545. Light a Candle Women World Leaders' Podcast

It’s easy to get discouraged by all the darkness we see closing in on us. There are so many things wrong in this world, but the darker the night, the brighter the light. Today, host Julie Harwick gives many examples of believers shining brightly in the midst of darkness and reminds us that we have been called to do the same.
 
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Welcome to Women World Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Julie Harwick. Thank you for joining me today as we celebrate God’s grace in our lives, in this ministry and around the world.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s been going on for 80 years, but this was my first experience attending. It was fascinating, exhausting, sometimes disheartening, but also inspiring and encouraging – kind of a microcosm of life on this planet.
I was there to represent Barnabas Aid, a ministry to the Suffering Church. Very, very few people approached our little booth to learn more about the Persecuted Church. Most who did approach, were eager to promote their own ministries which wasn’t a bad thing, because they were also willing to hear about mine. But in order to effectively represent Barnabas Aid, I had to  try to make eye contact with someone passing slowly enough to ask, “How familiar are you with the Persecuted Church?”  Some pretended not to hear me or mumbled, “I’m good.” But fortunately many were willing to listen and consider getting involved. There were people from all over the world there and it was interesting to note that nearly every foreigner I encountered was well-acquainted with the Persecuted Church. Americans were far more likely to know little to nothing, but that’s probably because suffering for your faith is not a normal part of being a believer in this country. I was most encouraged by meeting people from Morocco, India and Pakistan who had actually worked with our organization in those countries. Hearing their stories made the work of Barnabas Aid more real to me and allowed me to put faces with the people we serve.
The disheartening part came from some of the booths I encountered where televangelists were selling supplements guaranteed to give you energy and good health and others just seemed to be all about glitz and glamour. There may be nothing wrong with these ministries. It was just hard not to notice the contrast between them and less flashy ministries whose sole focus was bringing the gospel to people who hadn’t heard or fighting for the lives of unborn babies.
Overall, it was very encouraging to see the massive convention center filled with people who are devoting their lives to God-honoring businesses or ministries. Every form of media was represented: radio, television, film, podcasts, video games, books and social media. All appeared to be committed to using every method possible to grow the Kingdom of God.
I was especially encouraged to see that the booths next to me and across from me were both engaged with reaching Muslims for Christ and supporting Muslim Background Believers who live under restrictive and even dangerous conditions. Islam is the world’s second largest religion and it’s estimated that there are nearly 2 billion Muslims worldwide. One organization, Cresent Project, has a vision to equip 100,000 believers, many of them from a Muslim background to reach 120 counties where Muslims have never heard the gospel. At Lighthouse Arab World, I talked with Johnny, a Lebanese man who was born into a Christian family but has a great love for Muslims all over the Arab world. He told me about the crushing inflation that his native country is suffering and how his ministry is helping to alleviate that suffering while pointing people to Jesus. He also told me a fascinating first-hand account he had heard about a Christian missionary who attempted to evangelize a remote tribe in Tunisia. These devoted Muslims were mostly hostile toward him and wanted n