Greg Yoder

Late last week I received some terrible news. It was a message from Todd Nettleton. He’s a dear friend at Voice of the Martyrs. He told me in an email that a man I have admired for a long time, Tom White,  had died. The story surrounding his death is tragic. If you haven’t heard, here’s the release on VOM’s Web site:

“April 20, 2012 The Voice of the Martyrs statement concerning the death of Tom White:

The events of the last week are tragic. On Wednesday we learned that Tom White, VOM’s executive director, had died.

Allegations were made to authorities this week that Tom had inappropriate contact with a young girl. Rather than face those allegations, and all of the resulting fallout for his family and this ministry and himself, Tom appears to have chosen to take his own life.

None of those in leadership at VOM, including our board of directors, were aware of these allegations at the time of Tom’s death.

There is no doubt that Tom cared about his wife, his children and his grandchildren. And there’s no doubt that he cared about VOM.

We are deeply saddened by these events. Our hearts are broken.

However, the work that God has called VOM to do is bigger than any one of us. There are persecuted Christians who need our help. The legal process will go forward, and we will continue serving with our persecuted brothers and sisters.

We appreciate the many who are praying for our work, and we encourage you to join us in praying for Tom’s family during this difficult time.”

What is the message from this tragedy? I wish I had an answer. I lost a lot of sleep the night I found out about this news. If this can happen in Tom’s life, this can happen in the life of ANY Christian. I Corinthians 15:10 starts by saying, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” I can only say that we would all fail if it wasn’t for God’s grace. Apart from Him we’re nothing. Apart of Christ, we can’t help but be as pagan as anyone else in the world.

The question I have is what are we doing to protect ourselves? How are we holding each other accountable? For those in high leadership positions, who’s their accountability? For men, pornography can debilitate us. It can cripple our ministries. The sexual sins are the ones Satan will use to destroy us. If it can happen to a man after God’s own heart (King David), it can happen to anyone. As Christians we need to stay in His Word and have accountability partners who we’re not just meeting with once a week. We need people who are intimately a part of our lives, asking tough probing questions.

We’ll never know what happened in this situation. If the allegations are true, a man who I admired as a man of God who cared about persecuted Christians around the world, fell. His sin cost him his life by his own hand. It puts a ministry in the cross-hairs of the secular scrutiny.

What can we do? My suggestion is pray! Pray that God would comfort Tom White’s family. They have to be feeling so much pain. Pray for the alleged victim and her family. Pray for Voice of the Martyrs. Ask God to protect them from the fall-out from what could happen as the secular press begins talking about this tragedy.  Finally, pray God’s protection for yourselves and other Christian leaders. We need your prayers. Pray that God will protect us from attacks from the Devil, and that He would protect us from ourselves.

You have probably seen my posts about our website. I’m not going to go into great detail. But, to recap briefly — IT’S OLD, and it needs to be updated and reprogrammed. But, we still have more than 50-percent to reach our goal of $15,000.

We NEED your gift of $50 and $100, but we also need some large gifts of $1,000 or $2,000. We need it NOW because it’s being match dollar-for-dollar by a generous donor, up to $7,500.

Why do we need a new Web site? Well, it’s simple — we can’t do some of the things we’re called to do. One of those things is calling young people — the next generation — to join this task of sharing their faith with those who haven’t heard. Yes, we’re doing it on Facebook and Twitter, but we’re missing out in one specific area — phones.

The new website will allow us to provide news bites to those who are using smart phone technology like I-phones and Androids. As part of the reprogramming effort will be creating special apps for each of these devices so those using them can get news and information they need to be Christians who are not only WILLING to go, but more informed where they can go.

Your generous donation can be made here: https://www.MNNonline.org/donate/special and give as generously as you can so we can meet this matching grant quickly!  God bless you for what you’re going to do.

After a four year absence from the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Radio broadcast, Mission Network News is again featuring a special this year. Why has MNN been away for so long?  It’s not because we don’t care about the persecuted church.

Mission Network News never wants to put a broadcast on the air for the sake of putting a broadcast on the air. Our desire is similar to our radio broadcast, we want to present a broadcast that will change hearts and lives. Our desire for IDOP is to provide music that coincides with the persecuted church. We want to have a speaker that will challenge Christians to step out of their comfort zones and do something for God, no matter what the cost. We also want to provide a time of prayer for hot spots in the world where persecution is taking place every day.

This year, Mission Network News will again be broadcast the IDOP Radio broadcast features music, message and prayer from persecuted church believers. We’ll have music from some of your favorite Christian artists, Carl Moeller will present a message about the privilege of persecution, plus Christians from around world praying for their nation where it’s a challenge to simply be a Christian.

If you’d like to hear this radio broadcast, encourage your local radio station to air it. It’s free and will be available on our website for a free download, or stations who have the Amb-os system will have it available on their system on November 7.

Remember, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is Sunday, November 13. Also, if you’d like to remember to pray for the persecuted church every day, get a “One With Them” barbed wire looking rubber wristband. It’ll not only remind you to pray for persecuted Christians worldwide, but will be a great conversation starter.

All month long we’ve been seeing hundreds of people enter the Mission Network News/Global Action Touch the World trip to India/Nepal. We’ve read through testimony after testimony.

Today, we randomly picked a winner. Here is the winner — are you ready?

Are you sure?

Are you really sure?

It could be you –

But, the winner of the trip is…..

…..

….

….

Amanda Miller from Pennsylvania.

She’ll be heading to either India or Nepal to distribute blankets to the needy in either November or December (her choice).

Be watching here for more opportunities to win a trip in the weeks and months ahead.

Greg Yoder, Mission Network News

Team member Loraine and little girl from Orphanage 2.

What an incredibly awesome trip we’ve had. 29 people with varied backgrounds, ages and gifts. 29 people with one goal — to reach out to needy kids — kids that are considered orphans. Kids marginalized by society. Kids who are loved by God. Kids who need to be loved by Christians.

We traveled half way around the world to share that love. It’s a love that we can recognize because we’ve been loved by someone as spiritual orphans — slaves really. “But God show his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

As slaves He’s chosen us, bought us, instructs us perfectly, and also calls us ‘friends.’

As we tried to become ‘Jesus’ to these kids we were both loved and hated. While we wanted all the kids

What will you do to help?

toparticipate and join us in our activities, the reality was not all did. A few rejected what we had to offer them. Some of us went to them, ‘twisted the arm’ (so to speak) and encouraged them to join us. Some, we actually carried to the VBS, games and crafts.

Isn’t this the picture of what Christ did for us? John 6:44a, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Romans 9:15, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

Elya with team member Chelsea.

As Christians, that’s so humbling. While we were here to serve all of the kids we visited. Not all came. Not all of them heard. Not all of them experienced our love, even though all of them had the same opportunity.

While this trip has been full of miracles (and I mean that), it’s also been a trip full of tears. Seeing young people with no hope at such a young age (humanly speaking) seems unfair. The lack of trust of people is ominous. Their desire to control all situations seems selfish. Their understanding of love isn’t real love.

All of it points to a point that needs Jesus. Apart from Him there is no love. Apart from Him there is not hope. Apart from Him we’re just shifting sands blown by the winds with no direction.

But, I’m comforted by the words of Jesus when he says in John 14:18&19 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”

If you’ve ever considered going on a trip to reach out to orphans, please consider joining an Orphan Outreach trip. There are many to choose from each year. Click here for information.