SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- His Lebanese grandfather dates their family to the days of Noah. His Green Beret father influenced his pathway to the Marines and then to the CIA’s Special Operations Group, America’s most secretive paramilitary operators. Now God is using his training in clandestine activities for another purpose – recovering missing and exploited children.

Bazzel Baz with Lilly Snyder, 2003

“My mission is rescuing children who are abducted,” says Bazzel Baz, the founder of the Association for the Recovery of Children (ARC). His team members include former CIA and National Security Agency personnel, and others from the Secret Service and military Special Forces. “This nation spent a certain amount to make us the best in the business, to go places and do things nobody else can do.” 

After high school, he attended The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, where he got involved with the Navigators and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. “The Citadel forced me to depend on God with everything I had and I grew closer,” he says.

In his years with the Marines and CIA, he had several narrow escapes from death. “On multiple occasions I should have been dead,” he notes. Due to last-minute changes, he missed a plane or jeep that subsequently fell into harm’s way. “I saw the hand of God and that He had a purpose for me,” Baz concluded.

His inspiration to launch ARC came after a special ops mission to Mogadishu, Somalia in 1991. He and his operatives drove past a French Foreign Legion camp and noticed two girls hiding under some debris nearby. The light-skinned children wore blue jeans and tee shirts. Baz was certain they were in a very vulnerable position as the country descended into civil war.

“I wrestled with it all night long,” he says. What are they doing out there? he wondered.

The next day he approached one of the members of his team. “We have to go back and get those girls,” he declared.

His teammate nodded in agreement. “But we can’t bring them back to the safe house,” his fellow team member protested.

Baz went up to the roof to pray. “God, what do you want me to do with these kids?” he asked. He paced back and forth, wondering how to proceed.

A few hours later God answered his prayer in a surprising way.

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