News & Stories

Iraqi Youth Pastor Free

April 13, 2007

Kidnapped youth pastor ****, of the Evangelical Alliance Church in Baghdad, was released Friday, April 13, at approximately 3 p.m. Iraq time. Arie Verduyn, president of Alliance World Fellowship, spoke with **** briefly. “He sounded very tired,” says Verduyn, “but is immensely grateful.” During ****’s captivity, he was not allowed to change clothes nor drink much water, but he said, ‘I sensed that God was with me and talked to me all the time.’”
Shortly before ****’s release, his kidnappers gave him a big bag with identification cards, told him the cards belonged to people they had killed, and was ordered to look for his own. “They told him, ‘We don’t know why, but we will not kill you,” reports Verduyn. “But we do know why. We have received many messages from around the world of people praying for the release of our brother!”
As Verduyn spoke with the pastor who pastors the Alliance church in Baghdad, he heard shouts of joy in the background. The pastor was at ****’s house with his family and church members, who were singing and praising God. “Yes, our Redeemer lives!”