The very first Muslim Connect recalled my reassurance to an Indiana church that, āSheās not going to blow up the Walmart!ā That was back when Saudi students were arriving in the U.S. in the tens of thousands and most of us, me included, had never met a for real Saudi Arabian.
Today, we have 50-60 thousand Afghans moving into the neighborhood and last weekās news that the refugee pipeline is re-opening means upwards of 165,000 more new comers. I wonder if Muslim Connect is needed now more than ever.
Thereās also a special subset of humanity whoāve been on my heart in recent months: AroundĀ 422 Muslim people groups could be classified as unengaged, meaning no one is living among them, working in local languages to catalyze movements of disciples. Theyāre most likely not coming here. Some of us from somewhere need to figure out how to go live among them, to share the good news that Jesus died for them and God has great, abundant life dreams for them.
Because of this, Iām grateful God has seen fit to keep this little email going and our intrepid tribe alive. Iām grateful for the many of you who have donated, some year after year, to keep Muslim Connect growing. I celebrate those of you have been here from early on, even those who were among the brave 29 who subscribed to read the very first ever Muslim Connect. Thank you.
This started with simple premise:
God loves Muslims and wants to enfold them into his kingdom.
God chooses to use the likes of you and me toward that end.
If weāre going to be used, we need to increasingly learn how to think about Muslims the way God does and love them like Jesus.
Letās do it!Ā
As a way of saying thank you for reading and to celebrate this anniversary, Iām giving away some prizes: Five copies of the super cool Loving Your MuslimNeighbor book, two sets of Apple AirPods and one Kindle Paperwhite e-reader! All I ask is you forward this email to two or three friends then ping me here to enter.
Thank you for reading, sharing and for all you do for Godās glory among Muslims. May he greatly multiply your kingdom success in the coming year.