A Swiss missionary pilot has been killed and three passengers injured in a light plane crash in Papua New Guinea’s southern highlands. Operated by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Australia, the Cessna 206 aircraft went down near the town of Tari early Thursday afternoon.

MAF General Manager Mike Jeliffe said it’s unclear what caused the crash, but officials from MAF Australia will head an internal investigation. The pilot had reported entering the circuit area around the Tari airfield and operations appeared normal, but the six-seat aircraft never reached the airstrip, he said.

The 42-year-old pilot, whose name was not released, had served in Papua New Guinea with the Swiss Mission for 12 years and leaves a wife and four children who were in the country with him. The three national passengers, two of them seriously injured, were taken by helicopter to a hospital in the provincial capital of Mt. Hagen. They were all expected to survive, Jeliffe said.

MAF staff members were shocked by the crash after having lost two New Zealand pilots in the crash of a Twin Otter aircraft in the Star Mountains of western Papua New Guinea in February 2005. The airline has suspended flights of its 10 single-engine aircraft and four Twin Otters. (ninemsn.com.au)

MINISTRIES IN BELARUS VOW TO PRESS ON AFTER CONTESTED ELECTION

Christian ministries in Belarus are vowing to press on in that country despite strong opposition to the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko and continued restrictions on religion that are expected to continue. Earlier today police wearing riot helmets and carrying batons arrested about 200 demonstrators camped out in Minsk’s October Square and drove them away in trucks to a pretrial detention center. Opponents claimed that last Sunday’s election was blatantly rigged. Paul Hagelgans of Bible Mission International said voters weren’t truly given a choice during the election. However, Christians are more concerned about seeing people turn to Christ. “Personal evangelism, home Bible study fellowship, house-to-house evangelism outreach and church planting [will continue],” he said. “It won’t be a big campaign.” Hagelgans, who grew up in communism during the days of the former Soviet Union, said Christians need to be “creative and find different ways of how to do this.” (Mission Network News/Reuters)

INDIA’S PRIME MINISTER PROBES RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN RAJASTHAN

Hundreds of Christians joined in a peaceful rally in Jaipur in northwestern India’s Rajasthan state this week to protest the arrest of Samuel Thomas, president of Hopegivers International, and for revoking the licenses of the ministry’s educational and charitable institutions in the state. Michael Glenn of Hopegivers says a letter-writing campaign has drawn the attention of the U.S. Congress and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “The prime minister is definitely looking at this,” Glenn said. “He sent a four-man commission and did report that there are serious concerns and that they have to do something about this situation. If they don’t take care of it there, this could explode and just go like wildfire throughout the entire country.” Thomas’ father, Hopegivers founder M.A. Thomas, remains in hiding after receiving death threats from radical Hindus earlier this month. (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.

FAITH-BASED COALITION TO HOLD WEEK OF PRAYER, ACTION FOR DARFUR

The Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 150 faith-based, humanitarian and human rights groups representing 130 million Americans, is launching a “Week of Prayer and Action for Darfur” April 2-9. The goal is to promote its “Million Voices for Darfur” campaign to generate 1 million postcards to President George W. Bush, urging him to use the power of his office to fulfill his Feb. 17 pledge to support a stronger multinational force to protect the people of Darfur, a war-torn region in western Sudan. The coalition has generated more than 100,000 electronic and handwritten postcards since launching the campaign on Jan. 12, the 55th anniversary of the International Genocide Prevention Day. “We can either speak out and become agents of justice, or remain silent and be rendered irrelevant,” said Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, chairwoman of the campaign. “I hope faith-based leaders across the country will lead their congregations to declare in word and deed, ‘Not on our watch!’” (Evangelical News)

100 GUITARISTS TO LEAD WORSHIP IN ‘NEW MODEL OF EVANGELISM’

A nationally syndicated radio talk show host has assembled the biggest guitar band in the U.S. to praise God. Tom Dooley announced last year that he was looking for 100 fellow acoustic guitar players to perform a special night of gospel music that would be called “100 Guitars of Praise.” After weeks of auditions, 100 players were selected. “After we got all the players comfortably settled, our lead player, Steve Radke, counted, ‘1-2-3’ and everybody strummed a G chord. It was incredible!” Dooley sees this as the beginning of a new model of evangelism that he’d like to see nationwide. “We’d like to work with churches across denominational, racial and ethnic lines all across America,” he said. “There is a significant spiritual hunger in America, especially among young people, and this is a way to bring them together.” The first “100 Guitars of Praise” event will take place tonight at First United Methodist Church in Bedford, Texas. (Assist News Service)

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