| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-448 * 18 JULY 2003 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN448-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Pray for your enemies by name JN448-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Follow-up in Albania JN448-3. NEWS BRIEF: 50,000 people meet Jesus in Mongolia JN448-4. NEWS BRIEF: Young prayer leaders in Europe connect JN448-5. NEWS BRIEF: Bible League plants 3,433 new churches JN448-6. RESOURCE: Shaped for ministry --- QUOTE: "You know you're surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda, and control the situation. You let go and let God work. You don't have to always be 'in charge.' Instead of trying harder, you trust more." (Rick Warren) --- JN448-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Pray for your enemies by name "India repeatedly sees persecution. We recently heard how a number of people put pressure on Christians in a certain Indian city," writes Dawn Ministries' Sheryl Wingerd. "How did the Christians react? One of the city's prayer networks made a list of the people who wanted to cause the church difficulties - and prayed for them by name! God intervened, and every one of them experienced something which stopped them persecuting Jesus' followers. One of the group's leaders injured his leg so severely, with a subsequent infection, that the doctors could only recommend amputating the leg. The Christians went to him to pray for his leg. He was healed! He no longer makes trouble for Christians, and the rest of his group had also become conspicuously quiet." Source: Dawn Ministries --- JN448-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Follow-up in Albania Thousands of people gave their hearts to Christ in Albania recently. The Luis Palau Evangelistic Association's Next Generation Alliance sent evangelists into the region to organise meetings focused on politicians, prison inmates, teachers and others. "We had a saturation evangelism ministry in seven different cities," says spokesman Tim Robnett. "They held almost 100 events. This went on for about 10 days. Over 4,000 people made decisions for Christ." According to Robnett the small Albanian evangelical church needs prayer right now. "If there's 8,000 Christians and 4,000 new Christians, just the follow up itself has to be enormous." Let's pray for these new believers, that they will be strengthened in their relationship with Christ, and for the Church in Albania to grow in discipleship and multiplication. Source: Mission Network News --- JN448-3. NEWS BRIEF: 50,000 people meet Jesus in Mongolia German charity HELP International reports that during a recent campaign with evangelist Charles Ndifon in three cities in Mongolia, 50,000 people committed their lives to Jesus Christ. In a period of ten days 116,000 people came to the meetings and thousands were healed. Help International organised the campaign in partnership with ten churches in Mongolia. Some conversions were very dramatic. The editor-in-chief of a radio station surrendered her life to Christ while she interviewed Ndifon. As a result she offered the evangelist a 60-minute live broadcast, leading to the conversion of 20 crew members of the radio station and thousands of listeners. Telephone lines were overburdened with people who tried to call the radio station. Many came to the campaign centre, carrying their suffering friends and relatives with them on mattresses. Ndifon prayed for the sick and they were healed right on the spot. Organisers said is was a 'happy mess'. Source: HELP International --- JN448-4. NEWS BRIEF: Young prayer leaders in Europe connect This Summer the Connect Europe network will facilitate FOUR connecting events for emerging prayer leaders and other young visionaries with a calling for their city or nation. The network started a year ago during a gathering in Herrnhut, the birthplace of the Moravian prayer and missions movement. Eight countries in Europe have a national youth prayer movement and 26 have local or regional youth prayer initiatives, according to research presented on the website. LINK: http://www.connecteurope.org/news.htm#110703 LINK: http://www.connecteurope.org/nations.htm --- JN448-5. NEWS BRIEF: Bible League plants 3,433 new churches "The Bible League's aim is to not only distribute Bibles, but also to bring people to faith in Christ and make them active church members," says German mission leader Reinhard Kannenberg. Besides Bible courses attended by 2.5 million people in 2002, the Bible League also offers church planting courses in various nations. A recent report reveals that these courses played a part in the planting of 3,433 new churches in 2002, of which 331 were in the Middle East, 522 in Cambodia and 123 in Malaysia. LINK: http://www.gospelcom.net/bibleleague --- JN448-6. RESOURCE: Shaped for ministry When you say someone is shaped for ministry, what do you mean? Rick Warren uses S.H.A.P.E. as an acronym to explain the five elements that determine what a person's ministry should be: Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experiences. He believes every believer is uniquely shaped for a particular ministry. LINK: http://www.pastors.com/rwmt/default.asp?id=52&artid=1737&expand=1 --- 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: 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. 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