Indeed, the good news was not to be a respecter of persons. Simple shepherds, like the later fishermen and farmers among the disciples of Jesus, would be both the recipients and purveyors of the Gospel.
Today many shepherds in the Bethlehem area and in other parts of Israel/Palestine still seek and profess Christianity, and their stories can be located on the Internet and in the popular press. In the 20th and 21st centuries, many of them achieved some recognition from the evangelical Christian community in the United States.
For instance, Stephen A. Haboush chronicled his experience as a Palestinian shepherd in his work “My Shepherd Life in Galilee.” The long tradition of shepherds seeking to follow God in faith extends from Abel, the son of Adam, to the present day. The shepherds located near Bethlehem on the night of the Lord’s nativity were a very important chapter of that long tradition.