This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud Nik Ripken contributed a whooping 60 entries.
I must admit that I struggle with setting aside 1 day of prayer for the church and believers in persecution. I’m well aware that many people pray for the persecuted church regularly; many daily. There remains a concern that setting aside A DAY to pray for believers in hard places might lend itself to a […]
Have you ever met a missionary who was deeply chagrined when hearing of new converts? Colleagues, who shall remain nameless, and I, who thankfully have to write under a pen name, are guilty of this non-missionary-like behavior. While in a meeting we heard of 26 “converts” from war-torn Somalia who were coming to declare their […]
Those without Jesus should not be forced to become literate in order to be welcomed into God’s kingdom. What is 1 of the top 3 challenges in modern missions? Out of the 2.8 billion people on the planet that don’t know Christ — most have not one verse of the Bible, and not one song […]
It was 25 years ago when I watched my 16-year-old son die in Nairobi, Kenya, as a result of a severe asthma attack. His death on an Easter morning wounded the hearts of an entire community. People asked me, How can God allow your son to die on Easter? You were only seeking to serve […]
There was a time when our whole world was crucified. There were about 150 converts from Islam in Somalia at the height of the famine. They killed four of my best friends in one day. They knew where they worked. They stalked them, they followed them. And they planned this out to the second. And […]
2020-2021 have not been my favorite years. Due to health issues and other reasons, we’ve had to return to America and settle in a country that has not been our home for over 35 years. Over these decades we’ve moved 28 times, immersed in languages that include Chewa, Xhosa, Swahili, Somali, while dabbling in Amharic […]
As followers of Jesus, allow me to remind us — we have chosen the side of good over evil. Nowhere is this clearer than in environments of persecution where, as one proclaims the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the price for doing so is increasingly costly (Revelation 2:10). While the battle with the Evil One certainly […]
It’s hard to decide what to pray for first? This past week has brought to our local and global consciousness the escalation of COVID-19 in the USA, the earthquake in Haiti, and the unbelievable events in Afghanistan. For some, one of these events may be the most personal if one has lost a loved one […]
I can remember reading the Bible for the first time. I came to Christ at 18 years of age in a Kraft Food’s cheese factory. My father had negotiated a job for me at the factory the last nine weeks of my senior year in high school. That’s the good news. The bad news is […]
When we speak of those being persecuted, we often feel sorrow or pity for our fellow believers in persecution. But should we? Let’s talk about identifying with believers in persecution.