Monthly Archives: July 2023

School starts for my three young, summer-drunk kiddos in just under two weeks. I could tell you the number of days (and hours!), but I don’t want you to think I’m counting down! 

I am wondering though about who the new kids will be and how my kids might or might not reach out and befriend them. In a broader sense, I’m aching for a new kid who is also Muslim, possibly the only kid in class with a brown face, an odd name and an aversion to pepperoni pizza. Who will connect with her?

Here are five practical ideas to share with your kids, a niece or nephew or a youth group

1. Find the new kids and say hello! Hard for most, impossible for some, this is the starting point: “I’m going to care more about others than myself for a minute. I’m going to take the first relational risk.”
2. Ask the new kid to sit with you at lunch. Acceptance and a place to belong are gifts that actually give what a new pair of Chuck’s only promises. 
3. Connect on social media. If your kids aren’t on social media yet, good for you! Hold steady. If they are, see if any of the new kid’s spaces overlap theirs. 
4. Get their parent’s phone number. Play dates don’t happen without parent connections. 
5. Invite them over for Roblox. Or music. Or Bluey. Or homework. Doesn’t matter so much what. Just opening your home is magic. And be sure to have some halal snacks! 

As my “Little Middle” wisely pointed out: Kids do this, particularly if the new kid is Muslim, at risk of their own social standing. They’re in good company. Jesus took such risks as well. He’ll also walk with them right up to the new kid. He has a fondness for both outsiders and young disciples.

A couple of times a year I invite Muslim Connect readers to partner in the cost of producing, sending and growing the email. Muslim Connect is free, but if you’ve found value in it, please ask God if he’ll give you grace to send a gift. Simply click here, find the “Staff” drop down and select “Shane Bennett.” Thank you very much. 

Even though I drive a 98 Ford pick up (or maybe because!), I’m seriously jonesing for an electric car lately. Not a Tesla, I think they’re a little too bougie for me. More like a Chevy Bolt or something small from Hyundai/Kia. 

In classic Baader-Meinhof fashion I now see EVs everywhere, probably due in small part to there actually being more, but mostly because I notice them.

In an effort to “frequency bias” us all regarding unreached peoples, I want to share a list from mobilizer extraordinaire, and friend of Muslim Connect, Neal Pirolo’s book, Internationals Who Live Among Us. (Which you should totally buy!)

Neal says we find these groups in most of our towns and cities:
Students
Visitors
Business people 
Illegal aliens 
Refugees
Ethnic communities

If you’re not crazy pressed for time, go back over the list and ask yourself, “Where are these people in my town? Where might I cross paths with some of them this week?”

Each of us could learn so much from people in each of these groups. Neal goes on to remind us that it’s also strategic to reach out to them for the following reasons:
They are close at hand. They have moved into our neighborhood.
They represent a segment of our population with dramatic growth.
Reaching them does not cost the “mega-bucks” of going to another country.
Doing so is good training for those who will go to another country.
Often little effort yields a great harvest.
Many are are open to the Gospel.
Because Jesus said “I was a stranger and you invited me in. . . .”

Sometimes it’s just nice to hear some good news, don’t you think? Stuff like, “the cute girl likes you!” Or, “Jesus didn’t stay dead.” And, “They’re filming a fourth season of The Chosen!”

Here are three bits of good news to warm your heart, stir your mind and wring just a tiny bit of dopamine out of your hypothalamus. 

Drugs in the Streets
Under pressure from John Green, his legion of fans and others, Johnson and Johnson took steps to forego enforcing a secondary patent on their anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline. Estimates indicate that generic forms of the drug will help six million people over the next four years. Some of the most burdened TB countries are Muslim majority.

Bozos at the Door
Maybe you remember I went to Cote d’Ivoire in February, funded in part by the kind and generous Muslim Connect tribe. We connected with a guy who’s deploying workers to unreached areas of the country. My church began partnering with one of them, a guy from Togo named Edem and his family.

This report dropped in last last week: “[Muslim] Bozo people. . . line up at Edem’s door for prayers. He seems to be a new person they consult for prayers, for protection. This is an access to share the gospel.” Bozo people are currently unengaged, but maybe not for long!

Me in the Pulpit
My senior pastor for the past decade and preaching partner for a chunk of that time is taking a district superintendent role in the Northwest. I’ve agreed to step in as interim, with the possibility of assuming the role.

His departure is sad, but good. I’m hoping my taking over will be good for the body, even while I likely learn, “Dang, this isn’t as easy as he made it look!”

I’d appreciate prayers for this new responsibility and am open to whatever advice the Lord might nudge you to share with me. Thanks.

PS: I’ll continue to write Muslim Connect. Here’s hoping that’s good news!

The verse of the day for July 4th in the U.S. was Galatians 5.13. Low hanging fruit, don’t you think? 

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”

Definitely good fruit, low hanging or not. 

While Paul was most certainly not thinking about the U.S.A.’s Declaration of Independence when he wrote that, we do value and enjoy a hearty measure of freedom in my home country. Maybe our political freedom is a cousin of the freedom we enjoy in Christ. 

If so, let me say I’m happy to be an American, to have the freedom to follow my conscience. I’m likewise happy to be a Christian: To know I can eat bacon and I don’t have to offer a sheep to a priest to pay for last week’s sins. 

But what does Paul mean when he goes on to say, “Don’t use your freedom to indulge the flesh?” Well, for me, for starters, “Don’t eat all the bacon. Don’t watch all the movies. And don’t act like those who disagree with me are evil, malevolent and hell-bent on destroying all things holy and me.” 

They’re not, you know. 

People who disagree with us about Muslims (or disagree with me about a lot of other stuff) are mostly doing their best, following their understanding, trying to do the right thing. I indulge my flesh when I nurture the deadly duo feelings of personal attack and superiority to those who think differently from me, both believers and not. 

If I’m going to serve them humbly in love, those feelings are going to have to die. Free and dead. It’s the only way to live.