Thousands of pastors, church leaders, evangelists and lay workers labor to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in restricted nations around the world.

Last week VOM's Todd Nettleton was a guest on In the Market with Janet Parshall and he shared an update about Pastor Behnam Irani. If you missed that radio show, please click here to listen.

A few days ago here in Southern California where I live, we experienced a few small earthquakes. The first one took me off guard and admittedly, actually scared me a little bit. This is saying something because I've lived in California for most of my life and earthquakes are generally something that I dismiss.

Every day we see things in the news that surprise some of us. On some days we see the complete sinfulness of man and how wicked the human heart really is. Other days we see the love of mankind and how connected we all are in our humanity.

One of the most important and most vital ministries of The Voice of the Martyrs is prayer. I hope that you never under estimate the power of your prayers for the persecuted church.

If you're looking for some good family entertainment that is not only edifying, family friendly and inspirational, but will also help support the work of The Voice of the Martyrs and the persecuted church, then I would like to tell you about a special offer we having going right now in our VOM bookstore, at http://www.vombooks.com

It was Sunday, and the congregation of Grace Sonmin Church in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, had gathered for their weekly worship service. Even though their country was now free from oppressive Communist rule, radical Muslims still blatantly opposed the church. The oppression had simply changed hands from one terrorist authority to another.

Uzbekistan (MNN) ? Uzbekistan appears to be taking the repression of Christians one step further.

Yesterday, Todd Nettleton appeared on the radio show In the Market with Janet Parshall, to discuss the latest concerning Christian persecution throughout the world.