Editor's Note: Behzad Fathi is an evangelist in the Greater Las Vegas Church of Christ.  He led the mission team that planted the Istanbul Church of Christ in 1995.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." -- Isaiah 55:10-11

God???s Word has been accomplishing His desire and purpose in Turkey for over a decade now through the Istanbul Church of Christ.  This past January, the church celebrated its 10th anniversary.  On December 9, 1995, along with four other disciples from various congregations, I had the privilege of planting this congregation.  None of us had jobs, knew where we were going to live or how we should reach this amazing city of more than 12 million people.

We held our inaugural service in January of 1996 with only two disciples on the team who had limited knowledge of Turkish.  We felt challenged to redefine Christianity to the former Asia Minor, the birth place of Apostle Paul and the home of the Seven Churches of Revelation.  Turkey has a population of over 70 million people with over 98% Muslims and only a small group of 2,500 Protestants.  Despite these odds, we began the good work with our mustard seed of faith.

The first year was extremely difficult.  We were only able to convert foreigners, but we persevered and continued to seek out open-hearted nationals.  Then, in December of 1997, God brought us Aret, our first Armenian-Turkish national.  From that point forward, we developed studies tailored for nationals and began converting them regularly.  Year after year God slowly and surely added to our numbers.

One amazing story was the conversion of Anahit, the mother of one of our sisters, who gave her life to Christ at the age of 70!  She has been a faithful pillar in the Istanbul congregation ever since.  Another amazing conversion was that of a man who had been born in Turkey, grew up in Canada and had returned to Turkey to explore Eastern religions.  God had a different plan and he became a disciple of Christ in the campus ministry and now is a strong servant of God in the church there.

In August of 2003, my wife Candice and I after eight years of service returned to the US.  With many tears, we tore ourselves away as we left the spiritual family we had known for so long.  God had blessed us in Turkey in so many ways.  We had dated, got engaged, got married and had two handsome boys while we served as missionaries there.  We fell in love with Turkish people and their warm and sincere hearts.  God has continued to work as the church became a legally recognized church in 2004 after many years of underground worship.  As a result of their legal status they can now worship and evangelize freely.

The church in Las Vegas, where we minister, has done a great job of encouraging the saints in Istanbul.  Many have chosen to write to Turkish disciples as pen pals to encourage them.  Last November, I had the opportunity to visit the Istanbul church after three years of being away.  It was so good to encourage them and be refreshed by their faithful hearts for Christ.  Last month, God added yet another national to their number as Metin became a disciple despite intense persecution from his family.  Currently several others are studying the Bible and are getting close to making their decision for Christ.

The Istanbul church is a testimony of how God???s purposes prevail and how His Word never comes back to Him empty.  Today, Turkey continues to be among the 100 largest countries with the most people who have never been reached out to by any Christian group.  Please keep the disciples in Turkey in your prayers. Feel free to write me in order to contact them at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .  I will pass on your messages to them to encourage their hearts to remain in Christ and bring others to Him.