More than 3,000 former Muslims were recently baptized as Christians in various sites of the Assembly of Living God Church across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

According to Bibles for Mideast, the church's ministry arm that operates in different countries, the harvest of thousands of Muslim converts happened "in spite of setbacks and persecution."

The new believers went through both water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit as the church ended its 21 days of prayer and fasting.

"Satan tried to spoil the ministry many times, but our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed all the evil plans," Bibles for Mideast wrote in a report published earlier this month.

However, despite the good news, the church is now going through a tough time because some of the newly baptized believers in Asia were stoned by extremists just after the baptism. Five of them were wounded, while ministry leader Pastor Paul Siniraj was hit on the head, which caused damage to his skull.

The injury prompted the doctors to perform surgery on him, after which he stayed two weeks in the hospital. A Christian family, who were themselves former Muslims, took him in when he was well enough to be discharged.

He is, however, not far from danger, as the extremists who found out where he was staying began to threaten him and the family he stays with.

A report from Bibles for Mideast says that "the family members sheltering him often face persecution and death threats."

"He asks for our prayers, and explains he may not be able to communicate again for several weeks," the report said.

Bibles for Mideast has issued an urgent call for prayer for the recovery and protection of Pastor Paul.

Pastor Paul grew up as a Muslim in India. In his 20s, he was introduced to Jesus, whom he received as Lord and Savior. Later on, he founded Bibles for Mideast, which smuggles Bibles into some of the most restricted nations in the world.

"I am now more than 30 years in ministry since the Lord made me a preacher," he told WND in an interview last year.

"We are distributing Bibles published by Bible societies. We will get Bibles in all languages, especially Arabic and Urdu language Bibles," he said. "We purchase standard Bibles, which costs below U.S. $5 each. We arrange transportation also."

All these are done "very secretly," according to him.

Pastor Paul has endured intense persecution, and this is not the first time he had been harmed physically. The church considers this trying time as an opportunity to share in the sufferings of Christ.

"In his epistle to the Philippians, the apostle Paul spoke of knowing the fellowship of the Lord's sufferings and his goal to experience the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:9-11)," Bibles for Mideast said. "We aspire to the same."