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Today’s News Headlines:

RELIEF AGENCY EVACUATES FOREIGNERS FROM PARTS OF DEM. REP. OF CONGO 12 STUDENTS KILLED IN RIOT AFTER NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN WINS ELECTION MISSING EGYPTIAN BELIEVER DISCOVERED LANGUISHING IN CAIRO PRISON IRANIAN CLERIC CALLS FOR DEATH OF CHRISTIAN LEADERS CRITICIZING ISLAM OUTREACH IN 14 BOLIVIAN CITIES RESULTS IN 104,000 DECISIONS FOR CHRIST HAWAII HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS REACH OUT TO OAHU’S POOR

Today’s News Stories:

RELIEF AGENCY EVACUATES FOREIGNERS FROM PARTS OF DEM. REP. OF CONGO Food for the Hungry has evacuated some of its foreign workers from the Democratic Republic of Congo due to continuing unrest, says mission spokesperson Beth Allen “We’ve asked our expatriate staff [in the northeastern part of the country] to move into Rwanda for safety for the time being. Hopefully this will only last for the next couple of days. It’s a scary time for people as rebel groups that remained in the area after the Rwandans pulled out are all vying for power.” Food for the Hungry continues to work unhindered in the central part of the country where it’s relatively stable. Allen asks believers to pray that the unrest would keep from spreading. “The key right now is getting the church to reach out to people so this could become a sending country. God is refining this country by fire, and as a result the Democratic Republic of Congo is going to bless the world.” (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio works with local partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to broadcast the gospel on FM stations in Boma, Bukavu and Kinshasa. Programs go out in English, French, Kikongo Fioti, Lingala, Luba and Swahili. Weekly programs in the Songe and Kikongo San Salvador languages also air from local FM stations in the country. In addition, HCJB World Radio airs Kikongo Fioti programs to the country via shortwave from Ecuador.

12 STUDENTS KILLED IN RIOT AFTER NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN WINS ELECTION More than 12 Christian students were killed and another 50 injured in a riot at the Federal College of Education in Nigeria, reported the Barnabas Fund. The rioting broke out after a Christian candidate won the annual students’ union elections. Disgruntled Muslim students whipped up resentment among local Muslims who stormed the campus. Christian students were attacked and forced to flee. Official sources reported that 12 Christians were killed with many more injured, requiring treatment at the local hospital. Some Christian women students were also raped. Such religiously motivated clashes provide a worrying reminder of the possibility of widespread religious violence during national elections scheduled for next year. (Religion Today)

MISSING EGYPTIAN BELIEVER DISCOVERED LANGUISHING IN CAIRO PRISON A letter smuggled out of Cairo’s Mazraa Tora Prison last month confirmed that an Egyptian convert to Christianity who disappeared five months ago has been imprisoned on criminal charges. The letter indicated that Hisham Samir Abdel Latif Ibrahim, 26, had been arrested last spring by Egyptian security police. He is accused of falsifying his identification papers and “reviling Islam.” In his letter, Ibrahim said he was questioned for 52 days after his arrest. Born in Alexandria into a Muslim family, he is believed to have obtained Christian identification papers on the basis of a newly issued birth certificate with a non-Muslim name. Egyptian Muslims are forbidden by law to change their religious identity, although open incentives are offered to encourage Christian citizens to convert to Islam. Ibrahim came to Christ in 1996 through listening to a Christian radio program. Before his disappearance on May 7, Ibrahim had been living with a Christian couple and was active in an evangelical Coptic church in Cairo. Since March the couple and their three daughters have faced repeated harassment by security police as well as local Muslim extremists. (Compass)

IRANIAN CLERIC CALLS FOR DEATH OF CHRISTIAN LEADERS CRITICIZING ISLAM An Iranian Muslim cleric is calling for the deaths of three American preachers, Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, for statements they made against Islam. In a sermon at a mosque in Tabriz Oct. 11, Ayatollah Mohsen Mujtahed Shabestari called for the deaths of the leaders who have recently criticized Islam, reported the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, the educational arm of the Barnabas Fund. “In our opinion, to kill these three is necessary,” said Shabestari as quoted in the Iranian Farsi daily newspaper Abrar. He is the personal representative of Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Shabestari issued the call in response to an interview given by Falwell on CBS last week in which he described the Islamic prophet Mohammed as a “violent man, a man of war” and a “terrorist.” Falwell has since apologized. Last November Graham described Islam as a “very evil and wicked religion” while Robertson depicted it as a religion that seeks to “dominate and then, if need be, destroy.” (Assist News Service)

OUTREACH IN 14 BOLIVIAN CITIES RESULTS IN 104,000 DECISIONS FOR CHRIST Latin America’s Christians are on the move, stepping out of the four walls of the church and taking their message to the streets, making an impact on entire cities. Power to Change is a campaign that linked churches in 14 Bolivian cities. Besides the traditional evangelistic methods, the campaign introduced “Houses of Prayer,” a grassroots effort by Christians designed to change their neighborhoods. The most effective strategy involved meeting with people at kiosks that were set up at strategic locations throughout the cities. Pastor David Hern ¡ndez said even though just 29 people from his congregation got involved in the Power to Change project, they met and talked with more than 6,000 people. Of these, 4,000 prayed to receive Christ. The month-long evangelism effort throughout Bolivia resulted in 104,000 salvation decisions. Local evangelical churches are following up and discipling the new believers. (Religion Today)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local radio partners to plant local AM and FM stations in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz, Tarija and Tupiza. Four stations with eight transmitters in three cities (La Paz, Santa Cruz and Sucre) are also affiliated with the ALAS satellite radio network, a joint effort of HCJB World Radio and Trans World Radio. The network makes Christian Spanish programs available to stations across Latin America and Western Europe.

HAWAII HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS REACH OUT TO OAHU’S POOR Chasing rats out of cupboards, painting buildings and handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches may not be thought of as life-changing ministry, but Hawaii high school students found out differently when they helped an Oahu church start a Christian Women’s Job Corps. Homelessness and poverty are surprisingly common along the island’s sunny leeward coast. The 20 members of the tiny First Baptist Church in Nanakuli near Honolulu are having a big impact each Friday as they feed as many people as they can until the food runs out. Sometimes more than 200 people receive food in just a few hours. With many of the recipients being single women on welfare or homeless people on the beach, the church does more than just provide food. Participants also teach women basic job skills, involve them in Bible studies and help mentor the women. Students have also replaced termite-eaten doors with steel doors, replaced screens, installed and painted anti-theft bars, installed shelves, cleared out debris, destroyed pests and cleaned buildings. (Baptist Press/Religion Today)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * James A. Ferrier HCJB World Radio U.S. Ministries Communications Director E-mail: Phone: 1-719-590-9800 Fax: 1-719-590-9801 Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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