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A Voice for the Silenced

April 3, 2015

“These are only two people off of that wall and that wall contained only a handful of people who were and currently are being persecuted for their beliefs.”

My name is Kendall Smith, and I’m passionate about ending slavery and reaching the world with the Gospel. Here is my story on how God revealed this to me.

One day while attending my uncle’s house church, I noticed a wall filled with pictures of people. As we began to pray for these men and women; I learned that they were evangelist who were imprisoned for spreading the Gospel. I felt so naive because I didn’t know this was a possibility. I knew there were people spreading the gospel and I knew there were people who hated Christians, but I never thought one would affect the other. Later that night, my uncle went on to educate me and my heart was broken. He told me of a man on that wall who was in North Africa spreading the gospel, when the local government found out and arrested him, there was no new information about him for 3 years. This man, who truly loved God, and believed in the life changing reality surrounding a relationship with Him, and who believed in eternal life in heaven, dedicated his life toÂ sharing this with others and was imprisoned for it. A woman on the wall (another evangelist) was held captive, tortured, and killed. These are only two people off of that wall and that wall contained only a handful of people who were and currently are being persecuted for their beliefs.

As I grew to know God’s heart, I asked Him about the children and about the fighting Christians, and finally got an answer that fueled me.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

As a Christian, we are called to obey His teachings and take up our cross alongside of Him.

Once this was revealed to me, a few other scriptures guided me:

1 Corinthians 16:14- “let all that you do be done in love”
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Hebrews 13:3 “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering”
Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

I am writing this blog to inform, advocate, and provide support through prayer. God has placed a special grip on my heart for people who deserve to be fought for, but are pushed aside.

My focus will be on:

Impoverished people
Unreached people groups
Evangelists
Victims of violence, through slave trafficking

Statistics from dosomething.org

Globally, the average cost of a slave is $90.
Trafficking primarily involves exploitation which comes in many forms, including: forcing victims into prostitution, subjecting victims to slavery or involuntary servitude and compelling victims to commit sex acts for the purpose of creating pornography.
According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation.
There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today.
According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of which 80% are female and half are children.
Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year.
Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry (behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking). It reportedly generates a profit of $32 billion every year. Of that number, $15.5 billion is made in industrialized countries.

Statistics provided by joshuaproject.net

1,390 people groups in the 10/40 Window have neither Scripture portions or the Jesus film available in their primary language, comprising 260,000,000 individuals.
10,187 people groups have the New Testament available in their primary language, totaling 6,352,000,000 individuals.
11 of Sudan’s 165 people groups have Christianity as their primary religion, and 130 have Islam as their primary religion.
2,001,000,000 individuals live in people groups (5,235) with very few, if any, believers.
2,630 people groups totaling 195,000,000 individuals have neither Scripture, the Jesus film, or Christian recordings available in their primary language.
2,670 people groups in the world have neither Scripture portions or audio recordings available in their primary language, comprising 204,000,000 individuals.
2080 people groups reside in more than one country, summing to 6,042,000,000 individuals.
3,185 people groups in South Asia are least-reached, totaling 1,575,000,000 individuals.
339 of the 550 people groups in China do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language.
35 of the 78 people groups in Afghanistan do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language.
There are some 458,000 villages in India with no known Christian presence.