As Nicaragua has come under the tightening grip of its authoritarian government, religious leaders have been among the biggest targets, harassed, arrested and forced into exile.

Yet American missionaries from the Mountain Gateway church had managed to escape the crackdown.

The Hancock family, evangelical Christians from Texas who founded the church, prayed with Nicaraguan police officials and members of Congress and attracted fawning articles in the government media.

With thousands of followers and millions of dollars in donations, Mountain Gateway grew in size, finances and influence in Nicaragua, where it drew nearly one million people to a series of evangelical revivals that packed town squares and stadiums around the country.

It was all possible because the church enjoyed the government’s blessing.

Until it didn’t.

“The Lord touched my heart for Nicaragua,” said Jon Britton Hancock, 59, the founder of Mountain Gateway.

Then, he said, people who responded to his leadership went to prison.

Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, and his wife, Rosario Murillo, who is the vice president, have waged a sweeping campaign against nonprofits and religious groups. More than 1,600 organizations, many of them evangelical churches, have been closed in the past month alone.