How should we pray for overseas missionaries and pastors? I want to pray, but what do they need? This is a question that often crosses our minds when we hear of the adversity facing those who serve the Lord in areas that are volatilize and prone to hostility. Tamang is a pastor in South Asia who…
Diarrhea. Just say the word out loud and watch people cringe. It is so sickening that no one wants to hear about it, let alone have it. One of America’s most trusted healthcare websites, WebMD, says, When you have diarrhea, your bowel movements (or stools) are loose and watery. It’s very common and usually not…
NAIROBI – Officials in Kenya are serious about cleaning up the country to make it a healthier place. This is especially true in the case of their campaign to become an Open Defecation Free (ODF)region. There are many ways to approach providing more sanitary conditions, but Kenya may be taking a couple of approaches that…
ATLANTA — Free Chapel continues to expand throughout the Southeast and will open a new location in Midtown Atlanta on Sunday, April 8th. The services will be held in a unique setting, at Center Stage Theater, 1374 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA. Pastor Jentezen Franklin will be preaching live from the Midtown campus. Surrounded by…
BEIJING – The People’s Republic of China released a white paper today entitled, “China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief.” A title like that might encourage Christians about the prospects of sharing the Gospel in mainland China. However, this may be a classic example of not judging a white paper by its…
What if every day you turned on your faucet and risked becoming seriously ill from drinking the water? That is a question posed on the website of Water for Thirty Thousand. It is a question that needs to be asked of all of use in the Western world. We take water for granted whether it…
MOTIHARI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the featured speaker at the celebration of the close of the centennial celebration of Champaran Satyagraha on April 10 in Motihari. 20,000 Sanitation Ambassadors (Swachhagrahis) are expected to attend. Half of the ambassadors will be from Bihar. The other 10,000 will come as representatives of other states….
“We must remember that it is through bringing our communities together that we find healing, and through communication and shared understanding that we forge real change.” —Rev. Samuel Rodriguez SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and senior pastor of New Seasons Christian Worship Center in Sacramento,…
NEW YORK – April 4th is the United Nations’ International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which provides an opportunity for the world to reflect on both the progress made and the challenges that remain in clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance. The vision of the United Nations is a world free of…
ALEXANDRIA – A terrorist attack on two Coptic Christian churches on Palm Sunday 2017 left more than 40 people dead and 125 injured. It also made several men, women, and children widows, widowers, and orphans. One of the deceased was Hanan Dreas, a wife and mother of two children ages six and 10. Her husband,…
Chinese president, Xi Jinping, got rid of term limits, the amount of time a person can spend in office, in the People Republic of China. Once this is in place, the president is able to stay in office as long as he wants. NPR reports, “The move represents a dramatic departure from rules that have…
HAITI – Sherman Balch and his wife Cheryl volunteered to go to Haiti with a group from their church a few months after the 2010 earthquake. That visit became a life-changing experience that led to the founding of Extollo, a Latin word that means “to raise up.” Now Extollo is a life-changing experience for native…
KARNATAKA – Chief Minister of the State of Karnataka introduced the first statewide universal healthcare (UHC) program in India. The first phase of the program was initiated on March 2, 2018. Ultimately, when the program is entirely implemented, over 10 million households, regardless of income, will have some form of access to healthcare. Chief Minister…
NEW PARIS, Indiana – An entire container load filled with two million gospel booklets, pamphlets, and Gospel literature recently arrived in Argentina. The literature had been requested by an Argentinian pastor. The items had been supplied free of charge to the pastor and his ministry. He told World Missionary Press, the printer and provider, that…
Developing a broader awareness of various global water crises during the month of March has been prompted, in part, by the UN’s Annual World Water Day on March 22nd. Gospel for Asia has contributed several articles intended to bring attention to the drought in South Africa, the meeting of the World Water Forum in Brasilia,…
Several billion people around the world live without sufficient access to clean water. Over one billion people lack water supplies. Another 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year. Read Gospel for Asia’s Special Report on The Global Clean Water Crisis here. A 2014 survey of the world’s 500 largest…
DAPCHI, Nigeria – Leah Sharibu is 15 years old. She is one of more than a hundred Nigerian school girls who are either missing or held in captivity by the Boko Haram. Although the terrorist group, known for kidnapping school girls en masse, agreed to return the girls in exchange for the release of several…
SHILLONG, MEGHALAYA – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is a state-owned telecommunications company with headquarters in New Delhi. It is the 5th-largest provider of mobile telephone provider in India and the largest service providing both fixed and broadband services in the country. Last week, P.G. Nirmal, the general manager of the BSNL telecom district in…
THIRUVALLA, KERALA, India – Believers Church Medical College Hospital gave new life to a one-year-old Indian boy and restored hope for his anxious parents when the medical staff at Believers Church Medical College Hospital (BCMCH) successfully performed a complex surgical procedure to repair a large hole in the boy’s heart. Aksar’s parents, both day laborers…
KENYA – DOOR International and its partners will hold a Sign Language Scripture Celebration on June 9th to commemorate the rendering of Bible passages into four different African national sign languages This is not the first celebration of this kind that DOOR has been able to hold. In 2014, DOOR partners and pastors gathered to…
MUMBAI – March 24, 2018, is World Tuberculosis Day. TB is often misunderstood, not only by the public but also in the ability to accurately track. Therefore, myths abound among the populace and statistics are often misleading, even for the experts in the field, including the World Health Organization (WHO). This is especially true of…
American pastor Andrew Brunson has been in prison for 18 months in Turkey, accused of ties to an American terrorist. Pastor Brunson had been in Turkey for 20 years before his arrest, in which he was charged with plotting with terrorists for a coup, according to Fox News. He’s also been accused of helping a Kurdish…
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) Special Report on the global problem of violence against women Written By Michelle Jimenez, GFA Staff Writer Geeta, a mother of two, lived in the slums and struggled to put food on the table every day with the meager 20 rupees her husband gave her. That amount equaled less than…
Turkish Army Takes Afrin, Syria from Kurds AFRIN, Syria – Turkish forces have overtaken the Syrian town of Afrin, driving the Kurdish forces out. To most readers in the Western Hemisphere, this news has little relevance. Most us have no idea who’s who or what is where in the conflict in Syria. The situation for…
CAPE TOWN – Officials have deferred what was once considered the impending Day Zero for Cape Town water supplies from July 11th until an undetermined date in 2019. The news has left the public and much of the news media scratching their heads and wondering why. As far as anyone can tell, nothing has changed….
Donald Trump with Reuven Rivlin during 2017 visit to Israel JERUSALEM – The nascent Sanhedrin in Israel, in cooperation with Hamikdah Betzion (The Temple in Zion) has minted a new, half-shekel Temple tax coin featuring the profile of United States President Donald Trump. The coin has been minted in celebration of President Trump’s recognition of…
JOHANNESBURG – According to Times Live, “On Thursday in Johannesburg‚ Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and SADC health ministers and ambassadors held an emergency high-level inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the world’s largest listeriosis outbreak that started in South Africa.” The ominous approach of Day Zero for the Cape Area of the country has reaped much more…
SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan – A Christian Kazak woman who had been charged with “illegal missionary activity” was acquitted on 13 March by the South Kazakhstan Regional Court. Her illegal activity? Showing another woman how to download a Bible app on her smartphone. The woman for whom she downloaded the app then file a complaint with the…
NALERIGU, Ghana – William Huan and his wife are missionaries working in the Mamprusi kingdom of Ghana. Not long after they arrived, they observed an unexpected spectacle. It was the annual Bugum Toobu fire-throwing festival. With drums beating and the rapport of guns shooting into the evening air, the king emerged with a flaming torch…
WILLS POINT, Texas – Gospel for Asia has just released a significant Special Report in conjunction with the international observance of World Water Day on March 22nd. If we take anything for granted, it is water. Like the air, it is always there. With water being so commonly available, why would there even be a…
CHENNAI – President Ram Kath Kovind announced that India will begin soon offer vocational training services to more than 500,000 survivors of human trafficking. The program follows an anti-trafficking bill approved by the cabinet on February 28, 2018. Observers expect the bill to be easily passed by parliament. That bill includes measures that deal with…
BRASILIA – The World Water Conference opened this morning (March 19) in the capital city of Brazil. An estimated 40,000 people, including 15 heads of state, are expected to attend to discuss the growing crisis with the world’s water supplies. Thursday, March 22nd, is World Water Day. Brazilian President Michel Temer opened the conference with…
“Water is life, and clean water is health.” — Audrey Hepburn Clean, pure water. It really is the stuff of life. And it’s such a non-issue in the Western world. When you need a drink, you turn on the tap. But for millions of men, women and children living in India, access to clean water…
Harvest Ministries Launches All New Look and Feel, Expands Reach and Resources for Women’s Ministry Site RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Cathe Laurie, founder and director of the women’s ministry at Harvest Christian Fellowship and wife of evangelist and pastor, Greg Laurie, unveils an all-new look and feel for her popular Virtue for Women ministry website along…
CAPE TOWN –The water crisis in South Africa continues unabated. Officials have declared a state of emergency, but that is, arguably, because of the danger not only to the citizens but also because of the rising and potential damage to the economy. Moody’s, the international credit rating agency, estimates agricultural production in the Western Cape…
March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day. It’s really an odd holiday because very few people understand that man whose name the day is supposed to commemorate. In fact, the day is, for many, a celebration more than a commemoration. Ask the average person on the street what St. Patrick did, and they will likely tell…
BANGALORE – There is not always something that local citizens can do to remedy the problem of polluted water. However, residents of Bangalore who live alongside Gottigere Lake have banded together to reclaim the polluted water and return the lake to its once-pristine condition. In view of World Water Day on March 22nd, here is…
For most who read this article, the thought of water evokes images in the mind of a thirst-quenching drink. If we spend a few minutes pondering the world of water, we might think about idyllic, picturesque lakes and streams. Some will think of water’s life-giving qualities. Those who are familiar with the Bible might reflect…
LA MIRADA, California – “Mama” Maggie Gobran was honored on March 14th as the fifth recipient of the Charles W. Colson Courage and Conviction Award. The award was bestowed at the 89th Annual Missions Conference at Biola University. Maggie Gobran set aside a successful career in which she had been on the management team of…
ISLAMABAD – It has been a rule of law that citizens of Pakistan must self-identify their religion on their passports. Now a judge on the Islamabad High Court has extended the rule to greater lengths. In a ruling delivered on Friday, 09 March 2018, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has ordered that Pakistan citizens must also…
WILLS POINT, Texas – “Child marriage is one of the most worrisome problems in Asia. Boys and especially girls, who are supposed to play, learn and live a free life are married off at a very young age, and this not only affects their freedom but also takes a severe physical and mental toll on…
HAIFA – A mosaic first discovered by inmates of the Megiddo Prison in 2005 will soon be on display to the public when an archeological park is opened on the former prison site. The mosaic covers the floor of what is thought to have been the prayer hall of a Christian home in 230 A.D….
KERALA, India – The ability to access sources of clean water is a global problem. It is day-to-day problem for about 1.9 billion people. It is a problem that can become personal very quickly. From small villages to major metropolitan areas, water authorities also face the issue of how to provide access profitably. Although controlling…
GENEVA – A group of five NGOs met with UN officials on 06 March to discuss the recent case of four Malaysian Christians requesting changes on their national identity cards. The federal court in Sarawak refused to rule on their appeal on 26 February (see “Malaysia High Court Dismisses Christians’ Appeal”). The meeting took place…
NASHVILLE – Mohabat TV, the media arm of Heart4Iran, has received the highly-coveted 2018 International Impact Award from the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) at their annual convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Mohabat TV and Heart4Iran work in collaboration with more than 80 other ministries to spread the Gospel in the Middle East. The satellite TV network…
ETHIOPIA – The Consortium of Christian Relief & Development Associations (CCRDA) has awarded Bethany Christian Services for submitting the top “Best Practices” idea for NGO work in Ethiopia. Bethany Christian Services has been operating in the U.S. and around the globe since 1944, “Striving to be the hands and feet of Jesus for children and…
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The U.S. Dry Cleaning Corp., doing business as Tuchman Cleaners, an Indiana dry cleaner chain and World Help, an international humanitarian organization, have formed an unexpected partnership to fight global poverty. Tuchman Cleaners, who has 24 stores in Indianapolis, has joined forces with humanitarian aid group World Help to help develop impoverished…
Palace of Justice, Putrajaya, Malaysia KUCHING, Sarawak, Malaysia – The recent refusal of the Malaysian Federal Court to hear the appeals of four Christian converts to have their Christian names and religion on their government IDs left the world wondering what the plaintiffs would do. As it turns out, they may on have to wait…
CAIRO – Egyptian government officials recently granted a “first block” of licenses for 53 churches that had been awaiting approval. Some sources praised the progress of the government in addressing the licensing procedure that was drafted into law in August 2016. Others, primarily representatives of rural churches, decried the government’s lack of acceptable progress. The…
NEW YORK – With World Water Day approaching (March 22), Islands of Peace announced this morning that it has formed alliances with EcoloBlue and Infinity Concepts that will help to advance the organization’s Water from the Air Project. History has proven that tension, turmoil, conflict, and even war can arise out of a lack of…
