the fords
Graham Will Claire Greg Kim Molly Hudson Elliot Bethany
NYC Muslims - we are now in our 8th year of reaching Muslims in NYC and beyond.
Vision Statement: Global Quest equips and trains ministry and mission leaders from the US and abroad to establish sustainable, indigenous, reproducible, discipleship communities.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Working with Muslims in the USA has some risk of exposure of our intentions. Please DO NOT share the following information publicly or anywhere on social media!
NYC
As the work in NYC has progressed significantly this past year, it has become a larger focus in our ministry. At present, four house fellowships meet regularly, composed of new MBBs (MBB - Muslim Background Believers)
A Couple of Terms
Isa al Masih - literally means Jesus the Messiah. Term used in the Koran for Jesus.
MBB - a former Muslim who is now a follower of Jesus. Muslim Background Believer (MBB)
A Few Stories
Though there are additional stories I could share of God moving among Muslims, these are Muslims who have come to Christ recently.
RIHANNA & MOHAMMED
After more than two years of outreach to Muslim in NYC, Rihanna from Dubai was our first salvation. She received Christ in late January of this year. She came to the US for her young son to get treated for cancer at the Children’s Hospital. Over a period of multiple weeks, with regular and consistent outreach to her, she prayed to receive Isa al Masih (Jesus the Messiah) as her Savior. It was a difficult decision for her as she had no prior exposure to Jesus other than at the mosque. She has since returned to Dubai, and we are continuing to followup with her regularly.
Her cancer stricken 10 year old son, Mohammed, passed away, but in a moment of clarity before he passed, prayed sincerely to receive Isa al Masih. The matriarch of the family (Rihanna’s mother in law) had accompanied them to the USA and was strongly opposed to their praying to Isa, but they prayed anyway. Heaven will tell the results.
SIMON
Simon received Isa. He had heard some of the message of Isa before, but did not understand though he was hungry for God and for God’s help. As a Muslim, he knew Isa was an important prophet, but did not understand Him as God’s way of salvation. He was excited after praying to Isa, but as can be expected, still has a lot of questions since his background and culture is Islam. Simon is meeting regularly with Rosy H. who is discipling him.
TISHA
Tisha is from Bangladesh. She was desperate for something in her life due to marriage and family problems. She is stuck here in the USA. She doesn’t have money to return to her home country and her husband is very mean to her. Even if she had the money, she wouldn’t be accepted by her family at home if she left her husband. She feels trapped and could think of only one way out. She had seriously considered suicide multiple times and was actually on her way to drowning herself on the day she received Isa. Rosy H. had reached out to her several times in the past when they would run into each other at a bodega (small convenience store) in Queens.
In late March, on her way to drowning herself, she felt to stop by the bodega. Rosy H. was there and saw she was crying. Rosy H. reached out to her with God’s love, prayed for her, and told her Isa could help her. Later that day, Tisha committed her life to Isa al Masih.
Was she sincere in her commitment? Two weeks later, she made the decision to be baptized. In God’s unique working, instead of drowning and ending her life, she surrendered, went under, and came up a new creature in Christ. She still has a lot of questions, but when a Muslim makes the decision to be baptized as a Christian, it is a REALLY BIG BIG STEP. Baptism is not viewed lightly in the Muslim world. Typically, baptism is the point at which your Muslim family & friends reject you. She still hasn’t told her husband yet, but she is now part of a discipleship group in Queens.
EHUD & RAZYA
Ehud and Ramzeya, husband and wife, are Muslims from Turkey who immigrated to Queens a few years ago. Though they were able to establish a successful pizzeria that provides for them financially, they were both unhappy. Razya, the wife, was very unhappy and felt that her life was disappointing. One rainy night in November 2018, Rosy H. stepped into the pizzeria to wait for a taxi and struck up a conversation with Razya. Each shared about their families, jobs, and life issues. As Rosy H. shared about her faith in Isa al Masih, Razya was very hungry to hear more. Rosy H. told her “let me show you what Isa says” as she downloaded the Bible app onto Razya’s phone and signed her up for a verse a day text. As it received a Bible verse text, Rosy H. said “look, Isa is texting you”. With plans to return the next day, Rosy H. left. Little did she know that Ehud was also listening to the conversation and was intrigued.
Rosy H. returned the next day, and continued returning daily, due to Razya’s hunger. Razya would tell Rosy H. “I got a text from Isa today”. Each time Rosy H. would leave, she would pray out-loud for Isa to bless them and their business. Ehud didn’t seem interested in Isa, but Muslims put great value on Allah “blessing” their business. After a few weeks, Ehud would come sit with Rosy H. and his wife as Rosy H. would share and read Scripture with them. Ehud liked the words of encouragement and how it made him feel. (Just as we Christians like to know that God cares about us, Muslims feel the same way.) Rosy H. found out that Ehud had been diagnosed with cancer five years earlier and was having health issues from it.
After 8 months of frequent visits and the study of specific Bible verses, Ehud and Razya prayed to Isa al Masih and gave their lives to Him. It was an exciting moment for them to make such a big decision for Isa, leaving behind their belief in Islam. When they prayed to Isa, Rosy H. laid her hands on Ehud and had Razya do the same as they prayed for Isa to heal Ehud’s cancer. Razya later said she felt an unusual tingling in her hands as she prayed for Ehud.
In the immediate weeks that followed, Ehud’s new found faith was attacked by circumstances and other fellow Muslims. He was struggling in his faith with the correctness of his decision to follow Isa. It’s very common for MBB’s (Muslim Background Believers) to have lots of doubts, questions, and challenges in their newly made decision to follow Isa. Ehud was deeply struggling with this.
But on July 28, 2019 something miraculous happened. Ehud got a personal call from his cancer doctor whom he had visited two days before and the doctor told him “Ehud you are free from cancer. Praise the Lord.”
I don’t know if Ehud’s doctor is a Christian or not, but all of us were shocked that the doctor would call on a Sunday, tell him he was free from cancer, and then say “Praise the Lord”. As you might guess, this was a tremendous boost to Ehud’s new faith in Isa, and Razya’s knowledge that God had used her when she prayed for Ehud. Isa saves! Isa heals!
Out of Ehud and Razya’s new faith & their hunger for more of Isa, they have opened their home to a weekly Bible study for other Turks and MBBs.
Thoughts for those Muslims "InProcess"
I have stated this in previous years but it is worth stating again:
"Outreach to peoples who are familiar with the Gospel versus outreach to peoples who have had no meaningful exposure to the Gospel is very different."
The baseline at which you begin the evangelism process is significantly lower for those who are new to Christian thought, concepts, and understanding. Additionally, expecting a life-changing decision from someone who is newly exposed to the claims of Christ and has a historical & cultural upbringing in Islam is a slower process. Typically, it is a multi-year process for a committed Muslim to come to Christ, and they frequently increase their commitment to Islam in that process before finally accepting the claims of Christ.
As in previous years, most of our InProcess Muslims are at the stage where they have increased their commitment to Islam, yet they are still interested in learning more about Isa.
House Church Model
Local workers from partnered churches and interns coordinate the discipleship process as we train the new MBBs (Muslim Background Believers) to reach others within their community, finally resulting in a Muslim church plant. Unlike most church plants in the USA, this Muslim church plant is designed to stay monocultural. In other words, it should never look like a typical American church.
It needs to stay “culturally Muslim” so that it can effectively reach other Muslims and reach into their communities in their home countries. Most of the targeted Muslims we are reaching maintain a high degree of connectedness with their extended family, friends, and associates in their Muslim country of origin.
Note: Finding a church home for MBBs is difficult. Typically, due to long-term tensions in their home countries between Muslims and Christians, congregations of their same ethnicity that are historically Christian are not particularly welcoming of these new former Muslims, now Christians in NYC.
Most MBBs feel most comfortable with other MBBs due to similar cultural backgrounds, challenges, and common “new believer” transition issues that historic Christians from their own country don’t relate to or understand.
Example: many historic Christian believers living in Muslim countries hold the eating of pork as proof you are no longer Muslim, yet many former Muslims who are now believers still don’t eat pork due to their cultural upbringing. They don’t eat pork for cultural reasons, not religious reasons, but their fellow historic Christian brothers tell them they are not really saved since they don’t eat pork!
NOTE: Please do not publicly share the names or any information that might put our work at risk due the sensitive nature of working with Muslims in NYC.
FINAL NOTE: We are so grateful for those who have partnered with us financially in our work overseas and in NYC. If you would like to sow a financial gift towards this work, you can give online at this GIVING LINK.