Photo Courtesy of Daniel P.
During this last Secret Church, we spent concentrated time in prayer for persecuted brothers and sisters in the horn of Africa. We heard from a particular married couple from a country in the horn…we’ll call them John and Andrea. When John and Andrea came to faith in Christ, John’s father virtually kidnapped John and Andrea’s children and hid them from John and Andrea. They still don’t know where their children are today. So on the night of Secret Church, we prayed that God would restore families to one another, particularly families where new believers are experiencing persecution and separation from the people they love most.
Well today, I had a conversation with a woman in the horn of Africa who is a Brook Hills field partner in this part of the world. She is the one who initially introduced us to John and Andrea. As we talked, she shared how John was going into various villages and sharing the gospel with anyone he can. In one particular village, he ended up sharing with a group of 30 men at one time, and all of them ended up repenting, trusting in Christ, and being baptized! John returned to Andrea and shared what had happened, and John told Andrea that it would be good for someone to go and share the gospel with these men’s wives. Meanwhile, the wives of these 30 men were remarking that there was a marked difference in their husbands, and they sent a message to John asking him to send his wife to share with their wives. So Andrea went and shared with the 30 wives, and 27 of them repented, trusted in Christ, and have been baptized!
As our Brook Hills field partner shared, we praised God together for all of these new families that now have the gospel…and are spreading it. Keep in mind that this is an extremely unreached people group for whom, clearly, it is costly to follow Jesus. So…thank you for praying! Please continue to pray for John and Andrea to be reunited with their children. And as you pray, praise God for how He is using this couple, at a great price to them, to restore multiplying numbers of families to Himself.
Hi, My name is Joshua Newton. I have read radical and radical together in the last year. I have since subscribed to the Brook Hills podcast.
This ministry and David Platt’s messages are changing my theology and my life by the grace of God. The sermons series on the Gospel from the 1st ground shaking message to all the ones applying to different aspects of our life are reshaping my theological concepts of who God is and how he works. It is refreshing and freeing. I grew up as a pastors son and have been a worship leader for years. Now God has birthed a new passion for his Word and a desire to share it. I am currently blogging as a form of ministry and growth and waiting for the next step of direction from God. I live in Greensboro, NC and am plugged in to a church. I am really hoping to step out in faith and obedience through witnessing and discipleship in bold new ways in the coming year. Brook Hills, Francis Chan’s personal ministry and his church, Cornerstone in Simi Valley, CA, and Living Water’s ministry (Way of the Master) with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron have all had a serious impact on my spiritual growth and hunger for God. Thanks be to God for His Word and His use of other ministries, and gracefully undergirding their obedience, to influence the growth of others through indirect discipleship. It is awesome. I look forward to following your global blog and partnering in prayer. Sincerely, Joshua Newton