On July 19, a balloon-launch team met near Paju, South Korea, to launch 30 balloons carrying New Testaments, Scripture verses and other gospel messages into North Korea. With a typhoon fast approaching the Korean peninsula, heavy rain and wind carried the balloons directly north into the isolated country.

Azerbaijan (MNN) ? Azerbaijan's government has struck another blow to the Greater Grace Protestant Church. According to Russian Ministries, the court of appeal in Baku, Azerbaijan has upheld the lower court's decision to liquidate the evangelical church, thereby making any and all church activities illegal. Pray that the Lord protects His people in Azerbaijan.

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

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.

Last week we posted our 126th episode of the Persecution Podcast. If you have missed your opportunity to listen to this episode, I'd really like to encourage you to make it a priority.

Today I wanted to remind you that we are currently in the month of Ramadan. This year Ramadan began on July 20th and goes through August 18th. Are you remembering to pray for Muslims during this time? I wanted to remind you, just in case you may have forgotten.

Azerbaijan (MNN) ? The reins are tightening on what is and isn’t allowed to be sold in Azerbaijan—including religious materials.

Over the weekend I received an urgent prayer request from our friends over at Gospel for Asia. The prayer request concerned a pastor who was kidnapped and was in need of prayer for a quick release. I'm happy to report that a short time later that the pastor was released. CBN News shares the following report today.