News headlines for July 21st 2003

(Indonesia)–We begin today in Indonesia where police caught a group of would-be bombers planning church bombings. Words of Hope’s[1] Lee DeYoung says their staff moved their studios from a church that had been bombed three times. As for the arsons and other threats, “Most of them have wound up totally destroying church buildings, and yet, these churches continue to meet outdoors, since it’s a warm climate; that’s not impossible to consider. So, they end up having open-air services next to the rubble of their building.” DeYoung adds, “From what our reports indicate, the church is growing, the number of believers, in Indonesia, despite these attacks, which are very one-sided. There have been a few stories of mosques being burned, but I think the proportions, from what I’ve heard, are probably a hundred churches for every one mosque.”

(Cambodia)–Elsewhere, a mob of about 100 Buddhists attacked a church in the southeastern Cambodian village. According to Voice of the Martyrs[2] , the attack came during a Sunday service seven days ago. Observers said the building would have been destroyed if the police hadn’t intervened. Authorities say the rioters blamed a three-year drought on the church. The mob also accused the Christians of having contempt for Buddhists. Please pray for these believers as they struggle in their faith.

(Pakistan)– Christian Aid Mission[3] reports on a growing ministry in Pakistan. Between new believers and pastors, there are ten evangelism teams now ready to go out. Discipleship takes place in 2,000 house churches across Pakistan with a total of 100,000 members. This growing church needs buildings for worship and the leader hopes to raise funds for further expansion including a Radio Bible Seminary. Please pray for the ministry as it takes root in one of the areas of the world most hostile to Christianity.

(Greece)–Next, evangelists are preparing for the 2004 Olympics in Athens Greece, not to compete for medals, but for hearts and minds. AMG International’s[4] Paul Jenks says this October the “More Than Gold Outreach” is sponsoring an event in Athens to prepare for the influx of athletes to the Games. “We’re anticipating 800 delegates will be there in Athens from at least 215 countries planning outreach not only in Greece but in their host countries around the world using sports themes to do evangelism at the time of the Olympic Games.” Jenks says they’re preparing new material to cater to the athletes. “There’ll be a special edition of the New Testament with a Greek cover, an Olympic theme, with testimonies that will be distributed to athletes and visitors. There’ll be newspaper evangelism that will take place in both Greece and other countries around the world.” Pray AMG will be allowed to move forward on a sports complex that will house workers and leaders during the Olympics.

(Philippines)–And finally, all this week we’ll be featuring segments of an interview with did with New Tribes Missionary[5] , Gracia Burham. Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines took hostage Gracia and her husband Martin, in May of 2001. Here’s how it began in Gracia’s own words: “I booked us into this island resort. It was beautiful, and (we) just had a great evening and went to bed. Even before dawn the next morning, there was a “bang, bang, bang” at the door. Three guys with M-16’s came into the room and took him immediately out. And, one of the guys came over to me and said, ‘go, go, go!” And, when they had us all corralled down at the speed boat, there were 20 hostages. As we headed away from the dock, the terrorists all raised their weapons in the air and yelled, ‘Allah Akbar!’ and we knew it was the Abu Sayyaf.” Tomorrow, Gracia relives the jungle firefights. [6]

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=WOH [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=VOM [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CAID [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=AMG [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=NTM [6]

http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/ramhurl?f=/mnn/interviews/07-21-03GraciaBurnham.rm ———————————————————————

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