may 27, 2014

The Field is the World





 

“We were practicing Islam. [It] could not help with our daily struggles.…my parents, when they couldn’t deal with their problems, the way that they were trying to survive was to either abuse each other, or abuse me.”

"Isik needs more Online Missionaries who have come through great suffering and have overcome…”
— OM Katherine

Isik Abla (“Sister of Light”) is an evangelist from Turkey who broadcasts the Good News to Turkish and Farsi channels for audiences in the Middle East and Europe. Her Facebook page has almost 1.2 million “likes,” and she and her small team were having trouble keeping up with the 3,000+ messages they were receiving each month.
So over the past month, we’ve been working out the beginnings of a partnership. Using the bridge GMO created between Facebook and our secure ARC system, Isik Abla ministries will deliver messages to our trained Online Missionary volunteers, who will answer according to her principles. These messages will go out to the visitors as if from the page itself. The system is secure and has been in use for our http://Facebook.com/GodLifePage for over a year now, but it’s the first time we’ve been able to use it with a partner ministry.

“Jesus revealed Himself to me, and He gave me a new life” —Isik Abla

Isik’s heart really comes through as she gives her testimony in this video:

http://vimeo.com/88758950

We are eager to work more closely with this ministry: how many women in the Middle East have stories like hers? Please pray that we will be able empathize well and receive leading from the Lord on each response. We want to powerfully and accurately represent His heart for the hurting. Look how Isik contrasts the Allah of Islam with the Christ of Christianity, using the words of the man who led her to Christ:

“He told me I didn’t have to die for my God. God came to earth to die for me! It was the other way around.”

In Islam, the only way a devout Muslim can be certain they will make it to paradise is by dying in jihad. When Isik saw God left heaven to die for her because of His unconditional love, that became a fulfillment of 1 John 3:16: “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

Like Isik, Christ’s love compels us as well—if He died for us, it was not for us to live for ourselves but for Him. Not to earn a place with Him, but because He urges others, through us, to be reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:14-20)

In the pursuit of this, we feel compelled to make a second move in order to continue to do this. Global Media Outreach recognized the hindrance our physical distribution has caused over the years. The ministry has now relocated to Plano, Texas. Texas is central to our various locations, with a far lower cost of living than Silicon Valley, the previous ministry HQ. At the same time, because our home value has declined in the past 8 years, it will be a costly move for our family. Please pray we can sell quickly, recover as much as possible, and purchase inexpensively in Texas.

It’s another milestone for our family. Because they were so young, the kids barely remember the last move. (Although the hurricane 2 weeks afterward made it memorable.) The majority of our partners were not yet with us when we made this move—but you can stand with us for this one. Thank you for your love, your prayers and your support!

 

Love in Christ,

 
(Cindy Skinner - signature)
Mike & Cindy
One Day Closer! (Romans 13:11)
 

P.S., If you would like to help, you can go to http://give.cru.org/0543730. We just learned we’ll be able to use any special gifts from ministry partners to help offset the expense of moving!

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