Posted on 03/29/2005 5:31:58 AM PST by Quix
Thanks tons.
Delighted to hear of such.
Amen!
First Anniversary of Iraq Conflict Brings Good NewsBy Amber Davidson Addressing the American people on the first anniversary of our military action in Iraq, President Bush acknowledged the suffering of friends and families who have lost loved ones in the conflict. Due to the daily network news reports of ongoing bombings, shootings and casualties, Americans need no reminder of the continuing troubles in that nations, Too seldom is any good news reported – yet good news there is. Since the fall of Saddam’s regime, In early February, leaders from both EQUIP, an Atlanta-based international missions organization founded by Dr. John C. Maxwell, and Perimeter Church in Atlanta, traveled to war-torn Iraq. Joining EQUIP’s key ministry partner in the Arab world, Kasrel Dobara church (Cairo, Egypt), the team held strategic meetings with pastors in Baghdad and conducted a leadership training conference in Erbil, Iraq for pastors and church leaders. Among the team was: Dr. John Hull, President of EQUIP, Dr. Doug Carter, EQUIP’s Executive Vice President for Public Affairs, Dr. Randy Pope, Senior Pastor, Perimeter Church, and Mr. Phil Orazi, a Chick-fil-A executive. The team’s first stop in Iraq was the capital city of Baghdad. Observing a nation clearly struggling to recover from decades of abuse at the hands of one of the worst tyrants in human history, they nonetheless discovered the Iraqi people to be full of hope and enthusiasm for their newfound freedom. Their first evening in Baghdad, the EQUIP team hosted two pastors for dinner. One pastor has been a lay pastor for an underground church in Baghdad for many years. At one point, he was imprisoned for preaching the gospel. After a horrific prison experience under Saddam’s regime, he was unexpectedly and miraculously released. He now says, “God used Coalition forces to destroy Saddam and give us freedom. I thank God for the courage of the American soldiers who have paid a great price for our nation to be free.” He added that he is praying the American troops will stay until a new government, guaranteeing political and religious freedom for every Iraqi, is firmly in place. Since the fall of the regime, this pastor’s church has been growing rapidly and has already outgrown the new church building that is designed to seat 450. Many of the regular church attendees are university students preparing for key roles in the future of Iraq. Another pastor the EQUIP team met leads a church of 500 in Baghdad. He says it is overflowing with new attendees. His church also has plans to build a new and larger sanctuary to accommodate the exponential growth. From the day his underground church began in 1991, the congregation prayed for the fall of Saddam’s regime. Though he often admitted the situation seemed hopeless because Saddam had a death grip on the nation, the church continued to pray. He said, “I believe God used the American forces to topple Saddam and unshackle the church in Iraq to proclaim liberty and salvation throughout the land. I pray the troops will stay until we can have a democratic government that guarantees religious freedom, including the right to share our faith with The EQUIP team also hosted a meeting in Baghdad with about a dozen local pastors, who represented almost every evangelical church in the city of five million people. Not only are these existing churches thriving, but according to the team, more churches are being planted all the time. Another pastor in Baghdad, who leads a rapidly growing church of about 250 people, has already helped plant two other churches since the fall of the regime. He has a vision of helping plant evangelical Christian churches in every city and town of Iraq. Some 140 pastors and church leaders, representing 80 percent of the evangelical leadership in Iraq, participated in a huge leadership conference hosted by EQUIP in Erbil, Iraq. Leaders and attendees After teaching for two days, the team all agreed that they have never taught a group more eager to learn. “We were overwhelmed by the excitement and gratitude as we taught basic leadership principles from the Word of God and could hardly leave the meeting room as they surrounded us expressing joyful gratitude for the training and pleading with us to return soon,” noted Doug Carter, Executive Vice President for Public Affairs at EQUIP. Iraqis are going about the business of rebuilding their nation, filled with a passion to see freedom and democracy flourish in their land. The evangelical churches are growing rapidly, but in a country of 30 million, more are needed. If you are interested in helping these precious brothers and sisters at this critical time or in finding |
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"Guess I'll have to read his books!"
It won't take long to read!! It is excellent. You will not be able to put it down. It will end up being one of the fastest books you ever read....then you will want to read it again, and you will wish he would write another because he writes so well!!
Voice of the Martyrs has 5 purposes:
1. Empower Persecuted Christians. Example: Bibles to Captive Nations
2. Give Relief. Example: Families of Martyrs
3. Evangelize the Persecutors. Example: Pastor Support and Training
4. Projects of Encouragement. Example: Action Packs
5. Inform the World. Example: VOM's Free Newsletter
Here's a better link: http://www.godsairforce.com
THANKS TONS.
Wonderful news.
What they have told me is that in the last 12 to 18 months they have seen mosques popping up all over the place, lots of people wearing traditional Islamic dress, and lots of of people speaking Middle Eastern languages as opposed to Spanish, Portuguese, English, and German. Also, according to local press reports, Islam is allegedly making inroads in the high poverty areas where people have allegedly grown tired of waiting for Christianity to give them a better life. My friends traveled to Argentina and Chili most recently last November.
Sounds great.
When I resist reading with a pen in hand to mark things up, I read tons faster.
THX.
bump for later
GREAT INFO. THANKS MUCH.
Just what I was hoping for.
Great. Thanks.
AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH
Again, a result of Christians not acting like Christ and many labeled Christian who have no INTENTION, even, of acting like Christ.
And feel free to bump it again then! LOL.
I love news like this. Sure a contrast to a lot of other hideous news!
"I assume you have actual historical evidence to back up your claims"
These are not claims. For those of us who study the history of Christianity it is common knowledge, but I am sure you knew that.
"Atheism killed tens of millions of people in the 20th century. You have to go back several hundred years to find a few dozen that Christians killed"
A few dozen!!!??? Are you out of your mind?
Quantify your rant please, ..what are"vast numbers"?
historical evidence- "everybody knows.."
"Do you actually know anything about Christianity?? "
I study the history of christianity so I do contend to know something about it. Some of the points you make are not incorrect. If you think that reading an account of the lives of a few Christians can change my realistic view of the history of christianity you are wrong. The point I was making was that Islam too can evolve and it is doing so as we speak.
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