NEW FORM OF MALARIA RAISES CONCERNS OF MISSIONARIES IN AFRICA

CHRISTIAN MAGICIAN IN PAKISTAN GETS 7-YEAR JAIL TERM FOR ‘BLASPHEMY’

WEA APPOINTS INTERIM INTERNATIONAL COORDINATOR

REVIVAL SWEEPS THROUGH HONG KONG HIGH SCHOOLS, UNIVERSITIES

SHORT-TERM MISSIONARIES HELP HAITIANS SOLVE COOKING PROBLEM

THOUSANDS COME TO CHRIST VIA BIBLE CLUBS IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Today’s News Stories:

NEW FORM OF MALARIA RAISES CONCERNS OF MISSIONARIES IN AFRICA A new strain of malaria that appears to be resistant to most affordable medications has raised the concerns of missionaries and local residents in Sub-Saharan Africa, says Steve Peterson of Teen Missions International. The ministry holds “boot camps” in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. “A certain combination of drugs is the only thing the doctors are saying is having any affect against this strain,” he says. While this drug therapy is available to missionaries, it is “very expensive” and out of range for most nationals where the ministry is working, Peterson said. “[We’re] very concerned for our national staff, our Bible school students and many of the [2,000] orphans that we minister to in-country. There just isn’t funding available to fight this on a wide scale.” (Mission Network News)

CHRISTIAN MAGICIAN IN PAKISTAN GETS 7-YEAR JAIL TERM FOR ‘BLASPHEMY’ A Pakistan court sentenced a Christian magician to seven years’ “rigorous imprisonment,” Wednesday, Feb. 22, for tearing up a copy of the Koran as part of a magic act. Bashir Masih, 30, was charged with desecrating the holy book by a court in Multan. He can file an appeal against the judgment within 30 days in the Lahore High Court. Masih had been accused of being an exorcist, and police said they caught him tearing a copy of the Koran last year. He was tried under the Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law. He confessed to the crime, saying tearing the Koran was part of his act. (WorldWide Religious News/Indo-Asian News Service)

WEA APPOINTS INTERIM INTERNATIONAL COORDINATOR The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) International Council has appointed Geoff Tunnicliffe as the interim international coordinator for the WEA following the recent resignation of Gary Edmonds as the WEA general secretary. “I am delighted that Geoff has agreed to step in at this time to assist the WEA in its quest of realizing its goals of uniting and rallying evangelicals around the globe to be communities of grace and hope,” said Ndaba Mazabane, chair of the WEA International Council. Tunnicliffe will work closely with the executive committee of the WEA during the leadership transition and will serve as director of the World Issues Summit in May. Along with the executive committee, he will address such issues as donor relations and communication with members and affiliates. Tunnicliffe will continue on staff as director of global initiatives for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. He also sits on the North American council of WEA, is a member of the global leadership team of the WEA mission commission, and is involved in the Micah Challenge to mobilize Christians against poverty. In addition, Tunnicliffe works with Churches Together, addressing HIV/AIDS in Africa, and consults with local churches interested in developing global mission plans. The WEA is a global network of seven regional and 124 national evangelical alliances and 104 organizational ministries, representing approximately 400 million evangelicals. (World Evangelical Alliance)

REVIVAL SWEEPS THROUGH HONG KONG HIGH SCHOOLS, UNIVERSITIES “Since 2004 things have started moving in Hong Kong,” reports Jaeson Ma, founder of Campuschurch.net which last year challenged young people to devote themselves to God, pray, fast and fearlessly preach the gospel in local schools. “The Embrace the School Youth Movement has spread to almost every high school and university.” As a result, “students are praying and fasting for revival everywhere, and there are evangelistic breakthroughs happening all across the city,” he said. Conferences are being held in Hong Kong and Taiwan from Feb. 25 to March 7, telling about how united prayer, evangelization, worship, preaching and church planting “can turn universities upside down,” Ma said. In Hong Kong, the movement works together with Citywide Renewal, founded by Linda Ma, which aims for a radical reformation through unity in the church, inspired by the Love Singapore initiative, among others. Jaeson Ma and his ministry are part of the Church Multiplication Associates network founded by Paul Kaak and Neil Cole. (Friday Fax)

SHORT-TERM MISSIONARIES HELP HAITIANS SOLVE COOKING PROBLEM As charcoal becomes increasingly scarce in Haiti, some missionary volunteers from the U.S. are teaching Haitians to cook with a new source of energy, one that’s easily accessible and free — the sun. “You can cook on the solar oven virtually any food you can cook by other means,” says Rick Jost, director of Solar Oven Partners. So far more than 1,000 ovens have been distributed to Haitians interested in this alternative way of cooking their daily meals. Solar Oven Partners is comprised mostly of volunteers from United Methodist churches in North and South Dakota. They come to Haiti several times a year to build, educate and distribute the ovens. “When the sun comes in, these things get hot,” says volunteer Gene Bethke. “You can boil water in them.” The ovens are ideal for Haiti which has plenty of sunny weather. Teaching locals to cook with the sun not only saves them money, but also addresses a pollution problem in Haiti as charcoal is the primary fuel used for cooking, Jost explains. “They can still use charcoal . . . we aren’t asking them to abandon that . . . but to wisely use the sun when they can because it costs them nothing.” Each solar oven costs about $100 to produce, but Haitians can purchase one for about $5 if they attend a three-day course on using and maintaining the oven. (Assist News Service)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., are working with OMS International to establish a satellite radio network based at 4VEH outside the city of Cap-Haitien that will deliver programs to FM stations nationwide. Downlinks have been installed in Tortue Island, Pignon and Beaumont, and at least two more are planned. HCJB World Radio also helped partner World Gospel Mission with a small station in Port-au-Prince.

THOUSANDS COME TO CHRIST VIA BIBLE CLUBS IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS An Oklahoma evangelist is training young missionaries in one of the nation’s most unlikely places — public schools. Bob Heath, founder and director of Kids for Christ (KFC) USA, said his ministry has seen more than 6,000 children accept Christ since introducing Bible clubs to Tulsa’s public elementary and middle schools in January 2001. In turn, the children have led 2,500 of their friends and family members to the Lord. Based in Broken Arrow (outside of Tulsa), KFC began informally about seven years ago when a parents’ group invited Heath to be the guest speaker at a Bible club in a Tulsa elementary school. With 25 clubs in the Tulsa area, KFC receives requests from groups nationwide that are interested in beginning Bible clubs in their local schools. (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)