- In Nigeria this week, gunmenhave reportedly kidnapped

an evangelical pastorand 16 other Christians

in an attack that also killed one person.

Dale Hurd is in ournewsroom and has the latest.

Dale?

- Heather, the incidenthappened in the Igabi area

of Kaduna State.

Reverend Zakariah Ido and 16 members

of the Evangelical Church Winning All,

including the pastor'sdaughter, two elders,

and the son of anAssemblies of God minister,

were kidnapped after midnightin the early hours Sunday.

A witness said thekidnappers were 20 to 30

armed Fulani extremists, aviolent mostly Islamic group

that has carried out manyattacks on Christians in Nigeria.

A witness said it happenedas the church was hosting

a combined choir fellowship.

The Evangelical ChurchWinning All denomination

is said to have the largestmission organization

of any African church, andhas seen phenomenal growth

with some churches growing as much as 400%

in the last several years.

The Nigerian Pressreports so far no contact

has been established with the kidnappers.

Heather.

- All right, thanks, Dale, and CBN News

Senior InternationalCorrespondent Gary Lane

has been covering the persecutionof the Nigerian church

for many years, and joins us now.

You've been in Kaduna.- Yes.

- But tell us aboutthese Kulani extremists,

what we know about them, whythey might have done this.

- Well, the Fulani, firstthing you need to know--

- I'm sorry, Fulani.- Yeah, the first thing

you need to know about theFulani is they are Muslims,

so they view Christians as infidels.

They have no problemattacking them, killing them,

doing whatever they want to them,

because they feel they're lessof a person than they are.

But the second thing thatwe need to know, Heather,

is the Fulani are controlledby wealthy landowners,

wealthy business people.

The average Nigeriancannot afford an AK-47,

yet 20 of these guys armed with AK-47s,

they went in, did this kidnapping.

They can't afford those guns,

so the guns are supplied for them.

The goal is to control the land,

get the Christians out of the land

so the Muslims can move in,

the wealthy landowners can come in,

business people, and control that land.

It's of great value.

- What might be thestrategy behind kidnapping

as opposed to just outright killing them?

- Ransoms.

I think the men probablyhave the guarantee

of well, look, you kidnapthem rather than kill them,

then whatever ransom is paid,

you can share in that, reapsome of the benefits there.

So it also may be partof a negotiating chip,

bargaining chip strategy.

We don't know for certain, but generally,

if you kill them, you can'tget a ransom for them.

- Right, all right, and we knowBoko Haram is also a threat

to Christians...- Yes.

- In the country.

What do you see is the solution here,

or what is the answer?

- Yeah, Boko Haram is trying to control

part of northeastern Nigeria,

and they would like to see Sharia law

over the entire country.

As you know, the northernpart of the country is Muslim,

southern part is Christian.

They would like to seethe entire country Muslim,

but the solution would be to put pressure

on the Nigerian government.

That is the solution, but so far

there's no will to stop this.

- Okay, and talk a little bit about

the growth of Christianity in Nigeria.

It's so interesting how the church there

seems to be growing, even asthese attacks are continuing.

- Yes, it has grown, and as Dale reported,

400% in the case of that church,

but look, years ago, I metwith Samuel Lamb in China.

He was one of thepioneers of the modern-day

house church movement.

I asked him about persecution.

He said look, when I was first arrested

and sent to prison, he spent20 years in prison in China,

he said look, the church was only 200.

When I came out of prison,it had grown to 900.

And then they confiscatedthe church building.

After the confiscation, thechurch grew to 2000 people.

He said look, persecution good for church.

And it's true, becausethrough the persecution,

the church grows, andyou know the old saying,

the blood of the martyrsis the seed of the church.

And so the church is growing in Nigeria

as a result of this persecution,

so we think oh, how horrible,

but God turns that around, heuses it to grow the church.

- And as we mentioned before,you have been to Kaduna

where this happened.- Yes, I have been to Kaduna.

- What kind of village,area, is that like?

- Well, it's a very large city, actually,

and the people there are a mixture

of Muslim and Christian, thereis a division in the city

where you see more Muslims, and then

another part of the city, more Christians,

but a lot of churches there, Heather,

so they're easy targets,especially when you have

a congregation of 6000 churches.

- Yeah, all right, andI'm gonna let you go

in just a minute, but I want to ask you,

when you think aboutreligious liberty concerns

around the world, how does this compare?

How should we be prioritizingwhat's happening in Nigeria?

- Nigeria is one of the toughestplace to be a Christian.

Open Doors has it listed as number 12

on its list of worstpersecuting countries.

Number one of course is North Korea,

but it's very difficult to be

a Christian in Nigeria these days.

Thousands have been killedin the recent years.

- All right, well, Gary Lane,

thanks for your insights.- Sure.