JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-396 * 20 FEBRUARY 2002 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG
IN THIS EDITION:
JN396-1. Prayer and revival news from Africa
| God's white clothes: testimony from North Africa
| 24 hour Arabic Christian radio
| International prayer effort for Morocco
| Largest Bible distribution in Nigeria
| Pastors's prayer network in Zambia
| One church for every 600 people in Zimbabwe
| Harvest time in Mozambique
JN396-2. Prayer and revival news from Asia
| Angel rescues young believer in Israel
| Jesus in the dictionary: testimony from Afghanistan
| Gospel outreach in Japan
JN396-4. Resources on prayer and church growth
| Gideon's Army II transcripts
| Learning to preach like Jesus
| Fathering apostles
| House church strategy
| Prayer for the Olympics
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QUOTE - "When you have to shoot an arrow of truth, coat it with honey first." (Rick Warren)
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JN396-1. Prayer and revival news from Africa
| NORTH AFRICA: GOD'S WHITE CLOTHES - Every Home for Christ published this beautiful testimony from North Africa: Hawa Ahmed was a Moslem student in North Africa. One day, she read a Christian tract in her dormitory, and decided to become a Christian. Her father was an Emir (Islamic ruler), so she expected to loose her inheritance because of her conversion. She was completely unprepared for what really happened. When she told her family that she had become a Christian and changed her name to Faith, her father exploded in rage. Her father and brothers stripped her naked and bound her to a chair fixed to a metal plate with which they wanted to electrocute her. Faith asked them to at least lay a Bible in her lap. Her father responded "If you want to die together with your false religion, so be it." One of her brothers added: "That will show that your religion is powerless." Although they had bound her, she was able to touch a corner of the Bible. She felt a strange peace, as though someone were standing beside her. Her father and brothers pushed the plug into the socket - and nothing happened. They tried four times with various cables, but it was as though the electricity refused to flow. Finally, her father, angry and frustrated, hit her and screamed "You are no longer my daughter." Then he threw his daughter out into the street, naked. She ran through the streets, humiliated and in pain. Shaking and tearful, she ran to a friend. People looked at her, curious rather than shocked. Her friend let her in, clothed her and gave her shelter. The next day, her friend asked neighbours what they had thought when they had seen Faith running naked through the streets. "What are you talking about?" they asked. "The girl had a wonderful white dress on. We asked ourselves why someone so beautifully clothed had to run through the streets." God had hidden her nakedness from their eyes, clothing her in a beautiful white dress. Today, Faith is a full-time evangelist with Every Home for Christ.
| 24-HOUR CHRISTIAN ARABIC RADIO - Millions of Arabic-speaking listeners across North Africa, the Middle East and Europe can hear Christian radio programs 24 hours daily in their language via satellite through a cooperative effort of HCJB World Radio and Arab World Ministries (AWM). "This is a real milestone in reaching Muslims with the gospel," says HCJB World Radio's regional director for North Africa/Middle East. "It's a major breakthrough and a giant praise." The broadcasts make the gospel available to millions of people for the first time in an area where just 0.4 percent of population knows Christ. "Per capita, this region has the world's highest concentration of satellite dishes," says the regional director. "Our intent is to encourage Arabic-speaking Christians, helping them to get in touch with other believers, and also introducing many listeners to Christ." The satellite service goes where missionaries cannot go because of government restrictions on evangelism in a region that is 93 percent Muslim. "Believers are often scattered and keep to themselves. They can be persecuted or ostracized for sharing their faith with others. Now it will be easier for people to hear the gospel in the privacy of their homes," according to a report by The Religious Media Agency.
| ARISE SHINE MOROCCO - This year, 2002, is an International Year of Prayer for Morocco and Its Peoples. A website titled 'Arise Shine Morocco' is now up and running in five languages. A nearly hour-long ASM Resource Video containing seven short videos about Morocco and its peoples including one for children has been produced in both NTSC and PAL formats. A 64-page "52 Weeks of Prayer for Morocco and Its Peoples" prayer guide is also available. More information: http://www.interum.org/ASM.
| LARGEST BIBLE-DISTRIBUTION EVER IN NIGERIA - Some 370,000 of the World Bible Translation Center's "Easy-to-Read English Bibles" were distributed Nov. 11 at a conference for church leaders in Ibadan, Nigeria, making it the largest single-day Bible distribution in history. The colossal event, put on by Christ for all Nations ministry, a European crusade organization led by German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, drew crowds of over 1.3 million.
| PASTORS PRAYER NETWORK IN ZAMBIA - Aaron Wale reports that a National Pastors Prayer Network has been launched in Zambia. "God has made it very clear to us that the key to seeing our cities transformed is pastors that understand their God given position, role and function in each city they live in at any given time," Wale says. The vision is to network pastors and prayer leaders, so that pastors' prayer groups will start in every city, town, village and community in Zambia and Central Africa. More information: aaronmwale@zamtel.zm.
| GOD'S TIMING FOR ZIMBABWE - "It really was God's timing to plant 10,000 new churches in Zimbabwe," according to DAWN missionary Ted Olson. In the mid-1980's, the nation's Christian leaders decided to cooperate in a large missionary coalition. But of the tens of thousands who declared interest in Jesus during evangelistic crusades, very few could be integrated into churches. So the leaders realised that a common proactive strategy was required, and that multiplying new churches was necessary in addition to planning evangelistic campaigns. In 1992, a target of planting 10,000 new churches by the end of the year 2000 was set, and has been reached; Zimbabwe, with its 12 million inhabitants, now has over 20,000 Christian churches, or one for every 600 of the population. A plan for "reaching the lesser- and least-reached areas" in the next ten years was worked out during a conference from 3-7 September 2001. "The rapid growth of the Church in a nation plagued by massive political woes, corruption and a failed economy, is an ongoing reality, and an encouraging example for other nations," says Olson.
| HARVEST TIME IN MOZAMBIQUE - Missionaries Rolland and Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries (www.irismin.org) report of a tremendous harvest in Mozambique. "Jesus healed many of the 10,000-strong crowd in northern Mozambique, so word travelled fast, by foot and canoe: 'Jesus is in Marromeu'. The crowds grew and hundreds of people were baptised, even in pools full of leeches. Churches are springing up everywhere; in June 2001, we counted 1,200 new Christian churches." The catastrophic floods in early 2001 started a deep hunger for God in the refugee camps, and the Gospel is spreading like wildfire - even in Islamic regions, where, we were told 'you have to wait years for even a dozen converts'. We will soon have reached the point where there is a church in every village in central Mozambique and southern Malawi. Jesus reveals himself to many through signs and wonders, visions and dreams. We have never seen such a harvest."
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JN396-2. Prayer and revival news from Asia
| ISRAEL: THE MAN IN WHITE - "Yousef, a 16-year-old who recently accepted Jesus as his Lord, accompanied his brother-in-law one evening," reports Jack Sara, pastor of an Arabic-speaking Christian church in Jerusalem, in Friday Fax. "They parked their car in a completely dark spot, and his brother-in-law told him to wait in the car until he returned a few minutes later. While waiting in the car, Yousef saw a man clothed in white about 20 yards away who called, asking for help. At first, Yousef was unsure whether he should leave the car, but as the man continued calling urgently for help, he decided to investigate. When he arrived where the man in white had been standing, there was nobody to be seen. Suddenly, he heard a terrible noise behind him. He turned around to see to his horror that a large cement truck had tipped over exactly on the car where he had been sitting only moments before, crushing it. Had Yousef remained sitting in the car, he would have certainly been killed. As a very young Christian, he did not dare to speak of the event for over a week, but when he told what had happened, the entire church agreed that the man in white was an angel who helped Yousef."
| AFGHANISTAN: JESUS IN THE DICTIONARY - The following is a report from an Afghani church planter, whose true name and surroundings we obviously cannot reveal: "At the start of 2001, I was imprisoned by the Taliban in Kabul. I was considered an arch-enemy, because I fought under Massud (in northern Afghanistan) and refused to submit to the Taliban regime. That means the death sentence. I wanted to put my time in my cell to some use, and received an English-Urdu dictionary so that I could learn English. Opening it indiscriminately, the word 'Christ' caught my eye. I felt a radiance and emotional warmth and strength which I had never previously experienced emanating from that name, and held the book close to my chest for hours. The effects increased to the point at which I felt a strong desire to learn more about this word. By a miracle I was released from the death and torture cell and found my way to Peshawar, where I met Christians who hid me and shared the meaning of the word Christ with me." 'Omar' is now planting churches among Afghanis, according to Friday Fax.
| GOSPEL OUTREACH IN JAPAN - An 80-year-old priest from the largest Shinto temple in Japan received Christ as a result of listening to a 'Jesus' tape and reading a gospel booklet, distributed by Every Home for Christ. The next morning he brought all the books and clothes associated with his former gods to the church to burn them. Every Home for Christ and Campus Crusade for Christ teamed up to specifically take the Gospel to 'unchurched' villages where there are typically no believers. More than 700,000 audio cassettes of the Jesus film sound track and printed gospel messages have been distributed home to home. And many people are responding to the Gospel, adding to the 396,598 responses that have been processed by the EHC team in Japan.
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JN396-4. Resources on prayer and church growth
| GIDEON'S ARMY II TRANSCRIPTS - Global Harvest Ministries published the transcripts of a number of plenary sessions and seminars held at Gideon's Army II, 1-3 October in Hannover, Germany. This conference was the official start of the 40/70 Window prayer initiative. The transcripts include contributions by Peter Wagner, Roger Mitchell, George Bakalov, Cindy Jacobs, Chuck Pierce, Michael Schiffman, Ana Mendez, Rony Chavez, Ed Silvoso, Sue Mitchell, Gerda Leithgob, Jim Goll, Sharon Stone, Victor Lorenzo, Martin Scott, Che Ahn, Alice Smith and others.
Link: http://makeashorterlink.com/?O4321207
| LEARNING TO PREACH LIKE JESUS - There has never been a more appealing and interesting preacher than Jesus. Why not model him? In this article Rick Warren identifies three attributes of Jesus' teaching: 1. Jesus began with people's needs, hurts and interests. 2. Jesus related truth to life. 3. Jesus spoke to the crowd with an interesting style.
Link: http://makeashorterlink.com/?F3B22607
| FATHERING APOSTLES - An article by Mike Steele on apostles. "Business models, hierarchical leadership and strategic plans do not make an apostle. It is the Father's heart that is the core of the issue." Steele introduces two new definitions of an apostle: "foot washer" and "a weeping father crying out for his sons to overtake him."
Link: http://makeashorterlink.com/?K6B11207
| HOUSE CHURCH STRATEGY - An article by Mike Steele and John White on the development of a North American House Church Strategy. "We believe that there may be a group of ordinary Christians who have been prepared to have a catalytic effect on the Church in North America in such a way that the 'knowledge of the glory of the Lord' would greatly increase in this part of the world."
Link: http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2516107
| PRAYER FOR THE OLYMPICS - The Utah Games Network Prayer Initiative published a 14 page '2002 Winter Olympics Prayer Brief' with background information on the Olympics. It deals with the spiritual background of the Olympics and the rituals involved. Useful input for intercessors and mappers.
Retrieve: Send an e-mail to <lyris@xc.org> with only this command in the body of your mail:
get joel-news-international background-utah-olympics |