Andrew Craig Brunson is a pastor from North Carolina who, for the past twenty-three years, has lived in Turkey with his wife and three children.  He was the pastor of the Izmir Diriliş (the Resurrection) Church, a small evangelical Presbyterian congregation in the city of Izmir with about twenty-five members.

Growing up and going to various Christian youth groups, I always heard one common theme that made me scoff. The leader would get up in front and say something to the extent of, ‘What if someone from the government came to your high school and ordered all the Christians to