Today’s Headlines:

WELL DRILLING BRINGS OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVANGELISM IN UGANDA

WOMAN KILLED AFTER DAUGHTER CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY

THOUSANDS OF LOW-CASTE HINDUS ADOPT NEW FAITH IN PROTEST

*WHISTLING FROG WINS INDEPENDENT CHRISTMAS RADIO AWARD

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Today’s Top Stories:

WELL DRILLING BRINGS OPPORTUNITY FOR EVANGELISM IN UGANDA

A ceasefire agreement between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the government of Uganda has left Christians hopeful that people will be able to return to their homes. During the conflict, Lifewater International provided water wells for people who had moved away from the fighting. Working along with the local Deliverance Church, the partners formed the Joy Drilling Group to create the wells. Now, with the ceasefire, Christians are looking forward to switching their focus to drilling wells in home villages where people are returning. Lifewater’s Pat Klever says “Joy Drilling is looking forward to helping people resettle into their old communities and to be able to begin their lives again.” Lifewater always seeks out the local church and works with them while well drilling. Drilling wells is not the main focus. “Maybe they’ll work together collaboratively to form a crusade,” Klever says. “They’ll have some time of praise and worship and sharing the Word of God. As they’re on the site working they may be in a village for a week or two and spending time with people. There have been churches planted as a result of their work in the communities” (Mission Network News)

MUSLIM WOMAN KILLED AFTER DAUGHTER CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY

A Muslim woman was murdered on the east coast of Australia, in Queensland’s Gold Coast region following her daughter’s conversion to Christ. On the evening of Monday, October 9, Kaihana Hussain, the teenage daughter of Muslim immigrants, told her parents that she was converting from Islam to Christianity. Her father responded in fury, attacking the girl. Kaihana’s mother, Yasmin, intervened to aid and protect her daughter. , Kaihana fled the family’s apartment, dressed only in her underwear, her clothes torn off, blood splattered over her severely scratched and cut body. When Police arrived at the scene, they discovered the mother with a fatal knife wound to the chest. Kaihana’s father, Dr. Muhammad Hussain was also bleeding from a potentially fatal knife wound to the chest. Blood was splattered on walls, floors and doorways throughout the three-bedroom luxury apartment. Dr. Hussain is presently hospitalized in critical condition. A Muslim source said, “It is the Islamic way that if a son or daughter does or plans to do something that is unacceptable or wrong for a Muslim, then it is the mother who is automatically at fault and will bear the brunt of the blame.” (World Evangelical Alliance)

THOUSANDS OF LOW-CASTE HINDUS ADOPT NEW FAITH IN PROTEST

Thousands of India’s low-caste Hindu Dalits, once known as “Untouchables,” are converting to Christianity and Buddhism in mass ceremonies as part of a protest against the injustices of the caste system. By converting away from Hinduism, Dalits can escape some of the prejudice and discrimination they normally face. Joseph D’Souza, the president of the Dalit Freedom Network and a Christian convert, described the conversions as a “celebratory occasion.” “I think it’s important to understand that this is a cry for human dignity, it’s a cry for human worth,” he said. Dalits were arriving by the truckload for the ceremony in a public park in the central city of Nagpur where religious leaders gave heated speeches against the treatment of lower castes. Similar mass conversions are taking place this month across India. Despite official laws banning prejudice, four-fifths of India’s Dalits live in isolated rural areas where prejudice persists. (WorldWide Religious News/BBC)

As reported last week, Back to the Bible’s radio station in North Sumatra, Indonesia was seeking local government approval to operate in an area that is predominantly Muslim. Back to the Bible’s Mark Blowers reports good news regarding their petition. “It actually has been approved,” Blowers said, “and all the paperwork has been signed. We won’t actually receive the certificate until the end of 2006. Once we have that, then there is no recourse for any of those opposed to the station, and there is opposition to the station.” The granted license is credited only to saints on their knees in prayer. “This is obviously God’s doing because this place is 99-percent Muslim. To be able to broadcast the Gospel along with other programs that are going to help the people is just an answer from God.” The station has received more than 10,000 letters in its first year. (Mission Network News)

*WHISTLING FROG WINS INDEPENDENT CHRISTMAS RADIO AWARD

The first Independent Christmas Radio Award has been awarded to the Bradford-based Whistling Frog Productions – a ministry of HCJB-UK – for a series of radio features they made for HOME FM in Huddersfield. ‘Homeless at Christmas’ told the story of how Nightstop, a charity in West Yorskhire, looks after young people with nowhere to go during the festive season. Many of the Nightstop families are Christians and the winning programs linked their Christian faith into the meaning of the Christmas story. The five short features were played as part of the evening news slot during December 2005 on HOME FM.

Independent Christmas is a commercial radio sponsorship scheme run by Jerusalem Productions, part of the Jerusalem Trust, one of the Sainsbury family charitable trusts from one of the UK’s leading supermarket chains; they exist to encourage the inclusion of Christian programming on mainstream radio and TV in the UK. The Jerusalem Awards ceremony took place last week at the Royal Society of Arts in London. Whistling Frog Productions also scooped the top award in the ‘Reflections’ category for ‘Exterminate! Exterminate!’ – a breakfast show insert featuring two daleks, fictional mutant extraterrestrials popularized in the UK TV series Dr. Who, discussing 1 Corinthians chapter 13. The winning reflection was broadcast on Pulse Classic Gold in Bradford.

Whistling Frog Productions is a radio group specializing in creative programming that looks at the spiritual side of life. In the last nine years the Whistling Frog team has picked up no less than 24 radio awards for material broadcast on commercial radio in the UK. To listen to the winning reflection, log on to http://www.audiopot.org and type ‘dalek’ into the search box.

In Britain, rather than focus on the traditional world of Christian radio, HCJB-UK has a passion to reach those outside the church who listen to secular radio stations. To achieve this we use the name ‘Whistling Frog Productions’ – placing our own award-winning radio material on local commercial stations, utilizing Christians already working in the radio industry and offering quality training to aspiring Christian broadcasters. The ethos of Whistling Frog Productions is simple: to produce creative, non-cheesy radio for a mainstream audience on Christian themes, making sure the final product is entertaining, thought-provoking and definitely not preachy. The Whistling Frog Productions team also produces a weekly Sunday breakfast show on commercial radio in West Yorkshire, are involved in professional radio training in the UK and overseas, and they operate a Radio Volunteers Group in Bradford every Tuesday evening.