News headlines for November 20th 2002

(North Korea)–We begin today in North Korea, where harvests are rising from famine levels, but millions could still starve to death in the months ahead. That’s being blamed, in part, on the rising political tensions, coupled with a drop off in international assistance. Baptist World Alliance’s[1] Paul Montecute. “It’s estimated that quite a number of people are going to die this winter because of lack of food. We’ve received a welcome there from the government as far as humanitarian work is concerned, and that’s the important thing to us. We want to care for the poor, the least of these-they’re the ones that need feeding, and those are the people we’re going to try and feed.” Montecute says as they support the local church, ministry happens. “Our Baptist pastors are there on the spot and [we’re] working through them. They’re the people who know their people, they know the neighborhoods best, they know where the care is needed. Whether it be the provision of food for the stomach, or spiritual help.”

(USA)–Elsewhere, an Indiana Evangelism Explosion[2] team was recently working in a local park, when authorities stopped them. As the team from Lebanon’s Grace Baptist church fought to claim their First Amendment rights, the issue was forced to a lawsuit. We spoke with E-E team member, Charles Hodges. “I think this is a matter of a growing culture in our country of church persecution; not that we are persecuted in any way, shape or form, like people are overseas. I mean, good grief, we have freedoms that other people can only dream about today. But, those freedoms are being infringed upon and gradually eroded by people who really have not been elected.” The park board is holding an executive session tonight, followed by a public meeting with a vote on the ‘free speech zone’ issue. Hodges asks people to pray. “Pray for our city government, and pray for our park board and our church. Actually, God has been blessing our church throughout the whole process of this-we’ve been seeing people come to know Christ as the result of our Evangelism Explosion. But, we really do want to see our freedom preserved.” [3]

(USA)–An evangelical ministry is encouraging Americans to use the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday to lead people to Christ. The American Tract Society[4] says since Thanksgiving is a time to focus on God, many people are already prepared to hear the Gospel. To help in that effort, ATS has a Thanksgiving tract which describes how faith had a hand in America’s history, and also tells the reader how important it is to have their own personal faith in Christ. Go to ATStracts-dot-org to get this tract.

(USA)–Meanwhile, a special conference is underway that will clear the path for the spread of the Gospel around the world. JAARS[5] , which speeds Bible translation for Wycliffe Bible Translators and others, is hosting Wycliffe’s Computer Technical Conference. Wycliffe’s Brian Chapaitis (chah-PY-tuhs) helped organize it. “Technology moves so fast that we need to bring these people back from the field so that they can get a cross pollination of ideas. Many of them are working on similar tasks, but they’re so isolated that they don’t know what their neighbors are doing. This is an opportunity also to train many.” Chapaitis says these types of conferences will help with their Vision 2025 plan. “We would like to see a start of the Bible translation process in all of the remaining languages of the world. That’s a God-sized task. So, that’s the big prayer that we have as a group. If you would like a career in Bible translation, no matter what your skill, we can use you.” They need volunteers as there are three-thousand languages still without Scripture.

(Romania)–And finally, The Bridge International[6] needs your help for a Christmas project this year. They’re raising support for a special evangelistic program in several state orphanages in Romania. Ministry officials say one of their colleagues will be showing the Jesus Film, while distributing food parcels and winter coats. The plan is to spend three days in each location in order to show love for these children, with the hope of leading many of them to Christ. Pray that many will respond to the hope of the Gospel.

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=BWA [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=EEI [3]

http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/ramhurl?f=/mnn/interviews/11-20-02charlesho dges.rm [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=ATS [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=JAARS [6] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=TBI ———————————————————————

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