Detroit Mosque

For the last year and a half, HeartCry has been partnering with Brother Sam Huhn of Grace Baptist Church in Hamtramck, Detroit, Michigan. As an elder in that church, Sam is also heavily involved in evangelizing Muslim immigrants, primarily from Yemen. During the summer, the church holds meetings in a community park – singing and preaching the Gospel in Arabic; then conducting games and activities for the kids while others engage the adults in Gospel conversations. These evangelistic efforts have been so severely disrupted this year that a move had to be made to another park. In his latest update, Sam tells about the challenges they are facing:

“To our dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We are so thankful for your faithful prayers, and we are grateful to God for the events of the last few weeks and the opportunities He has given us to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ in this city.  A few weeks ago, we moved the location of our outreach from a park where we have been going steadily for several years.  We weighed the problems we were encountering there against the amount of Gospel conversation we were able to have, and we concluded that we could better use the time we have been investing in another part of town. 

Sam Park Evangelism
Grace Baptist Church park evangelism

The tension had been building at the old park for a while, and the teenage boys became particularly troublesome.  In the past, they have generally respected women and refrained from any violence.  The last few weeks we did ministry there, all of that changed.  They threw eggs at one of our church members during the games with the children.  They stole some of our equipment and were throwing things at me.  As we packed up and were leaving, they began to throw rocks and broken tiles at me and my family.  Some of the boys were saying filthy things to my wife. 

I think we would have continued going, albeit without our families, if there was a chance to preach the Gospel.  But none of us can really begin to speak about Jesus before they start to mock Jesus and the Gospel.  I will probably return occasionally, with someone else along, to try to speak to others, but God has been giving us new opportunities in this other park, so we are grateful.

Since that move, we have had two youth groups visit and help with outreach in this new location, and God has given me several opportunities to talk about Jesus and His redemptive work with Muslim men there.  We are thanking God both for the fellowship with the believers who visited and the opportunities God has given us to proclaim His Gospel.

Thank you so much for participating in the Gospel work here through your faithful prayers, your generous support, your welcome visits, and your personal notes of encouragement to us.  Please pray that Jesus would continue to build His church here, and that He would help us to bring Him glory and honor as we preach redemption and reconciliation in His name.  Please pray that we will be faithful and make the most of every opportunity to tell people the great things that Jesus has done for all who will come to Him in faith.

Grace be with you all,
Sam Huhn
Grace Baptist
Hamtramck, MI”