Several years ago I set a goal to read 25 books a year. And of course, you don’t know if you've achieved a goal or not unless you keep track; so I began to keep a list of the books I had read, along with a paragraph or two of what I thought of the book.

Brian and Louise were part of a church planting team in an isolated city in Mongolia. They saw God do amazing things as the gospel took root and the church grew in strength. But they also experienced Satan's attack, trying to regain territory he’d lost to Christ’s Kingdom. His attacks even reached into Brian and Louise’s own home.

One of the most significant things I worked on in 2014 was the launch of VOMRadio, the half-hour weekly audio program that gives VOM a new way of sharing the voice of our persecuted brothers and sisters. So far the response has been very positive.

I have been moved this week by the story of the South African Christian family attacked in Afghanistan last weekend. The father, Werner Groenewald, and his two teen-aged children were killed. The mother, Hannelie, is a doctor and was serving in a clinic when the attack happened, sparing her life. I cannot even imagine the grief and loss that this dear sister is enduring.

In this week's episode of VOMRadio we talk with Dr. Berhane, a Christians from the small African nation of Eritrea--a nation where almost 1,000 Christians are currently in prison for their faith.

VOM's Todd Nettleton was interviewed this week by Mission Network News about possible developments in Indonesia that could be good news for our Christian brothers and sisters. Here is a portion of the resulting story from MNN:

Tens of thousands of Christians have been displaced by the advance of the Islamic State in Iraq. Many families were forced out of their homes with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.