You’ve probably seen the news that Mosul, Iraq (aka Nineveh) has finally been liberated from ISIS. Well, here’s more news: I’ll be on the ground in Mosul in just a few days!
Here’s what’s happening:
Last week, Dr. Terry Law, my Unmasking ISIS co-author, asked me to return to Iraq’s Kurdistan Region with him from August 18-26. The Kurds are set to hold a September referendum on independence, and passage is a sure thing. As the only Muslim people in the entire Middle East who don’t persecute Christians, the Kurds want their new nation to guarantee religious freedom for Christians and other religious minorities in their pending new constitution.
Recently, their Defense Minister called to ask Terry to gather the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant leaders of Kurdistan, Mosul and the Nineveh Plains, to specify what protections they would want written into a new Kurdish Constitution. An independent Kurdistan would become a safe haven for non-Muslims (who include 10 million Orthodox Christians).
This would be an historic first in 1,400 years of Islam!
True Freedom
Two years ago, our friends and some very enthusiastic students of The Rock School here in Gainesville, jointly gave $25,000 in three short weeks, enabling us to pay shipping for two full cargo containers of excellent food and clothing worth many times more to Christian refugees who had fled Mosul and the Nineveh Plains when ISIS invaded.
This trip is immeasurably MORE important!
From 2000 until the 2014 rise of ISIS, Kurdistan boomed economically and welcomed both Christians and Jews. No other place in the Muslim world can make that boast. Now, rather than temporarily feeding thousands, we can go to the very cities ISIS invaded and help secure lasting freedom from persecution (and reliance on humanitarian aid) for the hundreds of thousands of Christians who remain, and no doubt also for an influx of émigrés from all across the Middle East.
In addition to meeting with bishops, pastors and government officials in the Kurdish capital, we’ll make day trips (under heavy guard) to Mosul and nearby liberated Christian towns in the Nineveh Plains. This is our golden opportunity to contribute significantly to both Middle East history and church history.
We’re All In
My longtime friend, Don Moen, often says, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead!” Don’s talking about laying up treasures in heaven, of course, and he’s right.
You can lay up treasures in heaven by sending guys like me, who go to hard places like Iraq and Cuba. Just click the Contribute button at the top of this page, and you can give once, or easily initiate “set it and forget it” monthly giving. (Soon, you’ll be able to give via text message and directly from bank to bank.)
This is us. We go where we’re sent. I’m turning 67 today, and what an honor to still be on the front lines, literally, at such a critical time in history. It would also be an honor to represent you regularly, in Iraq and beyond, in this, my 50th year in missions.