A Pakistani Christian leader called Ashley said to me 21 years ago: ‘Mike, if you really want to help our community, help us educate our children.’
What a challenge for me – especially after many years committed to evangelism in South Asia with Operation Mobilisation. We are deeply grateful for the spiritual foundations in discipleship and leadership formed in those years, which continue to inspire us.
My wife and I have spent much of the past 50 years working, thinking and praying for India, Nepal and Pakistan. In India in the 1960s and ’70s I travelled into the villages and streets preaching and distributing gospel literature alongside a team of young Indians. An educated Hindu came to me one day. ‘Do you believe the Bible?’ he said. ‘Yes, of course,’ I replied. He looked at me. ‘Jesus said that if you drink deadly poison, it will not hurt you. Will you drink a cup of poison if I give it to you? If you survive I will become a Christian.’ We faced many such challenges.