The Mission Nobody Talked About

In 1983, Al and Betty Baanna left the comfort of ordinary life and stepped into one of the most dangerous assignments in modern mission history — directing the smuggling of seminary-level training materials for underground church leaders behind the Iron Curtain.

The risks were real. The consequences of discovery were imprisonment. And the work never stopped.

Through powerful firsthand accounts, Underground pulls back the curtain on a covert world of border crossings, clandestine classrooms, and a church that refused to be silenced. Al and Betty faced daunting challenges at every turn — yet what sustained them was not strategy or cunning, but an unshakeable faith in a God who provided exactly what was needed, exactly when it was needed.

Then, in 1991, as the Soviet Union dissolved and decades of religious oppression began to lift, the Baannas moved to Latvia — seizing the historic moment to help establish Christian training schools in a region finally free to learn openly what had once been smuggled in the dark.

Underground is a story of danger and miracles, sacrifice and provision, and two ordinary people who said yes to an extraordinary call. It is a must-read for anyone inspired by courage, faith in action, and the unstoppable advance of the Gospel.