DAWN Fridayfax 1999 #26

News from Germany, Brazil, Colombia

In this issue:
Germany: God's orthopaedic surgery
Brazil: Increasing spiritual openness in Goiania
Colombia: Death threats and revival

Germany: God's orthopaedic surgery

The "Jesus Freaks", a Christian youth movement, held their so-called "Sweet Sixteen" meeting in Heidelberg over Pentecost 1999. The following is an extract from a report which we received: "During a game of basketball, one of the teenagers injured his back, dislodging one of his vertebrae. He needed to go to hospital, but someone suggested that he should first receive prayer. No sooner said than done. To everyone's surprise, he was healed on the spot. In reaction, a large number of teenagers also wanted to receive prayer, and waited in line outside the prayer room. One teenager's back and leg were healed so that he could bend over normally, which had been impossible before. On the way to the microphone to give testimony, he had to stop to take the insoles out of his shoes, because his feet had assumed the shape God planned for them."
Source: Jesus-Freaks Church, CH 8404 Winterthur, Fax (+41)-51-2431807

Brazil: Increasing spiritual openness in Goiania

As reported in a previous Friday Fax, Evangelicals have grown from 7% to 45% of the population of Goiania in the last 7 years, according to Elisabeth Cornelio, who hosts a radio prayer programme in the city. A growing number of Christians are beginning to simply bless their surroundings as well as they can. Christian midwives, for example, anoint newly borns with oil and dedicate them to Jesus; some Christians walk among the crowds in the supermarkets, praying for the people; others get up at 4am to walk through the trams, praying that everyone who use them during the day will be blessed.

City asks Christian radio station to restart transmission

The devaluation of the Real put many Brazilian companies under pressure, including the radio station from which the prayer programme rented its air time. The programme, led by Cornelio, had some 200,000 listeners each day. The radio station's owner wanted to charge a much higher price, which the prayer movement was unable to pay, so the programme ceased from March until May 1999. After three months, the city sent a delegation including the Mayor and Chief of Police to Cornelio, asking her urgently to restart the broadcasts. The city's crime rate had risen 40% in the 3 months the programme had been off the air, and the radio station's had also dropped from 3rd to 17th place. Since May, the programme has been back on the air - for the old price. Every month, the intercessors receive a report about the latest criminal trends so that they can pray more accurately. Some people claim - quite seriously - that it is no longer the Mayor who rules the city, but the intercessors.

Mobile prayer teams start churches

Mobile prayer teams go from door to door in Goiania, offering prayer. Every Saturday, some 150 people come to believe, and a new church is started most weekends. The prayer also changes the spiritual atmosphere, and with it peoples' openness for the gospel. One day, a number of women, including Elizabeth Cornelio, were standing in front of a bar in which some 20 men were drinking. "At first, they made jokes, asking us if we wanted a glass of milk," says Elizabeth. "No, we want to preach the gospel to you," the women replied. "Then, a man started to weep quietly, and we could preach the gospel to them all. That evening, all 20 men decided to follow Jesus." "Jesus, here's the bus. Please use me!""Jesus, please use me during this bus trip," Elizabeth prayed before a trip which would take several hours. The seat beside her, though, remained empty. After a while, a none too pleasant man sat next to her, and a conversation developed. Once he had understood the gospel, he began to confess his sins aloud in the bus and gave his life to Jesus. "Then he returned to his seat, and a woman came to sit next to me," says Elizabeth. She had been following the previous conversation, and also wanted to give her life to Jesus. She too was soon confessing her sins aloud. After her came a young girl who had also heard the previous conversation. During a break, the bus driver asked Elizabeth to come forward to the cab. He also wanted to confess his sins and be saved.
Source: Elizabeth Cornelio, Goiania

Colombia: Death threats and revival

"Even death threats from Satanists can't stop the church in Cali," reports missionary and pastor Randy MacMillan in the US news service Religion Today. Following the mysterious deaths of a number of pastors last year, MacMillan, pastor of Cali's 1,500-strong Christian Faith Community Church survived several attempts on his life. One man wanted to kill him during a Sunday service, but came a few days later to confess that he had been paid by an international group of Satanists to shoot MacMillan. "Something kept me from doing it," he said. The Colombian police consider the reports accurate, but don't think it worth investigating. MacMillan says the city, previously known as a violent drug-trafficking centre, is currently experiencing a Christian revival. The churches have a common vision, and the effects of the gospel are visible in government institutions, the drug world and the crime scene. "All churches are affected, and we all know that we are in a spiritual battle," says MacMillan. "There are so many new believers that the churches cannot keep pace. Up to 50,000 people attend prayer rallies in the stadium. It wasn't always like that. For many years, we pastors didn't see eye to eye - sometimes we couldn't even agree on where to meet. In 1993, we decided to put these petty conflicts behind us and unite. For example, we have elected 12 'spiritual elders' to deal with city concerns."
Source: Randy MacMillan, Religion Today

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