by Missions Team on May 08, 2025
Ahmet was born poor and died the same. We met him in 1976 when we landed in Izmir, Turkey, knowing almost nothing about the country except that God had called us there.
Ahmet's family had no TV or radio. His grandfather would stick a cigarette in tiny Ahmet's mouth so everyone could get a laugh on cold winter nights as he staggered about the room. Ahmet left school after third grade in order to work in a coffeehouse to help support the family. And when he married, he didn't see the face of his bride until he lifted her veil. There was no courtship. He had last seen her when he and she were in third grade!
One day, a foreigner left him an invitation to a correspondence course about Jesus. And when his wife found out he was following Jesus instead of Islam, she told the entire village, "I'll cook his food and clean his house, But I'll never go to his bed again!" But even more painfully, when his married daughter would come for a visit, she would tell the grandchildren, "Don't kiss your grandfather's hand in greeting! He's an unbeliever!!"
Ahmet spent nearly every weekend at our small apartment during our first four years as missionaries. We learned Turkish language and culture, to be sure, but most of all, we learned how daunting, demeaning and discouraging it can be for a Muslim to choose Christ. When Ahmet died, his village buried him in an unmarked grave.
In 1976, one Turk in a million followed Jesus. Today, praise God, it's closer to one in one hundred thousand (equal to two believers in all of Fort Collins). So how do we, at Timberline bring more Turks (and other Muslims) to Christ? By intentionally choosing to learn about and support missions to Muslims around the world. And by blessing and releasing our own sons and daughters when they tell us God has called them to reach Muslims.
And how can we who ARE missionaries in Muslim lands do it better? By digging deep every day to learn the difficult language and culture God has called us to. By devoting a lifetime to building a national church that can stand on its own two feet when we get kicked out of the country for sharing Jesus. And by offering and opening ourselves to the same infilling of the Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus' disciples on the Day of Pentecost.
-Doug and Ruth Clark
40-year missionaries to the Muslim world, now retired
