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Today’s Headlines:

AUTHORITIES RAID BAPTIST CHURCH IN UZBEKISTAN’S CAPITAL CITY 123 HOMEMADE BOMBS DISCOVERED IN MUSLIM CEMETERY IN INDONESIA JUDGE SETS FINAL CUSTODY HEARING FOR CHRISTIAN JORDANIAN WIDOW RUSSIAN CHURCHES SET DAY TO FAST, PRAY FOR PERSECUTED BELIEVERS MERCY SHIPS INTERNATIONAL NAMES NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CONSERVATIVE BELIEVERS URGE EUROPEANS TO RETURN TO CHRISTIAN ROOTS

Today’s News Stories:

AUTHORITIES RAID BAPTIST CHURCH IN UZBEKISTAN’S CAPITAL CITY Police in Tashkent, the capital of the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, raided Bethany Baptist Church during worship on Sunday, Oct. 17, declaring the service to be an “illegal religious meeting.” Authorities demanded that Pastor Nikolai Shevchenko promise to stop all the church’s activities, but he refused. After confiscating samples of literature found in the church sanctuary and classrooms, the officers left, telling the pastor and eight members that they would be called to answer in court. A member of the Baptist Union, Shevchenko’s church has been seeking official registration in vain for the past eight years. Despite a three-year lull in police actions against their activities, the church remains caught in an apparent standoff between local city regulations and the government’s restrictive registration laws instituted in 1998. (Compass)

* 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.

123 HOMEMADE BOMBS DISCOVERED IN MUSLIM CEMETERY IN INDONESIA Visitors to a Muslim cemetery in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, have found a cache of 123 homemade bombs, raising concerns that violent clashes between Christians and Muslims could resume in the area. The devices, found in a cemetery in Poso’s Moengko village, contained sharpened metal and nails. Local residents were making their traditional visit to the cemetery during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan when they discovered the bombs while cleaning up the area. The bombs may belong to an unidentified group that was planning attacks throughout the region, said Poso Police Chief Abdi Dharma. The police added that the weapons were not recently made and might belong to a stock of weapons used during the violent clashes between Muslims and Christians in 2000 and 2001. The fighting left more than 1,000 people dead. (WorldWide Religious News/AsiaNews)

JUDGE SETS FINAL CUSTODY HEARING FOR CHRISTIAN JORDANIAN WIDOW The ongoing case of Siham Qandah, a Christian Jordanian widow who is fighting to retain custody of her two children, Rawan, 16, and Fadi, 15, may be nearing an end. At a hearing on Thursday, Oct. 21, Siham testified that she had not received any money from her brother, Abdullah al-Muhtadi, contradicting his earlier testimony. Siham testified that her brother, who is trying to gain full custody of her children, had not seen the children for the past 10 years. She also accused him of fraudulently withdrawing $17,000 from the children’s trust fund, set up after the death of her husband in 1994. The brother failed to appear at the hearing. The judge set Tuesday, Nov. 9, for the final hearing in the case. Members of Jordan’s royal family, including King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, have actively monitored the case, pledging that Qandah would not go to jail or lose her children. But they have stopped short of direct interference in the judicial process. The children are blacklisted by court order from leaving the country. (Voice of the Martyrs/Compass)

RUSSIAN CHURCHES SET DAY TO FAST, PRAY FOR PERSECUTED BELIEVERS Evangelical churches across Russia are calling believers everywhere to set aside 24 hours of prayer and fasting for persecuted believers starting at 10 a.m. (EST) Saturday, Nov. 6. “Pray for God’s protection from persecution by evil individuals against the saints of God,” states a press release. “Throughout all of Russia (Moscow, Kursk, Lipetsk, Novgorod, Sosnogorsk, Surgut, Volgograd, Siktivkar and other regions) attacks and beatings of believers and ministers take place as well as vandalism and burnings of Christian churches. Leaflets with a call to violence against Protestants are being distributed, and the mass media is spreading slander, igniting hostility among [churches].” The press release added that local authorities have been “blind to these outrageous and scandalous incidents.” Four churches in Moscow initiated the prayer event with the backing of the Evangelical Christians and Baptists (ECB) of Russia and the Moscow Union of ECB Churches. (Evangelical Christians and Baptists of Russia)

* 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.

MERCY SHIPS INTERNATIONAL NAMES NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mercy Ships International, a ministry that delivers healthcare services to the poor through a growing fleet of hospital ships, has a new chief executive officer. The ministry’s board of directors elected Stephen Koinis to the position effective Jan. 1, 2005. Koinis was also elected to be a director and member of the board executive committee. Don Stephens, founder/president of Mercy Ships, said, “We are extremely pleased that Steve has accepted our offer to join us as a partner in the leadership of Mercy Ships. His experience in leadership and management brings needed strength to Mercy Ships as we seek to become the face of love in action, bringing hope and healing to the poor.” (Assist News Service)

CONSERVATIVE BELIEVERS URGE EUROPEANS TO RETURN TO CHRISTIAN ROOTS Europe is cutting itself off from its Christian roots, resulting in a continuing moral and spiritual decline, said 150 conservative Christians from eight nations and many denominations who were meeting at the first Ecumenical Confessing Convention in Freudenstadt, Germany, Oct. 13-15. Attendees pointed to a lack of Christian charity, the breakup of families, rising abortion rates, widespread tax fraud and an increase in homosexual practices. The consultation was jointly organized by the evangelical International Conference of Confessing Fellowships and the Roman Catholic Gustav Siewert Academy. Participants also warned of a massive influx of radical Islamic movements intent on establishing a dictatorial theocracy and said only a return to Europe’s spiritual roots, especially the Christian faith, could prevent the continent from sliding back to barbaric times. The conference also called for renewed efforts to re-evangelize the continent, encouraging “true followers of Jesus” from all confessions and denominations to unite in a new “confessing ecumenical movement.” (IDEA)

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