The Front Line Report

We’re trading chairs this week on VOM Radio! Todd Nettleton has a new book releasing March 2 from Moody Publishers: When Faith is Forbidden: 40 Days on the Frontlines With Persecuted Christians. So he’s in the guest chair this week, and Janet Parshall—nationally syndicated host of In The Market With Janet Parshall—has graciously agreed to fill in as our VOM Radio host for the week. Todd’s new book...

“Joe” was in prison in the United States—justly, he says. As a young man his life was filled with drugs and crime. A fellow prisoner gave Joe a Bible, and Joe’s life was transformed as he found forgiveness and surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Having seen the power of God’s Word first-hand, Joe committed his life to getting Bibles to as many people as possible. He and his wife, “Dawn,” are now...

Cheng Jie, whose English name is “Esther,” was the wife of a pastor in China. She and her husband had discussed the idea that he could be arrested and go to prison for his Christian work. They hadn’t believed that she would be targeted by the communist government. But in 2014 she was called to the police station for a “meeting” about the school Esther was running. The meeting with police turned in...

As a college student in San Francisco, Brother Kevin explored many avenues of spirituality, including pursuing Zen Buddhism and Transcendental Meditation. But an experience of darkness caused him to call out for Jesus, and Christ revealed himself to Kevin as both real and powerful. Since that day, Kevin has wanted to tell people about Jesus, including Muslims, Hindus and people of other faiths. To...

Brother ‘Joshua’ is a church leader in Cuba. He says for Christians on the island, persecution is expected. Police regularly call Joshua in for interrogation; every time they call, he feels intimidation and fear about what might happen. However, as the questioning begins, he says he can feel God’s presence and God’s provision of an answer for each question. As he senses God’s power taking over, he...

Reed Olson helps VOM to get Bibles and other Christian materials into hostile and restricted nations around the world. Listen to Reed share about God’s call on his life, and his excitement to use every hour, every tool and every possible channel to deliver to every person God’s life-changing Word. He’ll also share how VOM resources are being translated and delivered freely into hostile and restric...

Martin and Gracia Burnham were serving as missionaries in the Philippines, where Martin was a pilot with New Tribes Mission (now called Ethnos 360). The Burnhams went away for a few days to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Those few days turned into more than a year in the jungle when they were kidnapped and held hostage by radical Muslim terrorists. Listen this week as Gracia tells how she wr...

C. Anderson is a leader in Frontier Missions for YWAM – Youth With A Mission. She’s developed a course based on the principles of II Timothy 2:2 with the aim of developing DMM — Disciple Making Movements. Anderson was born an MK in Africa, but after traumatic experiences in her youth she decided she would never live anywhere she felt unsafe. Yet God called her to lay down that need for safety to a...

Sister Amber spent more than a decade in Tibet, providing vocational training to the people and sharing the Gospel message of Christ’s love. She felt God's call especially to work among Tibet's nomadic tribal people, who jokingly call themselves "the roof on the roof of the world." Amber watched as God brought about a great ministry breakthrough: people who'd been totally closed to her message wer...

Sitting in a solitary confinement cell in Iran, Robert Aserian felt God comforting him with these words: “If you are here, it is My plan.” God had prepared him for prison in a unique way: as a pastor he’d counseled many Iranian Christians after they’d suffered imprisonment, so he knew some of the challenge he would face. Listen as Robert shares the challenges of interrogation, prison and solitary...

When Robert Aserian first prayed to Jesus, it was an atheist’s prayer: I don’t know if you are real, Jesus, but if You are please show Yourself to me. Jesus answered that prayer, and Robert has been following Him passionately – and encouraging others, including Iranian Muslims, also to follow – ever since. He even taught a class on Christian theology to Islamic clergy members. Listen to Robert’s s...

In the midst of his persecution, Pastor Dmitry “David” Shestakov remembered Christ on the cross and determined in his heart that if Christ suffered willingly, David also would persevere through his time of suffering. As a young man, David was a criminal and a drug user. His mother’s desperate prayer to God – even though she was an atheist – led to Shestakov surrendering his life to Christ. Once su...

The phone message was clear: “We know you are there! And we’re going to kill you!” Todd Lafferty received that phone message as he was preparing to host a meeting of Christian leaders in his home. He had to decide how much risk he was willing to take to continue spreading the Gospel. This week we continue our conversation with Todd about his experience as a missionary in Southeast Asia and his wor...

Todd Lafferty came to Christ as a USA college football player. It wasn’t long after coming to faith that he sensed God’s call to go and tell others. He and his wife answered that call, serving in the United Kingdom and eventually in Pakistan. Today Todd helps lead the International Mission Board, equipping and sending missionaries to tell the story of Jesus’ love all over the world, including plac...

Margaret Court is an Australian tennis player who dominated women’s competition in the 1960s. In 1995 she founded a Pentecostal Christian church outside of Perth, West Australia, where she serves as pastor. Margaret talks to a VOM Oz Radio host about how her faith has impacted her tennis career as well as her personal life.

Sister Nilufar” (not her real name) is ministering in the name of Jesus and sharing the Gospel inside the Islamic Republic of Iran. Listen as Nilufar tells the story of a young woman, Eldora, who became a follower of Christ – leaving behind a difficult life and becoming a bold witness among members of her family. God revealed the pain in her past and rescued her from a life of depression and addic...

Covid-19 has hit hard in Syria, yet many are unwilling to acknowledge the illness in their honor-shame culture where getting sick can bring shame on a family. Brother John will update listeners on how the virus is affecting Syria – and how God’s Kingdom is advancing even amidst the pandemic. Learn what Christian persecution looks like today in Syria, and how Christians there respond. You’ll also h...

God is at work in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh! Even amidst the Covid pandemic, the Gospel message is advancing among Rohingya people. But it’s not without cost; Rohingya Christians risk intense persecution. Dave and Pam lead Operation Mobilization’s work in western and central Asia, overseeing Gospel workers reaching Muslims in multiple countries. They will share first-hand accounts of th...

Dave and Pam lead Operation Mobilization’s work in western and central Asia, overseeing Gospel workers reaching Muslims in multiple countries. Listen as they discuss their call to missions and how God led them to work among Muslims. They will also share how finishing the task of reaching the Muslim world for Christ will require a better understanding of risk — a theology of suffering that allows C...

Sean Paton leads VOM’s work on the continent of Africa, and he’ll share this week about significant changes in two African Countries: Sudan and Ethiopia. In Sudan, there are reasons for optimism after the Sovereign Council leading the country revoked the apostasy law, which required the death penalty for anyone who left Islam to follow another faith. Sean will share how Christians in Sudan say, “n...

What does your church do to help new believers grow in their faith? Imagine how much more difficult it would be to disciple new Christians if you couldn’t meet together in person, or if they couldn’t admit openly that they were now following Christ for fear of persecution? “Brother Mark” works with Christians in 22 countries in North Africa and the Middle East, and he will tell us about the persec...

“Brother Mark” is active in Gospel work in North Africa and the Middle East. Listen as he shares how coronavirus impacted ministry work in those regions — actually increasing interest in the Gospel and online contact with curious Muslims. Brother Mark will talk about his own testimony and share how God called him to reach Muslims for Jesus. He’ll advise listeners on how to respond — not react — to...

Al Shabaab is advancing in Northern Mozambique, attacking and killing Christians and others. Will Hart leads Iris Global, which works to share the gospel in 34 nations around the world. We’ll focus this week on Africa, and especially Mozambique, where radical Islamist terrorists are taking territory and targeting churches and Christians. Will also shares how God radically saved him and sent him to...

Dr. Hormoz Shariat, the founder and president of Iran Alive Ministries, and his wife Donnell are back with us this week to finish our conversation about how God called them to share the gospel with 1,000,000 Iranians—a calling that grew out of a family tragedy and great loss. Hormoz will tell us he’s not a “natural” evangelist—he calls himself a shy nerd—but says God has given him strength and bol...

Dr. Hormoz Shariat was among thousands of Iranian Muslims marching in the streets of Tehran during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Today, he’s “The Billy Graham of Iran” with a vision to reach one million Iranians for Jesus Christ. He tried Islam, but says it didn’t work to meet the needs of his heart and life. Hormoz’s wife, Donnell, was born in America, yet she too was marching in those streets...