The following is contributed by a B4T couple I am close to. I am excited as I’ve worked with them for several years and prayed for them for many years. May it encourage you too. It’s been edited, including all names, for obvious reasons.
In my many years of doing B4T, one of my dreams my husband I have had is to sit around a table reading the Bible with our eight Muslim managers. Well this past week while we were together, away from the office on our staff weekend, the dream came true! Here’s what happened.
Fatima had been present a few days earlier when I met Hamidah, another manager in our business who had asked me to pray for her mother’s healing. Hamidah was tremendously grateful and touched by the prayer, but that day, Fatima sat there looking awkward, with arms folded (body language and facial expression seemed quite closed). Yet it was Faitma who, at the meeting, exclaimed with enthusiasm, “This is not just good for work, it’s good for all of life!” She then went on to thank my husband and me for taking the time to present God’s Word to them in this way.
Another manager, Zul, literally came to life as we read. I had him read a passage from the book of James. He couldn’t get through it without repeatedly stopping to say, “This is so true, this is so right!” At the end of our time, we asked each of the managers to choose one verse we had read that had particularly impacted them. Zul chose three! “And I had a really hard time limiting it to only three,” he said with a big grin on his face.
Over lunch we invited more feedback. Rahmat commented, “I’ve worked with many companies, but I have never encountered anything like this. You literally live out your values. I’m deeply impacted.” As we closed the time yet another manager asked, “Please can we have more meetings like this in the future?”
This couple has grown their business to scores of employees. They’ve prayed, plowed and worked for years to achieve this openness. They’ve seen a few others in both their business and neighborhood come to faith, but this is the first breakthrough with their managers. God spoke to them about reading with their managers when they were preparing for this leadership weekend – and they obeyed. Keep plowing. Papa’s readying the soil you are tilling for the seed.
OPEN USA supports workers in the 10/40 Window, who are doing Business for Transformation. This author’s identifying information has been withheld due to security reasons. To learn more about OPEN USA or to get involved in B4T, visit Find Yourself in B4T