RICHMOND, Va. — “You could be killed for talking about Jesus around here.” That’s what a Muslim named Bershi told Southern Baptist representative Luke Jenkins after Jenkins shared the gospel with him. (Both names have been changed for security reasons.)
Bershi was an illegal immigrant looking for work when he went to the Central Asian nation where Jenkins serves as a church planter. But his warning didn’t stop Jenkins. He continued to discuss Jesus with Bershi, and as the young man’s interest grew, they began studying the Bible together. Eventually Bershi gave his life to Christ and was baptized.
Since that time Bershi has begun to actively share his faith and even baptized three others he led to Christ earlier this year. He also has returned to his own country, a place with severely limited access to the gospel and few believers.
Bershi’s baptism is among the more than 506,000 reported by the International Mission Board (IMB) in 2008 — an average of one baptism per minute. Southern Baptist representatives and their national partners also reported starting more than 24,650 new churches last year. (Baptisms were 10.6 percent below the 2007 total; new churches, 8.6 percent below.) Meanwhile the total number of overseas churches topped 204,000, up from 111,000 just five years ago.
The IMB also reported engaging 93 new people groups with the gospel for the first time.
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