Every day on The Worldview, we feature another story of the persecution of believers somewhere around the world. Well, today, on Generations Radio, guest host Adam McManus interviews Michael Parves, a 61-year-old native Pakistani missionary, whom McManus met personally at church in San Antonio, Texas, who has experienced persecution first hand.
After growing up as a nominal Catholic who attended church twice a year, God got Michael's attention in 1993 when he miraculously survived a train crashing into his car. Since he trusted Christ as Savior, he has planted 33 churches!
But Satan hates to see the advancement of God’s Kingdom. So, in the Muslim-majority country, Michael's spiritual antagonists have burned down three separate homes of his in 2007, 2013, and 2020—all because he refuses to deny Christ and follow Allah. Plus, his eldest son was kidnapped in 2013, tortured for two weeks, and left for dead at 12 midnight in the street. Open Doors lists Pakistan as the seventh most dangerous country to be a Christian.
Five years ago, Michael founded an orphanage which now houses 87 children. (It costs $30/month to provide food, clothing, and medical care per child.) Providing food for the kids has become increasingly difficult with the skyrocketing 42% inflation rate. That’s why they’re raising the funds to build a self-sustaining chicken farm with 400 chickens outside the city. That will enable them to both provide cost-effective eggs and chicken meat for the orphanage, as well as a desperately-needed income stream.
Send a donation made out to: Rio Grande Valley Prayer Center, their sister organization here in America, 3106 Harmony Lane, Mission, TX 78574. Write: “Pakistan Mission” in the memo. The prayer center then wires the money to a nearby bank in Pakistan.
Homeschooled himself in the 1960's and 70's, Kevin Swanson and his wife, Brenda, are now homeschooling their five children. Since graduating from his homeschool and then serving as student body president of a large west coast university, he has gone on to other leadership positions in corporate management, church, and other non-profits.