Today’s Headlines:

JORDANIAN MINISTRY LAUNCHES ‘SWIFT PLAN’ TO HELP SOUTHERN LEBANON

CHRISTIAN COUPLE BEGINS ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK FOR CHURCHES

CANADIAN ARRESTED FOR PREACHING, PRAYING ON CALGARY STREETS

MOSCOW MINISTRY FORUM TO ADDRESS GROWING HIV/AIDS CRISIS IN RUSSIA

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER PROTESTS SCOTTISH UNIVERSITY’S ‘INTOLERANCE’

Today’s Top Stories:

JORDANIAN MINISTRY LAUNCHES ‘SWIFT PLAN’ TO HELP SOUTHERN LEBANON

As reports emerge from south Lebanon about the “horrifying” conditions after the ceasefire agreement, the Jordanian relief agency Manara Ministries has stepped in with “a swift plan to meet needs in different villages and towns across Lebanon.” An e-mail from Manara reiterates reports of destruction, especially Christian homes and villages, that acted as places of refuge during the war and whose resources are exhausted from thousands of additional inhabitants and neighboring villagers. Manara said the worst destruction isn’t physical, but rather the loss of hope for a peaceful and stable Lebanon. Many young professionals are seeking to relocate to the West. Because of the huge needs, Manara is focusing primarily on four areas — helping Christian schools, providing medical funds and supplies, purchasing Bibles and Christian literature, and assisting families with food and other physical items. “We need to keep moving fast,” the e-mail concluded, “because no one knows how long we have before the war starts again or when the opportunity is lost.” (Assist News Service)

CHRISTIAN COUPLE BEGINS ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK FOR CHURCHES

A husband-and-wife engineering team has pioneered a social networking tool for churches called MyChurch.org. Called “God’s Myspace” by Cnet.com, the free service to churches and individuals can share photos, add and arrange their friends, keep a personal calendar and write comments and emails to each other. Churches can moderate a group weblog, send out bulletins to the congregation, share sermon podcasts and network with other churches. The entire idea is to extend the church community online between Sundays. Additional features and more bandwidth can be added with monthly subscriptions. More than 100 churches were involved in testing the site that has now opened to the public. The couple designed the service with an emphasis on clean layouts, authentic community and smooth usability while steering away from the advertising that has plagued Myspace.com. (Christian Newswire)

CANADIAN ARRESTED FOR PREACHING, PRAYING ON CALGARY STREETS

Canadian citizen Artur Pawlowski, 33, is in court today answering charges of disturbing the peace, trespassing and other charges related to his preaching and praying aloud on a Calgary sidewalk last month. With the support of area churches, Pawlowski takes church to the needy by preaching to drug dealers, homeless and street kids who congregate at a local park. Drug dealers have previously threatened him because their clients stop using when they come to Christ. Due to these threats, Pawlowski began video taping the street events. These videos show street vendors and fortunetellers at a festival near the park becoming agitated as Pawlowski began preaching. He remained calm as police confronted him. He and his brother, David, left when asked not to speak with the vendors again. A few days later, the two returned to pray at an area far from the vendors. However, vendors again called the police. Videos show Pawlowski standing on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, calmly asking police why they are harassing him. Six police officers made the arrest, and Pawlowski spent one night in jail. (Mission Network News)

MOSCOW MINISTRY FORUM TO ADDRESS GROWING HIV/AIDS CRISIS IN RUSSIA

Because Russian President Vladimir Putin appears unwilling to confront his country’s growing HIV/AIDS crisis, an innovative gathering of key Christian, social and governmental organizations to be held Nov. 15-17 in Moscow is hoping to explore ways these groups can share resources and experiences to face the crisis head on. The U.K.-based Tearfund and Russian Ministries based in Wheaton, Ill., are hosting “HIV & AIDS Forum of Good Practice and Networking” at the Moscow Christian Center. The event is already attracting participants from the U.S., Europe and the former Soviet Union. The forum is also designed to motivate national churches to develop HIV/AIDS ministries focused on prevention and care of those affected. Popular Christian bands such as “Druzhky” are already holding concert events where area churches and ministries share the gospel and teach HIV prevention. Russian Ministries already hosted a three-day conference in Ukraine where “people are stepping into leadership in this area in their communities and churches, mobilizing them to stand against this crisis through the teaching of Christian values and proclaiming the gospel.” (Assist News Service)

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER PROTESTS SCOTTISH UNIVERSITY’S ‘INTOLERANCE’

A Christian radio broadcaster in Scotland is taking a stand against Edinburgh University in what he is calling “extreme intolerance for Christianity.” The university is preparing to ban Bibles from residence halls in response to student association protests that Bibles are a means of discrimination against non-Christians. The university had a longstanding practice of placing Gideon Bibles in each new student’s rooms. Last year prayer was banned from graduation. Radio broadcaster Ian Dunlop, chairman of Scotland’s first full-time Christian radio station, Revival FM, says banning Bibles, rather than preventing discrimination against students of other faiths, “flies in the face of everything that we stand for here in the U.K. as a nation standing for freedom and tolerance.” Dunlop compared the offence to “the days of the pilgrim fathers” when the founders of the U.S. “found themselves being persecuted and having to leave for the New World because of the lack of tolerance of faith in the U.K. at that time.” Scotland’s Stirling University recently abandoned plans to remove 6,000 Bibles from campus due to a Christian student’s protests. (Agape Press)