Jeff Adams

God shows up every night, of course, and he never leaves. That’s all part of being God. However, once in a while God loves to remind us that he is there and always in control.  Tonight was one of those times. Tonight was over the top.

As I walked into the auditorium, folks were coming up from downstairs bringing in the latest boxes of completed Farsi New Testaments (76 per box). You can check the numbers on the kcbt website, updated every few hours via Twitter. The praise began right on schedule as the faithful began to filter in. I was singing when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to discover that Melo the South American Farsi Bible transporter had arrived on schedule. I told him that the boxes in front of him represented about 13,000 Farsi New Testaments. He fought back tears and I knew it would be a good evening.

Pastor Jay got up and presented an opportunity for us to serve as mentors for Iraqi immigrants to Kansas City. You might remember that I posted about this a few days ago. This is the opportunity that was discovered by TK, our Spanish-speaking Chinese American whose Muslim friend had told her that the Jewish Vocational Development Center was processing large numbers of Iraqi refugees into life in Kansas City and needed help.

Tonight’s featured speaker was a sweet K@rdish lady who is a vibrant  nd committed follower of Jesus Christ and now lives and ministers in Nashville where more Ks live than in any other American city. Jay and I took her to lunch today and, as we went to pick her up, Jay received a telephone call from a local K@urdish contact, a young man who was referred to Jay from a pastor friend as a K@rdish believer. Jay had been trying to make contact with him for a few days and invited him to come to the service tonight. The young man sounded like he had other commitments tonight, but offered to get with Jay soon. He said that he was a believer and that his father had recently become a believer and was baptized just a couple of months ago.

Just before I walked into the auditorium tonight, Jay said he had heard that the K@rdish family was on the way to the service after all. “Cool,” I thought.

After a brief video highlighting her ministry in Nashville, our K@rdish lady began to tell her story. She shared how Jesus had appeared to her in dreams and visions (almost always the case in the transformation of Ms coming to Christ). Then, she told how God in his providence got a Bible into her hands. She held us spellbound as she related her thought process as she read through the Bible having all her fears and questions answered. She took us with her as she then migrated to the United States and continued her pilgrimage.  It was a powerful presentation.

When she finished, I walked to the front to take the microphone from her as she descended the stairs. In my peripheral vision I caught a male figure approaching from my left side. I turned and saw a beaming man approaching with confidence. I suppose I should have feared that some wacko was coming to do someone harm in light of recent happenings in other churches. Instinctively, though, I knew this must be the K@rdish believer Jay had spoken to by phone. I decided to wait an instant and see what happened. He looked at her and spoke in K@rdish.  She spoke back. I relaxed.

She was still a bit confused, not knowing what to make of this. I took the microphone and explained that this must be a K@rdish believer that Jay had spoken with earlier today. Jay was in the front row and I asked him to tell us the story. I grabbed the arm of our Nashville visitor to assure her that all was well.

As Jay told the story, thinking this man was the one with whom he had spoken by phone, a handsome twenty-something appeared in the front also, saying that he was the one, and that the other man was his father. The young man further explained that he had come to faith a couple of years ago, and that the change in his life had influenced his father to come to faith and had recently been baptized. As he was speaking, his mother and siblings filled in the second pew.

We all stood together in front as I prayed over all of these k@rdish friends. I struggled to take in the magnitude of what had just happened. The father was so overcome with what he had just heard he simply could not contain himself. He had to come and meet this woman who shared his new-found faith. He and his son had imagined that they must be the only K@rdish believers in America. Not only that, it turns out that they are from the very same place in Ir@q as our speaker. You calculate the odds of that!

There is no way anyone could plan something like this. The service was over and I simply stood for a few moments watching people come and greet these new K@rdish friends for whom we had prayed before we knew them.

This young K@rdish man told me after the service that when he was taking with Pastor Jay by phone earlier, he knew he had too much to do tonight to come to the service. As soon as he hung up the phone, he said that he sensed the voice of God tell him that he needed to go. He obeyed, and he was so glad he did.

As we continued chatting, he said something that truly encouraged me. He said that this was the first church he had seen where he would feel comfortable in inviting his K@rdish friends. Looking around at the faces in our congregation, he knew that his friends would not feel awkward or out of place.

Let me promise you that you do not want to miss tomorrow night! Steve Coffey will minister to us again and Melo will tell his story. While I’m talking about that, come early and bring someone with you to help us with the scripture assembly. It’s going to take all of us working together to finish this task of 52,000 Farsi scriptures.