NEWS FLASHES

SOUTH ASIA: EVANGELIST PURCHASES MODERN-DAY SLAVES Imagine children as young as 4 and 5 years old being forced to work 14 to 16-hour days making bricks, cigarettes, rope and tex-tiles, then being forced to beg strangers for food to eat. This is the picture of slavery in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries. "It's a pretty harsh and brutal environment," says evan-gelist Bruce Ladebu, founder of the Children's Rescue Initiative (CRI), which has been purchasing the freedom of these victims. "The children never have any time off. They work from sun up to sun down." Many have been enslaved because of debts accrued by their parents. Armed with guns and money, Ladebu and the CRI team go into these slave areas to purchase children and sometimes entire families for anywhere between $200 and $1 000 per child or family. "We freed a family of seven recently," Ladebu says. "The debt originally was $500 and three generations of people had to work to pay it off." CRI bought the entire family from the slave owners for $1 000. After the team rescues these children and families, they provide them with shelter, food and an education. The Organi-zation has funded three orphana-ges and seven Christian Schools. They are raising money to buy farmland, cows and chickens to feed the victims. Source: Felicia Mann via Joel News International 743 USA: SENT TO THE WOLVES In Luke 10:3 Jesus tells his disciples: "Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves." "Why did Jesus tell us to GO instead of inviting people to come to our church meetings?" asks simple church planter Felicity Dale. "If we go, we are the ones who are crossing the cultural barrier and get uncomfortable. Jesus was known as a friend of sinners. He was willing to mix with people that the upright religious people of His day refused to have anything to do with. He was comfortable with tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus tells us that our going is like sending lambs to the wolves. Lambs have no natural defense but their shepherd. When we go to dangerous places, Jesus Himself is our protection." "When our daughter finished school, she spent a couple of years with Youth with a Mission," says Felicity. "At the end of that time, she asked us if we would be willing to let her work downtown in our club and bar district. Exactly opposite to what any parent would want - their daughter becoming a cocktail waitress in the most notorious section of town! What would our Christian friends think? But we decided that if that was what Jesus was telling her to do, it didn't matter what other people thought. And we decided we had to trust Him to protect her. So she started working there that Autumn. When Christmas came, she decided that she wanted to reach out to her new friends and so invited them to our home for what she called, 'A Baby Jesus BBQ'. Around 40 bartenders and bouncers came. Tattoos, piercings, they were an interesting (and delightful) bunch. We started a group with several of them, and over the course of the next few weeks, several gave their hearts to the Lord." Source: Felicity Dale via Joel News International 743 HAITI: SAVING A NATION ONE VILLAGE AT A TIME Six months have passed since a 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed thousands of people in Haiti. Yet, despite everything that was lost, the country's people have not lost hope. Two Haitian brothers have even dedicated their lives to passing on that hope to the next generation. Jephthe and Caleb Lucien pastor churches in Pignon and help victims of the earthquake find loved ones and food. They have adopted abandoned children, helped churches multiply, and opened schools. They embody hope for a destroyed nation. "One village at a time, we can change our country," Caleb says. "One person at a time, we can change our schools. One family at a time we can change our community. And I think that is the oppor-tunity that we have in front of us. That is the drive for us to stay here and continue the Lord's work here." Source: Efrem Graham via Joel News International 743 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: 70 000 PEOPLE PLACE THEIR FAITH IN JESUS After months of preparation, Christians across the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico opened their homes for evangelistic "My Hope TV" meetings and witnessed nearly 70 000 people make commitments to Jesus Christ. The programmes culminated in a com-bined total of more than 59 000 home events in March and April, which included a TV programme featuring a sermon from Billy or Franklin Graham and a personal testimony from the host. In the Dominican Republic, 55 391 people made commitments to Christ, with 13 797 doing so in Puerto Rico. Altogether more than 5 500 churches from across the evangelical spectrum were involved in the projects. This year similar projects will take place in Malawi and four sensitive countries in Asia. Source: Graham Clark via JNI 740