NEWS FLASHES
	Russian town 'raised from the dead'
	Ussinsk, in the Komy region of the Northern Ural, is an amazing town. Its oil wealth lasted only a short time, and the economy collapsed completely a few years ago. "Three years ago, the mayor publicly proclaimed 'Those who can still leave should do so!' General poverty, unemployment, crime, drugs, unfinished buildings and the growth of heathen cults were the town's major characteristics," says pastor Schen-jazarapenko. A small group of Christians did not accept the town's silent collapse. "We started to pray for four months, repenting for the sins of the past (civil war, Gulags, rebellions) and the present, including the Satanic rituals in cemeteries and the so-called 'altars of death' where abortions were performed. We walked around the town for months, performed every conceivable symbolic act, including praying on Nawarna-Rodne, a mountain nearby with statues of Lenin and the so-called 'Queen of Heaven' whose birthday is celebrated on 21 September. Reconciliation services with Christians from Germany, Switzerland and other nations in May 2001 literally brought a new spirit into the town." "Unfinished buildings were completed, houses repainted, drugs have almost completely vanished, and the Police and Mafia are equally confused. The wages have risen, children's playgrounds cleaned up, the birth rate is again higher than the death rate, and crime has dropped by 60%. There is no more unemployment - quite the opposite, people from the region travel to work here. The average wage of 10 000 roubles is the highest in Komy. 'Life has returned to Ussinsk,' the people say, whether they know Jesus or not," says Schenjazarapenko, “and we know that Jesus came to our town and has revived it." - Friday Fax
	Church in Argentina Ministers to Whole City
	Ted Hahs of Harvest Ministries reports that in Adrogue in Argentina the church is actually pastoring the entire city. Every block has a pastor, every business an intercessor, every branch of government a chaplain. No one is left unattended. The felt needs of the lost are met on a daily basis. Miracles occur regularly in answer to prayer. The best is that thousands have come to the Lord. “Just the week we were there another 800 did so,” Hahs reports. "When we visited the Mayor she expressed gratitude that every week 'her pastor' (an intercessor) comes to minister to her and to collect city prayer requests. Intercessors are also assigned to the chief of police and to his officers. Each business in town is ministered to regularly and owners often invite customers to be prayed for." According to Hahs, Adrogue is the first known model of a city being completely pastored by prayer evangelism. In Mar del Plata significant things are also happening. After years of division 30 pastors made a covenant to work as ONE church. The pastors meet twice a week for prayer and every Wednesday they bring their congregations together to intercede for the city. 1 500 intercessors gather weekly from different congregations across the city to storm heaven. There has been an extraordinary outpouring of miracles and demonstrations of the power of God all across the city. Every participating congregation has experienced extraordinary conversion growth. No congregation has grown less than 200%. Some grew more than 300%, a few over 400% and one grew 900% from 13 to 130 members in less than a year. http://www.harvestevan.org
	Revival in the Himalayas
	A few years ago in the Christmas time snow, Caleb (name changed) wanted to go shopping. He was new in the Himalayas and wanted to stop in a town before travelling on. He noticed a group of passers-by gathering around a girl who was obviously demon-possessed, screaming and breaking the chains with which people had tried to keep it under control. A witch doctor was trying to drive the spirits out, but with no apparent success. Caleb was unsure of himself, so he passed them to carry on with his shopping. "But within me, I was sure that Jesus could help the girl, so I eventually turned back and offered to pray for her," he says. “The witch doctor simply smiled, and showed me the long list of sacrifices which he claimed the girl’s family would have to make in order to appease the gods, telling me that I obviously did not realize the power of the spirits there. I remained steadfast, and was finally allowed to pray in Jesus' Name. In my uncertainty, I prayed in tongues for the girl, and within a few moments, she calmed down and was completely freed. That caused some excitement, and the bystanders started asking where I lived and who I was." "DOES JESUS LIVE HERE?" "At 5 a.m. the next morning, we were all awakened by loud knocking: some 70 locals stood in front of the house, torches in hand, asking if Jesus lived here. Somewhat cautiously, we answered that He did, because He lives in us. At first we thought that the girl had relapsed, and the people had come to kill us. That was not the case! They had brought a number of sick people, and wanted us to pray for them before we moved on. It was amazing! Every time I laid hands on someone, I knew exactly what to pray, and every person for whom we prayed was healed or set free. A steady stream of locals prevented us from continuing our journey that day as planned; we prayed with them until 8 p.m. There must have been 3 000 in total. We told them about Jesus as well as we could, and remained in town. In a short time, so many people came to faith in Jesus that we could hardly keep count of how many we baptized. We began to organize them into house churches. The movement has become so strong that I estimate that already 10% of the population in the region follow Jesus," Caleb told us recently. "I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had simply ignored Jesus' voice telling me to pray for the girl on the street that day." (Joel News)