Story number 1 for 10 Nov 2000

Headlining today’s news, the U-S Embassy in Indonesia is open after it received credible threats against it. The partial closure coincided with Indonesian officials demanding that U-S Ambassador Robert Gelbard be replaced for allegedly meddling in country’s internal affairs. AMG International’s Paul Jenks believes the current unrest caused an attack of one of their churches. “There’s been protests against Americans in hotels and against the American Embassy. And, related to that, there was a church burning there in central Java of one of our churches – a church planter there. Fortunately, the pastor and his family were not injured.” Jenks says despite opposition, money is needed to rebuild. “We can do a new church there for about $4,000, which is a great value for a church building. There apparently is some pressure right now by the local officials to try to have the pastor sign off that he will not rebuild.”