One week from tonight, we’ll be hosting the “National Town Hall Meeting on the Threat of Radical Islam and the Church’s Response.” As of last night, 540 church congregations across North America have signed up to show a high-resolution webcast of the event.
There is still time for your congregation to sign up for free by going to www.insidetherevolution.org.
At the site, you can also find:
- a partial list of the churches showing the event to see if there is one near you that you can attend.
- a trailer of the Inside The Revolution documentary DVD which releases next week.
- a button on the right hand side of the home page that you can click to send a question that you’d like us to consider answering during the 9/11 event.
- an explanation of how you can watch the event on your home computer if you don’t have a church near you that is hosting the event.
- * an explanation of when the event will be rebroadcast later in the evening on 9/11 for churches and individuals in the Western time zones.
- * next week, Lord willing, we’ll have the list of TV and radio stations that will be broadcasting the event as well.
We look forward to having you join us next Friday night, and we would be grateful if you would be praying for us:
- for the Lord’s grace and protection for everyone involved
- for all the technical details to go smoothly
- for people’s hearts in North America and around the world to be moved by the Holy Spirit to “learn, pray, give and go” to His work in the epicenter
- for people specifically consider getting prayerfully and financially involved in the work of The Joshua Fund to bless Israel and her neighbors through TJF’s educational efforts and by TJF’s work to provide food, clothing, medical supplies and other relief and assistance to the poor and needy and victims of war and terrorism in the epicenter.
Thanks so much, and may the Lord bless you beyond what you can hope for, dream of, or imagine, according to Ephesians 3:20.
The following are excerpts from Part I of an interview I did with Smart Ministry, a resource for pastors and ministry leaders throughout the U.S. and Canada. To read the full story, please click here.
Q: Joel, I was able to see a screener copy of the DVD. Let me start by asking what you want to accomplish with the documentary?
A: From the perspective of a church leader, our objective with Inside the Revolution is to create a tool where pastors and other ministry leaders can generate a conversation within their ministries. Do we have a heart for reaching Muslims with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and do we have a plan? In terms of the film, it is a straight documentary. It’s not specifically a call to action per se as the book is. The last chapter of the book Inside the Revolution is specifically titled Come Join the Revolution, and addresses specific ways you can fight radicals, support reformers, and encourage revivalists.
The film doesn’t do that, but it’s clearly designed to educate Christians to the threat of radical Islam and to how powerfully God is moving in the Muslim world so they are aware of the fact that we are at a different stage in history than any other time in Christian/Islamic relations. We’re in a moment where the God of the Bible is moving so powerfully to draw Muslims into the kingdom of Jesus Christ that we ought to be engaged. We ought to part of that process. We always should have been, but the church wasn’t for many centuries.
….I have four objectives: learn, pray, give and go. The film doesn’t say that, but that’s my objective. To help people learn what God is doing in the Middle East and the Muslim world. Pray knowledgeably, faithfully, and consistently for peace, but also for Christ to move and draw more Muslims to himself. To give to ministries that are effectively advancing the Gospel and showing the love of Christ in compassionate ways here as well as in the Muslim world. And to give to ministries that are blessing Israel and standing with Israel. And then to go. Go on a prayer and vision trip—short term, or long term….
Q: On September 11 you’re putting on a free webcast for churches. How do you hope churches will respond to what they learn there?
A: In some ways the 9/11 event is the last chapter of the DVD. Meaning it’s our opportunity to show portions of the film so people understand what it is and why we’ve created it as a tool, but then to get into the very issues and have the very conversation that we hope everyone will begin to have as they watch the film. The 9/11 event allows churches to link right in to the conversation and participate in it…..The goal is to get people engaged in a conversation. And that’s why we’re calling it a national town hall. We want it to be a conversation. In two hours we won’t satisfy it, we’ll just begin it.
….We’re going to commemorate and honor those who fell on 9/11 eight years ago. In doing that, I think the question that the church needs to ask herself is, “Do we have a heart for reaching Muslims with the Gospel, and do we have a plan for doing it? Do we have a plan for blessing Israel in every possible way?”
…..I’m not entirely convinced that the church got mobilized by 9/11 to fulfill the great commission in the Middle East. And we ought to have been. And if we weren’t then, we need to be now.
….All the things that Jesus told us to do in the last days—in Matthew 25, for example—are things we need to do. Are we feeding the hungry? Are we giving water to the thirsty? Are we clothing the naked? Are we caring for the suffering? We need to do those things in our communities, but we need to do them particularly in the Middle East where Jesus said all these things. In Matthew 25 He said He is going to grade His followers on how well we’re doing that. To be clear, good works don’t get us into heaven, but we were saved to do good works. The question is, are we showing the love of Jesus Christ in real and practical and specific ways to Israel and to the Muslim world?
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