In Travels to Danger Zones, He Brings Compassion of Christ
by Mark Ellis
June 14, 2007
LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- Gunshots rang out on Firdos Square, only a few weeks after Saddam's statue was toppled there with the help of U.S. forces. One ex-Marine in close proximity to the barrage of bullets knew exactly what to do -- he hit the pavement on all fours."I know what gunfire sounds like," says Norm Nelson, president and host of Compassion Radio. Nelson had ventured outside the Petra Hotel in Baghdad to place a satellite call when the unwelcome sounds pierced any semblance of tranquility. His wife, Cher, heard the gunfire from their hotel room and was alarmed.
Norm crouched low between two cars and scanned the distance to his hotel's front door, then leaped to his feet and started to sprint. "I ran for the door and shots rang out again," he recalls. He is thankful he made it back to the room and his wife's embrace.
On another visit to Iraq last year, there was a bombing in the neighborhood Nelson visited the day before he arrived, and the day after he left. "I've traveled the entire length of Iraq, but in my six trips there I've never been in the Green Zone," he notes, referring to the heavily protected area set up in Baghdad by U.S. Forces. "I've only been in the streets with real people."
As "boots-on-the-ground" media activists, Norm and Cher Nelson have visited more than 150 countries, where they record and broadcast reports from areas of intense human suffering and conflict and provide humanitarian aid to people who are in desperate need. Their approach to radio is markedly different from the long-running devotional program broadcast by Norm's father, Wilbur, known as "The Morning Chapel Hour."
Norm remade the program and the ministry in 1995 as he sought to engage listeners in his quest to reach needy people in some of the most difficult parts of the world. He and Cher have planted seeds of compassion in virtually every danger zone on earth.
"Dad had a real heart for the mission of the church and I grew up with missionaries visiting our church and in our home," Norm says. "They were adventurous and they were my heroes." As a teenager, Norm rode in Nate Saint's plane before the missionary pilot was martyred by the Waodani tribe in Ecuador. At Nate Saint's memorial service, Nelson walked solemnly to the altar and committed his life to serve the Lord with the kind of courage exemplified by Saint. "Guys like Nate and Jim Elliot were my 'rock stars'," he says.
Another more recent inspiration for Nelson's ministry vision has come from Brother Andrew, the legendary Christian activist. "Brother Andrew is my hero, my model," Nelson says. "I've been privileged to travel with him. He's right when he says that doors everywhere are open to people of faith who have a message of God's love, reconciliation, and compassion."
Nelson walked through an open door recently in Sudan, where high-level contacts paved the way for an unusual educational project. The administration of current Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir invited former President Jaafar al-Nimeiri to build a public university bearing his name as an inducement to bring Nimeiri into Sudan's new coalition government.
Through Nelson's friendship with a Sudanese-American close to Nimeiri, Nelson was asked to take the lead in planning the new school. Many Christians in southern Sudan have bitter feelings toward Nimeiri, due to his imposition of sharia law in 1983, an act that triggered a two decade-long civil war. But Nelson is willing to see beyond the painful memories to encourage a reformist vision as the planning process for the school moves forward
"So far, so good," he says, concerning the project. "We can't impose our educational philosophies. It will be a Sudanese university. But, so far, our Sudanese partners are embracing a progressive model, and that's exciting."
"We've had an American group of Christian academics - all PhD's - meeting on a regular basis in Khartoum with Sudanese academics and government officials," Nelson says. "The objective is to create a secular, transformational university educating students from all over Africa."
The school will contribute to the political and economic reform of Sudan. According to Nelson, "Many Sudanese leaders and educators are ambitious to develop Sudan's enormous potential. They are quite capable and enlightened as to what such development entails."
At the same time the Nelsons express the compassion of Jesus by involving themselves in relief efforts for refugees in Darfur. "Americans would be surprised at how cooperative the Sudanese government has been in enabling us to work among the refugees in Darfur. We do not approach the government in an accusatory way. We seek to be trustworthy ourselves and to build relationships. We come to them as people of faith . . . not as Americans."
In addition, Compassion Radio has an outreach to Christian refugees who come to Sudan fleeing religious persecution in neighboring Eritrea.
The Nelsons also visited Nigeria recently. They were privileged to have Sunday brunch with Nigerian President Obasanjo. They spent time at faith-based clinics supported by U.S. taxpayer dollars. "We visited clinics that were packed to the rafters with HIV/AIDS patients - at all stages of living and dying," he reports. At one clinic in the city of Jos, 13,000 people come each month to receive treatment. "The money funding this comes from our government. The Bush administration deserves credit for extending this aid."
While encouraged by government-funded projects, Nelson is also mindful of what the church can do in response to such needs. Nelson plans to launch an HIV/AIDS ministry in Nigeria in response to his visit.
"If the church of Jesus Christ in America really got its priorities right, we could literally transform the world's material and spiritual condition. But we would have to be willing to sacrifice," Nelson says. "People such as Bono show us that if we think big and commit to action we can do it. The resources available to the church are enormous, but we waste them on our insatiable appetite for comfort and entertainment. The living Christ is not impressed with our self-centered lifestyle in the midst of so much need."
A wealthy Muslim businessman in Kuwait - who is also an Islamic scholar -- complained to Nelson about the "pornographic" films and television programming coming from the U.S. "Why don't you give us more of Jesus?" he asked. Then he proposed they launch a television show in Kuwait to discuss Jesus and Mohammad. "People in other nations notice our failures," Nelson said. "We need to clean up our own act at home."
Nelson is planning to visit Iran this summer, and believes it has the potential to be a "breakthrough nation," if the U.S. doesn't adopt an unwise political or military strategy.
Before the U.S. invaded Iraq, Nelson was wary of possible disaster. "We are completely unable to control what Iraq is going to become," Nelson says. "I said several years ago there is a strong possibility of it becoming a Shiite theocracy and nothing has changed my mind in that regard. Frankly, it is a bit arrogant for us to assume we can control the world."
"I firmly believe that Jesus Christ is in control of history and He is working for good in all these so-called difficult places," he says. "There really are no boundaries in our world. When you actually love your enemy, extend hands of help, when you seek reconciliation, Jesus Christ is pleased. And if we are pleasing Him, we really have nothing to fear from terrorists or anyone else."
Compassion Radio serves in 30 countries around the world, offering compassionate assistance and building bridges of reconciliation.
Before the end of 2007, the Nelsons will pay return visits to Iran, Iraq and North Korea, a trio of nations they describe as "the axis of opportunity." It's in such places they seem to thrive.
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
