The echoes for the morning prayer still rings in our ears when more than 70 pastors surreptitiously gathers in a quiet gathering close to one of the many mosques surrounding us. The men and women gathering makes up the core of our church-planters in the Republic of Chad. With a country dominated by Muslims planting churches does come at a price. Through all of this they still succeeded in planting 147 churches. 
PHOTO: Pastor Paul van der Merwe smiling after we struck a good deal for Bibles with the Bible Society.
As we train through the heat of the day we are called by the security police to re-register as visitors to the country. We do so by quietly standing in a corner at the police station. Bishop Amane takes control and after photographs and a few other paraphernalia we are ready to continue our search for Bibles. 200 Million Christians in Africa do not have their own Bible. The cry for Bibles echoes constantly in the many countries where we plant churches – Chad is no exception.
PHOTO: Finding the Bible Society was not the easiest task …. but eventually we conquered.
Mathew (pseudonym) is one of our younger pastors who has been working in the Sahara desert his whole life. He has dedicated his life to the people in the Sahara desert. “I love the desert people – they are our forgotten people. Nobody hardly shares the truth of the Gospel in those places”, he says with a shy smile. He shares about the dangers of sharing Jesus Christ and how women are used to smuggle in Bibles in difficult places. “We rely 100 % on the Holy Spirit when we share Christ. But the secret lays in the moment when we take out a Bible in Arabic. It’s when they open it and slowly begin reading it …. and it sounds different than the Al-Quran (القرآن).”
“They seem to not be able to put it down. They have learnt about Jesus Christ as the Prophet …. but in the Holy Bible they meet Him as Saviour …. as Friend …. as the Son of the living God. We need Bibles pastor!” Mathew stares at me …. desperate for an answer. “IF you hadn’t come our people would have died without Christ ….. not even having a fair chance to receive Jesus Christ.” And again I suddenly realized our great responsibility in the Church as Christian to the whole world. We dare not live behind closed doors – we need churches with open doors …. everywhere.
PHOTO: Proud pastors receiving their own copy of the Arabic Bible.
PHOTO: Pastor Paul van der Merwe with Wheels for God handing out bicycles to pastors and evangelists to spread the gospel!
To our astonishment we found Arabic Bibles in N’djamena. After an hour of negotiations our first batch of Arabic Bibles were ready to be transported via camel to the lonely outposts in the Sahara desert. And my heart leaped with joy as I knew ….. the Gospel will be taken to the ends of the earth …. slowly but surely!!
PHOTO: No greater joy than training a leader in evangelism …. and that moment when he gets it ……! Pastor Marius Braxton with Francois Rauch
PHOTO: What we do with our empty BIBLE boxes!