VOMRadio - AFGHANISTAN: "Once You Begin to See What God Can Do…"

March 28, 2026·25 min·2 clips

Tom Little, an optometrist, was killed with his team while providing eye care in remote Afghanistan.

Host Todd Nettleton continues his interview with "Brother Matthew," a gospel worker in Central Asia, focusing on his experiences in Afghanistan. Matthew describes the 2010 murder of optometrist Tom Little and nine others during a medical mission in the Barachshan Mountains. He recounts a 2013 attack where Taliban fighters opened fire on workers building a girls' school, killing an Afghan principal. Matthew details the 2014 killings of two European nurse volunteers and a doctor at a Kabul hospital by a guard he had greeted for nine years. He also mentions the murder of South African missionary Werner Gronewald and his two teenage children that same year. Matthew explains that these losses forced daily, sobering decisions about remaining in the country. A pivotal moment was seeing the first person come to faith in a historically unreached village after four years of work. He met his wife on a short-term team and they raised their children in Afghanistan, facing judgment from others for bringing kids into a war zone. Matthew estimates the known Afghan believer count grew from about five people to over 12,000 before the Taliban's 2021 return. He broadens the scope to Central Asia, noting the church is young and small but growing, especially in Iran. Matthew argues the global church lacks not a calling but a response, urging listeners to make missions a life commitment, not a short-term activity. He invites those feeling called to Central Asia to reach out via email for connection. The episode concludes with a call to pray for boldness and multiplication for local believers and missionaries across the region. The tone is pastoral, reflective, and inspirational, blending personal narrative with evangelical teaching. Listeners interested in missionary work, modern Christian persecution, or Central Asian geopolitics will find this compelling. Those seeking secular analysis or who are uncomfortable with proselytizing narratives might choose to skip it.

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