By Andrew McChesney, adventistmission.org

Seventh-day Adventist leaders have offered a special prayer for the first Ellen G. White books in the Farsi language for the people of Afghanistan.

The two books — “Steps to Christ” and “The Story of Redemption” — were unveiled by Pavel Liberanskiy, publishing ministries director for the Adventist Church’s Euro-Asia Division, during year-end meetings at the division’s headquarters in Moscow.

“I have in my hands two unique books in Farsi for the people of Afghanistan,” Liberanskiy said. “These are our first publications for that country.”

Afghanistan, part of the Euro-Asia Division, is a challenging territory with no Adventist churches and no known church members.

Church leaders later stood around the books for a prayer of dedication.

Adventist Church president Ted N.C. Wilson, speaking in an interview after the prayer, asked for church members worldwide to pray as well.

“It’s so exciting to see how the publishing ministries have focused on very low-entered settings such as Afghanistan,” said Wilson, who attended the year-end meetings this week. “Books that they have produced are going to be extraordinary opportunities for people to share the word of God in a careful and loving way.”

Liberanskiy also presented other new literature during the year-end meetings, including the first Russian-language GLOW tract titles for distribution in Russia and a Russian-language edition of “The Open Door,” a collection of stories from youth literature evangelists and written by Kamil Metz, international coordinator for the GLOW ministry.

“People are still reading books,” Liberanskiy said. “Let’s encourage young people and others to read and be inspired.”