At the end of the third session the leader shared a short video about a ministry of Crescent Project called Embassy. Embassy connects Christians with Muslims who speak their language online. This intrigued Tom and so he decided to give it a try. Tom applied and then quickly set to work with the onboarding process and then, with the guidance of the Embassy team and the encouragement of other volunteers, he began working to make new friends on secular websites where Muslims who speak English hang out.
His heart had a stirring for North Africa and he reached out to several young men from Morocco who were looking for new friends who were native English speakers. He began texting back and forth with several of these guys on the language learning website where they had connected but soon switched over to What’s App.
One of the men, Mehmet, had recently finished up his university studies and was hoping to get his Master’s Degree at a university in Europe in the coming years. Mehmet and Tom spent some time getting to know one another, sending texts back and forth and Tom sent a video tour of his home and asked Mehmet to do the same. After a few days of texting Mehmet suggested a video call and so they set up a time to connect for the coming weekend. Actually making the video call took their relationship to a new level. Mehmet introduced Tom to his family and he had the joy of saying hello to his mom and dad, grandmother and several of his siblings. It was awkward and fun and a whole new experience for Tom.
After meeting the whole family, Mehmet settled into a chair in his bedroom and they spent the next hour talking, getting to know one another and sharing stories. When Mehemt asked what Tom would be doing the next day, Tom shared about his church. This led to a long first conversation about faith. Tom discovered the while Mehmet was Muslim, he seemed to be more agnostic or universalist than what Tom thought a Muslim would be. Tom shared about his desire to be used by God and the prayers he’d prayed for guidance to know what to do with the new found free time of retirement. Mehmet piped in at that point to say that he thought it would please God if Tom spent his time talking with young men like himself and helping them learn English. Tom smiled at that, wondering how in the world a guy from the Midwest would find himself talking about God with a young Muslim man 5,000 miles away.
Embassy works to mobilize ordinary individuals into the extraordinary work of God among Muslims. We have over 400 volunteers from across the globe serving together, building relationships with Muslim men and women who for the first time are in a friendship with a follwer of Christ. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are within reach online. They speak your language and they’re ready to talk. The door is open. Let’s walk through it together.
Aaron G Myers