Meanwhile, Mission Network News’ Joel Hill is on assignment this week with Manmin World Ministries in South Korea. The evangelistic organization has many vibrant ministries in connection with one of the largest churches in the country. He filed this report on the group’s activities. “Confidently taking the stage in traditional white costumes with brightly colored vests, members of the Hallelujah Gospel team begin a tightly choreographed routine of traditional Korean Folk Dance, accompanied by praise music. This is just one of the dozen mission teams that ManMin Ministries is using to reach Koreans for Christ. Johnny Kim with ManMin says Koreans’ love of music and art transcends generation, social or gender barriers. The groups use that to their advantage as they perform in parks, in churches and around the world. ManMin Gospel teams have even been used to reach inmates in prison, and soldiers on military bases. All the while sharing the love of God through the common bond of music. Reporting from Seoul, South Korean for Mission Network News, I’m Joel Hill.”
News Archives
Open Doors is still trying to figure out what happened between the Jordanian government and the evangelical community’s plans for a three-day “Third Millennium and Easter Celebration”. When event coordinators went to the governor’s offices to check on formal police protection for the event, they were told that permission to hold the event had been cancelled. An estimated six percent of the national population are considered Christian, the majority of whom belong to Catholic or Orthodox faiths.
Next, the hostage standoff in the Philippines continues to fill the atmosphere with tension. SEND International’s Dave Lowen says they felt it was time to move, for the safety of the people they were working with. “We decided it’s important for us to get our people out of there. I was in correspondence with our director in the Philippines. He was in correspondence with the U-S Embassy there and the latest is news is that the crew arrived safe and sound in Manila.” Lowen adds that their crew will complete their coursework on the “Teaching English as a Second Language” while in Manila. He says this is a vehicle they can use to share the hope of Christ. He asks that people pray. “There have been decisions made for Christ during this time. One of my prayer requests would be for their nurture, for their safe-keeping. Another concern would be for friends who were not able to be evacuated.”
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.
The hostage situation is forcing missionaries to leave the Philippines.
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.
