The Front Line Report

Before becoming a Christian, Pastor Putumandi's life was, in his words, "a mess". He pursued his family's Hindu religion, dancing in temple ceremonies to access and appease the spirits. He detested anything to do with Jesus. "I hated [Christians] before." Putumandi said, "I despised Christianity." But then he met Jesus, drawn by the compassion that he saw lacking in every other religion. For Putum...

How do you discern God's calling to be a missionary? John Easter, Executive Director of Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM), says the first question might be: if God did call you to serve overseas, would you say yes? Before accepting his current role, John and his wife served the church in Africa, providing theological training to pastors and leaders. In an effort to develop more leaders for t...

In part one, David and Alicia Lloyd, founders of Missions in Haiti, told the story of the day in 2024 when gangs attacked their ministry compound. When the attacks ended, David and Alicia's son, Davy, and their daughter-in-law, Natalie, had been murdered, along with their close friend and ministry partner, Judes Montis. Several weeks later, David returned to Haiti, assuring ministry co-workers and...

Davy Lloyd was only 23 years old but already had his eyes on eternity. When he and his wife, Natalie, would visit his parents' home at the mission compound where they all served in Haiti, Davy would often come through the door and say, "I can't wait to see Jesus!" Little did he know how soon his desire would be fulfilled. Davy and Natalie were killed, along with Haitian co-worker Judes Montis, dur...

More than 50 people were killed during an attack on a Christian area in the city of Jos on Palm Sunday in Nigeria. More attacks occurred during Easter weekend. But not every attack on Nigerian Christians makes international news. Listen this week as Matthew Hanson, who leads VOM USA’s work in West and Central Africa, explains how VOM responds to Christian persecution. He'll explain how VOM helps p...

"What is key is that many of these pastors and leaders have understood the true gospel." Despite government threats of exile, prison, or death, Pastor Chico, a front-line worker in Nicaragua, says pastors are still preaching the truth of God's Word, no matter the cost. They know, as the Bible says, that "faith comes by hearing" (Romans 10:17). The price of their preaching can be high. Listen as Ch...

Christians in Laos know they will face persecution when they follow Jesus. Brother Sionh, founder and president of Khmu Christian Connection, says he doesn't have to make a special effort to prepare Christians for persecution because they already know it will come. He says some Khmu follow Jesus privately and secretly because they fear the loss of opportunity that comes with being known as a Chris...

This week, Brother Matthew continues sharing stories of God's calling on his life to Afghanistan and how he came to know the beautiful, amazing people within that broken nation. As he saw God at work in Afghanistan, he says his faith and hope increased. Afghanistan is a nation where many Christians have laid down their lives. With his long experience there, Matthew met, worked with and learned fro...

Brother Matthew was a worldly teenager when his mother decided she and her son needed to go to church. By the end of that first service, both of them had committed their lives to following Christ. As Matthew grew in faith, he was convicted and inspired by the Acts accounts of Paul's missionary travels. Studying Paul's efforts to take the gospel to the Gentiles, Matthew began to ponder who the Gent...

INDIA: "I Am Willing to Pay the Price. My Heart is Prepared." by Voice of the Martyrs Australia

In this episode of the Release International Voice podcast, Tom Hardy continues his conversation with Sharif, a former radicalised Muslim from a family of imams who encountered Christ while in prison. Release International UK is a sister office of VOM Australia

In this episode, Tom Hardy of the Release International Voice podcast speaks with Sharif, a former radicalised Muslim from a family of imams who encountered Christ while in prison. Born into a family of imams and radicalised in the Muslim Brotherhood, Sharif never imagined he would meet Jesus in a solitary prison cell. In Part One of this two-part conversation, he shares how jihad, political activ...

Brother Wybo served persecuted Christians for decades through Open Doors alongside Brother Andrew, author of God’s Smuggler. Andrew was known for his passion for distributing Bibles and his willingness to take risks to bring God’s Word into hostile and restricted nations. During his time with Open Doors, Wybo developed the World Watch List, which tracks the countries where Christians experience th...

In this episode, Tom Hardy of Release International speaks with Lazarus Yeghnazar of the organisation of Transform Iran. Inside Iran, protests are met with brutal crackdowns, yet something extraordinary is happening beneath the surface. In this powerful episode, Lazarus shares stories of courage, persecution, and a growing underground church, with over a million turning to Christ – many through dr...

God Answers Prayer that a Fellow Pastor Would be Arrested After spending months in prison for sharing the gospel with Hindus, Pastor Paul’s health began to deteriorate. In desperation, he prayed that God would allow another pastor to be arrested and sent to the same prison so they could encourage one another. Four days later, Paul read in the newspaper that a pastor had been arrested. Two weeks af...

Pastor Paul was doing gospel outreach in northern India when police arrested him and accused him of forcing Hindus to convert, even though he was only sharing with people who wanted to hear the truth. When officers arrived, Paul and his co-workers were simply eating a meal, but they were still taken into custody. Paul and three fellow Christians suffered greatly in detention. Police repeatedly thr...

Isaac Santiago, Regional Leader for The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) in Latin America, describes the growing challenges Christians face in countries such as Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia. Since 2018, Nicaragua has introduced laws and government pressure that heavily restrict the church, similar to persecution seen in communist countries like Cuba and China. As a result, Nicaragua is now listed...

This week, listen as John Burrough, CEO of Partners International, shares how taking a mission trip completely changed his outlook and how that experience could impact and change your perspective in every area of life. John will share how Partners International invests in local ministries and church networks advancing the gospel in the 10/40 window, and how they come alongside locals to help them...

In Part 2 of our interview with Pastor Hassan Abduraheem Taour, he shares how his heart remained upbeat, even as the judge pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. He'll talk about how reading the Bible is different inside prison than when you're free. Hassan says he experienced persecution as a blessing from God – a blessing that brought him tears of joy. "It is really a pri...

Pastor Hassan Abduraheem Taour helped train Sudanese pastors to be ready for persecution. He didn't know that he was also preparing himself for the day he'd be arrested in Sudan, charged with aiding espionage alongside VOM's Africa Regional Director, Petr Jasek, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. There were difficult days in prison, yet Pastor Hassan experienced the joy of the Lord—joy so powerf...

We look back on some of the most moving moments shared on The Front Line Report in 2025. Be inspired and encouraged by the way the Lord is at work in restricted nations and hostile areas. Highlights include: - Michael & Mona share what it looks like to be a Christian in North Africa, where they are often treated as second-class citizens. Yet Mona says she loves the Muslim people who are victims of...

MOVING MOMENTS: This week, we look back on some of the most moving moments shared on The Front Line Report in 2025. Be inspired and encouraged by the way the Lord is at work in restricted nations and hostile areas. MOVING MOMENTS OF 2025 - PART 1 Highlights include: - Hope & Nagy have been called by God to live in some very difficult places. They were serving Him in Libya when civil war broke out;...

Ten years ago, Petr Jasek travelled to Sudan on behalf of Voice of the Martyrs to meet with and encourage Sudanese Christians. At the airport on his way out of the country, Petr was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison. His first prison cellmates were ISIS fighters – men who hated Christians and quickly began to persecute Petr. Petr Jasek spent 445 days in Sudanese custody. Listen as Pet...

There are more mobile phones in the world than cars, toilets, or people. What if each of those phones could be turned into a Bible? Using their backgrounds in electrical engineering and software development, David and Josiah Palusky have developed technology tools to help Christian workers spread the gospel in places where people are unreached, and there is often Christian persecution. David is th...

A nationwide crackdown on urban house churches in China has drawn worldwide attention after nearly 30 members of the Zion Protestant Church were arrested in seven cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. In this episode of the Front Line Report, VOM Canada’s Greg Musselman is joined by Dr Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, to explain the reasons behind these recent arrests and why the inter...