Kazakhstan, Almaty – Agape Evangelical Center’s 25th Anniversay Celebration

A splash of colors with worship, music, dance, prayers, exhorting Biblical teaching, food and fellowship — a magnificent three day celebration with close to a thousand indigenous Christian believers in this Muslim-dominated country! A new fellowship hall was just added to the church building with Isaiah 54:2 (“Enlarge the place of your tent…”) pasted in large letters on the wall as a statement that God’s Kingdom keeps expanding in Kazakhstan! FROM R.K.’S CORNER

In the last three months, I have traveled overseas to several countries where The Bridge has been in partnership with indigenous believers for a number of years. The most extensive was a three week visit in May to Central Asia, which caused me to delay the May Bridge Report till this month, so this is a combined May/June issue.

The purpose for my visit was to partake in the 25th anniversary celebration of Agape Evangelical Center in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and visit two other Bridge partners: Sargon Daniali and his family in Almaty, as well as Yermek Balykbekov and his extended family in Karaganda. My itinerary also included a trip to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

In 1992, our Bridge team met Baikal Dzoziev, a Russian Kazakh, in Moscow during a conference we sponsored on behalf of renown Bible teacher Derek Prince, who was the main speaker. In the late eighties during the communist era, Baikal had come to faith in Jesus after a traumatic event. He and a comrade had gone trekking in the nearby mountains of Almaty when they were overtaken by an avalanche which buried them both and killed his friend. Pinned under masses of snow, Baikal, then an atheist communist, cried out to a God he did not know, and promised that if He would rescue him and let him live, he would seek to find Him and serve Him. Miraculously, he got out, and came to faith in Jesus.

Shortly afterwards, he met three other underground believers — Yuri, Nikolai, and Natasha. In 1989, they formed Mission Agape, knowing the Lord had called them to share their faith with others in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Although still illegal to be a Christian, the team began to openly evangelize in streets and parks. Several times they got in trouble with the authorities. That did not deter them; they kept on sharing their faith, and people responded!

In 1992, three years later after Mission Agape was founded. The Bridge came alongside these new believers and began helping them in their ministry. Agape Church was established, and in 1993, The Bridge helped establish a Bibleschool for church planters, and for several years sponsored their school (now Bible College), church planting, and pioneer outreaches of the graduates. Agape has been fully financially self-supported for more than a decade — it is in every way an indigenous Christian Center in Kazakhstan!

At the 20th anniversary in 2009, I expounded in several Bridge issues on the founding and history of Agape. To learn more, please copy and paste into your browser:

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/may2009.pdf

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/july2009.pdf

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/august2009.pdf

You may also find these articles on this website by clicking on the PDF Archive button and go to the May, July, and August 2009 issues.

THE MOTTO OF THE CELEBRATION: PSALM 118:19-21

“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation.”

From Radical Muslim in Iran to Preacher of Jesus in Norway

FROM R.K.’s CORNER

When I visited my homeland, Norway, in September 2013, I visited the Afghan-Iranian Christian community in Oslo under the leadership of an old friend, Iranian-born Peter Dahlen. Last month, visiting Norway and Germany, I spent time with other former Muslims from the Middle East and Central Asia who also are in living, dynamic relationships with Jesus.

As an Easter gift to you, I have asked Peter to share his and his sister’s testimonies — I trust their stories of faith and courage will edify you and strengthen you faith! Please pray for both families, and for the persecuted church, especially the Christian believers living in restricted Muslim countries.

Peter Dahlen with his wife

My sister, Soheila and I were born into a typical Muslim family in Iran. My father was a kind of Mullah, and he constantly tried to pressure me into becoming a devout Muslim by demanding I follow the many restrictive rules and regulations of the Qur’an. I did not want this, so one day at nine years old, when I loudly refused to believe in Allah, my father threw me out of the house into the streets and abandoned me. I became homeless and lived as a street kid for a few years, during which time I became one of the best pick-pocket thieves in the city.

One day, a group of men called the Mujahedeen grabbed me and enlisted me in into their ranks. I stayed with them for ten years. I was given weapons of all sorts – pistols, shotguns and bombs, and was taught how to use them. They told me that the best thing that could happen to me in life, was to die for Allah. Their desire became my desire — my highest goal became to die in battle for Allah!

The Mujahedeen did not like the Shah or Khomeini – Iran’s religious leader, so they were working toward overturning the country’s leadership in order to radicalize the country. A while after, the Iran–Iraq war broke out, they enlisted me to fight on Iraq’s front line against Iran. It was a grisly war with a very high number of fatalities. At one point, we were only 18 soldiers at our enclave at in the front, battling 10,000 enemies on the other side. I discovered that I did not after all want to kill anybody, so I promised Allah that, if I did not die in this war, I would become totally devoted to him. Another time, a 100 pound rocket was launched against our front line by the Iranians. As I saw it coming towards us, I cried out, “Where are you, God?” Just as the rocket hit, I felt two large, strong hands lift me up into the air and then put me safely down, again. All the others around me died, I was the only one alive! The Qur’an states that Allah is light, but it does not state that he has hands! I was perplexed, as I knew someone who cared had been looking after me. Who was that? During the war, I experienced other miraculous happenings. Once, a RPG rocket hit the car I sat in. The car was demolished, but I survived.

Peter with his Children

All of this caused me to have a lot of questions about life and death, and I felt an increasing need to find a God who could forgive my sins. I lost the desire to fight, and was able to escape to Kuwait. There the police caught me and deported me to Pakistan – I lived there for a while without passport and other identification papers. I sought asylum and was placed on a list to be sent to a safe country. Finally, Norway decided to accept me as such. On February 13, 1991, I was sent to Norway as refugee to Mo i Rana in the Northern part of the country. I wanted to move south to the capital of Oslo, but without papers and not attending school, I was in limbo.

Then things changed. In 1992, I was accepted as a student at a private Christian school that can be closest compared in the U.S. to a community college (Rønningen Folkehøyskole). When I arrived, I noticed everybody was kind and very different from the tough and tumble characters I used to hang out with. They brought their Bibles with them to class, and they made points of showing love and consideration towards others – and they prayed a lot to their God! I learned later that the students had done much intercession on my behalf, as I was very different from them. I drank alcohol, smoked joints and constantly got in trouble for doing wrong things. They wanted me to be saved!

One day I was lying on my bed in my dorm, half drunk and dizzy from alcohol and drugs. Suddenly, a light appeared in my room. It gradually was transformed into a brilliant heart, like it was made of crystal. The heart had a mouth and eyes and began to speak to me. Gradually, this beautiful heart began to disintegrate as it got distorted behind a cloud of smoke. I asked, “Why is this beautiful heart being destroyed?” Then a voice said, “It is not my heart – it is yours that is being destroyed.” Then the voice said, “Give me all that you struggle with.” The light came toward me and lifted me out of bed. I was reminded of what I had experienced on the battle field during the war in my country when the two hands had lifted me up and saved me from a direct hit from the oncoming rocket. In this beautiful presence of God’s love and light, I gave my life to Jesus! I was instantly set free from the addiction of tobacco, drugs and alcohol, and a deep healing process began to take place in my life – I was being transformed!

Next day, when I walked outside, I saw a young boy in the street who wore a t-shirt which had a picture of a hand with the words written underneath, “Reach-out Centre”. I knew then that the Lord had called me to go out and share the love of Jesus with others who did not know Him! I changed my Muslim name Amin Abbasi to my new Christian name, Peter Dahlen.

On Easter Sunday, 1993 – 21 years ago – I was baptized, after having met a God of love and forgiveness who is the total opposite of Allah who demands blood and death.

After two years at the school in Hurdal, I graduated. More training followed as I attended Bible school in Great Britain. After graduation in England, the Lord called me serve for a few years with Operation Mobilization, whereby I traveled extensively for the Gospel in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Russia.

I met my wife in Norway, who had come as refugee when she was a young girl with her family from Iran. We settled in Oslo, where we have been living and working and actively engaged in Gospel outreach, ministering specifically to the Farsi-speaking population (Iranians and Afghans) while raising our three children who were born in Norway. All three confess and know the Lord Jesus Christ!

When I meet Muslims in the street, I stop them and share my testimony of God’s love. When I was a Muslim, I thought that the Bible was blasphemy, as it has been changed from the true scriptures of the Qur’an. Now I know the Bible is the true, Living Word of God for us today! Allah is not God, but JESUS IS THE LIVING, RISEN CHRIST WHO LOVES US AND SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US!

THE TESTIMONY OF MY SISTER, SOHEILA ABBASI

Peter Dahlen with his sister

Twelve years ago, my sister, Soheila visited me and my family in Norway from Iran. I shared the Gospel with her, and she listened, but did not respond at that time. Two years later, Soheila visited us, again. This time, we read the Bible together and talked more about Jesus, and she came to faith. She was baptized in Oslo, and traveled back home to Iran to work among the Muslims there.

Passionate about her new-found faith, she began preaching openly about Jesus who is the Way , the Truth, and the Life. Many people in the city where she lived were gripped by her message, and 45 were baptized. Many miracles took place. A number of churches, that is —private house groups — were planted, and the Gospel kept prospering. This made the Muslim authorities enraged. The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had clearly warned that, if Muslims in his country, Iran, would become Christian, they would be stoned and killed.

A few months later, one of the pastors in the group was arrested and shortly after, the entire group of new believes were also arrested, among them my sister. For several months I had no contact with Soheila, I was certain she had been killed by the authorities!.

I decided to fast and pray for my sister for forty days. Towards the end of my fast, she was suddenly released from prison. She came with her family to Norway, and we were again reunited. Soheila continues to share her faith with others!

Shoeila with her Family

The Ukraine – Light and Darkness

To give you a brief background on the Ukrainian crisis from the perspective of the Christian faith, I have reprinted in full a news article published on February 24 in Christianity Today emphasizing the positive Christian influence in the Ukrainian’s struggle for freedom against tyranny.

Oleksandr Turchynov, a well-known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, took office on Sunday, Feb. 23, as acting president after the Parliament voted to oust President Yanukovych.

The collapse of the Yanukovych regime follows three months of growing protests that exploded in last week’s violence, which claimed more than 88 lives. Many of these protests took place in the Maidan, or Independence Square in the capital city of Kiev.

At issue was Yanukovych’s decision to move Ukraine into a much closer economic and political relationship with Russia. This move triggered outrage among younger Ukrainians who wish for their nation to cast its lot with the European Union. After the vote to oust him, Yanukovych fled Kiev and is reportedly in Crimea, an autonomous republic in southeast. Ukraine. According to media reports, the new government has charged Yanukovych with murder and has issued a warrant for his arrest.

Monday night, February 24, in Kiev, Turchynov, 49, spoke publicly for the first time since taking office as acting president. According to an unofficial translation, he said, “Unprecedented cruelty and brutality of the dictatorial regime did not stop citizens. They selflessly gave their lives to defend their rights—and won.”

Our first task today is to stop the confrontation, to regain control to ensure peace and tranquility, to prevent new victims, local rivalries and lynching. Another priority is returning to European integration. We must return to the European family. We recognize the importance of relations with the Russian Federation, and are ready for dialogue with the Russian leadership to build relationship with this country on a new, truly equitable and good-neighborly basis, which implies Russia’s acknowledgment of Ukraine’s European choice.”

The Parliament has set new national elections for late May. Te choice of a Baptist pastor as acting president in Ukraine — which has had an Orthodox majority population for centuries — does not come as a huge surprise to Sergey Rakhuba, head of U.S.-based Russian Ministries. For years, he has been in periodic contact with Turchynov.

“He is well-known in political circles as a principled, honest leader, although he was always in the shadow of Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed prime minister who was released yesterday. “He is well-known as a preacher who, despite his political opposition work, preaches on a regular basis at one of the Baptist churches in Kiev, even though security must travel with him. Overall, the evangelical church is excited about Turchynov’s sudden unanimous appointment as acting president. Within the evangelical community, the post-Soviet mindset presupposes that a true Christian cannot necessarily be a politician. Personally I think it is great that Turchynov is calling for unification and healing of the nation.”

Reported in a substantial cover story from Ukraine about the changing role of the nation’s evangelical minority after the 2004 Orange Revolution, exploring how Eastern Europe’s most mission-oriented evangelical church was rethinking tradition and the Great Commission.i.

This is not the first time that an East European nation has turned to a Protestant to serve as president. In 1999, Macedonia selected as its president Boris Trajkovski, a lay Methodist who served the Roman community. Nationally, citizens referred to him as the “George W. Bush of Macedonia.”

Trajkovski at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. “To serve God,” he told CT, “is to be with the people and to follow Jesus’ steps.”Tragically, Trajkovski was killed in a 2004 plane crash in Bosnia. On Monday, Christianity Today was given the public statement of Valery Antonyuk, vice president of the All Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Churches.

A MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION

At Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine, a woman holds the national flag while reading the Gospel of John. Church members handed out 100,00 copies for free.

During this time of fateful change in the life of the Ukrainian nation, the Church and each Christian individually cannot remain spectators on the sidelines of the battles and losses. The Church serves society and mourns together with it. We went through difficult days together with the nation – we served through prayer, evangelism, volunteers, medical help, clothing, and food. Today a time has come for a ministry of active reconciliation, which will help maintain unity in our country and nation.

We supported the nation’s demand to put an end to the tyranny of the authorities and repressions by the police. Now it is important to restore justice and due process of law in the country, to form a government that has the people’s trust, and provide fair presidential elections. We believe that those guilty of crimes against the people will be justly judged, and that peaceful citizens will be protected.

But on behalf of the Church we must say more, speak the whole truth and say that which is still hard to accept and fulfill that, which is a precondition for a better future.

Therefore the Church calls the Ukrainian nation to more than just feelings of human justice – to Christian forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation. We pray to God for repentance on behalf of the guilty. However at the same time we ask victims to forgive those who are already repentant as well as those who are still lost. In order to unite the nation, in order to reconcile its various parts, its various social, cultural, and political groups, laws and justice are not enough. Without repentance, grace, forgiveness and reconciliation, the country will remain divided and in conflict. This is the basis for a deep spiritual transformation of Ukraine.

The Bible says that there is, “a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecc. 3:7-8). In accordance with these wise words, we declare today to be a time to mend, not a time to tear the nation apart; a time to seek peace, not a time to fan the flames of war; a time to learn to love yesterday’s enemies, not a time to continue to hate rivals and those who have hurt us.

We call on the Evangelical churches of Ukraine to serve to bring peace between people and healing to the wounds of war. We do not call black white and do not justify crimes or even mistakes. But we, as Christians, forgive, because we have been forgiven by God. He reconciled us to Himself, and gave us a message of reconciliation. This grace-giving Word to our whole nation should be heard from Lvov to Donetsk, from Kiev to Simferopol.

We also call upon the international Christian community asking for prayer and intercession for the Ukrainian nation and for help with peacemaking. We mourn for the victims, and thank God for His grace toward Ukraine, and pray for peace and spiritual revival in our nation. @Christianity Today

FROM R.K.’s CORNER

In the last few months, our focus has been on the newest nation in the world, South Sudan, and our engagement with the national people and ministries we serve there. My plan for this issue was to continue this story and show how each of them in the midst of strife and armed conflict, are light-bearers of love, forgiveness, and healing in their local communities.

Then came the braking news about the crisis in the Ukraine, and I decided to prioritize this conflict which is very much in the making. This may guide you as you intercede for the Ukrainian people and the region at large. God’s ultimate purpose is that “all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth” (2. Tim 2:7).

I came across a news article from Christianity Today that brings to light the active involvement of the Evangelical believers in the Ukraine. Although constituting less than 3% of the population, they are having a major positive impact on the dynamics of the freedom movement in the country. This is particularly important in light of the most recent events: Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula, Ukraine’s significant Black Sea military port, and President Putin’s threat to enter Eastern Ukraine with military force. The uncertainty and fear of the future is an open door for the Ukrainian believers to share their faith in Jesus and demonstrate love in action (see article).

OUR BRIDGE PARTNERS HAVE REACHED OUT TO THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE IN THREE WAYS

• In the early eighties during my tenure at the East European Mission in Germany, I traveled clandestinely from Germany with Bibles and Bible study books to the border cities of Russia — Kosice in Slovakia, Debrecen in Hungary, and Ias in Romania. We later learned that it was not Russia which was located on the other side of the border, but it was the Ukraine. The believers in those cities risked their lives in smuggling the material into the Ukraine where other dedicated believers distributed them among themselves, and brought this precious cargo further East – to Russia.

• After the Iron Curtain fell, The Bridge helped sponsor a Bible-based leadership training school near Kiev, from which the graduates were commissioned to do church planting and mercy ministries.

• One of our close partners, a retired New York lawyer, John Mackenzie and his wife, Mary traveled for several years to the Ukraine where John invested his life in teaching young emerging leaders at a local Bible training school.

PRAY THAT THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE WILL FIND TRUE FREEDOM AND PEACE AS THE GOSPEL PROSPERS IN THEIR NATION!

CHURCH STATISTICS IN THE UKRAINE

Protestants make from 1% to nearly 3% of the population in Ukraine, but they constitute over 25% of the church network in the country. The biggest is the Christians of Pentecostals faiths with over 2,500 churches and over 250,000 members that make several unions and also there are 1,560 Charismatic churches. There are over 2,500 Evangelical Christian Baptist uions with over 150,000 members, plus Methodists, Mennonites, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others. There is also a Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church which is one of the earliest Protestant communities in the country. @Wikipedia

War and Peace in South Sudan

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

What a privilege it is to serve the Lord in the nations! South Sudan is shaking in the chaos of armed conflict with close to a million people displaced, and no peace in sight. The men and women we serve in the world’s youngest country are making a difference there in bringing and maintaining real peace as they represent to their countrymen THE PRINCE OF PEACE – JESUS CHRIST!

The conflict is complex as there are many factions, not only within the country, but also powerful external forces of influence and power brokers who are endeavoring to maneuver this nation in the heart of Africa toward their benefits. South Sudan is rich in oil, and has untapped resources of water, minerals and massive land areas of fertile soil with sufficient balance of sunshine and rain for excellent food production. The most significant fact, however, is that the country is positioned at the fault line in Africa’s warfare between Islam and Christianity.

As backdrop for the conflict, I list here chronologically the main events that have taken place since July 2011, up to present. I am also presenting an article by William Levi, outlining the broader conflict at stake: the global agenda versus the church! Next month, I will update you on each of our South Sudanese partner’s lives an ministry in the midst of conflict.

Human Peace is elusive in South Sudan…. but the below mentioned families bring God’s Peace. Please pray for them and their ministries and help us financially support them and their outreaches to the poor and needy in their homelands!

The South Sudanese celebrated with joy and thanksgiving to God for the birth of their new, independent country!

The South Sudanese Celebrate their New, Independent Country with Joy and Thanksgiving to God

TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS TAKING PLACE IN SOUTH SUDAN SINCE INDEPENDENCE ON JULY 9, 2011

July 9, 2011 – South Sudan becomes an independent nation, with a population of approximately eight million people. Becomes the 193rd member nation of the United Nations.

August 18, 2011 – Continuing violence between Murle and Lou Nuer ethnic groups leaves 600 people dead and approximately 200 people missing in the eastern province of Jonglei.

January 4, 2012 – South Sudan’s Council of Ministers declares Jonglei state a “humanitarian disaster area” and calls on international aid agencies to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance.

January 23, 2012 – South Sudan shuts down oil production after accusing Sudan of stealing $815 million of its oil. Sudan says it confiscated the crude to make up for unpaid fees to use the pipeline and processing facilities in its territory.

February 10, 2012 – During talks mediated by the African Union, Sudan and South Sudan sign a nonaggression pact aimed at bringing peace to the border region.

May 2012 – President Salva Kiir writes letters to more than 75 government officials and to eight foreign governments in an attempt to recover $4 billion lost to corruption. “If funds are returned, the government of the Republic of South Sudan will grant amnesty and keep your name confidential,” writes Kiir in a letter to his officials.

September 27, 2012 – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir sign a deal to resume oil exports and establish a demilitarized zone and principles of border demarcation but do not reach a deal on the status of Abyei, a disputed region claimed by both countries.

January 6, 2013 – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir agree to temporary arrangements for the oil-rich Abyei region.

March 8, 2013 – Defense ministers from Sudan and South Sudan sign an agreement to soon withdraw their military forcesfrom the 14-mile-wide demilitarized zone between the countries.

December 15, 2013 – Deadly clashes begin, which President Salva Kiir later calls a failed coup attempt by soldiers loyal to sacked deputy Riek Machar. Days later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says 500 died and 800 were wounded in the fighting.

December 24, 2013 – The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to authorize 5,500 troops to bolster its mission to protect civilians.

January 6, 2014 – Talks between South Sudan’s government and rebels begin in Ethiopia, to resolve the three-week long violence that left more than 1,000 people dead and forced 200,000 from their homes.

January 11, 2014 – Between 200 and 300 women and children, fleeing violence in South Sudan, die when an overloaded ferry capsizes near Malakal.

January 15, 2014 – The U.N. says that about 413,000 people have been displaced in the prior month, due to the ongoing fighting.

January 23, 2014 – The South Sudanese government and rebels sign a cease-fire, which calls for an immediate end to all military operations and for the protection of civilians. The cease-fire agreement went into effect on January 24th. The deal also stipulates that 11 officials close to rebel leader Machar should be released.

January 26, 2014 – Skirmishes between government troops and rebels break out in the northern oil Unity State and in Jonglei State.

February 2, 2014 – SPLA recaptures the town of Leer in northern oil-producing Unity state; hometown of rebel leader Riek Machar.

February 6, 2014 – 700 government troops desert with all equipment and machine guns and are heading to rebels.

February 10, 2014 – The peace talks in its second round stall. Postponement in negotiations confirmed by a government official from the host country Ethiopia.

February 12, 2014 – Fighting continues between government troops and rebels. Peace negotiations are to resume next week. Approx. 900,000 people – 10% of the population – are on the run. 724,000 people are displaced within South Sudan, 145,000 have fled to Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia. Nearly 75,000 people are being housed at United Nations bases, afraid of what could happen if they try to return home while the combatants are still skirmishing. @CNN

William Levi: Include the Church in Peace Negotiations!

The UN global agenda does not allow the voice of the Church to guide our people in wisdom and inspiration toward the attributes of God’s providence that gave us South Sudan. It is a global institution that thrives on crisis and tries to compete with our Creator God, the Author of life and the entire Universe! He brings the councils of nations to null and void. Sin is a reproach to a people but Righteousness exalts a nation. The UN has exceeded its mandate in the South Sudan.

The government of South Sudan is powerless in the sense that it does not have control over her destiny. The development fund, raised by the International community to develop the Republic of the South Sudan since 2005, has gone into the hands of the UN-driven NGOs who have strings attached to the funding of every projects they sponsor in our country, especially in directing the implementation of their agenda through the ministries of Education, Gender, Child, Social Welfare, Culture, Youth, Sport, Health, and Agriculture. In our nation, whoever has control over the welfare of our women, children, and youth; our culture, health and food, will control the country and silence the family, the church and the government. The root of the chaos plaguing our country right now is that our government has given over these important ministries to the UN global Social Engineering agenda to transform the mindset of the next generation. Through the UN proxy organizations such as the WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, FAO, we are now single handedly destroying our families, aborting our unborn children, brainwashing our children and destroying our land and health with the GMO seeds we plant and the GMO food we eat.

Looking at the lineup of the various ministries in the ten states, as well as departments within the federal government of the Republic of South Sudan, there is not a single agency dedicated to the support and welfare of the Biblical family and education on the Judeo-Christian world view. No none educates our citizens who have returned from exile on the history of our suffering and helps them understand the nature of aggression against our families and churches. We need to teach our people the Biblical Worldview, not a secular one.

As the church in this new nation, we must teach our young generation of Christians across South Sudan the history of persecution against our church and our struggles against Islamic oppression which resulted in the displacement of our families and communities for 50 some years. How can we do that if our government does not give the Church of South Sudan a public forum within the constitution to educate the next generation on the dangers of Islam in our country, which even now threatens our very freedom?

Our people need to be reminded that the Gospel-centered message of reconciliation across tribal divides is the only powerful force of discipling in our nation. It brings peace and unity and helps believers from all tribes think biblically and shape the culture for Christ. As a citizen of the independent new Republic, please join me in dedicating the country to the supremacy of Jesus Christ. I admonish our church, the community of Christians, our government, our families — men, women, and children — not to forsake the foundation pillars of God which constitute our country!

Like America in the 1600, the eyes of the world are on this new country. South Sudan is called to be a City on the Hill that cannot be hidden. I urge you my dear countrymen to preserve the family unit, that the next generation will carry on with the Great commission, strengthen the church and use the land to create sustainability, as men and women work with their hands, not dependent on government or UN welfare.

The church must exhort our nation not to forget that it was God who delivered us from our enemy! Warn them not to make the same mistake America has done in straying off from her original mandate outlined by the founding fathers: to remain a Judeo- Christian nation. Regretfully, America has become a country whose God is materialism and political correctness is the order of the day; a polytheistic country whose future is doomed to fail unless it repents and returns to her Judeo-Christian roots.

2013 Annual Bridge Report

Dear Friends and Partners: Happy New Year to all of you — our friends and partners around the world! For those of you who contributed to The Bridge in 2013, this report with your enclosed itemized annual Donor Statement has been sent by postal mail to your mailing address. Please contact us if you want us to send you a full Financial Report.

Occasionally, Steve and I take the world globe off the shelf and turn it while pointing to the many countries on all continents where we have had the privilege of participating in impacting the Gospel and seen the indigenous church multiply and mature. The multiplication is not linear, but rather like the continual expansion from the circular ripples of a stone thrown in the middle of a lake. We thank God both for those who serve Him abroad and those who give of their finances and intercede from the home front. According to 2. Corinthians 9:7b-11, a promise of blessing goes both for the giver and the receiver, ”…for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always, having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, ’He scattered abroad, He gave to the poor, His righteousness abides forever.’ Now, He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will sow and multiply your seed for the sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness…”

2013 Marked the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Birth of The Bridge International.

In 1983, while serving with an East European mission in Munich, Germany, I was on my way back from the Black Sea in Bulgaria after a Bible smuggling mission, when I received the marching order from the Lord to return to the States — “BE a BRIDGE, do not build one!” Shortly thereafter I returned to Florida after having served for two years among the persecuted Christian believers in the grip of atheist communism behind the Iron Curtain. The Bridge started out with few resources, but at the core of its foundation was a big vision coupled with a persistent commitment to bridging resources in the West to those in need (at that time particularly the persecuted church in Eastern Europe) organically, through relationships, rather than building an organizational structure which had been—and regretfully continues to be—the model for most standard missionary agencies. God sent us partners and co-workers with kindred hearts to serve with us under the banner Linking God’s People to Reach the Unreached!

During the eighties, our growing team focused on intercessory prayer as we hammered against the bastion of the Iron Curtain and cried out for liberty for the believers. We worked clandestinely underground to reach those who suffered—initially via the mission in Munich, later (just before marrying my husband, Steven in 1987) via the Dutch Bridge (De Brug), established in Holland by one of my former mission coworkers. It became the base through which most of our subsequent field operations were conducted. Steve brought a unique gift to our team as an entrepreneurial businessman who took charge and helped finance the printing of Bibles (a total of 6 mill. N.T.) , and providing sponsorships for Bible Training schools and pioneer church planters.

The nineties arrived with a crescendo— the entire Iron Curtain suddenly crumbled and disintegrated as the peoples rose up in nation after nation and demanded freedom and liberty! It was a youth movement which brought a largely bloodless revolution. A new generation, disillusioned by oppression and the communist ideology, wanted to partake in the freedom of expression and the prosperity of the West. A spiritual awakening swept across the nations of the Soviet Union as they began searching for a new identity and spiritual truth. We knew that this was answer to the decade-long, persistent prayers and intercession by God’s people around the world!

The Bridge was ready and willing—we were thrust into the large harvest field reaching throughout the nations of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia! Individuals and church groups from the States and Western Europe formed teams and signed up with The Bridge for short term pioneer mission trips, during which they traveled to unreached regions and shared the Gospel with groups of people who often gathered in the streets out of curiosity to encounter the foreigners. The team there and then handed out New Testaments and shared the basics of the Christian faith: the Father’s love and being born-again through faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ! People responded and a pioneer church had been born! In 1992 and 1993, we facilitated each year an estimated 80 short term mission trips with 500 believers who fanned across the vast regions of the East and the Balkans with the Word in their mouth and love in their heart. The Gospel prospered through relationships!

In the wake of the huge harvesting machines—the tele-evangelists, large mission organizations and Western mega-churches with vast resources—entering these nations with Gospel outreaches, then leaving without providing Bibles or training, we realized that there were masses of new-born spiritual babies, but no one to feed them. There was a void of spiritual leadership! We felt called to focus on leadership training of the new, indigenous believers, firstly by organizing teaching conferences by renown Bible teachers, later by establishing full and part time Bible Training schools. The first was an 18 month, full time school in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Others followed, till, in 1996, we sponsored 17 schools in varies countries. The graduates became pioneer missionaries and church planters, which we initially sponsored full time, then the support was reduced as they and their churches grew in the ability of self–sustainability.

At the turn of the Century, I wrote: “The Bridge’s specific call has been to initiate and support the pioneer phase of the outreaches in helping to identify and raise up the young, indigenous leadership, then come alongside to resource, equip and encourage them without violating their God-given authority and governance. As they and their ministries grow in maturity and strength, we pull back and eventually give everything into their hands. Our principle to help raise up and give away causes The Bridge’s home base to remain small, while the fruit of our sowing into God’s Kingdom in the nations keeps expanding!”

FAST FORWARD TO 2013

The expansive, direct involvement of The Bridge in the formerly communist nations gradually scaled down as the indigenous churches we pioneered with the nationals and their outreaches became self-propagating, self-financed, and self-sustained. A few years ago, the Bridge base in Holland was closed. In 2013, our last full time Bridge missionary couple, Peter and Solvei Stohl, returned to the States, where they are now pursuing their God-given gifts and talents in visual arts. We have always followed the raise-up-and-give-it-away directive, so our home base is again small, but our vision and commission is still clear and vibrant! We continue to sponsor indigenous works, but no longer as initiators; we are support players or equal partners with friends, with kindred heart and like vision, who serve in the field.

In March, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting South Sudan and spending time with three of our partnering organizations, one of whom we have helped support for a couple of decades. The two young South Sudanese men we helped finance through Bible College in Israel have started their own indigenous outreaches in Juba, assisted with our help. Bert Cole, a friend and partner from Tennessee, traveled to South Sudan in the Fall to serve among one of the tribes there. He gave the ultimate gift to the South Sudanese people: His own life. Bert died November 10! His impact during his 23 day stay is visible among the people he served!

The Bridge has all along had a quiet ministry which has been non-public, as it involves supporting those who share the love of Jesus in parts of the Muslim world where being born-again carries a death sentence. There is a fresh wind blowing over the Muslim world! The persecution is severe. We have first hand information that today in Iran, app. 2000 Muslims per month, have supernatural, direct encounters with Jesus in dreams and visions, embrace faith in Him and boldly face the consequences. Similar reports are surfacing from within other closed countries. A new boldness is evident among these new believers; a new openness in sharing their faith and displaying God’s love and forgiveness. Social media is a powerful tool in their hands — young people throughout the world are their mission field!

Just before a heavy rain there is a sweet aroma in the air. Today, the fragrant aroma of God’s Spirit is palpable in the Muslim world, like it was across Eastern Europe in 1988-89, just before the Iron Curtain fell. Is it possible that the wall of Islam is about to fall and Isaiah 60:1-2 is to be fulfilled—that His Light and Glory will appear in darkness—also in the hearts of Ishmael’s sons?

2013 Christmas – Thanks and Blessings