Meanwhile, the Society of International Ministries-USA, reports success in a massive evangelistic effort to Nigeria. Teams recently took the “JESUS” film to cities and rural areas in Nigeria. After a canvassing blitz of farms near one village, over 1,000 people came each evening for three days to hear traditional music and view the film. SIMNOW, the ministry’s newsletter, reports that 49 people accepted Christ as Savior and are being discipled in local churches.
News Archives
Topping today’s news, despite claims of election fraud, Georgia’s president-elect Eduard Shevardnadze is making promises to clean up his government. His brand of politics may actually help evangelism in the former Soviet state, so says The Institute for Bible Translation’s Kurt Gustafson. “Georgia needs the Western influence into its business environment in order to be able to survive. And I’m sure that he will want to promote that. And so, I think that as far as Christian work in Georgia, there should not be any obstacles to that evangelical work.” Gustafson says the Shevardnadze victory should ensure the current situation won’t change. IBT is currently working to translate the Scriptures into the Georgian language by the end of the year. The Orthodox Church has also asked IBT to supply a half million Childrens’ Bibles for the people. Gustafson says they will need over one million dollars to meet that request.
Evangelist Sammy Tippit is preparing for another series of evangelistic meetings in two key cities of Brazil, beginning next week. He explains the significance of their visit. “Our goal has been to go to every capitol city [in Brazil] with the Gospel. Brazil is wide open for the Gospel-there is a tremendous growth that is taking place among evangelical Christians; God is moving and churches are being birthed.” Tippit says what’s really exciting for their ministry is to see the end results that come about through much prayer. “Pray for revival to sweep across the churches. These very far regions of Brazil, have been neglected, and people haven’t really gone there because they’re so hard to get to, pray that people would come to Christ-and I just believe that we could see a great move of God.” The crusades begin April 18th and end May 2nd. Please pray for their work. Throughout May and June, Tippit will be preaching in Congo and Armenia.
Next, ministries on the frontiers of evangelism are bringing the Gospel to dark corners of the world. Despite tremendous obstacles, Christians are making an impact in some of the world’s most spiritually and geographically challenging areas in the Himalayan region. Words of Hope’s Lee DeYoung says their radio broadcasts are reaching the people in these predominately Buddhist areas. “It’s very encouraging to see a program that was already attracting a good deal of response over FEBA radio by shortwave, actually greatly increasing the evident listener response.” DeYoung says while their ministry in the Tibetan area grows, they do practice caution. “Words of Hope has not directly encountered much overt trouble in that part of the world. Those who are involved in the program production are being more cautious in these days, there have been in the past year a number of instances of opposition from political groups that have religious affiliations.”
Elsewhere, Latin America Mission has partnered with churches and other Christian agencies to touch lives in Colombia. Thousands have been uprooted because of the violence in their country and many of their churches have disappeared as a result. Before LAM can effectively preach the Gospel, they have tried to demonstrate God’s love in concrete and practical ways. They are assisting the displaced with emergency aid, providing programs for children and youth at risk, and developing community health programs.
We begin today in Colombia where we’ll bring you up to date on the latest in the search for the three missing New Tribes Missionaries. NTM’s Guy Sier says a guerrilla defector took authorities to an area where he says the men were executed. “While in that area, they did find some bones, they found a tooth, they found some fragments of clothing, so they sent those items to a medical lab. An initial visual analysis on the larger bone fragments and on the tooth, showed that they belonged to an animal rather than a human.” Ross says the investigation is just beginning, however, the local media ran inaccurate reports on the findings. “We’re not anticipating that these bone fragments are really the remains of our men, but it’s just too early to tell. So, I just caution folks that stories that you may hear that originate out of Colombia may not be the most accurate source.” Continue to pray for the Hostage Crisis Team as they track down leads and try to discern the whereabouts of the three men.
Next, with the advent of a new leader in Russia, many ministries are watching to see how his administration will receive their work. Walk Thru The Bible’s Terry Sparks says so far, they’ve been cautious in their expansion in their teaching program, ‘World Teach’. “Our director had a meeting with forty key Christian leaders in Russia, and they welcome ‘World Teach’ with open arms. But, whenever we launch ‘World Teach’ in a new country, or a new region, we’re looking for three key components.” Sparks explains these are important because they include the framework for their future ministry. “One would be the groundswell of spiritual interest, secondly, that we have the leader, and thirdly, that we have resources in terms of money and translated resources. The only thing we’re missing in Russia is the leader.” Sparks asks that believers keep praying for their work and continued spiritual outreach.
An evangelical ministry leader is giving us new insight into the persecution against Christians in India. According to the Mustard Seed’s Don Richardson, it’s a cultural issue as many high cast Hindus don’t want to lose their cultural superiority. “Christians are telling untouchables that they are created in the image of God. Can you imagine what good news that is for someone who is taught by the high caste people that he’s the scum of the earth and that Christ died for untouchables to provide salvation for them.” Richardson says the freedom that comes with salvation is what’s causing the Hindu violence. “Untouchables are turning to Christ at an average of 5,000 a week. Now, if this continues, high caste Hindus in India know that their position of privilege is going to be weakened as more and more untouchables aspire to better occupations to a better life.”
Elsewhere, Compass Direct News is reporting that a Mongolian citizen has been sentenced to 13 years in a prison labor camp on charges of propagating the Christian faith. According to Christians in Kazakhstan, police officials declared that the believer in custody was guilty of distribution of wrong religious propaganda. Authorities say that according to the Republic of Mongolia’s Constitution, only the Buddhist and Islamic faiths may be propagated. Please continue to pray for the strength of the believers in Mongolia as they face persecution.
Headlining today’s news, Khartoum’s fundamentalist Islamic regime is preparing to launch a major offensive to permanently eliminate the opposition in southern Sudan. According to reports, the government is building up advanced weaponry along the Nuba Mountains. Voice of the Martyrs Todd Nettleton says it’s something they’ve been expecting. “Because of all the bomb activity in south Sudan. It seems like the targeting of Hospitals in particular. And, it does appear that the North Sudanese armies are planning and even beginning a fairly major offensive into South Sudan.” Nettleton says despite the threats, people are coming to Christ. VOM is assisting in that effort with physical and spiritual aid. “We are carrying in medicines and the blankets, but we carry in Bibles. We carry in discipleship materials, Gospel literature and we’ve also been involved in some pastoral training seminars to help train the pastors there.”
