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Today’s News Headlines:

RELIEF SUPPLIES BOUND FOR LIBERIA LOST WHEN SHIP SINKS DURING STORM PROTESTERS OUTSIDE ERITREAN EMBASSY PUSH FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UNREGISTERED JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CENTER IN BULGARIA FACES OPPOSITION BAPTISTS REDUCE MISSIONARY FORCE DESPITE INCREASING NEEDS YOUTH CAMP BRINGS ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS TOGETHER THOUSANDS SHOW SUPPORT FOR TEN COMMANDMENTS MONUMENT

Today’s News Stories:

RELIEF SUPPLIES BOUND FOR LIBERIA LOST WHEN SHIP SINKS DURING STORM Some desperately needed aid supplies bound for Liberia were lost at sea the evening of Saturday, Aug. 16, but relief work continues. The 140-ton Madame Patricia crashed during a violent storm off the coast of Sierra Leone, resulting in the loss of $86,000 worth of generators, fuel and other non-food supplies, including 15,000 blankets, 4.8 tons of laundry soap, plastic buckets, water cans and sleeping mats. Rich Moseanko, field officer of the U.S.-based aid organization, World Vision, said the crew battled the storm for about 10 hours before the ship broke up and hit a sandbar. The shipment was among the first for Liberia. Moseanko called the sinking a “momentary setback.” The agency has warehouses in Italy and would airlift new supplies to Liberia in days, he said.

World Vision spokesman Dean Owen said the loss of gasoline and diesel fuel was especially disheartening. “With gasoline running at about $40 a gallon on the black market there, these were much-needed relief supplies. Praise God, no lives were lost.” Owen urges prayer for Christian workers who remain in Liberia. “We have about 40 Liberian staff in the country, some of whom were held up in their homes for several days because they were fearful to leave. We have other expatriate staff who were evacuated. Some of our staff members are receiving trauma counseling for all the agony and trauma that they went through.”

In recent developments, Reuters reported that warring factions in Liberia were due to sit down together today to choose the leader of a two-year transition government meant to end 14 years of bloodshed and prepare for elections. But signs of the squabbling that have bedeviled Liberian peacemaking for years emerged in Ghana where a candidate who failed to make the shortlist said he would lodge a complaint while rebels said they wanted more time to consult. West African mediators, desperate to end a crisis that has poisoned their impoverished region, want the delegates to move as quickly as possible to name someone to replace President Moses Blah in October.

Blah took office after the former president, Charles Taylor, flew into exile last week. Blah’s representatives will meet the two rebel factions to choose from a shortlist of three candidates chosen by political parties and other interest groups. Candidates include former United Nations official and Taylor critic Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Rudolph Sherman who heads a coalition regarded as broadly sympathetic to Taylor, and Monrovia businessman Gyude Bryant of the Liberia Action Party. (Mission Network News/AP/CNN/Reuters)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa. The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. ELWA went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available. The station is the only radio station on the air in Monrovia, broadcasting on a limited schedule as diesel fuel is available to operate the generators.

PROTESTERS OUTSIDE ERITREAN EMBASSY PUSH FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Protesters are campaigning this week outside the Eritrean embassy in London in response to the growing persecution of Christians in that country. The protesters from All Saints Church in Islington are raising awareness and gathering signatures for a petition outside the embassy. “All Saints Church is a local congregation of the Church of England,” said Rev. Martyn Saunders. “When we were made aware of the situation in Eritrea, we were moved to prayer and action. Having discovered that the Eritrean embassy is only a few streets away from our church, we felt we could do no other than to make our protest felt.” Throughout this week, church members and friends have been on the street outside the embassy, praying for change, explaining the situation to passersby and embassy staff, and garnering signatures to a petition pushing for the enactment of humans rights treaties that the government has signed. Eritrea, Africa’s newest country with 4 million people, is almost evenly split between Christians and Muslims. The main problems for evangelical Christians stem from an alliance between the state and the Orthodox Church. On May 21, 2002, the Eritrean government issued a decree ordering the closure of all churches not belonging to the Orthodox, Roman Catholic or Lutheran denominations, effectively rendering other denominations illegal. The move came after increasing persecution of Christians belonging to evangelical and Pentecostal denominations. Hundreds of Eritrean believers have been arrested, jailed and attacked by mobs in the last year. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

UNREGISTERED JEHOVAH’S WITNESS CENTER IN BULGARIA FACES OPPOSITION A new center for Jehovah’s Witnesses that is being built in the Black Sea port of Burgas may be destroyed following a wave of opposition from local residents and the city council. “The city council adopted a law saying no places of worship can be built near schools,” said church spokesman Peter Mischler. “They believe such places will influence children.” Marusya Lyubcheva, the deputy mayor of Burgas responsible for religious affairs, insisted that the council is following set procedures since the group has not been registered with the city administration. Krasimira Cherkezova, the city’s chief engineer, said the Jehovah’s Witnesses gained permission to build a business center in the Slaveykov district last year. “However, the use of offices as places of worship is not allowed,” she said. “For us there is no problem for them to construct the building. The use of it is the problem.” She stressed that only “legitimately registered” religious communities have the right to build places of worship. She declined to say what would happen to the new building. The 1,300 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bulgaria have faced restrictions on their activity by local authorities in recent years. (Forum 18 News Service)

BAPTISTS REDUCE MISSIONARY FORCE DESPITE INCREASING NEEDS The Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) wants to increase its missionary staff by 50 percent. Leaders reached this conclusion following their recent Global Strategy Summit in Virginia. But the opposite is happening. The IMB had to limit the number of workers sent this year because of the lack of funding. This means that attrition will take a higher toll than usual. The number of IMB missionaries is expected drop to about 5,000 by the end of 2004, down from the current level of 5,600. (Mission Network News)

YOUTH CAMP BRINGS ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS TOGETHER “Three weeks ago [July 28-Aug.1] we completed our summer camp, and without a

doubt it was touched by the Lord,” said Salim Munayer of Musalaha, a ministry of reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. This was the first time the program was offered to youth ages 10-14. “They may see Palestinians or Israelis as distant, not as people with whom you eat and talk and play games,” Munayer said. One of the goals of this camp was to create an environment where young people could interact on many levels. Together they studied God’s Word, focusing on the themes of love, forgiveness and reconciliation. The two groups came together with apparent ease, not restricted by barriers of language or culture, but open to each other and ready to embrace, Munayer said. “An experience like this one can make a tremendous impact on perceptions and relating to people from the other side,” he said. “We pray that this experience would be a seed that grows and that it would have a lasting impression in the lives of the young people.” The program included Bible teaching, worship, cultural activities, dance, arts, crafts, drama, photography, games and outdoor sports. (Assist News Service)

THOUSANDS SHOW SUPPORT FOR TEN COMMANDMENTS MONUMENT Thousands traveled from as far away as California and Virginia to voice support Saturday, Aug. 16, for Chief Justice Roy Moore in his battle with the federal courts to keep a monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building rotunda. “Why are we here? We’re here because we believe our God has been insulted,” said Rev. Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America. Other speakers blasted U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson who ruled the monument unconstitutional and threatened hefty fines against the state if it isn’t removed from public display by today. Scarborough, Rev. Jerry Falwell, former U.N. Ambassador Alan Keyes and other speakers compared this battle to the civil rights movement that began here nearly five decades ago. “Civil disobedience is the right of every one of us — to break man’s law to obey God’s law,” Falwell said. “America shall return to one nation under God.” Moore, who had not been expected to attend the rally, made a surprise appearance and spoke briefly. Moore’s lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside Thompson’s order pending a review of the case. Members of American Atheists gathered across the street from the judicial building, about two blocks from the capitol, holding banners calling for separation of church and state. (Religion News Service)

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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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