In 1982, at the age of 28, Keith and two of his children died in a small airplane crash in Lindale, Texas. In a short life and tragic death, multitudes have been impacted by the message Keith and Melody sang and proclaimed. God has ordained His Good News be sung in every language and for His message to be shared all over the world.

In a small village high in the Andes mountains of Ecuador, another young man found Christ many years ago. Realizing Jesus was the hope for his people, Pastor Manuel and his wife Paula determined to share the Lord the rest of their lives. In his native language of Quichua, Pastor Manuel would walk to mountain villages, sing songs about Jesus, gather a crowd, and preach the Gospel. Over the years, thirty to forty churches have been planted in the hidden valleys and majestic peaks of his beautiful country. The poor, the disenfranchised, the young and the old are offered a place at the Lord’s table.

Pastor Manuel, Paula, son Marco, and his wife Mayra flew into Atlanta Good Friday and have encouraged many. At one gathering, teachers who have led mission teams to Ecuador shared the marvelous ways they and others have been impacted by this humble family. God’s ways are amazing.

Here’s a summary of heartfelt love: “Thank you for sharing your lives with us. Though we come from different cultures and speak different languages, we see Christ in you. We have witnessed true faith in action. We see how much you love the Lord and how much you love people. We see how you serve the elderly and the children. You have prayed for us and blessed us more than you know. We love you.”

Some of us would not gather much of a crowd by singing on a street corner, but God wants His Light to shine through us. He wants every person from every nation to hear the Good News of His Son. The Holy Spirit is at work to bring forth the harvest. May we offer ourselves as willing servants.

“I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make Your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that Your love stands firm forever, that You have established Your faithfulness in heaven itself.” Psalm 89:1-2

I met Andre and his son Trey at L’Arcada as he led his sixth summer of American football camp. Trey, an eighth grader quarterback, was making his second trip to Spain, re-uniting with friends who greatly impacted his life two summers earlier. Using his sport as a vehicle for sharing Jesus with young people, Andre has also started a football camp in neighboring Portugal.

In Spain, as in many other countries in the world, if you throw a ball to an athlete, the kid will likely let the ball bounce off his chest and kick it. But American football has a following in Europe. The NFL has recently promoted the sport there with the hope that it might approach the popularity of soccer. Even under the blazing summer sun of Spain, Andre loves to teach a novel sport to kids with a heart to learn.

What I noticed quickly about Andre was his love for people. Not only do other American coaches often join him, but guys from Spain who attended the camp when they were teenagers also volunteer to assist. Some of these young men play in an American football league in Barcelona. Andre’s sense of humor and genuine kindness draw people. When kids find out that Jesus is the One who leads their coach’s life, they take notice.

A goal of all the L’Arcada Sports Camps is to reveal that there is a God who created us, who loves us, and who has a purpose for us in Christ. For teenagers, it is often fun activities, relationships, and selfless love that help create the spark. Andre has established deep friendships in Spain that began with a sport, but progressed to a different level.

God loves such connections. The day before Karlyn and I left camp, Andre invited everyone to L’Arcada’s newly built swimming pool to participate in an important event. Trey told his parents he wanted to be baptized, and that he wanted his Spanish friends to be present. So we all celebrated a young man being buried with Christ in a nation not his own. Though many miles separate, Trey knows he has brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who love him and are part of his spiritual family.

May the light of Jesus so shine in us that others will take note and glorify our Father in heaven.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

Growing up in such a slum, Rani heard singing one day and followed the alleys until she found the source. Welcomed into the group, Rani not only started doing better in school, she discovered the One who created her and loves her. Leaders discovered Rani’s beautiful voice and now she leads other children in singing praises to the true God… in a land where thousands of false gods are worshipped.

No matter the continent, some of my favorite life experiences are playing with children and telling them about the One who loves them most. Wherever you go, kids are kids… with a love of activity, an abundance of curiosity, and an uncanny ability to see through hypocrisy.

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36-37)

Jesus had compassion on everyone, but He took special note of children. His heart still breaks as He sees kids digging through garbage dumps to find something to eat… or children abused by adults who take advantage of the weak… or little ones who never get to hear about the love of the Heavenly Father because of false religions and systems propagated by the evil one.

“Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field.’” (Matthew 9:37)

Lord, give us Your eyes and Your heart of compassion. Let us feed the hungry, heal the sick, teach the children, resist evil, and proclaim the Good News to all the sheep that are without a Shepherd. Amen.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.’ When He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there.” Matthew 19:14-15

“If you have a heart for the Jews but not a heart for the Palestinians, you don’t have the heart of God… and if you have a heart for the Palestinians but not a heart for the Jews, you don’t have the heart of God,” is an example of Brother Andrew’s wisdom that has impacted the ministry of Harry and Dagmar in Israel over the past decades. Regarding a visit to Andrew’s home in Holland, Harry said: “What impressed me most was his prayer group, a small band of same-aged friends he prayed with before going on his trips around the globe. The group had only 5 to 6 people in it and accompanied him throughout his entire lifetime of ministry.”

Brother Andrew is in his 90’s now and the impact of his life is immense. Not only did he smuggle thousands and thousands of Bibles into Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain, he started Open Doors, an organization that serves believers in lands where persecution is most severe.

Brother Andrew sets an example for those of us who want to follow Jesus: surrender your life, ask for God’s direction, pray with others who have faith, trust, obey…

When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey.

I believe Brother Andrew would emphasize: “God is faithful to ALL who will trust and obey…”

Of course we’ll be uncomfortable at times; of course we’ll make mistakes; of course we’ll be asked to sacrifice; of course we’ll face hardship… but this is how it has always been. Jesus is the Head; He is the Way… and He says: “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

As a new Christian in his twenties with a desire to reach the lost, Andrew accepted an invitation for all interested young people to come to a socialist festival in Warsaw, Poland. Sitting on a bench with Bible in hand, he heard music and looked up to witness the ‘Parade of Triumph’ advancing down the avenue.

They marched because they believed. They marched eight abreast: healthy, vital, clean-cut. They marched singing, and their voices were like shouts. On and on they came for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, rank after rank of young men and young women.

The effect was overwhelming. These were the evangelists of the twentieth century. These were the people who went about shouting their good news. And part of the news was that the old shackles and superstitions of religion, the old inhibiting ideas about God, no longer held. Man was his own Master: the future was theirs to take…

The Bible in my lap lay open, pages ruffling in the morning breeze. I put down my hand to hold them still and found that I was looking at the book of Revelation. My fingers were resting on a page almost as they were pointing. “Awake,” said the verse at my fingertips, “and strengthen what remains and is on to the point of death…”

Suddenly I realized that I was seeing the words through a blur of tears. Could it be that God was speaking them to me right now, telling me that my life work was here behind the Iron Curtain, where His remnant Church was struggling for its life? Was I to have some part in strengthening this precious thing that remained?

But that was ridiculous! How could I? As far as I know, back then in 1955, there was not a single missionary working in this largest of all mission fields. What could I, one person without funds or organization, do against an overwhelming force like the one passing in front of me now?

But Brother Andrew did make a difference! As he trusted God and obeyed Him, he experienced the provision and protection of the One who is above all. Now he invites others to pray, to give, and to serve their brothers and sisters who are suffering because they love and follow the One who died for us all.

“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” Revelation 3:2-3

‘God’s Smuggler’ by Brother Andrew with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, published by Signet, ©1968, p 82

After being rescued by Canadian diplomats during the November 4 attack, the six Americans were hidden in homes in Tehran for nearly three months. Tony Mendez, an operative in the CIA, used friends in Hollywood to devise a plan to create the cover of a Canadian film company visiting Iran to scout the location of a science fiction film. In 2012, Ben Affleck directed and starred in the movie called ARGO, which won three Oscars, including Best Picture. The book, also published in 2012, is much different from the movie as Tony Mendez details the people involved and the steps required to execute the incredible escape.

Remembering the hostage crisis from college days, my interest has been recently rekindled because of a missionary’s encouraging report of the number of people presently turning to Christ in the nation of Iran. Our son Taylors’s mother-in-law, Ruth, was the daughter of missionaries to Iran and lived in the country 10 years. Her older brother Tat was a one-year-old when the family moved there and he has ministered to Iranians most of his life. Tat, his wife and their two children were four of only 300 Americans living in Tehran during the fall of 1979. He visited the U.S. Embassy November 3, the day before the attack.

After being accused of being a spy and having his picture on the front page of a newspaper, Tat and his family left Iran during the summer of 1980. He had pastored Community Church of Tehran with only a handful of members. It is thought there were only 3,000 believers in the entire nation, though missionaries like Ruth’s parents from America and others from England had labored the previous two hundred years. Now Tat is one of several voices reporting that Iran may be the nation with the fastest growth of Christianity in the world. Some estimate there are anywhere between a half million to eight million followers of Jesus in the country, despite constant threat of persecution.

Fluent in three languages, Tat and his wife Emily have planted two Iranian churches in the States but reach multitudes in Iran, the Middle East, and Europe through the internet. Some of the young people they led during their years in Tehran serve as courageous leaders in the Body of Christ today. Incredibly, in 1980 it looked as if the Church in Iran was totally decimated. But after foreign missionaries left, Muslim-background believers carried and spread the flame of Christ. Such bold witnessing coupled with the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit through dreams, visions, and healings remind us that “with God, all things are possible.”

In a recent podcast, Tat encouraged Christians in our country to draw close to God, surrendering every area of life to Him. Revival often comes through times of difficulty. God desires every living soul to experience the life only Jesus can give. Let’s pray a hunger and thirst for His Kingdom and His righteousness overshadow the fear, discouragement, and hopelessness so prevalent today. May the world know: “Jesus reigns!”

“The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.” Revelation 11:15

Happy New Year!

(Special Invitation: If you are interested in this story and implications for believers today, reply to this email and I will send details of a one-hour ZOOM meeting this evening (December 31, 2020). I believe we will all be encouraged in the Lord on this New Year’s Eve. Feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested…)