Trailblazing Newsletter - Winter 2019

WINTE R 2019

The newsletter of Josh McDowell Ministry

INSIDE Page 2 Encouraging reports from our field partners working in Europe Page 3 From Josh: “Here’s where YOU come in . . .”

Page 4 Reach truth seekers for Jesus this summer with your gift

“So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” — 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NLT)

This summer as missionary teams are active all over Europe, you can help equip them to proclaim God’s Word to truth seekers from the Gulf Region.

Your support will be key to a summer of evangelism all across Europe God is calling truth seekers from Gulf countries to Himself as never before.

And He’s calling to us to be a part of what He’s doing — to serve as His ambassadors.

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This summer you’ll have the opportunity to join Josh McDowell Ministry in sharing the gospel as you provide the high-impact ministry tools — books, DVDs and even SD memory cards loaded with Christian content — that

will equip our field partners to share the truth of Jesus all summer long.

An incredible ministry opportunity

Each summer, beginning in late May, thousands of people from all over the Gulf region visit popular destination cities across Europe. Many are looking

KEEP READING

to see how your gift today will bring truth to truth seekers from closed countries. >>>>

Your partnership is carrying God’s love to receptive hearts. Thank you!

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for a way to escape the fierce summer temperatures throughout the Gulf, as well as take advantage of the European culture, entertainment, health care and business prospects.

Our field partners recognized the incredible opportunities for ministry — sharing Jesus with people who often come from countries closed to the gospel.

But in the relative freedom of Europe, our partners can more openly share God’s Word AND send people home with resources that will help them grow in their faith and witness to friends and family.

Share truth with receptive hearts

The goal is to share Jesus in a casual environment, win a soul for the kingdom and send the person back to their home country with a selection of Christ-centered resources. The SD memory cards are ideal, because they make it easier for people to carry Christian materials back to closed countries in secrecy.

In many cases, our partners can even carry on discipleship relationships with these new believers.

The resources include Josh McDowell titles, such as More Than a Carpenter, The Deity of Christ, Undaunted on DVD and SD cards loaded with Josh’s books.

Your giving equips missionaries like this to share Josh’s books and

Each ministry team includes mature believers who are specially trained to present the good news to truth seekers. But new believers are involved too. They learn to share their faith in a safe environment before returning home, often to closed countries and a more dangerous witnessing environment.

Many of the people are hearing the truth about Jesus for the first time. But they often tell us that they return home to friends and family filled with enthusiasm and the desire to share their new-found faith — or even participate in a future Gulf Partnership themselves.

Will you stand with Josh McDowell Ministry and give generously to share truth with thousands of people who would otherwise be impossible to reach?

Thanks to you, people from closed countries are being reached for Christ!

This past summer, because you answered God’s call to help, Marahi and his team of field partners served in twelve European cities. He was able to connect with truth seekers who traveled to and from closed countries by using compact SD memory cards loaded with evangelism and discipleship resources.

Here’s what Marahi told us: “I can say that had it not been for heroes of the faith filled with the Holy Spirit and enthusiasm for sharing the gospel with thousands of people from

Gulf countries, the message might not have reached them.

“Our partnership together through using electronic materials for evangelism will open doors for thousands of people to cross from darkness to light. We are privileged to have such a chance to go together, hand in hand, to reach those beloved people for Christ.”

Thank YOU for supporting this important work!

Encouraging reports from our field partners working in Europe Each summer thousands of people from the Gulf Region travel to European cities for vacations and work. This provides our field partners with the wonderful evangelism opportunities.

Missionaries are often able to develop ongoing relationships with people who come to Christ. That means when new believers return home, they can continue to grow and learn to share their faith with others.

From France: “A family from a closed country was sitting, and we approached them to ask if they wanted a free gift of a New Testament and some other materials. They accepted happily and asked why we were giving them away.

“We ended up getting to talk about Christ and His sacrifice.

We spoke to 14 different people from that one closed nation on that one night, and all of them accepted the SD card loaded with Christian resources!”

why it was important that He came to earth, and the concept of ​​ redemption. His reply was that this is convincing and that he had planned to leave in three days. But he decided to postpone his travel for another week. He asked for a Bible and several DVDs, saying he would go through them before we meet again.”

From Germany: “I met ‘Fawza’ and her husband.

As I was giving her a DVD, she asked me why I was distributing.

I asked her if she had read the New Testament. She said, ‘No.’ From Switzerland: “We met ‘Hamid’ from a Middle When I asked why, she said Eastern country that’s very hostile because it is falsified. to the gospel. We started talking, “We spoke about this issue, and I and I took the opportunity to wanted her to think. I asked her share my personal testimony. again if she wanted to take the Then I asked him a question: New Testament. This time, she Where will you go when you die? said, ‘Yes.’ She took my number.

“This led us to talk about Christ, Please pray for her.”

h From Jos

“Here’s where YOU come in . . .”

I’ve spent a good part of my life sharing the reasons for my faith, many times with people I have come to call “truth seekers.”

They’re from countries that are closed to gospel proclamation.

And they have very different ideas about God, His Son and the pathway to salvation.

As I talk to them, I’m respectful. I never criticize their faith and don’t try to tell them what they believe.

I keep the focus on what I believe — why Jesus is who He says He is, why He loves me, why His Word is truth.

This summer Josh McDowell Ministry will be partnering with ministry teams across Europe to reach truth seekers from countries of the Gulf region.

These teams have asked for our help with Christian resources that follow the same approach I’ve seen touch hearts, especially with people who are eager to know real hope, some for the first time ever.

Here’s where YOU come in . . .

I hope you’ll give to share Christcentered books and other tools that will help our partners reach thousands of truth seekers during this summer’s outreach. Thank you!

Until the whole world hears,

Y PLEASE GIVE B MARCH 15!

Reach truth seekers for Jesus this summer

You can help missionary teams spread the gospel in closed countries The opportunity is incredible. Too incredible to pass up. Will you stand with us now to take advantage of it?

Right now our field partners all across Europe are preparing for a summer of ministry that will bring the truth of Jesus to thousands of truth seekers from the Gulf region.

To do that, we need to raise $297,600 to produce and ship 80,000 evangelistic and discipleship resources — Josh’s books, DVDs and other materials, translated into the heart languages of those they’ll be reaching.

It costs just $3.72 to provide one resource that will be used during a presentation of the gospel.

Your gift today will help turn busy European city streets into summer evangelism opportunities.

Please give now, knowing that thousands of people from countries closed to the gospel will be reached.

THREE EASY WAYS TO GIVE NOW Give by mail: Return your gift with the enclosed reply form in the envelope provided.

Give by telephone: You can also give your gift by calling 1-855-833-6897.

Give online: Make an immediate impact by giving securely on our website at give.cru.org/GulfPartnershipOutreach.