Thanks for choosing to receive e-mail from HCJB World Radio. Please add to your e-mail address book or safe sender list to ensure that you receive these e-mails.

Today’s Headlines:

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP KIDNAPS, THREATENS CHURCH PLANTER IN RUSSIA

TEXAS CHURCH’S TSUNAMI AID, EVANGELISM IN SRI LANKA STIR CONCERN

GREEK COURT BANS SATIRICAL COMIC ON JESUS CHRIST

CAMPING MINISTRY CHANGES NAME TO REFLECT DOUBLE EMPHASIS

BARNABAS INTERNATIONAL NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SURVEY: U.S. PASTORS SEE BILLY GRAHAM AS ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL, TRUSTED’

Today’s News Stories:

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP KIDNAPS, THREATENS CHURCH PLANTER IN RUSSIA A Bible League-trained church planter in Siberia, Russia, is asking for believers to pray after an unidentified group kidnapped him, beat him and told him to leave the village within one month or be killed. He recently began Bible studies as a step to planting an evangelical church, with good response. However, he said some of the local Orthodox church supporters feel threatened by his growing ministry and have lashed out against him physically. Christian church leaders are sometimes targeted by those who believe that Orthodoxy must remain the preeminent religion in Russia. (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 nationwide. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian satellite radio network. Nearly 50 downlinks have been placed in more than 35 cities in Russia and neighboring countries.

TEXAS CHURCH’S TSUNAMI AID, EVANGELISM IN SRI LANKA STIR CONCERN A Texas congregation has come under scrutiny in tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka for aggressive evangelistic appeals. The New York Times reported that members of the 2,000-strong Antioch Community Church in Waco have been proselytizing in the predominately Buddhist island nation, one of 12 countries in southern Asia affected by the tsunami. Besides offering gifts, the group also staged children’s plays about Jesus and held prayer services for the healing of the injured, ill or handicapped. But their ministry efforts have angered local Christian leaders who worry that they could provoke a violent backlash against Christians in Sri Lanka. Buddhist hard-liners attacked the offices of the World Vision and vandalized or threatened churches and pastors 75 times in 2004. Pat Murphy, 49, a leader of the group, denied that the team was trying to “convert” people. Jimmy Seibert, senior pastor of Antioch Community, said the church would evaluate whether the group should identify themselves as aid workers. But he said the church believes missionary work and aid work “is one thing, not two separate things.” Scattered reports of proselytizing in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India are arousing concerns that the goodwill spread by the American relief efforts may be undermined by resentment, The New York Times reported. (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)

GREEK COURT BANS SATIRICAL COMIC ON JESUS CHRIST An Athens court banned a comic book portraying Jesus Christ in bad light and sentenced its author to six months in jail for “insulting religion,” his lawyer said on Thursday, Jan. 20. However, the court suspended the sentence for the book’s Austrian author, Gerhard Haderer, who did not attend the trial. The book’s Greek publishers and four local booksellers were acquitted, but the court upheld a ban on “The Life of Jesus” which was removed by police from bookshops in February 2003 on the orders of the prosecution. A separate case on the book’s seizure is pending in Greece’s Supreme Court. “If the ban is not lifted, we’ll consider appealing to the European Court of Human Rights,” said Haderer’s lawyer, Minas Mihailovic. (WorldWide Religious News/AFP)

CAMPING MINISTRY CHANGES NAME TO REFLECT DOUBLE EMPHASIS The organization formerly known as Christian Camping International/USA has become the Christian Camp and Conference Association (CCCA). CCCA president John Ashmen says the name change reflects the organization’s desire to communicate more clearly to the public its dual mission: to equip Christian camp and conference leaders by providing training, encouragement, and timely resources; and to proclaim the power of a Christian camp and conference experience. He believes many people found the original title of the organization somewhat misleading. “The average churchgoer or person on the street would probably guess that [Christian Camping International] is a moniker for young people who like to have Bible studies while backpacking and tent camping all over the globe,” he said. “This shift will help the association better describe and better position itself with churches, other Christian organizations, the public and potential members.” This spring the ministry will also launch a magazine called CampSight to join the ministry’s flagship magazine, InSite. (AgapePress)

BARNABAS INTERNATIONAL NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Lee Hotchkiss was named the executive director of Barnabas International on Jan. 1, succeeding the acting director, Dr. Lareau Lindquist, who founded the ministry together with his wife, Evie, in 1986. The organization serves the overseas missions community by providing encouragement to personnel worldwide. Hotchkiss comes to Barnabas with experience both in the pastorate and missions. He pastored Evangelical Free churches in Oregon, Illinois and California. He worked with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) as the director of pastoral care and counseling and was active in member care, leadership training, team building, teaching seminars and conference speaking. Hotchkiss and his wife, Bev, also served as missionaries in Bolivia where their two daughters were born. (Barnabas International)

SURVEY: U.S. PASTORS SEE BILLY GRAHAM AS ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL, TRUSTED’ A survey taken of more than 600 senior pastors conducted by Christian pollster George Barna last month pointed to Billy Graham as the most influential and trusted religious leader in the U.S. Some 34 percent of respondents said they view 86-year-old evangelist Billy Graham as having the “greatest influence on American churches today,” while 58 percent see him as the “most trusted spokesperson for Christianity.” The poll covered three major Protestant groups — Pentecostal, Baptist and mainline (American Baptist/U.S.A., United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Presbyterian Church U.S.A.). The questionnaire asked pastors to identify up to three individuals whom they consider to have the greatest influence on churches and church leaders, as well as those they consider to be the most trusted spokesperson for the faith. Barna noted that evangelicals dominate both lists, denominational background affects the pastors’ choice of leaders, and leaders of parachurch organizations are more likely be cited as trusted ambassadors of Christianity. Less than two dozen names showed up on the two lists. (Religion Today/AgapePress)

Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Editor’s Note. Feel free to forward this to any interested friends. Our lists are distributed for information purposes and to encourage prayer. HCJB World Radio does not necessarily endorse or support the activities on which it reports.