MAY 2005

 

NO LONGER SHY

 

Wedged between India and Afghanistan and bordered by China to the north and the Arabian Sea to the south, Pakistan remains a pivotal nation today in the world’s fight against religious extremism. Whether the form of democracy currently in power can survive or not, one fact is clear. The Gospel, although regularly threatened, is enjoying unparalleled freedom, seldom known, in this nation’s history.

Does religious prejudice exist in countries like Pakistan today? Our first letter, sent to Evangelist Noel Irfan in 2001, never reached him. This is not unusual in many countries, dominated by the Muslim religion. Email helps, but it can also be unreliable. Finally in 2003, we connected.

He began by telling us he had become a trained Evangelist through the Haggai Institute in Singapore. “I have waited for your letter for 2 years, but nothing has come. Your address, given to me in Singapore, was so important to me, I have kept it safe in my personal Bible. Brother, the

Lord has brought revolution to my life, and He is using me for His ministry with a primary focus on evangelism for children. I need a Torch Projector. Kindly grant me one so that I may use it effectively among the children right away.”

Unfortunately, the lost letters kept us from meeting when we worked for 6 weeks in his city, Lahore, in 2002, completing 5 videos into the Urdu Language. Now that the videos were available, they became his first priority. Somehow we overlooked his Torch Kit request. We, too, are human, and only now has this valuable media kit been Some of the Lives Changed after Viewing Urdu Language Videos
shipped to encourage his ministry.

 

In the meantime, Evangelist Irfan first used the new Urdu videos when he traveled to a village named Gojra, December 26, 2003. “It was in my mind, through the Holy Spirit, that so many people would be visiting their villages for the celebration of Christmas. God managed all circumstances. These new Urdu Language videos were shown through the small village cable system. There are 200 televisions in the entire village. So thousands of people were able to watch each movie. There was a very good response to this outreach. The Lord managed a wonderful situation. He is a God of miracles.”

 

Noel regularly writes and asks for prayer for upcoming outreach opportunities. “My wife and I are really thankful to God, as He is using us for His glory. Before my training, I was a very shy person, but it’s because of God’s grace that He now chose me to reflect His light. It’s true that audiovisuals are powerful tools. They help Evangelists to make their teachings

effective, especially in our country where so many people are spiritually ignorant.”

Early Reports indicate video showings to a few thousand people so far. Salvation decisions, however, come at a much slower pace in these corners of the world. Even so, nearly 50 people thus far have given their hearts to Christ. In every letter, Evangelist Irfan requests prayer for his service to the Lord. Please help him succeed, won’t you? Again today, ask God’s blessing upon Evangelist Noel Irfan and his team, as they share Christ with their countrymen of Pakistan.
 

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UNREPORTED MEDIA MINISTRY

 

From time to time we try to highlight some unique ministries that are making an impact, but due to their nature no Media Reports are received, indicating the number of showings, the number of people to whom the Gospel is presented, or how many salvation decisions are taking place. We’d like to encourage you with another such example.

We recently received a letter from Mr. James David of India. He had received our 3 Hindi Language videos and a selection of English videos. From these, he had completed 14 sets or 182 duplicate copies, which he has passed out for wide spread video ministry. How many people will view these videos in India this year? Next year? The year thereafter? Only God knows. We will never receive a Report. With your prayers, effective AVangelism will continue each time they are offered in ministry opportunity.

All over the world, such duplication takes place, often times without our awareness. Some feel we are an unusual ministry because in deep sincerity we embrace the black market distribution opportunities found in so many countries around the world. Even though lower quality video is the outcome of that kind of duplication, the Gospel continues to go forward on a broader scale than could ever have occurred otherwise.

Thank you so much for praying for this kind of ministry outreach, certainly touching additional millions each year.
 

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INDIA LANGUAGE RECORDING PROJECT

 

Would you please put on your Prayer Calendar to begin bringing before the Lord the Bangalore Language Recording Project. Much preparation remains to be completed prior to the arrival of Lane and Jill Anderson in Bangalore on June 3. We are committed to completing 5 videos into the Kannada Language and as many as 5 videos into the Malayalam Language. More details will be coming next month.

 

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54 VILLAGES

 

Pastor Venkateswara Rao from India reports:

“We have developed educational centers in the surrounding area and are using these as outreach centers for children. So far many of the children have been committing their lives to Jesus and our Torch Kit is being used even in Sunday schools and night time for the villagers. Presently, we are working in 54 villages through this Torch Kit ministry, and the children’s parents are also visiting and learning from the stories. We are very happy and say thanks to God that 167 people have accepted Christ through this current outreach.”

 

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I LOANED IT TO ANOTHER

 

One of the blessings God brings in most parts of the world, where we have completed Language Recording Projects is the opportunity to meet His unique servants, traveling in that part of the world. Such an opportunity occurred while we were in Indonesia on the Bahasa Indonesia lip sync dubbing project. There we met Rose and Dan Blosser, who are missionaries with Trans World Radio. Dan’s home in the USA is only 20 miles from our offices. So we’ve had the privilege of them visiting us on a couple of occasions while on home assignment. The last time they were here we provided 3 Torch Kits, which they envisioned being highly used once they returned to their new assignment in Cambodia. This update was received regarding those Kits.

“Just this week we were able to talk to one of the former Bible school students, to whom we loaned one of the Torch Kits, which he never returned. He said, ‘Oh, I have loaned it to another person in another village, and he is now using it there.’ Of course, we were pleased, because that is what we hoped would happen when we first made it available to him. The other units are on loan to the Bible school where we teach. They are going to be used heavily as outreach ministry tools from that location.”
We will never receive actual ministry Reports from Cambodia, as these Kits are used from village to village, but we must pray that God will bless and that the ministry will bear fruit perhaps in 10's, hundreds, or even thousands of lives.
 

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WORD KEEPS WORKING

 

Rosa Paiva from Peru shared:

“Your Spanish film, EL ENEMIGO, was shown in an open air meeting with people of all ages. A young man, who had been involved with drugs gave his life to Jesus at its conclusion. Many teenagers are enjoying watching these videos. Even though they don’t make a decision right at that moment, they keep on asking questions about the topic of the movie, because they want to know more about it. We find that the Word keeps working and finally bears fruit in their lives. We will continue to work, using the videos both in the schools as well as the church.”
 

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HEARTBEAT
by Ken Anderson

 

“Lord, give me a faith I can live by, a self I can live with, a cause I can live for.” A missionary in Kenya once shared that prayer with me. It voiced a yearning of long tenure in my own heart. Perhaps it also does something for your aspirations, as you endeavor to keep the scant years of life from dissipation through mediocrity and self effort. I’ve given the prayer a lot of thought, since I first heard it. The more I think about it the more convinced I am not only of its validity, but of its visibility. For you see, it’s when we pray this kind of prayer that God truly becomes God in our lives.