Padina was ready to kill herself on live TV to earn Allah's favor and prove the God of the Christians was powerless. Instead, she met Jesus Christ and saw Him heal her mother from sickness. She became passionate to introduce her countrymen to the Savior. Today she leads a house church network inside Iran, including training church leaders to be ready to face arrest, harassment and persecution. She'll tell us how they prepare to face persecution, and describe the ways that VOM is helping and strengthening the church in Iran today. Finally, we'll talk about specific ways to pray for Christians inside Iran.

The face of radical Islamic terror is easy to find: simply turn on the news. But how should Christians respond? Should we pretend the challenge doesn't exist? Should we quake in fear? This week on VOMRadio, Cole Richards, the leader of VOM's international work, helps listeners examine these issues through the lens of scripture and in view of eternity.

On last week's episode of VOMRadio, Brent and Shelley Teague shared about their mission work for the past 22 years in West Africa, including Brent's story of being miraculously rescued after Al Qaeda-linked terrorists shot him twice and left him for dead.

In spite of Boko Haram attacks, Christian brothers and sisters in Northern Nigeria continue to serve Jesus. This week Ray and Denise Thorne share how God brought them together in ministry—through disappointment and heartbreak—to serve Him and to serve persecuted believers. We’ll hear how they met widows of martyred Christians in Nigeria, encouraged women who'd been kidnapped and abused by Boko Haram fighters and met a faithful Christian miraculously sustained by God even after being shot in the face with an AK-47, and how he encouraged his son to forgive the attackers.

Gilbert Hovsepian’s father, Pastor Haik Hovsepian, was a church leader in Iran with an outreach to Muslims and a voice that wouldn’t be silenced. He was threatened many times. Then he disappeared. For 12 days Gilbert and his family searched and worried. Gilbert says those 12 days were the hardest of his life. Then Haik’s body was found, stabbed repeatedly. Listen to VOMRadio this week as Gilbert shares how his family responded, and how the prayers and care of the Body of Christ around the world encouraged and carried them. He’ll also share how God has taken the misery of those days and used it to shape a ministry that still reaches into Iran today, strengthening the church and leading Muslims into fellowship with Jesus.

Last week Brian and Louise shared about their efforts to plant a church in Mongolia, and the hardship they faced in that process.

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.

One of the ways that VOM sometimes encourages American Christians to support our brothers and sisters facing persecution is by asking our government leaders to speak out and act on their behalf. These efforts go back even to VOM’s founder, Richard Wurmbrand, who testified before a Senate committee and even took off his shirt in the hearing to show the deep torture scars on his body.