Author Archives: shanedar

I saw a striking quote during a recent tour of Tulsa’s Greenfield neighborhood, site of the burned down Black Wall Street. (How did I get so old and know so little?) James Baldwin’s words about the massacre are emblazoned on a wall, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Indeed.

I was in Tulsa with a small band of friends who want to deliberately face the existence of people groups on the planet who have no one in their midst inviting them to consider the claims of Christ. We believe God wants that to be different and humbly think he may want to use us to that end. These groups are referred to as unengaged unreached people groups. 

Here are five facts I want you to know about them: 

1. The best current research says there are 1572 Unengaged Unreached People Groups (UUPG’s). 393 of them are Muslim. The others are divided among Hindu, Buddhist, Ethnic religions and others. 
2. A UUPG is defined as one in which no one is living and working in a local language, engaging in ministry focused on sparking a movement of disciples to Christ. 
3. UUPG’s matter, in our minds, because the kingdom of God does not fully come until a people group is discipled and a people group is not discipled until someone from somewhere starts something.
4. We expect the 1572 number to drop by as much as 30% based on developing research. We’re asking God to drop the remaining number to zero by the end of 2025. 
5. Our conviction and hope is that most of the UUPG’s will be engaged by culturally nearby believers. By God’s grace we’re connecting some dots.

Thanks for facing the Muslim world with me, those who are down the street and those on the other side of the planet. For more info on UUPG’s, please check out our “currently in beta” website. The “Explorer Tool” will help you see what UUPG’s live where.

Ramadan’s Night of Power is Monday, April 17th. Please check out my latest Muslim Connect video (shot in Tulsa!) for background and ways to pray.

Are you ever glad you’re a Christian? I hope so, and for better reasons than this: It’s Passover right now (April 5th to April 13th), so Jews aren’t eating anything yeasty. No Cheerios, bread or beer! It’s also Ramadan (March 22nd to April 20th), so Muslims aren’t eating anything during the day. They can have Cheerios and bread after dark, but still no beer.

Passover celebrates the Exodus, the seminal event in the history of Israel. Ramadan commemorates the giving of the Quran. Both events serve to build and bind together their respective communities. 

Christians celebrate our big event (April 9th) by eating chocolate rabbits. 

To be fair, some of you faithfully fasted through Lent. That’s commendable and I hope you find yourself closer to Jesus as a result. But sometimes I wish we had a more corporate life and identity. Perhaps it’s my particular brand of Protestantism that so emphasizes individual faith. That has its positives, but I still wish we had more feasts! 

This current confluence of the “best days of the year” for the three Abrahamic faiths only happens three times a century. It makes me dream of, and long for, the fullness of God’s kingdom on the earth.

Sadly, there’s violence in the holy city Jerusalem as Israeli forces raided Al Asqa Mosque for two nights in a row. Palestinians responded by sending two dozen rockets into Israel from Lebanon and Gaza. As I write, Israel is responding to those rockets. Ad nauseam. 

As we celebrate Jesus’s victory over death this weekend, let’s don’t give into arrogance because we don’t do what the Jews and Muslims do (Our history, both old and new, is littered with things we should not have done.), but rather let’s ask afresh for resurrection power to fall heavily on Jew, Christian, and Muslim alike. May the life of the living God be known all over. 

If you haven’t yet, please check out some of the recent videos at my new Muslim Connect YouTube channel. I’d be honored if you subscribed. Thank you.

You are blessed, lucky and privileged, aren’t you? If for no other reason (And there are many!), you have email! Now getting the Muslim Connect email might feel unlucky and the number of unread emails in your inbox might make you feel cursed! Even so, I stand by my statement: You are privileged. Me, too.

Our privilege allows, among others, this perk: We can squawk about people and institutions more powerful than ourselves. We could share the situation of our sisters and brothers on the planet who choose to keep their mouths shut and their heads down in hopes they might fill and not lose them tomorrow. But for whatever reason God has blessed us with the freedom to say with the bold humility of Jesus, “No more, not now, and you’re wrong.”

As Paul admonished, “All things are permissible, but all things are not profitable.” 

Might it, however, be profitable for some of us to sometimes poke the bear of apathy, anxiety and antagonism regarding Muslims? Spoiler alert: Oh yeah, big time.

I want to encourage you to bring Jesus’s love for Muslims before your church and your tribe. 

Ramadan (March 22 to April 20) provides a timely excuse for asking! Would your church show this beautiful four minute video? Or maybe this shorter, but far less beautiful one? Would they do it on Easter, our biggest Sunday of the year? Saying to all the visitors, “In this room, we think the Resurrection goes for those guys too!”

After the Easter service, many of us will gather for a feast with family and friends. If you get appointed to give the blessing and you’re feeling feisty, slip in a little prayer for fasting Muslims. Maybe volunteer ahead time to bring dessert and bless your people with baklava! (Arguably, baklava is less like poking the bear and more like scratching his back right up between the shoulders where it feels soooo good!)

And remember, the trick with all bear poking, which I clearly have not mastered, is to not fancy yourself superior to the bear you’re poking! 

Wanna give it a go? Watch this video for five bear poking ideas (and a bonus) with varying degrees of difficulty and consequences!

Ramadan began yesterday and my friend, colleague and hero penned this from his city in Europe where he and his family live and reach out to Muslim immigrants:

“Last night I was meeting with my students from North Africa and was asking them what the best and worst part of their week was. All four of them said the best part was that Ramadan was starting today! Here’s a question to ponder for a moment: Why is it that Muslims love and look forward to the month-long period of fasting? 

It’s inspiring to me, particularly here: These kids, currently in high school, won’t be able to eat OR DRINK anything between 5am and 8pm (more or less). Many of their classmates think it’s weird and it’s hard to fast here when life continues and bakeries produce delicious smells all day long. Two of the students have extra strenuous activities at school today, including a hike up a nearby mountain. They’re dreading the inevitable feeling of thirst they’ll have, yet it’s the best part of their week. Wow.”

Today I sent a greeting [Feel free to borrow it above.] to my Muslim friends and included these precious words of Jesus from the book of Matthew, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.’

Would you ask God to use Ramadan around the world to draw Muslims to himself? If you are up for it, I’d strongly recommend the resources on this website. 

Also, please pray for us! [and other workers among Muslims] We will do some extra fasting during Ramadan and, Lord willing, also share some meals with Muslim families as they break fast in the evenings. These are wonderful opportunities to talk about spiritual things (and enjoy great food!).”

Check out the new Muslim Connect video. It’s a 2 1/2 minute answer to “what’s the deal with Ramadan?” I think it might be great to show this at your church this Sunday!

Is there anything you could do that would cause your family to say, “Yeah, don’t come back here anymore.” It would have to be pretty gruesome, wouldn’t it? Most of our families and friends are relatively tolerant of a wide range of divergent behavior. In anthropologist speak: We live in rather elastic networks. 

Many cultures though, have a long list of “kick out-able” offenses and the impact of an individual’s behavior on their family is much heavier. Group think tends to carry more weight than personal preference. 

When making decisions, members of such cultures must weigh the potential honor or shame their decision will bring on their family and community. 

If Khadijah pursues an engineering degree, will her mom and her mom’s friends be pleased? 

If Muhammad comes out to his family, will their desire to avoid shame result in his death?

If Yusuf and Fatima share about their new found devotion to Jesus, will their village listen or force them to move away?

Can you imagine setting the course for your week, or your life, based largely on what it will mean to your family? It’s challenging, isn’t it? But most of our Muslim friends factor that in. 

Thinking about how to reach out to people in honor-shame cultures, Jayson Georges, the founder of HonorShame.com says the best thing to do is, “Eat with them! When Jesus wanted to honor people he ate with them (Lk. 15:1). In honor-shame cultures, the people you eat with define both your community and identity. Table fellowship confers honor.”

Ramadan begins next Wednesday, March 22nd. While it is a month of fasting, it also involves a ton of eating. Look for an opportunity to step into the honor-shame world by sharing some food (after dark!) with a Muslim.

Please take a look at the new video that dropped yesterday on the Muslim Connect YouTube Channel: “Divorce, My Greatest Shame.” As the channel gains some traction, I’d appreciate you subscribing and helping get the word out that Jesus loves Muslims.

Do you wonder if Islamophobia might be in the same category of polarizing and perceived-to-be over-hyped terms like “systemic racism,” “social justice,” and “women’s rights?” One way to find out would be to try to listen to people who may have experienced it. Another would be to show up to your family Easter gathering wearing a BLM shirt and say, “I’m wearing this for Black Muslims.” (I’m not suggesting this, of course. Just dreaming a bit!)

What is Islamophobia? According to the Bridge Initiative, a multi-year research project on Islamophobia housed in Georgetown University, it is “an extreme fear of and hostility toward Islam and Muslims which often leads to hate speech, hate crimes, as well as social and political discrimination.” 

Read this poignant account from the Bridge associate director, Mobashra Tazamal, regarding an anti-Muslim speaker invited to Georgetown to get a feel for what it’s like on the receiving end. Take a dive into Tazamal’s Twitter feed for current examples of Islamophobia around the world. (On second thought, if you’re hoping for a fun weekend, skip her Twitter.)

The UN has declared March 15th (that’s next Wednesday) to be International Day To Combat Islamophobia. This falls on March 15Thanks to commemorate the Christchurch massacre of 2019 that killed 51 people.

What can we do to observe this event?

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any Islamophobia in our hearts and promptly repent of it. 
2. Watch the UN talk on Saturday, March 10th at 10am Eastern time.
3. Buy a Muslim a cup of coffee and a donut. Or simply reach out on Facebook and say hi. 

Muslim Connect exists to help me, you and others get past our Islamophobia and invite Muslims to consider the loving claims of Jesus. Thank you for reading and share this. 

Two special requests:

1. Please take a gander at a brand new website I’m helping some buds launch. It’s in beta now, so you get a chance to find typos and be among the first to try the cool stuff there. It’s all aimed toward getting the first workers among the remaining unengaged peoples. 
2. Please check out the latest video on the Muslim Connect YouTube channel. If you’re feeling tribal, go ahead and subscribe!

Around where I live, when a Muslim makes the news, it’s usually bad news. To be fair, almost all of the news is bad news, so maybe it’s not a specifically Muslim deal. 

At any rate, two news stories involving Muslims popped onto my radar this week. One troubled me and the other made me cry. 

The first involved a Byzantine Catholic priest who converted to Islam. The details as shared here bring two questions to mind: Is it wise for Muslims to celebrate, as they are, given the last station on his peace train might not be Islam? I’ve seen this happen with people who embrace Christianity, then move along to other spiritual tracks. 

It also makes me question celebrations around conversion. Jesus says in Luke 15.7 that there will be rejoicing in Heaven over sinners who repent, so there’s precedent, and I certainly want to celebrate what Heaven does. But as much as I want all people to find life in Jesus, I think maybe humility is called for and touchdown celebrations, at least publicly, should be muted. 

In happier news, although there is no silver lining to the continuing devastation in Turkey and Syria, a recent outpouring of love and empathy warmed my heart. Several years ago while spending the summer in Turkey, I somewhat randomly chose Besiktas as my Turkish soccer team. At a February 26th home game, they collected teddy bears for children suffering as a result of the earthquakes. Seeing a waterfall of stuffies flowing onto the pitch brought tears to my eyes. (This drone footage is stunning, but might give you motion sickness!)

We know too well, don’t we, that teddy bears won’t solve much. But by God’s grace may they give a bit of comfort when all the foundations have crumbled, and may they be harbingers of God’s further relief, hope and life. 

Please check out my short, new video, sharing a story of when my self-esteem took a shot. I’m new to Youtube and welcome your creative input and critique.

When did you last consider how pagan your version of Christianity is? I’m being intentionally provocative, but it’s not a bad idea to do an inventory from time to time: What is legit Bible, what is simply my tribe’s approach, what is American culture, what is the fruit of my own dark heart? With all those in mind, in what way is Christianity a tool I use to both make sense of the world and to survive in it? 

I ask this because I’m wondering about Folk Islam, the reality for most Muslims that the pure Islam of the Quran is mixed with the religion their people previously followed and a blender full of other practices and convictions. 

I know my tendency when thinking about that is to roll down hill to a place that says, “How quaint and sad (“pathetic” on a feisty day) that those people are superstitious and afraid. How pleasant that I am not.” 

Nothing renders us impotent as quickly as smug assurance (masking as confidence) that we don’t deal with what those others do. 

That said, most Muslims really do add to the Quran and Hadith a variety of practices designed to increase the odds of good things happening, ie. a baby boy being born, and bad things not, sickness, job loss, crop failure. 

Approaching Muslims in whole mannermust include curiosity beyond understanding the five pillars to include all the fascinating power grabs, desperate hopes, and merit-bearing habits that make up real Islam.

Two reasons, among thousands, this matters: 1. Empathy. Feeling another’s fear and pain knits our hearts to theirs. 2. Access. If you understand another’s fear and pain and, almost beyond belief, you have a fix for it, they might just listen to you, finding life in the process. Of course, they might also run you off. Jesus experienced both. 

Please check the two minute video I just posted telling the story that sparked this Folk Islam train of thought.

As the number of dead in Turkey and Syria passes 40,000, I’m wondering how you are handling this. Do you, like me, sometimes just turn away because you can’t process it? I’m guessing your mind is often turned toward prayer for the suffering and those serving on the ground.

If you’re wondering what you can do, here are three things I’m thinking about:

Give
Of course money helps in the immediate aftermath of such tragedies. I encourage you to give your own money, but also to mobilize your tribe. What if you set an amount to give and asked your friends to contribute to match it? What about asking your church to make an emergency contribution now and then add Turkish/Syrian relief funds to your next church budget?

There are many places to give. Here are two I trust: Frontiers and MRDS. 

Get Ready
Looking out several months, when the intense attention has faded, but the challenge still remains, how might God use us in his continuing work in Turkey and Syria? We’ll likely see an uptick in Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. How might your church respond? Is now a good time to start building a Welcome Corp plan so you’re ready to bring over a family? My friend and author D.C. Keane suggests preparing for future ministry by looking into trauma care training from Trauma Healing Institute or Multiplying Hope. 

Go
Have you ever felt a nudge to move to Turkey or Syria? I sure have. Is it possible this tragedy might serve as a catalyst for you to put your skills and passions to work there? As rescue moves to recovery to rebuilding, may God open many doors for believers from all over to extend the kindness and hope of Jesus to Turks, Syrians and Kurds. 

If you could use a little good news, hop over to this video I just posted. You’ll get to see our Colorado winter wonderland and hear an amazing report, all in about 90 seconds! While you’re there, I’d appreciate you subscribing to the channel. It’s approaching 100 subscribers!

As a novice biologist in a former life, visiting Côte d’Ivoire presented me unexpected gifts: A roadside vendor selling a freshly dead Civit Cat for travelers to take home to Mom in the city, seeing cashews grow on the bottom of an edible fruit and drinking in the glorious greens of lush West African jungle. 

It was a deeper gift to hang with the “beautiful feet” group of women and men who have pledged themselves to bring good news to the most unreached parts of their country. They will live lean and largely unseen, save for a small audience of supporters and a Father who must be delighted in their sacrifice of service.

I was also reminded of our tendency to stereotype and look down on parts of our country or state as backward or wrong-headed. For instance, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1.46) “The South,” California or in Colorado: Pueblo. In the Ivory Coast, many look down on Bouna, the city and region where our new missionary friends are working. The idea, both in and beyond the Ivorian Church that “up there” is backward and unsafe contributes to a dearth of gospel effort. 

Finally, when I began to advocate for unengaged people groups a couple years ago, God gave me the Bozo of Mali as a challenging example: They’re fishermen who live in tough places. They’re also nomads, so it’s a different tough place from time to time. But get this: One of the local missionaries we met is moving this week to a Ivorian village where Bozo live! I saw them there, fishing nets drying in the sun! The kingdom is breaking through for the Bozo.

Thank you so much to Muslim Connect readers who gave over the past year to allow this trip to happen. I believe your gifts have contributed to kingdom advance. Want to see and hear a bit of Côte d’Ivoire? Watch the 90 Second Muslim Connect videos I’ve posted. I’d be thrilled to have you subscribe to that channel and receive ongoing, fresh content. Thanks.