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Today’s Headlines:

EGYPTIAN MOB INJURES 11 CHRISTIANS, ATTACKS HOMES, BUSINESSES 2 BIBLE DISTRIBUTION MINISTRIES JOIN FORCES TO GET OUT GOD’S WORD NEW LEADERSHIP IN REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA MAY BOOST MISSIONS TURKISH COURT RELEASES BEATING SUSPECT, VICTIM STILL UNCONSCIOUS AMERICAN ENGLISH TEACHER SUES TURKISH NEWSPAPER FOR SLANDER 150,000 SPANISH PICTURE BIBLES HEADING TO CUBAN SUNDAY SCHOOLS

Today’s News Stories:

EGYPTIAN MOB INJURES 11 CHRISTIANS, ATTACKS HOMES, BUSINESSES Muslims went on an anti-Christian rampage in Egypt Friday, Nov. 7, burning and looting homes in Al-Ayat, 30 miles to the south of Cairo. Their only complaint was that local Christians wanted to convert a small building they own into a church. Just after 8 p.m. Muslims converged on the Christian quarter of Girza, a village near Al-Ayat. They burned down four homes belonging to Christian families while looting and destroying six more. They also razed eight shops and torched the fields of eight additional families. Eleven Christians were injured, including an 18-month-old baby; five persons were admitted to hospital. Police did not arrive on the scene until most of the damage had been done. The melee began shortly after the end of the Muslims’ Friday-evening prayers. Then there was a power outage, initially only in the Christian area, but then it spread to the entire village. That’s when the mob of more than 5,000 Muslims descended, armed with sticks and containers full of either gasoline or paraffin. Among the buildings destroyed in the frenzy was the one the Christians had planned to turn into a church — even the foundation was damaged. In addition to standard building permits, Egyptian law requires presidential approval to build a new church. This comes from a 19th-century Ottoman regulation called the Hamayouni Decree. It’s a slow bureaucratic process, often taking years, and may not end in success. To repair, renovate or expand a church, permission is needed from local governors. (Barnabas Fund)

2 BIBLE DISTRIBUTION MINISTRIES JOIN FORCES TO GET OUT GOD’S WORD Acknowledging a common calling in Scripture ministry, International Bible Society (IBS) and the Bible League (TBL) have joined forces to more effectively take the Word of God to the world. Dean Merrill, IBS vice president of international publishing, and Rev. Joseph Owens, TBL’s executive director for Africa, recently signed a distribution agreement that allows TBL to use IBS Scripture translations in its ministries in Africa and South Asia. Through the agreement, TBL has access to 24 different IBS African language translations and 15 translations for South Asia. The agreement is the first of its kind for TBL and will primarily impact its ministries in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa. “The agreement with IBS means more Bible-less people in Africa and India will receive Bibles and New Testaments,” Owens said. “It will also increase our efficiency by reducing the cost of printing Scriptures.” For IBS, the alliance will aid efforts to “get IBS translations into more hands more quickly,” Merrill said. “We are pleased when ministries such as TBL commit to use our Scriptures in meaningful, effective outreach.” TBL’s first order from IBS is for the recently translated Luo New Testament for Kenya which IBS will launch in early 2004. TBL, located in suburban Chicago and founded in 1938, is one of the world’s largest evangelical, nondenominational Scripture placement agencies. It partners with local churches worldwide to train and equip Christians in using the Bible to make disciples and establish new churches. (International Bible Society)

NEW LEADERSHIP IN REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA MAY BOOST MISSIONS Protests in the Republic of Georgia that resulted in a new government could have a positive impact on mission outreach, says Bob Hoskins from a ministry called Book of Hope. A “velvet revaluation” forced the resignation of President Edward Shevardnadze, allowing Nina Burdzhanadze to take power. Elections are planned within 45 days. Hoskins says the ministry’s work in the country hasn’t been easy. “There have been some radical elements in Georgia within the Orthodox Church that have strongly opposed us. And the appeals we’ve made to the government to help us in that situation have gone unanswered. Perhaps the new government will be more sympathetic to what we would call a more democratic approach.” More than 100,000 copies of the Book of Hope have been distributed, with 100,000 more on the way. Although optimistic, Hoskins still has concerns. “When you’ve got these various factions, there’s always a possibility of civil war that would make it very difficult for us. But if the new leaders keep their promises and truly establish democratic policy, eliminate the corruption, then I’m hopeful.” (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio works with a local partner ministry to produce Christian programs in the Georgian language and broadcast them to the region each week. HCJB World Radio also worked with Hosanna and local partners to produce the dramatized New Testament in Georgian through a project called Faith Comes by Hearing.

TURKISH COURT RELEASES BEATING SUSPECT, VICTIM STILL UNCONSCIOUS Nearly a month after three suspects were jailed for severely injuring a Turkish Christian distributing “missionary propaganda,” a court in northwestern Turkey has ordered one of the attackers released. Metin Yildiran, president of the local chapter of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party, was released by a panel of judges at the Orhangazi Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Newspaper reports said social pressure on the court resulted in the release, and that 1,000 “ultra-nationalist” youths crowded around the Orhangazi courthouse during the hearing. Yakup Cindilli, 32, was hospitalized after the Oct. 23 attack in which he sustained heavy blows on his head and face. He went into a coma during his second day at Bursa State Hospital where he remains in intensive car, “stabilized” but still unconscious. The next hearing on the case is set for Dec. 17. From a Muslim family, Cindilli had reportedly become a Christian during the past two years through his interactions with Alo Dua, a prayer hotline ministry staffed by local Turkish Christians. (Compass)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., installed a 2-kw transmitter with local partner Radio Shema in Ankara, Turkey, in early 2003. This was a joint project with Words of Hope.

AMERICAN ENGLISH TEACHER SUES TURKISH NEWSPAPER FOR SLANDER An American English teacher at an Istanbul university has filed a 40.5-billion Turkish lira (US$27,500) slander case against a Turkish newspaper for publishing a series of false charges against him. Hans Chabra, 40, was accused by the right-wing Halka ve Olaylara Tercuman newspaper of doing “missionary” work this past summer while employed by the state as a teacher of preparatory English at Istanbul’s Marmara University. The tabloid demanded that Chabra be fired from his job and deported from Turkey because of his involvement in evangelistic activities. The teacher, originally from Seattle, Wash., has worked in Turkey for the past 11 years. Chabra was detained briefly by Eskisehir police on July 9 when a local shopkeeper complained that he was offering Christian books to passersby. However, when Chabra was questioned by the university’s law professor, who read over the Eskisehir police report as well as Chabra’s statement, he was told he had not broken any laws. “The law professor even said that missionary activity was not a crime!” Chabra said. (Compass)

150,000 SPANISH PICTURE BIBLES HEADING TO CUBAN SUNDAY SCHOOLS Capitalizing on the impact of its recent visit with the Council of Churches in Cuba, an international U.S. publisher is preparing to send 150,000 picture Bibles to more than 30,000 Sunday school classes throughout the country. Pastors and seminary students will also receive 12 books from Warren Wiersbe’s, “Be Series,” one of Cook Communications International’s most popular collections of Bible studies. Cook President David Mehlis said, “While we provide resources to countries unable to produce their own Christian materials and to people at risk, the heart of our ministry is to enable the church in each culture to produce its own biblical material as well as to train its people for church leadership. In every country in the world in which we partner, this is our eventual goal. Cuba, with its rich literary history and growing church, provides unique opportunities in the coming decade.” (Assist 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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