Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Jim Kinney at Baker Academic for his continual encouragement and support, and to Tim West, one of the best editors in the trade. I am also grateful to those who encouraged this book along the way, including Rolland Baker, R. T. Kendall, Stacey Campbell, and Rob Covell.
A special thanks to Kim Maas. When she was moderating a conference session in Nashville with Jack Deere and me on October 20, 2023, she asked what we believe the church needs for the future. I noted that most of the church in the US isn’t ready for suffering and that we need to get ready. Kim then publicly declared, “The church needs a book about suffering, and whenever I pray about it, you come to my mind.” She had no idea that I had been discussing such a book with publishers, just waiting for a break in my schedule to write it.
I am grateful to ministries to the persecuted church for their news reports, which supplied many accounts provided in this book. Just as all the author’s royalties for Miracles Today have gone to compassion ministries, so all those from this book are going to ministries serving the persecuted church.