NAME Peoples

A full-size model of the Tabernacle sits in the desert near Eilat, Israel, attracting worldwide visitors to explore the basis of the Judeo-Christian faiths.

Fadi (name changed), an undersized Lebanese boy, grew up enduring the fists and contempt of his father. Even worse abuse awaited in the army. He grew hard and cold, throwing himself into killing his sworn enemies: the Syrians. But a life-and-death encounter with Christ changed everything …

Northern Africa and the Middle East is an area often thought of as a battlefield where – supposedly – no one is following Jesus. We see a spiritual desert, but God sees a ready harvest; and workers are needed in this harvest field.

A harsh sun glares down on the dusty town square where Arab history changed one day. It was Dec. 17, 2010, a day like any other in sleepy Sidi Bouzid, a provincial capital in southern Tunisia.

Several years ago a group of Muslim students at Al-Azhar University — Cairo’s world-renowned, millennium-old center of Islamic learning — researched the life and character of Jesus.