Andrew Brunson

in different scenarios.

To free Pastor Brunson in Turkey, you write about, to get federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe.

And a lot of things the press never knew about.

[laughs]

And it was, it was a very powerful time to kind of come together and sit at the feet of these individuals and listen to them and what they have learned by the persecution that they've gone through.

And one of the times that we were together, um, we had a very special speaker, Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has just been appointed by the Trump administration to serve a role in the government to be a voice for the persecuted church.

In fact, this week he takes his post, and it was very exciting to have him at our Voice of the Persecuted meeting because of the time that he spent in a Turkish prison because of his faith.

In fact, he was given more than three life sentences.

John was punished by being exiled to the island of Patmos.

And yet we had many generations that follow after those disciples doing the exact same thing, sacrificing themselves for the exact same reason.

And while we were there, Pastor Andrew Brunson, one of the pastors, because we had Brother Yun who came, we had Isaac, son of the underground who came, we had Sister Esther who had been thrown in prison in both China and North Korea who came, we had Brother Joseph who is the brother of Shagufta who was put on death row who came, and all of these individuals shared with us stories and lessons and experiences of what the persecuted church is going through today in Muslim countries, in Hindu countries, in Buddhist countries, in communist countries.

And they brought a warning.

A few years ago, it was the girls from Chibok in Nigeria that were kidnapped.

It was Pastor Andrew Brunson being put on trial in Turkey.

But it's kind of one time a year that sort of the national media talks about our persecuted brothers and sisters.

The thing to understand, I think the reason for that is one, Typically, they see it in terms of a human rights issue.

She's the granddaughter of evangelist Billy Graham and the daughter of evangelical leader Franklin Graham.

The president is also appointing three people to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom: the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, Bishop Robert Barron; a former Christian missionary to Turkey, Andrew Brunson, who now leads a ministry focused on persecuted Christians; and Joe Grogan, a former director of the U.S.

Domestic Policy Council and a former assistant to President Trump.

Jason DeRose, NPR News.

I think one thing that's not fully appreciated is the extent to which President Trump does advocate for political prisoners.

In his first term, there was Pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey that he was able to free through his personal intervention.

We saw Pastor Ezra Jin.

But if you go beyond China, he's been very successful in getting people freed from Belarus.