Iran Alive beams the gospel to a dangerous place

By Julie Lyons

In the late 1960s an American missionary named William McElwee Miller published a slender volume called Ten Muslims Meet Christ, describing a life’s work and the few converts it bore in Persia—modern-day Iran.

Miller, who died in 1993, wouldn’t recognize the Iran that exists today—a nation where the gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading with astonishing speed amidst one of the most repressive environments for believers.

By Lauren D'Avolio

Iris Liang was brought up to do it herself, never to take a handout.
Her parents were raised in Communist China at a time when religion was forbidden. They came here to live out the American dream, sending their daughter to an Ivy League college, where she was expected to follow in their footsteps of hard work and upward progress.“I grew up with a really works- and merit-based mentality,” Liang says. “My parents came to America to get me the American dream. That meant if you worked hard enough and got a good education, you could climb the ladder and get to the upper middle-class lifestyle. They sacrificed a lot to get me here.”

Christian Entrepreneur lost it all but gained more by giving

By Julie Lyons 

Arch Bonnema’s mission couldn’t be plainer. It encircles the towering ceiling of his McKinney home, inscribed in gold letters: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”

Though Bonnema, 56, has launched several successful businesses and played an important role in the early success of the filmThe Passion of the Christ—he purchased all of the seats in Plano’s Cinemark Tinseltown 20 for opening day, and gave away the 6,000 tickets—orphan homes are the focus of his time and money today. Since 1991, he and his wife, Sherry, have tithed a minimum of 50 percent of their finances and work hours to missions, including their own ministry, My House.

Susie Jennings pulled on a wig, a grungy T-shirt and pants and stuffed a few items in a tote bag. Then she drove to downtown Dallas, parked her car, and shut the door on her comfortable middle-class world. Stepping into the November chill, the registered nurse melded into a makeshift community of 100 homeless men, women, and teenagers who camped out around the parking garage at First Presbyterian Church.