City of Grace Mesa

On May 7 our friend and brother Pastor Ihsan and his church were threatened by three men. Ihsan has been on our Mesa campus and is one of the key leaders in the church in Turkey. Please read this letter and pray for our brother, ministry partner and friend.

Friends, Brothers and Sisters

I'm writing to ask urgently for your prayers, especially in light of events that have taken place recently. On the evening of May 7, just before 6:00 PM, three men drove up to our church building in Ankara wielding a gun. One of the men got out of the car holding the gun and wearing a surgical glove. When he found the church building locked, the gunman pointed the gun at one of our church members demanding to see the pastor. When the brother who was outside the building explained that the pastor wasn't there the gunman replied with a threat: "Tell that pastor we're going to get rid of him!" Eventually the three men drove away. Thankfully, no one was physically injured.

I spent most of the night with investigators and officers from various branches of Turkey's police force. Unfortunately, our security camera system did not capture the event because the computer that saves the images was accidentally switched off. Still, we're grateful that the police seem to be taking the incident and the threat seriously. I have decided not to make statements to the media about this issue, but some newspapers have already printed stories about it, at least one with my picture.

In recent months pastors from fellowships in several cities have been threatened in similar ways. Please pray also for the churches in Antalya, Samsun, Adana, Ankara, and of course for the church in Malatya where three brothers were brutally murdered on April 18^th 2007.

As you pray for me and for our church, pray first for boldness to continue serving in the way that God desires. Pray also for wisdom to know how to deal with the various kinds of threats and security risks that we face every day. And pray for the safety of my family and the families in our congregation. We don't want these threats to hinder the work of God in any way in Turkey. Rather, we pray that God is glorified even through these situations. As Matthew writes: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Thank you for walking with us in our ministry. We appreciate your support and your prayers and when we thank God for his provision in our lives, we thank him for you.

Sincerely,

Ihsan