Along with Christians and other faith-based groups, the Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) Coalition has been raising awareness about Brunson's plight, as well as advocating for his release. The STPC Coalition and other groups rejoiced last week, as the North Carolina pastor was moved from his jail cell to house arrest.
The STPC Coalition was part of the recent international "Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom," the first-ever event from the U.S. State Department that is now scheduled to occur annually. Brunson's release was a central topic of the Ministerial, and attendees heard a moving testimony from Brunson's daughter, Jacqueline Furnari.
STPC Coalition member Faith McDonnell, who serves as Director of Religious Liberty Programs at The Institute on Religion & Democracy, attended the Ministerial and heard Furnari's impassioned address regarding her father.
At Brunson's hearing on July 18, the Turkish court had ruled to keep the pastor in prison, at least until his next hearing Oct. 12. His move several days later to house arrest was a hopeful sign.
Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy and a Coalition member, said the Trump administration has broken new ground in the fight to advance mankind's divinely conferred and unalienable right to religious freedom by explicitly holding the Turkish government accountable for its persecution of Pastor Brunson.
Millions of Christians are praying for Brunson's release, and groups such as the STPC Coalition are working to bring him home. The Trump administration has also been active, and the American Center for Law and Justice also started a petition on Brunson's behalf, at this point signed by nearly 600,000.
With such staggering statistics, and the knowledge that most of these crimes are not covered in the media, the STPC Coalition developed a special news aggregator—www.ChristianPersecutionNews.com—to capture those present-day stories of persecution that do make the news and to provide Coalition members an easy way to share these heartbreaking stories with others.
One of the ways Americans can render support is by encouraging their pastors and faith leaders to visit www.SaveThePersecutedChristians.org and order a free banner to display in front of their houses of worship. These simple banners feature a graphic "Save Us" plea with a cross and the coalition's website where Americans can learn about the global persecution of Christians and find out more about what they can do to help stop the violence.
With so much of the world's population attacked, imprisoned or exiled for their beliefs – much like Pastor Brunson has been – the time is fitting for the work of the STPC Coalition. The Coalition is a building movement like one in the 1970s that helped free another population suffering from heavy persecution—Soviet Jews—so as to impel policy changes that will hold the persecutors accountable and increase the costs for their crimes against humanity. Building such a movement is necessary to provide American policymakers the leverage needed to influence change worldwide and to alleviate the suffering of those who are being persecuted merely because of their faith in Jesus Christ.