Elisabeth Elliot: A Woman Who Served God Well

It was four in the morning when Els Woodke answered the phone to hear the words she’d been praying for and waiting on for six-and-a-half years: “Jeff has been recovered!”

The last two weeks we’ve shared the story of Jeffery Woodke, American gospel worker in West Africa captured by Islamists and held hostage for more than six years. Now, Jeff’s wife, Els, shares her side of the story of waiting and wondering and praying through that long ordeal—and how God helped her never to hate Jeff’s captors.

“The moment I heard Jeff was kidnapped, I cried out to God,” Els says.

Shortly after Jeff’s abduction, Els felt the Lord saying to her, “I want you to love the enemy.” She answered that call, never letting bitterness or anger toward the terrorists holding Jeff find a place in her heart.

“I lived in the Psalms,” she says, often taking the prayers and promises recorded by the Psalmist and making them her own prayers for Jeff. Among those prayers was, “Keep him alive in famine” and “deliver him from death,” based on Psalm 33:19. After Jeff’s release in March, 2023, Els learned that his circumstances in captivity had been even worse than she could’ve imagined.

Listen in as Els speaks to the people all around the world who prayed for Jeff’s release and for her. It strengthened her faith to hear that people were fervently and faithfully praying for Jeff—for years—without knowing his condition. “Thank you for your faithfulness,” Els says as she shares how peoples’ prayers encouraged her to keep the faith. Please continue to pray for Jeff and Els Woodke as they continue to reconnect and recover from their experience and forced separation.

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“Hope is the first thing to go” Jeffery Woodke says, speaking about his six-and-a-half years as a hostage held by radical Islamist terror groups. He says he started out, after being kidnapped, praying eight hours a day. But over the years his hopelessness increased and his prayer time faded to twenty minutes daily. Suicidal, he beseeched his persecutors numerous times to take his life, knowing heaven would be much better than his existence as a hostage chained to a tree.

Despite his doubts, God was always with Jeff. He found he couldn’t abandon prayer altogether.

Listen as Jeff shares more about his time as a hostage; his hunger and water strikes to get better treatment and the ongoing trauma he deals with after his experience as a captive. He’ll tell the stories he heard about the Covid pandemic—and how he assumed his family must have all died and mourned their loss.

Jeff will also tell about his release, from getting a “fruit basket” from the leader of his terrorist captors to being taken to the largest gathering of jihadists and Mujahadin he’d ever seen. It was there, under a tree, he met the French journalist Olivier Dubois. The two men were released together in March, 2023.

Jeff spent several days in medical care after his release as doctors tried to stabilize his health before he could get on a plane to return to the US. One of the first things he asked for was a Bible. “It’s good to have the Word of God,” he says. He quickly turned to the gospel of John and began to read.

Jeff’s testimony of forgiveness is powerful. After being chained physically, Jeff asks why anyone would chain themselves up willingly with unforgiveness? Forgiveness, he says, can cut those chains.

Jeffery Woodke is still learning to process his years of hostage trauma. Pray for healing as he and Els explore what this season in their life will be. Jeff was amazed and humbled how Christians around the world prayed fervently for his release. “Prayer works,” he says. He’ll help us continue to pray for persecuted Christians still held hostage in West Africa and other parts of the world.

Join VOM Radio host, Todd Nettleton, for the I-Am-N Virtual Event on March 8. Registration is free. You may also want to talk to your pastor or church leaders about hosting this inspiring event at your church. More details at www.IamNevent.com

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or you can listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

“It’s better to be dead than taken hostage.”

When Jeff Woodke said those words, he didn’t know that he would be taken hostage from his home in Niger in 2016. But Woodke, a long-term relief and gospel worker in West Africa, did know there were risks.

Risk wasn’t such a big issue in the early years of the ministry of Jeff and his wife, Els, in Niger with Youth With a Mission (YWAM). They worked in church planting, discipleship, and evangelism among the Wodaabe people. Niger was an open country, with churches throughout. What Christian persecution there was came from family members or neighbors who opposed following Jesus. However, over time the rise of Salafist Islam changed Niger—and increased their risk.

Listen as Jeff recalls the night he was kidnapped and how the image of orange flashes from the guns which killed his guards are seared into his memory.

Naked and bloody, Jeff was forced into the back seat of a truck and driven away, not knowing who his captors were or how long his captivity might last. Over the years, Jeff was transferred into the custody of multiple terror groups, beaten and mistreated. As a Christian who refused to embrace Islam, Jeff was seen as an animal. Some of his guards were only 12 years old.

Yet Jeff says renouncing his faith in Christ and becoming a Muslim to get better treatment was never an option. Jeff shares what helped him during those difficult days and how he knew the Lord was with him. Listen as he tells why forgiveness was key and how he took opportunity daily to express it to his captors.

Please pray for Jeff and Els as they continue to recover from the more than six years of Jeff’s captivity and come back next week as Jeff continues to share more of his experience being a hostage and his eventual release and freedom.

Register now to join VOM Radio host, Todd Nettleton, at the I-Am-N Virtual Event on March 8. You may also want to talk to your pastor or church leaders about hosting this inspiring event at your church. More details and free registration at www.IamNevent.com

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or you can listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

David Paul fell in love with Muslims as a college student visiting Turkey (now Türkiye) to share the gospel. After getting married, he and his wife thought they’d go where Muslims are — the Middle East. God changed their plans, reminding them that millions of Muslims live in South Asia, yet very few mission workers go there. They knew God was calling them, and without ever visiting, they moved to South Asia more than a decade ago. Their focus is on reaching Urdu speaking Muslims with the gospel message.

Listen as David shares difficulties from those early years of ministry and how we can encourage and pray for missionaries to push forward through their early challenges to reach maximum fruitfulness. Today David’s challenges are different; one is the great need to develop more Muslim background believers (MBBs) to be leaders in the Urdu church.

Listen to David tell stories of Urdu speaking Muslims who have come to faith in Christ and how different understandings of Islam can affect how much Christian persecution believers face for leaving Islam. David is also training Hindu background believers to reach their Muslim neighbors.

“Every time I encourage a believer to go into the face of persecution, I lose a lot of sleep.” David says, “It’s not an easy calling to ask people to do that.” Yet, Davd knows it’s what Jesus would do.

Pray for Urdu speaking believers—especially those facing persecution right now—and for God to raise up Christian leaders and mentors among them.

Register now to join VOM Radio host, Todd Nettleton, and be a part of the I-Am-N Virtual Event, coming up March 8. You may also want to talk to your pastor or other church leaders about hosting this powerful event at your church. More details and free registration at www.IamNevent.com

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or you can listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

Last week, Brother Philip, a field minister for The Voice of the Martyrs in West Africa, shared how witnessing stories of trauma from persecuted Christians and addressing their spiritual needs is a gift. He shared the characteristics of resilient individuals who coped well after persecution and how scripture can bring healing to their hearts and minds. This week, you’ll hear how Christians may exhibit more resilience than non-believers, stories of persecuted Christians and how The Voice of the Martyrs empowers pastors in Africa to help persecuted Christians find healing after trauma.

Listen as Philip explains the need for believers—in Africa and elsewhere—to have a good theology of suffering to thrive in a broken world where persecution is promised. You’ll also hear how the fruit of the Spirit is central in providing trauma care for persecuted Christians, and the vital role forgiveness plays. “Forgiveness is absolutely indispensable for healing,” Philip says.

You’ll hear the story of a pastor in Africa who suffered incredible loss when Islamists attacked his village. The pastor ran from the invading rebels to hide in the church. However, they followed him. When the attack was over, the pastor’s wife, his brother and his two children had all been killed. Yet after attending a trauma care workshop sponsored by VOM, the pastor said: “I have begun to forgive those perpetrators totally.”

Philip and his team train pastors and other Christian leaders to care for persecuted Christians dealing with trauma in their communities. Partnering with pastors in Africa and other parts of the world—people who already understand the culture and know the language—creates greater impact as they share the training further and reach out to more persecuted Christians.

Pray for Philip and his team as they train pastors to care for persecuted Christians. Pray for persecuted church members in restricted nations and hostile areas to hold fast to their faith—even in suffering. And please consider giving online to support VOM’s ministry serving persecuted Christians around the world.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or listen each week—and receive daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

This episode will be a little different than most as we have two conversations instead of one. First, we’ll hear from Steve Lisby about a group of pastors and church leaders imprisoned in Nicaragua after being part of a large-scale evangelism effort. Next we’ll hear from Brother Philip, who helps The Voice of the Martyrs provide trauma care for persecuted Christians in Africa.

Steve Lisby is the risk management director with Mountain Gateway, a ministry helping train and send gospel workers. Last year, with the approval of the Nicaraguan government, Mountain Gateway held evangelistic events in multiple locations around the country. More than one million people attended these events, including 300,000 at the final event in the capitol city. After the success of these events, it was a shock when one of the Mountain Gateway national directors was imprisoned in December. Days later, his wife and nine more pastors were taken to prison. Since their arrest they have not been allowed to see their families or have contact with the outside world.

Pray for these eleven Nicaraguan Christians, for the ongoing court process and for leaders in the ministry and in the Nicaraguan government. For updates on the situation visit mountaingateway.org.

For persecuted Christians and others who have gone through trauma, that trauma can affect all aspects of their life. Brother Philip is a field minister in Africa for The Voice of the Martyrs, specifically focused on training Christian leaders to provide trauma care for Christians who have endured persecution.

Listen as Philip shares how trauma rewires the brains of victims. For persecuted Christians, that affects how they relate to God and experience faith. As a trained trauma-care provider and brother in Christ, Philip believes it’s a gift to listen to the stories of our persecuted brothers and sisters and bear witness to the pain they’ve experienced. It is important to address physical, emotional and mental needs. But the great blessing of VOM’s work is to be able to address spiritual needs for trauma survivors as well. Hear how Philip and his coworkers structure trauma care efforts for persecuted Christians and the benefit of designing this care around the truth of God’s Word.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or you can listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

Paul Dangtoumda, a part of the global eldership counsel for Youth With a Mission (YWAM) and the leader for YWAM’s work in Nigeria, comes from a family with a history of Christian persecution. In fact, he bears the scar of persecution his parents faced even before he was born. Listen as he shares the amazing testimony of God’s protection over him and his parents—and how their example inspires his ministry even today.

Hear how Paul began working in Nigeria and how today he and YWAM are helping widows—Women of Honor—to persevere in life and faith despite the loss of their husbands. “We had to teach the [women] how to go to the cross,” he says. “Because when they realize that it is God who can save them, then this is the beginning of true counseling.”

Paul will also share about a Bible translation effort called Oral Mother Tongue, an effort that YWAM founder Loren Cunningham focused on in the final days of his earthly life. Listen as Paul describes the process from start to finish—and the reaction of people hearing the Bible in their own language for the first time.

Paul will suggest ways listeners can pray for this translation effort. Also visit Pray OMT to learn more about the process of making the Bible available to every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcastOr you can listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

Choosing the cross comes with risk.

Carter Gates, The Voice of the Martyrs’ Asia Pacific Regional Leader, says he is always humbled as he observes and fellowships with persecuted Christians who regularly take up their cross joyfully despite that risk. They know walking with Christ is worth the risk.

Listen this week as Carter shares what the church is experiencing in Brunei, China, Laos, and Myanmar, including looking ahead to serving our Christian brothers and sisters in these restricted and hostile nations in 2024.

Brunei is now requiring one hour of Islamic instruction per day for children in public and private schools. In China, the Communist Party has intensified efforts to restrict children from attending church. Biblical children’s resources—including Bibles—are needed, and Carter’s team have a passion to inspire the next generation toward gospel boldness.

Carter asked one Chinese brother how he was preparing to faithfully stand strong under Christian persecution. The answer he received was challenging: “When I was little, my mother taught me three preparations,” our Chinese brother responded. “Always be ready to preach. Always be ready to pray. Always be ready for martyrdom.”

One young teenager, who came to faith in Laos through the ministry of a missionary couple, literally had to hide her Bible by burying it in the ground. She would dig it up late at night to read it without her family’s knowledge. Today she has grown in her faith and is involved in church planting.

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Asia Pacific as they experience different forms of persecution for their faith. Pray for Carter and his team as they use creative means to serve our persecuted family in China, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei and other nations in the region.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcastOr you can listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

Loren Cunningham, with his wife Darlene, founded Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in 1960 with a vision to equip and send young people out all over the world to fulfill this God-given command to go and proclaim. Loren passionately continued God’s work even into his final days on earth, preaching and discipling even with lung cancer. When he died last October, he left an amazing, inspired legacy for YWAM.

Paul Childers, a long time YWAM worker and member of the ministry’s global eldership team, returns to VOM Radio this week to share how Loren’s legacy is propelling YWAM forward, especially with an emphasis on providing God’s Word to as many as possible through a Bible translation effort called Oral Mother Tongue. He will share the process to rapidly translate the Bible, through spoken word, into many more languages using the local people to help with the process.

Paul, founder of Word by Heart, shares the amazing work of Oral Mother Tongue and how they translated the entire New Testament for 30 languages in six months! Even local non-Christians are included in this work, excited by the stories they are helping to translate and the effort to maintain their heart languages.

Even a Hindu priest suggested, “The government needs to pay for this translation work! It’s so important to encapsulate our language going forward.” The process also adds credibility to the work in each community as people want to listen to a project to which their family members and friends contributed.

Learn more about the work, and how you can support it in prayer, by visiting www.prayomt.org. Please also pray for YWAM in this season of transition as they continue Loren’s legacy impacting the world for Christ and his kingdom.

You can listen to previous conversation on VOM Radio with Loren Cunningham and Paul and Susi Childers. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or you can listen each week—and get daily reminders of how to pray for persecuted Christians—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.

“I’ve been with you, and I have to leave now, but as I go I am still with you.”

Aaron Miller, Vice President of International Ministry at The Voice of the Martyrs, learned this concept from brothers and sisters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They have a word for the concept in their language: tukopamuja. As Aaron and his team sit with persecuted Christians across the world, the stories they hear and prayers they pray together stay with them forever.

As 2024 begins, we pray that the stories of Christian persecution—and the faithfulness of Christ’s followers who endure it—will stay with you as you pray for the persecuted church. Changes in the status of Christians and the level of persecution in various nations are reflected in VOM’s 2024 Prayer Guide, and Aaron will bring those to light as he shares stories from his own travel and how his staff continue to serve persecuted Christians despite increased challenges.

Malawi and Mauritania, two countries in Africa have been added as daily persecution is a reality. One for Mauritania includes several men imprisoned for a baptism video released on social media. In India, prime minister Modi has diminished government protection for Christianity and increasing violent acts against Christians have made this region now restricted.

Learn from Aaron how you can pray for VOM’s International Ministry team and for Christians in restricted and hostile nations this year.

UPDATE: After the recording of this interview we learned the Christians arrested in Mauritania had been released. We thank God for this answer to prayer! Please continue to pray for their protection and their peace.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or you can listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.