Confusion about Gene Daniels’ Assertion that There are 25 Million MBBs

Daniels’ article, “How Exactly Do We Know What We Know about Kingdom Movements?” in Motus Dei (2021) is somewhat oblique about its numerical assertions. In addition, at least one typographical error appears to make his article even more confusing. So, it is necessary to give proof that he actually did assert that there are 25 million MBBs. Here are the facts:

• Daniels did claim that there were 10 million MBBs in 2010. He took that figure from D.A. Miller and Patrick Johnstone, “Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census,” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion (2015). I checked that article. Miller and Johnstone did provide evidence for that number in their 2015 publication. 
• In Figure 4.2, Daniels omitted a zero on the Y-axis. For example, where it should be 10,000,000 MBBs in 2010, the graph shows it is at 1,000,000. This error in Figure 4.2 makes its meaning a bit more opaque. 
• In Figure 4.2, Daniels shows the curve moving significantly between 2010 and 2020 from 1,000,000 to 2,500,000. However, because of the error noted in the point above, it should be understood that Daniels was showing growth from 10,000,000 MBBs in 2010 to 25,000,000 in 2020. Therefore, Daniels did assert that there were 25 million MBBs in 2020.
• Regarding a source for the 25 million MBBs, Daniels cited “a presentation by Justin Long on behalf of the 24:14 Network at the Vision 5:9 Network Assembly in Malta (Long 2019).” Since Long’s presentation is not published, it is impossible to fact-check whether he said 2.5 million or 25 million. 
• Lastly, Daniels said that in 2010 there were approximately 7 million MBBs in Indonesia (Daniels, 60). Therefore, it is not possible that he cited 2.5 million in 2020. This evidence bolsters the statement that Daniels means 25 million and creates an error in Figure 4.2.