| I am Kerem, from Turkey. I am from the land of the Galatians. I am married to Buse, and we have a son, Josiah. I come from a Muslim background, but I never became a Muslim. Growing up, I didn’t believe in God because Islam teaches that if you don’t fear God, you will go to hell and burn, and you will loose your salvation. I always thought God couldn’t be that bad. If there is a God, he must also be merciful and loving. At this point, I knew nothing about Jesus Christ. |  |
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One day I fell from a cliff when I was climbing a mountain. It was -25 degrees. I hurt myself, and my body went into hypothermia. That was the first time in my life that I prayed, and I felt someone help me. Most mountain climbers who fell and went into hypothermia never lived to tell about it. I didn’t know who helped me, but I started to search. |
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I started to read
books about religion, and finally one day I visited the church in
Antalya. It is hard to find a church in Turkey because there are only
3500 Christians, and 75 million Muslims. 99.8% of the population of
Turkey is Muslim. When I walked into the church, I met a Turkish pastor
named Ramazan. I didn’t know such people existed. If
you’re a Turk, you must be Muslim. How could a Turk be a
Christian?! Nevertheless, Ramazan told me about the good news of Jesus
Christ. He told me about salvation and freedom from sin that I can have
because of what Jesus accomplished. I never heard before that
“Jesus died for our sins”. Islam teaches that Jesus
was taken up into heaven before he died. Why would someone die for
another person, let alone a sinner! After a couple of days, I confessed
my sins and gave my whole life to Christ, and started to follow Him. After I came to Christ, I started to share the news with my family and my girlfriend. A year later, my older sister came to Christ. Not long after that, my girlfriend, who is now my wife, also came to Christ. Finally my hard-hearted Muslim mother also started to follow Christ, and was baptized in winter of 2006. |
| I’ve been a believer for seven years now. Two years after I came to Christ, I began to work in the church as the assistant to the senior pastor, as well as the youth group leader. In the summer of 2006, Mr. Charles McCordic, the Director of Global Ministries at Heritage College and Seminary, led a team of students to Turkey. They worked closely with our church, and I helped them bridge cultural barriers while they served there. |
| Mr. McCordic (or Charlie, as we know him), thought it would be beneficial for me to come to Canada and study at Bible College, to better equip me for ministry in Turkey. He worked hard for us, and we finally got a full-tuition scholarship from Heritage. We arrived in Canada in September of 2006. |  |
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I am the first international student with a Bible College scholarship from Turkey. If I finish here, I’ll be one of the first Turk with a theology degree. This is very important for us, because we want to go back to Turkey and share the Good News with Muslims, and train people to lead the church there. I have been very blessed to receive an education here, but many pastors in Turkey will not have the same opportunity. |
| My education here is therefore not just important for me, but also for the Church in Turkey. When I return, I’ll train those who want to be ministers, so that we can take the good news everywhere in Turkey, and beyond. |
| Photography has been a passion of mine for a long time. Recently, I have had the privilege of developing and refining my photography skills further. I have found this to be a great way to share God's wonderful creation with others. I don't usually use computer editing programs, artificial lighting or unnatural filtration for my photography. I believe God's light is the best way to express His creation. |  |
Enjoy
Blessings to you all...
Kerem Koç
