Her husband was the village police chief, the man responsible to make sure no more people in the village became Christians. And now she had chosen to follow Christ! Her husband pressured her to renounce her faith; then he beat her. Then he threatened her life. "I'm willing to die," she answered.

Poor Elijah. We’re always kind of down on Elijah, aren’t we? After his stunning victory on Mount Carmel, he flees Jezebel when she threatens to kill him after he put to death her 300 prophets of Baal.

Eugenia and her husband have endured a series of hardships over the past few years while leading several house churches in rural Chiapas, Mexico. Their car was stolen at gunpoint, a man attacked Eugenia with a machete as she returned home from a church meeting, and their house was burned to the ground by arsonists trying to run them out of the area.

When the man of Matthew 25 left, he did not promise his servants a reward for increasing the talents he entrusted to them. He gave according to ability, then allowed them to respond through their care of those talents. Today we often use this passage to exhort Christians to devote their abilities to the One who gave them. “Use your talents for God,” I’ve heard many times. My response: why?

Imagine seeing three of your best friends murdered for their faith in Christ. Brother Gokhan experienced that loss, living in Malatya where three Christians—all part of his church—were murdered. Today Gokhan is a part of Sat-7 TURK, sharing the gospel across the nation via satellite television. He tells us that risk is a part of sharing the gospel in Turkey. “We need to be sacrifice people,” he says. But he reminds us that the power to endure persecution doesn’t come from us, it comes from God.

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 (ESV)

J.G. Spires is a college student studying English and Broadcast Media on the East Coast. She served this summer as an intern at The Voice of the Martyrs. VOM Radio host Todd Nettleton recently traveled to the Middle East where he met bold Christians who are raising their children in a challenging environment. J. G. adapted part of Todd’s VOM Radio interview about his trip into a kidsofcourage.com blog post for children. The post (below) illustrates the realities of life for Christian children living in areas hostile to their faith.

There is no question that the New Testament writers believed Jesus to be the Lord. He alone is supreme and to Him alone we owe ultimate allegiance. What Jesus Christ teaches and commands has priority over all other teaching and authority, both in heaven and on earth. Contemporary followers of Jesus believe this as well.

“When you face persecution day in and day out, you get discouraged and you can withdraw. There is nowhere where it is easy to preach the gospel.”

Julia and Sam are two of the college students who served as interns this summer at VOM. Listen in as they share some of their experiences, and what they’ve learned—both professionally and spiritually—during their two months of service. How will they be different when they go back to their college campuses? What have their duties been at VOM, and what did they learn about VOM’s ministry that surprised them?