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Today’s Headlines:

COORDINATED CHURCH BOMBINGS IN IRAQ KILL AT LEAST 11 CHRISTIANS U.S. MISSIONARY TESTIFIES AGAINST MUSLIM CAPTORS IN PHILIPPINES BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE NOMINATES ENGLISHMAN AS NEXT PRESIDENT 1,200 SOUTH AMERICAN PASTORS AIM TO REACH ISOLATED AMAZON TRIBES VISIONARY SOUTHERN BAPTIST MISSIONARY LEADER DIES AT AGE 74 POLL: MILLIONS FAVOR MAKING CHRISTIANITY OFFICIAL FAITH OF U.S.

Today’s News Stories:

COORDINATED CHURCH BOMBINGS IN IRAQ KILL AT LEAST 11 CHRISTIANS Details are still sketchy following a coordinated bombing attack on Iraqi Christians during church services the evening of Sunday, Aug. 1. At least four churches were attacked in Baghdad and one in the northern city of Mosul. News agencies reported that more than 11 people were killed and dozens injured. The first blast occurred outside an Armenian church in Baghdad as evening services were beginning. Stained glass windows were blown out as a car bomb exploded. Another bomb exploded minutes later outside a nearby Syrian Catholic church followed by explosions at two other churches in the Iraqi capital. The most deadly explosion rocked a Chaldean church in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Doura where at least eight people were killed. In Mosul, a Catholic church was also attacked just as people were leaving the church. A car bomb was again used, but there are reports that rocket-propelled grenades were also fired at the building.

Reuters quoted Iraq’s security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, said that a key al-Qaeda ally, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was responsible for the blasts. This added to fears among Iraq’s roughly 750,000 Christians that they are being targeted by Islamic extremists. Muslim leaders, including top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, condemned the bombings. Stuart Windsor, national director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, called the attacks as an attempt by extremists to drive a wedge between Iraq’s Muslim and Christian communities. “This is a very grave development for Christians in Iraq who have long feared they would be singled out for attack as they are wrongly perceived to side with the West,” he said.

Violent attacks have been common in Iraq since the occupation by the U.S.-led coalition, but few have specifically targeted at Iraq’s Christian community, described by an interior ministry spokesman as one of Iraq’s most respected groups. Last month one Christian was injured when a grenade was thrown at a church in Mosul. There also have been isolated attacks against shops and individual Christians. (Voice of the Martyrs/Reuters/Assist News Service/Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

U.S. MISSIONARY TESTIFIES AGAINST MUSLIM CAPTORS IN PHILIPPINES American missionary Gracia Burnham testified in a Philippine court in last week, speaking against Muslim rebels who are accused kidnapping her and husband, Martin, and holding them hostage for more than a year. Burnham was injured while her husband and another hostage were killed during a rescue attempt on June 7, 2002. Pointing to a rusty dog chain, a prosecutor asked Burnham if it was used to shackle her husband during their captivity in the jungle. Burnham said she recognized the chain as well as six of the eight suspects on trial. She also recounted how her captors called themselves the “Osama bin Laden group” and celebrated after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said that Burnham wept twice during her testimony, including when she described the rescue attempt and her husband’s death. (WorldWide Religious News/AP)

BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE NOMINATES ENGLISHMAN AS NEXT PRESIDENT More than 300 delegates from 33 countries met in Seoul, South Korea, July 26-31 for the General Council of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). Delegates nominated David Coffey of England to be the next BWA president with a five-year term starting in 2005. Meanwhile, Denton Lotz, general secretary of the BWA, was re-elected for another five-year term beginning IN 2005. Lotz told the council, the first since the Southern Baptist Convention voted to leave the BWA, that “this has been a tremendous year of encouragement and support but also deep waters and a break in our fellowship which has caused great distress, especially in our minority conventions around the world, but we have to go forward.” Lotz again pleaded for unity and refuted charges of liberalism made against the denomination. Council members also proved the “Christ the Living Water” evangelism strategy to “enlist and equip Baptists for evangelism and leadership for the next [five-year period].” Tony Cupit, director of evangelism and education, said the program will emphasize the Holy Spirit. He urged council members to pray for the lost and the evangelization of the world and proposed that Baptists celebrate Pentecost Sunday as a focus for this outreach. The BWA also committed itself to the Micah Challenge, “to halve current levels of world poverty by 2015.” It calls upon the richest nations to take urgent action to ensure that at least 0.7 percent of their gross national product is used for this purpose. Coffey pledged his support, saying, “I affirm my commitment to the Micah challenge and will work with others to make poverty history.” (Baptist World Alliance)

1,200 SOUTH AMERICAN PASTORS AIM TO REACH ISOLATED AMAZON TRIBES Reaching the unreachable in South America was the focus of a recent pastors’ conference held in Leticia, Colombia. Global Advance saw more than 1,200 pastors from some of the most remote places of South America gather for training. For some, it’s the first time they’ve had training of any kind. “There are still some very primitive unreached peoples along the Amazon and deep into the rain forests,” said Global Advance spokesman David Shibley. “They’re some of the most resistant people to any kind of influence whether it is from missionaries or others.” Many churches, pastors and missionaries are catching the vision for outreach despite the cost. “They realize some of them could indeed be signing their own death warrants because there is an enormous resistance by those tribal groups from any kind of outside intervention,” Shibley said. (Mission Network News)

VISIONARY SOUTHERN BAPTIST MISSIONARY LEADER DIES AT AGE 74 Thurmon Bryant, a longtime missionary to Brazil and a former senior administrator of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, died on July 27. He was 74. A native of Claud, Okla., Bryant and his wife, Doris, of Sudan, Texas, were appointed by the Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) in 1958. During 17 years as a field missionary in Brazil and almost 20 years on the mission agency’s staff, Bryant made a remarkable contribution. “Thurmon Bryant was a unique and effective mission administrator who bridged the legacy of post-World War II traditional missions and innovative contemporary strategies,” said IMB President Jerry Rankin. “Not only did he nurture and guide the efforts of Southern Baptist missionaries in South America for many years, but he also trained and influenced hundreds of Brazilian pastors and leaders.” As an evangelist, pastor and founding president of a seminary in S £o Paulo, Bryant’s influence continues to ripple through Brazilian lives, said Jerry DeOliveira, a longtime colleague. “He was one of the greatest missionaries who ever served in Brazil . . . a man with Brazil in his heart, a love for the lost and a passion to bring people to Christ. Brazil has lost one of its greatest friends,” he said. (Baptist Press)

POLL: MILLIONS FAVOR MAKING CHRISTIANITY OFFICIAL FAITH OF U.S. Nearly a third of respondents surveyed by the Barna Group said they would support a constitutional amendment declaring Christianity as the official faith of the U.S. At the same time, the study shows there are millions who would support a policy permitting curse words on broadcast television. Released Monday, July 26, the poll of 1,618 adults examined six possible changes in how faith and morality could be integrated into America’s public policy or social activity. Those considerations include barring the Ten Commandments from government buildings, eliminating the phrases “In God We Trust” from currency and “One Nation Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, allowing profanity on broadcast TV, teaching creationism in public schools, and making Christianity the “official religion” of the nation. The research showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans want traditional Christian values and symbols to prevail, although most stop short of declaring the country to be a “Christian society.” While a majority of Americans are opposed to a “constitutional amendment to establish Christianity as the official religion of the U.S.” (66 percent oppose, 32 percent in favor), BG President George Barna pointed out that “almost 70 million adults favor such an amendment. That is a huge vote of confidence in the Christian faith, and a tacit statement about people’s concerns regarding the direction and lukewarm spirituality of the nation.” (Charisma News Service) * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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