News Archives

We begin today with a new era for Russia, marking its first democratic transfer of power. President Vladimir Putin has formally been inaugurated and has already vowed to restore their world status. Russian Ministries’ Peter Deyneka says religion will have a definate part of that restoration. “President Putin has been on television nation-wide talking about spiritual values and the need for new spiritual foundations for Russian, in order to be a strong country.” Deyneka says this could be a big boost to evangelism and church planting in Russia. “It means that we can continue our seminars to train evangelists and church planters. And then, to go out into areas where there are no churches and start new churches.” Putin has religious roots as his grandmother secretly baptized him as a child during the days of communism.

Today’s leading news focuses on the latest computer virus, dubbed the ‘Love Bug’. Like Judas’ kiss, the virus unleashes its devastation while hiding behind new identities and worming its way into more and more systems. The virus’ potential impact could be destructive to missions work dependent on Internet communications. Wycliffe’s Chris Sheeran is the e-mail administrator for JAARS. “I don’t think it was really malicious, as far as deleting everything on your hard disk, but it’s something that could really mess the work up. At this point, we don’t have really beefed up virus protection in front, and so we’re looking at a budget item for this next year because I think it’s going to continue.” Sheeran masterminded the group’s response and adds that: “One of the guys here was able to put a block in on the viruses coming into our system and so the block scans the messages for certain things— started ‘parking’ them and not forwarding them to the other people in the system. This one was kind of insidious because it was coming from people that you knew.”

Elsewhere, despite threats of continued religious violence, more than a thousand listeners turned out at a Voice of Friendship Revival Rally in Indonesia. Far East Broadcasting Company reports that at least one hundred people came forward to receive Christ at the revival meeting. The event shows the impact Heartline Radio is having on Indonesia. FEBC officials believe the response is proof that many Indonesians are realizing that Jesus is the stability they need in an uncertain time.

Spanish speakers will be able to understand the Bible a little better, as a new Spanish Bible is being released soon. Brian McLemore is the translation Coordinator for the World Bible Translation Center. “This is not the first Spanish translation. This is a Spanish translation we think will be good for everyone to read. Our vision is to produce translations that are easy to understand in good contemporary Spanish.” McLemore says they’re planning to print at least two million copies. He says this version could be especially useful for Spanish speakers in the United States. “They have group up learning two languages and trying to adapt to the American culture. And, often they don’t have the opportunities to maintain a very high literary kind of Spanish. So, our translation for someone who speaks Spanish in their home with their parents and with their friends, this translation will be very good for them.”

Today’s leading news focuses on the latest computer virus, dubbed the ‘Love Bug’. Like Judas’ kiss, the virus unleashes its devastation while hiding behind new identities and worming its way into more and more systems. The virus’ potential impact could be destructive to missions work dependent on Internet communications. Wycliffe’s Chris Sheeran is the e-mail administrator for JAARS. “I don’t think it was really malicious, as far as deleting everything on your hard disk, but it’s something that could really mess the work up. At this point, we don’t have really beefed up virus protection in front, and so we’re looking at a budget item for this next year because I think it’s going to continue.” Sheeran masterminded the group’s response and adds that: “One of the guys here was able to put a block in on the viruses coming into our system and so the block scans the messages for certain things— started ‘parking’ them and not forwarding them to the other people in the system. This one was kind of insidious because it was coming from people that you knew.”