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Today’s News Headlines:

UZBEK COURT IMPOSES DOUBLE FINE ON PASTOR OF UNREGISTERED CHURCH HIGH SCHOOL CHOIR REGAINS RIGHT TO PERFORM IN CHURCHES MINISTRY IN PERU HELPS BELIEVERS OVERCOME TRAUMATIC PAST GOD’S WORD BRINGS HOPE TO DROUGHT-PLAGUED MALAWI CHANGE IN SEMINARIANS’ ATTITUDE COULD LEAD TO PASTOR SHORTAGE AFRICAN THEOLOGIANS PUSH TO COMPLETE BIBLE COMMENTARY

Today’s News Stories:

UZBEK COURT IMPOSES DOUBLE FINE ON PASTOR OF UNREGISTERED CHURCH Boris Akrachkov, pastor of the Baptist church in Gulistan, Uzbekistan, was brought before the local town court on Dec. 2 to face charges of breaking the “law on religious organizations.” He was found guilty and fined the equivalent of US$7. The trial followed an investigative raid, Nov. 3, on the church’s prayer house by local law enforcement agencies together with representatives of the local authority and the regional department of justice. Following the raid, the administrative case was brought against Akrachkov. At the same time, a much heavier fine was imposed on him in a separate case for showing “unlicensed” religious videos in a private home. “We are being blamed for the fact that the church in Gulistan is unregistered,” said Dmitri Pitirimov, press officer of the Baptist Union. “But this is absurd. We have to start operations first in order to gain enough [members] for the church [to be registered],” he said. “The authorities’ advice reminds me of a joke in which a physical education teacher makes children learn to swim in an empty swimming pool, explaining that they will only put water in when the children have become good swimmers.” (Keston News Service)

HIGH SCHOOL CHOIR REGAINS RIGHT TO PERFORM IN CHURCHES It took “persistence and prayer,” but the 84-voice Seminole High School Gospel Choir won a victory recently when the local school board issued new guidelines allowing the choir to perform at events held in churches, reported The Baptist Press. The award-winning choir was barred from performing at a community-wide memorial service honoring memories of the 9/11 attacks. Liberty Counsel, in a response to the action, faxed a legal opinion outlining three federal court of appeals cases that ruled school choirs may sing religious songs, and that barring the group from singing at a church was not only unconstitutional, but also “imprudent” in light of the 9/11 memorial. In a press release, the counsel said it was considering a federal lawsuit. “There were certain people within the administration who sought to ban the Gospel Choir from singing at religious events,” said Matt Staver, president of Orlando-based Liberty Counsel. “Persistence paid off in this case. Once the matter came to the board with broad support from the community, the issue was finally resolved. I am thrilled by this announcement as we approach the Christmas season.” (Religion Today)

MINISTRY IN PERU HELPS BELIEVERS OVERCOME TRAUMATIC PAST A ministry in Peru is learning that addressing the needs of its own workers who have experienced trauma in the past releases them for even greater spiritual fruit. Segadores (Reapers), a ministry started and directed by Peter Hocking (the son of American missionaries), recently held conferences among the Yanesha and Ashaninka tribes. “God spoke to the men powerfully, as He did to the women, breaking and transforming many of them,” Hocking said. A leader from the host church who came from a background of crime and terrorism confessed that he still resented being abandoned as a child. “He sobbed like a child as he confessed and renounced his sins and hurts,” Hocking said, “and God lovingly cleansed and renewed him. After that he was a new man. God met his wife in a similar way, healing painful memories from her childhood that had been destroying their marriage.” A similar conference was held for Ashaninka women a few weeks later. This time only women attended, but the response seemed cool at first, until it was announced that their husbands could receive the same teaching the following week. Then the women opened up and experienced healing for past hurts in their souls. Started in 1963 as a ministry to mobilize and disciple youth for missionary outreach, Segadores has planted 25 churches and has about two dozen workers on the field. (Christian Aid Mission)

* HCJB World Radio, together with local partners, has helped plant Christian radio stations in seven Peruvian cities. Affiliate stations in three cities also carry Spanish programming distributed by the ALAS satellite radio network for Latin America., operated jointly with Trans World Radio. In addition, HCJB World Radio holds training workshops for pastors across Peru through Apoyo, a joint effort with Leadership Resources International.

GOD’S WORD BRINGS HOPE TO DROUGHT-PLAGUED MALAWI Despite war, drought and famine, Malawi still has hope, says Paul Tolleson of the International Bible Society. He points to the recent release of the contemporary Chichewa New Testament as the foundation that will shore up the church’s future. “The primary way is reaching out to the young people,” he says. “This has really been a problem throughout Africa, especially where they don’t have a contemporary translation of the Bible. They look at the Bible as being this old book that they have a hard time reading, and it’s not relevant to them today.” Tolleson says the ministry discovered another need while visiting the churches in Malawi. “We also need to train our lay leaders in how to use the Bible in their ministry — how to study the Bible themselves. Most of the Bibles have no study helps to them, so one of the things that we’ll be doing is providing study Bibles.” (Mission Network News)

* In partnership with African Bible College, HCJB World Radio helped plant a Christian radio station in Lilongwe, Malawi, in 1995. The station airs programs in Chichewa and English. HCJB World Radio also helped the ministry begin a hospital and provided training, including seminars dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis. Last year staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., also installed FM transmitters at stations in two Malawian cities, Blantyre and Mzuzu.

CHANGE IN SEMINARIANS’ ATTITUDE COULD LEAD TO PASTOR SHORTAGE Shane Hipps is a 27-year old student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He is studying for a master’s of divinity degree — the degree often sought by prospective pastors. Yet Hipps hesitates when asked if he will follow that traditional route into ministry. “I have been told by those closest to me that I’d make a good pastor . . . but I’m extremely cautious about such a vocation,” he said in an interview with the Christian magazine FaithWorks. “Seminary is primarily an opportunity to pursue God’s call on my life, and not necessarily vocational training.” Hipps isn’t alone. Less than a third of seminary students intend to become pastors, shows a study conducted by Auburn Theological Seminary in New York. It’s common to hear people confess their fears that God might send them to Africa as a missionary. But today’s young Christians are even more afraid that God might call them to be the pastor of the neighborhood church. Researchers and seminary leaders say this attitude could lead to a pastor shortage. Already the number of pastors under age 35 has dropped by nearly two-thirds since the 1970s. Seminaries cite low pay, exhausting job demands and dwindling social respect for the trend. Many prospective pastors are starting small businesses and non-profit organizations that give them alternative ways to minister to others. (Religion Today)

AFRICAN THEOLOGIANS PUSH TO COMPLETE BIBLE COMMENTARY SIM is working with the Association of Evangelicals of Africa to produce the continent’s first one-volume Bible commentary produced for Africans and written by African theologians. The editorial staff urges believers to pray as contributors to the project face deadlines in early 2003 and editors compile their manuscripts for publication. Work on the commentary began in January 2001. (SIM)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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