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Attention college and career: MBMS International has 10-$185 scholarships available for Evangel ’99. Put on by Global Disciples and hosted by anabaptist-related mission agencies, Evangel ’99 is an international young adult mission and evangelism conference Dec. 27-30, 1999 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The conference, with the theme “One hope, one passion,” will feature speakers Randy Friesen, Youth Mission International; Oreon Trickey, Chicago City director of Mission Year; James Kraybill, Mennonite Board of Missions; Linford Stutzman, Eastern Mennonite Seminary; Japhlet O’Neill, former campus pastor at Hesston (Kan.) College; Johannes Reimer, founder of Logos International; and Gareth Goosen, Make Us Holy Ministries. Seminars include “Effective evangelism,” “Understanding world religions,” ‘Hearing the voice of God” and “Ministries of service and reconciliation.” For more information on the scholarships, phone 1-888-UNO-MBMS. For information on the conference, contact Michael Yoder or Cheri Showalter at Global Disciples, 319 Manor Ave., Millersville, PA 17551-1117; email: Evangelconference@ibm.net or check out the Web site: www.GlobalDisciples.org. – Evangel ’99, MBMSI
Correction: The 1999/2000 Planner Directory for the General MB Conference has an error in the fax listing for Lyndon Vix, vice-moderator of the General MB Conference. The correct number is (316) 267-1754. Kindred Productions apologizes for any confusion this error may have caused. – Kindred Productions
The Meeting Place@Abbotsford has a new logo, now meets in Nikkel Hall in Central Heights MB Church, Abbotsford, B.C., and schedules its events for 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays instead of Sundays. A survey by the church showed that Saturday nights was preferred to Sundays. New to the ministry team are Bert Petkau, worship/music leader, and Sandra Flokstra, children’s ministry director, who is heading up a “Promiseland” style program. This MB church offers “SaturdayXploration,” a seeker service, on the first and third Saturdays of the month and “Saturday celebration,” a worship service, on the other Saturdays of the month. During the next few weeks, the church will be presenting a seeker series called “The new spirituality.” – The Meeting Place@Abbotsford
“God cares for you and your workplace” is the theme of a conference to help Christians apply their beliefs at work. The conference, sponsored by Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, will be held Nov. 5-7 at Muskoka Baptist Conference, near Huntsville, Ont. Workshop topics include how to create a positive environment at work, conflict management in the workplace, cross-cultural care, and Christian actions and strategies for community care and justice. Keynote speakers will be Michael and Elaine Poutney. He is former principal of Wycliffe College and now director of community outreach ministries at an Anglican church in Toronto, and she is a management consultant. For more information, phone (416) 443-9655, email ontario.@ivcf.dar.com or visit the Web site at www.rocklake.com/citw. – Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship
On July 18, a plane dropped a bomb on the main road between the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Monathera City. The road is lined with houses and mechanics’ shops. A second bomb fell near a grain silo. Fourteen people were killed and 18 wounded, including women and children and workers on their way home from work. Between December 1998 and August 1999, a total of 110 Iraqi civilians were killed and 300 injured as a result of such bombings by Western warplanes. US and British planes patrol Iraqi airspace north of the 36th parallel and south of the 33rd parallel, so-called no-fly zones, in order to protect Kurdish and Shiite Muslim minorities. The no-fly zones were imposed following the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Iraq does not recognize the no-fly zones, which are not covered by any specific United Nations’ resolution. Following the July 18 air strikes, the Iraqi Red Crescent asked Middle East Council of Churches to send medical supplies, sheets and blankets to the Najaf hospital. Part of a recent Mennonite Central Committee shipment through Canadian Foodgrains Bank, including 16 bags of wheat flour and five bags of beans, was also designated to help families of those killed and wounded. In recent months, more than 55 families of dead and injured persons in the Mosul area received similar emergency relief. Mosul is one of the areas hardest hit by air strikes in the northern no-fly zone. Here the Iraqi Red Crescent distributes MCC and MECC relief packages containing four quilts, two light-weight blankets, 10 pieces of soap and 10 kg of beans per family. – Mennonite Central Committee
Pictured are relatives of Ayad and Layla, a couple killed in the July 18 air strikes against Iraq. The couple had seven children.
The man who ran a detention and torture centre under Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia has turned himself in to authorities and is now awaiting trial. When the regime fell, he escaped and lived under another identity. He worked for foreign non-governmental organizations assisting refugees and eventually became a Christian. A journalist tracked him down, and he confessed his story, saying, “Finally I can tell someone,” then turned himself in. Some Christian pastors say that since the prison manager has become a Christian, he should be forgiven. Another group of pastors wrote an open letter saying that although they agree he is forgiven by God, he must suffer the consequences, which may include the death penalty. The general public seems to agree that he should be put on trial so that some degree of vindication can be made for the million or more who perished under the Pol Pot regime. The detention and torture centre, a former high school, contained cells where more than 20,000 people were confined, tortured and killed. The building now serves as a genocide museum. Pictures of the men, women and children who suffered there cover the walls. Skulls, bones and torture instruments fill two rooms. – MCC
Of the 31 million teenagers in the US, 13% have their own credit cards and another 13% have a card in their parents’ names. More teens have part-time jobs than ever before. – The Old Farmer’s Almanac
The two longest marriages on record lasted 86 years each. One was the marriage of cousins Sir Temulji Bhicaji Nariman and Lady Nariman, who wed in 1853 at the age of five. The other marriage was between Lazarus Rowe and Molly Webber of Greenland, N.H. Married in 1743, when both were 18, they raised a large family and lived to see descendants of the fifth generation. – The Old Farmer’s Almanac
In an unprecedented move, five Christians sentenced to prison terms in Nukus, the capital of the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic in Uzbekistan, were released Aug. 19, apparently by orders of President Islam Karimov. The five are Rashid Turibayev, pastor of the Full Gospel Church in Nukus; Parakhat Yangibayev and Eset Tanishev, both members of the Full Gospel Church; Na’il Asanov, a pastor in Bukhara; and Ibrahim Yusupov, leader of a Pentecostal church in Tashkent. Turibayev was serving a 15-year sentence; Yangibayev and Tanishev were serving 10 years; Asanov five years and Yusupov one year. Christian leaders are concerned that the released were not fully pardoned and that their civil rights have not been completely restored. Four of the sentences related to drug offenses, and Turibayev was sentence for illegal religious activity. Church leaders said all along that the drug charges were bogus, claiming that police planted the drugs on the men. The churches are unregistered. At least four of the Christians are converts from Islam. During a pre-trial detention, Turibayev reportedly made 95 converts in the prison, for which he was punished and sent to an isolation cell. Four were accused of “deceiving ordinary people” by promising to “wash away their sins with the water from a canal in Nukus” and of distributing materials for “glorifying the society of Christ.” The republic has taken a tough stance against Christianity since becoming independent in 1991. – Evangelical Press News Service
George Wilson, a long-time aide to Billy Graham, died Aug. 24 of complications from a stroke. He was 85. He served as the executive vice-president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association from its founding in 1950 until his retirement in 1987. He also served on the board of directors for Northwestern College for 52 years, and served on the board of directors for Prison Fellowship, Youth for Christ, the Minneapolis Kiwanis Club and the Minneapolis and US Chambers of Commerce. He founded and chaired the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Wilson was influential in expanding Graham’s ministry through TV, radio and satellite broadcasts. – EPNS
Coins bearing a likeness of Jesus were among thousands of bronze artifacts dating from the 10th and 11th centuries recently unearthed in three vessels near the Sea of Galilee. Symbols of Jesus with a cross or sitting on a throne are visible on the 58 coins, including Greek inscriptions that describe Jesus as Messiah and King of kings. Other coins and objects found in the vessels are inscribed with Arabic writings. Researchers think the “Jesus” coins were used as evangelism tools to reach Muslims. – EPNS
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Last modified October 13, 1999.
© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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