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Today’s News Headlines:

PROTESTS FOIL UZBEK PROSECUTOR’S ATTEMPT TO CLOSE BAPTIST CHURCH PACE OF DONATIONS FOR IRAQ ‘DISAPPOINTING,’ RELIEF GROUPS SAY WORLD VISION TO BRING AID TO FLOOD-RAVAGED AREA OF ARMENIA CHURCH-PLANTING MINISTRY HELPS RID PHILIPPINE TOWN OF REBELS SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION MEMBERSHIP HITS RECORD HIGH

News Stories:

PROTESTS FOIL UZBEK PROSECUTOR’S ATTEMPT TO CLOSE BAPTIST CHURCH A prosecutor in Uzbekistan said he will not prevent an unregistered Baptist church and its pastor from meeting. This followed international protests stemming from news reports about persecuted Christians in the country. “I constantly receive protest letters from Baptists from various parts of the world,” said Shurali Ashurov, the public prosecutor of the town of Mubarek in Uzbekistan’s Kashkadarya region. “I am fed up with reading them. A commission even came from Tashkent to verify the Baptists’ complaints.” Ashurov summoned Baptist pastor Vladimir Khanyukov three times in February and questioned him for three to five hours about the life of the church. The Mubarek Baptist congregation belongs to the International Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians/Baptists which rejects registration on principle in all former Soviet republics where it operates. Pressure on believers is especially high in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The Mubarek Baptists’ latest round of problems began in February when Ashurov raided a Sunday service with his deputy and an inspector from the Criminal Investigation Department. They detained congregants for five hours, interrogated the pastor, took photographs and made threats as well as demanding statements from everyone present. (Assist/Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio airs weekly Uzbek broadcasts to Uzbekistan via shortwave. An estimated 15 million Uzbek-speaking people are within range of the broadcasts. Uzbek is also one of four languages that HCJB World Radio airs to Afghanistan from an AM station outside the country.

PACE OF DONATIONS FOR IRAQ ‘DISAPPOINTING,’ RELIEF GROUPS SAY Charities involved in U.S. campaigns to benefit war-torn Iraq are finding the early fund-raising climate much cooler than the 100-degree temperatures that troops faced in the desert. The reason? Many potential donors haven’t yet perceived a compelling need. “Iraq has not resonated with the American public as an object of private philanthropy,” said Richard Walden, president of Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based relief group. “If we could put the solution in a bottle, we would.” Experts offer a variety of explanations for the sluggish start. One is that the war hasn’t caused the full-blown humanitarian crisis many had expected. The United Nations, for example, had predicted up to 1.5 million Iraqi refugees would flee for neighboring countries, but only a handful of refugees have left. In addition, many charities, unable to enter the country during the war, are just beginning to assess Iraqi’s problems and prescribing specific solutions that some donors, especially large ones, require before giving generously. Some Americans are also looking to the U.S. government to take responsibility in solving the problems. (Religion Today)

WORLD VISION TO BRING AID TO FLOOD-RAVAGED AREA OF ARMENIA World Vision is raising emergency funds to help families in Armenia following severe flooding, leaving thousands at risk of starvation and disease. In response to the emergency, World Vision Armenia is providing clothing and personal hygiene items to more than 800 villagers in the Tavush region. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio has helped establish two Christian FM stations in Yerevan, Armenia, together with local partners: Armenia Help Center and Armenia Gospel Mission.

CHURCH-PLANTING MINISTRY HELPS RID PHILIPPINE TOWN OF REBELS A church-planting ministry is believed to be partially responsible for forcing communist rebels from an area in the Philippines. Steve Wheeler of a ministry called White Fields says rebels used a meeting house to promote their cause at night while a pastor held a Bible study during the day. Both groups would leave their literature for each other to read. “The people in the village would come to the propaganda meetings in the evening for the rebels, and they would see the Bibles and the tracts lying there and started picking these up,” he says. “Then they began coming back to the Bible studies. Over a period of time some of them began coming to the Bible study, and many received Christ.” Unable to find new members, the rebels finally left the area, and a new church was established. (Mission Network News)

SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION MEMBERSHIP HITS RECORD HIGH The Southern Baptist Convention’s membership in the U.S. has reached an all-time high of more than 16.2 million. The denomination announced Tuesday that total membership in Southern Baptist churches reached 16,247,736 in 2002, an increase of 194,816 (1.2 percent) from the previous year. The total number of Southern Baptist churches increased by 441 (1 percent) to 42,775. While membership totals grew, other figures showed some decreases. There was a slight decline in baptisms, declining 0.3 percent, while Sunday school enrollment declined by 0.1 percent. Church reports indicated that average worship attendance grew to 5,839,945, an increase of 108,965 (2 percent). The statistics are compiled by the denomination’s LifeWay Christian Resources division in the Annual Church Profile, drawn from church reports received from local Baptist associations and state conventions. (Religion Today)

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