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Heartening success from a pastors’ conference in the Philippines. Philippines (MNN)–We begin today in the Philippines where an Al-Qaeda affiliate is training Indonesian extremists. That raises concerns about a four-month old peace accord and about planned strikes against believers near Christmas. Against this backdrop, Global Advance’s[1] David Shibley says they met with church leaders to share a mission vision. “It was exciting because not too many pastors’ conferences are held in that area. This is on the island of Mindanao, where there’s been considerable terrorist activity, and yet we found a group of pastors, very committed to continuing to advance the Gospel.” Shibley describes the outcome of the conference as encouraging. “371 pastors and church leaders attended this Frontline Shepherd’s Conference. Over 100 of them committed to cross cultural ministry and to be the first fruits of Filipino missionaries who would go, not only to the rest of Asia, but to the ends of the earth.” Pray for the safety of the church leaders as they begin their evangelistic work. Full Story: http://mnn.gospelcom.net/article/5361

Lack of funding puts Bible distribution in doubt. Slovakia (MNN) — Meanwhile, Scripture distribution in Slovakia is at a near stand-still as funding for Bibles in that nation is falling behind. International Bible Society’s[2] Slovakia director is Alex Erdelyi (air-day-ye). Erdelyi says they’re working from the stock they have, but… “We have used the stock from our warehouse. It is (nearly) gone. We still (have) some reserves for Christmas, but then we will stay here with empty hands.” Erdelyi says the lower value of the U-S dollar had a 17-percent negative impact on their budget. That’s forced IBS Slovakia to cut their budget a total of 75-percent. He says the struggling Slovak economy is also a problem. “We are working on building our own donors. We are asking the believers here to help us, but their possibilities are really limited.” Full Story: http://mnn.gospelcom.net/article/5362

SIM Celebrates 75 years in Ethiopia. Slovakia (MNN) — Praise and worship was the way , SIM International[3] celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Kale Heywet Church in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The main speakers included J-L Williams from the U-S and John Stott from England. SIM’s Steve Strauss. “It’s now of course complete independent and autonomous with its own theological schools, its own missions sending structures. Kele Heywet means “word of life” and that group has between 3.5 and 5 million believers associated with it. Somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 congregations.” Strauss says while the church has a healthy missions outreach, SIM still has workers there and they need help. “We can particularly use those who have some seminary training in our theological colleges and Bible schools. We need teachers in our school for missionaries kids in Addis Ababa. We need those who have skills in evangelism, church planting and things like that.” Full Story: http://mnn.gospelcom.net/article/5363

A Christian ministry helps preserve a way of life for a small Uganda tribe. Uganda (MNN)–Next, Audio Scripture Ministries'[4] IK (eek) project in Uganda continues. They were looking into some way to do a very basic recording of some Scripture verses and messages. A local recording studio contracted to make the first ever Gospel recordings for the IK people. The translation of larger Scripture portions continues indirectly with translators working in the US and a national helper in Uganda. ASM provided a laptop computer to assist in the venture. Keep praying for the project. Full Story: http://mnn.gospelcom.net/article/5359

Sharing the Gospel among Latin America’s poorest Paraguay (MNN)–As one of the poorest Latin American countries gets even poorer mission groups are looking for ways to effectively reach the lost for Christ. Latin America Mission[5] is planning for a new school year and the addition of a multipurpose building to meet the educational needs of the children. The message of Christ is also being shared over the radio as Christian broadcasters learn more about additional opportunities for developing quality programming. Full Story: http://mnn.gospelcom.net/article/5360

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/media/group.php?agencyAb=GAM [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/media/group.php?agencyAb=IBS [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/media/group.php?agencyAb=SIM [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/media/group.php?agencyAb=ASM [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/media/group.php?agencyAb=LAM ——————————————————————— Mission Network News Daily, a service of Cornerstone University of Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Questions: (800) 284-9361 or

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