In 1955 a young Dutch missionary named Brother Andrew went on a group tour to Poland.   There he discovered a Christian church behind the Iron Curtain desperately in need of the Word of God.   Brother Andrew (as he would later be known around the world) distributed a suitcase full of Christian literature...marking the humble beginnings of Open Doors with Brother Andrew.   Today Open Doors is working in more than 60 countries to strengthen the Persecuted Church, sustaining indigenous Christians in hostile lands so they can continue to spread the Gospel to the unsaved majority around them.

      His autobiography, an international bestseller, God's Smuggler (which has sold over 12 million copies in over 40 languages), details dangerous border crossings in his Volkswagon bug, KGB pursuits, and Brother Andrew's courageous journey toward living radically for Jesus Christ.   

      In 1997, Brother Andrew was the recipient of the World Evangelical Fellowship's Religious Liberty Award, recognizing his lifetime of service to the persecuted church and passion for spreading the Gospel.   

      Brother Andrew's work through Open Doors has led the organization into places where most Christians do not go.   His underground network of indigenous Christians has aided in the secret distribution of millions of Bibles each year worldwide.   Open Doors has trained thousands of Christian pastors and church leaders through seminaries and persecution seminars, assisted in economic relief, literacy training, and vocational training in the most dangerous countries in the world.   

      In the last several years, Brother Andrew has focused his attention on the Islamic World.   Still traveling extensively, mostly to the Middle East, he feels passionately that the rapid spread of Islam could be, by far, the greatest challenge that he and Open Doors have yet faced.   

      His friendships and love of God have taken him into private meetings with Yasser Arafat and with leaders of the Hamas and Hezbollah; he is among the few Western leaders to regularly go to these groups as an ambassador for Christ.   He has also broken Christian religious barriers by preaching in Catholic and Coptic Orthodox churches.

      The oldest international ministry to persecuted Christians, Open Doors will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2005.   Currently in his 70s, Brother Andrew and his wife, Corrie, live in Holland and have 5 children and 4 grandchildren.