It is rare to find an American in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.

I find the nation of North Korea almost endlessly fascinating. There seems to be no way that anyone born and raised in a free nation can understand the level of control and paranoia that exists inside “The Hermit Kingdom.” And very few of us will ever be allowed to visit.

Brother Jonathan, a VOM international ministries worker, says there is a gospel wildfire burning.

I like having plans, doesn’t everybody? I like knowing what my next move is and I like being to assume the future. I had a plan. It was a good one (to me), it was simple and dependable.

I have been reading the Book of Acts and read, again, the story of Saul’s conversation in Acts, chapter 9. I am always struck by how soon after Saul met Jesus that people were trying to kill him!

“Are you willing to go to jail for three years in order to keep working with us on this project?” It is an intimidating question, but those who secretly deliver Bibles to China’s Christians know that it is a very real risk.

As the director of Voice Ministries at VOM, I have the privilege of helping connect believers in the United States with their persecuted family. In my conversations with believers, I have seen some common misconceptions about persecuted Christians.

The idea that someone or something suffers for the benefit or as a representative of another is a theme that runs through the Bible. In the Old Testament, animals were substituted for persons to bear the punishment for human sin. They represented the sinful human, vicariously suffering even though they were innocent because they could not make moral decisions. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 introduces the idea of a person suffering on behalf of others. In the New Testament, Jesus becomes the ultimate sacrifice for our sin and our substitute. He was the Suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah and suffered vicariously for us. He willfully went to the cross for us.

She’s my age.