How many are praying for those held hostage to Islam?
During the time of the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Greg Livingstone was asked to give a “missions minute” at a large evangelical church on the East Coast. Since he had only one minute to speak, he decided to ask them only two questions. The first one was, “How many of you are praying for the 52 Americans hostages being held in Iran?” 4000 hands went straight up and he said, “Praise the Lord! Now, put your hands down and let me ask you another question...How many of you are praying for the 42 million Iranians being held hostage to Islam?” four hands went up. He said, “What are you guys? Americans first and Christians second? I thought this was a Bible-believing church!” This rebuke to the church by Linvingstone served as a wake up call and helped mission-minded Christians see the need for prayer for Muslims."More Muslims in Iran have come to Christ since 1980 than in all the previous 1,000 years combined.” (Mission Frontiers Magazine, May - June 1994).