This was a fitting final service to a week filled with divine providence. Each day I ‘ve tried to keep you abreast of how God has been supernaturally running ahead of us and we have been running to keep up. Tonight we welcomed Pastor Iraj from the First  Ir@nian Baptist Church of Dallas.  Before he told his story, he led us in a couple of F@rsi praise songs. That meant we sang in three languages tonight instead of our usual two. I joked that maybe we should change the name of our church, not to one of the trendy names like the Rock or the River, but to Rosetta Stone.

Pastor Iraj once again confirmed the value of what we are doing to provide scripture for the many F@rsi speakers that are desperate for them. A missionary from another agency who lived for years in Ir@n was also present tonight and echoed the same need for the scriptures. Jamie is a Christar missionary who spend several years in another country near Ir@n and is now preparing to work with F@rsi speakers in yet another country was present tonight along with an Armenian brother, born in Tehr@n who was moved to tears by what he saw, heard and experienced.  Steve Coffey later encouraged us from 1Corinthians 15 to know that our work in the Lord is not in vain.

This was the final service, but not the end of the Bible Conference. We are a little over halfway there with both scripture assembly and offering. Everyone has been wonderful to help, but the task is great. After the service there were probably 500 or more working on the assembly line and much was getting accomplished. However, we need this continued effort all day tomorrow, into the night and maybe even most of the day on Friday. Keeping checking the front page of www.kcbt.org to see where we stand. Bring someone and help out anytime tomorrow or tomorrow evening. I’m tired and know many of you are, too, but let’s press on just a few more hours.

Well, you just missed it. I am so sorry. I truly am. There is simply no way to begin to explain what has been happening these past few days.  What could I say? We cannot record these meetings for the protection of those who share as well as their friends and loved ones. Here’s the best I can do:

• Over 20,0oo F@rsi testaments sat on the altar tonight as the service began.  Our people have always been hard and willing workers during this time of scripture assembly, but this year it’s as if people are going out of their way to have a fabulous attitude.
• I think yesterday’s post broke the all time record for daily hits on this blog. Thanks! The K@urdish lady who spoke last night ended up spending the night with the K@rdish family who showed up for the service last night.  Not only are they from the same city, they discovered they know the same people! If you have even the most superficial knowledge of K@rdish culture (like me!) you might imagine that they had a fabulous feast and then sat talking until the wee hours of the morning. That’s exactly what they did.
• Tonight, the young K@rdish man was back, making friends, excited and stuck around afterward helping to assemble scripture.  I’ll bet he asked me three times if we were going to do this again. Then, I found out he was asking others the same question. He seemed very excited to think that we could work together in behalf of his people. Me, too!
• Steve Coffey from Christar spoke from Mark’s Gospel tonight, concerning the characteristics of the commended life. We could not record his comments either, because he shared some sensitive and truly amazing information about what certain of his colleagues are seeing God do in a certain country.
• After Steve, Melo shared his story. Melo is the South American transporter of scripture to its final destination. I have no words. You are just going to have to ask someone who was there and hope that they are able to come up with some way to even begin to tell what we experienced tonight.

Again, I am so sorry. I am frankly still trying to process all that has happened. I’ve been involved in a number of sensational happenings over the years and this is certainly in the top tier. These are experiences that come around perhaps only once in a lifetime.

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.

What a day! The first “official” day of Bible conference, although our students gave us a head start since Friday night. Here are my highlights of the day in no particular order of importance.

• 4,000 assembled and packaged Farsi New Testaments were sitting on the altar as we began the service this evening at 6:00pm. Good beginning despite some persistent problems with one of our binders.
• Ethnic clothing day! Tim sent out a brief email last week encouraging people to dress in their native clothing if possible today. Home run! I have to say the Africans took the morning – both services. I knew we had a growing population of Africans in our church, but today was an exclamation mark! I stood in awe of the beauty on display. I wanted time to talk with each African ethnic group represented and learn as much about their garb as possible. One family from Cameroon in particular was off the charts beautiful! The Hispanics took the evening as many of the ladies especially showed up in their finest folkloric clothing. I had fun getting my picture taken with many of them.
• Steve Coffey and Greg Parsons delivered the goods today as our guest speakers. I love these guys and have been blessed to work with them on the Christar board. This was the first visit for both of them to KCBT and they both related so well. They knew exactly what we needed to hear. Thanks to both! Greg has to rush off to teach a Perspectives class tomorrow in Las Vegas, but Steve and Beth Coffey will be with us for the conference.
• Watching people work on the scripture assembly line – this is always a highlight to see old, young, married, single and of all ages and ethnic groups working on putting Farsi scripture together.  Hey’! We need all the help we can get, especially at the stranger hours like from 3:00am to 1000am.

I hope we get some pictures posted on the www.kcbt.org site. For the moment, here is what the stack of raw scripture looked like on the side of the gym Saturday morning.

Tomorrow night at 7:00pm we will hear from a Kurdish lady from Nashville. We met her at The Summit in March and loved her passion for her people. More Kurds live in Nashville than any other US city. She has a fabulous ministry to Kurdish women. Come early and work on the assembly line. Or, stay late.

It’s almost midnight and I just came back from checking out the close to 200 students and others who are beginning the assembly line for the 52,000 Farsi New Testaments.  I’m excited!

There is an air of excitement and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  I came home because I will be up early to work on the line for a while with the Shepherd School students in the morning.  Can’t wait until Sunday!

Speaking of students, last night I had the privilege to be the keynote speaker for the President’s Dinner at Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary. This school, started in 1932 right in the heart of the Great Depression, is a hidden jewel of Kansas City. Calvary has never been a large school, but it has always been a fine school with lasting fruit. Calvary grads serve in every state of the union and in more than 70 countries. Dr. James Clark was just installed as president, becoming the first Calvary graduate to be president of the school.