ATLANTA (ABP) — Frank Morrow was in the Middle East doing relief work after a natural disaster when a local official asked, “Why do you do what you do? Why did you come?”
Morrow opened a paperback Bible and shared the story of Jesus. “Those moments are the open doors,” Morrow said. “That’s why we’re there.”
As Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel, Morrow and wife Karen have had many opportunities to share Christ among one of the most unreached people groups in the Middle East. Commissioned as strategy coordinators in 1996, the Morrows began ministering in Germany, where large numbers of Middle Eastern refugees had sought asylum.
The Morrows helped the refugees in whatever way they could, while learning their language and more about this people group, once strong but now repressed, persecuted and nearly forgotten. Their land had been stolen and their culture outlawed.
After 10 years in Germany, the Morrows returned to the United States, with their work based in Fort Worth, Texas. They concentrate on building partnerships with other ministry organizations and helping provide translated media, books and Bibles for distribution in the Middle East.
They also connect with CBF partner churches about ways in which congregations can connect with ministry in the Middle East. Churches can partner with the Morrows through prayer, financial support, or by going to a Middle Eastern country to serve among a largely unreached people group, where the gospel is slow to spread.
“We don’t see mass conversions or quick change. It’s a long process,” Karen said. “For them to come to faith is a cutting off who they are. It’s a disgrace to their family. They risk their life to [come to Christ].”
One husband and wife became Christians in Germany and have returned to the Middle East to start a church among their own people. Even though they’re thousands of miles apart, Karen keeps in contact with the wife, a dear friend.
“I encourage her to keep the faith and to testify that God is at work and that God is alive. [She told me] ‘I don’t have another person like you who can share my deepest feelings and hurts with.’ We’re there to be that with people and to be that [presence] in their life,” Karen said. “I feel the biggest part of our work is enabling others to do the work.”
Editor’s note: Specific names and locations of people groups are not included for security reasons.
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