Each year, when preparations for Easter begin, I find myself feeling a mix of great joy and great sorrow. The Easter season is of course a time of great celebration for Christians, where we rejoice in the completed work of Christ through his resurrection. For me, it is also a time when I remember the loss and sacrifice of some of those brothers in Christ who came before me.

Two things got us interested in ministry to and among Muslims. One, studying church history and learning that so many of the places that were key in the early days—Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Antioch, Carthage—are almost entirely Muslim today. Two, I took a stripped-down version of a great course, Perspectives in World Missions, and learned that a large portion of the world’s Muslims do not have access to the gospel or a local Christian community.