Christian radio broadcasts by Trans World Radio (TWR) in Colombia are having an impact on the guerrillas normally associated with kidnapping, drugs and violence. TWR broadcasts into the area with both a powerful AM signal and local FM stations. TWR’s Jim Munger says the ministry recently received a letter from a guerrilla who became a Christian because of the local broadcasts. “There aren’t a lot of radio stations that can be heard there, so they’re almost like a captive audience,” he said. “When we produce programs we realize that there are people from all walks of life, including guerrillas that are listening and are becoming Christians.” Munger says many of these militants cannot leave the group even after they are converted. “They are threatened with death if they abandon the forces. The Colombian army is seeking them. And so they’re caught in between being part of an army where they’re not allowed to leave, where over a period of time they’ve done horrible things and have seen horrible things. As a Christian now, they don’t agree with this, but they’re afraid to leave.” (Mission Network News)

* Together with local partners, HCJB Global Voice broadcasts the gospel on FM stations in four Colombian cities. The ministry also continues to air Spanish programs across the country and all of Latin America via shortwave from Quito.

HINDUS ATTACK MISSIONARIES IN INDIA, THROW CHRISTIAN FROM TRAIN

Hindu groups in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state attacked an evangelistic meeting on Sunday, Jan. 21, in the town of Chakeri. About 100 participants were thrown out of the meeting hall when some 30 militants from the group, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), attacked, claiming the missionaries were “forcing conversions.” VHP activist Sunil Singh said, “If they try to conduct such meetings again in future, we will give them a fitting reply and will take to the streets.”

The attack occurred less than two weeks after Hindu activists in neighboring Madhya Pradesh state allegedly threw 18-year-old Pansi Lal from a train on Friday, Jan. 12, as he returned from a Pentecostal church meeting. Lal died from his injuries three days after the incident. Hospital staff said his injuries were simply too severe with stones even embedded in his skull. Police initially ruled the incident a “case of suicide,” but local Christians maintain his death is the “latest example of religious persecution by Hindu extremists.” (BosNewsLife)

MILD WINTER LEAVES MOSCOW’S ORTHODOX WITHOUT ICY TRADITION

One of the mildest winters on record in Moscow, Russia, is threatening the Epiphany celebrations held by Orthodox believers in the country. Eastern Orthodox believers celebrate Christ’s incarnation based on the Julian calendar first introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. About 2,000 Christians are accustomed to plunging through cross-shaped holes cut in the ice of Moscow’s lakes and ponds by Orthodox priests for the event. This year an absence of snow and ice has left no ice for the devout to jump through. Worried believers have bombarded Moscow’s Orthodox Patriarch with calls. Spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin addressed the worries saying, “The lack of ice doesn’t matter. There wasn’t much ice when our Savior was baptized in the Jordan!” (U.K. Bible Society)

GERMAN EVANGELICALS SHOW TREND TOWARD PUBLIC PRAYER

Germany Evangelical Alliance’s annual Week of Prayer, Jan. 7-14, showed an emerging trend of public prayer. About 400,000 participants were registered at several events with many Christians taking part in more than one event. The alliance estimates that at least 150,000 individuals participated in the prayer meetings, constituting nearly 12 percent of the nation’s 1.3 million evangelicals. In many of the 1,100 cities and towns where prayer meetings were held during the week, events took place inside or in front of town halls. Local politicians were encouraged to name prayer concerns, and many of the prayers focused on social concerns such as unemployment, education, pollution and the integration of immigrants. In many cases the politicians openly thanked the Christians for their prayers. (Assist News Service)

* Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, has been broadcasting German programs worldwide via shortwave since 1953. Fourteen hours of programming weekly air to Europe, South America and the South Pacific. In addition, 10.5 hours of Low German programs air each week from Quito.

STUDY: SINGLE WOMEN NOW OUTNUMBER MARRIED WOMEN IN U.S.

A new study has shown that there are now more single women than married women in the U.S. A New York Times analysis of U.S. Census Bureau surveys indicate that 51 percent of American women are living without a spouse. The Times reveals that women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods. Carrie Lukas of the Independent Women’s Forum is most concerned about the decline of marriage among the black community. “Just three in 10 African-American women are living with their spouse,” she notes. This compares with about 49 percent of Hispanics and 55 percent of white women who live with a spouse. Lukas sees huge problems with the absence of fathers. “We’ve all seen the statistics before,” she says. “Kids who grow up outside of a married family are more likely to have some problems.” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is also concerned with the decline in the traditional family. However, he believes the study’s numbers are inflated to push a political agenda and to “suggest that marriage is becoming increasingly irrelevant in society and [that] women are better are better off without it.” The study defined a woman as anyone over the age of 15, those who are legally separated, and anyone whose husband is not living at home -- such as soldiers deployed in Iraq. Perkins claims this reflects “faulty methods.” (OneNewsNow.com)

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