The Many Faces of Pakistan

Monday, April 30th, 2012


As you see these many faces pray for the Christians of Pakistan and pray that the gospel will go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit and prevail. – Dr. Draper

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The Pakistani Mission – Part II

Friday, April 27th, 2012

This is the second in the series on the Pakistan mission report. Today, I want to focus on the mission field itself and the plight of the Pakistani Christians. The persecution and poverty endured by the Christians there is beyond the ability of comfortable Americans to imagine.

Pakistan is one of the most diverse nations in the world with more than sixty languages and dialects. The population ranks eighth in the world with 168 million people living in a landmass twice the size of California. Pakistan was formed in 1947 as a Muslim state partitioned off from British India. In the civil war of 1971 East Pakistan left Pakistan to form Bangladesh. Pakistan historically has been under military rule that deposed elected governments at will. The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion. Evangelism among Muslims is banned and in some cases is punishable by death. In 1998, Sharia law was adopted in Pakistan. Under Sharia law Christians have very limited rights.

Many Pakistani Christians are serving the Lord at great sacrifice. Christians in Pakistan face severe opposition from militant Islamic groups, including imprisonment, torture and even death. Many Pakistani Christians have been falsely accused under Law 295c of blaspheming Mohammed or the Quran, a crime punishable by death. Courtrooms packed with militants have often pressured judges into returning a guilty verdict or continuing the trials indefinitely.

Christians are regularly barred from jobs or face troubles from their employers and co-workers. Christian merchants are often harassed. The war in Afghanistan has intensified these problems as Pakistani Christians are seen as being a part of an attack on Islam. In court, a Christian man’s testimony is worth only half that of a Muslim man’s testimony. A Christian woman’s testimony is worth only a quarter, so Christian women and young girls are easy targets for rape and justice for them is elusive.

One of the best sources of information concerning the work of the gospel in Pakistan is Voice of the Martyrs. Tom Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs said recently that even though Christians are facing incredible persecution, the church is growing. “Depending on the area of the country where you are, it can grow openly above ground. In other areas, particularly the areas that have recently gotten under the control of the Taliban, the church is forced to grow in a sort of quiet way.” Many Christians have left the Taliban-held areas for fear of their own safety but there is still a Christian witness there. Nettleton reported that there are still some solid believers committed to reaching Muslims for Christ who have elected to stay in the area. Nettle said, “They don’t do this lightly. They face incredible risk, literally risking their lives to be in that area, to be a follower of Jesus Christ in a place that’s controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban believe that any Muslim who follows Jesus is an infidel and should be killed.”

Please pray that the Lord will be pleased to bless the work in Pakistan. Pray for the ministry of the pastors who are laboring in the cities of Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Narowal, Sangla Hill, Chichawatni, and Peshawar, Dorogawala, Sahokimalian, Sheikhpura, Saleem Kot, Jodu, Kacha Paka, and Kasur. Pray for the Christians who are faithfully serving the Lord in the midst of grave opposition and persecution. Pray that the gospel of Christ will go forth in the power of God. When Paul took the gospel into Ephesus, there were many who opposed him and the witness of the gospel itself. But God blessed the preaching of Paul and turned the hearts of the people so that the Bible records, “Many that believed came and confessed.” So mightily did God bless the preaching of the Word that in the three years Paul was in Ephesus, the Bible tells us that all Asia heard the message of Christ. That is amazing. The only explanation the Bible gives us for the powerful ministry Paul had there is recorded in these words: “So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:18,20). The gospel triumphs for it is still the “power of God unto salvation to all who believe. Pray that even in Pakistan the Word of God will continue to grow and continue to prevail over all its enemies.

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The Pakistani Mission

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

I am very anxious to share with you what the Lord is doing in Pakistan these days. God in His grace continues to set before us an effectual open door.

This year we faced a great frustration which I believe was a spiritual warfare. I was to leave for Pakistan on April 11 and to be there through May 3. I was assured that the Pakistan visa should be issued by March 27. The visa did not come. We were in contact with Travisa and with the embassy on a daily basis. I am grateful for several Pakistani brethren including the consulate in New York who personally urged the embassy in Washington to issue the visa. Every day we expected the visa to be granted and we had to make sure on a daily basis that there was a seat available on the plane the next day. When the visa was not issued we had to start all over the next day. I was concerned that the visa might be denied which would make it even more difficult to obtain a visa in the future. On Tuesday night, April 18, I received a call telling me the visa would be issued the next morning. We immediately made plane reservations for the following day. But, again, the visa was not issued. This continued until Saturday, April 21, when the visa was granted. When the visa did arrive the Pastor’s conference had already taken place and the crusade was already under way.

I said earlier that I see this as a spiritual warfare. Several people have reminded me that God is sovereign and that He was probably protecting me by not allowing me to go at this time. One Pakistani pastor said to me, “Perhaps there was a danger we do not know about.” I certainly believe God is sovereign and that He protects His servants. But God could protect me in Pakistan just as easily as He could protect me in Rome, Georgia. I see this as a spiritual warfare. We are making our plans to continue our work in Pakistan and I still believe God has set before us an effectual open door that no man can close. Pray that God will give us wisdom as we seek to serve Him and that door will remain open.

Despite all of this, I am pleased to report that we were able, because of the faithfulness of so many Christians who have supported this ministry, to send ahead 10,000 dollars to finance the crusade and the pastor’s conference. That work has gone right on and God has been pleased to bless it in a mighty way. We serve a God who will never leave Himself without a witness. Pastor Younis Farhat has been used of God to step into the gap and make up the hedge. He has preached in the crusade and also in the Pastor’s Conference in my absence. Younis Farhat is pastor of the only Pakistani Baptist Church in Atlanta: The First Asian Indian Baptist Church of Metro Atlanta. He came from Pakistan in 1992 at the invitation of the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. He is a courageous and effective servant of God and I am pleased to be working with him in these days.

Pastor Farhat tells me that there were 115 baptisms in the city of Saleem Kot Thursday night and another 40 baptisms on Tuesday night in Kusar. This is so important. Those who are baptized in the crusades are people who have been reached by the Pakistani churches. These are small house churches meeting all over Pakistan. When former Muslims are saved it is very difficult and dangerous to baptize them. Many times the Muslim community does not realize a church is meeting there. To baptize in a pubic canal would be very dangerous. We are able to provide a safe place for them to be baptized and when they are baptized publicly there is great rejoicing on the part of the church. It is a blessed thing to behold. I believe there will probably be another three or four baptismal services and that there may be well over two hundred to be baptized. I think that is one of the clearest signs of the ministry of the Pakistani church. I believe the New Testament profession of faith was baptism. I rejoice that the Lord is raising up the church in Pakistan and faithful pastors to proclaim His grace to a graceless world.

In the next few days I hope to share with you, my readers, more of what God is doing in Pakistan and especially what is happening in the crusade. Please pray for the Christians of Pakistan and for the faithful pastors who preach the gospel and who feed the flock of God in these most trying times.

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Sound the Trumpet – Pakistan Video

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

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A SPECIAL WORD FROM DR. DRAPER ON PAKISTAN

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

As most of you know I was scheduled to be in Pakistan during the month of March.  I had to reschedule the trip because we did not have the money.  I decided to take the month of March and seek to lay the Pakistani mission on the hearts of people here, and then go to Pakistan from April 11-May 3.

In the past, going into places like Russia and Ukraine I was able to take others with me.  We could share the expenses, and it was not a hardship on anyone.  The last time we did a medical mission in Ukraine it was very expensive, but there were fifty-two people traveling together and several churches were involved. The expenses were shared by a great number of people.

When I go into places like Pakistan and Siberia I need to travel alone.  It would be very difficult for the people there to provide security for several Americans traveling together but it is not a problem if there is only one.  Consequently, there is no one there who can share the expenses.

The expenses in Pakistan are indeed great.  In Lahore we had almost three hundred pastors from all over Pakistan.  We had to provide food and lodging for them as well as a safe place to meet. When we went out into the country side we had to provide tents to meet in and security guards to protect the people from attack.  That many unarmed Christians meeting together would be an inviting target.  The people who came went through metal detectors to insure there were no suicide bombers present.  When we put them on buses to send them home at night it was late.  Many of them had not eaten.  Jesus said on a similar occasion, “Ye need not send them away: feed them.”  So we did.  We were in a different place under the tents every night and the crowds ranged from 900 to 1500.  We could feed a hundred people for less than a hundred dollars but if you are trying to feed fifteen hundred people it is still a challenge.

The Pakistani mission is the most expensive mission trip we have ever had.  Last year, I spent twenty-three thousand dollars.  Almost all of that was for lodging, travel in Pakistan, security for the pastor’s conference, and for the people who came to the services.  I did not see where we could cut back anywhere.

I was in the pastorate for thirty two years.  Whenever there was a need in the church life, whether financial or otherwise, I sought to do two things:  trust the Lord and tell the people.  That is what I am doing now.

In the next few days I am going to be posting to the website and Facebook pictures from our last mission to Pakistan, and I will also be sharing some of the reports from last year.  Many of you read those reports and followed us daily.  I will also be posting films documenting much of what we did last year to Youtube, and these will be linked to the website (trumpet.org) and to Facebook.

Please pray with us as we prepare for the mission this year.  Also pray about whether you should partner with us not only through your prayers, but also financially.  Let the Lord lead you.  There are many who tithe to their church and additionally give sacrificially to this ministry.  I thank God for them.  I do not ask them to give more.  But I pray that our sovereign Lord will place it on the hearts of others to want to give.   If you wish to write to us, our address is Post Office Box 2459, Rome, Georgia, 30165.  Also, you can give directly from the website.

Over the next few days, look for the reports from last year, and rejoice with us at what the Lord is doing through this work, and especially rejoice that the gospel is preached in Pakistan.

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DON’T PRAY FOR REVIVAL IN YOUR CHURCH. PRAY FOR REVIVAL, PERIOD.

Friday, August 26th, 2011

This week I have been blessed to be in revival at Union Hill Baptist Church in Ranbourne, Alabama where Johnny Bone is pastor. This is the third year I have been with this pastor and church. Pastor Bone has been there for over five years and, like so many pastors I know, longs to see God work mightily to bring revival to the church. In this regard, there is a beautiful marriage between the pastor and his people.  I have found in this church a faithful Gidean band who are consistently faithful in service, who hunger after righteousness and seek the face of God for revival. 
I confess that I am not praying for revival at Union Hill Baptist Church. I am praying for revival, period. I see America as a nation under judgment: far more ripe for judgement than for revival. When we pray for revival in America we are praying for mercy. But our God is a God of mercy, a God who delights in mercy. 
Pray that God will give revival that will shake this country. When revival comes to a nation it always comes sweepingly. It can never be confined to one church, to one denomination or to one locale. Vance Havner used to say, “When the tide is out, every little shrimp has a puddle of his own but when the tide comes in, they all get caught up together.” 
Pray that God will send revival to our land and pray that churches like Union Hill  Baptist Church will be a part of that revival. Then, pray that YOU will be a part of that revival. 

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AND GOD SAID UNTO NOAH (GENESIS 9:17)

Sunday, August 14th, 2011

This week, August 14-17, I am in revival at Noah Baptist Church, Centre, Alabama where Jeff Chambers is the new pastor.  I have been privileged to preach at Noah Baptist several times in the past three years and the church is a partner with Sound the Trumpet Ministries. The church has found itself without a pastor twice in the past three years.  Jeff Chambers has served as interim pastor for several months  and has only recently become their pastor.  He has done a good work preparing the church for revival.  They have publicized the revival throughout the community and are seeking to get lost people under the gospel.  Brother Chambers is going to have a good ministry there.   He is a bivocational pastor but is not the kind of man to be easily destracted.  He is a faithful preacher of the Word of God and an expositor.  I think he will keep the focus on Christ.  Please pray that the Lord will be glorified in these coming days and that He might be pleased with our labor of love. 

The Psalmist said, “Our GOd is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased” (Ps.  115:3).  He is the God who always does what he pleases and is always pleased with what He does.  I am “confident of this very thing that He which hath begun a good work in His people will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  (Phil 1:6).

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LET US GO NOW EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM AND SEE THIS THING

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

This week, August 7-12,  I am in revival at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Dahlonega, Georgia where Michael Rodgers is pastor. I have known Pastor Rodgers for many years and have watched his ministry unfold in this church. The revival goes through Friday night and has been well attended all week. I have been in this church many times since 1998 and have had opportunity to put my finger on the spiritual pulse of these people. 
I can tell you that this is a strong church. There is a sweet spirit of unity here. In all these years I have never sensed an undertow. The men meet before every service with the pastor for prayer and it is evident they are solidly with their pastor in every area of ministry. It is a mission minded church supporting directly sixteen missionaries. The church has also been a partner with Sound the Trumpet Ministries for the several years. 
I have often said that I believe in long pastorates. In every great church someone has to put their life in that church. That is what you see in Bethlehem. Pastor Rodgers, his wife Rachelle and their five children, have been here fourteen years. He is a very energetic and gifted leader with a clear vision of where he wants the church to be. He is not caught up with endless programs nor gimmick evangelism. The vision he keeps before his church is a vision of holiness. Pastor Rodgers is also a strong and gifted preacher. I have had opportunity to observe his preaching. He is a disciplined student and diligent expositor of the Word of God. He preaches with passion and with power. As a result, his people are shaken by what they believe, not shaky about what they believe. Fourteen years of that kind of spiritual leadership has borne fruit. God has indeed been pleased to bless it. Bethlehem Baptist Church has enjoyed a solid, continual growth both numerically and spiritually. It is a joy to be in this church and to worship with these people. Their spirit of joyful worship and words of encouragement have ministered to a tired evangelist this week. 
Pray for God’s blessings to fell upon us through this revival. It goes through Friday evening. Then continue to pray for God to bless and strengthen the work of this pastor and church. We need churches like this in every area.  

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RETURNING TO MY FIRSTPASTORATE

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

Returning to my first pastorate. 
This week, Sunday through Wednesday, I am in revival at Concord Baptist Church,  Stewart,  Al.  I was pastor here 1964-1966.  That was my first pastorate. I had been preaching for three years, but even so,  I was so green that if they had put me in the ground I would have sprouted.  I believe the Lord blesses churches that are willing to be the first pastorate of a young preacher. The Lord certainly blessed those years.  We experienced good growth and the people were excited to see what the Lord was doing. Every pastor has a special place in his heart for his first pastorate. I still feel I have a love affair with these people. They invited me to preach a revival here in 2006,  forty years later. I have been back for revival every year since. I think somebody told them every preacher has one good sermon and they are still looking for mine. 
Please pray for the revival this week. The church is at a very low point right now. Every church experiences the plateau but it especially hard for the rural church when the population is stagnant. The recent census showed that Hale County had a net growth of four over a ten year period. Young people graduate from high school and find work in the big city and the population stays the same.  From a pastor’s perspective, it is hard to inspire a church to reach the same people they have been trying to reach for the last forty years. 
Please pray for this church. Pray for revival, for the Holy Spirit to work in hearts to encourage the faithful and to stir up a spiritual hunger in the hearts of those who have fallen by the wayside. Pray for the pastor, John  Crietz that the Lord will give him wisdom beyond himself and fresh vision to lead these people onward. 
I want so much for this church. Pray with me for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit as I preach night after night. 

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COME OVER INTO MACEDONIA

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

As an evangelist I find myself week after week working with pastors.  For me personally, I have felt at this stage of my life that a large part of my calling is to pour my life into the lives and ministries of young preachers. I am continually amazed at the work of God in raising up young, godly pastors; men who have a heart for God, who are diligent students of the Word of God, who preach expository messages and who challenge their people to a life of holiness. 
I am with just such a pastor this week at Macedonia Baptist Church, Ranburne, Alabama. 
Dr. Steve McGinnis will be thirty nine years old next week. He and his lovely wife, Stacy, along with their children Abigail, Jared and Olivia came to Macedonia five years ago. He graduated last year (December) from Southern Baptist Seminary  with a doctorate in ministry degree. His doctoral thesis deals with the much needed matter of church discipline. There must be a call to holiness in our churches. If our church rolls are to have integrity, there must be a return to the Biblical standard of church discipline. 
I just finished reading his doctoral thesis: “Developing a Strategy for Implementing Church Discipline At Macedonia Baptist Church, Ranburne, Alabama.” it was a project that involved the pastor, the deacons, the church leadership and ultimately the whole church family. It is a call to holiness for the whole church. I hope Dr. mcGinnis will publish this study. I think other churches could benefit richly from it. 
This is a good church and a strong church. We are experiencing a good revival and it is such a joy to preach to these people. The church has a definitive ministry in the community. It is located in a small community but the church is both salt and light and it’s influence is felt throughout the area. 
Macedonia Baptist Church is located in the northeastern part of the state of Alabama within a mile of the Georgia state line. The population of the city of Ranburne was 459 according to the latest census but the church’s witness reaches well beyond the city itself. Though the church is located in a rural farming community, it has seen steady growth through the years. According to the pastor, several factors have contributed to their growth. He said,  ”For one thing, everyone in the community is related in some way. They are either blood relatives or they married into the family and attending church has always been the “norm” throughout the generations. A second factor is that the church is still a major part of the community. Even those who do not attend church have a great respect for the church and it’s leaders.” 
In the past several years the church has doubled in Sunday School to 140 and worship attendance to 250. The church has no physical hindrances to growth. The have ample parking space and they buildings,  the sanctuary and educational space were well designed for future growth. In every stage of their building projects the people themselves have had a mind to work. They built all of their buildings themselves and were able to walk in debt free.  
It is such a joy to be in this church this week and to see the hand of God at work in our midst.  

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