| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-433 * 14 MARCH 2003 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG JN433-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Turn-around in Ben Futuro prison JN433-2. PRAYER FOCUS: 40 days for France JN433-3. NEWS BRIEF: Biker's church breaks stereotypes JN433-4. RESOURCE: Prayer for Iraq JN433-5. RESOURCE: 336 Watchers 4 Europe JN433-6. RESOURCE: Deborah Arise! --- DONATE - Your donation helps us to serve the Christian community with high-quality news reports about what God is doing worldwide. Use our fast, easy and safe donation page: http://www.joelnews.nl/donation.htm. --- JN433-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Turn-around in Ben Futuro prison Bun Futuro Prison (former Koraalspecht Prison) on Curacao, Dutch Antilles, was infamous because of escapes, riots, corrupt guards, drugs trade, fights and even murder. The atmosphere inside the walls was terrible. But during the past years it is remarkably quiet. Chaplain Norwin Martina sees a great revival making many of the inmates new men. Martina found Jesus during a 'wilderness experience' in the Netherlands. On the same day he had lost his job and his house. But God showed him that 'a door would be opened' for him into the Ben Futuro prison. Shortly afterwards he had the opportunity to get a job as a sport's coach within the prison. At first both inmates and guards thought he was a lunatic because he started all his sports lessons with prayer. Still he pressed on and more and more people became interested. In 1995 he started bible studies for prisoners. The prison management recognized the worth of what he did and made him the prison's chaplain. During the years that followed the number of inmates attending the bible studies grew and Martina ministered even to the toughest prisoners under difficult circumstances. Because of this he gained a lot of respect from the inmates. Now 200 of the 600 inmates attend Martina's meetings regularly. Part of his fellow workers are inmates themselves. "Within three months I know if their conversion is real," Martina recently said. "How? Very simple: prayer! Our prayer meetings normally take two to three hours. If you're not fully committed to God you won't survive that!" Source: Dutch Reformed Daily --- JN433-2. PRAYER FOCUS: 40 days for France The French prayer movement is calling churches all over France and intercessors all over the world to 40 days of prayer and fasting for France from 11th March to 19th April 2003. France is currently seeing an unprecedented explosion of youth crime along with extreme violence in many areas. In this country, that is universally acclaimed as the 'land of love and romance', 50,000 women were raped in the year 2000. That's perhaps not surprising when you consider that by the time they reach 11 years old, over 50% of French children have seen an adult-only movie. France has systematically rejected the Church and the gospel for centuries, and is now paying a heavy price. However, there are some really encouraging signs of hope! Several government ministers are now publicly declaring their faith and applying Christian principles to their work. There is a perceptible change in the spiritual and ethical climate nation-wide. People are starting to look in new directions for answers to society's problems. Consequently, there has recently been a significant amount of very positive media coverage of the 'Christian point of view' in the national newspapers, radio and TV. There are three prayer guides for France that can be downloaded for free. Prayer information is available in eight languages. LINK: http://www.lafrance2003.org/UK/index.htm --- JN433-3. NEWS BRIEF: Biker's church breaks stereotypes Travis Abrahamson's confession underscores just how untypical the church is where he serves as associate pastor. "I'm the rebel of the church because I don't have a tattoo," he admits. From its Harley Davidson-riding leader to an annual wild-game feast and car show in the parking lot, the church is set on breaking stereotyped ideas of what Christianity means, Charisma Magazine reports in its April issue. Too many non-Christians believe "church is boring and irrelevant," says Mike Haseltine, who founded the congregation in his father's basement. "I want people to be saying, 'You're a pastor?'" His philosophy has proved attractive. In a small town of around 7,000, the church has grown from 17 to 800, and recently moved into a facility designed to expand to seat 3,500. Some people drive up to an hour to get to the church. When the congregation left its old building, Haseltine let the local fire department torch the property for a training exercise. He went along "and had a chance to share with everybody that the building is just a tool. It's not the house of God. It drives me nuts when people refer to church buildings as the house of God. It determines how you decorate the place, how people should act in it. If it's 'the house of God,' we can't laugh or have fun. We get offended if somebody walks in with a cigarette pack rolled up in his sleeve." "The thing I hear most often from people who come to visit is, 'Church is fun.' The second comment is, 'You guys are so real.' That's the way church ought to be." LINK: http://www.charismanews.com/a.pl?ArticleID=7346 --- JN433-4. RESOURCE: Prayer for Iraq 24-7prayer.com opened a 'war wall of prayer' for Iraq. You can post your prayers and pray with people around the world. Also available is a prayer guide for Iraq, based on Operation World. LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?W21423FC3 (war wall of prayer) LINK: http://www.24-7prayer.com/ow/country.php?country_id=27 (prayer guide) --- JN433-5. RESOURCE: 336 Watchers 4 Europe At the end of April 2001, as a young prophet was praying over him, Roger Mitchell, saw 48 teams of seven watchmen, one team for each of the 48 nations of Europe. He saw that this added up to 336 people, and in the vision this appeared as Ezekiel Ch 33:6. '336 Watchers 4 Europe' became the UK arm of the prayer initiative known as 'Target Europe' and 'Target 40/70 Window'. LINK: http://www.336watchers4europe.com --- JN433-6. RESOURCE: Deborah Arise! Deborah Arise! is a prayer network of women who are called to pray and intercede for their children and for the younger generation in general. LINK: http://www.deborahariseeurope.org --- COLOPHON Joel News International is a leading special interest bulletin on prayer, church growth and revival. We offer a keen selection of the most encouraging news reports, the most challenging developments and the best resources from over 100 reliable sources in six continents. Joel News International is a great help and time-saver for thousands of Christian leaders and intercessors in over 120 nations. Editors: Branko Bjelajac, Alex ten Cate and Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl. Joel News International is distributed weekly by e-mail on the basis of an annual donation. For more information see http://www.joelnews.org/donation-jni.htm#options. Has this bulletin been forwarded to you? Then subscribe directly by sending an empty e-mail to: subscribe-joel-news-international@xc.org. |
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