By Greg Kelley | November 5, 2024

Visiting Northern Nigeria

First, I recently returned home from Nigeria, a country that has been incredibly impacted by the efforts of cross-cultural missionaries. In 1900, less than 5% of this great country was Christian. Today, the southern half of Nigeria - more than 100 million people - follow Jesus! A celebration indeed! Yet, despite this success, there is still a monumental task required.

In the north, Muslim strongholds are very hostile towards Christianity. Nations like the Fulani, Hausa, and Kanuri - totaling almost 100 million people - are still awaiting their first gospel witness. As we visited these northern tribes, we witnessed our vision and strategy at Unknown Nations in action. God is using this approach to bring His eternal hope and transformation.

Reaching a Hausa Village

Just over six months ago, a village we visited had never heard the truth of the gospel. Gaining access to these communities only comes through building relationship and sharing tangible expressions of Christ's love. These universal forms of communication, allow our gifted network of indigenous missionaries to engage communities.

This particular village faced a very challenging water supply issue. Families were walking more than 3 miles to get water filled with bacteria and parasites. Prior to our visit, our indigenous leader requested a water well be drilled in this community. This act of love opened hearts in this Muslim community, including its most influential leader, the witch doctor!

As this witch doctor eagerly received our Hausa audio Bible, the Holy Spirit dramatically touched his heart. Once he received Christ, the rest of the families followed. One by one, this previously 100% Muslim community has become 100% Christian. Leaders are now being discipled and the indigenous village church is thriving! Community members have already memorized dozens of scripture references. All in six months!

We hope this video gives you joy as you watch this witch doctor and Muslim community come to know Jesus.

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The Joshua Project reports Somalis to be the largest unreached people group in the Horn of Africa, with an overwhelming 99% identifying as Muslim and less than 1% as Evangelical Christians. The Somali people are known for their hardness towards the gospel, a people that are nearly impossible to reach. Using Somali Treasures as a ministry tool has perfectly positioned God’s Word to soften hearts that are hungry for something more. In the words of one of our leaders, “These audio Bibles articulate the gospel best, conveying things that we are often too afraid to share in evangelism...The Treasure is like a full time missionary among the Somalis.”

Abshir (name changed for his protection) is a young Muslim man who encountered the Treasure in his own heart language. When our leaders realized he was genuinely searching for the truth, they welcomed him into their home. They became like family and began sharing their faith with him, often over a cup of spiced tea, which Somalis love. They listened to a Somali Treasure together often. Abshir had many questions, amazed to hear the Gospel in his own language.

One night, after listening to the audio Bible, Abshir said, “I have listened to this radio and I believe what it says. It has taught me things I never knew... I’m ready for anything you tell me to do.” When our leader asked him what he meant by this, he hesitated before saying, “I’m ready to become like you, a follower of CIISE (Jesus in Somali).” To confirm Abshir’s decision, Jesus appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Abshir, you have begun a new life. Do not be afraid. I will always be with you.” This encounter filled him with inexpressible joy! His demeanor changed and his classmates and teachers noticed his glowing face.

As he grew in his faith through the consistent follow up of our leaders, he introduced them to his relatives and asked that they share the gospel with them as well. Abshir faced severe persecution from many, even death threats from his own family. Despite these difficulties, Abshir continues to strengthen himself in the Lord as he listens to Scripture. Our leaders have since had opportunities to share with his family. Let us pray together that the Good News will take root in their hearts and that Abshir will walk in divine boldness as he continues to serve the Lord with his whole heart!

Amina (name changed for protection) is a 56-year-old woman whose deepest desire was to study God’s Word and grow in her faith, but she couldn’t read. In her village, no one knew how to read. She prayed for months, asking God to make a way for her to understand the words of the Bible.

One night as she slept, Amina had a supernatural encounter. In a dream, she was instructed to go to a nearby village where she would find God’s Word. Amina woke up, her heart pounding with excitement. It was still dark outside, but she eagerly asked her son to take her to the village. He declined, saying it was too late to go.

Despite her son’s concern about the late hour and the dangers of wild animals in their area, Amina felt compelled with an urgency from God. She decided to venture out by herself and walked for an hour and half in the dark. Amina trusted that God had something extraordinary waiting for her.

An Act of Faith and Indescribable Joy

When she arrived at the village, she saw our Indigenous Leader’s team packing up their van after an outreach event. In an act of faith, she approached them and shared her dream. As it happened, they had brought 20 Bibles to distribute during their event but had only given out 19. With great joy, they handed the last Bible to Amina.

But this was not a printed Bible – it was a Treasure audio Bible in her very own heart language. When they explained that she could listen to God’s Word instead of reading it, Amina’s face lit up with indescribable joy. She clutched the Treasure to her chest, with tears streaming down her face, and exclaimed, “This is the best day of my life!” She felt as though God Himself was speaking to her.

Amina’s heart overflowed with gratitude and praise as she thanked God for answering her prayers in such a miraculous way! What a mighty God we serve.

Just last month a group of graduates wrapped up their one year leadership training program in Indonesia. Our Indigenous Leader shared that these 20 students will be sent to their mission fields to share the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Recent Visit

Back in November, an Unknown Nations team visited Indonesia to witness the ministry being done on the ground. Our CEO, Greg Kelley, had the opportunity to encourage and pray over these students during their time at the training center. After reading Acts 1:8 he challenged them by saying,

“Think of this, the perfect power of Jesus Christ at work inside of your life - so that the world would know. And that is your assignment, that the world will know.”

It was an emotional moment as the team laid hands on each student and prayed over them. We are excited to hear reports on the fruit of their ministry!

Celebrating the Graduates

To celebrate these graduates, our leader held a beautiful open air graduation service. He told us it was a wonderful moment to pray, share an impartation, and anoint them as they are sent to the remotest parts of Indonesia for church planting. One of the graduates gave a moving speech expressing her gratefulness for the love, prayer, support, and teaching they received during the program.

When these students started at the mission school, they had an understanding and eagerness to return to their people and tell them about Jesus. They now have an eight day journey by bus and passenger ship as they travel to their mission fields.

Please join us in asking God to use these precious vessels as ambassadors for His Kingdom. Pray that they would continue to grow in their faith as they depend on God fully and continue to practice what they’ve learned over this last year.

The Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh were already struggling with severe issues such as disease, malnutrition, and vulnerability to natural disasters. Now, they are facing the additional burden of escalating violence. The presence of armed factions and criminal gangs have made the camps even more unstable. These groups are often in conflict with one another, creating an environment of fear and oppression.

We are so thankful to be partnered with indigenous leaders on the ground in Bangladesh who can stay connected despite the current restrictions. These leaders have developed networks inside the camps that can continue ministering and reaching out to these precious people despite the instability.

We are eager to report that the Holy Spirit continues to move powerfully among the Rohingya refugees. Our Director of Ministry in Bangladesh recently shared the above photo of he and Iresh (name changed for protection), a man who has begun a new Treasure listening group in one of the 33 camps that the Rohingya people of Myanmar have called home since 2018.

This listening group started very small, but has now multiplied to a size of 25 people who gather together on a regular basis to listen to God’s Word.

Our leaders are pouring into these hungry hearts, praying over them, answering their many questions, and teaching them the basics of Christian living.

Now, months later, many of them are ready to be baptized!

Please pray for these dear ones who are ready to declare their commitment to Jesus through water baptism and those who are on the verge of making this decision. Let us pray that the Word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified throughout the country of Bangladesh and beyond (2 Thessalonians 3:1)!

In an update from our Chadian Indigenous Leader, we were blessed to hear about the impact of Treasure audio Bibles in areas facing significant challenges. Amid growing water shortages, Christians, in particular, can often be overlooked in spiritually antagonistic areas. This was particularly relevant in a region of Chad, until a recent turn of events.

Our leader sent a package of Treasure audio Bibles to an indigenous missionary in the East side of the country, where water scarcity was severe. These Treasures were downloaded with the heart languages of several nations in the region. One of these audio Bibles was gifted to the Muslim neighbor of the missionary, whose daily profession involved transporting water to areas affected by shortages. Sadly, because the water supply is a borehole located in a local Islamic Center, Christian families in the area, including the missionary, were often excluded from receiving aid.

As the neighbor listened to the Treasure, something remarkable happened. He returned to the missionary, expressing gratitude for the audio Bible, asking where he got it, and describing it as a “marvelous word.” This encounter marked a turning point. The neighbor’s heart softened, and he began extending kindness to the Christian families in the area where the missionary and other believers resided, giving them access to water.

This transformation is a testament to the power of the Word of God to break down barriers in the face of persecution. As this man’s heart continues to soften, please join us in praying for his courage and boldness to fully embrace Christ and join in sharing the Good News.

We are immensely grateful for your support in bringing the light of Jesus to the darkest corners of the Earth. Together, we are making His presence known and transforming lives!

Greetings from Myanmar. I hope you are doing well by the grace of God. Though we are passing through the most difficult time in our nation, because of the political and economic situation, our faithful God is at work among our people through His Word! We are just instruments for His Kingdom and righteousness.

I would like to share a testimony with you about the birth of a church inside of an IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp by listening to the Treasure audio Bibles. Because of the partial civil war in our country, many people have fled to our region as their houses and villages were totally destroyed. They live on a farm not far from our training center, so we’ve had the privilege of making friends with them and supporting them as much as we can.

During a Christmas outreach two years ago, we gave Treasures to some of their key elders and they began listening together in groups. By listening to the Treasures repeatedly and receiving follow up through our leaders, some of them have begun to believe in Jesus and confess their sins. As of today, we have baptized 47 of them at the center. All of these new believers have a Buddhist background and they have decided to accept Jesus as their Savior and only follow Him all the rest of their lives!

Now one of our leaders pastors this new church and I visit there often. It is still growing by the grace of God and many of these IDPs are still tasting and inquiring more about Jesus. Many listen to the Treasure daily. Hallelujah! These IDPs shared with us that at one time they thought they were the unluckiest people when they had to flee from their villages. Now they feel they are the luckiest people, because they have found eternal life in Jesus by listening to the Treasure, in spite of losing their homes and properties!

Thank you for sending us Treasures and for supporting us in these outreaches and follow up. We are in the harvest! Let’s reap more together.

We received these testimonies from inside a closed country in Asia. God recently opened doors for our indigenous leaders to begin working in this area, and we’ve been so encouraged by the fruit coming from their ministry. They’ve asked us to refrain from mentioning this country’s name in any written communication. Preaching openly about Jesus is grounds for harsh punishment.

The first testimony involves a young man who had heart disease. He had spent all of his money on doctors and medicine. One day, this young man heard his neighbor playing his Treasure audio Bible and was attracted by the words coming from the device. He went near to listen, and while he stood there for 10 minutes a peace came over his mind.

As he was listening, he learned that “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Then he started thinking, I’m dying from heart disease... and there’s a gift of eternal life. So why should I not get behind Jesus Christ? This young man fully gave his life to Jesus. He has also been completely healed from the heart disease. Praise the Lord!

The second testimony came from the man pictured above. He shared through a translator, “When I was unknown to Jesus, my life and my full family’s life was in very bad condition. No way to live, no food, no clothes, and life was fully in sin. When the pastor introduced us to Jesus, he gave us one yellow device. I and my family listened and realized that Jesus is the only way to eternal life and the Prince of Peace. We all family members dedicated ourselves in the hand of Jesus and start following Jesus.”

Please pray for these new believers as they are still very young in the Lord. Pray that the Holy Spirit would keep them safe and strengthen them day by day. Please also lift up our indigenous leaders who are risking their lives to share the gospel in this closed country. Ask God for supernatural boldness and protection as they walk forward in their ministry.

Inside the Rohingya refugee camp, our indigenous leader hand selected several Rohingya believers to distribute Treasure audio Bibles among their people. Fazal (name changed for protection), is one of those indigenous missionaries. He came to know Christ and was baptized in 2018, shortly after fleeing Myanmar with his family.

Fazal has been working with our team for the past year and a half. He is a faithful follower of Christ, risking his life to share the gospel. Our leader shared, “It is hard for them to do this job. Very risky. But they go around every day distributing Treasures. They get their bag, put Treasures in, and go from camp to camp praying for open doors.”

Fazal hosts a weekly get together for his home church. The numbers of this group were steadily growing until a recent political uprising surrounding the upcoming election when the attendance sharply dropped. Our leader has regular check-ins with Fazal and they prayed together over the group and for the attendance to grow.

The following week, Fazal was gathered with the other believers during their regular meeting time when a group showed up. Due to the fierce persecution that many Christians face from Muslims inside of the camp, Fazal and the others thought they were under attack. Before they were able to run away, the group showed them their Treasures that they had previously received. The newcomers told them that they wanted to learn more about the gospel and asked if they could join! 

It was a beautiful answer to prayer! What started as a home church with dwindling numbers became a room overflowing with participants hungry to hear the Good News. For the past month, this group has continued to fill the meeting space.

Join us in prayer for the Rohingya refugees. Pray for good health, amidst the challenging living conditions in the camp. Additionally, please lift up Fazal and his home church, praying for their safety, the continual opening of doors, and an enduring boldness to share their faith.

T and S are neighbors. After the Taliban seized control, the situation in their village rapidly worsened. Six months ago, T’s husband went to a bigger city to find work and never returned home. Her neighbor, S, is a widow. As women living under the Taliban’s control, they are not allowed to work or leave their homes. If they do, they could face severe punishment. 

At one point, these women went three days without any food. They lost all hope and decided to take their own lives and the lives of their children. At the same time, a member from our indigenous leader’s team had a dream. In this dream, God spoke to him and told him to go to a village that was over 100 miles away. He also gave him the names of two woman in that village who needed food because they intended to end their lives. Then God said, “Tell them I love them and I have bigger plans for them.”

This team member faithfully responded to the directions God gave him and went to the village with bags of food. With the help of some locals, he reached T’s house and knocked on her door. When she answered, the team member said, “Here is a food packet for you and I have one more for a woman named S.”

After they had received their food, the team member shared with T and S who had sent him. They both answered, “We don’t know who this Jesus is, we’ve never heard about Him.” And in this beautiful moment, doors opened for these women to hear the gospel message and about a God who loves them. Both T and S repented and surrendered their lives to Jesus. They were also given audio Bibles in their heart language to continue learning and growing in the Lord.

While we can’t share the full details of this story due to security reasons, we can’t help but be humbled by the amazing ways God is moving to make His name known. T and S’s story has only begun, please join us in praying for these brand new believers! Pray that as they listen to God’s Word, He will reveal Himself more fully and strengthen their faith as they discover the big plans that God has for their lives.

Many new believers are coming out of the Pashtun Nation, Pakistan’s largest people group and Afghanistan’s second largest. With well over 39 million Pashtun spanning across Southern and Central Asia, less than 0.01% have decided to follow Jesus. These new brothers and sisters in Christ are making waves and will drastically affect this statistic! 

Indigenous Leader Field Update:

We had chosen a small village with a tube well to baptize 151 new believers, several of whom were Pashtun. For three days, many small villages in Pakistan had no electricity. Some of the team members informed us that there was no electricity in this village, making the water pump useless and resulting in an empty tank. The electric company said that it would take at least five days for the electricity to be restored. We were asked to postpone our visit, but we simply could not due to previous commitments. After much discussion, we decided to step out in faith and lean on Jesus completely. We kept everything as is and said, “Jesus will provide us with water for the baptisms!” 

When we arrived at this village, it was beautiful, special and powerful. Our team and the new believers gathered around the tube well and began praising and worshiping. Everyone was looking at the empty well and no one had any idea of how we could fill it with water. The Holy Spirit placed on our hearts, “Bend on your knees and pray for electricity to be restored now in Jesus’ name!” 

We responded to His voice and everyone, including the new believers, bent on our knees and prayed for electricity to be restored in Jesus’ name, but nothing happened. We prayed again and nothing happened. We prayed for the third time, but this time we prayed for electricity to be restored NOW in Jesus’ name! Guess what happened next? Electricity was restored and the tube well began working immediately. Everyone was rejoicing and thanking God for this beautiful miracle! 

Without wasting a moment, we began our water baptisms. It was unbelievable to witness the power of our living God, He touched everyone and gave them new lives.

Brother F, who had severe chest pain, received miraculous healing when he came out of the water. Sister A, who had sores on her body, received healing when she came out of the water! The Spirit was moving massively and we witnessed many more miracles. 

After we completed our water baptisms, the electricity went off again! We believe that heaven is rejoicing and celebrating right now as more souls are added to the Kingdom of God! Each of these newly baptized believers are excited to grow in the Lord and many will be trained in our newly built discipleship training center. They are eager to take the gospel to those who do not yet know Jesus, even at the risk of their own lives. 

"Unstoppable revival is breaking out in Pakistan! Jesus is changing this Islamic land into a land of believers. We gave 151 water baptisms to new believers including extremists, brothel heads, slum mafia chiefs, and drug sellers! Truth is breaking the shackles of darkness and setting many free from the bondage of Satan."

- Unknown Nations Director of Ministry Pakistan and Afghanistan

While our U.S. team was in India, we visited underground communities of believers from the state of Bihar, India. Bihar, considered “The graveyard of missions”, has the largest concentration of unreached people groups in the world. 

We had the privilege of meeting a woman from one of these people groups, a world changer named Rinku. Rinku is from the Bhuiya People, a nation consisting of 1,768,000 individuals who are viewed as “untouchables” and “rat eaters”, looked down upon by most of Indian society and considered to be at the very bottom of the caste hierarchy. Hinduism has dominated their culture, leaving a mere sixteenth of a percent of all Bhuiya that serve Jesus. 

A short time ago, Rinku had a powerful experience and came to know Jesus through listening to the Treasure. In less than a year’s time, she has led thirty men and seventy women to Jesus! Not only this, but she has been discipling them, answering their questions and teaching them to walk in His ways. 

Rinku is an inspiring model of dedicating everything she is and everything she has to sharing the gospel. She has physical limitations caused by polio and lives a very humble lifestyle. The only way that she can walk is by picking up each foot with her hand and placing it in front of the other. 

When one of our leaders knelt in front of her and asked, “If I could pray for anything for you, what would it be?” Without hesitation, she asked for more Holy Spirit boldness to share the gospel with others! After praying with our team, Rinku said that she would like to donate a piece of property that she had just inherited to build a church for her community. Even though she is handicapped and lives in poverty, her greatest desire? Jesus. 

All this faithful Treasure distributor asked for was more Holy Spirit power to share the gospel with her people.

Rinku has a motorized tricycle! Following our team’s trip, we were inspired to further mobilize this dedicated leader’s outreach ministry. She is now able to travel longer distances to distribute Treasures and share the gospel message!

The Burmese Nation is the largest people group in Myanmar, over thirty-one million individuals. Buddhism overshadows the Burmese society so strongly that only one third of one percent of this people group are estimated to be following Jesus. Anyone who decides to follow Him is doing so at the risk of their very own life. 

Even amidst the crisis of the ongoing coup in Myanmar, our leaders are continuing to diligently follow up with those who received Treasures during the 2022 Christmas outreach. During the outreach, the gospel was clearly shared and Treasures were strategically gifted to those who expressed an interest in knowing more. For many, it was their very first time hearing about Jesus. 

After eagerly listening to their audio Bibles for over six months, some not missing a single day, these dear Burmese individuals had a strong desire to know more about Jesus, and had many questions! As a part of the follow up, our team shared with them for two days, explaining everything in detail from creation to salvation. 

Among these first time hearers is U Hla, who decided to only follow Jesus after listening to the Treasure and meeting with the same culture missionaries who were following up with him so closely. Before becoming a believer, U Hla identified as a witch and had a strong influence in the community. When he made the decision to change the course of his life, his wife and son soon followed. 

Our leader shared, “We baptized the whole family. He shared his testimony of receiving Jesus by listening to the Treasure with tears of joy. In accordance with his proposal, we removed all materials of witchery and various idols of his former religions from his home. Now, he puts his Treasure in that same place! They continue to listen to it by inviting some of their neighbors to join.”

"The Lord is doing great things among our people by the Treasures, beyond our imagination, even though we confront the worst situation ever in our nation."

- Director of Ministry Southeast Asia

The Afar Nation, spanning across NE Ethiopia, is made up of 2,155,000 men, women, and children - over ninety-nine percent adhering strictly to the Islamic religion. Although a very beautiful people, they are known to be exceptionally resistant to the gospel. Mission initiatives through the decades have proven to be difficult, but God is stirring young hearts and preparing laborers for the harvest field. We believe that now is the time! 

While in the capital of the Afar region, our CEO shared of some exciting happenings just off campus at a popular university. Students from all over Ethiopia travel to study here, some of them followers of Jesus. These Christian students have been forbidden by the leadership to have any sort of a spiritual presence on the property: no gathering together, no prayer, no reading of Scripture. Instead, they were pointed to a desolate area hundreds of feet away covered with rocks. If they wanted to continue these practices, this was the designated space. 

The students have since strategically re-arranged the heavy rocks for seating and even created a pulpit of sorts. Each rock that you see represents one or more students who spend hours in this place. With no shade from the hot, 115 degree sun, these young people have been faithfully gathering at 2pm each day to pray and seek the face of God! They are praying for their precious country, and especially, for the lost Afar around them. This special place has been dubbed “Rock Chapel”. 

In this region, the very heart of the Afar territory, there is not a single evangelical church to be found. In its place are countless mosques stretching across the desert. This is about to change. 

We just heard word that several of these believing students have decided to fully dedicate their lives to reaching the Afar Nation. They came to this university as students, but they will be leaving as missionaries to those they have been fervently interceding for! These young people are eager to be raised up and will be trained in the ministry.

"Untold millions are still untold... We shall cooperate. We shall merge our strengths. We shall collaborate and work as one man to achieve heavenly vision."

- Indigenous Leader in Ethiopia

“God is doing mighty things through the Treasure Bibles. Churches have been started through the Treasure Bibles. God has blessed our partnership in the Gospel that many communities are beginning to hear the Gospel for the very first time.”

—Philippines Indigenous Leader

Audio Bibles and micro SD cards are powerful tools for crisis intervention. Through relationships with our indigenous network on the field, we are able to custom load micro SD cards with whatever content would be especially helpful for ministry. While the Bible and biblical stories are always key, at times we’ve been able to include valuable messaging on healing, sanitation, and even Christian music depending on what’s available in the local language.

Our team in the Philippines recently ministered among a community with high suicide rates. They distributed specially loaded micro SD cards along with audio Bibles. The team said that God’s presence was felt strongly in that place when they shared the Word of God with the people.

The people in the village were breaking down, weeping with conviction and a new found hope. They want the team to come back and share more. Because the audio Bible is making such an impact, our leaders have been reaching out and asking for us to send more.

This is a request we’re constantly receiving from the field. We can’t thank you enough for supporting our ministry and reaching the ends of the Earth with the gospel message. Please be praying for these communities as the love of Christ is breaking down walls and hearts are softened to the Good News.

Your support is making an impact in spreading the good news to ALL Nations!