Ministry Partner
12⎪SEPTEMBER 2020⎪shop.cmausa.org
EVERY
week, I am faced
with reports of persecution
from around the world.
Church bombings, kidnappings,
arrests, threats, and sometimes
martyrdom. Often, there are new
stories of persecution every day,
and we hear them all. It can get
exhausting. But once a year, I am
faced with a different kind of challenge.
How do we at Open Doors,
appropriately and loudly enough,
say “Thank You!” to all of CMA?!
CMA has been one of the greatest
blessings to me and Open
Doors for the past 6 years. Over
the past 30 years, CMA has provided
over $13,000,000 to advance
the work in the world’s most persecuted
countries. And in my personal
experience, no other group has
prayed more, ridden more, or been
as involved on a heart-to-heart
level.
CMA, you need to know that you
are a lifeline to the persecuted. I
have been working with the persecuted
church since 2001, and I
have met so many that have been
besieged and beleaguered into
exhaustion. But I also have met
many persecuted brothers and sisters
that have never left their country.
Some have never left their
towns or villages, but so many of
them have heard of their brothers
and sisters at CMA.
I was recently in Southeast Asia
and while planning our trip, I told
our contacts who would be coming
with me. When they heard that it
was a CMA trip, the excitement,
the sheer joy they had to be able to
meet with their brothers and sisters,
whom they have never met,
was palpable. And real. And humbling.
And exciting!!
You see, you, the men and
women who participated in Run for
the Son in any way, to any degree,
have stood with the persecuted. By
helping to raise over $850,000 this
year, you have had an impact within
the midst of the dark places. You
have reminded satan of his future
and reminded him that we, God’s
servants, are not done. Through
the love of the one true God,
through the power of the Holy
Spirit, and with the Grace of Jesus
Christ, you’ve been to those countries.
You’ve stood in North Korea,
in Vietnam, in Indonesia, in Iran, in
Iraq, in Afghanistan and you’ve
held the hands of the persecuted
and shouted to the heavens that
they are not alone and that God,
and you, are with them.
Take Rajesh for instance. He’s
from India, a country that has been
impacted by Run for the Son for
the past several years.
Rajesh grew up in a Christian
home in India, but when he was
young, he didn’t follow Christ—
instead, he lived for himself. Then,
when he was around 16, he attended
a youth conference—only
because he thought it would be
fun. Little did he know, God was
orchestrating a divine calling on his
life.
On the third day of the youth
conference, the preacher called out
to Rajesh—even though they had
never met before. The preacher
said: “Rajesh, the Lord is calling
you. You’re wearing a red shirt.
You’re here on this campus, come
to the front.”
“I couldn’t run away from that,”
Rajesh says. “I had to go, and when
I went up front, he prayed for me
and I felt the very presence of the
Holy Spirit in my life. I can’t explain
it—it was so powerful, and I started
crying. I committed my life to Him.
“I would not say that I chose
God, or I decided to follow God,”
Rajesh adds, “but I would rather
say, God chose me and made me
follow Him—that’s a special grace
upon my life.”
As Rajesh grew in his faith, he
always asked the Lord one important
question: “How do you want
my life to be a blessing to others?”
After 10 years of asking, the Lord
provided Rajesh with a clear
answer: serve My Church in India.
So Rajesh began to work with
persecuted Christians in India, and
these are the stories that he tells
me today. On one of his first trips
to visit persecuted believers, Rajesh
visited a pastor in a remote village
who had been beaten for his faith.
When he arrived to meet this pastor,
Rajesh was shocked: The pastor
was smiling. “That pastor was
badly beaten, but he was not in
pain,” Rajesh says. “That was
amazing for me to see. That was
my first encounter with someone
who was directly persecuted.”
But when Rajesh left the pastor’s
home, it was clear something
wasn’t right. All the people in the
village were looking at Rajesh, and
the others with him, as if they did
something wrong. Then the pastor
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