God is at work in Iran! Nazanin works in a call center for Mohabat TV, one of our VOM partners broadcasting the gospel into Iran and surrounding nations via satellite TV and internet. Each day Nazanin and her team take calls from inside Iran. Many are from Muslims who want to know more about Jesus and even commit their lives to following Him. Other callers are Muslims who want to argue against the Christian message or convert the call center workers back to Islam. Some are even threatening and angry.

The VOM mini-terms at Oklahoma Wesleyan University have been some of the best classes I have ever taken. Before going to VOM I did not want to hear about persecution because I did not know what to do with the information and I was confused by the testimonies that I heard. The mini-term class helped me to understand and pray for my persecuted brothers and sisters. I also better understood how to handle the persecution that is going on at my own back door by seeing the example of my persecuted family. Actually getting to serve at VOM, and getting to talk with the field representatives, helped me to understand the meaning of “remembering those in bonds” (Heb. 13:3).

For more than two years, many ISIS victims have lived in dusty refugee centers without basic hygienic and medical necessities. Some live in tents, others in broken or makeshift buildings. Because of their forced relocation, these families often suffer injuries and unsanitary living conditions, but we have found a practical way to help during their time of great need. Imagine families like this receiving a care package from fellow Christians that included bandages, soap and other necessities. This is a concrete way we can serve our brothers and sisters. The Voice of the Martyrs has collected more than 5,000 Family Med Packs this year to help meet the needs of Christians living in refugee camps in places like Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Nigeria, but the demand from the field is still great. Family Med Packs filled with simple items such as medical tape, gauze, soap, bandages and toothbrushes do more than meet physical needs. They serve as a tangible reminder to our persecuted brothers and sisters that they are not forgotten.

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? ....If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” – Psalm 139: 7, 11-12

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

“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?

The Voice of the Martyrs recently sponsored 12 conferences in eight regions in Niger, giving 120 churches training and resources to respond to persecution and spread the gospel.

“By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3b-4 (ESV)

It was difficult to know what to expect as we met with the family of Yklas Kabduakasov, a Christian convert from Islam who is serving two years in a prison labor camp in Kazakhstan for sharing his Christian faith with Muslims. I hoped to both find out how his wife, Karlygash, and their children have been coping in his absence and to convey God’s love and our support.