As you know, we celebrated five baptisms last month. Since then, I’ve been working to get their testimonies in writing. In the next few weeks, I will begin posting some of their stories. For privacy/security reasons, I’ve changed the names and a few other details. Praise God for His work in the lives of these young men. Please pray for their growth in Christ. Also, at the time of the baptisms, several of these new believers lived in the Nest (including Jimmy below).
“Jimmy”
– Coming from a very religious household in Kurdish Iraq, Jimmy’s father was an imam (prayer leader/teacher) at the local mosque. From a young age, however, Jimmy rebelled against his strict Islamic upbringing. Jimmy joined the communist party as a teenager and became very active in Kurdish politics. Soon, though, Jimmy saw the hopelessness of political solutions. Jimmy was left unfulfilled by communism, but was unwilling to return to the Islam of his childhood. Jimmy met a group of Christian friends in Kurdistan and slowly – after initially mocking their faith – began asking question about Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity. While these “gospel seeds” germinated, Jimmy left Kurdistan for Europe. In Greece, Jimmy meet other Kurdish Christians at our ministry and continued to ask questions about Jesus. Eventually, Jimmy’s heart and mind were convinced that Christianity was consistent. Even more, Jimmy saw that Jesus did not prescribe a list of religious activities or laws, but offered salvation by grace. This grace was radically different than anything Jimmy had seen in Islam or the communist party. It was this grace that grabbed Jimmy’s heart. Jimmy invited Jesus to be Lord of his life, and was baptized in August of 2008.
