Middle East: Life in the desert

Tyler Connell with the Ekballo Project shared a few encouraging stories from his most recent trip to Middle East, where he documented a dramatic move of God among Muslims, particularly with refugees. “Many there are disillusioned and broken and just want to know the truth,” he says. “Now more than ever there is a harvest among Muslims.”

His first film chronicles a young missionary named Daniel, 24, originally from Vermont. Two years ago he moved to Jordan to work with Syrian refugees. “They go house to house and visit these Muslim families and sit with them and talk with them and find out their names, their stories, and love them. As trust is built, they begin to open up for the Gospel.”

‘Hi I’m Daniel and I’m here to tell you about Jesus.’

One afternoon Daniel walked into a white tent with a family of eight people inside. “Hi I’m Daniel and I’m here to tell you about Jesus,” he announced. He wasn’t quite prepared for their reaction. “The family freaked out, they looked at each other and almost turned white. The father was excited, yelling.”

What’s going on? Daniel wondered. The interpreter explained that the night before Daniel’s visit, the whole family was sitting in their tent having tea together. To their surprise a man in white opened the door to their tent and stood at the entrance. The man was glowing. “Hello, My name is Jesus and I am sending a man tomorrow named Daniel to tell you more about me.” Then he disappeared.

So when Daniel arrived at their doorway and told them his name, they were completely undone. They asked him to tell them more about Jesus and he explained the Gospel. The whole family converted. The father had been a part of the Free Syrian Army. He had known bloodshed. He was a devout Muslim. This man and his family are now planting underground churches in Jordan and are seeing a harvest among Muslims.

Recently the father was dismayed by a large cell phone bill and he asked his 15-year-old daughter about it. “It’s because I’m telling all our relatives in Saudi Arabia about Jesus,” she said.

In another Syrian refugee family, Connell felt God’s presence break through in a powerful way. “The joy that broke out among these 25 people was incredible. Jesus’ presence was stronger in that little dirty living room than I have ever felt in any conference, any prayer room, any camp-high moment. Jesus was there in the middle of the desert, in Iraq, in the dirt, with Muslims. He is attracted to the broken-hearted, the contrite, the desperate.”

Source: Tyler Connell, Ekballo Project