Ellen Vaughn Asks “Do You Trust God or Not?” Faith in the Middle of Suffering

Join Steve Cuss and author Ellen Vaughn, who once rode a rusty, cracked-fuselage Russian helicopter across Cambodia—and arrived to hear children from a local church orphanage singing “This Is the Day” in English, as they unpack stories from God’s Expansive Kingdom. Ellen’s chat with Steve captures the stories behind her book What Jesus Started: churches thriving in places marked by poverty, persecution, and violence. Vaughn reflects on what she learned from believers who don’t expect life to be easy, including the astonishing freedom of a Rwandan pastor who forgave the neighbor who killed members of his family. She also talks candidly about her husband Lee’s decade-long battle with brain cancer, Chuck Colson’s publishing integrity, and why the church must remain independent of political power.
More from Ellen Vaughn:

• Ellen Vaughn’s What Jesus Started: The World-Changing Power of the Local Church (amazon.com/What-Jesus-Started-World-Changing-I…)

• More about C.S. Lewis Institute (cslewisinstitute.org/about-cs-lewis-institute)

• More about The Killing Fields (lawliberty.org/the-tragedy-and-triumph-of-the-…)

• Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship (prisonfellowship.org/about/chuck-colson)

• Charles Colson with Ellen Santilli Vaughn’s The Body (amazon.com/Body-Being-Light-Darkness/dp/084990…)

Episode Resources:

• More about Ellen Vaughn (ellenvaughn.com)

• Ellen Vaughn’s Being Elisabeth Elliot: The Authorized Biography: Elisabeth’s Later Years (amazon.com/Being-Elisabeth-Elliot-Authorized-E…)

• Ellen Vaughn’s Becoming Elisabeth Elliot (amazon.com/Becoming-Elisabeth-Elliot-Ellen-Vau…)

Scripture Referenced:

• Genesis 28:16 (esv.org/verses/Genesis+28:16) (ESV)

• John 1:5 (esv.org/verses/John+1:5) (ESV)

• Psalm 118:24 (esv.org/Psalm+118) (ESV)

• Philippians 1:21 (esv.org/verses/Philippians+1:21)(ESV)

• 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (esv.org/verses/2+Corinthians+1:3%E2%80%934) (ESV)

• John 16:33 (esv.org/verses/John+16:33) (ESV)

• 2 Corinthians 5:7 (esv.org/verses/2+Corinthians+5:7)(ESV)

• Isaiah 45:7 (esv.org/Isaiah+45) (ESV)

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