I’m writing this in the afternoon of Saturday, February 28th, 2026. All day today, a song by Ben Fuller has been going through my mind. In the song Black Sheep there is one line that really seems to resonate with what’s going on in the Middle East:
The Good Shepherd’s love smells like smoke. There ain’t no hell so low where He won’t let the hounds of Heaven go.
Last night, just before I went to sleep, I watched President Trump’s announcement of military action against Iran, and I saw that Israel was striking Iran as well. This morning, I heard in the news that Saudi Arabia had joined the U. S. and Israel, after Iran launched missile attacks on them and on at least seven other previously neutral countries. Some or all of those nations will most likely join the operation as well. When this kind of unforced error occurs, it’s pretty easy to see the hand of God at work.
But the course of that war is not what I’m writing about now. Rather, I’m writing this message today because this morning during my prayer walk, while I was praying about the conflict in Iran, I was struck by a very powerful sense that this is the moment to pray for an Iranian people movement.
If you’re not familiar with that phrase, “people movement” is a term used by experts in Christian missions. They have worked out a technical definition for it, which I will spare you. In simple terms, a people movement occurs when a particular cultural group turns to Christ in large numbers without giving up their own culture, language, and social networks. People movements don’t necessarily involve mass conversions. More typically, the response is by families or neighborhoods, rather than crowds. Over the course of a few years, however, entire nations can be transformed.
As in the song, I am certain that in many parts of Iran right now, the air does smell like smoke. And the Iranian regime has done its best to turn that country into a hell on earth. So I am praying, as I believe the Holy Spirit is calling me to do, and I’m asking others to pray as well, that in the coming years, Iranians will be able to point back to this moment and say:
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned
I pray that, in the very near future, Iran will no longer be considered a Muslim nation at all, but a country whose people follow Jesus. And I’m praying that the movement to Christ will not only spread throughout Iran, but that it will encompass Iranians living in other countries as well, all around the world.
I am not indifferent to the military operations that are going on; I’m praying for those as well. But I believe God is calling me to fight a different war, with different aims and different weapons:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
So that’s my prayer and my appeal. Please join me in praying for an Iranian people movement, and let’s see what God will do.