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Today’s News Headlines:

YEMENI MAN ADMITS TO KILLING 3 MISSIONARIES AT BAPTIST HOSPITAL MINISTRIES CONTINUE IN CHINA DESPITE GROWING THREAT OF SARS MISSIONARY TARGETS NEWLY DISCOVERED AMAZONIAN TRIBE IN PERU 1,200 EVANGELISTIC LEADERS TO MEET IN AUSTRALIA FOR HISTORIC EVENT CORAL RIDGE MINISTRIES SENDS 46,000 BOOKS TO U.S. TROOPS LAWSUIT COULD JEOPARDIZE FUTURE OF HOMELESS SHELTER IN CHICAGO

News Stories:

YEMENI MAN ADMITS TO KILLING 3 MISSIONARIES AT BAPTIST HOSPITAL A Yemeni man suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda has testified that he killed three American missionaries at a Southern Baptist hospital because he believed they were trying to convert Muslims. Abed Abdul Razak Kamel told a court in Jibla, Yemen, on Sunday, April 20, that he planned the Dec. 30 attack for 11/2 years, the Associated Press reported. “I acted out of a religious duty . . . and in revenge for those who converted Muslims from their religion and made them unbelievers,” said Kamel at the opening of his trial in southern Yemen. The 30-year-old man said he entered the hospital hiding a semiautomatic rifle beneath his clothes and then opened fire on a staff meeting, shooting each of his targets twice. Kamel further testified that he traveled to Jibla in July 2001 and began to scout his target by frequently visiting the hospital and asking about its activities. “I found out that they were truly converting Muslims into Christians,” he said. Residents of Jibla have said that Americans working at the hospital never discussed religion. Yemeni law bars non-Muslims from proselytizing in the country which is overwhelmingly Muslim. (Religion Today)

MINISTRIES CONTINUE IN CHINA DESPITE GROWING THREAT OF SARS China is warning against travel amidst new fears about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The death rate from the disease more than doubled to 5.6 percent since the epidemic was first detected in mid-March, causing deep concern among health officials. The virus is also creating an obstacle for China Partner Ministries. “We had to cancel our May teaching team,” said ministry spokesman Erik Burklin. “However, my father and I are still planning on going in May. We feel that at this stage it is important for us to follow through on the commitments that we made earlier in the year.” Burklin says letting the Chinese church leaders know co-ministry is a priority means they are planning for the future. He asks believers to pray. “Two out of the three cities we are visiting have no reported cases of SARS yet, so we feel good about that report,” Burklin said. “We want to let our brothers and sisters in China know that we are standing with them during this time.” (Mission Network News)

MISSIONARY TARGETS NEWLY DISCOVERED AMAZONIAN TRIBE IN PERU A ministry in Peru is seeking to bring the gospel to a newly discovered tribe. Several months ago the Yanachaquino tribe was spotted by the Yanesha tribe in the jungles of Peru. Segadores, a ministry directed by Peruvian Peter Hocking, has discipled workers among the Yanesha tribe and seeks to work with them to reach the Yanachaquino. The first step is to learn more about the nomadic, “Stone Age” tribe. “Pray that the Lord would enable us to contact and learn about the Yanachaquino and that He would provide the necessary resources and equipment to carry out this investigative project,” he said. The investigative team plans to leave for the jungle in June. Segadores trains workers, plants churches and conducts literacy training among mountain and jungle tribes. (Missions Insider)

* 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 ALAS, the ministry’s Latin American satellite radio network. In addition, HCJB World Radio holds training workshops for pastors across Peru through Apoyo, a joint effort with Leadership Resources International.

1,200 EVANGELISTIC LEADERS TO MEET IN AUSTRALIA FOR HISTORIC EVENT The countdown has started to one of the most significant gathering of evangelistic leaders ever assembled in Australia. “Recreating Australia,” the 2003 National Congress on Evangelism, will bring together 1,200 selected evangelistic leaders from across Australia in Melbourne Sept. 8-11 to network, be inspired and help shape a strategy for the whole church to take the gospel to every Australian. Congress Chairman Bishop Stephen Hale said the event will focus on drawing leaders from all spheres of life made it unique, ensuring it was not a “talk fest” but a catalyst for national reform. “This congress is historic in every way,” Hale said. “It has been preceded by an unprecedented logistical exercise to ensure the right balance of people are invited and it does not become a church-driven talk fest. There will be business professionals, doctors, artists, lawyers, media personnel, church leaders, evangelistic preachers, youth workers to name a few — diverse in vocation but united in their belief that the gospel is the true transforming agent for Australia.” Arising from Amsterdam 2000 and supported by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the congress is carrying on Graham’s call to “light a fire.” (Recreating Australia)

CORAL RIDGE MINISTRIES SENDS 46,000 BOOKS TO U.S. TROOPS Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., shipped 46,000 copies of a special Armed Forces edition of the book, Why I Believe, to military chaplains early this month. The book, an apologetics resource by Dr. James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries and senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, is being provided as a ministry to U.S. service personnel in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. The books have been shipped to chaplains at U.S. Central Command and other military installations for distribution to troop in the Persian Gulf region and in the U.S. “I’m very excited about this opportunity to instill fresh confidence in the distinctives of Christian belief,” said Kennedy. He noted numerous reports of a surge in spiritual interest among troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and said the book distribution is a “tangible way to touch and support the men and women serving our nation in and around the newly freed nation of Iraq.” The book offers compelling reasons to believe in God, the Bible, heaven, hell, Jesus Christ, Christianity, the resurrection and salvation. Chaplain Ken Stone expressed appreciation for the books. “Anytime you go into a difficult time, young people start thinking about eternity,” he said. “This is a great tool to help them think about what faces them after death.” The project has been dubbed “Operation Believe.” (Coral Ridge Ministries)

LAWSUIT COULD JEOPARDIZE FUTURE OF HOMELESS SHELTER IN CHICAGO After four years of fruitless negotiations, city attorneys in Chicago have filed a lawsuit to condemn Pacific Garden Mission, the city’s largest and oldest homeless shelter. Officials said the lawsuit is simply a way to speed up the long-delayed expansion of the mission’s neighbor, a school called Jones College Prep. However, mission President David McCarrell said it could force the 126-year-old shelter to close for good. In a downtown area that has lost more than 300 emergency shelter beds in the last decade, losing the mission’s 700 beds would constitute a humanitarian calamity, say homeless advocates and monitors. “It would be utter disaster, there’s no question about it,” said Talmadge Wright, an associate sociology professor at Loyola University who studies Chicago’s homeless population. “Other than the Christian Industrial League on the west side, there really is no other large shelter that can handle the capacity of the mission.” The shelter houses up to 1,000 homeless men a night and serves 60,000 free meals a month – supported almost entirely with donated funds. Public school officials plan to build a $15.5-million addition for a gym and library as part of a $36-million renovation of the school that began in 2001. The city recently offered shelter officials a $7-million relocation package, including $5 million for the mission property. However, McCarrell said it will take closer to $20 million to relocate. “There’s no possible way we could afford to move for the money they’ve offered,” he said. (Chicago Tribune)

* Pacific Garden Mission has produced a weekly radio program called “Unshackled,” beginning with English in 1950, making it the longest running dramatic program in radio history. The program, featuring stories about believers’ conversions, airs on hundreds of stations across the U.S. and around the world. Radio Station HCJB in Quito started airing the first Spanish productions in the early 1950s. HCJB World Radio and its partners now broadcast the program worldwide via shortwave and on local stations in five languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Polish.

FREE WORLD WALL MAP: Full-color, 22-inch by 34-inch world wall map. To order, e-mail your name and mailing address to or visit http://www.hcjb.org.

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