DAWN Fridayfax 1999 #20

News from Uganda, USA, Tanzania

In this issue:
Uganda: Actors become Christians during auditions for Jesus film
USA: Evangelical church reaches over 500,000 people in 540 prisons
USA: 15,000 attend Jesus People anniversary
Tanzania: Muslim teacher becomes a Christian
USA: Gang members become Christians

Uganda: Actors become Christians during auditions for the Jesus film

Almost 100 people have decided to follow Jesus after auditioning for voice-over parts in a translation of the Jesus film. A team of technicians working on translating the film into other languages invited actors and potential speakers from Uganda to audition for the roles. Some of the actors decided to become Christians after viewing parts of the film. In only 12 months, 700,000 Ugandans saw the film.
Source: Jesus Film Project

USA: Evangelical church reaches over 500,000 people in 540 prisons

Sermons preached by the well-known bishop T.D. Jakes are transmitted via satellite to various prisons in the US, with astonishing results, according to Adrienne Gaines from the American magazine 'Charisma'. The Potter's House Church in Dallas, which has some 19,000 members, recently started an evangelistic campaign in which satellite receivers are installed in prisons, to enable inmates to take part in training and rehabilitation programmes as well as the church's Christian programmes such as services and conferences. "God has always used imperfect people," says Jakes, who the New York Times recently listed as one of the USA's 5 leading evangelists. "God used Moses, a murderer, David, an adulterer, and Paul, a man who wrote much of the New Testament in prison." 85% of the 5,100 inmates of the high-security prison in Angola, Louisiana, will never be released. The church wants to "arrange for an intellectual, emotional and spiritual infusion" for the 15% who will probably be released, "to enable them to put destructive habits and unhealthy attitudes behind them, and help them make a contribution to society," says Jakes. The church currently offers the service in 540 prisons in 47 US states, plus Canada and Japan.
Source: Charisma, Potter's House Adopt-a-Prison campaign, Tel. (+1)-(214) 331-0954.

USA: 15,000 attend Jesus People anniversary

They were still a little groovy, the 15,000 aging ex-Hippies who showed up for the first Jesus People movement anniversary celebration. Nostalgia was part of the plan for the 7-hour celebration: bell-bottomed jeans and Afro-look were the order of the day. Bands such as Love Song and Parable reunited for the first time in years. The Jesus People movement started in South California in the late 60's as disillusioned Hippies experienced God. Many were attracted by Chuck Smith's sermons and lifestyle, becoming Christians in crowds and being baptised by the hundred on the beach at Corona del Mar. Part of this spontaneous movement became the Calvary Chapel, a church with over 800 fellowships throughout the USA and another 500 worldwide. Many of the pastors are ex-Hippies. Smith, now 72, is pastor of the Costa Mesa Calvary Chapel, which is attended by some 35,000 people. Some 150 decided to become Christians during the anniversary celebration, according to the organiser, Mr. Wing.
Source. Calvary Chapel

Tanzania: Muslim teacher becomes a Christian

A Muslim teacher in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, visited a Christian church service, and decided to become a Christian following the sermon, according to the American evangelical news service Advance. He apologised for having instructed his students and followers to oppose Christianity in the past.
Source: Advance, Joel News

Siberia: Against the flow - to the East, not West

"Alexander Boitschenko was ordained as pastor of a church in Ukraine, and received an invitation from Siberia, where people in various towns and villages had become Christians following a missionary outreach by Western Christians," reports Waldemar Reisich of the International Center for World Mission in Bonn, Germany. "At the time, most of Boitschenko's friends and relatives had set off for the 'promised land', America. Boitschenko resisted the temptation and went East instead of West. On arrival in Siberia, he found some 30 Christians waiting. Through his work, the church now has over 200 members, and another 30 will be baptised in summer." When asked how long he plans to remain in Siberia, he says "until the church has 1,000 members."
Source: ICW, Fax (+49)+02222-701111; e-mail BSBBonn@aol.com

USA: Gang members become Christians

Members from two separate gangs came to the revival meetings at the Brownsville Assemblies Of God church in Pensacola, Florida, on the same night. Members from one of the gangs sat in the chapel while members from the other gang sat in the sanctuary. Those in the chapel reportedly came to attack a former member who had left the gang to follow Jesus. Things didn't go as planned, though, because at least two of the gang members also decided to become Christians. Youth Pastor Richard Crisco commented "You can really see something is happening in the lives of young people when they are willing to get beat up to serve Jesus Christ." During his baptism a few weeks later, one former gang member said "Thanks for letting me be a part of your gang."
Source: Brownsville Revival

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