Guide Helps Christians Discover 'Extreme Devotion'
by Allie Martin
November 6, 2003
(AgapePress) - One ministry is encouraging Christians to spend a year with the persecuted Church -- without ever leaving home.The Oklahoma-based ministry Voice of the Martyrs has released a new book titled Extreme Devotion (W Publishing Group). The book consists of 365 daily devotions, each with a brief story about the Persecuted Church and a short Bible reading.
Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs says believers in the United States need to be reminded of the plight of persecuted Christians in countries that are oppressive or hostile to the Church.
"Most of the time, we have a great deal of freedom," he says, "and one of the side effects of that is that we have a tendency to be a little bit lazy. This book is a great reminder that there is a cost to be paid for following Jesus Christ."
According to the VOM spokesman, Extreme Devotion is different from most other devotional books. For instance, he explains, rather than having devotional readings organized by the specific calendar date, the book simply numbers the devotions, Day 1 through Day 365, and offers encouragement and challenge for each day.
"You can start today, you can start tomorrow, in using this devotional for a year. We just feel like anybody who spends a year reading this devotional and being encouraged is going to be blessed by the experience," Nettleton says.
Extreme Devotion is a follow-up to Jesus Freaks, a two-volume series of books about past and present-day Christian martyrs.
