Nineteen Southern Baptist volunteers from two churches were evacuated out of Beirut, Lebanon, early Friday, July 21, aboard the U.S. Navy transport USS Nashville. Ten members from First Baptist Church of Forney, Texas, and nine from Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in Henry County, Ga., joined hundreds of other U.S. evacuees transported to Nicosia, Cyprus. U.S. embassy officials set up a receiving area to feed and house the evacuees until they can return home. The Baptists were expected to board U.S. charter flights to return home. The groups were participating in various summer ministries with Lebanese Baptist churches when bombing began between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces. Southern Baptist official John Brady said, "They were elated to be out of Lebanon and praising the Lord for His protection. They also had some very kind words about how the Lebanese Baptist brothers and sisters helped them every step of the way." (Baptist Press)

80+ CHINESE CHRISTIANS DETAINED IN 2 HOUSE CHURCH RAIDS

Chinese authorities arrested more than 80 house church Christians in two separate raids last week. Eyewitnesses reported to China Aid Association (CAA) that 43 Christians were in a fellowship meeting in a private home in Hubei province south of Beijing Friday, July 21, when six policemen (two in plainclothes) from a local station entered the house. They searched the home and confiscated Christian books while taking 20 congregants to the police station. Some of the 20 were released around 5:30 p.m. local time while eight were sentenced to 10 to 15 days of detention by police. CAA reported that another large raid took place on Wednesday, July 19, in neighboring Henan province where more than 60 house church members were held and interrogated before being released later the same day. (China Aid Association)

PASTOR IN INDIA ARRESTED FOR TEACHING BIBLE TO CHILDREN

Pastor Om Prakash Pandey, 27, of northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state was arrested on Sunday, July 16, while leading worship at his independent church. Villagers, upset by accusations that he taught the Bible to children, dragged Pandey to the local police station. Police Inspector Jawahar Lal Saroj and others beat him mercilessly but with care that the wounds would not be outwardly visible. Inspector Saroj maintained that Pandey was detained for his own protection saying, "The angry mob might have endangered his life." Dr. John Dayal, general secretary of the All India Christian Union, believes there is a political motivation to the attack, saying it was part of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategy for winning votes in upcoming state assembly elections. (Compass Direct)

* Radio programs in 17 languages 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.

NEGOTIATORS GAIN RELEASE OF 2 U.S.MISSIONARY HOSTAGES IN HAITI

Two U.S. missionaries held hostage in Haiti for five days were released Thursday, July 20, after negotiations by the FBI. Tom Barron and William Eugene Seastrum, both from High Point, N.C., spent their captivity in a sweltering, 9-by-10-foot room after gunmen took them hostage, initially demanding $500,000 in ransom. They were released for an amount of less than $10,000. Haitian kidnappings for profit have become more common since the February 2004 ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, most being attributed to well-armed street gangs. Barron, a pastor, and his colleague tried to minister to their captors and other hostages despite hovering helicopters and nearby gunfire related to fighting between U.N. forces and the street gangs. Barron has been ministering in Haiti since 1999 and refused to rule out a return. "If it’s God’s will for me to come back, I’ll come back," Barron said. "But it won’t be next week." (Worthy News/Associated Press)

HUNDREDS PUT FAITH IN CHRIST AT ‘FESTIVAL OF LIFE’ IN POLAND

The Festival of Life 2006 in Wisla, Poland, drew to a close Sunday, July 23, after a week of festivities designed to bring the message of joy and salvation to this southern region of the country.

Thousands attended each night as Pastor Mike MacIntosh of Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego, Calif., led the festivities and was joined by more than 150 other Christian volunteers from the U.S.

Hundreds of local Protestants and Catholics supported the event. Polish Catholic revivalist Rev. Richard Nowak explained in depth what it means to give your life to Christ after each night’s altar call.

Helping organize the event was HCJB World Radio partner ministry Radio CCM led by President Henryk Kroll. He was ecstatic on the last night of the festival.

"This is a miracle that has been happening with all the pastors and priests; being in one accord working and praising God together," Kroll said. "It’s absolutely amazing. The work among the children has been incredible. I have just heard that 600 children who were reached as part of the festival have said that they want to start a relationship with Jesus." (Assist News Service)

* Radio CCM, HCJB World Radio’s partner ministry in southern Poland, operates 24-hour-a-day FM radio stations in five cities, making gospel broadcasts available to more than 3 million residents. The ministry also received approval of a broadcasting license in June for Chorzów, potentially reaching 1.5 million people in the metro area. A Christian satellite radio network to link the Polish stations and expand the ministry is planned. Programs also air via the Internet (visit www.ccm.pl).

Gunmen in Afghanistan’s western Ghor province killed two workers for the Christian aid agency World Vision. Both Afghan, the doctor and driver were driving back to Chaghcharan from the town of Charsada where they had delivered medicine, said Karimuddin Razazada, deputy governor of Ghor province. In another area, an attacker traveling by taxi detonated two grenades at a border checkpoint, killing a civilian and wounding three others. Afghanistan is experiencing the worst fighting and violence since late 2001 when the Taliban regime was first overthrown by the U.S. invasion. NATO is increasing troop numbers to 16,000 from 9,700 in preparation for taking over security duties in the region. Taliban fighters appear to be adopting methods used by Iraqi militants. (MSNBC/Aljazeera)* HCJB World Radio is bringing words of hope and encouragement to people across Afghanistan via radio. Together with partners, Christian broadcasts go out via AM in three of the country’s major languages, Turkmen, Uzbek and Southern Uzbek.

HINDU EXTREMISTS IN INDIA ATTACK 7 CHRISTIANS IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS

Three young Christians in southern India’s Karnataka state were attacked while visiting hospital patients on Monday, July 17. At least 20 extremist Hindu Sena attacked the men, accusing them of "forced conversions" at the Megan Government Hospital. The men were taken to the police station and arrested for handing out Christian literature to the patients.

The men, known only as Daniel, 17, Manju, 21, and Umesh, 27, were members of the Harvest Full Gospel Church. In a statement to a local newspaper, Umesh insisted their only intention was "informing people about Christianity through books, and we did not lure anyone for conversion." Hospital authorities say no one received hospital approval to distribute literature. The believers were released on bail Saturday, July 22, and are to appear in court again on Monday, July 31.

In another part of Karnataka state, four Gospel for Asia Bible college students were beaten and arrested for distributing Bibles and Christian literature. Police released them on Wednesday, July 19. (Compass Direct)

UPDATE: 3 ARRESTED IN TRAIN BOMBING IN INDIA, BOARD MEMBER RECOVERS

Three men have been arrested in connection with the Mumbai, India, train bombings that killed more than 200 people and injured more than 700 Tuesday, July 11. A local board member for Hopegivers International’s partner, Emmanuel Ministry, was injured in one of the blasts. Executive Director Michael Glenn said, "One of our board members, P.C. Varghese, was on one of the trains and was seriously injured. In fact, he was the only one to survive the blast inside his car." Varghese joked from his hospital bed, "Even death didn’t want me." Varghese faces months of rehabilitation and surgeries requiring more than $5,000 to cover medical bills and support his wife and two daughters during his recovery. Hopegivers already has distributed more than $15,000 of emergency aid to victims of the bombing where the average worker earns about $30 per month. (Mission Network News/Christian Newswire)

ANOTHER STATE IN INDIA PASSES ANTI-CONVERSION LEGISLATION

Central India’s Madhya Pradesh state assembly passed a controversial bill amending the state’s ironically named Freedom of Religion Act of 1968, making religious conversion by force or allurement illegal. The bill was passed by voice vote without allowing discussion. Under the new law, a person desiring to change religion must voluntarily inform the district magistrate. The priest or organization performing the conversion must also inform authorities a month in advance. Police must verify the credentials of the priest or organization and verify the conversion is not a result of force or allurement. Indian human rights activists and Christians have strongly opposed the law. One noted, "The proposal is not only anti-Christian, but it will disproportionately affect scheduled castes like the Dalits and scheduled tribes who will be denied a life of dignity and the freedom to choose their faith." (WorldWide Religious News)

* Radio programs in 17 languages 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.

MILLIONS COME TO CHRIST AS ‘JESUS’ FILM VIEWINGS REACH 5.4 BILLION

As of Sunday, July 1, the "JESUS" film had been translated into 959 languages around the world. The JESUS Film Project reports that the film has allowed 5.4 billion people in more than 200 countries to hear the gospel with 201 million viewers making decisions for Christ. At work since 1979, the JESUS Film Project has more than 2,200 teams around the globe, and some 1,500 denominations and mission organizations are using the film as part of their ministry. More than 200 additional translations are in process. (Mission Network News)

Four well-known Chinese Christian house church leaders in Sichuan province have likely been sent to labor camp for “re-education.” The four pastors, Li Ming, Wang Yuan, Li Mingbo and Jin Jirong, are major leaders of the Chinese house church alliance who were originally detained on Tuesday, June 27, after trying to negotiate for the release of 14 church members who were taken away by police during a morning worship service. China Aid Association sources expect the four leaders will be sentenced to re-education through labor, meaning three years of 12 to 18 hours of daily work in a labor camp. Seven of the 14 believers initially detained finally received official sentencing to more than five days in detention. The pastors were beaten severely in front of multiple eyewitnesses on the morning of June 27 during the original arrest. (Christian Newswire/China Aid Association)

* HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra broadcasts 16.5 hours of Mandarin and 14 hours of Cantonese programming each week.

MULTIETHNIC EVANGELICAL CHURCHES GROWING RAPIDLY IN EUROPE

Evangelical churches in Europe, particularly those attended by immigrants from Africa, Asia and Latin America, are booming when compared to Europe’s steady decrease in traditional Protestant and Catholic churches in recent decades. Statistics show France has shown an eight-fold increase in evangelical Christianity in the last 50 years, from approximately 50,000 to 400,000. Overall numbers remain small, with evangelicals representing only 2 percent of Europe’s population. Despite overall numbers, Christopher Sinclair of the University of Strasbourg says the trend shows that spirituality in Europe is not dead even though secularization continues. Congregations such as the Impact Christian Center in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, are alive and welcoming and have a distinct multiethnic flavor with one parishioner counting 26 different nationalities. “This is just a church focusing on the needs of people,” said Pastor Yves Castanou. (WorldWide Religious News)

*HCJB World Radio has aired Christian French programs via shortwave to France and other French-speaking areas of the world since 1941. Programs are also available on the Internet (visit www.hcjb.org) via livestreaming.

CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION IN JERUSALEM AIRS WORLDWIDE VIA SATELLITE

As the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict continues to draw worldwide interest to the Middle East, Jerusalem’s only round-the-clock Christian radio station beams its unique biblical perspective around the world via the Sky Angel satellite network. Voice of Jerusalem radio was first established in southern Lebanon in 1979 where staff personally experienced the violence that has plagued the area. Five staff members have lost their lives in attacks by terror groups. The station was forced to move to Jerusalem when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. The radio station continues to “scan all of the available Israeli and international sources to find the stories which we believe our faithful listeners and prayer partners want to hear,” said Voice of Jerusalem Middle East Operations Manager Isaac Gronberg. With three of its own correspondents reporting in the field, the station is able to cover unfolding events from a personal, human-interest perspective. (Sky Angel)

FIGHTING LEAVES 2 MILLION ISRAELIS IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN AID

With more than 2 million Israelis within range of Hezbollah rockets, up to a third of Israel’s 6 million people could need of humanitarian assistance. Hazon Yeshaya, Israel’s largest food charity organization, is helping. In northern Israel where thousands are unable to safely leave their basic bomb shelters, Hazon Yeshaya aid workers are distributing food under fire to families as they remain in their shelters. The group’s “Necessities for the North” campaign ensures that basic food and drink supplies are available while shops are closed and normal supply lines are disrupted. In addition, Hazon Yeshaya is feeding thousands of families that have fled the northern attack area to relative safety in the south. But the group’s central soup kitchens lack space, so temporary tables have been set up outside to ensure no one is turned away. Another branch of the organization has agreed to provide meals to 500 children who are being hosted at local day camps. The group is also assisting hundreds of children injured in rocket attacks. (Assist News Service)

NEW AERDO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BRINGS WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE

The Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations (AERDO) announced that Patricia Duthler has been appointed as the new executive director, a position she began on Monday, July 10. “As AERDO advances its role in serving and strengthening faith-based associations of relief and development agencies, we engaged in a thorough process to select the next executive director,” said Ben Homan, chairman of the AERDO executive board and president of Food for the Hungry. “Patricia brings enormous experience in the leadership, strategic planning and public and nonprofit administration.” Duthler most recently served as president and dealer principal at Duthler Automotive Group in Grand Rapids, Mich. Previously she held positions with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Michigan Economics for Human Development, Michigan Department of Labor, and the consulting firm, Deloitte & Touche, in Washington, D.C. (Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations)

In 1926 Chicago became the birthplace of Moody Bible Institute’s WMBI, the first non-commercial Christian radio station in the U.S. Despite changes in technology and formats, WMBI upholds a familiar presence as the oldest and most renowned Christian radio station in the country. Moody Radio is hosting a concert today to celebrate 80 years of radio ministry, featuring artists such as First Call and Larnelle Harris who have been encouraging WMBI listeners for more than 20 years. "Few radio stations have been around 80 years, and even fewer have been owned by the same company for that entire time," said Marketing and Promotions Director Colin Lambert. WMBI is one of 35 commercial-free radio stations owned and operated by Moody Bible Institute under its Moody Broadcasting Network. (Evangelical News)

HORN OF AFRICA INDICATORS POINT TO TERRITORIAL, RELIGIOUS WAR

Multiple indicators are pointing toward inevitable territorial and religious war centered among the Horn of Africa nations of Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which recently took control of Somalia’s capital city Mogadishu, is now threatening a jihad against Ethiopian military in Somalia to aid in defending Somalia’s U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government. Ethiopia, a mostly Christian nation, is fearful that Islamic groups such as the ICU might increase unrest in Ethiopia’s southern region that contains about 4 million ethnic Somalis who have already tried to gain their independence from Ethiopia. Large arms shipments of offensive weaponry and strong ties with extreme foreign jihadists, including Arabs, Afghans, Pakistanis, Kashmiris, Palestinians and Syrians, have led to rallies like one on Monday, July 24, in a Somali soccer stadium where Islamic protesters burned Ethiopian flags to chants of "God is great!" (Assist News Service)

OFFICIALS IN ANOTHER CHINESE PROVINCE STEP UP THREATS ON BELIEVERS

China Aid Association reports have surfaced recently that Chinese officials in the Religious Ministry’s office have been persecuting house church Christians in eastern China’s Shandong province since last spring. Six officials raided a family church and then later threatened to confiscate the house where the church meets. In another incident on June 11, 60 Christians were barricaded in their house church building while each person, some as old as 72, who protested with cries of "Free religion!" were detained and placed in police wagons for later individual interrogation. Police threatened some with multi-year sentences at "re-education camps," all the while not showing official papers or identification. The department director questioned the members why they did not attend the officially sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement, China’s government-recognized Protestant organization, which many house church Christians consider corrupt and heretical. (China Aid Association)

* HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra broadcasts 16.5 hours of Mandarin and 14 hours of Cantonese programming each week.

INNOVATIVE WYCLIFFE PROGRAM HELPS FUND BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

A new donor program for Wycliffe Bible Translators in partnership with the Charity Group allows items sitting around in people’s attics, garages or offices to help provide funds for Bible translation projects around the globe. "We’ve received collections of fine art, coin collections, stamp collections, tools, timeshares -- even golf clubs -- things that people used to use, but aren’t using anymore," explains Wycliffe’s Ron Yaddow. "We’ve come up with a way of receiving those assets and converting them into cash, and the funds flow into strategic translation projects worldwide." The Charity Group manages all the logistics involved with receiving, marketing and selling people’s donations of unused, non-cash assets and then gives the funds to Wycliffe which then applies them directly to strategic projects worldwide. "[The campaign] has already generated a couple hundred thousand dollars," says Yaddow. (Mission Network News)

* Transmitter Stolen from Congo Station Returned 10 Years Later

An FM transmitter stolen by marauding soldiers from Radio Kahuzi, HCJB World Radio’s partner station in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, 10 years ago, was returned to its rightful owners in time for the ministry’s 15th anniversary.

Richard McDonald, a missionary with Believer’s Express Service, Inc., who operates Radio Kahuzi with his wife, Kathy, said the 200-watt transmitter was returned on Tuesday, July 4, exactly 15 years after the station received a broadcasting license from the country’s former president, Mobutu Sese Seko.

"Praise the Lord!" McDonald exclaimed. "Another answer to years of prayer and waiting. What an anniversary present for the Radio Kahuzi team and all our prayer warriors!"

Radio Kahuzi, the country’s first non-governmental radio station, went on the air in 1992, making it one of the first stations in the "radio planting" outreach of HCJB World Radio that has resulted in more than 300 Christian stations going on the air in more than 100 countries. The transmitter was provided by the mission’s Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind.

The story of the stolen transmitter began in 1996 during the country’s eight-year-long war. The king of the Bashi tribe of 2 million wanted his people to hear the "good moral teaching" that he was hearing on Radio Kahuzi, so he invited McDonald to bring the FM relay to his mountain home. Together they placed the antenna on his rooftop so the signal from the station could be picked up and aired to his people on the other side of the mountain.

"Shortly after they completed installing the equipment, there was a surprise attack and invasion by foreign forces," McDonald explained. "There was much pressure placed on the Bashi king to involve his people in the ongoing fighting, but he refused."

The soldiers then began using the king’s home as their headquarters, forcing the king to go into hiding. When the soldiers decided to leave his home, they took the radio equipment with them.

As they were marching through the remote village of Walungu, the soldier carrying the transmitter and coax cable was tired and offered to trade it for an old man’s goat. "The old man feared that the equipment had been stolen from the Bashi king, so even though he had no desire to have the equipment, he exchanged it for the goat, considering it an offering for his king," McDonald said.

Fearing the marauders would return, the old man abandoned his home and village and fled to a distant, isolated location to wait out the war. He carefully buried the transmitter in the ground beneath his hut.

During the long years of war, the old man’s wife died. The king remained in hiding, but the old man stayed faithful to his king, carefully guarding the transmitter during the entire time.

Now 80 years old, the man recently contacted the king, saying he was waiting for him to return to his home so the equipment could be returned to him. But the king had not come back to his mountain home. Instead, after years of hiding, he had gone to serve in the senate in Kinshasa and was preparing for federal elections July 28-31. He will continue to be an automatic member of parliament along with other tribal kings.

The king has offered part of his home near Bukavu to set up and test the transmitter. A new tower for the antenna has been erected outside his home.

Years of being buried beneath the hut had ruined the carton containing the transmitter, but the equipment itself only suffered minor damage, McDonald added. "With some external cleaning, we hope the transmitter will soon be back on the air, broadcasting [in Walungu] at 102.1 MHz!"

Mike Axman, the engineer in Elkhart who designed HCJB World Radio’s FM transmitters and helped install a shortwave transmitter at Radio Kahuzi in 2001, said he’s amazed the equipment was returned after being missing for so long.

"We’re just happy that after all these years in can be put to good use again," he said. "We thought perhaps it had fallen into the hands of non-Christians and was being used in Tanzania. We’ve considered keying our transmitters with a password to keep them from being used in cases like this. There was a similar situation in Liberia where some of our transmitters were stolen." (HCJB World Radio/Radio Kahuzi)