Pst Brad’s meeting with the Muslim Clerics/Leaders established credibility and favor!
“Me being a Muslim, doesn’t stop me from learning about Jesus. I listen to Pst Brad’s weekly radio messages!”
Pastor Brad Abley: Biblical Educator and Religious Broadcaster
Uganda Missions Trip: Aug 25 - Sept 4, 2024
“The following is “A summary” of Pst Brad’s two and a half hour meeting with 78 Muslim clerics and other Muslim leaders and Muslims.
Some of the Muslims know of Pst Brad from his local weekly FM Radio Gospel Program.
* Pst Brad dictated the following into his phone at 2:30 a.m. and said he doesn’t have the time or the energy to edit, so what you’ll read will reflect that!”
Pst Brad’s team provided lunch for their guests! The room was arranged in a very informal setting…
“Naturally, the Muslims came in somewhat guarded and suspicious but as soon as they entered the church building I went up and enthusiastically greeted every one of them and it instantly changed the atmosphere from one of Suspicion to one of Joyful intrigue and from there I kept it engaging them and every time someone else would come in I would stop and greet them in their language in the absolutely went wild over that.
On a few occasions I mistakenly said to the man, thank you for coming using the feminine and immediately I corrected myself and they broke out in great laughter.
Welcome and Greeting, the purpose of meeting is to get to know you!
In God's providence, the man that I sat closest to was the chief Muslim cleric and for the first 20-30 minutes he had a serious look on his face; but I kept engaging him and he softened and he did so especially when I pointed out little beard on his chin and how good it looked and I said I think I want to grow my beard like that! And they all broke out in great laughter again and then that changed his countenance from one of such seriousness to.
And then I said but do you think my wife will allow me to grow my beard like this? Again busting out in great laughter. They the enthusiastically allowed me to pray for them on two occasions, which is Major.
The first was midway through our gathering, which was two and a half hours! It came as a result of the question of one young man about the great challenges of young people financially.
I talked about the importance of saving even one penny if that's all they can do and then the next opportunity another penny, and then the next opportunity another penny and put it in the bank and then I mentioned compound interest.
I used myself as an example, starting a paper route at the age of 9 and of course I had to explain what that was and how when I was paid I would ride my bike to the local bank where I had opened an account and save as much money as I could and then 8 years later I had more than enough money to pay cash for my first car.
So that was a tangible example of what is possible. You could see how amazed they were when I gave this explanation. I asked them if they ever heard of compound interest or even thought much about saving and almost no one raised their hand out of 78 people.
So I said, this is a great example of why I'm here! And they loved it and then that led me to say can I pray for your nation for economic breakthroughs and technological breakthroughs?
And I did and by the time I finished you would have thought I was among Evangelical Christians. Speaking of Christians, then one of the key leaders, it might have been the one I was sitting closest to, in fact it was, express to me that the Christian leaders in this area treat the Muslims as enemies and want nothing to do with them, even in Social matters.
So I said, I'm a Christian leader and I'm standing in their place to ask forgiveness of you. And that's exactly what I said and I waited until they nodded their heads yes.
And then I said, this is the second reason I'm here and that is to lead by example. I said, I bet they want to engaging you but they don't have an example of how to go about it but now they do. And I know that what's taking place today is going to spread throughout Kamuli and they agreed.
They didn't ask me about my Faith.
Then, they all began to ask me questions, not about the Christian faith but about many other matters of substance and there must have been at least 15 to 20 questions from several of them almost all of them coming from the leaders.
They look young but they're actually much older than they look. If you think they're 25, the chances are that they are actually 40. It's amazing.
Yet another story was from a young man wearing a red shirt directly across from me who said he used to be a Christian but he started his own business and was doing well and the pastor of the church that he had served accused him of embezzlement because he couldn't believe this young man was doing well in his business and he kicked him out of the church.
Now, of course, this pastor was not there to tell his side of the story, so I had to go with what the young man was saying to me. However, what he described is very common in Uganda. Christian leaders are very, very insecure and domineering.
In the conference those are areas that I dealt with repeatedly. Anyway, I said to the young man, I'm a pastor and I'm going to stand in the place of this man who chased you out of the church and do what he should have done and that is to compliment you for your initiative and success and I'm asking you to forgive me on his behalf.
Would you do that? He nodded and said yes. But there were tears welling up in his eyes when that happened and this is most unusual, because men don't cry in public.
You could have heard a pin drop in that place during this conversation but afterwards another uproar of applause. I also asked permission if we could take pictures of this Gathering because I said the people back home won't believe me when I tell them what happened without a picture!
The joy of the Lord rested upon Pst Brad
Credibility and Respect was imparted!
They laughed and said yes of course. But it turns out that also was the Holy Spirit because the main leader said, when you go back how will your people respond to what you share with them about what's taking place today?
And I immediately responded and I said I know them very well and I can assure you that they will be more excited about what took place that I will be! But at that point I said I myself am going to float out of this building with the greatest of joy and that this meeting was not only a highlight of the week of ministry but one of the major highlights of my entire Ministry once again, that was another in a very long line of things I did and said that open their hearts and endeared me to them. And they said, we had no idea that Christian pastors like you exist.
I said, this is why I'm here, to provide an example, to lead by example, to show younger pastors how to lead with love. Again, they were just stunned.
The Bible says he who wins Souls is wise and it does take wisdom to know how to reach people with the confidence of the Holy Spirit and the love of the father which was on great display for them, by the grace of God, and through extensive prayer.
They said they are eager for me to come back, but that when I do we will need a much larger venue because of all the others that will want to meet me as well!
And I said, you can be sure that when I come back, I will want to meet with you. Honestly, the presence of God in that church was thick and it has been and will be the highlight of this trip because I was speaking to 78 non-christians and they were responding so well.
The news of this meeting is going to spread like wildfire throughout this town and Beyond. They also highly complemented Pastor Joseph for putting this together.
I kept telling the people that I didn't want to leave because I was having such a great time with them but by 1:30 we had to leave for my speaking engagement at the local high school. Even those words blessed and honored them.
I can tell you that when the four of us Christian pastors drove away, there was great and loud rejoicing over what we saw the Holy Spirit accomplish during those two and a half hours. We were amazed!
Now, Pastor Paul (from Kenya) said he learned a great deal from me and how I handled all their questions. Only one question was a baiting question and that was over what's happening between Hamas and Israel although he used the word Palestinians.
And he asked me why or how Americans can put up with all the killing of Palestinians? I said to him, now you know that my answer could be an answer you may not want to hear and that could change things between us? Do you want me to give an honest answer?
Because I could easily choose to avoid answering the question. But that that then would not be genuine and that would not help our friendship, would it? And he enthusiastically nodded his head so I said, I'm willing to risk by being honest with you but will you allow that to separate us?
And he said no, so I explained to him that all this came about from Hamas and I also explained that the Arabic word Hamas is violence. They did not know that!
And then, I said when they slaughtered all of those innocent Jewish people they were the ones that started all of this and therefore the killings that he was speaking about were on the leaders of Hamas, who put their armaments in the basements of hospitals and schools because they don't care about their own people, it once again grew very quiet.
All that was establishing more credibility because I could speak to current events, economics, finance, and there were other things as well. But it was the Lord who was giving me wisdom to establish credibility.
Our team of pastors rejoiced in the Lord for what we witnessed and that was the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit! Pastor Paul told me that he had learned a great deal from me and would take all that I did and said back to Kenya with him to teach the pastors there how to reach out to Muslims and because of his influence in the local, state, and federal government, this will be significant.
So right there, is an example of how this meeting and its influence will spread far and wide. Everyone said that this type of meeting has never occurred among Muslim and Christian leaders but that it must.
I didn't say, of course that I wanted to meet with them as a peacemaker to dial down violence against Christians from Muslims; but that is one major reason I believe the Lord put this into my heart many months ago.
Well there might be more that I can add to this, but I'll stop for now. You're praying has made a major difference!”
Uganda Missions: Making Disciples who Make Disciples
“A Heart After God, Bible Teaching Ministry: Reaching Africa & Beyond!”
