VOMRadio
509 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago - ★★★★★ - 1.3K ratingsWelcome to The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network! Join host Todd Nettleton each week as we share testimonies of brothers and sisters suffering for their faith in Christ.
The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) is a nonprofit, interdenominational missions organization that offers practical and spiritual help to persecuted Christians around the world.
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Episodes
Imprisoned with Muslims in Türkiye, “I Was Desperately Embracing Christ.”
June 29, 2024 10:00 - 30 minutes - 57 MBAfter serving many years as a gospel worker in Turkey (now called Türkiye), Pastor Andrew Brunson spent two years in Turkish prison. He was accused, among other “crimes,” of helping plot a coup against President Erdogan’s government and being a leader in the CIA. The reality is that Andrew was in Turkey as a missionary and pastor, working to spread the gospel. Brunson recounts how God was teaching him to stand during dark days of isolation in prison and wondering why God seemed silent in h...
“My Ancestors Cannot Change My Life.” Vietnamese Pastor Always Talks About Christ
June 22, 2024 10:00 - 25 minutes - 47.5 MBPastor Matthew is a long-time pastor in the communist nation of Vietnam. Since coming to faith in Christ he’s been persecuted by family, neighbors and by police. Matthew came to Christ through the witness of an American missionary mentor. He heard the gospel message, but he also saw the life she lived and the love she showed to the people around her. He couldn’t know, at the time, the high cost he would pay to follow Christ in Vietnam. “I didn’t know how hard it was to be a Christian in th...
Church Bombings, Terrorist Attacks: Preparing Disciples for Persecution in Congo
June 15, 2024 10:00 - 27 minutes - 51.4 MB“When people are not discipled, they are frail. Their faith is not strong.” Dr. David Kasali, founder and president of Congo Initiative, is determined to disciple more Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a place where they are being specifically targeted for persecution by terrorist groups and radical Islamists. Listen as David tells about recent attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), including one where a Christian man was murdered on the spot just for acknowledg...
Going Back to the Bible, Sri Lankan Christian Shares Gospel with Buddhists
June 08, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.8 MBSeventy percent of Sri Lanka’s people are Buddhists, and Buddhism is given “foremost place” in the nation’s constitution and laws. Officially, there is religious freedom for people of other faiths, including Christians. Yet new believers in Christ often face pressure and persecution from family members or their local community. Mayukha Perera, managing director of Back to the Bible Sri Lanka, joins VOM Radio this week to share about the challenges facing persecuted Christians in Sri Lanka ...
Mali Pastor, Raised Muslim, Now Encourages Christians to Stand Firm Under Persecution
June 01, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBPastor Nouh Yattara was born into a nomadic Muslim family. He became a believer through the work of missionaries in his home country of Mali—and through his desire to own a ball-point pen. After living in fear of superstitions, demons and death, Nouh found new life, and an end to fear, in Christ. “I knew if I accepted Jesus that he has the power against all of that,” Pastor Nouh says. It wasn’t an easy path. Nouh experienced Christian persecution from family members, teachers, kids at scho...
Former Iran Prisoner: “I Never Regret My Testimony for Christ”
May 25, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.5 MB“By God’s grace, I endured a few years in prison in exchange for an eternity with Him.” Ebrahim Firouzi, a Christian convert from Islam, spent seven years in prison in Iran. Now he is enjoying eternity with the Lord, experiencing the fulfillment of that promise following his death in February. This interview was recorded about four years ago—after Ebrahim’s release from prison while he was serving out two years of “internal exile,” living in a remote area along the border of Iran and P...
Forced to Leave Myanmar, Gospel Workers say, “The Lord has Not Released Us From this Place”
May 18, 2024 10:00 - 30 minutes - 56.4 MBLast week Luke and Kate, medical gospel workers who’ve served in Myanmar, shared how God called them to Myanmar to share the hope of Christ. This week, in Part 2 of our conversation, they reveal the loss and devastation their family experienced as they were forced to leave the place God had so clearly called them to. “It was devastating,” Kate says, “and we still sometimes have to process through that again.” While returning to their village home is not an option right now, Luke and Kate ...
“This is Where I Want You:” Husband and Wife Medical Team Hears God’s Call to Gospel Service in Myanmar
May 11, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.9 MBLuke and Kate had both felt God’s call to missions. But they were still waiting to know where that call would take them. They went through training. They travelled to serve in different countries. And all the while, they asked God where he wanted to send them long-term. His answer finally arrived after a 12-hour bus ride to a rural village in Myanmar where there were no other foreigners. Kate and Luke both felt it clearly: “This is it. This is home. This is where I want you.” God put a d...
Kidnapped by Terrorists, Interrogated by Police, Church Worker says, “God Was With Me”
May 04, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47 MBBrother Job thought it would be just another day. He was walking to work at a church in North Africa when he was accosted by four men with knives. The terrorists forced him into a vehicle and drove him away. “It’s my last day on this earth,” Job thought to himself. Growing up in a Muslim family in North Africa, Job knew there would be persecution when he left Islam to follow Jesus. He came to faith—along with other members of his family—after seeing a satellite TV program where a former ...
Missions Starts with Encountering God
April 27, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.3 MBThere are 500,000 evangelical churches in Latin America, but only 6% of Latino congregations are involved in missions. As executive director of COMHINA, and in his previous work with Operation Mobilization Latin America, Brother Julio wants to increase that percentage! He desires to bring about collaboration between churches and missionary organizations to equip and send out Latino missionaries. Listen for the story of Julio’s own call to missions while living and working in Japan, and how...
CENTRAL ASIA: Muslims Ready for Truth
April 20, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 48.2 MBA Christian and pastor from Central Asia, Brother Silas constantly interacts with Muslims. He says many are seeking truth and looking for answers to their deepest spiritual questions. Brother Silas and Tom Houser, executive director for People International, share this week what new Christians in Central Asian nations—including Muslim background believers—experience when they become followers of Jesus. “The moment you make that decision,” says Silas, “you will be oppressed on every side.” ...
MIDDLE EAST: Christians Intentional About Sharing Jesus
April 13, 2024 10:00 - 29 minutes - 55 MBMany Muslims are ready to hear the gospel and experience the love of Jesus Christ. For more than two decades Peter Smith has prayed for the nation of Iran and connected with ministries reaching people and supporting persecuted Christians in the nation he and his wife “adopted.” Seeing the gospel go forth in the Middle East reminds Peter of the good soil that produced 30, 60 and 100-fold harvests in Jesus’ Matthew 13 parable. Persecution is rising in restricted nations across the Middle Eas...
CHINA MISSIONS: “Your Ministry is Over”
April 06, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.8 MBLast week, Brother Kevin shared how he came to Christ and how God gave him a passion to reach the 13 million Hui people in China. For members of this people group, to be Hui is to be Muslim. Those who become Christians are considered traitors, bringing shame to their family. Hui Christians face social, psychological, and sometimes financial persecution, typically enforced by members of their own family. They may lose their job, be kicked out of the family home, and even renounced as a memb...
CHINA MISSIONS: “That’s When We Felt the Call”
March 30, 2024 10:00 - 34 minutes - 62.3 MBWithin two months of Brother Kevin and his wife beginning gospel work in India, more than a thousand people had come to Christ! The fruit of the gospel was immediate. Local missions leaders asked them to stay on and help disciple these new believers. They saw the opportunity, and the incredible growth of the ministry. But Kevin couldn’t dismiss an urge to visit China before agreeing to stay and minister in India. It was on that first visit to China that Kevin was asked a question which wou...
SOUTH ASIA: Children are Included in the Great Commission
March 23, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.4 MB“For us, it’s not AWANA, it’s ‘Can we disciple one more child?’” Gajendra Tamang is the Regional Director of AWANA in South Asia, coming alongside pastors and local churches to help reach and disciple children from many different religious backgrounds. Gajendra knows first-hand how a life can be changed through a simple invitation to a Christian activity. He came to faith while attending college in India, where a Christian classmate invited Gajendra to come to church with him every Sunda...
CUBA: Pastors Willing to Pay a Price
March 16, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBFidel Castro, leader of Cuba’s communist revolution, died in 2016. But has Castro’s death changed the level of Christian persecution in Cuba? “No difference at all,” Pastor Mateo, a church leader in Cuba, says emphatically. The Cuban government attempts to restrain the gospel in many ways. Yet despite persecution, the church in Cuba is growing—stretching beyond buildings and homes and gathering on the streets and in open fields to pray and worship and share the gospel. Listen as Pastor Mat...
HOSTAGE’S WIFE: “Look for the Promises of God and Pray”
March 09, 2024 11:00 - 25 minutes - 46.6 MBIt was four in the morning when Els Woodke answered the phone to hear the words she’d been praying for and waiting on for six-and-a-half years: “Jeff has been recovered!” The last two weeks we’ve shared the story of Jeffery Woodke, American gospel worker in West Africa captured by Islamists and held hostage for more than six years. Now, Jeff’s wife, Els, shares her side of the story of waiting and wondering and praying through that long ordeal—and how God helped her never to hate Jeff’s ca...
MISSIONARY HOSTAGE: “Prayer Works; I’m Proof”
March 02, 2024 11:00 - 24 minutes - 47.6 MB“Hope is the first thing to go” Jeffery Woodke says, speaking about his six-and-a-half years as a hostage held by radical Islamist terror groups. He says he started out, after being kidnapped, praying eight hours a day. But over the years his hopelessness increased and his prayer time faded to twenty minutes daily. Suicidal, he beseeched his persecutors numerous times to take his life, knowing heaven would be much better than his existence as a hostage chained to a tree. Despite his doubts...
KIDNAPPED GOSPEL WORKER: Forgiveness is the Best Weapon We Have
February 24, 2024 11:00 - 24 minutes - 46.8 MB“It’s better to be dead than taken hostage.” When Jeff Woodke said those words, he didn’t know that he would be taken hostage from his home in Niger in 2016. But Woodke, a long-term relief and gospel worker in West Africa, did know there were risks. Risk wasn’t such a big issue in the early years of the ministry of Jeff and his wife, Els, in Niger with Youth With a Mission (YWAM). They worked in church planting, discipleship, and evangelism among the Wodaabe people. Niger was an open cou...
SOUTH ASIA: “It’s Not an Easy Calling”
February 17, 2024 11:00 - 31 minutes - 60.3 MBDavid Paul fell in love with Muslims as a college student visiting Turkey (now Türkiye) to share the gospel. After getting married, he and his wife thought they’d go where Muslims are — the Middle East. God changed their plans, reminding them that millions of Muslims live in South Asia, yet very few mission workers go there. They knew God was calling them, and without ever visiting, they moved to South Asia more than a decade ago. Their focus is on reaching Urdu speaking Muslims with the gos...
TRAUMA CARE: There’s a Place for Mourning
February 10, 2024 11:00 - 24 minutes - 47 MBLast week, Brother Philip, a field minister for The Voice of the Martyrs in West Africa, shared how witnessing stories of trauma from persecuted Christians and addressing their spiritual needs is a gift. He shared the characteristics of resilient individuals who coped well after persecution and how scripture can bring healing to their hearts and minds. This week, you’ll hear how Christians may exhibit more resilience than non-believers, stories of persecuted Christians and how The Voice of t...
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS: Witnessing Their Pain, Caring for Their Trauma
February 03, 2024 11:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBThis episode will be a little different than most as we have two conversations instead of one. First, we’ll hear from Steve Lisby about a group of pastors and church leaders imprisoned in Nicaragua after being part of a large-scale evangelism effort. Next we’ll hear from Brother Philip, who helps The Voice of the Martyrs provide trauma care for persecuted Christians in Africa. Steve Lisby is the risk management director with Mountain Gateway, a ministry helping train and send gospel worker...
NIGERIA: Bearing the Scar of Persecution
January 27, 2024 11:00 - 24 minutes - 46.9 MBPaul Dangtoumda, a part of the global eldership counsel for Youth With a Mission (YWAM) and the leader for YWAM’s work in Nigeria, comes from a family with a history of Christian persecution. In fact, he bears the scar of persecution his parents faced even before he was born. Listen as he shares the amazing testimony of God’s protection over him and his parents—and how their example inspires his ministry even today. Hear how Paul began working in Nigeria and how today he and YWAM are helpi...
ASIA PACIFIC: The Value of Knowing Christ
January 20, 2024 11:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBChoosing the cross comes with risk. Carter Gates, The Voice of the Martyrs’ Asia Pacific Regional Leader, says he is always humbled as he observes and fellowships with persecuted Christians who regularly take up their cross joyfully despite that risk. They know walking with Christ is worth the risk. Listen this week as Carter shares what the church is experiencing in Brunei, China, Laos, and Myanmar, including looking ahead to serving our Christian brothers and sisters in these restricte...
MISSIONS: On Earth as it is In Heaven
January 13, 2024 11:00 - 41 minutes - 77.3 MB“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Loren Cunningham, with his wife Darlene, founded Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in 1960 with a vision to equip and send young people out all over the world to fulfill this God-given command to go and proclaim. Loren passionately continued God’s work even into his final days on earth, preaching and discipling even with lung cancer. When he died last October, he left an amazing, inspired legacy for YWAM. Paul Childers, a l...
Looking Ahead To 2024: Ministry in the Midst of Trouble
January 06, 2024 11:00 - 32 minutes - 61.7 MB“I’ve been with you, and I have to leave now, but as I go I am still with you.” Aaron Miller, Vice President of International Ministry at The Voice of the Martyrs, learned this concept from brothers and sisters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They have a word for the concept in their language: tukopamuja. As Aaron and his team sit with persecuted Christians across the world, the stories they hear and prayers they pray together stay with them forever. As 2024 begins, we pra...
MOVING MOMENTS of 2023 - Part 2
December 30, 2023 11:00 - 37 minutes - 70.7 MBJoin this week as we continue to look back on some of the most moving moments of 2023 on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio: Brother Maksud became a Christian as a young man but was afraid to tell his parents. He expected his father might disown him but was shocked at his father’s response. Pastor Hanna remembers when he learned that a member of his church, Rami Ayyad, had been martyred. He says our faith won’t be tested when everything is going fine, but in difficult times. After Sister Ja...
MOVING MOMENTS of 2023 – Part 1
December 23, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBJoin this week in looking back on some of the most moving moments on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio in 2023: Brother James, interrogated in the Middle East, shares how he overcomes fear and gives an example of God’s deliverance. Richard and Jeannette remember the day 25 Chinese police raided their apartment, and how the Lord was with them through their suffering. Carter Gates tells the story of a pastor who was martyred in Laos. A pastor in the Arabian Peninsula tells his congregation...
CHRISTIANS IN CHINA: Ready to be Imprisoned for Christ
December 16, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutes - 46.9 MB“We are ready and prepared to be imprisoned. We are not afraid of being imprisoned. But we are afraid of losing the fear of the Lord.” —House Church leaders in China Bob Fu, founder, and president of ChinaAid, is regularly in contact with Christians all over China. He says that, in an era of harsh government restrictions and a complete lack of religious freedom, churches are still being planted and leaders continue to baptize new believers in China. Author of God’s Double Agent, Bob shed...
CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION: Government Pressure Birthing New Ways for Church
December 09, 2023 11:00 - 34 minutes - 63.3 MBAs Christian persecution increases across China, Myanmar and other hostile and restricted nations around the world, Christian brothers and sisters are finding new ways to gather for worship, fellowship and Bible study under the radar of police or hostile government authorities. Dr. Joe Handley, president and CEO of A3, shares just how unique some of these new church meetings are, from pop-up coffee carts to whole congregations working out together in a public park. A3, formerly Asian Acces...
NORTH AFRICA: Suffering for Truth is Beautiful
December 02, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutes - 47 MBFor ten years, Shakir heard his Christian friend and his Muslim friend discuss, debate and argue about their different faiths. Shakir tried to ignore their discussion; he didn’t want to get involved. After all those years, Shakir was shocked when his Muslim friend told him that he had become a Christian. Shakir urged him to reconsider and return to Islam—but as his friend shared about the things that led him to follow Christ, Shakir himself began to consider that Jesus might indeed be the Wa...
MALAYSIA: God Was Preparing Pastor Before His Abduction
November 25, 2023 11:00 - 32 minutes - 60.8 MBPastor Raymond Koh was forcibly abducted on February 13th, 2017 in a military-style operation that took less than 40 seconds. Almost seven years later, he’s still missing. His car has never been located. Raymond’s wife, Susanna, has filed a lawsuit to force the Malaysian government and leaders of the police to release all information about what happened, and hopefully hold the kidnappers accountable for their actions. Listen this week to an interview with Susanna recorded two years after...
NIGERIA: Martyrs’ Widows are “Women of Honor”
November 18, 2023 11:00 - 37 minutes - 71.4 MBSusi Childers has served with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for more than two decades, using her photography skills to open doors to communicate the love of Christ to people all over the world. Listen this week as Susi describes the impact of Loren Cunningham, YWAM’s founder who recently graduated to heaven, on her life and on encouraging her to use her gifts more fully to further the gospel. She’ll also share some of the personal qualities that made Loren such an impactful and visionary le...
NORTH AFRICA PASTOR: Persecution Is Part of Christian Journey
November 11, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutes - 47.1 MBListen as Pastor Joe shares the struggles many new Christians in North Africa face when they believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Yet, people in the region are coming to Christ like never before! Christians in North Africa often pay a huge price for following Christ. They are rejected by family, lose jobs and face other forms of persecution when they tell others of their faith in Jesus. Many of these persecuted Christians don’t know how each day will end. They rely on the Lord for s...
MARTYR’S WIDOW: God Can Use ANYTHING For His Glory
November 04, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.1 MB“I could’ve lived and worked in that country my whole life and not seen the fruit that we are seeing now.” That fruit was planted in sacrifice. From the time she was a little girl, Jane wanted to live overseas to spread the gospel. When she met her husband, he had the same missions mindset and a heart for Muslims after he was impacted by 9/11. Jane says her husband enjoyed living in the Middle East, immersing himself in the culture and, most importantly, living his dream of witnessing to p...
NORTH AFRICA: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
October 28, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBBrother Bob has been connected to gospel work in North Africa for more than 20 years. He says government persecution of Christians in the region tends to come in cycles, but pressure and persecution of Christians by their own family members is common. But even in the midst of family persecution, Christians have a chance to demonstrate the reality of the gospel. “If believers persevere and continue to be a light,” Bob says, “most of the time their family eventually accepts them. And in many...
PAKISTAN: Strong Faith Amidst the Ashes
October 21, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.3 MBWhen a radical-Muslim mob of 6000 attacked the Christian colony of Jaranwala in August, Christians could only flee. Some hid in sugarcane fields; others fled the area. The attack lasted the whole day; churches were destroyed and persecuted Christians’ homes were looted and burned. Brother Johanna joins us this week on VOM Radio to share what led to the uproar in Jaranwala, and the response from other Christians in Pakistan to brothers and sisters affected by the violence. We will also look...
SOUTH ASIA: Lord, Build Your Church Here
October 14, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.3 MBBen and Kimberly, gospel workers in South Asia, join VOM Radio again this week to share more about how the Lord is working in remote villages of South Asia. Struck by the boldness of local believers, Ben and Kimberly see the fearlessness persecuted Christians there have in preaching the gospel. The threat of jail doesn’t stop them from preaching; they will preach in jail if necessary. With the rise of anti-conversion laws in South Asia, in many places it is illegal for people to change the...
SOUTH ASIA: “I Shouldn’t Be Alive. I Shouldn’t Be Free”
October 07, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.3 MB“I didn’t know anything about my faith, but I knew I couldn’t deny Christ.” A Christian for less than two months, a 15-year-old girl shared this with Ben and Kimberly when she came to their church for discipleship. Her father, one of the most powerful witch doctors in the village, kicked her out of the house and out of their village after she chose to follow Christ. Ben and Kimberly are gospel workers in South Asia, involved in outreach, pastor training and discipleship of new believers....
MISSIONS: Jesus is Already There
September 30, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 48.4 MBYoung, married, and with a baby on the way, Cynthia Anderson and her husband set out for Nepal to “take new ground for the gospel,” bringing Jesus to the unreached. But God was already working in Nepal. “We weren’t taking Him there,” Cynthia says, “He was [already] there!” Today, decades later, Cynthia is a longtime gospel worker in multiple nations and a trainer of pastors, mission agency and other Kingdom-minded leaders in how to multiply disciples and catalyze Jesus movements in their a...
IRAN: No Longer an Islamic Nation
September 23, 2023 10:00 - 32 minutes - 60 MBThe nation is called The Islamic Republic of Iran, but a recent study shows less than a third of Iranians still believe in Islam! Iranians are looking elsewhere to find answers to their spiritual questions. Dr. Hormoz Shariat tells us why, sharing from his own experiences ministering to people in Iran, evangelizing and answering their questions. “More and more I see people of Iran say, ‘To have a future for Iran, we have to get rid of Islam,’” Hormoz explains. Hormoz is the president of Ir...
MIDDLE EAST: Take Courage; Wait For the Lord
September 16, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.9 MBGospel workers in restricted and hostile nations risk their lives to spread the gospel. One worker in the Middle East, Jacob, was kidnapped last month and held by a terrorist group. He was kept blindfolded, not knowing if it was day or night. The group threatened to hang him. Even in captivity, this young newlywed pastor’s heart was to share the good news and help build God’s church by spreading his Word. Thankfully, Jacob has been rescued from captivity and reunited with his wife and baby...
AFGHANISTAN: Martyr’s Widow Says, “I’ll See Them Again”
September 09, 2023 10:00 - 27 minutes - 52.7 MBThere had been reports of a pending terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, when Hannelie Groenewald went in work as a medical doctor on November 29, 2014. Hannelie didn’t know that the Taliban attack would target her own home and family. When she arrived home that evening, a sea of police and military personnel were all around the smoking ruins of her house. Reporters were already there, asking her for comment. She still didn’t know what had happened; that her husband, Werner, and two tee...
AFGHANISTAN: “God Takes You Through”
September 02, 2023 10:00 - 27 minutes - 51.8 MBIt’s been two years since the Taliban retook control in Afghanistan. Pressure and persecution against Christians in the country continues to rise. Hannelie Groenewald, a former gospel medical worker there, paid a high price for her faith when her husband and children were martyred in their home in Kabul in 2014. When the 9/11 attacks happened in New York, Hannelie Groenewald was living a comfortable life in South Africa with her family. Werner, her husband, took a short-term mission trip t...
PERSECUTION IN MEXICO: “God Called Us Here”
August 26, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBIsaac Santiago, VOM’s Regional Leader for Latin America, and his team are standing with Christians suffering for their faith in Mexico, Colombia and other nations. They are also reaching out to Christians in Latin America who aren’t currently facing persecution, telling them the stories of heroic faith and inviting them into fellowship with persecuted Christians. Listen as Isaac shares his excitement for VOM’s Spanish resources. These include tools for pastors to share stories with their c...
INDIGENOUS MISSIONS: What Took You So Long to Get Here?
August 19, 2023 10:00 - 30 minutes - 57.1 MBTen years ago, there were 3,000 unengaged, unreached people groups around the world--peoples who had never had a witness to share the gospel with them. Today, that number is less than 500 unreached, unengaged people groups. God is moving and His church is growing! David Bogosian shares this week how Christian Aid Mission, where he is CEO, is training and equipping indigenous gospel workers to go and serve among those remaining unreached peoples. David formerly served as a missionary in the...
LAOS: Passing Tests of Faith
August 12, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.2 MBPastor Mele was detained in Laos after police found copies of God’s Word. Now, police attend his church services every week, looking for reasons to detain him or close the church. “As a human,” he says, “I have fear. But I trust the Lord to protect me and guide me.” Pastor Mele became a Christian in 2003 when a school friend shared the gospel with him and his classmates. Everyone ignored his Christian friend but Mele, trying to escape constant spiritual oppression, prayed and accepted Chri...
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS: Grateful Their Story Is Told
August 05, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 47.5 MBImagine worshipping the Lord while the walls of your church building are being torn down. It can be hard to fathom what our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ go through in restricted and hostile nations. How do Christians in free nations understand the Bible’s promise that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12)? Floyd Brobbel, CEO of VOM Canada and author of Trouble on the Way: Persecution in the Christian Life, explains that persecu...
OVERCOMING FEAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST: “Lord, Don’t Let Them See Me Shake”
July 29, 2023 10:00 - 33 minutes - 63 MBBrother James followed the Lord’s leading to serve in the Middle East. He arrived for what he expected to be one year of service knowing almost nothing about Islam or the culture in which he would be serving. He remembers being startled awake the very first morning by the Muslim call to prayer, wondering who was screaming at 4:30 in the morning! Soon he would understand that he was serving in a culture where choosing to follow Christ could cost one’s life. He would also come to understand ...
LIBYA: “We Wanted Our Lives to Glorify Jesus”
July 22, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 46.3 MBOn September 11, 2012, Islamist fighters attacked a United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans were killed in that attack. Just a few months later Ronnie and Anita Smith, a young American couple, moved to Benghazi with their infant son. Their goal was to live out their faith in Christ and have opportunities to introduce Libyan people to Christ. “We wanted to live our lives out in a place that didn’t know Jesus,” Anita Smith says. Anita acknowledges that there wa...