DAWN Fridayfax 2000 #37

Philippines

Praying with the manager

"A new church was planted because of a simple prayer," reports missions agency Harvest Evangelism. On arrival at Manila's Hyatt Hotel during a visit to the Philippines with their team, the agency's founders, Ed and Ruth Silvoso, offered to pray with the General Manager. He decided to follow Jesus, and he and another member of staff arranged for the team to pray for forty other members of staff. Many of the staff experienced some form of physical healing, and twenty of them decided to follow Jesus, according to the report. The first service in the hotel was held the following Sunday morning, during which seven of the new believers were baptised. A pastor will take care of the newly-planted church. "From now on, everyone who checks in to the hotel is also in a Christian church."
Source: Harvest Evangelism, San Jose, USA

USA

TV show winner spends his money on planting churches

Kim Hunt, 41-year-old maths lecturer at the Rossville Christian Academy, won a large sum on the TV show 'Who wants to be a millionaire?'. And what does he plan to do with the money? "He will donate most of it to Christians who want to plant new churches," according to a report in 'The Dallas Morning News'. He does not want newly-planted churches to have financial problems. One of the first recipients will be Thad King at the Pierpoint Community Church in Huntington Beach, who studied with Hunt. Hunt only plans to take a vacation in Europe and buy himself a new car with the money - "that's all I'm keeping for myself," he says. His generosity is not unique; Michael Menz, a doctor in Greenville, Tennessee, won $500,000 in the same show a few months ago, 10% of which he donated to his church in addition to buying a 25-seat bus for pensioners and youth work. "It is a duty to share that which we have with others," he says.
Source: Charisma News Service

Israel

20,000 Messianic Jews by the year 2010?

The number of messianic Jews in Israel has grown through the immigration of Russian Jews. "Through immigration from Russia, many Messianic Jews have arrived in Israel in the last decade," says Israeli pastor Baruch Maoz. Around half of the nation's Messianic Jews are Russian-speaking, as are a little over half of the 70 Messianic churches and 30 of the 53 home groups. According to Maoz, there are around 7,000 Messianic Jews in Israel. Maoz estimates that there will be around 20,000 Messianic Jews in Israel by the year 2010, over half of which will have grown up in the country. "By then, most of the Russian-speaking churches will have either adopted Hebrew as their main language, or disappeared," says Maoz.
Source: Baruch Maoz

China

Police find the 10 Commandments useful

"Western Christians have fantastic opportunities to influence the Chinese society," said Finn Torjessen at a seminar about China in Krelingen, Germany. "But they must find innovative new methods for their missionary work, and learn to work with the Chinese institutions." Torjessen leads 'Evergreen', an organisation headquartered in Shanxi, China. He recently held a seminar about Biblical principles at the Peking Police Academy, at the end of which the police officers told him that the explanation of the ten commandments was 'extremely helpful'. Mrs Chen Meilin, who works with the Evergreen group in Shanxi, says that the gospel is so attractive to many Chinese because they experience the Chinese Christians' exemplary lifestyle and practical love. Meilin and other Chinese guests spoke of a 'sea change' and phenomenal church growth in China. "Atheism is no longer the only ideology in China," said Dr. Werner Burklin, leader of 'China Partner', the seminar's host.
Source: China Partner

Cuba

Nazarene churches growing

Pastors and church leaders of the Nazarene free church recently met in Cuba's capital Havana for the Nazarene World Mission Society's annual meeting. Nina Gunter, the mission agency's General Director, says that God's grace has encouraged many Christians in Cuba "to live with confidence, courage and devotion." The Nazarene Church in Cuba is growing with local leadership; today, there are 38 churches and 84 house churches with a total membership of some 5,000. "The Cubans are a praying people," says Gunter. "They meet for prayer every morning."
Source: NWMS

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