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Today’s News Headlines:

ISLAMIC MOB BURNS DOWN 3 CHURCH BUILDINGS IN NIGERIA

THREATS OF TERRORISM AT OLYMPIC GAMES FAIL TO DETER MINISTRY

PLANS RUSSIAN COURT BANS ACTIVITY BY JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES IN MOSCOW

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING MINISTRY PASSES MAJOR MILESTONE IN INDIA

5,000 RECEIVE CHRIST AT FRANKLIN GRAHAM CRUSADE IN SOUTH AFRICA

GOLFER MAKES ‘LOVE OFFERING’ FOLLOWING HECKLER INCIDENT

Today’s News Stories:

ISLAMIC MOB BURNS DOWN 3 CHURCH BUILDINGS IN NIGERIA Islamic militants burned at least three church buildings and a hotel on the evening of Wednesday, March 17, after a judge ordered a Muslim youth detained without bail when he failed to appear on charges of burning another church building. Two years ago Alhaji Ibrahim Adamu sued the Living Faith Church in Dutse, the capital of the northern Nigerian state of Jigawa, accusing the church of disturbing the neighborhood with its activities. When his case came to court on March 17, Adamu refused to appear, and the judge ordered his arrest. That same evening, other young Muslims in the community reacted to the arrest by burning three churches — Redeemed Christian Church, Calvary Church and Living Faith Church — as well as the Inland Guest Palace Hotel. Local Christians sought refuge at the state police headquarters. Alhaji Sale Abubakar, the state’s commissioner of police, said the situation is now under control. No lives were lost, and no arrests have been made. (Voice of the Martyrs)

* HCJB World Radio, together with partners In Touch Ministries, SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, began airing weekly half-hour programs to Nigeria in the Igbo language in 2000. In 2003 weekly broadcasts were added in two additional languages, Yoruba and Hausa.

THREATS OF TERRORISM AT OLYMPIC GAMES FAIL TO DETER MINISTRY PLANS The flame that will burn at the Summer Olympics in Athens Aug. 13-29 began its round-the-world journey last week against the backdrop of unprecedented security measures. Greek officials, together with U.S. troops, recently completed a major security drill in preparation for the games. All these measures come in the context of threats from groups such as al-Qaida. Greece has committed more than 50,000 security and emergency workers to protect the 10,000 athletes and officials and hundreds of thousands of visitors. AMG International’s Jason Schultz says his ministry will take necessary precautions but has no plans to cancel any short-term mission efforts because of the terrorist threats. “Any area that’s going to have a mass amount of people is going to be a target, so obviously, all these things are going to be a concern with transportation. We really won’t take public transportation if we don’t have to.” AMG’s evangelistic efforts will be centered at the Cosmovision Center with team arriving in Greece as early as April to prepare for the Olympic outreach. With the threat of terror looming on the horizon, Schultz urges prayer. “No. 1 priority is that our people would be safe,” he says. “No. 2 is that we use this opportunity to get the gospel into the hands of thousands of people, whether it’s handing out New Testaments and tracts, or one-on-one evangelism.” Following the Olympics, additional facilities will allow the operation of the only evangelical Christian school in Athens. (Mission Network News)

RUSSIAN COURT BANS ACTIVITY BY JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES IN MOSCOW On Friday, March 26, a local court banned Jehovah’s Witnesses from holding any religious activity in Moscow, Russia. This is the latest twist in a series of legal problems for the group in Moscow, dating back to June 1995. An appeal has already been made to the Moscow City Court, so the most recent verdict will not have legal force unless that appeal is rejected. It is estimated that it will take about two months for the case to be heard in court. If that appeal fails, the Jehovah’s Witnesses will take their case to Russia’s Constitutional Court. The European Court of Human Rights is reviewing the Moscow community’s situation and has the authority to annul relevant court decisions in Russia at any level. “Nothing has changed,” said Jehovah’s Witness representative Vasili Kalin in an interview. “They accused us of the same things of which Hitler and Stalin accused us.” (Forum 18 News Service)

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING MINISTRY PASSES MAJOR MILESTONE IN INDIA Global Advance Ministries, founded in 1990 to “equip frontline shepherds for world harvest,” has a vision to bring on-site training to 1 million pastoral leaders worldwide and challenge them to plant 1 million new churches. Recently the organization reached a key landmark, training its 250,000th ministry leader. Global Advance’s David Shibley made the announcement at the Advance Frontline Shepherd’s Conference in Calcutta, India. The one-quarter millionth ministry leader was a pastor named Abraham, an underground church planter in Bhutan. “Pastor Abraham has planted five underground churches,” Shibley says. Abraham and his colleagues continue to plant new churches and train pastors in strategic areas of China and India. (Mission Network News)

5,000 RECEIVE CHRIST AT FRANKLIN GRAHAM CRUSADE IN SOUTH AFRICA “Come on, Durban” was the theme of the Franklin Graham Festival in Durban, South Africa, Thursday-Saturday, March 11-13. A total of more than 55,000 people heard Graham preach the gospel with 5,000 responding to the appeal to receive Christ as their Savior. Christian unity was in full view during the course of the festival as the evangelist proclaimed the core of the Christian gospel, and Christians from many different churches worked together in a harmonious atmosphere. Similarly, racial harmony was evident as people from various ethnic groups worked and prayed side by side. The team also blended the wide array of talent and culture from the area. (Religious Media Agency)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local partners to plant local radio ministries in six South African cities: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pinetown, Roodepoort and Badplaas. HCJB World Radio is also sends out short-term teams to help with projects such as the Living Hope Community Center (a ministry of Fish Hoek Baptist Church) near Cape Town, South Africa.

GOLFER MAKES ‘LOVE OFFERING’ FOLLOWING HECKLER INCIDENT In what could be deemed a “love offering,” a professional golfer and Christian has given his church his winnings from a tournament in which he confronted a heckler. Davis Love III donated $700,000 that he won at the Match Play Championships in Carlsbad, Calif., in late February to St. Simons Presbyterian Church in St. Simons Island, Ga. It was at this tournament where his confrontation with a heckling fan overshadowed his second-place finish. Tiger Woods finished first. The fan kept saying, “No Love!” as he prepared to play, and Love finally confronted him. He refused to resume the match until the culprit was identified and removed from the gallery. Love was heavily criticized for the way he handled the incident and wound up trying to defend the etiquette in golf. But after hearing sermons from two pastors, Love said, “It just seemed like the right thing to do.” So he decided to give the money to St. Simon’s $5 million, five-year building project. “We wanted to do something more to make us feel better about the whole thing,” said Love in an interview with Sports Spectrum magazine. “That can show us all something about making up for a bad situation.” (Religion Today/Charisma News Service) * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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