Just a real quick update as we have come to the end of another week. I received a call from Pastor R earlier in the week with a little bit of information to add to the previous update.
A story which began with a man named Suleiman and his four grown sons is continuing. You’ll remember that HOB brothers Mahmoud and Farouk had been given the opportunity to preach the Good News about Jesus in a mosque filled with ISIS (Daesh) militants. 180 men came forward, prayed the sinner’s prayer and made Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives.
Since then, another 20 militants have been reached with the Gospel and now, Suleiman and his uncle who is the head sheikh as asked the House of Blessing if they could send some teachers so the new believers can take an intense Bible course and learn to understand the Bible as the missionaries do. The new students (with the backing of the mosque) are going to provide food for all the students to have something to eat during their long days of study. Some money was also provided so that they could get some more Bibles purchased for the students. This has now been arranged. The 200 students are being divided up into groups of 50 and six teachers and assistants will be working with each group. They plan on the course lasting about 2 ½ to 3 months. What a wonderful blessing and opportunity. And, they are able to provide for themselves for the length of the course! Praise God! I have been given the names of all the teachers and have been asked to provide them for you. I know there are those of you who will pray for these teachers by name.
Group 1:
Aaraf
Khedr
Quseem
Hussam
Fahed
Salim
Group 2:
Yacoub
Shahin
Muhannad
Fadi
Yassir
Omran
Group 3:
Kamal
Imaad
Rafeeq
Malik
Jawad
Ayman
Group 4:
Ehab
Jassim
Riad
Deyaa
Yassen
Waleed
Each of these missionary teachers have dedicated themselves to seeing the time of teaching and discipling through to its conclusion. It is quite a commitment, especially realizing the 180 degree turnaround made by these men. The arm of God’s grace is not short!
Just briefly before closing this short update, some of the missionaries that regularly turn in reports have sent in some of the results of their evangelism for the first few days of this year’s Ramadan.
Omar and his team of missionaries were able to reach 280 families with the Gospel. 18 among those who they prayed with were already on death’s door but changed their eternal course before leaving this earth. Praise God!
Mufiedah and her team of widows reached 170 families. 6 older women who they prayed with were near death but were reached in time.
Hafezeh and her helpers have continued to suspend communion services for a little while so they can concentrate on the work of evangelism and were able to bring another 40 families into the Kingdom of God.
Brothers Abed and Adel and their team reached 80 families and prayed the sinner’s prayer with them all.
Sisters Fatima and Mariam have also held up on communion services for a bit and as a result reached 35 entire families with the Gospel.
Brothers Ibrahim and Akram, along with their team of missionaries were able to reach 140 families with the Good News.
In western Iran, brothers Sahbanber and Mortadah were able to share the Gospel with an additional 35 families and pray with each one.
Pastor R’s assistants, Youseff and Radi continue praying for 170-190 people every single day. What started there weeks ago is continuing and as incredible as it sounds, every single person coming for healing prayer has been healed in front of an abundance of witnesses. Praise God!
Please keep in mind that these are not merely statistics. Each one of these folks are a living soul. We pass the numbers on mainly so the reader can see who white this field of harvest is and how the multitudes are responding. The ones we report on are just the tip of the iceberg among all that God is doing on the front lines.
As Pastor R has reminded me on occasion, these family groups are quite large. The responsibility that HOB takes in following up with these new believers is quite a challenge. They very much need our prayer support. In fact, they depend on it. Thank you so much for doing so.
The needs continue to be very great. It is an exception to the norm when a group of new believers can supply for themselves like in the story of Suleiman and his group. Most have almost nothing and so HOB does whatever it can possibly do to distribute at least a few Bibles and sacks of wheat when possible. For those of you who have donated, every dollar has gone into the work of the HOB missionaries. There is no paid staff. But, God continues to multiply!
Thank you all for your prayers and support! God is good!
Forever in His Service,
Jake
Now to Him who is able to do abundantly more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power at work within us,
to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever, Amen
Ephesians 3:20,21