DAWN Fridayfax 1999 #27

Albania

The feeding of the 200: miraculous multiplication

"Every day, we distribute food to some 400 Kosovo Albanians who are housed in a school in Durres," writes a member of an Operation Mobilisation (OM) team. "Following that, a volunteer group travels to a refugee camp on the outskirts, to distribute food there. One day not long ago, there was only half a pot of bean soup left. Tani, who was distributing the soup, said 'We don't have enough for the people here!' Dane, another team member, told him to simply keep serving. Tani filled bowl after bowl, until all 200 or more had their soup. On average, it needs 8 pots of soup for 400 people - it is completely impossible that half a pot is enough for 200." Both team members knew that God had performed a miracle. "The Biblical miracle of the feeding of the 5000 was repeated here in Albania in this time of great need," comments the missions organisation.
Source: OM, tel (+41)-1-8328383

Australia

Transformed after 17 years of drug addiction

Farmer John King met Stewy, a colleague from a farm near Warren. A man called Mick had been working for Stewy for several years. Mick was heavily drug addicted, and had been high every day for years. He was a hard, unapproachable man, with no friends. One day though, says Mick, God spoke directly to him, resulting in a complete turnaround. In Warren, Mick's transformation is the talk of the town. Every Sunday, he drives 110 miles each way to a church in Gilgandra, because Warren does not (yet) have a church.
Source: John King, e-mail johnking@nswaog.org.au

Switzerland

He who really seeks, finds

A 50-year-old woman from the Swiss canton Freiburg had been seeking God for a long time because of her many problems, reports a Catholic theologian. The woman had even visited esoteric groups during her search, and regularly spoke with a Christian counsellor, but did not make any apparent progress in her search for God. On 18 May 1999, she woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and saw a bright figure standing in the room, which said "I am coming for you." She thought that it was time for her to die, and panicked, because she was not prepared. The figure then disappeared. The Catholic theologian had a similar experience six months prior to her own conversion, in which she saw a figure which she now believes to have been Jesus. Three weeks after her experience, on 11 June 1999, the woman decided to follow Jesus.
Source: Kathrin Meuwly, e-mail Kathrin.Meuwly@uni.fr.ch

Peru

Terrorism starts prayer movement
Result: evangelical Christians triple in number

On 10 May 1999, some 7,000 Christians attended the National Prayer Movement's 10th Annual Meeting in Lima, Peru's capital. Pedro Ferreira Garcia, Director of 'Pacific Radio and Television' and leader of the prayer movement, recalled 7 May 1989, when the country was shocked by the violence of the terror movement. The prayer movement was started to pray for peace. Garcia says that the political violence has abated, but life in Peru is still hard because of the country's economic and social crises. The prayer movement's most obvious result is, according to one report, the increasing number of evangelical Christians in Peru. "In 1989, we were only 4% of the 23 million population; according to information provided by evangelical leaders, evangelical Christians now make up between 10% and 12% of the population," says Garcia. The NPM expects that this will increase to 16% in the next few years.
Source: NPM, ALC (Latin American & Caribbean Communications Agency)

Bolivia

Queuing for the cinema at 4am

On Sunday mornings, it is not unusual to have no place to sit in some of the fast-growing Christian churches in La Paz, Bolivia's capital, according to a report from ALC. One of the new phenomena in the city is "Ministry of the New Pact God's Power", led by pastor Luis Gauchalla, a church movement with over 15,000 members in the country's most important cities. At 4am, hundreds of Christians start waiting in line in front of the Roby cinema to take part in the service. Ekklesia, another church, already has 5 services on Sunday in addition to the 300 small groups. The church also has its own communications network, with 8 TV and radio stations spread throughout the nation. Observers speak of a 'spiritual awakening' since the 80's, encouraged by evangelistic sermons by the well-known 'Brother Pablo', the evangelist Luis Palau and a true 'Pentecostal explosion' initiated by Julio Cesar Ruibal, a Bolivian preacher murdered in Cali, Columbia, in 1995. Since then, new churches have been springing up all over the country, particularly in cinemas, restaurants and clubs.
Source: ALC (Latin American & Caribbean Communications Agency)

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