It has been 70 years this month since Brother Andrew made his first trip behind the Iron Curtain, into Communist Eastern Europe. That courageous mission – on 15 July 1955 – was the beginning of the ministry of Open Doors.
GNA reporter Peter Wooding looks back on the impact of the last seven decades of this ministry.
Source: www.opendoorsuk.org / www.opendoors.org
VIDEO SCRIPT
It was 70 years ago this month that a bold Dutch Christian set off for Poland, where he first received his calling to smuggle Bibles behind the Iron Curtain.
Back then in 1955 Brother Andrew who became known around the world as God’s smuggler had no idea of the scale of what that calling would become. Today 7 decades later the ministry he founded Open Doors continues to stand with persecuted Christians across the globe.
In 1975 he spoke to Pat Robertson on the Christian Broadcasting Network about the miracles he constantly saw whenever he prayed what he called the Smuggler’s Prayer..
When I say Lord Jesus when you were on earth you made so many blind eyes to see now it’s the same job for you to make seeing eyes blind. You’ve got to do it now. And if He doesn’t then I’ve had it. I cannot outsmart the customs guards. You think when I bring my car in there and I get out and show my papers, I’ve had situations where they took four hours to search. Two people in the front of the vehicle, two in the rear, two underneath. And they’re standing there to watch the expression on my face to see if I was getting nervous. What can you do.
Pat Robertson: And all the time they couldn’t find the Bibles?
Brother Andrew: I never lost one Bible in 20 years
Then in 1981 Open Doors coordinated the remarkable delivery of a million Bibles into China on a ship in just one night.
Paul Estabrooks who headed up that historic Bible Distribution looks back on the incredible legacy of what was called Project Pearl..
A young man who was a house church pastor and he had been praying for years for a Bible of his own, but one day his prayer was finally answered and he received one of the Project Pearl Bibles and he became an itinerant evangelist travelling around the countryside using that Project Pearl Bible. And now he was the leader of a network of 400,000 believers. They were leading people to the Lord at a rate of 20,000 a month.
And three years after Brother Andrew passed away his legacy carries on today as Open Doors continues to support the persecuted church in 60 countries around the world.
Story Provided By:
Open Doors UK
Recording Location
Europe
Organization featured in this Story
Open Doors UK – www.opendoorsuk.org
People Interviewed and their Titles
Brother Andrew – Open Doors Founder
Paul Estabrooks – Project Pearl Leader
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