There is a Fountain filled with Living Water that is our Gateway to God! Serving the Christian Community with Love & Commitment.
A MINISTRY OF ACTION, COMMITMENT AND DISCIPLESHIP BASED ON THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD.
There is a Fountain filled with Living Water that is our Gateway to God! Serving the Christian Community with Love & Commitment. A MINISTRY OF ACTION, COMMITMENT AND DISCIPLESHIP BASED ON THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD. |
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Serving The Christian Community With Love and Commitment. Welcome to missions article page
2 of The Fountain Gateway. Below you will find recent articles concerning
missionaries or from missionaries around the world. Please read what they
have to say and "we ask" that you be in prayer about what they request!
This is as God would have us to do. Thank You from the webmaster Mark K.
Doty. If you have a missionary article or concern that you would like to
have posted here please contact the webmaster at the following email address:
tfg@fountaingateway.com. All Linked Scripture is courtesy of The Blue Letter Bible or the World Wide Study Bible!
Pastor, missionary teamwork multiplies outreach to gangs By Wally Poor and Rebecca Johnson TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (BP) -- His head was splitting. Just moving was painful. Armando Meza crept slowly from his bed and turned on the radio to get some music to soothe his aching head. But the music didn't help. "I knelt and asked the Lord to pardon me, that I had failed to stop drinking before because I was a sick alcoholic. But I asked Him to please help me," Meza recalled. "I turned on the television and found the answer I was seeking," he said. A former alcoholic, now a pastor in Costa Rica, was giving his testimony on a broadcast of the 700 Club. At the end of the program, Meza prayed: "Lord, if you could change that man, I want to be like him. Lord, help me. I want to be like him, I want to be a pastor." Little did he know that not only would he become a pastor, but God eventually would team him with a Southern Baptist missionary to transform youth gangs and neighborhoods in Honduras' capital city. Ten years later, Meza became pastor of Cerro Grande Baptist Church, a congregation in Tegucigalpa that missionaries Tim and Dorcas Patterson had helped start. The Pattersons learned Meza had a burden for the youth of the Cerro Grande neighborhood. Even before he was pastor, he had tried to evangelize the youth of the area, many of whom were gang members. Nothing proved very successful. After a heart attack in 1997, Meza was praying about how to reach the youth. He felt led to approach the coach of a soccer team in the area. The coach told the pastor he needed help getting uniforms for the team. Meza promised to help and began accompanying the team to their games. The boys, already involved in crime, were leery of the pastor at first. But gradually, they began to warm up to him. "At the beginning, it wasn't the proper time to talk to them about Christ. But I was praying that God would be preparing their hearts," Meza said. Finally he was able to get the boys to come to the church once a week for Bible study. As time went by, the boys began to accept Christ. But they didn't integrate well into the church. Patterson gave Meza an idea that cracked the gang ministry wide open. "I shared with him some things that I had learned about church planting movements," Patterson said. "I introduced the concept of autonomous reproducing house churches with home-grown leadership. "We discussed the idea of evangelizing a natural grouping of people and to allow that to become their church. We discussed the possibilities of raising leaders from the new converts and allowing each natural social grouping (gang) to become a church in itself." Armed with this new concept, Meza had no barriers to deal with such as buildings, established church programs and protocol," Patterson said. "This would be a missionary movement that would help wherever it could." The new approach worked, and God began moving so dramatically among the gang members that a profound change was being made in the Cerro Grande neighborhood. Meza's work among the gangs was making such a difference, in fact, that it attracted the attention of a local television station, which aired a program on the outreach. The publicity generated invitations to start groups in other parts of the capital city. Now, less than five years later, the gang outreach has multiplied to 30 groups with 1,100 youth in 15 neighborhoods of the city. Meza also works with 800 other young people in city schools with a "True Love Waits" program. [Editor's note: Tim and Dorcas Patterson are now ministering through community development projects in Mexico.) See related photos at http://www.imb.org/Media/PhotoDownloads/default.htm
Prayer
guide targets Hinduism's spiritual darkness
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- On Nov. 3, Hindus around the world will begin celebrating Divali, their annual Festival of Lights. At the same time, Southern Baptists will launch 12 days of prayer aimed at dispelling the darkness that holds more than 900 million Hindus in spiritual bondage. A new prayer booklet published by the International Mission Board will guide Southern Baptists as they participate in the intercession effort. One of the most widely celebrated Hindu religious festivals, Divali features the lighting of small lamps to commemorate the return and coronation of Rama, believed to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu, from 14 years of exile. According to one Hindu calendar, Divali is the first day of the year, a time for new clothes, visiting friends and exchanging gifts. Hindus worship a total of 330 million gods and goddesses, from whom they seek power and blessing. Achieving unity with their gods represents the only hope Hindus have of escaping the circle of birth, death and reincarnation in which they believe they are trapped. "Hindus believe life is an endless cycle of reincarnation and appeasement of the gods," said Randy Sprinkle, director of the IMB's prayer strategy office. "Most know little or nothing of God and His great, saving love for them in the Savior, Jesus Christ. "As Divali begins, we want to invite Southern Baptists to pray that the world's Hindus might be convicted of sin and see Jesus is the Light of the world." Most of the world's 900 million Hindus live in India; many others live in nearby countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Significant numbers of Hindus live in the United States and other Western countries. Interest in the Hindu prayer emphasis may be heightened by the persecution many Christians experience in India. In one recent incident, two Christians were severely beaten Oct. 8 in Gujarat state by members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a fundamentalist Hindu party. The VHP is aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist party that recently kept its slim majority in parliament. Christian leaders in India worry that the BJP victory will embolden Hindu fundamentalists to press their violent agenda of wiping out Christianity in India. Human Rights Watch said in a September report that Christian priests have been killed, nuns have been raped and Christian churches, schools and cemeteries have been destroyed. The report blamed the Indian government for failing to prosecute such crimes and instead "has in many cases offered tacit support and indirect justification for the attacks." In January, rampaging Hindus burned to death an Australian missionary and his two sons as they slept in a jeep in eastern India. In August, an official inquiry into the murders dismissed suggestions that either the BJP or an extremist Hindu sect was responsible for the slayings. Christians make up 2.4 percent of the country's 1 billion people, and most live in four southern states. Tradition holds that Thomas, an apostle of Jesus, brought Christianity to India. In modern times, Christian missionaries have worked in the country since the colonial era. The prayer guide contains 12 vignettes of Hindu life, culture and history, as well as suggestions about how to pray for Hindus during the Festival of Lights. The Hindu prayer guide is the third in a series of similar publications produced by the International Mission Board. Two guides previously have been published for Muslim and Jewish religious festivals. A fourth prayer guide focusing on Buddhism is planned. To order the Hindu prayer guide,
entitled "Divali: Festival of Lights," e-mail the IMB resource center at
resource.center@imb.org
or call toll - free 1-800-866-3621. Be sure to include your name and mailing
address if you send a request by e-mail.
IMB News Stories
Prayer
guide for Jews stirs national media attention:
WASHINGTON (BP)--The news media and various Jewish leaders have taken note of a new prayer booklet for the Jewish people published by the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board. The Associated Press circulated an article nationally during the Labor Day weekend and among subsequent articles was one in The Washington Post Sept. 9. IMB Executive Vice President Don Kammerdiener, in addition to giving interviews by telephone to local and national media, was contacted by the CBS' "This Morning" show about the possibility of a live interview during its Sept. 10 broadcast, which airs from 7 to 9 a.m. The network was to make a final decision on the interview during the afternoon of Sept. 9. The news media reports, not unexpectedly, have included quotes from Jewish leaders critical of the pocket-sized prayer booklet. The booklet, however, is reflective of the belief among evangelicals that the Bible instructs followers of Jesus Christ to share the gospel with all people, including Jews. The Sixth International Conference of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, for example, issued a statement to the world's churches during its Aug. 12-17 meeting in New York City, noting, "We are deeply grieved that, in recent decades, some churches and denominations have stated that Jewish people do not need to hear the gospel." At the same time, "We rejoice in the renewed emphasis some churches and denominations have placed on Jewish evangelism and we urge all churches to recognize their responsibility to witness to Jewish people." The Jewish evangelism conference, which is part of the Billy Graham-initiated international Lausanne evangelism movement, drew 130 participants from 16 countries. The statement by the Lausanne Consultation included separate sections from Jewish and gentile believers in Jesus Christ, or Yeshua haMashiach, as Jesus the Messiah is known among messianic believers. The Jewish section stated: "Those of us who are Jewish share in the challenges confronting our people and stand with them in the need to strengthen and preserve our God-given identity. We also recognize that our faith in Yeshua is seen by many as a threat to Jewish identity and survival. Yet we believe that the core of Jewish identity is tied to a purpose and a divine calling that is fulfilled only in Yeshua -- to be reconciled to God and to be a light to the nations for his glory. We therefore reject the commonly held view that Jews who believe in Jesus are no longer Jewish." The gentile section stated: "Those of us who are Gentiles affirm that Jews who believe in Yeshua do not forfeit their Jewish identity; indeed, our own identity as Christians is also found in Yeshua the Jewish Messiah. Through him our identity is linked to the destiny of the people Israel. We do not wish to see our brothers and sisters lose their identity. We are enriched and encouraged by their distinct identity within the body of the Messiah." Among the Jewish critics of the new Southern Baptist booklet, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, told The Washington Post, "There's a kind of theological arrogance that pervades all of this, a certain willingness on their part to play God, and an absence of awareness that these sorts of statements throughout history are associated with coercion, hatred and violence." Kammerdiener, interviewed for a Sept. 9 article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, reminded that Southern Baptists "take Jesus' message to preach the gospel to the world seriously. We are simply bearing testimony to what we believe." Kammerdiener, who authored the prayer booklet's introduction, wrote, "The Bible is clear in giving Christ's followers guidance regarding the necessity of sharing the gospel with the Jews. Jesus and all the apostles were Jews. Jesus stated clearly that his followers were to begin their witness to him in Jerusalem and Judea, the heartland of the Jews." R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., in response to a Baptist Press request for comment, noted that the prayer booklet may be "clearly out of step with postmodern culture" and "off the charts on the scale of political incorrectness. Nevertheless, it is deeply rooted in Southern Baptists' passion to see all persons come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. ... "While liberal churches have largely abandoned all conversionist missions, evangelical Christians remain committed to tell all persons, regardless of racial, ethnic or religious background, of the gospel of Jesus Christ," Mohler wrote. "This is the great evangelistic mission of Christianity, and it is as old as Jesus' command to go and make disciples." Mohler added, "Cries of 'theological hatred' are unfair and out of place. Southern Baptists have not launched a crusade to coerce conversions. ... Having felt the sting of persecution, Baptists are staunch defenders of religious liberty. But this liberty does not mean that it is 'intolerant' or 'imperialistic' to tell others the best news we know. "The real enemy of Judaism is not Christianity, but the corrosive secularism that has so poisoned American culture," Mohler noted. "... Jewish protests against this prayer guide ring hollow when a majority of American Jews no longer express belief in a personal God. Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz has warned that Judaism could effectively disappear in the next century -- not because of conversion to Christianity, but due to Jewish assimilation into the secular culture." The IMB prayer booklet focuses on the "Days of Awe," a 10- day period beginning on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, when Jewish tradition teaches that God opens his Book of Life to inscribe the names of the righteous and remove the names of the wicked. The book remains open for 10 days, during which Jewish people recall the sins of the previous year and pray to God for forgiveness. The observance, also known as the Days of Repentance, ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Rosh Hashanah is Sept. 11 this year; Yom Kippur, Sept. 20. In a resolution adopted by messengers to the 1996 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in New Orleans, Southern Baptists were called to prayer for the salvation of Jewish people and to direct more energies and resources toward proclaiming to Jewish people the good news of salvation in Jesus, the Messiah. That resolution also drew national attention and was denounced by various critics, some of whom said efforts to evangelize Jews amounted to "spiritual genocide." A Southern Baptist leader at the time responded that the intent was not to convert Jews into Gentiles, but "to convert them from being Jews who do not have a relationship with the God of their fathers to Jews who do." An estimated 130,000 to 150,000 Jews worldwide follow Jesus, according to missiologists' estimates, with about 5,000 Messianic Jews in Israel in about 80 congregations and 110,000 in the United States in more than 100 congregations. Perhaps 75 percent of the world's 15 million Jews no longer practice Rabbinic Judaism, and most are secularists or atheists, according to one missiologist's study. The International Mission Board's prayer guide contains 10 vignettes of Jewish life during the Days of Awe, along with brief sketches of Jewish populations around the world and suggestions about how to pray for Jewish people as they seek God. "Pray each day for Jewish individuals you know by name," the booklet, for example, suggests. "Build authentic friendships with Jewish people. Love them as you would an unsaved relative." The IMB has published a similar guide to help Christians pray for Muslims during the annual holy days of Ramadan. Guides also are planned for prayer efforts focusing on Hindus and Buddhists. With about 4,800 missionaries working among 336 ethnic people groups and in 127 countries, the International Mission Board's work is supported by nearly 16 million Southern Baptists in more than 40,000 congregations in the United States. To order the Days of Awe prayer
guide, e-mail the IMB resource center at resource.center@imb.org
or call toll free 1-800-866-3621.
IMB News Stories
Call
to pray for Jews mirrors God's heart, prayer leader says
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- On Rosh Hashanah, when observant Jews around the world begin 10 days of seeking God, Southern Baptists will be praying they find His Son. A new prayer booklet published by the International Mission Board will guide Southern Baptists as they intercede with God on behalf of His chosen people. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, opens the Days of Awe, when Jewish tradition teaches that God opens His Book of Life to inscribe the names of the righteous and remove the names of the wicked. The book remains open for 10 days, during which Jewish people recall the sins of the previous year and pray to God for forgiveness. The observance, also known as the Days of Repentance, ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Rosh Hashanah will be observed on Sept. 11 this year; Yom Kippur falls on Sept. 20. Because God loves the Jews as His chosen people, Christians ought to mirror that love at the very time Jews worldwide are seeking God, said Randy Sprinkle, director of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board's prayer strategy office. "God calls on His children to reflect His deep heart love for His chosen people, the Jews," Sprinkle said. "Evangelical Christians are responding by harmonizing their hearts with His so His love can be reflected toward Jewish people." Rather than being an act of hostility or intolerance, as some critics claim, praying for the Jewish people is motivated by love, Sprinkle added. "Intercessory prayer is an act of love," he said. "Christian intercessors are people of love. They love the Jewish people, even scattered across the earth as they are, because God first loved the Jewish people. "Christians today are harshly persecuted in many countries of the world," Sprinkle said. "Our response is not one of bitterness and hatred but a deep burden for the people of that country that leads us to pray for them, because that reflects God's love for them. "What we're doing is not going to change the general Jewish perception of Christians, but the fact is that Christians will continue out of love to go before God on behalf of His chosen people, because that's His heart." A resolution adopted by messengers to the 1996 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in New Orleans called on Southern Baptists to pray for the salvation of Jewish people and to direct energies and resources toward proclaiming to Jewish people the good news of salvation in Jesus, the Messiah. That resolution drew national attention and was denounced as intolerant by critics, some of whom said efforts to evangelize Jews amounted to "spiritual genocide." A Southern Baptist leader at the time responded that the intent was not to convert Jews into Gentiles, but "to convert them from being Jews who do not have a relationship with the God of their fathers to Jews who do." Christians, however, have little choice when it comes to sharing their faith with Jews, said Don Kammerdiener, executive vice president of the International Mission Board. "Many Jewish leaders reject such efforts as being wrongheaded, arrogant or even contributing to the spiritual and cultural equivalent of the Holocaust," Kammerdiener said. "But the Bible is clear regarding the necessity of sharing the gospel with Jews. "Jesus and the apostles were Jews. Jesus stated clearly that His followers were to begin their witness to Him in Jerusalem, the heartland of the Jews. Jesus is the Messiah promised to the Jews, the Savior of all who believe in Him. He is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant promises. "The Bible is explicit in saying, in Romans 1:16, that Jews are not only included in the gospel invitation, but that the gospel is to go to the Jew first and also to the Gentile," he added. "Obedient Christians have no choice except to invite Jews and all other peoples to come to faith in Christ." An estimated 132,000 Jews worldwide follow Jesus -- who they call by His Hebrew name, Yeshua -- as the Messiah, according to 1998 statistics from David Bogosian of the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, Calif. He puts the number of Messianic Jews in Israel at 5,000, with 110,000 in the United States. Perhaps 75 percent of the world's 15 million Jews no longer practice Rabbinic Judaism, and most are secularists or atheists, Bogosian says. The prayer guide contains 10 vignettes of Jewish life during the Days of Awe, along with brief sketches of Jewish populations around the world and suggestions about how to pray for Jewish people as they seek God. The International Mission Board has published a similar guide to help Christians pray for Muslims during the annual holy days of Ramadan, Sprinkle noted. Guides also will be published for prayer efforts focusing on Hindus and Buddhists. With about 4,800 missionaries working among 336 ethnic people groups and in 127 countries, the International Mission Board is the largest evangelical missionary-sending agency. The agency's work is supported by nearly 16 million Southern Baptists in more than 40,000 congregations in the United States. To order the Days of Awe prayer
guide, e-mail the IMB resource center at resource.center@imb.org
or call toll free 1-800-866-3621.
IMB News Stories
God
confounds Maasai warriors; believers unharmed in attack:
LONGIDO, Tanzania (BP) -- "Black blood or white blood" echoed through Maasai land as young warriors grabbed clubs and spears in an effort to stop the spread of the gospel, which has been challenging parts of Maasai culture. Christians in northern Tanzania went into hiding as large groups of Maasai "morani" (warriors) moved through villages, ransacking churches and threatening believers. International Mission Board missionary Tim Tidenberg's home became a sanctuary for local Christians of all denominations. After three weeks of destructive conflict, God opened the door for the gospel even wider than before. The Maasai are among the most colorful people in eastern Africa. Known for their bright red clothes and beaded necklaces, their most important possession is cattle. A man's wealth and status in the community is determined by the number of cattle owned. Though once completely untouched by the gospel, in recent years large numbers of Maasai have come to Christ. The morani are unmarried men between the ages of 18-26. Their job is to guard the community as well as protect the cattle from wild animals. Conflicts between the morani and Christians had been brewing for some time, but surfaced Aug. 1 when the young warriors stormed Olopuko Baptist Church with war cries. One Pentecostal church was destroyed in a similar attack. "Most of the conflict deals with the very promiscuous practices among the warrior class as well as polygamy," Tidenberg said. "The conflict has also come as many Christians are no longer seeing the need for the "laibon" (witch doctor) and his powers. As Christians have matured, they have begun to stand firm in many of these areas." During the uprisings, a group of volunteers from Hill Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., trekked through many of the villages praying and sharing. They covered much of Maasai land on foot -- almost 100 miles -- to pray for God to continue working among this people group. Tidenberg said the volunteers saw many people saved despite vocal and physical resistance by the morani. One of the men who prayed to receive Christ was a very influential witch doctor. The largest battle came the first day of the uprising when 70 men stormed Olopuko Baptist Church. The morani beat the unarmed church members with clubs and attacked them with spears. A cry went up from the warriors proclaiming that "black blood or white blood" would be shed. Tidenberg and local Christians tried to fight back but soon realized God was more powerful than physical weapons. The group stepped back and prayed. "The battle continued around us as a story from the Old Testament began to unfold -- confusion of the enemy," Tidenberg said. "The army Gideon fought against was confused and fought themselves while Gideon's army stood and watched. That is exactly what happened." As the morani battled each other, the small Christian group stood at peace in the midst of the fight. Then, unexpectedly, the morani began to retreat. The Christians were left standing, unharmed and thankful for God's protection. After the battle, Tidenberg was able to speak to the morani. He met with the group for two hours, but they were determined the church was to be closed and houses burned down if the believers met in homes. They wanted no Christian witness in that area. The missionary told the warriors that closing the church building would not remove the church. "The church will grow stronger," Tidenberg said. "I expressed to them that this is not a struggle with customs or culture. It is not that the world around them is changing, but it is a hardness of their hearts that has caused this conflict." The door for the gospel has been wide open in Maasai land and Tidenberg asked prayer warriors throughout the world to ask God for its continued openness. In an Aug. 12 meeting between Christians, village elders and morani, the missionary's prayer was answered. The elders testified about what God has done in their lives and villages. Several morani stood up and admitted they were wrong, asked the Christians to stay and asked for forgiveness. They requested the Christians share what Christ has done and help them fully understand. "We had asked for prayers that the
doors would not close because of this heated conflict between the Maasai
culture and Christianity. We never expected such intervention," Tidenberg
said. "The main result of this meeting? The doors for evangelism and church
planting in this area have never been thrown as wide open as they are now."
Making
You Wonder And Glorify God...
A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan... "While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident. Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards." At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, "No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.'" At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day that this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story: "On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?" The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were-he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26." This story is an incredible example of how the Spirit of the Lord moves in mysterious ways. If you ever hear such prodding, go along with it. Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell. I encourage you to forward this to as many people as you know. If we all take it to heart, we can turn this world towards Christ once again. As the above true story clearly illustrates, "with God all things are possible" and more importantly, how God hears and answers the prayers of the faithful. After you read this, please pass
it on and give God thanks for the beautiful gift of your faith, for the
powerful gift of prayer, and for the many miracles He works in your own
daily life...and then pass it on...
MB News Stories
Crusades
in Ukraine net thousands of decisions
KIEV, Ukraine (BP) -- Thousands of people have made public decisions for Christ all across Ukraine as a result of crusades led by Ohio evangelist Don Betts. Overflow crowds at every crusade indicate an enormous hunger for God's Word, said Gerald H. Degler, a board member for Betts' evangelistic association. "Throughout 1999 and 2000 Don will be leading citywide crusades in 17 of the 25 capital cities in Ukraine," Degler said. "These crusades are in addition to crusades in Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Israel and America. Over the past two years, more than 17,000 people have made public decisions in the capital cities of Ukraine." The Ukraine crusades are being conducted under a theme of celebrating the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' birth. Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma issued a declaration that each of the nation's 25 states would celebrate the birth of Jesus during 1999-2000. Betts, a staff member of First Baptist Church in Vandalia, Ohio, has been conducting citywide crusades in eastern Europe and Ukraine for 10 years. "In recent years God has opened the door for the gospel to be preached throughout the former Soviet Union," said Degler. "In Ukraine, the door is wide open." With the help of association staff in Ukraine, crusade facilities are packed to overflowing. "The buildings are so full that the church members are told to stay away and pray, and only non-believers are permitted to enter into the crusades," he said. In a crusade in Chernivtsi, "the crowds overflowed into the hallways, the lobby and out onto the street," Degler said. "The police had to close the street because of the people jam attempting to get into the auditorium to hear the gospel presented in song and preaching. "How desperately hungry are these people to hear the joyous news of Jesus Christ!" Six-week training sessions follow for new believers, and Degler reports that churches made of new converts are formed almost overnight. Public officials like Sumy's minister of religion also are touched by the crusades. The man had refused to allow construction of a facility for the new church but agreed to come to a crusade. Afterward, he told Betts he had "never had his heart and emotions stirred like he had tonight." While not ready to come to Christ, he said he didn't want to go "down there." "The next day he signed a contract to allow the new church to meet in an extremely nice facility in the center of town," Degler said. Ukraine's government has endorsed Bett's ministry, a huge step in facilitating the crusades, Degler said. The endorsement allows Betts access to government-owned television, which can reach large numbers of Ukrainians via televised crusades. Betts also has caught the attention of non-Baptists, including a Roman Catholic archbishop in Bialystok, Poland, who invited Betts to speak at his church in November in tandem with a citywide crusade. "These events can only be explained as miracles from God," Betts said. Betts plans to continue the crusades through the year 2000, but the tides could turn this October after a crucial national election. Since some candidates are running on the Communist ticket, it is possible that new leadership may curb freedoms given to evangelicals like Betts. "With the upcoming election in October, we need to pray fervently that the open door to the gospel will continue and God will bless with many more souls coming to Christ," he said. For more information, e-mail DBEA
at vlm@winning.com or call 937-454-9970.
Despite persecution, God is working in Sudan By Tammy Dunkum 11/17/99 KHARTOUM, Sudan (BP) -- Against the backdrop of ongoing persecution of Christians in Sudan, God is using Southern Baptists to pioneer strategies to reach lost people in that North African nation. Persecution of Christians in Sudan stems from political events in the country, which, geographically, is a crossroads between the Arab world and black Africa. The Muslim Sudanese Arabs of the north and the black Christian Sudanese of the south have been engaged in a civil war since 1983, when Arabs gained control of the government. Then the new Islamic government commissioned Sudan's military to fight a " holy war" -- for the cause of Islam -- against Christians in southern Sudan. About 2 million people have died in the war, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees. The fighting also has displaced millions of Sudanese people, creating more than 5 million internal refugees, said Brad Phillips, director of The Persecution Project, a private organization that deals with religious liberty issues. The Persecution Project reports that the "holy war" against Sudanese Christians includes atrocities such as poisoning wells and burning crops, causing famine. That organization claims that the Sudanese military has bulldozed entire towns and buried people alive. Some of these soldiers reportedly are volunteers who don't get paid by the government but live off what they steal from villages they raid. Sometimes, during such raids, they reportedly kidnap children and later sell them into slavery. Meanwhile, God is working to bring the Sudanese Arabs to saving faith in Jesus Christ and to strengthen Sudanese Christian churches, according to Southern Baptist workers focusing on the Sudanese. Translations of the "Jesus" film
have been completed and are being distributed among the Sudanese; an audio
version currently is being translated into 12 Sudanese languages. Christian
human needs projects also are underway to help starving and sick people.
Sports and English-as-a-second-language classes also provide opportunities
to reach out to the Sudanese, too.
These workers are trying to "get (U.S. Christians) to have just as much of a passion for Sudanese Arabs as they do for the persecuted Christians" in Sudan, said "Shawn Owens" (named changed for security reasons), a Southern Baptist International Mission Board representative for North Africa and the Middle East. After spending time with the Sudanese Arabs, Owens has concluded that the persecution of Christians comes from the country's government and not the people themselves. While Sudanese Arabs show feelings of prejudice, they also display tolerance toward their Christian neighbors, he said. Owens wants Southern Baptists to look beyond the politics and the persecution in Sudan and focus instead on the people. In the 10/40 Window -- the area sweeping from North Africa through the Middle East and much of Asia, where people have had little or no access to the gospel -- "what we are discovering is that a lot of the reasons the lost are lost are because of our attitudes and our unwillingness to go to them. "We have a tendency to not want to reach out to an antagonistic Muslim community and yet we need to develop that passion to reach them," said Owens. During November and December, many Southern Baptists will learn more about the Sudanese Arabs, an unreached people group featured in the denomination's 1999 International Missions Study, "Loving the Lost." To order the study -- which includes a special edition of the IMB's monthly magazine, "The Commission," and video magazine, "On Mission With God" -- e-mail the IMB Resource Center at resourcecenter@imb.org or call 1-800-866-3621. The mission board also is producing other materials -- brochures, videos, and a CD-ROM -- designed to help Southern Baptists develop a burden for lost people in Sudan. In addition, the agency is organizing prayer walks throughout Africa during 2000, giving Southern Baptists an opportunity to go and cover the continent with prayer. For people who can't go, "virtual prayer walks" are available on CD-ROM. For more information on The Persecution
Project, call 703-281-9426 or see its Web site at (www.persecutionproject.org).
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