Christians continue to face intense pressure from Hindu radicals in northwestern India’s Rajasthan State. On Monday, March 13, Hindu militants threatened to take over a hospital and orphanages run by Hopegivers International, but that didn’t happen. “Police did help keep the militants back,” explained Hopegivers’ Michael Glenn. “They did come and surround the facilities, and apparently they are now very upset with the police and the chief minister of the state over there. Now they’re putting [the authorities] in an awkward position, saying that they’re betraying the Hindus.” Glenn says the crisis continues as Hopegivers founder M.A. Thomas and President Samuel Thomas remain in hiding after they narrowly avoided being lynched by a mob of 150 radical anti-Christians on Monday, March 6. While the situation remains tense, Glenn says Hopegivers is rejoicing in the establishment of 20,000 churches and graduating more than 10,000 students from its Bible schools in India. (Mission Network News)

* Radio programs in 12 languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Chattisgarhi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telegu, Marwari, Marathi and Santhali) air to India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. The programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India.

CITY GOVERNMENT IN VIETNAM LEGALLY REGISTERS 3 CHURCH GROUPS

Local government officials in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, have granted longstanding requests of three church organizations to legally function in the community. The city’s Bureau of Religious Affairs last week granted a request for registration to a faction of the Vietnam Mennonite Church led by Rev. Nguyen Quang Trung as well as Grace Baptist church led by Rev. Le Quoc Chanh and a grouping of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. House church leaders in Vietnam noted that all three organizations represent only a part of their church traditions in Vietnam. Sources said the government chose the smaller, more compliant Mennonite faction led by Trung rather than the larger one led by activist Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang who was released from prison only last August. One Vietnamese Mennonite missionary said this development was a “significant setback” for the Mennonite churches led by Quang. Authorities raided his home and church headquarters in the city’s District 2 dozens of times, once partially dismantling the facility while he was imprisoned during 2004 and 2005. (Compass)

BILLY GRAHAM, IN LIKELY FINALE, EASES NEW ORLEANS’ SUFFERING

In what he called his last sermon, Billy Graham voiced a message of thanks and encouragement during the March 11-12 “Celebration of Hope” at the New Orleans Arena. “This is probably the last evangelistic sermon I’ll ever preach,” the 87-year-old evangelist told an overflow crowd of 17,800 people on Sunday.

Graham recalled how he watched in shock as Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans’ levee system, flooding much of the city. But days later, he said, “We saw the great men and women who helped carry people [to safety] in helicopters . . . and we knew the God of love was watching over us. God loves you.”

The 87-year-old preacher used a modern analogy to offer the promise of forgiveness found in Christ when a sinner trusts Jesus as Savior, “He deletes all your files; they’re totally erased.” And speaking to an audience no doubt familiar with the potential suddenness of death and destruction, he invited those listening to “decide for Christ here and now -- because you never know when your time is coming.”

Of the 30,500 people attending the two-day event, 1,432 responded to the invitation to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The festival was organized in partnership with 215 area churches, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.

It was a historic reunion of sorts at the New Orleans Arena. In addition to being introduced by his son, Franklin Graham, he was joined in the evangelistic festival by two longtime partners in ministry: singer George Beverly Shea, 97, and crusade director Cliff Barrows, 82. That legendary trio has ministered together at Billy Graham crusades for more than 60 years. (AgapePress/Associated Press/Assist News Service/Evangelical News/Baptist Press)

PIONEER CHRISTIAN FILMMAKER, AUTHOR KEN ANDERSON DIES AT 88

Ken Anderson, a pioneer of Christian filmmaking and a prolific writer, passed away at age 88 on Sunday, March 12. After attending Wheaton College and Trinity College where he met Doris Jones, his wife of 67 years, he pastored Evangelical Free churches in Isle, Minn., and Newman Grove, Neb.

Anderson then became involved in the newly formed ministry, Youth for Christ (YFC), where he became the organization’s first full-time magazine editor. Through YFC he met Bob Pierce who invited him to China in 1948. The two preached to tens of thousands of young people in more than a dozen cities.

Soon after this trip, Pierce founded World Vision, and Anderson became involved with Baptista Films where he wrote and directed his first dramatic films. In 1949 Anderson moved to Muskegon, Mich., to establish his own Christian film ministry, Gospel Films, which produced at least one new film a year through 1960.

Then, with a desire to produce films beyond North America, the Andersons moved to Indiana in 1960 to establish Ken Anderson Films. The company would produce more than 200 films, perhaps best remembered for “Pilgrim’s Progress,” produced in 1977.

Anderson established International Films in the mid-1960s, and InterComm was founded in 199l to continue the international vision of Ken Anderson Films. Today InterComm is involved in producing additional language versions of many of Anderson’s international productions. Anderson also taught audiovisual evangelism and journalism to national Christian leaders around the world and wrote 77 books, including the best-seller, Where to Find It in the Bible, published by Thomas Nelson in 1996. (Assist News Service)

RECORD ATTENDANCE EXPECTED AT URBANA 2006 IN ST. LOUIS

Registration for Urbana 2006 is officially open, says Jim Tebbe, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s vice president for missions and the director of the event. So far the numbers indicate that this year’s conference, slated for Dec. 27-31, in St. Louis, Mo., will be bigger than ever. The theme is “You have a calling,” emphasizing that “it matters what you do with your life.” Tebbe attributes the growing interest in the missions convention to not only a change of venue, but also to the changing heart of young people today. “One of the reasons for moving was so that we would have a chance to look at our program and our content in the light of the realities of missions in the world today.” According to initial estimates, more than 25,000 people will gather at Urbana 2006 to worship God and hear how He is using people to accomplish his purposes throughout the world. (Mission Network News)

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