Story number 1 for 24 Apr 2002

(Venezuela)–Topping the news, after five months of confrontation that boiled over with a coup attempt, Venezuela’s business leaders and lawmakers vowed to find common ground on President Hugo Chavez’s economic policies. That means that the atmosphere has stabilized somewhat, although expatriate missionaries are still cautious. Latin America Mission’s Greg Burch. “Continue to pray, obviously, for the political situation here, because if that doesn’t get resolved, then our outreach and a number of other missionary outreaches here in the country will continue to disintegrate, in terms of what we could actually do and how we can minister.” Burch adds that their concern isn’t so much for the present, as it is for the building of future work or difficulties. “If something doesn’t happen in the next couple months, there could be a civil war, or the country could be polarized, the rich and the poor. That will affect our work, and that’s going to affect the work of all the missionaries and the churches here in the country. So, continue to pray for peace and for calm, that God would continue to give us wisdom.”