Following Jesus' Approach

“I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” So He kept on preaching in the synagogues… Luke 4:43-44

Filled with the Spirit Jesus began his earthly ministry preaching the gospel to as many as possible. The Operation Transit partnership initiative visibly does the same by distributing bi-lingual printed and dialectal CD New Testaments, multi-lingual JESUS DVDs, books by Josh McDowell, children’s Wonder Books, God’s Stories DVDs and other items to North Africans primarily at the ports of the western Mediterranean as they travel between Africa and Europe. This year saw more than 280,000 items distributed with 119 indicating to project participants that he or she prayed to receive Christ as they spoke together. Over the course of 21 years more than 10 million items have been distributed with almost 3000 North Africans indicating decisions to receive Christ.

He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him… Luke 8:1-2

And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God… Luke 9:1-2

Operation Transit has always sought to involve North African believers in the work. Hundreds are included among the more than 10,000 participants from all over the world who have been taught to witness with Muslims in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many have continued to be witnesses in their own countries, some as a part of follow-up networks for interested people who respond to the Operation Transit outreach activities or other sources such as Christian internet sites, radio, and television.

… the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. Luke 10:1

The number of disciples Jesus sent forth increased or multiplied as He and the twelve continued to preach to large numbers of people. This year Operation Transit has begun to see people who came to Christ through the outreach activities also participate in the work. A North African man living in Spain came to Christ in February. He was baptized in June and participated in the distribution in July. Another North African who lives in his home land, but, for business, travels to and from Europe, came to Christ two summers ago after receiving a packet in Marseilles. He started into the New Testament and then read More than a Carpenter. Convinced of the truth he placed his trust in Jesus, connected with a church group and participated in outreach at another port this summer with travelers from his own country. He, along with others who lived in his country, saw more than 2000 packets distributed.

… “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Luke 10:2

Jesus’ heart is clear. Everything He did prior to the cross was to see workers raised up for the harvest. He knew it was the work of the Father. Operation Transit pursues fulfilling this same desire specifically among North Africans. There is the knowledge that the work must be God’s work. This year, teams from the Middle East and North Africa wore wrist-bands which read, “God, I can’t. You can. Do it through me.” There are more than 1500 prayer email recipients presumably resulting in thousands who pray for God to work through this initiative. In addition, each port in its own way, pursues people praying on-site while the outreach activities take place. The result: God does the work and He gets the credit.