Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've had multiple times where a ministry leader will call
me in tears because something just happened. They burned the
church down. We don't know what to do, and at
Voice of the Martyrs we're able to say we can help.
Last year, we tangibly helped more than four million Christians
around the world, and the overwhelming majority have no idea
(00:22):
that we help them. The help came through their local
church or through their network. This help is not from
Voice of the Martyr, it is from the global church.
It's a powerful thing.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact,
he told his disciples that the world would hate them.
He sent them out as sheep among wolves. Jesus's words
came true in the life of the Apostles, and they're
still coming true today in the lives of his followers
around the world. Join host Todd nettletons we hear their
inspiring stories and learn how we can help right now
(00:57):
on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Welcome again to the Voice of the Martyrs Radio. My
name is Todd Nettleton, and we are in our studio
today in barlosviol Oklahoma, with Jonathan Eckman. Jonathan has been
a guest previously here on Voice to the Marts Radio,
so if you are a longtime listener, you will recognize
his name and his voice. He is the director of
Global Partnerships at VOM, and so we will talk a
(01:19):
little bit about what that means but serving as a
connection point for vom's work with other mission organizations literally
around the world. Jonathan, Welcome back to Voice of the
Bartist Radio.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
It's always good to be with you, Todd.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'm excited about this conversation. Let's start out. What does
a typical day look like in your world of helping
VOM connect with other ministries around the world.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I honestly have no idea. I do not have a
typical day. I would say a normal day for me
would be talking with various partners, both fostering new partnerships,
new relationships with mission agencies, and then strengthening ongoing relationships.
I tell them sometimes I'm the switchboard operator. If you
(02:04):
don't know who to talk to at VOM about work
in the field, call me and I'll put you in
touch with the right people.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I know. One of the things you would like is
to talk to every other mission organization out there basically,
how did those connections get made?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Mostly through relationship. We kind of use the existing relationships
we have to be introduced to new people. And yes,
we will talk to anyone, anyone doing good work in
the field. That's who we want to talk to, regardless
of denominational stream, theological stream, because we are not competitive
(02:39):
with them, we are complementary to them.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
When you sit down for the first time with a
mission leader and I suspect there are some mission leaders
who listen to VOM Radio, I hope. So if you
were to sit down and I know you would buy
them lunch quite happily, what's your pitch to them, or
how do you introduce Hey, here's what VOM is, here's
what I do, Here's how we want to be in
(03:03):
fellowship with you.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Usually I begin by just talking specifically about what VOM does.
I talk a little bit about who we are because
we have an incredible history, but then I just talk
about what we do in the field. We talk about
persecution response and what does that look like coming alongside
our brothers and sisters who are suffering for the activity
of their faith, and what that can look like in
(03:26):
the field as we try to address those brothers and sisters.
Then I talk about our Bible work. We believe every
Christian in the world deserves the right to have their
own copy of God's Word, whether that's paper and ink,
digital audio, whatever that may be. And then we talk
about frontline workers. How can we come alongside indigenous workers
to help them take the Gospel further? And basically I
(03:49):
tell them that vom we are servants of persecuted Christians,
so our job is not to compete with them. We're
not trying to buy up a field or or take
over their work. We just want to come alongside. And
usually it's very powerful to them when we talk about
the fact that we subordinate ourselves to the local church,
that our ministry is driven by local church leaders in
(04:12):
the field, and it's usually received very very well because
most mission agencies around the world, whether they're from the
West or Indigenous, don't have budget for persecution response. Often
what we'll see in the field is a brother or
sister in their network will get beaten up or arrested,
and they don't have budget to address that. So they
(04:34):
pass the hat among their missionaries and they give this
poor brother twenty seven dollars or whatever they can raise
and then they hope for the best, and we talk
about the fact that we can come alongside and meet
the needs of that brother or sister, and that's a
powerful thing because they love their network partners. They just
(04:55):
looking for ways that they can minister to them. More practically,
I would.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Say, I've sat in on some of these meetings with you,
and in fact, this week we were in one. And the
response sometimes I know is well, what do you want? Well,
what does VOM want? How do you answer that question?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I say that we want nothing, We want partnerships, and
it is that's usually shocking to them because that's just
not normal in the missions world because funds are tight
and everyone is looking for something and we are looking
to come alongside our persecuted brothers and sisters and help
(05:36):
them and then to make them known to their brothers
and sisters around the world. So it's usually shocking. Usually
takes a couple of meetings for that to really play out,
but once they kind of catch it, it creates really
strong partnerships.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And one of the things that happens out of that
is that indigenous brother that got beat up gets help.
Vom's name may never be mentioned at any point on
that process, like that brother doesn't know that VOM helped
and nobody it's not publicly announced, but that indigenous pastor
(06:13):
indigenous leader got the help that he needed.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Right. We hope our name never comes up. We use
a very conservative number that last year we tangibly helped
more than four million Christians around the world, and the
overwhelming majority have no idea that we help them. They've
never heard a Voice of the Martyrs. The help came
through their local church or through their network. And it
(06:35):
is what we say, this help is not from Voice
of the Martyr. It is from the global church. Christians
around the world are praying for you, and they've given
in order for us to be able to meet this need.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It's a powerful thing and I hope that's an encouragement
to our listeners and especially if you support Voice of
the Martyrs. That's what you're supporting financially, is the global
body of Christ. For a industry to be able to
come alongside and say, hey, we see that this brother
needs help. We're here. That's what we want to do.
(07:08):
We want to serve them. I would think that's an
incredible encouragement to leaders, especially the countries where we work,
where a brother can be beaten up, or a pastor's
house does get burned down, or even a pastor gets killed,
for you to come along and say, hey, when that happens,
here's my phone number, call me. We will help you.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Right. I've had multiple times where a ministry leader will
call me in tears because something just happened. They burned
the church down. We don't know what to do. And
at Voice of the Martyrs we're able to say we
can help, we will come alongside. And you can imagine
(07:51):
if your house gets burned down, what do you do?
Who do you turn to, especially in a place where
you don't have insurance, right, and to know that there
are people out there, the global body of Christ who
will come alongside you and help you, it is an
amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
One of the things I appreciate about Jonathan's work. And
we're talking this week on Voice of the Martys Radio
with Jonathan Eckman. He is the director of Global Partnerships
here at VOM. Jonathan is one who often as he
builds these relationships with leaders, he invites them to come
to Bartlso, Oklahoma, come and visit us here at VOM.
When they are here. Typically I'm on their schedule. They
(08:26):
come in the studio and so many of the leaders
that you have heard here on Voice of the Martyrs
Radio are a direct result of Jonathan's work, and I
thank you Jonathan. I know we often talk about more people,
getting more people here in the studio, sharing more stories.
What I'd like you to do now is kind of
talk our listeners through how a typical VOM project happens.
(08:50):
Because yes, we have staff on many of the countries.
Sometimes the project is completely vomstaff. They manage it, they
do they get all the receipts, they make it all happen.
That's the minority though of our project. So talk about
how on the field in you know, in Africa, in Asia,
a project happens because of these partnership relationships.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
When I'm meeting with a mission leader, I will always
say a project does not come about because of our
conversation today. I start at the top. I want to
meet with the leaders, but my goal is to get
their field staff to connect with our field staff, and
then from then on I'm out of the process. That
field leader will meet with their staff member, they'll look
(09:35):
at the work, they'll talk through it. They'll see needs
that they have and if those align with our purposes,
then that becomes a project. A project proposal is given
to the field leader. The field leader then reviews that,
looks at it, develops a project in our system. That
then goes to his regional leader. The regional leader will
review it. If he deems it something we should really do,
(09:59):
he recommends that to the International Mission Council, which is
our decision making body on projects, and then that comes
before the IMC six times a year. At that point,
it's presented to the Council by the regional leader and
then voted on whether or not we can do that
project or not. So it's not something that happens overnight.
(10:20):
Now persecution response, we can do a little faster, but
typical projects that we're doing, Bible projects, frontline worker projects,
it's going to take some time to work up from
the field.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
How does this represent and I love the way that
VOM works to serve. Why does that look like the
body of Christ in action or how does it represent
the body of Christ in action?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Well, it's I love the quote that Aaron shared in
Chapel a few weeks ago when Richard said, when they
beat my feet, my tongue cried, And it really is
simply the body of Christ suffering in a place, feeling
it like Hebrews thirteen three, right, It's like you feel
it in your own body, and then to be able
(11:05):
to respond and to do something about it. It's a
powerful thing. And you know, I argue it's as powerful
for our staff as it is for the brother or
sister who receives the help. I've had the privilege as
of you over the years to sit with many, many
persecuted Christians and to have that ministry of presence, and
(11:25):
just the incredible thought that brothers and sisters have traveled
from the other side of the planet to this little
village just to meet with you and to pray with you,
and to see how can we help you? What do
you need? You know, I think as Americans we can't
imagine that, but I think for our brothers and sisters
in our fields, it's one of the most powerful things.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And I think one of the lies of Satan to
persecuted Christians is you are all alone, you are forgotten.
And when we show up and say we've come from
America to visit you, to drink tea with you, and
hear your story. It totally defeats that lie. Hey I'm
not alone. These guys came from America to see me. Yeah,
(12:11):
I am not forgotten. They're going to tell my story,
They're going to have other people praying for me. It
works directly in the face of one of Satan's biggest
lies to our persecuted brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Absolutely, just the thought that you're being helped by people
that you will never meet this side of heaven and
they cared enough about you to help tangibly, not just
to say, oh, you poor person. It's never that. It's that, No,
we want to help because you're a member of the body.
You are our brother or sister. There's nothing else in
(12:41):
the world like that.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
We're talking this week on Voice of the Artist Radio
with Jonathan Eckman. He is our director of Global Partnerships
here at VOM, helping to partner with other ministries, other
mission organizations literally around the world. Jonathan, I know one
of the hardest parts of your job, but also I
think one of the most fulfilling parts of your job
is coming alongside other ministries during times of crisis. And
(13:09):
you mentioned your phone will ring and someone is in tears.
And I know you've received calls after mission workers were martyred,
You've received calls after people were kidnapped, and they are wondering,
what are we going to do, how is this going
to how's this going to work out? I know we
don't promote vom's involvement, so we're not going to talk
about specific situations. We're not going to name names and places,
(13:33):
but share a little bit of what that looks like
and what it means to those other mission orgs to say, Okay,
you know, we do have a crisis, and yes we
got to figure this out and we're praying about it.
But we have friends, we have people who are willing
to come alongside of us.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, it's a humbling thing. It's humbling when someone calls
you in the midst of a crisis and you know
that you got your organization can help. I think for us,
it depends on the situation. But what do you need?
And often it's let me put you in touch with
someone who can help you about this specific situation that
(14:12):
just happened. And sometimes it's coming alongside. I think, particularly
when a worker is martyred, to be able to come
alongside and tell that mission leader you're not alone. We
think this brother or sister was a hero, and we
want to do what we can to help you walk
through this crisis. As the old saying goes, we have
a particular set of skills and abilities that are not
(14:34):
common as an organization, and we're willing to use that
to help you get through this situation.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Can you share some of those again, without details, some
of those conversations, because I know there's somewhere. Literally, VOM
was the answer to prayer that they did not see coming.
I think it was a surprise.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah. I can think of a particular situation in which
a worker was taken and the leader called me in tears,
saying he's gone. They've taken him, and we don't know
what to do. We talked about let me put you
in touch with some crisis experts and walk through that,
and I remember they called and he called me back
and said it's expensive, we can't afford that. And for
(15:18):
VOM to be able to say it's okay, brother, we'll
take care of that. I still remember that brother. I
thought the phone had gone dead. He was just weeping
that somebody would come alongside them in this moment. Of
real crisis. I think the first one he had ever
walked through and be able to say, we're gonna help you.
We'll take care of what that will cost you, take
(15:40):
care of your team, and keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
And I know there was a group that was dealing
with the crisis and one of the ways we help
them was to get them all into the same room
because they were spread out across the world.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, their crisis team.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Was all over the world, and to be able to
be in the same room and talk to each other
and pray together and really look each other in the eye,
that was a huge blessing to them. That really made
a difference.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah. Well, and it's every situation, every crisis like that
is not the same. They're all different. So we probably
wouldn't have done that in other situations, but in this situation,
it was extremely important that happened, and they didn't have
the resources to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And again, I would just remind our listeners often in
these cases, Vom's name is never mentioned. There's never a
oh wow, you know, wasn't it great that VOM did that.
This is part of Vom's ministry, coming alongside the Body
of Christ and just assisting, serving them, serving each member
of the Body of Christ. Jonathan, Unfortunately, the best teacher
(16:45):
of handling a crisis is handling a crisis. That's really
the hardest way to learn, but the only way to learn.
You were leading our international ministry work when our coworker,
our friend Peter Yossick was a in Sudan. You manage
that crisis on behalf of them. What are the lessons
(17:06):
that you picked up that God has allowed you then
to use to bless others in crisis that you've walked
alongside with other ministries.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I think one of the big things is it's going
to take longer than you think for the crisis to pass.
I think the other thing is being very conscious of
the fact that we have to take care of the family.
I remember when Peter was gone for four hundred and
forty five days. The first thing I did every morning
was contact his family, have you heard anything? Do you
(17:37):
need anything? And then sending a text to our leaders
and it always had a number at the top which
was how many days and most of them said no news.
And just doing that every day and trying to stay
on top of it and then being prepared to respond
quickly when opportunities arise. I think those are the things
(17:59):
it's going to take longer than you think. You have
no idea where this is going be ready. I think
those are the Those are the advice I give to
other mission leaders.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I think one other piece that I know, having watched
you walk through that, and it goes back to that
commitment to the family, is we're not gonna We're not
going to make all these decisions on a phone or
on a zoom. No, We're going to sit down and
look each other in the eye.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah. Before Peter was taken, I used to complain that
I'd never been to Prague because it seemed like everyone
at VOM had been to Prague, which is where.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
He beautiful city by the way, yes, which is.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Where he lived. And during that crisis, I believe I
made eight trips to Prague, usually for one day and
then back. And now I'm like, I don't have to
go back to Prague. I've been there a lot. So
Cole and I, our president, sat and sat talked about
if that were me, I would not want my wife
and my family to hear news and thoughts on an
(18:56):
email or a zoom call. I would want someone to
sit in my kitchen with my wife and help her
understand exactly what's happening and where we think this is going.
So that's what we did the whole time.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
When you share that story with other ministry leaders in
the midst of crisis, what do they take out of that?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
It varies. Some are just in a fog because crisis
are terrible fog in I can promise you that the
only way I was able to get through that was
I talked to Cole every day and other ministry leaders
here at VOM, so we did it as a team.
As an individuals, it's overwhelming. I think for most they honestly,
(19:40):
if it's never happened, you just think it will never happen.
So we just always try to remind them sometimes this
will go sideways, and that's often what we say with
ministry leaders. If something goes sideways somewhere in the world
with your teams, call us right. It doesn't mean we're
going to take care of it, all of it, but
you should talk to us. We've had some experience.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
With this, and we probably know somebody who can help
you or at.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Least doubted some wisdom. Undoubtedly we know someone.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
One of the things you said earlier, Jonathan, was in
a case where someone's been martyred, we consider that person
a hero. We want to honor them, we want to
honor their legacy. That's not always the case in the
world today, and it's not always the case even sometimes
in the church community, which is unfortunate and sad. What
(20:30):
does that mean to these ministry leaders when you say
this person was a hero? Now, certainly I think they
think of the person as a hero, but they're probably
also hearing, man, that guy was an idiot or man?
Why didn't you pull them out? You saw the danger rising?
Why didn't you pull out all your missionary units?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
And I hope it's an encouragement to them. The world
will never understand what missionaries and mission workers around the
world do. That makes no sense to the world. Why
would you do this? They're gonna hate you, they may
kill you. Well, that's good. The Bible tells us that's true.
(21:08):
So we're living a biblical life at that point, just
trying to be an encouragement to them. Hey, this will pass.
It may take some time and it may be painful,
but this will pass. And what you're doing as an
organization is super important. Please don't ever stop doing it.
And yes, people will die to do this, and it's
true throughout church history. Mission's history is full of martyrs.
(21:31):
So the idea that because you're from a Western org
you have an American passport, it'll never happen to you, thankfully,
that's kind of been debunked of late in the last
decade or so. So I think for us, it's another
way for us to minister to the Body of Christ.
These mission leaders, these people who are walking through this
(21:52):
terrible situation are our brothers and sisters. And no they're
not sitting on the ground in a village in India,
but there's just the same. So how do we as
an organization come alongside them as the Body of Christ
and say, brother, we're praying for you. Let us know
what you need. We can help, We're willing to help,
but we are with.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
You, Jonathan. As you know, we always try to end
up with how do we pray? How do our listeners pray?
And let's start in that crisis time, because you know
there's ministries right now. I just saw a news report
about a pastor. Are you missionary being kidnapped? How do
we pray for our mission workers, and for Indigenous Christians
(22:33):
who are in that moment of crisis right now.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I always pray for our brothers and sisters that they
would have boldness and courage, and that they would have
a tangible sense of God's presence with them. And I've
heard story after story of that from our brothers and
sisters that in that moment, there was a calm, there
was a peace. And that doesn't mean it wasn't hard
and it's not painful, but that God is with them.
(22:59):
For me, that's what I always pray. Lord, give them boldness,
don't let them stop, have them go, I mean, already
in trouble, what else can they do? And then courage.
It's hard. As Americans, we can't imagine. Yeah, we can't
imagine if people are at your church every Sunday shouting
at you and laughing at you and mocking you and
(23:20):
then trying to make sure you lose your job, your
livelihood or burn your house down. So just the amount
of courage it takes to keep on, it's unbelievable. So
I pray that and then just that sense that God
is with you, God has not abandoned you, that God
is working his purposes even in this difficult crisis moment,
(23:45):
God is at work.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Amen. We've been talking this week on Voice Tomatist Radio
with Jonathan Eckman. He is our director of Global Partnerships,
helping VOM to come alongside and serve other ministries around
the world. Jonathan, thank you, welcome back, Thank you for
coming back on Voice of the Martyrs Radio, and thank
you for all the help you've been in getting other
mission leaders, ministry leaders for me to interview as well.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Brother. It's a privilege for me to work at Voice
of the Martyrs.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
It is a privilege for me as well. And I
hope you've been encouraged by this conversation, and you know
you may want to give. As we mentioned these things,
sometimes it is VOM says, hey, we can help financially
in this situation that happens because people like you support
Voice of the Martyrs. You can give online at vomradio
dot net. That's where you can also go back and
(24:34):
listen to previous conversations, previous conversations with Jonathan as well
as other mission leaders and persecuted Christians. Again our website
vomradio dot net. And I hope you'll be back with
us next week. As we continue to talk about what
God is doing all around the world, especially in hostile
areas and restricted nations. I hope you'll be back with
(24:55):
us next week, right here on the Voice of the
Martyrs Radio Network.
I've had multiple times where a ministry leader will call
me in tears because something just happened. They burned the
church down. We don't know what to do, and at
Voice of the Martyrs we're able to say we can help.
Last year, we tangibly helped more than four million Christians
around the world, and the overwhelming majority have no idea
(00:22):
that we help them. The help came through their local
church or through their network. This help is not from
Voice of the Martyr, it is from the global church.
It's a powerful thing.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact,
he told his disciples that the world would hate them.
He sent them out as sheep among wolves. Jesus's words
came true in the life of the Apostles, and they're
still coming true today in the lives of his followers
around the world. Join host Todd nettletons we hear their
inspiring stories and learn how we can help right now
(00:57):
on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Welcome again to the Voice of the Martyrs Radio. My
name is Todd Nettleton, and we are in our studio
today in barlosviol Oklahoma, with Jonathan Eckman. Jonathan has been
a guest previously here on Voice to the Marts Radio,
so if you are a longtime listener, you will recognize
his name and his voice. He is the director of
Global Partnerships at VOM, and so we will talk a
(01:19):
little bit about what that means but serving as a
connection point for vom's work with other mission organizations literally
around the world. Jonathan, Welcome back to Voice of the
Bartist Radio.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
It's always good to be with you, Todd.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I'm excited about this conversation. Let's start out. What does
a typical day look like in your world of helping
VOM connect with other ministries around the world.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I honestly have no idea. I do not have a
typical day. I would say a normal day for me
would be talking with various partners, both fostering new partnerships,
new relationships with mission agencies, and then strengthening ongoing relationships.
I tell them sometimes I'm the switchboard operator. If you
(02:04):
don't know who to talk to at VOM about work
in the field, call me and I'll put you in
touch with the right people.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I know. One of the things you would like is
to talk to every other mission organization out there basically,
how did those connections get made?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Mostly through relationship. We kind of use the existing relationships
we have to be introduced to new people. And yes,
we will talk to anyone, anyone doing good work in
the field. That's who we want to talk to, regardless
of denominational stream, theological stream, because we are not competitive
(02:39):
with them, we are complementary to them.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
When you sit down for the first time with a
mission leader and I suspect there are some mission leaders
who listen to VOM Radio, I hope. So if you
were to sit down and I know you would buy
them lunch quite happily, what's your pitch to them, or
how do you introduce Hey, here's what VOM is, here's
what I do, Here's how we want to be in
(03:03):
fellowship with you.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Usually I begin by just talking specifically about what VOM does.
I talk a little bit about who we are because
we have an incredible history, but then I just talk
about what we do in the field. We talk about
persecution response and what does that look like coming alongside
our brothers and sisters who are suffering for the activity
of their faith, and what that can look like in
(03:26):
the field as we try to address those brothers and sisters.
Then I talk about our Bible work. We believe every
Christian in the world deserves the right to have their
own copy of God's Word, whether that's paper and ink,
digital audio, whatever that may be. And then we talk
about frontline workers. How can we come alongside indigenous workers
to help them take the Gospel further? And basically I
(03:49):
tell them that vom we are servants of persecuted Christians,
so our job is not to compete with them. We're
not trying to buy up a field or or take
over their work. We just want to come alongside. And
usually it's very powerful to them when we talk about
the fact that we subordinate ourselves to the local church,
that our ministry is driven by local church leaders in
(04:12):
the field, and it's usually received very very well because
most mission agencies around the world, whether they're from the
West or Indigenous, don't have budget for persecution response. Often
what we'll see in the field is a brother or
sister in their network will get beaten up or arrested,
and they don't have budget to address that. So they
(04:34):
pass the hat among their missionaries and they give this
poor brother twenty seven dollars or whatever they can raise
and then they hope for the best, and we talk
about the fact that we can come alongside and meet
the needs of that brother or sister, and that's a
powerful thing because they love their network partners. They just
(04:55):
looking for ways that they can minister to them. More practically,
I would.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Say, I've sat in on some of these meetings with you,
and in fact, this week we were in one. And the
response sometimes I know is well, what do you want? Well,
what does VOM want? How do you answer that question?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I say that we want nothing, We want partnerships, and
it is that's usually shocking to them because that's just
not normal in the missions world because funds are tight
and everyone is looking for something and we are looking
to come alongside our persecuted brothers and sisters and help
(05:36):
them and then to make them known to their brothers
and sisters around the world. So it's usually shocking. Usually
takes a couple of meetings for that to really play out,
but once they kind of catch it, it creates really
strong partnerships.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And one of the things that happens out of that
is that indigenous brother that got beat up gets help.
Vom's name may never be mentioned at any point on
that process, like that brother doesn't know that VOM helped
and nobody it's not publicly announced, but that indigenous pastor
(06:13):
indigenous leader got the help that he needed.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Right. We hope our name never comes up. We use
a very conservative number that last year we tangibly helped
more than four million Christians around the world, and the
overwhelming majority have no idea that we help them. They've
never heard a Voice of the Martyrs. The help came
through their local church or through their network. And it
(06:35):
is what we say, this help is not from Voice
of the Martyr. It is from the global church. Christians
around the world are praying for you, and they've given
in order for us to be able to meet this need.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It's a powerful thing and I hope that's an encouragement
to our listeners and especially if you support Voice of
the Martyrs. That's what you're supporting financially, is the global
body of Christ. For a industry to be able to
come alongside and say, hey, we see that this brother
needs help. We're here. That's what we want to do.
(07:08):
We want to serve them. I would think that's an
incredible encouragement to leaders, especially the countries where we work,
where a brother can be beaten up, or a pastor's
house does get burned down, or even a pastor gets killed,
for you to come along and say, hey, when that happens,
here's my phone number, call me. We will help you.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Right. I've had multiple times where a ministry leader will
call me in tears because something just happened. They burned
the church down. We don't know what to do. And
at Voice of the Martyrs we're able to say we
can help, we will come alongside. And you can imagine
(07:51):
if your house gets burned down, what do you do?
Who do you turn to, especially in a place where
you don't have insurance, right, and to know that there
are people out there, the global body of Christ who
will come alongside you and help you, it is an
amazing thing.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
One of the things I appreciate about Jonathan's work. And
we're talking this week on Voice of the Martys Radio
with Jonathan Eckman. He is the director of Global Partnerships
here at VOM. Jonathan is one who often as he
builds these relationships with leaders, he invites them to come
to Bartlso, Oklahoma, come and visit us here at VOM.
When they are here. Typically I'm on their schedule. They
(08:26):
come in the studio and so many of the leaders
that you have heard here on Voice of the Martyrs
Radio are a direct result of Jonathan's work, and I
thank you Jonathan. I know we often talk about more people,
getting more people here in the studio, sharing more stories.
What I'd like you to do now is kind of
talk our listeners through how a typical VOM project happens.
(08:50):
Because yes, we have staff on many of the countries.
Sometimes the project is completely vomstaff. They manage it, they
do they get all the receipts, they make it all happen.
That's the minority though of our project. So talk about
how on the field in you know, in Africa, in Asia,
a project happens because of these partnership relationships.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
When I'm meeting with a mission leader, I will always
say a project does not come about because of our
conversation today. I start at the top. I want to
meet with the leaders, but my goal is to get
their field staff to connect with our field staff, and
then from then on I'm out of the process. That
field leader will meet with their staff member, they'll look
(09:35):
at the work, they'll talk through it. They'll see needs
that they have and if those align with our purposes,
then that becomes a project. A project proposal is given
to the field leader. The field leader then reviews that,
looks at it, develops a project in our system. That
then goes to his regional leader. The regional leader will
review it. If he deems it something we should really do,
(09:59):
he recommends that to the International Mission Council, which is
our decision making body on projects, and then that comes
before the IMC six times a year. At that point,
it's presented to the Council by the regional leader and
then voted on whether or not we can do that
project or not. So it's not something that happens overnight.
(10:20):
Now persecution response, we can do a little faster, but
typical projects that we're doing, Bible projects, frontline worker projects,
it's going to take some time to work up from
the field.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
How does this represent and I love the way that
VOM works to serve. Why does that look like the
body of Christ in action or how does it represent
the body of Christ in action?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Well, it's I love the quote that Aaron shared in
Chapel a few weeks ago when Richard said, when they
beat my feet, my tongue cried, And it really is
simply the body of Christ suffering in a place, feeling
it like Hebrews thirteen three, right, It's like you feel
it in your own body, and then to be able
(11:05):
to respond and to do something about it. It's a
powerful thing. And you know, I argue it's as powerful
for our staff as it is for the brother or
sister who receives the help. I've had the privilege as
of you over the years to sit with many, many
persecuted Christians and to have that ministry of presence, and
(11:25):
just the incredible thought that brothers and sisters have traveled
from the other side of the planet to this little
village just to meet with you and to pray with you,
and to see how can we help you? What do
you need? You know, I think as Americans we can't
imagine that, but I think for our brothers and sisters
in our fields, it's one of the most powerful things.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And I think one of the lies of Satan to
persecuted Christians is you are all alone, you are forgotten.
And when we show up and say we've come from
America to visit you, to drink tea with you, and
hear your story. It totally defeats that lie. Hey I'm
not alone. These guys came from America to see me. Yeah,
(12:11):
I am not forgotten. They're going to tell my story,
They're going to have other people praying for me. It
works directly in the face of one of Satan's biggest
lies to our persecuted brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Absolutely, just the thought that you're being helped by people
that you will never meet this side of heaven and
they cared enough about you to help tangibly, not just
to say, oh, you poor person. It's never that. It's that, No,
we want to help because you're a member of the body.
You are our brother or sister. There's nothing else in
(12:41):
the world like that.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
We're talking this week on Voice of the Artist Radio
with Jonathan Eckman. He is our director of Global Partnerships
here at VOM, helping to partner with other ministries, other
mission organizations literally around the world. Jonathan, I know one
of the hardest parts of your job, but also I
think one of the most fulfilling parts of your job
is coming alongside other ministries during times of crisis. And
(13:09):
you mentioned your phone will ring and someone is in tears.
And I know you've received calls after mission workers were martyred,
You've received calls after people were kidnapped, and they are wondering,
what are we going to do, how is this going
to how's this going to work out? I know we
don't promote vom's involvement, so we're not going to talk
about specific situations. We're not going to name names and places,
(13:33):
but share a little bit of what that looks like
and what it means to those other mission orgs to say, Okay,
you know, we do have a crisis, and yes we
got to figure this out and we're praying about it.
But we have friends, we have people who are willing
to come alongside of us.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, it's a humbling thing. It's humbling when someone calls
you in the midst of a crisis and you know
that you got your organization can help. I think for us,
it depends on the situation. But what do you need?
And often it's let me put you in touch with
someone who can help you about this specific situation that
(14:12):
just happened. And sometimes it's coming alongside. I think, particularly
when a worker is martyred, to be able to come
alongside and tell that mission leader you're not alone. We
think this brother or sister was a hero, and we
want to do what we can to help you walk
through this crisis. As the old saying goes, we have
a particular set of skills and abilities that are not
(14:34):
common as an organization, and we're willing to use that
to help you get through this situation.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Can you share some of those again, without details, some
of those conversations, because I know there's somewhere. Literally, VOM
was the answer to prayer that they did not see coming.
I think it was a surprise.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah. I can think of a particular situation in which
a worker was taken and the leader called me in tears,
saying he's gone. They've taken him, and we don't know
what to do. We talked about let me put you
in touch with some crisis experts and walk through that,
and I remember they called and he called me back
and said it's expensive, we can't afford that. And for
(15:18):
VOM to be able to say it's okay, brother, we'll
take care of that. I still remember that brother. I
thought the phone had gone dead. He was just weeping
that somebody would come alongside them in this moment. Of
real crisis. I think the first one he had ever
walked through and be able to say, we're gonna help you.
We'll take care of what that will cost you, take
(15:40):
care of your team, and keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
And I know there was a group that was dealing
with the crisis and one of the ways we help
them was to get them all into the same room
because they were spread out across the world.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, their crisis team.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Was all over the world, and to be able to
be in the same room and talk to each other
and pray together and really look each other in the eye,
that was a huge blessing to them. That really made
a difference.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah. Well, and it's every situation, every crisis like that
is not the same. They're all different. So we probably
wouldn't have done that in other situations, but in this situation,
it was extremely important that happened, and they didn't have
the resources to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And again, I would just remind our listeners often in
these cases, Vom's name is never mentioned. There's never a
oh wow, you know, wasn't it great that VOM did that.
This is part of Vom's ministry, coming alongside the Body
of Christ and just assisting, serving them, serving each member
of the Body of Christ. Jonathan, Unfortunately, the best teacher
(16:45):
of handling a crisis is handling a crisis. That's really
the hardest way to learn, but the only way to learn.
You were leading our international ministry work when our coworker,
our friend Peter Yossick was a in Sudan. You manage
that crisis on behalf of them. What are the lessons
(17:06):
that you picked up that God has allowed you then
to use to bless others in crisis that you've walked
alongside with other ministries.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I think one of the big things is it's going
to take longer than you think for the crisis to pass.
I think the other thing is being very conscious of
the fact that we have to take care of the family.
I remember when Peter was gone for four hundred and
forty five days. The first thing I did every morning
was contact his family, have you heard anything? Do you
(17:37):
need anything? And then sending a text to our leaders
and it always had a number at the top which
was how many days and most of them said no news.
And just doing that every day and trying to stay
on top of it and then being prepared to respond
quickly when opportunities arise. I think those are the things
(17:59):
it's going to take longer than you think. You have
no idea where this is going be ready. I think
those are the Those are the advice I give to
other mission leaders.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I think one other piece that I know, having watched
you walk through that, and it goes back to that
commitment to the family, is we're not gonna We're not
going to make all these decisions on a phone or
on a zoom. No, We're going to sit down and
look each other in the eye.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah. Before Peter was taken, I used to complain that
I'd never been to Prague because it seemed like everyone
at VOM had been to Prague, which is where.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
He beautiful city by the way, yes, which is.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Where he lived. And during that crisis, I believe I
made eight trips to Prague, usually for one day and
then back. And now I'm like, I don't have to
go back to Prague. I've been there a lot. So
Cole and I, our president, sat and sat talked about
if that were me, I would not want my wife
and my family to hear news and thoughts on an
(18:56):
email or a zoom call. I would want someone to
sit in my kitchen with my wife and help her
understand exactly what's happening and where we think this is going.
So that's what we did the whole time.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
When you share that story with other ministry leaders in
the midst of crisis, what do they take out of that?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
It varies. Some are just in a fog because crisis
are terrible fog in I can promise you that the
only way I was able to get through that was
I talked to Cole every day and other ministry leaders
here at VOM, so we did it as a team.
As an individuals, it's overwhelming. I think for most they honestly,
(19:40):
if it's never happened, you just think it will never happen.
So we just always try to remind them sometimes this
will go sideways, and that's often what we say with
ministry leaders. If something goes sideways somewhere in the world
with your teams, call us right. It doesn't mean we're
going to take care of it, all of it, but
you should talk to us. We've had some experience.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
With this, and we probably know somebody who can help
you or at.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Least doubted some wisdom. Undoubtedly we know someone.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
One of the things you said earlier, Jonathan, was in
a case where someone's been martyred, we consider that person
a hero. We want to honor them, we want to
honor their legacy. That's not always the case in the
world today, and it's not always the case even sometimes
in the church community, which is unfortunate and sad. What
(20:30):
does that mean to these ministry leaders when you say
this person was a hero? Now, certainly I think they
think of the person as a hero, but they're probably
also hearing, man, that guy was an idiot or man?
Why didn't you pull them out? You saw the danger rising?
Why didn't you pull out all your missionary units?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
And I hope it's an encouragement to them. The world
will never understand what missionaries and mission workers around the
world do. That makes no sense to the world. Why
would you do this? They're gonna hate you, they may
kill you. Well, that's good. The Bible tells us that's true.
(21:08):
So we're living a biblical life at that point, just
trying to be an encouragement to them. Hey, this will pass.
It may take some time and it may be painful,
but this will pass. And what you're doing as an
organization is super important. Please don't ever stop doing it.
And yes, people will die to do this, and it's
true throughout church history. Mission's history is full of martyrs.
(21:31):
So the idea that because you're from a Western org
you have an American passport, it'll never happen to you, thankfully,
that's kind of been debunked of late in the last
decade or so. So I think for us, it's another
way for us to minister to the Body of Christ.
These mission leaders, these people who are walking through this
(21:52):
terrible situation are our brothers and sisters. And no they're
not sitting on the ground in a village in India,
but there's just the same. So how do we as
an organization come alongside them as the Body of Christ
and say, brother, we're praying for you. Let us know
what you need. We can help, We're willing to help,
but we are with.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
You, Jonathan. As you know, we always try to end
up with how do we pray? How do our listeners pray?
And let's start in that crisis time, because you know
there's ministries right now. I just saw a news report
about a pastor. Are you missionary being kidnapped? How do
we pray for our mission workers, and for Indigenous Christians
(22:33):
who are in that moment of crisis right now.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I always pray for our brothers and sisters that they
would have boldness and courage, and that they would have
a tangible sense of God's presence with them. And I've
heard story after story of that from our brothers and
sisters that in that moment, there was a calm, there
was a peace. And that doesn't mean it wasn't hard
and it's not painful, but that God is with them.
(22:59):
For me, that's what I always pray. Lord, give them boldness,
don't let them stop, have them go, I mean, already
in trouble, what else can they do? And then courage.
It's hard. As Americans, we can't imagine. Yeah, we can't
imagine if people are at your church every Sunday shouting
at you and laughing at you and mocking you and
(23:20):
then trying to make sure you lose your job, your
livelihood or burn your house down. So just the amount
of courage it takes to keep on, it's unbelievable. So
I pray that and then just that sense that God
is with you, God has not abandoned you, that God
is working his purposes even in this difficult crisis moment,
(23:45):
God is at work.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Amen. We've been talking this week on Voice Tomatist Radio
with Jonathan Eckman. He is our director of Global Partnerships,
helping VOM to come alongside and serve other ministries around
the world. Jonathan, thank you, welcome back, Thank you for
coming back on Voice of the Martyrs Radio, and thank
you for all the help you've been in getting other
mission leaders, ministry leaders for me to interview as well.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Brother. It's a privilege for me to work at Voice
of the Martyrs.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
It is a privilege for me as well. And I
hope you've been encouraged by this conversation, and you know
you may want to give. As we mentioned these things,
sometimes it is VOM says, hey, we can help financially
in this situation that happens because people like you support
Voice of the Martyrs. You can give online at vomradio
dot net. That's where you can also go back and
(24:34):
listen to previous conversations, previous conversations with Jonathan as well
as other mission leaders and persecuted Christians. Again our website
vomradio dot net. And I hope you'll be back with
us next week. As we continue to talk about what
God is doing all around the world, especially in hostile
areas and restricted nations. I hope you'll be back with
(24:55):
us next week, right here on the Voice of the
Martyrs Radio Network.
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