The sun was setting over the mountain range in Nigeria as native ministry leader, Gabriel Barau, and I rode in a jeep that wound around a dirt road through a field of desert bush. Every now and then we passed a cluster of mud huts.

"There's no church in that village," he softly whispered.

Barau is the leader of Missionary Crusaders Ministries in Nigeria, which trains local Christians for evangelism and church-planting. There are 49 unreached tribes in Nigeria; Barau is reaching out to seven of them.

The jeep slowed to a stop as we neared another village. I looked over to find Barau’s gaze firmly set on the array of thatched roofs. Finally, he broke the silence.

"Two years ago, I sent a couple of gospel workers to this village to share Christ..." he began.

He continued the story by recalling the hearty welcome of the villagers; how they begged the gospel workers to return and establish a church. To accomplish this, the workers needed $300.

I gasped when he told me that it took his ministry two years to raise this amount. By that time, it was too late. While the workers were away, Muslims had converted the entire village to Islam.

Former Gambian president, Dawda Jawara, stated "Islam is not merely a creed but a way of life. God has blessed us with human and material resources so that we do not have to rely on others."

Islamic schools and hospitals, well-staffed and equipped with the finest materials, offer their services free of charge—with only one condition: conversion to Islam. Access to all of the riches of Allah is as simple as repeating the "Shahada," or Islamic testimony of faith.

Muslim leaders strongly believe that all of Africa is destined to become Islamic, and are wasting no time in accomplishing this goal.

According to Gary Henley, director of International Outreach Ministries, "Islam is more than a religion. It is a legal, political and social system. If successful, the Islam sweeping across sub-Saharan Africa will create a bloc of countries united in faith, law and leadership on a scale not seen since the Soviet Union and communism."

The constitutions of most nations comprising North Africa mandate Islam as the national religion. And even though many of these countries profess freedom of religion, Christians face extreme persecution from the Muslim majority.

Islamic missionaries are now rapidly converting sub-Saharan nations to Islam.