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(Liberia)–A potential humanitarian catastrophe in Liberia’s capital tops the news today. This, after days of fighting between government forces and rebels, advancing to Monrovia’s outskirts. Amongst the Westerners fleeing were missionaries, says SIM’s[1] John Shea. “They had kind of ‘trigger points’ where they would decide to leave. They took a commercial flight to the next country over, the Ivory Coast. But, Dr. Rick Sacra stayed behind. He’s working with the ELWA hospital and also taking care of our mission business and administration there.” Shea explains why prayer is essential at this juncture. “They’re having difficulty getting basic supplies. They want to keep the radio station on the air as long as they can. They’ll need some fuel pretty quickly; they’re rationing their fuel right now. In the long-term, we hope that there will be a peace negotiation and plan, as agreed, and that it’ll be carried out, and that things will normalize somewhat in the country, after about 15 years of various upsets.”

(China)–Next, Christians are being asked to pray for pastor Gong Shengliang who is near death in Chinese prison. According to Voice of the Martyrs[2] , Pastor Gong, the founder of the South China church, has been in and out of consciousness since the latest beatings more than two weeks ago. Gong was originally charged with illegal religious activity and sexual assault. The religious charges were dropped, but he stands convicted on other charges – charges that were only filed only after two women were tortured in order to get their testimony.

(USA)–An organization reaching the youth of the United States and around the world has reached an exciting milestone. Young Life’s[3] Terry Swenson. “Young Life has been on a pretty wonderful growth mode for the last five years. And for the first time in our history, we estimate that Young Life leaders, staff and volunteers have been involved with more than one-million kids just within this last school year.” Swenson says world events and life’s experiences may be responsible for the milestone. “Now, probably more than ever, kids are searching and they are eager to respond well to people who are in their lives as a caring adult who meet them where they are in a non-judgmental way and who show a genuine friendship and model a life style that I think kids really yearn for.”

(Haiti)–Elsewhere, a satellite network is going into Haiti with the express purpose of evangelism. It’s the latest phase of project “Operation Saturation”, whose end goal is providing access to the Gospel for the whole of Haiti. Men For Missions International’s[4] Wayne King lays out the backbone to their ministry’s vision. “We have just completed our uplink to the satellite system and the signal is strong. We are now ready to move strongly throughout the entire country of Haiti.” King urges personal involvement, saying that through this ministry, millions will be reached with the Gospel. “We have now been able to sponsor, at 30-dollars’ each, 42-thousand-788 radios to date. That allows us to reach a population of just over a million-three people in listening audience.”

(Uruguay)–And finally, a five thousand dollar gift is allowing Scripture to get into the hands of people in Uruguay. Christian Aid Mission[5] provided the gift to the Bible Army of Uruguay to acquire and distribute Bible materials on a large scale. Founded in 1949, Bible Army of Uruguay provides Bibles and Christian literature to poor pastors and their congregations and makes them available in open-air crusades. BAU officials say this will allow them to do more Bible distribution than they’ve ever been able to do before.

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=SIM [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=VOM [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=YLF [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=MFM [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CAID ———————————————————————

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