Two messages came in this week; let me walk you through them in the order they came in.
The first came from one of our regional team leaders in Niger State, Nigeria. His village was attacked and two of his brothers were killed. Our team relocated him to a nearby town quickly and covered his rent, so he had somewhere to land before things got worse. When we asked what made him decide to leave when he did, he didn’t point to any danger assessment or logistics plan. He simply said he listened to the Holy Spirit, and left it at that.
The second came in an hour after that, from a partner pastor we’ve worked with since December — Pastor Shadrach, serving in Sakaba Local Government Area, Kebbi State, in a community called Imba. He sent us a distress call along with a video.
It’s Sunday morning, the first Sunday of July. Pastor Shadrach is filming on his phone from the edge of a river. Word had come through that bandits were on their way, and it hit while the church was still in the middle of the morning service. What you see in the video is what happened next: children, adults, an elderly woman he points out by name, all gathered at a river running high and fast, with one canoe between them, carrying four or five people at a time. He says the bandits were about five kilometers away while he was filming, asking for prayer.
In the middle of that, Pastor Shadrach looks straight into the phone and says: “Please pray with us, everywhere you are. Anywhere you come across this video, please remember us in your prayer, that God will give us peace in this community.” He asked for this to be shared. So we’re sharing it.
Pray for the team leader in Niger State, grieving two brothers while starting over somewhere he didn’t choose. Pray for Pastor Shadrach and everyone who crossed that river in Imba. Pray for the roughly 100 people reportedly taken near his community. And pray for peace over that whole area, since that’s the one thing Pastor Shadrach actually asked us for.
If you’re able to give toward emergency relocation costs for displaced team members like these, reach out to us directly — this is exactly what those funds are covering right now.
Part of the video is below:
