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Today’s News Headlines:

LIBERIAN CHRISTIANS REMAIN CAUTIOUS AMID FRAGILE PEACE ACCORD 50 MONTAGNARD REFUGEES TRAPPED ON CAMBODIA-VIETNAM BORDER NIGERIAN COURT DELAYS RULING ON APPEAL IN DEATH PENALTY CASE MYANMAR MISSIONARIES OVERCOME WEATHER, SICKNESS, SATANIC ATTACKS AVIATION MINISTRY TO CELEBRATE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF FLIGHT IN U.S. JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER PRESENTS MEDAL TO EVANGELICAL LEADER

Today’s News Stories:

LIBERIAN CHRISTIANS REMAIN CAUTIOUS AMID FRAGILE PEACE ACCORD Amid signs of hope, Liberia’s future remains uncertain. Continued reports of sporadic fighting belie a recent peace accord designed to end the violence once and for all. Evangelical Baptist Missions spokesman Paul Jackson shares how the team is coping. “Things are still difficult,” he says. “There are people walking around with guns, and, in some cases, taking what they want. But there is a sense of hope now since we haven’t heard [gunfire] for awhile.” Jackson explains that as political changes fuel hope, ministry opportunities are opening up. “People are very, very open to the gospel,” he says. “There are a number of people coming to Christ. We were told that whether or not they get their old churches rebuilt, at this point, when this whole thing is over, they’re going to probably start anew and be filled with new believers.” Meanwhile, Baptists worldwide are responding to the pleas for help from Liberian Christians, reported Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of Baptist World Alliance. Church members recently donated funds to ship thousands of pounds of rice and other food and essential items to the capital city of Monrovia.

In recent developments, Moses Blah, Liberia’s caretaker president, sought on Thursday to reassure rebels, battling despite a peace deal, that he would relinquish power in October. The pledge came as the U.S. promised to stand by its oldest ally in West Africa to ensure a country broken by nearly 14 years of civil war would not become a “haven of terrorism.” Liberia’s government and two rebel factions struck a peace deal last week, but fighting has continued in violation of the accord. “We want to assure you fellow citizens . . . we have no political ambitions to extend or govern past Oct. 14,” said Blah. He promised to hand control of Liberia to Christian businessman Gyude Bryant who has been chosen to lead an interim government and pave the way for elections in 2005. A West African peacekeeping force in Liberia is expected to reach full strength of 3,500 soldiers by Sept. 4. The U.S. withdrew all but 100 U.S. Marines from the ground last weekend. They returned to their ships anchored outside of Monrovia “in order to put them in a better position to deploy elsewhere in Liberia if necessary,” said Richard Grenell, spokesman for U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte on Wednesday. (Mission Network News/Baptist World Alliance/Reuters/AP)

* 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 broadcasting on a limited schedule as diesel fuel is available to operate the generators.

50 MONTAGNARD REFUGEES TRAPPED ON CAMBODIA-VIETNAM BORDER Fifty Montagnards, or Degar people from the Vietnam’s central highlands, are hiding in terrible conditions in an undisclosed location along the Cambodian order in order to avoid arrest and torture. The Montagnard Foundation based in Spartanburg, S.C., received word that these men, women and children are starving, sick and exhausted. They are pleading for help from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the international community. To make matters worse, Cambodian authorities are arresting Montagnard refugees and handing them to Vietnamese authorities for a bounty of $66 each. The Montagnard Christian refugees risk being shot or arrested by Vietnamese soldiers with the subsequent imprisonment and beatings. Son Chhay, a member of the Cambodian parliament, called on Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh to investigate and put an end to these human rights violations against Montagnard refugees. He demanded that the Cambodian government “answer, clarify, and stop immediately the activities that violate human rights by the Cambodian authorities. It is inhumane and violates the 1951 International Refugee Treaty of which Cambodia is a signatory.” (Assist News Service)

NIGERIAN COURT DELAYS RULING ON APPEAL IN DEATH PENALTY CASE A 31-year-old Nigerian woman who is appealing her death sentence for adultery will have to wait another month to learn the result of her case. Amina Lawa, a mother of three, was sentenced to death by stoning in March 2002 after she gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock. At a hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 27, the Sharia Court of Appeal in the Katsina state postponed its ruling on the case until Sept. 25. An appeal launched by the Women’s Rights Organization on Lawa’s behalf was heard by Katsina’s highest Islamic court. After submissions from the defense and the prosecution lasting more than eight hours, the court decided to postpone its final ruling. This came in spite of the fact that presiding judge had lamented the unfairness of keeping Lawa “in suspense for so long.” A relative said that Lawa had stopped eating and sleeping as a result of the strain of the case. In a separate case, Ahmadu Ibrahim and Fatima Usman, a young couple from Niger state, were found guilty of adultery after Usman was judged to have become pregnant with Ibrahim’s child while married to another man. The couple pleaded guilty and were initially handed a five-year sentences along with fines equivalent to nearly US$5,000. However, during a retrial conducted in the couple’s absence and occasioned by a protest from Usman’s father at the harshness of the punishment, the sentences were deemed to have been too lenient and were changed to death by stoning. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

* HCJB World Radio, together with partners In Touch Ministries, SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, began airing weekly half-hour programs in the Igbo language in 2000. The programs air via shortwave to Nigeria’s 15 million Igbo speakers.

MYANMAR MISSIONARIES OVERCOME WEATHER, SICKNESS, SATANIC ATTACKS Missionaries in Myanmar (Burma) have overcome a myriad of opposition and hardships as they continue to take the gospel to inhabitants of their distressed land. “The situation in Burma is still serious,” a missionary leader traveling in rural Myanmar last month told Christian Aid. Missionaries — and ordinary believers — have to be careful due to the government’s dealing with the democratic movement within the country. All mail is subject to censorship or confiscation. Inflation also makes living difficult. For example, the cost of beef in one locality recently doubled. The missionaries use the rainy season (August-October) to conduct a “rainy season Bible school” since agricultural work during that season virtually halts. After that they plan to tour the rural churches and conduct revival meetings. Also, because of the rain, some of the students are coming down with serious cases of the flu. “We don’t believe it is SARS,” the leader said. “In one community a man came to challenge the missionaries, but through their fervent prayer they overcame the satanic power and converted 10 people to the Lord.” He requests prayer that his country would enjoy freedom of religion and freedom from oppressive military rule. (Missions Insider)

AVIATION MINISTRY TO CELEBRATE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF FLIGHT IN U.S. Nearly 3,000 people are expected at an Oct. 4 celebration marking 100 years of flight in the U.S. The all-day event will be in Waxhaw, N.C., home of JAARS, a ministry that provides technical support and services, including aviation, for Wycliffe Bible Translators and others. “We’re going to celebrate mission aviation,” said JAARS spokesman Arthur Lightbody. “We’re calling it ‘Wings To the World,’ a celebration of mission aviation. And we want this to be a worship service for God because He’s provided aviation so that we can reach unreached people without Bibles around the world.” Lightbody said that while the focus will be on worship, he’s hoping for more. “We definitely want to expose people to missions in a broad sweep and specifically about aviation. We hope that it will help people realize that maybe the gifts that they have can be used in missions.” (Mission Network News)

JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER PRESENTS MEDAL TO EVANGELICAL LEADER Rev. Joel Edwards, general director of the Evangelical Alliance U.K., was awarded the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation by Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson during a special ceremony at the Jamaican High Commission in London Tuesday, Aug. 26. The medal is awarded to any individual or group who, in the opinion of the prime minister, has made a “significant contribution to the economic, social, cultural or political development of Jamaica or to Jamaicans abroad.” For the 40th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence this year, Patterson is honoring 88 individuals and 17 groups. Edwards, born in Jamaica, came to England at 8 years of age as part of the first wave of immigrant children to arrive in Britain from the Caribbean. In 1997 he was appointed to the post of general director of the Evangelical Alliance — a historic event as he was the first black director in the ministry’s 150-year history. The organization represents more than 1 million Christians with membership including some 3,000 evangelical churches, 30 denominations and 700 organizations across the U.K. (Evangelical Alliance)

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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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