At SOM International, God has introduced us to a special person, a remarkable leader, in every region where we serve. Each one of these leaders has the same things in common.

• Jesus found them and saved them.
• They have a consuming passion to reach their own country for Jesus.
• They hear and obey God every day…no matter what.

God gave us a name for “no matter what”—the spirit of martyrdom. It means we depend on God’s Spirit to radically love others by telling them about Jesus, no matter what.

It’s better to show you what it means to love this way. Here’s how our CEO David Witt met Russell Stendal, a missionary in Colombia.

Russell Stendal and David Witt had flown deep into the jungle of eastern Colombia to share the Gospel, give the soldiers Bibles and Christian books, and get a military representative to work with them to negotiate the release of hostages. David and Russell were sharing the Gospel with a Colombian military colonel when they were interrupted. Russell described what happened next.

“We were busy evangelizing the Colombian colonel, who didn’t like the idea of his captain going with us to negotiate with the guerrillas . . . and then the guerrillas attacked. . . . They scrambled the helicopters, and there was this awful firefight going on at the end of the runway we’d just landed on.”