Tonight at Cape Town, we learned about the persecuted church. That our Chinese brothers and sisters were not there made me cry. We stood and prayed, indicating that our empty seats were for them. They have a seat at the table. They sent us convicting scriptures, and a song whose words spoke of the love of God for China. Doug Birdsall said having the Chinese believers with us was “our fondest hope.”

Part of the words to the song included:

The Lord’s love for China

Generations after generations

Nights after nights

They long for Christ to come.

A little later a Korean girl, 18 years old, stood before us with no explanation. She read her testimony to us, having lived in North Korea, then experiencing persecution. Her father was imprisoned, then later released a few years later while she lived in China. Her pregnant mother died of leukemia. And when her father was imprisoned a second time, a missionary family took her in. She doesn’t know to this day what happened to her father. In a dream, Jesus came to her and asked her to follow Him. She did. When the family had to relocate to the states, she chose to move to South Korea. She’ll be attending university in order to help bring justice to her homeland.

We rose to our feet when she asked us not to forget the people of North Korea. And we stayed there until she returned to bow. Stunning, really. I wish you could’ve been here to experience her heartfelt plea.

May it be that we not forget those in China who couldn’t come to this Congress. And may it be that we step up our prayers and support of the people of North Korea.