DAWN Fridayfax 2004 #50

USA

80,000 hear one of Billy Graham's last sermons

In November 2004, over 80,000 people attended Billy Graham's penultimate public sermon in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, near Los Angeles. Graham's ministry began with the "Los Angeles Revival" in 1949, which made him a household name throughout the nation. He had planned to hold tent meetings for three weeks, but those plans changed when famous personalities such as Olympic champion and war hero Louis Zamperini or Mafia gangster Mickey Cohen turned up. Graham had the nation's attention, and preached to up to 6,000 people each night eight weeks long. The sermon in November 2004 had been postponed for several months because Graham injured himself in a fall. Over 20,000 volunteers and pastors from 1,200 churches worked together to organize the 5.4 million dollar event, according to news agency AP. The organizers report that almost 13,400 people dedicated or re-dedicated their lives to Christ. Graham, who turned 86 on 7th November, spoke for 45 minutes, and only had to sit down once for a rest. It was his 416th evangelistic outreach, and probably his penultimate, according to his assistants. His final outreach is planned for June 2005 in New York.
Source: AP

Egypt

Group of Pentecostal churches doubles in three years

Bishop Azez Morgan, President of the 'Pentecostal Churches in Egypt' reports that the number of churches in his denomination has doubled since 2001. In 2001, they had 35 churches; now they have 75. Morgan attributes the growth among other things to a church growth strategy developed together with Korea's Manmin Joong-Ang Church. Dr. Lee Jae-Rock, Senior Pastor of the 80,000-member church in Seoul, South Korea, will hold an evangelistic outreach in Egypt at the end of 2005.
Source: Dan Wooding, Assist News, www.assistnews.net

Maldives

Local Christians conditionally released from prison

Behind the Maldive Islands' tropical paradise is a fanatic Islamic government which expelled all foreign Christians from the islands in May 2004, and imprisoned all known local Christians in the third week of June. As non-Muslims, Christians have no rights according to the Maldive constitution. They were imprisoned on the infamous prison island Dhoonidhoo for five months, finally being released on 17th November. They remain under close observation, have little access to the Bible, and have been threatened with further imprisonment if they continue to follow Jesus Christ. The Government officially denies that there are any Christians on the islands, because global recognition of their existence would destroy the image of a 100% Islamic state, and many Maldive inhabitants would be interested in hearing the Gospel.
Source: Charisma News

USA

40 days of community

David Chrzan, Chief of Staff at Saddleback Church in California, describes the past '40 days of community' as one of the most exciting times in the church's history. For forty days ending in November, virtually all of the 23,000 weekly attendees gathered in small groups and fed 40,000 of the region's homeless. The campaign's aim was to encourage the small groups to live out the five purposes described in 'The Purpose Driven Church': worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship and discipleship.

Better than family

"God does not want you to go through life alone," said Senior Pastor Rick Warren during the closing event of the 40 days. "He did not make you a Lone Ranger; you need a few people who will walk through life with you." "Our aim was to live out the second half of the Great Commandment: 'love your neighbour as yourself'," says Pastor Lance Witt, Director of the community project. Many small group members have learned to open themselves up to others, speaking about their deepest needs and feelings. "We both come home after a small group meeting and shake our heads in amazement; the group of people God has given us is incredible," says Lil Grabowski, who took part in the programme with her husband. "It's like a family, sometimes even deeper, because we share so much. We have many plans together, and are even talking about a mission trip together." More than 700 other churches in the USA took part in the pilot project, which will be repeated next year. '40 days of community' is the second of three '40 days' projects developed by the Saddleback Church, which began with '40 days of purpose'.
Source and Information: David Chrzan, tel. (+1)-949.609-8314, fax (+1)-949- 609-8002; web site: www.purposedriven.com

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