Andy Coleman
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First Person is produced in cooperation with the Far East Broadcasting Company, who rejoice in the stories of changed lives through the power of Jesus Christ. Learn more at febc.org. We as Christians need to be dialed in to what's going on with our brothers and sisters in Christ. So few know anything about what's going on with some of these cases overseas, and we need to find ways that we can dial in, we can stay apprised of what's happening.

Welcome to this week's edition of First Person. I'm Wayne Shepherd, and the guest you're about to meet is Andy Coleman of the Christian Emergency Alliance. We'll learn about Andy and this ministry equipping Christians to stand enduring persecution and hardship. So stay with us. First Person is supported by the Far East Broadcasting Company, which is dedicated to reaching the world for Christ through radio and new media.

Learn more about FEBC's mission when you visit febc.org. And learn more about this program when you visit firstpersoninterview.com. The Christian Emergency Alliance raises awareness about the persecuted church in the world and globally supports our brothers and sisters with Bibles, financial aid, and other resources. It was started by Andy Coleman, who is both founder and president of this Oklahoma-based organization.

For a fuller explanation of the Alliance and what it does, I invited Andy, who also is the author of Days of Darkness, a manual for ordinary Christians facing unusual days, to join me in conversation. The Christian Emergency Alliance is a small ministry that stood up in 2020, and we strive to help the persecuted church and the suffering church in difficult parts of the world. We

We also like to come alongside and help Christians in other parts of the world who sense that the temperature is ticking up for them socially. They're not always sure how to respond, but we borrow experiences and insights and lessons from the persecuted to help distill that into insightful lessons for Christians around the world.

And really just mark out that there's no us and them. We're in this together. We're one spiritual family. And we just like to come alongside and strengthen the church so that it can stand up under pressure. Well, that prompts a lot of questions in my mind, but we'll hold on those for the moment. I want to learn about you and how God has prepared and called you to this ministry. So introduce us to Andy Coleman. Yeah, my background is a weird one. It's a winding road. And in fact, many times, many iterations over my life,

God was at work when I didn't realize it. I came to faith as a late teenager.

ended up going into the military. I went to the Air Force Academy and, you know, I had best laid plans, even from a young age, from about the time I was 14, I knew exactly what I was going to do, what year. And many times those plans went bust. They just didn't play out the way I expected. Or what often happened is they played out on a delayed timeline. It just didn't sync up the way I wanted it. And I would get really mad at

I'd get really bitter and been out of shape.

And but eventually what I looked at as the years passed is I recognize that God was doing things in my life that I didn't realize. And he was in many ways, they were hardships I had to go through, but they were severe mercies. I was actually being molded through those experiences. So, for example, you know, I went into the Air Force thinking I was going to fly, but discovered I really loved flying.

international dynamics, things on the ground, different cultures. And so I ended up working on the ground in the Middle East, which I originally planned on working overseas in a different billet, a different job, but God arranged it so that I would be with this Middle East unit. And I started getting smart on 27 countries across North Africa and the Middle East.

And, you know, I didn't know it at the time, but it was really in preparation for ministry. And I also have to point out that God blessed me at an early age getting married. I got married at 23, and my wife has been with me through thick and thin. She was in it when I was doing my military years. After that, pivoted and went to law school.

practiced law for a season and then left that behind and to join full-time ministry with a large ministry doing help for persecuted Christians across the region, across the North Africa region, across the Middle East.

And she's been with me ever since. So we've worn a few different hats together. I wasn't always sure why things were pieced together the way that God did them. But looking back, it's been interesting to see how things played. Yeah, I'm not surprised by that story. We hear it all the time in retrospect, looking at how

God prepared us when we didn't know it. And somehow you even squeezed in a run for the U.S. House. Yes. You know, that unsuccessful run, unfortunately, but you tried, right? Thank you. Thank you for your service, first of all. And thank you for the vision to be a part of America's government. Well, yeah, and that's a good point. So I was doing ministry in the Middle East for many years. I felt like I had a winning lottery ticket in my pocket.

Even though a lot of people would look at the places I was going and what I was doing and they wouldn't want to touch that with a 10-foot pole. But for me, it was what I was wired to do. But I got hurt at one point. And while I was recovering, I did. I watched the news and I cared deeply about policy. I cared deeply about stewardship. And I ended up running for an open seat for the U.S. House and

And it seemed crazy at the time, but felt very powerfully directed to run for that race. But I essentially had to burn the ship to walk out onto that shore because the countries that I was getting into were very sensitive. And that congressional run put me all over the Internet. And so, like you said, I ended up coming up short. I came a half point short and I wasn't sure what to do. But God directed me to a Christian owned business.

And I had to learn five new industries very quickly, but I really enjoyed it. And it wasn't what I had planned out. But once again, I see God's hand in it. And I'm very, very grateful that I get to do that work and also be involved in this ministry. Well, you described the Christian Emergency Alliance to me as a small ministry. But I would say looking at everything you're doing, it's pretty needed in the world. And thank you for what you're doing. How do you

How do you prioritize when there's so much going on? Well, there is so much going on, and there's so much good stuff going on, and I'm grateful. It's like when we look at different individuals, we realize that, wow, God wired you to be an accountant. God wired you to be an engineer. And for some of us, we're like, oh, my goodness, I wouldn't want to do that ever. But for us, what we felt strongly called to do was,

was to come in a narrow niche and help the church where it was really vulnerable, where it was weak, and it needed attention. So, I have a heart for the persecuted. I had that since I was in the military and I first started to meet Christians in around Baghdad, Iraq. We want to come alongside the church where it's very difficult to be a Christian. We want to encourage them. We want to equip them. We want to stand with them.

And we want to do the same for areas of the church where there's intense suffering and troubles. At the same time, we also, for me, for example, I would come back from some of these trips. I'd be in you name the country and I would come back and I would talk with people back here in the West, in Europe or back home. I'm in Oklahoma.

And Christians, if we were in a conversation, they would hear some of that. It wasn't uncommon for somebody to pull me aside and confide that they were really nervous, that they don't recognize the culture, that it wasn't what they grew up in. All of a sudden, it was wildly unpopular to hold biblical positions. They didn't know how to respond themselves, and they didn't know how to help their kids. They didn't know what to say to their kids.

And so I just recognized that there was a need there as well, that that was also that constituted a weakness in the church in an area for some perspective. Because usually in about five, maybe 10 minutes of meeting somebody like that, sharing a few insights that I had picked up on my travels or working with Christians overseas, I

All of a sudden, they had some context and the world stopped spinning for them. They were able to catch the horizon, get their bearings, and they had a little confidence. They had some pep in their step.

And I was like, wow, we need each other. The persecuted church needs Christians to come in and champion them and help them. And we need Christians who are going through trials to be able to speak into what we're going through because we're stepping into it. It's like when I went into the military, I talked to a few veterans and they were able to just give me some advice. This is what you can expect. This is some things that will actually work out well if you do them. I wouldn't recommend doing this. And

And it didn't make boot camp, it didn't make all that training any easier, but it did give me the context that I could stay balanced. I could recognize what was going on. And it was just a much more successful experience for me than had I just gone in blind. Yeah.

I know you're not practicing law, but it has to be helpful to have that background as you seek to help those who are suffering and persecuted. Yeah, having a law degree certainly helped in many respects, just from understanding how organizations operate. Also, just having an analytical approach to some of these things.

Because in many cases, emotions can run hard. When you're looking at suffering, when you're looking at what people are going through in countries like northern Nigeria or, for example, Manipur, India, the human toll can really grip you. But you need to be able to have that emotion and allow the spirit to move through you so that you can empathize, you can encourage those that are going through troubles emotionally.

But at the same time, you need to see clearly, think clearly, and figure out what is really going to be helpful to the church. And for that respect, I think the military background and building up a comfort level in uncommon areas also really came in very handy. We'll continue learning about the Christian Emergency Alliance with founder Andy Coleman coming up next on First Person.

Hi, I'm Ed Cannon. And as you know, situations around the world are changing quickly. Stay current with FEBC's ministry and get a deeper understanding of people who need to find hope. Hear how you can feel the pulse of God's Spirit moving through the hearts of believers dedicated to reaching the lost. Be sure you join me for the podcast until all have heard. Discover how the gospel is making a difference around the world.

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My guest is Andy Coleman, who is president of the Christian Emergency Alliance. And he's also the author of a book that's coming out in just a week called In Days of Darkness, A Manual for Ordinary Christians Facing Unusual Days. I know you're excited about the book coming out. What's the purpose of the book, Andy? I mentioned those conversations with Christians coming back home from ministry trips that needed just some context.

And really that book in many ways reflects a condensed version of those conversations. It's the context that was helpful to those families and it just connected some dots that not everybody was privy to. Now, it's been on my heart for some time to write that.

But what it does is it just, based off the years of experience going into these areas, working with Christians, some of whom are doing amazing ministry. And unfortunately, sometimes you see some cautionary tales and we want to learn from that.

But it's just putting that all together very simply in a very digestible way, and it is designed so that people can get their bearings. And what I have also discovered is that when I talk about this overseas, when I'm doing my ministry trips, they are really feeling like this is a need for discipleship for their own church members because they're

You know, they may be living under pressure. They may be trying to do all that they can to be faithful despite trials, but they only get to see a narrow piece of what's going on. And I think by being able to connect dots in many different countries, to draw on our history, and even to draw a little bit from my military experience, put it all into a context that was very helpful for Christians of different stripes,

And yeah, it just seems to be a little bit of vitamin, if you will, to strengthen the body and to help them make sense of crazy times. Take us to some of these hotspots that you've visited and know about and you don't have to name names or anything. I know security can be an issue sometimes.

But just talk about where you've been, what you've observed, and what you're able to do to help and assist as you're enabled by people who give to your ministry. Again, most of my time in full-time ministry was bebopping around the hinterlands of countries from Egypt to Pakistan. In recent years, that has expanded into Africa and Asia more extensively.

But for example, we try to be aware and connected in areas where the troubles are ripe. Right now, one of the key regions that is suffering what I would call kinetic persecution, direct physical persecution at an intense scale is northern Nigeria.

There is so much going on there that if it doesn't rise to a certain level, it seems crass to say, but if the body count doesn't reach a certain figure, it doesn't even make any news. Yeah, we don't even know about it, right? We get no coverage of that sort of thing. I think the Democratic Republic of Congo is another example recently that just isn't showing up in the news, although thousands are dying. Right, and so these are areas that we want to be involved in

And we don't have any master plan when we go to countries, when we develop relationships. And we, you know, in many of these countries, it is sensitive, as you alluded to. And that means that relationships are important. But that also means that trust is important and trust takes time to develop. Are you really who you say you are? Are you really going to be careful with what I share with you or not? Are you really going to come in and help or not?

So, we don't have, like I said, no master plan, but instead we come, we listen, we pray, we encourage, we find out how the Lord is already moving in their hearts and in their own ministries.

And if they're capable of doing everything that God's charged them to do, praise God. We'll just be in fellowship with them. But they will know that we exist and that we're there should days happen that go badly. And if they need help immediately, they need quick assistance, they know that there's somebody that they can pull a lever and get some assistance coming.

But sometimes, you know, we're excited to come along the local church in these different areas, and if they're involved in evangelism, if they're involved in discipleship, pastoral training, that which is growing or strengthening the local church in those areas, we get excited by that. And so, if there are unmet needs as far as what God has called it to do, we'll look at that as potential partnership opportunities.

But between persecution response, which comes in different forms, helping the local church, helping indigenous missions, it's just a variety of different projects that is really exciting to learn about and to get behind. You bring such an important point about trust in relationships because I know from experience that many times there are organizations that let people down, to be honest about it. And you have to be careful that you don't overpromise.

And that you deliver and that you're there to basically listen and care and follow through and that those things are so very important. Yeah, and it goes a long way. And we, I look at all of this, I look at the global body and we need to, I

like I keep emphasizing, become stronger. There's elements that are strong in the body, but usually we have some limbs that are weak and they're vulnerable. But we do need to develop those relationships. We do need to build that trust because we need more connective tissue amongst the global body.

We as Christians need to be dialed in to what's going on with our brothers and sisters in Christ. So, for example, you pointed out so few know anything about what's going on with some of these cases overseas. And that's honestly because the mainstream media, it doesn't rise to their level. They don't care that much.

We as Christians do, and we need to find ways that we can dial in. We can stay apprised of what's happening. We strive to do that with our small ministry. You know, right now, I would say on our X or Twitter feed, we're able to share cases that are breaking that hit our radar screen so we can get that news out there. Unfortunately, on some of the other social media outlets, we have been suppressed in some respects because...

The stories were not popular or deemed too serious. So, but that has been an open channel for us. But we need to be looking out for one another. We need to be praying for one another and we need to be engaged in advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. How do you carry the burdens of those that you try to help? I mean, I'm sure emotionally there's a

There's a bit of a charge there, isn't there? Yeah. It's hard. In some respects, I think it falls in line with the call to love our enemies. That's in a human capacity. You see some – I mean, it's easy theoretically to say that. Sure. Yeah, it sure is. But when I'm sitting down with Iraqi and Syrian Christians, all of whom have had their homes, their villages decimated by Islamists –

Some of them are mad. There was a lot of non-Christian in those crowds, but they were very mad and I got it. And on a human level, if it was left up to me, it would be very easy to devolve into just hatred. But we can't. We're called not to do that. And so, it really requires a supernatural move of the Spirit where in circumstances like that, we can lay it at the cross. We can lay it at the cross and pray, "God, take this. I'm not capable of doing this.

But you are, would you move through me and strengthen me to do that? In the same respect, that emotional toll that you asked about, sometimes it's so overwhelming. And the amount of assistance that can be directed or the scale of the problems seems so overwhelming that we're tempted to just give up and raise up our hands.

but it's in moments like that we can lay that at the cross. Lord, please strengthen me. Please remind me that this seems big to me, but you are so much bigger than any of this, that you're not surprised and that you even redeem these situations. You move through the darkness to draw out light and goodness. And in that frame, I just want to put this mention in there. One of the things I talk about in the book, in Days of Darkness, is developing a spiritual hunter mindset.

That's something that I picked up in the military when I was going through combat training. They would drop us off in the mountains pretending we're a downed airman surrounded by enemy infantry hunting for us, and they warned us, "It's so overwhelming. You're cold. You're miserable. You've got nothing. You're going to feel like a rabbit being hunted by wolves. You're going to want to give up and curl up and just let the thing end."

but you're not allowed to do that. Instead, you've got to develop a hunter mindset. Start taking stock of all the things that you do have. You have some rope, you have some clothes on your back, you have some tools, you have a knife. What can you do with that? All of a sudden, you start realizing you can build shelter, you can catch fish, you can lay traps, you can do things to conceal your movements. And all of a sudden, instead of focusing on all the negatives, you're like, wow, I actually have a lot at my disposal.

And when we as Christians start doing that, oh my goodness, we start reminding ourselves, well, we serve the triune God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. He's with us. I'm never alone. I've got a massive body of Christ. I've got Christians out my ears. Even though it seems like I'm all alone, I'm not. The enemy wants to lie to me, but I've got all of these things at my disposal. And instead of running over or running away or giving up,

We really start to engage, and that's where we can actually spiritually go on offense, which I think the church should be doing. That's what we're called to be doing in Scripture. Yeah, yeah.

Just quickly, you're not primarily a humanitarian aid organization, are you? No, we really want to come alongside spiritually the church. We want to, again, help with evangelism, discipleship, strengthening the church. We will do emergency assistance for Christians, hospital bills, legal fees, things like that.

But we want to help people, but by and large, the biggest help to people is going to be strong local churches that are going to help them, but also lead them to Christ. We want that favor to be with a local church so that they're having those conversations, they're developing those relationships, they're developing that trust.

and that people can come to Christ and have their lives truly transformed. Yeah, great way to go about it. Well, we'll put more information, of course, in our program notes at FirstPersonInterview.com, both about the organization, the Christian Emergency Alliance, and the book, which is coming out in just a matter of a week or so from Andy Coleman.

Final question, how can we pray for you in this ministry? What are some of your needs right now? Wonderful question. I would say pray for wisdom and discernment. There's a lot of situations that are murky. They're not always the cleanest cuts, but we still need to engage because our brothers and sisters in Christ are caught in a bad situation.

And I would just say also just draw us, divine appointments, draw us towards others who have a heart for this. That might be just, that might be churches, that might be a missions committee, a men's group, a family group that they want to assist in ways like this.

Well, it was great getting to know Andy and his call to serve persecuted Christians through the Christian Emergency Alliance. If you'd like to learn more about it, please visit FirstPersonInterview.com where we have added links to our program notes. And look for the link to Andy's book there as well, titled Days of Darkness.

Anytime you need additional information about what you hear on First Person, please start with our website and the notes on each interview. You can also download our interviews for convenient listening or sharing by subscribing to us via a podcast app. Just search for First Person with Wayne Shepard and do us a favor by leaving a comment. And again, my thanks to the Far East Broadcasting Company for the support which makes First Person possible. Learn more at febc.org.

Now, with thanks to my friend and producer, Joe Carlson, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Thank you for listening to First Person.