Christians traveling overseas need personal security training, says specialist

BOISE, Idaho. (BP)–A sharp increase in crimes against Americans and other Westerners traveling abroad has prompted David Dose, a personal security specialist, to recently produce for distribution a DVD based curriculum instructive in avoiding and otherwise dealing with numerous such issues, from petty theft to long-term detention in foreign countries.

Dose, who in 2003 founded Fort Sherman Academy, is an authority in hostage survival and anti-terrorism training for civilian and faith-based audiences. He has trained more than 12,000 people representing more than 47 government, commercial, and church organizations, and has assisted in the recovery of persons both detained and kidnapped outside the U.S.

 The U.S. State Department Web site highlights the need for Dose’s training, noting that Americans traveling overseas must maintain a high level of vigilance regarding personal security because of continued threats of violence against U.S. citizens abroad. ”These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings,” says the site.

Despite increased security risks, Christian organizations show a consistent annual increase of short-term volunteers traveling abroad. From 2005 to 2006, for example, there was a 66 percent increase in volunteers traveling abroad. Unfortunately, the same time period revealed a 300 percent increase in the number of incidents reported, 110 of which were either criminal or political in nature, and several of which posed serious threats to individuals’ safety.

Pentecostal Preacher Has Big Plans

By Lisa Miller | NEWSWEEK

You may never have heard of E. A. Adeboye, but the pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God is one of the most successful preachers in the world. He boasts that his church has outposts in 110 countries. He has 14,000 branches–claiming 5 million members–in his home country of Nigeria alone. There are 360 RCCG churches in Britain, and about the same number in U.S. cities like Chicago, Dallas, and Tallahassee, Fla. Adeboye says he has sent missionaries to China and such Islamic countries as Pakistan and Malaysia. His aspirations are outsize. He wants to save souls, and he wants to do so by planting churches the way Starbucks used to build coffee shops: everywhere.

“In the developing world we say we want churches to be within five minutes’ walk of every person,” he tells NEWSWEEK. “In the developed world, we say five minutes of driving.” Such a goal may seem outlandish, but Adeboye is a Pentecostal preacher: he believes in miracles. And Pentecostalism is the biggest, fastest-growing Christian movement since the Reformation.

One of the strangest images from the 2008 campaign was the YouTube clip of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in church, head bowed, palms turned up toward heaven, standing silently as Thomas Muthee, a Pentecostal preacher from Kenya, prayed for her freedom from witchcraft. The clip (and a NEWSWEEK article about it) triggered its own little culture skirmish, with secular observers calling Palin a “wack job” and conservative Christians responding “There’s nothing wrong with her church!!!” Few commentators on either side noted how normal that scene was to hundreds of millions of Christians around the globe.

The world now has about 600 million Pentecostals, the largest group of Christians after Roman Catholics. In Asia, the number of Pentecostals has grown from about 10 million to 166 million since 1970, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In Latin America, Pentecostals have expanded from 13 million to 151 million; in North America, from 19 million to 77 million; and in Africa, from 18 million to 156 million. By 2050 most of Africa will be Christian, estimates Grant Wacker, professor of Christian history at Duke University–and most of those Christians will be Pentecostals.

Read the complete story (Newsweek)

The President of Liberia visits UPCI Church

The President of Liberia and Africa’s first female head of state, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has lauded the efforts of the United Pentecostal Church situated in the southeast of the Capital, Monrovia for its numerous efforts of winning souls for Christ.

The Liberian leader was speaking yesterday at the Church’s regular Sunday worship in Sinkor when she paid a surprise visit at the Church.

The President who was accompanied to the Church with an array of her officials of government, including the Superintendent of Grand Bassa County, Madam Julia Duncan Cassell expressed gratitude to the membership of the Church for the services to God.

For his part the head pastor of the Church, Rev. Dr. Stephen T. Y. Benda in a power sermon spoke of unity among the followers of Jesus Christ,stressing, “without unity the church will always fall.”

Rev. Dr. Benda who spoke on several issues for the rapid growth of the Christian community prayed for the Liberian leader and her officials of government, and the people of Liberia for God’s guidance.

Read the Full Story (plenty more pictures)

Churches ordered closed during Olympics

An organization founded by a man who escaped from China after being persecuted for his Christian faith says it has uncovered a secret Chinese government document demanding that churches shut their doors for 90 days around the Beijing Olympics.

“Should church members violate these rules they will be subject to the disciplinary actions of the Chinese government,” said the report from China Aid Association, an organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians.

“Pastors were forced to sign a written agreement that they would not participate in religious services while the Olympic Games are taking place in China,” the organization said.

China Aid said the document, drafted by Chinese government officials, specifies that the house churches in China “refrain from organizing and joining illegal gatherings and refrain from receiving donations, sermons and preaching from overseas religious organizations and groups that have a purpose.”

The group asserted the discovery of the document “provides further evidence of the PRC’s hypocrisy towards creating a ‘harmonious society’ marked by religious freedom and rule of law.”

Read the FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily

Simoneaux Medical Assistance Fund

Tremayne and Vicki Simoneaux, United Pentecostal Church International missionaries currently reside in Blantyre, Malawi. They travel extensively throughout Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. On a recent trip to Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe their 13 year old son, Timothy “Timo”, became quite ill. While in Zimbabwe he was carried to a Trauma Center. It was determined Timothy had an inner ear infection.

After battling the inner ear infection for several days, Vicki and Tremayne were awakened to Timothy convulsing. Of course, they immediately rushed Timo to a hospital in Blantyre where he was diagnosed with Meningitis. Timothy’s condition deteriorated rather rapidly. He was medically air evacuated to Johannesburg, South Africa. While Vicki was able to travel with Timothy, Tremayne had to travel via commercial carrier to Johannesburg. Timothy was in ICU in both Malawi and Johannesburg. He remained unconscious from the time his parents found him in their home convulsing until several days of being in Johannesburg. He was placed on life support by the fine medical team who transported him to South Africa.

According to the medical staff Timothy’s illness was a near fatal one. We thank God for His miraculous touch. The medical staff, the Foreign Missions Division, and parents of Timothy feel it necessary for Timothy to return to Houston, Texas for further testing and rehabilitation.

Continue Reading

Honeymoon with the poor

Many couples seek out a secluded spot in a romantic location for their honeymoon — but newly-wed Lauren Elrod of Chicago had something completely different in mind.

Josh over at the Collideoscope blog posted this story about a very selfless couple.

Brian and Lauren Elrod (son-in-law and daughter of the presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World) sponsored a child in Zambia, but weren’t satisfied simply sending money.  For their honeymoon they decided to go there themselves and visit some of the sites that have been supported by their church.  Along the way, they also had the opportunity to meet the child they had been sponsoring.  Perhaps in the most self-sacrificing part of the journey, Brian even allowed the in-laws to join them. 

Click HERE to read the full story.

Donald Hanscom, Director for Multicultural Ministry at the UPCI Urges Outreach to Different Languages and Cultures

After spending 18 years in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, missionary Donald Hanscom and his family have learned the importance of respecting and engaging different cultures. Hanscom, who serves as the national director for multicultural ministry at the United Pentecostal Church International in St. Louis, visited Apostolic Life church in Urbana on Sunday. He brought with him a message of welcoming people of all different cultures and languages.

“It’s important that the Christian church mirrors the community that it is in,” Hanscom said. “I think the church is a place for everyone regardless of language, culture, skin color. That’s what multicultural ministry is all about.”

During the time he spent in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Hanscom had a hand in establishing 1,500 churches with more than 110,000 members. Hanscom’s ministry in Pakistan also initiated several training seminary schools for those interested in working full-time in Christian ministry.

As part of United Pentecostal Church International administration, Hanscom has adapted to including all different language groups within ministry. Hanscom says there has been work done with 106 different language groups in the United States and Canada alone. Although Pakistan is predominately Islamic, Hanscom says that focusing on multicultural outreach and being sensitive to different language groups and cultures has been a fruitful experience.

Click Here For The Full Story @ Dailtillini.com by Renee Chacko

Prayer Request: Belize Flooding

Flash flooding carried away houses and ripped a child from his father’s grasp in Belize, raising the death toll from Central America’s twin tropical storms to at least seven — with rain still causing floods Tuesday in neighboring Mexico.

The remnants of Pacific Tropical Storm Alma swept over Belize hours before Tropical Storm Arthur roared in from the Caribbean on Saturday at the Mexico-Belize border.

The following request comes from Jerry Sawyer, Missionary to Belize:

 

Please pray for Belize due to the severe flooding. Due to Tropical storm Arthur we have complete villages under water here in Belize. People are clinging to roof tops waiting for rescue. Lives have been lost. The southern part of the country has been cut off from Belize City due to bridges and culverts washed away. We have not been able to contact all of the pastors. Please pray.

 

Jerry Sawyer

Missionary to Belize

 

http://www.wnop.com

 

Christians face arrest for preaching gospel

WorldNetDaily

Two American-born pastors handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham, England, were threatened with arrest and warned of being beaten for committing what an officer called a “hate crime.”

Arthur Cunningham, 48, and Joseph Abraham, 65, were handing out the leaflets and talking with local youths when they were approached and questioned by a police community support officer, or PCSO.

When the officer discovered the two Birmingham pastors were born in the U.S., he began a heated criticism of President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cunningham explained that the gospel message was not linked to American foreign policy, but the officer reportedly became belligerent.

“He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message,” Cunningham told the London Telegraph. “He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station.”

Click Here to read the complete story.

Apostolic Church in Myanmar is in Urgent need

Editor’s note: This letter came from the United Pentecostal Missionary to Myanmar, Brother Robert Frizzell. 

My Dear Friends and Fellow Laborers of the Gospel,
May the riches of the Lord Jesus be in you and upon you in these days of revival.

I am communicating to you on behalf of our brothers and sister in Myanmar (Burma).
There was a devastating cyclone on May 3, which was the topic of the news wire for some weeks.

The Burmese government granted me a visa to enter into the nation when they kept others out.
This was a blessing to the Church in Burma and to me as well.

What I saw was too much to comprehend and absorb within a few days.
I took over 1500 pictures because there was so much devastation I could not decide what to photograph at the time. As Bro Buai said repeatedly, “This is too much, this is too much.”

Here are some pictures of the damage.

This cyclone damaged our church buildings in the Lower Myanmar District and in the city of Yangon (Rangoon) and destroyed some of the homes of our church people.
The headquarters compound suffered a lot of damage and they are in the process of reconstruction presently.

McCain’s foreign policy agenda may help Apostolic Missionaries

Apostolic Missionaries have always had trouble with certain nations, getting in and preaching truth, and sometimes getting out.  Recently, President Bill Clinton mentioned that during his administration he had been instrumental in clearing up some United Pentecostal missionary issues.  He mentioned that a conversation with Yasir Arafat helped a Palastinian Missionary absolve some issues with the country.  Also, he briefly stated that he didn’t have the same success with Russia.

Turning to the 2008 presidential election, presidential nominee John McCain vowed in a speech on Wednesday to make freedom of religion a key foreign policy issue if he is elected to the White House in November.

“There is no right more fundamental to a free society than the free practice of religion,” he said at Oakland University in the state of Michigan.

“Behind walls of prisons and persecuted before our very eyes in places like China, Iran, Burma, Sudan, North Korea and Saudi Arabia are tens of thousands of people whose only crime is to worship God in their own way.”

He added: “Whether in bilateral negotiations, or in various multinational organizations to which America belongs, I will make respect for the basic principle of religious freedom a priority in international relations.”

According to McCain, no society “that denies religious freedom can ever rightly claim to be good in some other way. And no person can ever be true to any faith that believes in the dignity of all human life if they do not act out of concern for those whose dignity is assailed because of their faith.”

Click here to read more about the speech.

UPCI work severely damaged during Cyclone in Myanmar

Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar. Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma, early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph. The cyclone blew roofs off hospitals and schools and cut electricity in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.

The government had previously put the death toll countrywide at 351 before increasing it Monday to 3,939.

We had heard reports that there was severe damage to the UPC church and other buildings. We were able to contact Scotty Slaydon who is the Executive Assistant to Bruce Howell, General Director of the Foreign Missions Division of the United Pentecostal Church.

He emailed us the following information:

We have received word from Superintendent Buai via missionary Frizzell of the following:

Rev. Kenneth Haney Discusses UPCI Foreign Missions

The General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church, Rev. Kenneth Haney, hosts a webcast entitled “Communicating the Vision.”

A new webcast for April 15, 2008 has been posted on the UPCI website. In this webcast he visits with Rev. Brian Abernathy, the promotions director of the UPCI foreign missions division. The Apostolic Report recently interviewed Rev. Abernathy. Click here to read the interview.

In this particular webcast the two Ministers discuss revival in several foreign mission fields.

Click HERE to see the latest webcast.

AR Interview: UPCI Foreign Missions Division

 
The Apostolic Report recently conducted a Q&A session  with Rev. Brian Abernathy from the United Pentecostal Church International. Brian Abernathy is the promotions director for the Foreign Mission Division (FMD) of the UPCI.

 

AR:  I have heard a lot about the Faith Promise program. Can you explain a little more to our readers about this program?

FMD:  Faith Promise is an individual commitment to God to give a specific monthly amount to the foreign missions treasury of their local church. The local church is then able to allocate funds from the treasury to various foreign missions needs.

Faith Promise is not a pledge. A faith promise is an individual, spiritual covenant between you and God. You are accountable only to God. Faith promise is different that a PIM in that Faith Promise brings the funds into the local missions treasury to support the PIM program.

Most churches receive Faith Promise commitments as a part of a special Faith Promise service or their annual missions conference. To schedule a Faith Promise service, contact Kevin Blake, the director of Faith Promise Ministries, at kblake@upci.org

AR:  How can we help missionaries get to the field in the shortest possible time?

AR Interview: Rev. Jonathan Alvear and the I-AM Foundation

As part of Foreign Missions Month for March, the Apostolic Report had the opportunity to interview various Foreign Mission programs operated by Apostolics. AR is featuring those ministries who were so gracious to respond to our request.

Rev. Jonathan Alvear is the Pastor of First Pentecostal Church in Sulphur, LA. Bro. Alvear, the son of a missionary, was raised in Brazil. In addition to evangelizing for eleven years, he has pastored for nineteen years.

 

AR: For those who may not be familiar with this ministry, what does the  acronym I-AM represent?

I-AM: It stands for International Apostolic Missions.

AR: How did this ministry come to be? Can you give our readers a “snap shot” of I-AM history?