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Today’s Headlines:

UP TO 34 INJURED AS STAND COLLAPSES AT CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL IN ENGLAND 430,500 HOUSTON CHRONICLE SUBSCRIBERS GET GOSPEL OF LUKE JORDANIAN COURT ACCEPTS CHRISTIAN WIDOW’S APPEAL TO KEEP CHILDREN UZBEKISTAN POLICE BREAK UP HOME MEETING OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES KEY LEADER OF CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT DIES IN LOS ANGELES ‘GOSPEL EXPEDITION’ IN RUSSIA BRINGS HUNDREDS TO CHRIST, ALLAYS FEARS

Today’s News Stories:

UP TO 34 INJURED AS STAND COLLAPSES AT CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL IN ENGLAND Up to 34 people were injured, at least four of them seriously, after a stand collapsed at a Christian festival near Lincoln, England, about 100 miles north of London on Sunday, Aug, 29. Local police said there were no life-threatening injuries, but bystanders said it was a “miracle” that no one was killed. The stand collapsed at about 7:30 p.m. during “Grapevine 2004,” a five-day event at the Lincolnshire Showground. Grapevine spokesman Brian Keel said it is unclear why the stand collapsed. “It just gave way,” he said. “People were involved in worship when it was happening. There was a senior police officer in the venue and he took control in less than a minute. He took over the evacuation of the marquee so the affected areas were evacuated first.” The 5,000-capacity marquee was close to full when the incident happened. (Assist News Service/BosNewsLife/BBC)

430,500 HOUSTON CHRONICLE SUBSCRIBERS GET GOSPEL OF LUKE The 430,500 subscribers to The Houston Chronicle received the Gospel of Luke as an insert in their newspaper Sunday, Aug. 29 — the largest single distribution of Scripture in the city’s history. This was an effort of the International Bible Society (IBS) together with more than 20 local Christian leaders and churches and other underwriters and businesspeople in the community. IBS developed The Servant King Gospel of Luke which incorporates imagery from Mel Gibson’s popular movie, “The Passion of the Christ” for Christians to use as follow-up to the film. Doug Stringer, founder and president of a ministry called Somebody Cares Houston, said the film “not only shook our nation but provoked the whole world.” DVD and VHS versions of the movie will be released on Tuesday, Aug. 31. “This was a great time to provide everyone in Houston with the Scripture that ties so closely to the movie,” he said. “We hope to see God ignite a fire of transformation throughout the city and beyond.” IBS President Peter Bradley said he hopes the film will prompt viewers to “seek to learn more about Jesus through the pages of the original text.” (International Bible Society)

JORDANIAN COURT ACCEPTS CHRISTIAN WIDOW’S APPEAL TO KEEP CHILDREN In a surprise decision, the Supreme Islamic Court of Jordan has accepted Christian widow Siham Qandah’s last possible appeal to retain custody of her two minor children. Qandah’s lawyer was informed on Friday, Aug. 20, that the Supreme Court accepted his appeal of a lower-court decision that granted custody of the widow’s daughter, Rawan, 16, and son, Fadi, 14, to the children’s maternal uncle. The ruling came two months after Amman’s Al-Abdali Sharia Court refused to cancel Abdullah Al-Muhtadi’s guardianship of the children, despite evidence that he had withdrawn nearly 12,000 Jordanian dinars (US$16,932) from their U.N.-allocated trust funds. Al-Muhtadi, Qandah’s estranged brother who converted to Islam as a teenager, first filed for custody of the children in 1998 so that he could rear them as Muslims. The case has since come to the attention of several members of the Jordanian royal family who have pledged that Qandah will not lose her children or be sent to jail. Nevertheless, a formal judicial solution has remained elusive. (Compass)

UZBEKISTAN POLICE BREAK UP HOME MEETING OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES Without showing any legal documentation, about 10 police officers and representatives of western Uzbekistan’s Samarkand regional administration reportedly burst into a private apartment Sunday, Aug. 15, where Jehovah’s Witnesses were holding a meeting. Police officers then videotaped those present, questioned them for seven hours and threatened to fine them for “breaking the law on giving religious instruction.” Three of those present, Zieddullo Chakanov, Akmali Ermatov and Irfon Khamidov, were taken to the internal affairs administration of the Samarkand region for three additional hours of questioning. Lt. Sherzod Shamsiyev of the internal affairs administration for Samarkand region, who took part in the raid, said, “We were acting within the law. The Jehovah’s Witness organization is not registered in the Samarkand region so it has no right to hold religious meetings.” (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio airs weekly Uzbek programs to Uzbekistan via shortwave from the U.K. An estimated 15 million Uzbek-speaking people are within range of the broadcasts. Uzbek is also one of three languages that HCJB World Radio airs to Afghanistan from an AM station outside the country.

KEY LEADER OF CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT DIES IN LOS ANGELES Elmer Darnall, one of the key leaders of the charismatic movement in the late 1900s, died in Los Angeles Tuesday, Aug. 24, after a battle with Parkinson’s disease and congestive heart failure. Darnall and his wife, Jean, studied in Los Angeles under Amy Sempel MacPherson, founder of the Foursquare Church. As pastors and teachers, they planted churches in many nations. While living in England for 20 years, Darnall also directed a Bible school. (Assist News Service)

‘GOSPEL EXPEDITION’ IN RUSSIA BRINGS HUNDREDS TO CHRIST, ALLAYS FEARS Believers are thrilled with an outreach called “Gospel Expedition 2004” to Russia that has netted “record-breaking results,” says Joel Griffith of Slavic Gospel Association which helped sponsor the event. “The expedition visited about 236 different locations across Russia’s 11 time zones,” he said. “It lasted 221 days. They drove [more than 36,000 miles] and held more than 447 different evangelistic meetings.” Hundreds of people came to Christ through the ministry in a country where many government leaders view evangelicals as cults, the expedition accomplished something unexpected. “It gave the evangelical churches a new realm of authority that they’ve never had before and went [a long way] to allay a lot of suspicion,” Griffith explained. “When they actually got to hear the message . . . they could see that a lot of the things that were said about the Baptists simply were not true.” (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission has been sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave since 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and in recent years from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners across the nation. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian radio satellite network. Nearly 50 downlinks have been placed in more than 35 cities in Russia and neighboring countries. * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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