I Met Jesus by Proofreading
Help me get to the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering in Brazil: $3,000
"How do you live here?" I asked. The girl was thirteen, carrying bricks beside her parents at a kiln in Punjab. I'll call her Maria. "As a girl, I have no choice," she said. "I work with my family. But I want to study." Then she told me what she wanted most. She wanted to know God. I had a school pack in my hands. That was all I could give her.
I'm Adnan George, from Lahore, Pakistan. I have been selected for the Lausanne Movement's Fourth Younger Leaders Gathering (YLG4), 16–22 March 2027 in Brazil. I need $3,000 to get there.
Have you ever had to stand alone because of your faith?
I have, and it did not make me brave. Pakistan is 96% Muslim and about 1.4% Christian. At school I was the only Christian in my class. My classmates would not sit with me or eat with me, and a few tried to force me to convert. I was afraid, so I hid.
Every year I studied Islam, as every Pakistani student must. Nobody taught me Christianity. By the end of school I thought Islam might be true. I wasn't resisting Jesus. I had never met Him.
The assignment
At Forman Christian College, a Korean missionary named Dr. Shinho Chung offered to pay for my studies on one condition. He gave me a photocopied Gospel of John and told me to check it against the Urdu Bible, marking every typing error.
I did it for the money.
Then the questions started. Who is Jesus? Do Christians believe in three Gods? I began reading six to ten hours a day. One verse stopped me: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). I knew what following Jesus could cost in Pakistan. I told God I would follow Him anyway, even if it cost my life.
Only later did I learn that Dr. Chung had typed those errors in himself, so that I would read every word.
I met Jesus by proofreading.
Youth of Christ
I was the first person from my village to reach university, so I started teaching the children at home. They arrived without notebooks or pencils. I knew that shame. As a boy I had gone without, and I never told my family, because they had nothing to spare.
In 2020, with four friends, I started Youth of Christ. Since then we have:
- supported 775 students across 25+ communities
- given 600 audio Bibles to people who cannot read
- stood with 200 families through floods and crises
- started 12 Bible reading groups working through the New Testament
Most of our core team were once my students.
My father
When I was accepted to study theology in Korea, my father asked, "Do you want to be a pastor?" I said yes.
"Are you crazy?" he said. He wanted me earning money for the family, working in his paint shop. When I would not change my mind, he told me, "You are free from this family."
He was frightened, not cruel. For a year and a half we did not speak. Then, slowly, he began to accept it. We are still rebuilding.
Today I am finishing my MDiv at ACTS University, graduating in February 2027. Anseong Faith Church sponsors my studies, and I serve there as an evangelist. From Korea I still lead YOC's discipleship training online.
Why Brazil
My dream is a Youth Dream Centre in Pakistan. It would be a place where young people are equipped academically, spiritually and as leaders, so they become missionaries to their own people. I want it to be a community like the one in Acts 2:42–47.
At YLG4 I will learn alongside 1,200 younger leaders from nearly every country. I will then stay one extra week with churches in São Paulo, to learn how Brazil became one of the largest missionary-sending countries in the Global South.
When I return, I will send every supporter a short report within a month, and I will train the YOC team in what I learned.
The budget
Lausanne covers my accommodation, meals and airport transport during the gathering. The rest is mine to cover.
| ItemUSD |
| Round-trip airfare, Incheon to São Paulo | $1,800 |
| Brazil visa | $100 |
| Yellow fever vaccine | $40 |
| Travel insurance (3 weeks) | $70 |
| Ground transport in Korea | $30 |
| Extra week: host, meals, local transport | $370 |
| Fare and exchange-rate contingency | $590 |
| Total | $3,000 |
"If I raise less, I will shorten my extra week in São Paulo and cover the rest myself, so the gathering itself is never at risk."
How you can help
- Give any amount: Nothing has been raised yet, so you would be first.
- Share this page. It only travels if you pass it on.
- Pray for Maria and children like her, for YOC's young leaders, and for my family.
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)
Bank Account Details
Bank Name: NONGHYUP BANK
BANK ADDRESS: 120, TONGIL-RO, JUNG-GU, SEOUL, KOREA
SWIFT CODE, BIC: NACFKRSEXXX
ACCOUNT NO. 301-0352-8241-91
ACCOUNT TITLE: George Adnan
PHONE NO. 010-5939-8856
