Today’s Headlines:

AUDIO BIBLE A SURPRISE CHRISTMAS BEST-SELLER

APPROACH TO PRAYER BUILDS CIVIC, CHURCH UNITY

MURDER FAILS TO SLOW MINISTRY IN KASHMIR REGION

BRAZILIAN MISSIONARY KILLED IN EAST TIMOR VIOLENCE

SURVEY: POPULAR PREACHERS REMAIN UNKNOWN TO MOST

Jaclyn Victor won the 2004 “Malaysian Idol” singing contest, and Juwita Suwito was the show’s singing coach. They are both Christians and recently came to Australia to sing at local churches and at a ski resort’s chapel. Host Eric Skattebo takes the “World Radio” program on the road as he follows the Malaysian singers’ adventures at the ski resort (both of them had never experienced snow before!).

In addition to the audio of the trip, a short video is also available on the World Radio webpage: http://www.hcjb.org/worldwide/australia/world_radio_programme.html.

Today’s Top Stories:

AUDIO BIBLE A SURPRISE CHRISTMAS BEST-SELLER

A dramatized audio Bible is causing an unexpected stir in the Christmas shopping aisles this season. The Bible Experience is a 21-hour tour of the Bible based on Today’s New International Version read exclusively by black actors. Denzel Washington is Solomon and Samuel L. Jackson plays the role of God amongst a star-studded cast including 250 African American artists. The well-known voices have helped place the audio book firmly at the top of the audio best-sellers list. Paul Caminiti, vice president of the publisher Zondervan, said, “The personalities, sound effects and original musical score make this the freshest, most compelling and thoroughly modern way to learn and understand the Bible.” The production includes the entire New Testament and parts of the Old Testament with an original score recorded by the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Wal-Mart reports sales of 80,000 copies in little more than a month. (WorldWide Religious News)

APPROACH TO PRAYER BUILDS CIVIC, CHURCH UNITY

A new approach to prayer meetings started at the beginning of the year in New Zealand’s Manawatu province has left civic and justice authorities there praising the power of prayer. The churches in the provincial capital, Palmerston North, began going directly to the city’s leaders and asking them to supply a list of prayer needs. The churches then use the lists to guide the prayer of their every-other-month prayer gatherings. Civic leaders, police and youth justice members are all invited, and the response has been favorable. Co-coordinator Denis Humphreys said, “We are not praying for what we perceive, we are praying for what the authorities believe are real needs in their own organizations. We also pray personally for the authorities present on the night. The churches have risen wonderfully to praying in that way.” The specific nature of the prayers has built trust between civic and church authorities and brought kudos from civic leaders. For example, after addressing prison system difficulties in the prayer meetings, Humphreys said, “The feedback from chaplains at the Manawatu prison is that the prison has been at peace beyond the normal.” (Assist News Service)

MURDER FAILS TO SLOW MINISTRY IN KASHMIR REGION

A Christian ministry in the predominantly Muslim Kashmir region of Pakistan ravaged by last year’s earthquake was hit by tragedy once again. As part of a Partners International program called “Seeker Seminars” for Muslims, an early convert to Christianity was shot at point-blank range. This man was actively involved in evangelism following his own conversion. Bob Savage with Partners International said, “He would bring people to these seminars when they happened. As often happens, a guy like him attracts bad attention. And, some people were watching him and threatening him and they just came up and point blank range and shot him.” He leaves a wife and five children. Savage believes the dangerous ministry will continue. “People are nervous,” said Savage. “But they’ll go on. I mean, all of these guys, they know that it’s a lot of risk what they’ve been doing. That’s part of their life. Out of their commitment to reach these areas they just keep going back. You got to admire that. It’s really heroic.” (Mission Network News)

BRAZILIAN MISSIONARY KILLED IN EAST TIMOR VIOLENCE

Brazilian missionary Edgar Goncalves was murdered in the capital of Southeast Asia’s newest country, East Timor. On late Sunday, Nov. 19, the 32-year-old Protestant missionary associated with the Assemblies of God was reportedly attacked and killed by a violent mob of youth. Formal investigations are ongoing, but eyewitness Elizabet da Silva saw the mob, “stop his car, drag him out and cut his throat.” Police arrived soon after the murder to disperse the crowd with rubber bullets. Goncalves’ death was the first foreign death since the beginning of the conflicts that first erupted in April. Battles between gangs of youth have since become common in the impoverished country that has an extremely high unemployment rate among the young people. East Timor is a former Portuguese colony that gained its independence from Indonesia in 2002. The 1 million people of East Timor have the lowest per-capita income in the world, less than $400 annually. (Assist News Service)

SURVEY: POPULAR PREACHERS REMAIN UNKNOWN TO MOST

A new survey by the Barna Group indicates that most well-known preachers remain relatively obscure to most Americans. The best example of this is California mega-church pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren. Warren has sold more than 25 million copies of The Purpose Driven Life (the best-selling nonfiction book in U.S. history with the exception of the Bible), yet three out of four Americans say they haven’t heard of him. James Dobson and T.D. Jakes come in only slightly higher as unknown to 57 and 68 percent respectively. Joel Olsteen, who pastors the largest congregation in the country and is featured on the most-watched religious teaching TV broadcast is an unknown commodity to 67 percent of the adult public and is unknown even among a majority of born-again adults (57 percent). George Barna, who conducted the survey, says, “You cannot make a difference in someone’s life if you do not have entr ©e in that life. One of the reasons that the Christian faith is struggling to retain a toehold in people’s lives is because even the highest-profile leaders of the faith community have limited resonance with the population.” (Barna Group)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Feel free to forward this to any interested friends. Our lists are distributed for information purposes and to encourage prayer. HCJB World Radio does not necessarily endorse or support the activities on which it reports.

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