Muslim rioters killed 10 Christians and set ablaze nine churches in Kontagora in central Nigeria’s Niger state the night of Thursday, Feb. 23. Militants in Kontagora joined their counterparts in northern Nigeria to protest what Muslims see as the “blasphemous” cartoons published by a Danish newspaper depicting the Islamic prophet Mohammed. “The Muslim fanatics attacked Christians and burned churches throughout the night,” said Joseph Bawa, a Christian resident of Kontagora. The militants clubbed Bawa and his family. “I was beaten up by these Muslims,” he said. “It is only God who saved me. I would have been killed.” (Compass)

MISSING EGYPTIAN CHRISTIAN KIDNAPPED, PRESSURED TO CONVERT

Missing for more than a month, a young Christian woman has telephoned her relatives and reported being imprisoned in a Cairo apartment while facing pressure to convert to Islam. Last seen in the village of El-Saff, 30 miles south of Cairo on Tuesday, Jan. 3, Theresa Ghattass Kamal briefly contacted her aunt on Jan. 24. She told her aunt that she had not yet succumbed to her unknown captors’ demands that she become a Muslim. Her phone call contradicted earlier police statements that she had converted to Islam voluntarily and did not want to see her family again. The Kamal family traced the origination point of the 19-year-old woman’s call to an apartment in Cairo’s Shubra district owned by a Muslim named Mostafa Mahmood Ali. A local priest characterized Ali’s house as a “dangerous place, full of fundamentalists.” (Compass)

RUSSIA CONTINUES TO TIGHTEN ITS GRIP ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

A new law that limits outside non-governmental organizations may now reach all religious groups in Russia. Russia’s Kommersant news service repots that draft amendments to the Act on Freedom of Worship and Religious Associations will allow the Federal Registration Service to inspect religious organizations, which has many evangelical Christian organizations concerned. Vice President of Russian Ministries, Sergey Rakhuba says, “It’s quite disturbing news, and not just to Russian Ministries, but to many different denominations and churches in Russia, because the Russian parliament and President Putin they are trying to pass an amendment to control all religious organizations.” Rakhuba says this is reminiscent of the days of the Soviet Union. “The media (is) already controlled by the state. Non-government organizations are already controlled by the state, the Russian parliament is controlled by the Presidential power, and now with this they try to control other religious groups in Russia.” Russian Ministries provides pastoral and leadership training in ministry centers in many of the former Soviet block nations. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission began sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave in 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and in recent years from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners nationwide. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian satellite radio network. More than 63 downlinks have been placed in more than 42 cities across Russia and neighboring countries.

RWANDAN CHILDREN TO RECEIVE 70,000 EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Samaritán’s Purse is partnering with Hope Rwanda: 100 Days of Hope, to send 70,000 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes to Rwandan children this year. A news release explains that these gifts will be early Christmas presents for the thousands of children who have been affected by the genocide that killed almost 1 million Rwandans in 1994. Between April and July, gospel singer and songwriter Darlene Zschech and her husband, Mark, are coordinating “Hope Rwanda: 100 Days of Hope,” a project to encourage the church worldwide and bring the hope of Jesus Christ to the people of Rwanda. The project is supported by various Christian humanitarian organizations, worship bands, churches and Christian leaders. “We knew about the genocide, but it wasn’t until 10 years on, while we were there that we understood the depth of what took place and its ongoing impact. We were challenged to the core by the plight of the Rwandan people,” said Zschech. (Assist News Service)

MOODY BROADCASTING NETWORK NAMES NEW VICE PRESIDENT

Wayne Pederson has been named vice president of the Moody Broadcasting Network (MBN), a branch of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Pederson will oversee and lead network programming for all of Moody’s radio properties and ministries, including MBN affiliates and 35 owned and operated stations.

“Content is vital in the changing landscape of radio broadcasting,” said Pederson, who accepted the position before approximately 500 ministry executives, staff and affiliates attending an annually sponsored “Breakfast of Friends” at the National Religious Broadcasters convention near Dallas last week. “Shouldn’t it be even more so for us? We have the greatest content—the gospel! It’s my desire that when people listen to Moody radio, whether it’s a song, a message or an interview, they’ll experience God in a real and practical way.”

Pederson most recently served as station manager of MBN’s flagship station WMBI in Chicago. Before coming to Moody in May 2004, he had more than three decades of broadcasting and leadership experience, including serving as manager of KTIS and executive vice president for Radio at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn. He was also president of Mission America and special assistant to the president of Bethel University.

Bob Neff, the former MBN vice president of broadcasting who stepped down from his position last February due to health reasons, applauded Pederson’s promotion to his former office and urged his MBN colleagues to aggressively press on.

“After 35 great years of attendance, I will listen best I can from this end,” Neff said, appearing to his former colleagues via videotaped greeting. “There are so many other voices and new technologies. We can’t afford to sit back and say, ‘I am going to be great!’ Please, look for ways to be proactive and life-changing,” he said. (Evangelical News/Moody Broadcasting Network)

* HCJB World Radio has worked closely with Wayne Pederson on various international radio projects throughout the years. In 1999, for example, the Northwestern College Radio Network helped raise funds for HCJB World Radio to place 19 satellite radio downlinks in key cities across Latin America. Bob Neff served as a member of HCJB World Radio’s board of trustees for 4˝ years before stepping down in January 2005 for health reasons.

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