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Today’s Headlines:

FEARS MOUNT FOR IRANIAN PASTOR WHO WAS ARRESTED 5 WEEKS AGO RADIO MINISTRY OPENS STUDIO IN IMPOVERISHED AREA OF KENYA HINDUS IN INDIA EXHUME CHRISTIAN’S BODY FOR ‘RECONVERSION’ CEREMONY EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT ‘LOSING MOMENTUM,’ SAYS THEOLOGIAN GIFT OF BIBLES WHETS SPIRITUAL APPETITE OF ECUADOR’S CONGRESS * HCJB WORLD RADIO MISSIONARIES VISIT REBEL-HELD AREA OF C ”TE D’IVOIRE

Today’s News Stories:

FEARS MOUNT FOR IRANIAN PASTOR WHO WAS ARRESTED 5 WEEKS AGO On Thursday, Sept. 9, Pastor Hamid Pourmand was arrested along with 85 other evangelical leaders in Iran. Within a few days, all were released except Pourmand. Since his arrest five weeks ago, there has only been one brief contact, when the pastor called his wife last week and said he is alright. There is growing concern among Iranian Christians for his life since he converted from Islam nearly 25 years earlier. Those who convert from Islam in Iran face the death penalty. Despite the harsh opposition to Christianity in Iran, Compass Direct reported that more than 60 percent of Iranians have had the opportunity to hear the gospel, and Christianity continues to grow. (Voice of the Martyrs)

RADIO MINISTRY OPENS STUDIO IN IMPOVERISHED AREA OF KENYA Words of Hope has opened a radio studio in Lokichoggio, Kenya, near the border with Sudan — the same area where the U.N. sends in relief flights to help thousands of refugees. Lee DeYoung, the ministry’s vice president for broadcasting, says the new facility will help improve the quality of radio programming. “By moving the program production in Dinka and Nuer to this area from Nairobi, we’ve really been able to improve the interaction between the producers and their audience. Thousands of Sudanese live and move throughout that region.” The outreach faces many challenges — some of which have clever solutions, DeYoung adds. “It’s an area where it isn’t easy to have a recording studio. There isn’t electricity. However, by using solar power we’re able to overcome that problem. It’s a real benefit to the programs.” (Mission Network News)

HINDUS IN INDIA EXHUME CHRISTIAN’S BODY FOR ‘RECONVERSION’ CEREMONY “It is ridiculous that an attempt was made to convert a dead man back to Hinduism,” said Rev. Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India. However, that is what villagers in the Indian village of Gurandi in the eastern state of Orissa attempted to do last week. Compass Direct reported that the incident began on Monday, Oct. 4, after Bala Tulasiga, a 35-year-old Catholic convert from Hinduism, was buried in the only cemetery in the area, a Hindu one. While Christians had been buried there in the past, the district leader of the militant Hindu organization, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), organized a protest. As a result, Tulasiga’s family was compelled to dig up his body. The body then went through a reconversion ceremony before being reburied using Hindu burial rites. Tulasiga’s wife, mother and brother were also reportedly reconverted to Hinduism at the time. The local police claims to have received letters from the family stating that they reconverted of their own free will. However, Christian leaders believe the family was forced to convert through pressure from other villagers. (Voice of the Martyrs)

EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT ‘LOSING MOMENTUM,’ SAYS THEOLOGIAN The evangelical movement is losing momentum, says Scottish theologian Stuart McAllister who lives and teaches in the U.S. He added that the term “evangelical” is no longer synonymous with “evangelistic.” Only a few Christians are capable and willing to proclaim the gospel in a meaningful way for everyday life. Most Christians are dealing with theological questions, which have no relevance for non-Christians, he says. McAllister, the former general secretary of the European Evangelical Alliance, was speaking at a faith conference with 1,800 participants celebrating the centennial of the Evangelical Alliance in Nuremberg, Germany, Sunday, Oct. 10. He said that many local churches have retreated into a “pious corner.” Christians should, however, be representatives of the kingdom of God. Cooperation between Christians is often superficial, McAllister said. Real unity could only be found if Christians from different theological backgrounds were united in prayer and in the implementation of the Great Commission. The Evangelical Alliance in Nuremberg comprises 26 different local churches and ministries. (Assist News Service)

GIFT OF BIBLES WHETS SPIRITUAL APPETITE OF ECUADOR’S CONGRESS When Galo Vera, a member of Ecuador’s National Congress, decided to make a spiritual impact on his world, he thought of giving Bibles to his fellow congressional deputies. But it was beyond his means to purchase Bibles for all 123 members. That’s when Vera contacted Milton Bustos, national director of the Bible League’s Ecuador ministry. He asked if the ministry would consider giving each congressional deputy a Bible. “We will accept this challenge,” Bustos said. An official ceremony was held in February 2003 in Quito, including a sermon based on Isaiah that showed the importance of social justice. Bustos and a group of evangelical leaders presented Bibles to the 115 deputies who were present that day. “That event helped to create an appetite for God’s Word,” Bustos says. “The eight deputies who were absent have heard the other Congress members refer to the Bibles that were given out, and have asked if they could be given Bibles also.” To accommodate the absent deputies, Bustos plans to make another Bible presentation. Meanwhile, references to God’s Word are becoming a more common during congressional speeches. Bustos was told that a deputy stated, “As the Bible says . . .” to prove his points when debating legislation. “One of the deputies is a socialist communist,” Bustos said. “Since the presentation, this deputy says, ‘Even the Bible says the truth will set you free.'” (Bible League)

* HCJB WORLD RADIO MISSIONARIES VISIT REBEL-HELD AREA OF C ”TE D’IVOIRE It had been two years since the International Christian Academy, a missionary school in Bouak © in the West African nation of C ´te d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), had been caught in the crossfire of civil war. As a result, the school was evacuated and closed its doors until this fall when it reopened with a student body of 19 — down from the normal enrollment of 230.

When the school’s staff asked if HCJB World Radio French programmers Daniel and Fran §oise Dossmann, serving at partner ministry Radio Fr ©quence Vie in the coastal city of Abidjan, would visit the campus, they jumped at the opportunity.

“We knew it was a calling from God,” Fran §oise said. “We were looking forward to an opportunity to share our testimony and give a concert for the school and the French soldiers who are living on the campus.”

The Dossmanns, along with Sub-Saharan Africa Director Lee Sonius, his wife, Michelle, and their two sons, T.J., 10, and Kyle, 4, drove a van to the school on Friday, Sept. 24, dodging potholes and overturned trucks during the five-hour trip. They also had to go through more than a dozen checkpoints manned either by the Ivorian military or, closer to Bouak ©, by the “rebels,” some still teenagers. All carried machine guns, and some demanded money. Lee gave them Christian tracts instead.

“We went through each checkpoint without incident — even without showing our papers. The word ‘missionary’ goes a long way!” Fran §oise said.

Daniel added that the machine gun-armed soldiers or rebels at the checkpoints usually went to talk to the driver. “But in one case a soldier came to the passenger side where I was sitting and noticed the ‘HCJB Mission, Partner of Radio Fr ©quence Vie’ sign. He said, ‘Pray for me!'”

The signs of war were obvious in Bouak © with its many badly damaged buildings, especially the gas stations. The missionary school is three miles from the city in a peaceful countryside setting.

“The situation on the campus is quite surprising as it is divided in two sections,” Fran §oise explained. “On one side is the school, but the other side is used as quarters for the French army. A contract was drawn up between the school and the army to help ensure that the two very different groups could live side by side without incident.”

Despite the inconvenience, the students and staff look at this as a “unique opportunity to share God’s love with a specific group of people in a set of circumstances that nobody could have imagined a few years ago.” After each four-month tour of duty, a new group of soldiers arrives. Having soldiers on the campus also brings a sense of security — not only for the school, but the region, “although there are some questions regarding the long-term viability of such a situation,” Fran §oise added.

The Dossmanns performed a guitar/recorder concert at the school’s chapel for the staff and students as well as 30 members of the French army. “For some it was the first time that they had come into the chapel,” Fran §oise said. “The program began with a video showing the evacuation which had taken place at the school two years prior to the day, followed by gift exchanges between the school’s director and the colonel. In both cases the gifts included framed pictures of the evacuation and the reopening of the school. It was moving to witness.”

The Dossmanns played 10 instrumental pieces. “As we introduced each piece, we talked about our own testimony and encounter with God. To end the concert, we sang a song recently written by Daniel based on John 14:6, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”

After the concert, the soldiers invited everyone present to a Tahitian-style barbecue. “We had profound contacts with several soldiers,” Fran §oise said. “Some of them shared with us that they felt that the students and staff convey through their lives something positive, peaceful and joyful which they had not seen often.”

On Saturday afternoon the Dossmanns and Soniuses visited another section of the French army across the street at the helicopter base from which military patrols and troop transports originate.

“The sergeant with whom we spoke said, ‘So, you are missionaries, and you do that because you want to? That’s great, and it’s good to know that there are still people who do things because they believe!’ He indicated that he wanted to see us again when he would be in Abidjan a few weeks later, so we gave him our telephone number. Please pray that this could be a continuing contact,” Daniel said.

Before church on Sunday morning, the visitors again shared their testimonies with the students, helping them to better understand the French culture and how to be more effective in reaching the soldiers for Christ. After lunch they made the bumpy trip back to Abidjan, exhausted but glad for the opportunity to share and encourage others in a potentially dangerous part of the country. (HCJB World Radio)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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