ACCCN Mission Conference 2026
Who Is That in the Painting?
Author：Roger L
Date: 03/12/2026
Category：Missions Beyond Borders
Maria is a young woman, who like many typical young adults enjoys hanging out in coffee shops and bookstores. One day, she saw a book open on a shelf, and she was attracted to it because the cover was pink (her favorite color). She went over to it, started reading it, and thought the poetry on the pages was amazing and deep. She quickly closed the book so that she could see the title on the cover, only to be shocked and surprised. It was the Bible. She quickly closed it and walked away quietly and ashamed. Maria is from our province in Southeast Asia. Her family is from the Sunda people group, the largest unreached people group in our country and one of the largest in the world. This UPG is 99 percent Muslim. She is from a strict Muslim family and was taught very early on not to read the Bible.
After the incident, Maria had the same recurring dream for eight years. In the dream, she would be walking in a field with a man she didn’t know. He never spoke, and she would wake up confused and literally tired from these recurring dreams. One night, the man in the dream finally spoke, “It’s not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” One day, she was going on a hike with friends in the beautiful tea plantations in the mountains of West Java. The group got a little bit lost, but a man who had a home nearby invited them in for tea. And there it was, in the living room of this man’s house: a very large painting, depicting a man walking in a field, just like in her dreams. “Who is that in the painting?” Maria asked. The man shared that he was a Christian and that the man in the painting was Jesus, his Lord and Savior. Knowing Maria was a Muslim, he said very kindly, “but you would know him as the prophet Isa.” She explained her dreams, and so he went to get his Bible, and showed her the verse from her dreams: John 15:16. Jesus was revealing himself in her dreams, speaking Scriptures that she had never even read. After that day, the dreams stopped.
A few years later, Maria was working in the capital city and was stuck in her small apartment during the pandemic. Out of boredom, she downloaded TikTok, since Indonesia had very strict stay-at-home orders. The very first TikTok video that popped up on her phone was one from a pastor in the city who said, “Stop scrolling right now! Jesus says to you, ‘It is not you who has chosen me, but I who chose you!’” Maria contacted the pastor, met him for coffee, and got a full explanation of the Gospel. She became a Christian and got baptized soon after.
Maria is now one of our key disciples, a spiritual daughter to Jessie and me, and a very trusted manager in our business in Indonesia. We trust her with our company, our kids, and our livelihood since she knows we are missionaries. Maria has suffered much persecution at the hands of her community and family, because she changed religions from Islam to Christianity. Her family has stopped talking to her, and her father has beaten her repeatedly. Another one of our employees took her into her home, dressed her wounds, and loved her into the church. We gave her employment and we are now putting her through her college. Since her family has excommunicated her for her faith, it is our goal to make her an exemplar. We want to show that her life is better because of her faith in Jesus.
Given the theme for this year’s missions conference from Romans 10, we want to implore you to look for opportunities to share your faith wherever you are. Just look at Maria, who had these incredible encounters with the Bible and in her dreams, but still needed people to explain to her along the way. How can they believe if they have not heard? You just never know who you’ll encounter who just needs to hear the Good News. Thank you for partnering with us in our work. We are honored to be sent by you to preach the good news.
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