Pastor Tells of His Visit to Baghdad

Iraq- Baghdad

George Shahbaz was leaving a church service in Iraq when a truckload of American soldiers ordered him to stop in his tracks.




“Do you have a weapon?” a soldier asked.

Shahbaz, a Turlock minister who was in the country working as a translator, had a ready reply. “Of course,” he said, holding up his Bible. “This is my weapon. The word of the Lord.”

Shahbaz, former pastor of Turlock’s Assyrian Presbyterian Church, told the story Sunday at Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Modesto. About 90 people listened to the talk, in which Shahbaz spoke of his experiences in the war-torn region.

Shahbaz, 60, was born in Iraq, but left the country when he was a young man to become a Christian minister. Shahbaz recently returned to his native country as a member of the Iraq Survey Group. The group, often in the news, was charged with searching for weapons of mass destruction.

But Shahbaz’s specialty isn’t weaponry, it’s languages — he speaks seven and was called on to translate documents from Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages into English. When he wasn’t translating, he was ministering. After hours, Shahbaz made it a point to talk to Iraqis, soldiers and others about his faith, which until recently had been outlawed in the Muslim country.
“It’s the first time in my life that I can share Christ with a colonel, a soldier … all kinds of people,” he said.

Sleeping quarters in palace Shahbaz and his fellow group members spent one month and four days in Baghdad, where they slept on the grounds of a palace that housed a private zoo established by Saddam Hussein’s son Uday. They heard animals howling at night.

Shahbaz displayed his Bible and some religious tracts near his cot.
“It was like a little chapel,” he said.

Most recently, Shahbaz was in Qatar, where U.S. Central Command facilities are located. He plans to return soon and expects to stay until May.

Congregation members applauded Shahbaz’s talk, then prayed for him. David Zellman of Modesto said he was glad to hear good news coming out of a region that has become known for violence.

“I appreciate knowing there’s a lot of good things happening there,” he said.

By Kerry McCray
Modesto Bee

10-1-2005

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