The mosque began losing members at an alarming rate.

Entire families were converting together after investigating Christianity.

Young people who had grown up as Muslims were encountering Jesus through our testimony and finding freedom and joy they had never known in Islam.

The community we had tried to protect by burning the church was being transformed by the gospel we had tried to silence.

The Imam tried everything to stop the conversions.

He gave sermons attacking Christianity.

He brought in scholars to debate Pastor Michael.

He spread rumors about the church.

He threatened families who were investigating Christianity, but nothing worked.

Once people heard our testimony and investigated Jesus for themselves, many were convinced.

Truth was more powerful than threats.

Today, 5 years later, Grace Community Church has grown from a small, struggling congregation of about 50 people to a thriving multithnic church of over 300 members.

More than half are former Muslims, mostly from the Somali community, but also from other backgrounds.

The church meets in a much larger building now, purchased with the growth in attendance and giving.

The original building we tried to burn is now used specifically for ministry to Muslims.

It houses the from Islam to Christ program that provides Bible studies, disciplehip classes, and support groups for Muslim converts.

The small room where we encounter Jesus has been preserved exactly as it was.

People come from around the country to see where Jesus appeared and pray in that sacred space.

All seven of us who went to burn down the church that night are now in full-time Christian ministry.

Jamal, who was ready to light the fire, is now an associate pastor at Grace Community Church.

He preaches regularly in Somali sharing the gospel with the same community he once tried to protect from it.

His testimony is particularly powerful because he was the most violent among us.

Abdi works with a ministry called Somali for Christ that plants churches in Somali communities across America.

He has helped to start churches in six cities all focused on reaching Somali Muslims with the gospel.

His testimony has been featured in Christian publications and he speaks at conferences about Muslim evangelism.

Hassan completed seminary training and now pastors a Somali church in Seattle.

The church started with five former Muslims and has grown to over 100 members.

Hassan baptizes new converts regularly, many of them former Muslims whose lives were transformed by encountering Jesus.

Ibrahim finished his engineering degree and now uses his profession as a platform for ministry.

He works for a major tech company, but spends evenings and weekends sharing the gospel with Somali immigrants.

He has led over 20 people to Christ personally through one-on-one relationships.

Ysef works with a Christian security company that employs many former Muslims.

He uses his workplace as a mission field, sharing his testimony and demonstrating Christ’s love to his colleagues.

Several have converted through his influence and faithful witness.

Bala Muhammad completed culinary training and owns a restaurant that employs former Muslims who face discrimination for converting.

He provides jobs and community for people rejected by their families.

His restaurant has become a gathering place for Somali Christians and a neutral space where Muslims can ask questions about Christianity without feeling threatened.

And I work full-time as a traveling evangelist, sharing my testimony at churches, conferences, and universities across America and around the world.

I tell everyone who will listen about the night I came to burn down a church and met the living God instead.

I have shared my story in over 40 states and 15 countries.

Thousands have heard about what Jesus did in Minneapolis.

I married a wonderful Christian woman named Jennifer in 2020.

She was a volunteer at Grace Community Church who helped disciple new converts from Islam.

She had a heart for Muslims and deep knowledge of both Islam and Christianity.

She helped me understand my new faith more deeply and supported me through the difficult early years.

We served together in ministry to Muslims.

We have a baby daughter named Grace, named after the church where I met Jesus and experienced his transforming grace.

She will grow up knowing from her earliest days that Jesus is real, that he loves her unconditionally and that he transforms lives.

She will hear the story of how her father went to burn down a church and Jesus saved him instead.

My relationship with my biological family remains broken.

My father still considers me dead.

My mother has not spoken to me in 5 years.

Some of my siblings have secretly reached out expressing curiosity about my faith.

But they fear being disowned themselves if they investigate too openly.

I pray for them constantly.

and that trust that the same Jesus who appeared to me can reveal himself to them.

But I have gained a much larger family in Christ.

I have brothers and sisters from every background who love Jesus and love each other.

The loneliness I sometimes feel from family rejection is nothing compared to the joy of knowing Jesus personally and being part of his global family.

The cost has been real, but the gain is infinitely greater.

I still live in Minneapolis.

I still drive past the building I try to burn down.

Every time I see it, I thank God for his mercy and his intervention.

He could have allowed us to burn it down and face criminal prosecution.

He could have struck us dead when we came with gasoline and hatred.

Instead, he revealed himself in love and saved us.

He turned in terrorists into evangelists.

He transformed enemies into children.

The small room where Jesus appeared has become a place of pilgrimage for many.

Visitors from around the world come to pray in that space and ask God to reveal himself to them.

As he revealed himself to us, many have reported powerful encounters with God’s presence in that room.

It has become holy ground marked by Jesus’s personal appearance.

Look inside your own heart right now and ask yourself this question.

What would it take for you to surrender your life to Jesus? I came with gasoline to destroy his church and he saved me anyway.

I hated him and he loved me.

I rejected him and he pursued me.

I tried to murder his followers and he made me his follower.

If Jesus would do that for someone like me, he will absolutely do it for you.

The Muslim man who came with fire to silence a church no longer exists.

He died that night in the presence of Jesus.

In his place stands a follower of Jesus Christ who has seen his glory, experienced his grace and committed his life to proclaiming his name.

If God can transform seven would be arsonists into ministers of the gospel, he can transform anyone.

There is no one too far gone.

There is no one too evil.

There is no one beyond his reach.

Do not wait for a dramatic encounter like mine.

Jesus has already proven who he is by rising from the dead 2,000 years ago.

The evidence is available for anyone willing to investigate honestly.

Believe in him today.

Accept his sacrifice for your sins.

Surrender your life to him completely and discover the love that changes everything.

The same Jesus who appeared in that small room in Minneapolis in 2018 is alive today.

He is still transforming lives.

He is still saving souls.

He’s still turning enemies into family.

He is ready to transform your life right now if you will open your heart to him.

All you have to do is call on his name in faith and he will answer.

He promises that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

I am living proof that Jesus saves completely, transforms radically, and loves unconditionally.

Come to him today and experience for yourself the grace that changed seven terrorists into witnesses of his glory.

 

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