“About 15 years ago, a friend invited me to join a Bible study. I said, ‘No, thanks, that sounds pretty boring. If I was going to read the Bible, I would read the Bible by myself.’ Back then, I wasn’t regularly going to church or reading the Bible. My wife went to church, but I used to stay at home. I was living my own life, working as a project manager … and making my own decisions, including making my own home brew in our spare room.”

“But then I thought … if I told my friend that I can read the Bible by myself, maybe I should? So, the next week, I went off in my lunch hour and I bought myself a Bible, and I bought a Bible reading plan. I started reading it. I remember the reading plan started with Luke. The words leapt off the page and gripped my heart. Luke 1 is not a particularly evangelistic passage, but I felt convicted by the truth of God’s word, and overwhelmed by His presence.

‘For no word from God will ever fail.’ (Luke 1:37)

“I went home and told my wife. God changed me, from that moment on. I stopped swearing without thinking about it. I eventually even cleaned up the room that I’d been using to make a home brew. My wife wondered what was going on. I started going to church and I asked people how I could serve there. I started to pray. It just flowed out. It was the power of God’s word, through His word, at work in my life.

“I kept doing the same long hours at work (usually 12 hours a day) but I signed up to do a Bible College course by correspondence. I would sit there every night, studying the Bible.

“And one night, while I was reading my Bible – and the fire was going and the dog was on the floor –  I saw a vision of a Muslim man, and I heard a voice repeatedly telling me to go. He kept saying, ‘Go, go, go.’ I did a double take. I checked that I was awake. I was definitely awake.

“The next morning, I told my wife. She wasn’t as convinced as I was, and it took us many years to prepare … but the thought of people not having access to the Bible and the gospel of Jesus, and its power to change lives, drove me every day.

“We ended up serving in the Muslim world for six years … and now we’re back in Australia, with the same calling.

“We’re serving with an organisation here, reaching out to those who haven’t heard about Jesus, yet …”

Ben’s story is part of Eternity’s Faith Stories series, compiled by Naomi Reed. Click here for more Faith Stories.