This is the Truth Network. Who are your brothers and sisters? What if you found out that one of your sisters was being persecuted, tormented, tortured, where children were being attacked? What would you do? How would you respond?
What about your brothers and sisters in Christ? Is this just Christianese language we use, or is this real? Did you know that you have brothers and sisters in Christ right now in the Sudan? Did you know that one of the worst, absolute horrible, crisis or crises in the whole world right now is happening in Sudan in the Nuba Mountains? And I'm just honored to be with a couple friends here who are brothers in Christ who are doing something about it.
And Brad Phillips and Matt Chancy with the Persecution Project Foundation.
Now, both of you have been on this show before. Ed Lyons has been on this show. But I don't know. I've done this show from Sudan, 2009. I took my handy dandy recorder and I recorded from the bush.
It was amazing, Warling and all these towns. Josh and we took water there. It was transformative. That was Southern Sudan Darfur. The battle scene has shifted.
The crisis has shifted to the Nuba Mountains. Brad Phillips, the Persecution Project Foundation, give us maybe. Thirty seconds of who you are, what this ministry is, and let's get into what's happening that our listeners need to know about about what's happening to their brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you, Stu, and it's great to be here with you and with Matt, and it's wonderful to have a chance also to be ambassador for our our our family in Sudan, especially in the Nuba Mountains, and really, it's been. The privilege of my life to be a part of this ministry called Persecution Project.
About thirty years ago, I was introduced to a community in Sudan known as the Nuba. And the Nuba community in Sudan number about seven million people. And the Nuba community is the genesis of the Christian faith in modern history in Sudan. In 1917. In a place called Haybon, the first Christian convert was recorded in Sudan, and it happened to be in the Nuba Mountains, and it happened to be in Haybon County, which is a Torah land.
And now, today, more than a hundred years later, there are three and a half million, perhaps four million Nuba who identify as Christian. And that's the reason why I believe they've been the target, the number one target of terror and persecution by an Islamist regime, which is which is the face of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, which has been responsible for terror and genocide. For really the last seventy years, but especially the last four decades, the deep state in Sudan is the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood.
So, I, you know, got the Africa bug when I was a young man, following my dad to Africa when I was a teenager, and God eventually led me to Sudan. And one of the scriptures that burdened me was. A scripture about carrying the burdens of other Christians, which is in Galatians. It says, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." And as you know, to do the law of Christ is to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. And what I found out was is that my Christian family was in Sudan.
It was in the Nuba Mountains. And what I found out was that some of the most courageous people in the world live in the Nuba Mountains, and are an example of of courage and faithfulness in so many ways, in the way they live their life, in the way they raise their families, in the way they present themselves as an offering to God, in a very very hostile environment.
So that's a little bit about. The general situation, but it's it's just been a great privilege to to come alongside and and and be a part of that community. Yeah, one of your longtime partners in crimes and close friend. I'm close friends with both of you guys. Is sitting next to you, Matt Chancy, in this interview, Brad.
I want you and Matt both to tell us exactly what we can do to better pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Sudan. How we can support the relief efforts going on in the Nuba Mountains right now? Like you're listening, folks, in your car, you're listening in your home. Maybe you're listening to the podcast that we will make of this. I'll tell you where I'm sitting.
I'm sitting in Colorado Springs at a cool conference. There's a little waterfall next to us, which is a sound buffer between us and all the people over there meeting a bunch of Christian leaders here together, talking about how we can change the world for Jesus. But I want our listeners know how they can help specifically. Maybe it's calm and tranquil where you are. All hell is breaking loose in the Nuba Mountains.
Someone will be killed today.
Someone will die of deprivation, starvation. The rainy season is going on. It is an awful, awful thing. This isn't just a shock radio time. This is to explain to you what what is happening to these people and how we can help.
Matt, how did you catch the African bug real quick? About this guy Brad Phillips, and how did you get connected in this? You're a father of what eight kids, and a entrepreneur, and but your heart is in Sudan as well, isn't it? It is, and I was invited to Africa by Brad. Let's see.
It's gonna. It's 22, almost 22 years ago. I was invited to serve on the board when he incorporated Persecution Project 27 years ago, and so we're we're nearly 30 years into this ministry. And you know, people ask us all the time, "Why in the world is it Sudan?" I mean, there's so many other places in the world. I mean, when Christians in America hear about Christian persecution, it's usually in the context of like Nigeria or the Middle East or China or something like that.
But rarely does Sudan. Enter the picture, even though, as you know, Stu, is that Sudan is the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis right now, and it's been going on for decades, and yet you won't hear it on on nightly news, and it gets smothered under all the other geopolitical concerns that we have as Americans. But really, the church in Sudan has been under Islamist domination for many many decades, and it's been, as Brad says, it's been our privilege. To be called to serve this community, you know, it wasn't an accident that we were invited to go there and visit the Nuba Mountains and to see what our our brothers and sisters were doing to serve their community in the face of severe persecution. And so, you know, we didn't we didn't we didn't just rock up and drop in and say, "Hey, we're here to save the day." We found believers in these communities doing the work of the gospel, and we just kind of bought into that.
We bought into that. That they were already doing, and to support them, they were bearing each other's burdens, and so we said, "Lord, you know, let us let us come and help bear their burdens with them." And we have found some wonderful people in the United States and even in other countries who have joined with us in this this ministry to of active of active compassion to our persecuted brothers and sisters.
So it's been as Brad says, it's been a tremendous privilege to to be a part of this family and to really make it a part of our. And we're going to tell you how you can get the newsletter. It's like reading a modern-day Fox's Book of Martyrs. I've actually written one of the newsletters when I came back with Todd, and we went over there with some pastors and some leaders, and with you guys, Brad and Matt. We were there in the in a third world country, and it was intense.
And we were there. They thought I was the greatest. Person they'd ever seen, and I'm just I'm just a kind of a dumb American going there. But because we helped get them water, which saved their lives, they were in in the city of Warlong. They were about to bury their dead.
The moms and dads were were digging graves for their children, and thank God that our listeners, this was 20 plus years ago, stepped up and said we're going to help these people. We're going to help drill wells, and they they were so gracious. And the Persecution Project is just a tool. You work with other ministries. We never want to say, "Hey, this crisis!
Don't you know? Don't support this crisis. This one's worse, or this that." We don't want to do that as believers. It's like saying, "Well, your ministry or your church is doing more than mine." No, no. This is this is a the only commission Christians are paid on, or are are benefiting from, is the Great Commission, and we are all here serving the King.
Brad, I would like to ask you specifically what is going on in this crisis. And how can our listeners help?
Okay, and I want them to get your newsletter. I want them to go to the website which we can give them to learn more. Share with their pastors. Share with their Sunday school class. I've read your newsletter to my grandkids, to my you know, to my children.
To say this is really going on, and we've prayed, and we've they've said, "Hey, I'm going to put some pennies in a jar," you know. Sense for Sudan was one of our things years ago that a little Sunday school class somewhere came up with. But what's the nature of what's happening in the Nuba Mountains, Brad? Take us there real quick, and then how our listeners can pray, support, and be involved, be intentionally active for the persecuted. Yes, dude.
You know, every time you give an update or somebody asks that question, seems like There's just no end to the crisis in Sudan, but let me go back a little bit and put it in context. There's just been a series of wars since independence from the British in 1956, and the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood has gotten hold of the deep state of Sudan from that time up to the present. And more recently, in the last four years, starting in April of 2023, some factions within the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood broke and split, and so for the first time, the war that was mostly in the periphery came to the center, and Sudan became even more of a failed state than it already was, and now it's been labeled as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. But there. In that country of Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, which is an area the size of the state of Georgia in the U.S.
or the size of Rwanda and Burundi in geography, for for context, has been the home to the largest community of Christians in this officially Islamic state, and that's the reason why they've been the number one target of terror and persecution. And millions of people have died over the last several decades, but just in the last four years, we estimate that perhaps a million people have died in this current crisis, this world humanitarian crisis. Half the population of Sudan has fled the boundaries of Sudan into neighboring countries. For example, there are 10 million Sudanese refugees in Egypt. There are five million refugees in Chad.
There are millions of others scattered in other neighboring countries, and in. Inside Sudan itself, the remaining 50 percent of the population, about 25 million people, a majority of them, are refugees internally, internally displaced. And now, in this area of the Nuba Mountains, which at times has been a target and other times has been a safe haven for Christians, we've seen a flood of people, especially ethnic Nubians, coming back to the Nuba Mountains in the last four years. And so, the population there, because of the war, has more than doubled from 2.9 million at the beginning of 2023 to six and a half million plus people now. And with that increase of population, and with the continued fighting in the various states of Sudan and the various counties, we're seeing just total chaos and a lot of destruction.
And now, what we've seen is some very, some opportunistic targeting of Christian leaders, especially pastors and Christian communities, and one particular community. In the Nuba Mountains, the Atoro people have been the target and victim of some terrible atrocities and some terrible crimes in the last seven months. Things that we've never seen.
So we have been pulling out all the stops to do whatever we can and respond to pleas from our brothers and sisters, from our church family, from people that we've become a part of in the last three decades, and they've been begging us to help them with just basics. Survival. You know, we are we are involved in medical ministry. We support two hundred clinics and four hospitals. We're involved in sheltering campaigns.
We're involved in church training projects and community projects. But right now, the number one thing has been trying to assist with food and shelter, emergency food and shelter for many more than three hundred thousand people who have lost their homes, and many have lost. Members of their family, probably every family has lost somebody in this in this internal fighting in the New England mountains that's been unfolding in the last seven months.
Something that we've never seen more destructive than we've ever seen.
So we are we are hopeful. God knows the end of this. I'm reminded of the story of Joseph. I'm reminded of some situations where you know. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, and we're seeing now, hopefully, some some of the fire is being put out in the Nuba Mountains, and we're just praying for those people that God will help mend the the wounds and help them to be reunited there as a community.
I love it, and Matt. You can help. Our listeners can help. People listening, these are our family. At some point, the believer can never say, "Am I my brother's keeper?" You know, like Cain said about Abel, because be it biological or be it spiritual, it's even more powerful.
I brother, you guys are brothers in Christ. I never had a biological brother. But I can tell you, if I did, I would be closer to you guys than that because of our relationship. Because we've we've been in battle together. We've been in the in a Holocaust scene, you know, where there was genocide in '09 and Darfur.
Now it's even heightened, and you all are on the front lines. And maybe I can't go there so much. In you know. Get over there. Maybe someone doesn't have a passport.
Maybe they're too old, but they can support in a lot of different ways. Matt, give us a rundown of that, and then the website, and then how they can subscribe and hear more updates, field reports from Brad and you, and the team, Ed Lyons, and all of our wonderful ministry team from the Persecution Project. Yeah, your listeners can go to persecutionproject.org. And on that gives you an overview of our different programs that we have the privilege of participating in in Sudan. It also allows you to sign up for our newsletter, and also just send a prayer request if you want us because we want to pray for you.
We're a family, and everyone that we work with is praying for the church in Sudan. But we want to pray for the church here. We want to pray for our brothers and sisters here. And it's like you said, Stu. We're all part of a community, and they are our brothers and sisters.
And I tell people, you know, my brother who lives—I'm from Alabama. My brother lives near Montgomery. And if he called me and said, "Hey, I have a flat tire on I-65. Can you come and help me?" He doesn't even have to ask me. I would just get in the car and go.
I'm not going to say, "Well, let me talk to my wife. We'll pray about it, and then we'll decide whether we want a visit." We're not going to do that.
So this is this is our community. This is our brothers and sisters. And we want to, we want to live like we're a community and live like we're family. And this is, and we're given opportunities to do that in different ways. And so we have safe water projects, as Brad said, relief and shelter, medical programs.
We have a wonderful therapeutic feeding program, which is focusing on malnourished children, mostly, and mothers, nursing mothers, and pregnant women. And that's last year we we had we served over twenty eight thousand people who were suffering from what's called severe. Wasting, which is like starvation, and that was due to the outreach and and the compassion of our brothers and sisters here.
So it's it's a great privilege to to be one of the less than one percent of American Christians that even know that this crisis exists, and be then motivated and empowered to do something about it. And we just invite people to join our team and join our family.
Well, I dedicated my most recent book to Big Stu. I guess I call it a dedication, and the reason I bring that up is because Big Stu was very grateful. Speaking of gratitude, for the Persecution Project Foundation, he loved you guys. He would always say, "Brad Phillips is the real deal." He loved you. He loved your dad, your whole family, Brad.
He's in heaven right now, and who knows? Maybe he's hugging one of these pastors who just got killed in the Newba Mountains for their faith in Christ, for standing up for righteousness. And Brad, I want to get out of here, but I want to ask you as we close. You know, you started this ministry. God used you as part of this, and so many folks helped.
You know, your dad, other other folks helped be a part of this. You know, in your board of directors and just folks have financially supported. By the way, I walked into the den. My mom was working under Scripture the other night, and randomly, I don't even think she knew we were going to. I was going to be seeing you guys out here.
She said. She said, "Junior, I want to get. I want to write a check to the Pershing Project Foundation. I want to send them some money." I'm like, "Okay." And of course, knowing what's going on over there, I'm like, "You couldn't have picked a better time, Mom." Is we need we need Bibles, we need mosquito nets, we need medicine, we need help, and these dear saints are just they're just amazing. You want to see gratitude?
Go look in the eyes of these Sudanese. Brothers and sisters in Christ who have suffered so much, yet they're so grateful. They have so little, and they've been through so much. But there's far more grateful than some of these crumudgeony, complaining, grumbling American Christians.
So, folks, we can learn from them, and we can support them. Brad, your vision for this ministry moving forward, your vision for Sudan. Can you just talk about that, like in your from your heart, and your prayer for this country, having been involved in this ministry for so long? What would you say as we get out of here? Yeah.
Well, first, I would just—I love your dad and your mom. Your whole family have been just such a wonderful part of my life and of this work. And from the very beginning, actually, and your dad was always just a fountain of wisdom and great advice through some some different challenges that we faced. Personally, and as a ministry, so I thank God every day for him, and for your mom, and for you. You know, my desire is for us to be effective in helping to be an encouragement.
To our church family there in Sudan, so that they can continue to stand, so that they can be more effective. The political winds shift all the time. We don't know the future. Nothing takes God by surprise. We were surprised this year by some terrible, terrible things that happened.
Matt and I have never seen the destruction that we've witnessed personally on the ground ourselves this year and. It's shaken us, but God is not shaken, and my my my prayer from the beginning and even now is still just that God would would help us to be more effective, more faithful, and in representing Christ's love to the lost, but also to our church family there, and and that's it. You can learn more at the website. What's that website again, Matt Chancy? Persecutionproject.org.
Please visit us today, and and let's. We can't wait to hear from you. Take a minute, friends, before your head hits the pillow tonight, and just say a prayer. Maybe with your family, maybe with your grandparents. Just say a prayer for your brothers and sisters in Christ, your extended family that is in the Sudan right now.
Just lift them up before the Lord, and let's watch what God's going to do there. Let's pray for a revival to happen. It's happening because of friends like this that are doing something, and because of you and your amazing support.
