Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share a snapshot of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region.

“I want to read the New Testament. Do you know where I can find one?”

Deep into the evening, this question floated to me from one of my closest Muslim friends. Her, another friend of hers and her mom and I had been going back and forth for about an hour about the differences between Islam and Christianity.

It really all centers on the person of Jesus. Who is Jesus? Is He truly the Way, the Truth and the Life? Is He the Son of God, fully human and fully divine? Did He really die on the cross for us and does it matter?

Or is He simply a prophet who did some good things while on earth?

As I sat with my friends that night, I had the privilege of explaining what I believe to be the personhood of Jesus – that He is God, Lord of lords, Savior of the world and my own personal savior. They asked questions, rebutted with their Muslim beliefs and we had an almost two-hour conversation about the most important questions we ask ourselves in life: what is truth and who is God?

As the conversation came to a natural end, I made a final statement. “If you as Muslims really believe in the Law & the Prophets and the New Testament [which they say they do although they only read the Quran], I think you should read them.”

This was followed by, “Where can I find one?”

It was an amazing experience a week later to bring my friend a New Testament, with her name written in it, to open it together and walk through the different books of the Bible and discuss the arch of the entire Bible story and where the New Testament fits in. She immediately showed her mom and while my friend and I worked on my language studies, her mom sat on the bed reading the New Testament. Praise God!

As believers, we have a responsibility to share the truth of the Gospel to the best of our abilities and then to pray and trust the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of the hearer and do a divine work. I consistently pray for my friends to be pierced by the Word of God, Jesus Himself, as they read the scriptures.

May the Word of God arise in every nation, for every people group, in every language, to the glory of God. Amen.