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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily Update was not distributed on Thursday, October 6, 2005. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Today’s Headlines:

MAF BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS, REBUILDING COMMUNITIES IN INDONESIA

MERCY SHIPS AID KATRINA VICTIMS IN MISSISSIPPI

INDONESIAN CHURCHES FORCED TO CLOSE BY MUSLIM GROUPS

WASHINGTON D.C. WELCOMES FESTIVAL WITH LUIS PALAU

Today’s Top Stories:

MAF BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS, REBUILDING COMMUNITIES IN INDONESIA Rebuilding is the focus of ministry in tsunami hit Indonesia. Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is working with Samaritan’s Purse to help deliver needed supplies and manpower to hard hit areas of Banda Aceh. They are having an impact. MAF’s Chief Operating Officer Dave Bochman says, “You can have a government official that is interested in hindering our operations and so, personal relationships help out there. But, at a much deeper level, looking at people’s eternal condition, personal relationships are what it’s all about.” Bochman says they’re supplying like-minded Indonesians with the ability to rebuild their lives. “In an area that their whole concept of what Christians were like was very negative,” perceptions are changing as quality homes and other needs are being provided in Christian love. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been problems, says Area Director Peter Spahr. “I moved here with my family in July and at that time I was told that we would most like have air strips operating now and at this point there has been no dirt moved.” (Mission Network News)

MERCY SHIPS AID KATRINA VICTIMS IN MISSISSIPPI Mercy Ships Disaster Response Team is working in southern Mississippi to bring aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Docked in its home port of Chickasaw, Ala., near Mobile, not far from where the eye of Katrina came ashore, the Caribbean Mercy survived the hurricane with only minor damage. Normally used to serve the poor and needy in the Caribbean and Central America, the ship was stationed to provide relief closer to home. “We’re certainly not denying that (it was a miracle). I don’t know if God caused the ship to be there at this time, but he is still in the redemption business, and that’s one of the things he wants to use us for,” said Mercy Ships Disaster Response Team leader Mark Thompson. After Katrina struck, the Caribbean Mercy became a staging platform for Mercy Ships personnel who were being called to serve in the Mobile and Gulfport, Miss. areas. Having the ship already on site enabled Mercy Ships to immediately provide support without struggling through the delay of finding shelter for volunteers. Never before has a Mercy Ships vessel been called upon to help provide disaster relief in the United States. The organization, founded in 1978, typically services ports in developing nations. Each year more than 2,400 career and short-term volunteers serve with Mercy Ships, which has three hospital ships and offices in 17 countries. (Crosswalk.com)

INDONESIAN CHURCHES FORCED TO CLOSE Last week’s terrorist bombing, at a resort in Bali, Indonesia, is just the latest in a string of violent attacks by radical Muslims in that country. But there is another battle being waged by Indonesian Muslim groups, using that country’s laws to persecute Christians. In August, a court sentenced three Christian women to jail terms for holding Christian programs at a public school. And now, Islamic groups — with the assistance of local police — are forcing Christian churches to close. Leaders and members of the East Star Church were caught by surprise when a mob of Muslim hardliners rallied in front of their church, ordering them to stop the construction of their new building. Pastor Benny Assa says that the protesters cannot stop the construction because East Star Church got a permit from the government to build. Obtaining a church building permit has become very difficult in Indonesia in recent years. The Christian community points to a 1969 joint ministerial decree as the root of the problem. The decree requires that congregations obtain a permit from the head of the local administration and seek permission from local residents. Because Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, Christians often do not get a permit. (CBN News)

WASHINGTON D.C. WELCOMES FESTIVAL WITH LUIS PALAU “This weekend, our city is going to welcome the DC Festival and Luis Palau,” said Washington, D.C, Mayor Anthony A. Williams during a press briefing Wednesday. In what is expected to be one of the largest religious events ever held at the city’s National Mall, the Oct. 8-9 DC Festival with evangelist Luis Palau is anticipating the attendance of over 200,000 people. Initiated by the African American churches some three years ago, the festival has brought together nearly 900 churches of various denominations and ethnic groups in an effort to reach the city for Christ. The large-scale evangelistic event is a free open invitation to the entire Tri-State area, serving as a “community event,” as Williams dubbed it. Over 4.4 million people in the United States, Europe, the South Pacific and South America have experienced the festivals in the past five years alone. This weekend, the DC Festival is to be the largest and most comprehensive campaign ever assembled by the Palau team. (Christian Post)

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