the Gospel among Muslims all over the world. Many lives and communities throughout the Muslim world are being changed. This change is happening through Bible distribution and evangelism in the Middle East, through training indigenous pastors and church planters who become disciple-makers, and through our massive social media presence.

The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 4:9 – “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.” I believe you and us are the two that are better than one, and in this labor for the Kingdom of God have a good reward.

This month, we are invited to speak at a mission conference in São Paulo, Brazil. 500 pastors will gather for their annual mission conference. We are going to share with them about engaging the Muslim world with Christ and to encourage them to send laborers (missionaries from their churches) to the harvest. 

Thank you for praying, and together with God, we are changing the nations. 

In Christ’s Service, 

Mohamad and Susan