At least 100,000 Christians fled the Plain of Nineveh last summer. The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group has since invaded northern Iraq and occupies both the churches and homes of Christians. Only the Kurdish autonomous region is still a safe area for Christians and other minorities. Matthea Vrij, a Dutch reporter, went to look for the displaced in Erbil, Kurdistan. She had an unexpected encounter with an old acquaintance.

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.

It gets very cold in northern Iraq, and winter is coming. Christian refugees from Mosul need our help now.

Last Wednesday's post explains this video diary project and the nature of our trip to Iraq, and includes the first entry in this video diary. You can watch Day 2 here, and Day 3 here.

Wednesday's post explains this video diary project and the nature of our trip to Iraq, and includes the first entry in this video diary. You can watch Day 2 here.

Yesterday's post explains this video diary project and the nature of our trip to Iraq, and includes the first entry in this video diary.

What’s it like when you travel to restricted nations for VOM? That question is one of the most common as I meet people at VOM conferences and as I talk with Christian friends. I hope that in the coming days on the blog you’ll get a little bit of an answer to that question.

The eyes of the world turned this week to the White House, where President Obama gave a speech outlining his plans to battle against the Islamic State (IS). While VOM is not a political organization, VOM staff do monitor how the United States government responds to religious freedom issues overseas, and we work to educate and provide resources for government personnel tasked with understanding and speaking out against the persecution of Christians.

VOM staff members have been encouraged by the amazing response to the “I-am-N” t-shirt VOM offered last month. Thousands of American Christians have chosen to stand with our Christian brothers and sisters facing Islamic extremism in Iraq and Syria by publicly wearing the Arabic “N” shirts.

Last week in our VOM staff chapel service Cole Richards, the leader of our international work, talked about how we, as followers of Christ, should think about and respond to radical terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS), which is dominating the news cycle yet again this week with the videotaped beheading of another American journalist, Steven Sotloff.