Glenn Penner wings his way to Heaven

There are angels named Michael and Gabriel. Now there is an angel named Glenn. Guardian Angel of the highly regarded Voice of the Martyrs-Canada, Glenn Penner, as VOM so aptly puts it “went home to be with the Lord on the evening of January 26, 2010 at age 48”. Although only close family and friends knew, Glenn had struggled with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia for seven years. It will be to his credit forever that when Glenn Penner arrived as VOM-Canada Development Director, the mission was floundering and in bad need of help.

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“Little could we have known the great work that Glenn would be able to pack into the nearly 121/2 years of service to the Persecuted Church,” Klaas Brobbel, the Director of the mission at the time, recalls. It was Glenn Penner who shone the light for me and so many others on the fate of Persecuted Church around the globe. Had it not been for his selfless work at VOM, the plight of Christians who are harassed, tortured and killed--all for believing in Christ--would have gone unnoticed in countries like Canada and the United States. It was his unending message in VOM, “The Voice of the Martyrs asks you to pray for peace and strength for Christians facing opposition from Muslims in (fill-in-the-blank) countries that made me a loyal reader of the VOM newsletter. It shouldn’t surprise any that “Glenn had a particular passion for helping suffering believers to understand the biblical basis for their trials”, or that his book, In the Shadow of the Cross, is an intensive study of the theology of persecution and discipleship which continues to be an invaluable resource to Christians worldwide who are suffering for Christ’s sake.” The very first true story that brought the suffering of Christians to my attention came via the VOM Persecution & Prayer Alert in March of 2007. Tears blurred the eyes of Bogota Free Planet (BFP) publisher Ernesto Pardo and myself as we tried to find some way to mark the death of Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase on the Internet. Christianah, a Christian teacher at Government Day secondary School in Gombe state, was torn apart, limb-by-limb, by a mob of Muslim students on March 21, 2007. “Googling the name Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase brought no hits 3:30 p.m., yesterday.” (canadafreepress.com, March 29, 2007). Some eight days after her death, there was no mention of the Christian teacher anywhere on the Internet. Had it not been for The VOM’s Persecution & Prayer Alert, Christianah’s passing would otherwise have gone completely unnoted. We do know that Christianah’s life was dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We never knew how long she taught at the Government Day Secondary School, though on the day of her death she was filling in for another teacher. We do not know her age, only that she was young, or even how her loved ones may have found out about her death. Glenn’s call for “peace and strength” were the only solace in reading about the shocking details of Christianah’s death. “Christianah was supervising an all-girl class while they were taking an Islamic Religious Knowledge examination, a routine job by any teacher’s standards the world over. “In accordance to school procedure, the homeroom teacher collected papers, books and bags before the exam papers were passed around. She left them in front of the class for pupils to retrieve later. “One of the girls responded by starting to cry and was soon telling her classmates that thee had been a copy of the Quran in her bag left in front of the classroom. “The girl claimed that because Christianah was a Christian, she had desecrated the Quran by touching it. “The students began to chant in unison, “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great).” These school age girls then beat, stoned and clubbed Christiania to death where she stood. “The deed done the girls then dragged her corpse outside of the school building and burned it. “There were no flowers or cards left at the burial site as sometimes happens in the outpouring of grief in western culture. No candle vigils were held for Christianah. In fact, it is not even known if her loved ones will be able to give her a decent burial.” Thus, the CFP hunt over the Internet for details in order to note the passing of Chistianah Oluwatoyin Olusase. Even after he decided with his wife Denita and family not to pursue further treatment when the cancer returned, Glenn bravely continued to serve the Persecuted Church and strove to utilize the time God gave him to its fullest potential. Greg Musselman, VOM-Canada’s Chief Communications Officer and the rest of the team have promised to strive to carry on Glenn’s legacy as they serve the Persecuted Church. Glenn’s obit when it arrived by email last night made me very sad until I realized that Glenn Penner’s mission on earth has not ended--nor will it ever end. As VOM-Canada continues to keep the message of persecuted Christians alive, someone very near and dear is keeping watch over them.

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