Today’s Headlines:

PASTOR FREED FROM BELARUS PRISON, BUT MORE ARRESTS ANTICIPATED WEEKLONG LUIS PALAU OUTREACH IN COSTA RICA DRAWS 400,000+ PEOPLE CHRISTIAN RELIEF TEAM RESUMES WORK WITH QUAKE SURVIVORS IN PAKISTAN AID AGENCY STAYS FOR THE LONG HAUL 15 MONTHS AFTER TSUNAMI PROTESTANT CHURCHES EXPERIENCE RAPID GROWTH ACROSS MEXICO

Today’s Top Stories:

PASTOR FREED FROM BELARUS PRISON, BUT MORE ARRESTS ANTICIPATED Pastor Georgi Vyazovsky of Christ’s Covenant Reformed Baptist Church in Belarus was freed from a Minsk prison shortly after midday Monday, March 13, on completion of his 10-day sentence for conducting religious worship in his own home. Shortly after his release, Vyazovsky said he felt “splendid” and even joked that he had lost weight due to the “good diet.” Held in cells with five and then 13 other inmates, he said that both they and the wardens were “amazed” that he was there for religious activity, telling him “they’d never had such a case before — one of the staff remarked that the judge must have gone crazy.” Vyazovsky may have been the first person imprisoned for religious worship in Belarus in 20 years. However, at least one further prosecution appears imminent. Authorities recently threatened to arrest Sergei Tsvor, the Pentecostal bishop of the Minsk region, for holding weekly services in his house church. A 2002 religion law in Belarus bans all but occasional and small-scale religious meetings in private homes, and religious activity outside designated houses of worship unless it has advance approval from the state authorities. (Religion Today/Forum 18 News Service)

WEEKLONG LUIS PALAU OUTREACH IN COSTA RICA DRAWS 400,000+ PEOPLE The Luis Palau ministry teamed with about 800 churches, more than 18,000 volunteers and major Latin American entertainers to bring a weeklong outreach to San Jos ©, Costa Rica. Official crowd estimates put the total attendance at all the events at 401,000. Activities concluded with historic crowds attending a weekend festival at the city’s famed Parque de la Paz March 11-12. On the weekend, a children’s festival attracted more than 35,000 kids and family members, and Palau preached at the evening programs which drew 160,000 people on Friday and 205,000 on Saturday. More than 17,400 people made a “documented decision to follow Christ.” The outreach also included face-to-face meetings with the country’s top leadership, including President Abel Pacheco Rodr ­guez and President-elect Oscar Arias who will be sworn in May 8. Palau also shared the gospel message at gatherings of women’s groups, clergy and political and business leaders. (Assist News Service/Prensa Latina)

CHRISTIAN RELIEF TEAM RESUMES WORK WITH QUAKE SURVIVORS IN PAKISTAN Anti-Muslim cartoons forced much of the Christian work in Pakistan to stop in recent weeks, but workers are back in action, helping survivors of last October’s earthquake that killed about 80,000 people and left another 2.5 million homeless. Food for the Hungry (FHI) is just one of the Christian organizations working in the earthquake zone. FHI’s Matt Ellingston says his organization is working with the National Baptist Church in 80 small refugee camps. This has been a great boost to the oppressed church. “It has allowed the Christian community to be active and in the forefront, on the cutting edge of helping their neighbors,” he said. “It really gives them a respect that they haven’t experienced that often.” Winter assistance has been FHI’s focus; now it’s gearing up for the recovery phase. Ellingston says all of this work is being done for one reason. “We have the opportunity every day to work very, very closely with people who follow a different path for their life. We’re able to show them the love of Christ each step of the way.” (Mission Network News)

AID AGENCY STAYS FOR THE LONG HAUL 15 MONTHS AFTER TSUNAMI Fifteen months after a devastating tsunami inundated the coastlines of the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004, killing more than 200,000 people, World Hope International continues to encourage survivors after most other relief agencies have left. “We’ve focused primarily on rebuilding houses,” said Keith Norris, World Hope’s rural development director. “So far we’ve built 127 houses. We find that that’s a great help to the people as they try to stabilize their lives.” Home building has opened doors to serve in other areas such as developing small businesses, starting Christian schools and renovating existing schools. Many families forced out of temporary shelters are turning to Christians for help, Norris adds. “They’re looking to Christian organizations because we’re still there,” he said. “Some of the other agencies — many of them coming with big promises — are no longer there.” Most of the tsunami relief work is taking place in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. (Mission Network News/World Hope International)

PROTESTANT CHURCHES EXPERIENCE RAPID GROWTH ACROSS MEXICO Attendance at Protestant churches in Mexico continues to multiply, led by evangelical churches such as the Universal Kingdom of God Church which runs the Sanctuary of Faith, a congregation of 1,600 in Mexico City.

Protestants accounted for 8 percent of Mexico’s believers in the 2000 census, up from 2.3 percent in 1970, and their numbers are growing at a rate of 3.7 percent each year, twice as fast as the Catholic population, according to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Processing. The churches are winning converts through a mix of social programs, charismatic preachers and stirring music.

“It’s a true conversion experience,” said Feliciano Hern ¡ndez Valle, a pastor at the 3,000-member Interdenominational Christian Church in Mexico’s San Sim ³n Ticoman neighborhood. “The Catholic churches, unfortunately, offer people nothing. They’ve become too politicized.”

Many of the new evangelical churches have their roots in Central or South America. The Universal Kingdom of God church started in Brazil. As congregations grow, many of the larger churches are setting their sights on Mexicans living in the U.S.

The Interdenominational Christian Church of Mexico, for example, has congregations in nine U.S. cities. The Universal Kingdom of God Church has 34 Spanish-speaking churches in California, 11 in Florida and one in Nevada. (WorldWide Religious News/Arizona Republic)