MIDDLE EAST: Christians Intentional About Sharing Jesus
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Episodes

  • NIGERIA: Martyrs’ Widows are “Women of Honor”

    Susi Childers has served with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for more than two decades, using her photography skills to open doors to communicate the love of Christ to people all over the world.

    Listen this week as Susi describes the impact of Loren Cunningham, YWAM’s founder who recently graduated to heaven, on her life and on encouraging her to use her gifts more fully to further the gospel. She’ll also share some of the personal qualities that made Loren such an impactful and visionary leader.

    Susi will also share highlights from a recent trip to Nigeria, where she ministered to widows of Christians killed in northern Nigeria by Boko Haram or by Islamist militants from within the Fulani tribe. With more than 223 million people, Nigeria is the most populous country on the African continent. It is also a young country: 70% of the people are under 30. Susi believes that reaching the people of Nigeria with the gospel can be a key to reaching millions more all across the African continent.

    A YWAM training school in southern Nigeria is a refuge for widows and orphans, providing them with a place to heal, as well as six months of training and discipleship. Many of the widows desire to go back to northern Nigeria, in spite of the loss they suffered there, to advance the gospel and live out their faith in Christ.

    With her camera in hand, Susi went to visit and meet the widows and their children. Night after night, she awakened to hear singing and found, in the wee hours of the morning, these women gathered to read the Bible and pray for their persecutors.

    “It was a holy place,” Susi said. “God hears the suffering of each individual day and night. He’s challenging us to carry a little piece of His heart.”

    Listen as Susi shares how God led her to take donated jewelry with her on this visit to Nigeria, and how God used that jewelry to remind these widows of His abiding love for them. Susi and her husband, Paul, have both previously been guests on VOM Radio.

    Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the podcastOr you can listen each week—and get daily reminders to pray for persecuted Christians—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet. You can give online to support VOM’s ministry to the persecuted church here.

    37 MIN
  • MISSIONS: My Calling Will Not Be Cancelled

    When Susi Childers met a woman who’d had three children killed in an attack in Northern Nigeria, God used the pain of three miscarriages in Susi’s life to open the door for a powerful time of connection and ministry. Listen as Susi shares the story, and offers encouragement to Christians wrestling with suffering, loss or even persecution right now.

    Paul and Susi Childers have spent more than two decades working to spread the gospel through Youth With a Mission (YWAM).

    They will give advice about blending the responsibilities of marriage and family with the missionary calling God has placed on their lives to serve Him—including very practical things that they do in their home and with their children.

    Listen to the first half of our conversation with Paul and Susi from last week, and previous VOM Radio conversations with Paul Childers.

    Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast.

    24 MIN
  • MISSIONS: The Next Step is Never Too Difficult

    Paul and Susi Childers have spent more than two decades working to spread the gospel to the nations at Youth With a Mission (YWAM).

    Listen as Susi shares how God called her from a career in photography to go as a missionary—and how He turned her camera into a bridge-building tool for sharing the gospel. “Don’t think because you don’t have a typical ‘Christian’ job that you can’t be used [in missions],” she says.

    Susi started out by committing to serve for one year, a commitment that has now been renewed for 24 years! She will offer advice if you sense God may be asking you to get involved in spreading the gospel to the world.

    Paul and Susi will also tell us how they think about risk—for themselves and for each other—and how they involve their children in sending and praying as they answer God’s call to go into all the world.

    Hear previous VOM Radio conversations with Paul Childers.

    Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast.

    24 MIN
  • NIGERIA: The Fear Is There

    In Part 2 of our conversation, Paul Childers, leader of YWAM’s University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii is back along with another Paul, the leader of YWAM’s work in Nigeria.

    Paul is reaching Muslims—even terrorists—in Nigeria for Christ. He says it is his passion to see people come to know Jesus that overcomes any fear he might have ministering in dangerous places. He will also share about a special ministry to widows whose husbands were killed in persecution.

    Childers says that the way to prepare for Christian persecution is to fall in love with Jesus and really understand his Lordship over our lives.

    Paul and Paul will help us to pray for Christians in Nigeria and other nations, and also talk about the need for Bibles: there are 227 languages spoken in Nigeria that don’t yet have the whole Bible translated into their language.

    Another tool to help you pray effectively for persecuted Christians is VOM’s newly-updated 2020 Global Prayer Guide. Request your free copy today!

    Paul Childers has been a guest before on VOM Radio. You can hear that interview here. You can also listen to our conversation with Loren Cunningham, the founder of YWAM.

    24 MIN
  • NIGERIA: “My Life is in God’s Hands”

    Paul felt God speaking to him, and the message was clear: “Get off this bus. Right now!” Paul obeyed, and his obedience saved his life.

    Jesus told His followers to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. God still calls His children to the uncomfortable, and even the dangerous. Paul, who leads the work of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in Nigeria, shares this week on VOM Radio how God called him to minister in a difficult and dangerous part of Nigeria—a place where Christian persecution is a constant reality. He’ll also share how God protected him as he answered God’s call—including getting him off of that bus.

    Today, many of Paul’s coworkers in gospel work are former radical Muslim persecutors of Christians miraculously transformed by the love of Jesus.

    We’ll also hear from Paul Childers, who leads YWAM’s University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii. Childers offers an encouraging update on what God is doing around the world from his front-row seat to missions work in many nations. He’ll talk about a move of God that’s raising up a generation of people willing to truly take up their cross and follow God’s call to any place on earth, no matter how difficult or dangerous.

    Paul Childers has been a guest before on VOM Radio. You can hear that interview here. You can also listen to our conversation with Loren Cunningham, the founder of YWAM.

    24 MIN
  • No Place Too Difficult

    No Place Too Difficult

    February 16, 2019

    Is anyone outside the reach of God’s grace? Listen this week to hear stories of radical militants in Nigeria meeting Jesus and committing their lives to His service—even at great cost.

    Paul Childers leads The University of the Nations for Youth With a Mission (YWAM). He’s trained Christians all over the world to tell the gospel story of Jesus’ love, and reminds us that Jesus’ gospel “still works” to change peoples’ hearts. YWAM workers are seeing that in Nigeria—literally seeing thousands of former militants now following Christ.

    Paul will also tell about finding the courage to go to hard places to share Jesus’ love and encourage His followers. Listen to hear how the book of Revelation came alive in a new way as he ministered alongside persecuted Christians. He’ll also offer advice to those God may be calling into missions, and give us ways to pray for the work of YWAM around the world.

    You can hear more about the early days of YWAM from the ministry’s founder, Loren Cunningham, in this episode of VOM Radio.

    24 MIN