"Pastors were killed and pastors were crucified"

[Peter]

PDF http://www.missionfest.org/Files/File/MediaCoverage/CP-March907.pdf
Question of Franklin Graham

On Sudan

CP: What is the significance of the ambitious project to rebuild 600 churches in Sudan? Why
Sudan when there are other countries where Christians are also persecuted and churches are also
burned?
Graham: The world is a big place and sometimes God just puts you in a situation and you don't really
know why. We (Samaritan's Purse) have been involved in Sudan for about 15 years.
This is an area in the world that the Muslims declared a holy war against the church of Jesus Christ and it
was president al-Bashir who said that by the year 2000 he was going to annihilate the church in the south.
It didn't happen. As a matter fact, it so much so didn't happen that he was forced to sign a peace
agreement with the south and now there is a little bit of peace there.
We have found so far 500 churches that have been destroyed. When I say destroyed I mean brick by
brick pulled down. Pastors were killed and pastors were crucified. At some churches the whole
congregation was burned inside the church and people were scattered. They would also take a pastor's
wife and his daughters and rape them in front of him.
All of this was done to make the church flee and run.
3
The five hundred churches that we have cataloged so far are only on the west side of the Nile River and
we haven't even begun to look on the east side of the Nile. The Nile sort of splits the country in half so we
think there is over 1,000 churches and I want to build every one of them back. Not 600 but I want to build
1,000 of them back.
The criteria for rebuilding a church is one that still has a congregation that is meeting out under trees or in
the bush and the church has to have been destroyed during the war. If it hadn't been destroyed during the
war then we are not going to build it back.