Shoaib Assadullah, an Afghan Christian who was imprisoned for five months and threatened with execution for his conversion to Christianity, was released from prison in late March and recently fled Afghanistan to safety.

Assadullah was arrested on October 21 in Mazar-e-Sharif for giving a Bible to a man who later reported him to local authorities.

“I am under emotional pressure from being in prison. Add to that the threat of being executed, constant insults and accusations, cursing and being forced by other prisoners and by prison guards to do work for them all because of prejudice against my different beliefs and my different ethnicity,” Assadullah wrote on March 11 from Qasre Shahi Prison in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Months of aggressive international diplomacy that engaged Afghanistan’s government finally lead to Assadullah’s release on bail on March 30. However, Assadullah was commanded by court officials not to leave Mazar-e-Sharif.

“The problem with the bail is that it’s not money, but a house, a shop and persons. The wakil, or municipal representative of sorts, of Shoaib’s area also guaranteed that Shoaib would not flee,” says an International Christian Concern (ICC) source in contact with Assadullah.

On April 14, however, ICC learned that Assadullah received a passport and was able to safely flee the country. “Shoaib’s location in Mazar became known and this was judged to be a high risk, so he has left the country for an indefinite stay abroad. He traveled to Kabul and then [out of the country] with the help of friends,” a friend of Assadullah’s told ICC from Mazar-e-Sharif.

“Shoaib Assadullah’s release ends a frightening ordeal and ICC could not be happier for him and his family. However, while the Afghan government relented on Assadullah’s behalf, there does not appear to be any change in policy, and the crackdown on Christians will continue,” says Aidan Clay, ICC regional manager for the Middle East.

“Currently, several converts may face prison and death sentences after being denied asylum in India and scheduled for deportation back to Afghanistan. We still have a long battle ahead of us before the Afghan government recognizes the religious freedoms of Christians.”

What started out as a family and a few friends getting together in a garage to lick envelopes and send out invitations to mission trips has turned into a movement of people bringing the Kingdom to earth.

After 22 years, Adventures in Missions (AIM) will reach the major milestone of sending 90,000 people out onto the mission field. Founder Seth Barnes launched AIM in 1989 with a mission trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

“We would lick the envelopes in his garage,” says Rosie Watson, AIM’s first mission trip participant.

Watson, who is originally from Jamaica, suggested the location. She said she never dreamed the organization would grow into what it is now.

“It’s pretty exciting to be at the beginning of something that God had such a vision for,” Watson says. “(Short term missions) changes you because it forces you to leave your own comfort and your heart is opened to the needs of others.”

AIM trips, which are both domestic and international, range from three days to 11 months. Its programs include short term missions for youth and adults, Ambassadors, a high school age program, Real Life, a college age program,  and the World Race, an 11-month trip for 21- to-35-year-olds.

“Starting Adventures in Missions in my garage seemed foolhardy,” Barnes says. “(But) it was better to do to that and abandon everything as I trusted Him, than to trust in my own competence. The way of total abandon was really the path that offered the greatest security.”

Support for same-sex marriage is gaining momentum. So says a new CNN/Opinion Research survey.

More than half of Americans are buying into the notion that marriages between same-sex couples should be lawful.

Specifically, 51 percent of survey respondents say the unions should be legally recognized.

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland noted that more than 60 percent of Democrats approve of same-sex marriage, while more than half of Independents give the nod. Republicans remain staunchly against it, with 70 percent disapproving of same-sex marriages.

Training up the next generation of leaders to take on the culture of death and win. That’s the goal of Created Equal, a new group founded by Mark Harrington, the former executive director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) Midwest. 

 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. offered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. As Harrington sees it, this phrase summarizes the pro-life message quite well. Abortion is age-based discrimination.

“I owe CBR a debt of gratitude for helping to pioneer some of the most effective projects in fighting abortion,” Harrington says. “The experience of applying the proven methods of historical social reform to the abortion battle has uniquely prepared me for the next phase of my service in the pro-life movement.”

Harrington says Created Equal will specialize in youth training and outreach at the high school and college level. The group also promises to be more agile in its use of prenatal and abortion imagery.

“The use of new media and various other cutting edge display technologies will permit us to train and reach more students than ever before,” Harrington says. “Our projects will be easily transferable to students all across America so they can win the abortion debate on campus now and into the future.”

Harrington’s 12-year tenure with CBR ended on April 8, 2011.

Sabhya Halia left for Mumbai in search of a well-paying job so he could take care of his family, but days after his arrival, his sanity unexpectedly left him. Instead of working as a laborer or with a company, Sabhya found himself roaming the streets like a mad man. He slept on the sidewalks, unaware evil spirits had taken control of his body and mind.

When his parents and wife found out about his condition, they felt devastated and were distraught. They approached a witch doctor and spent around 20,000 rupees (US $500) for Sabhya’s healing.

“He will come back home within 10 days,” the witch doctor told them. With eager expectation, Sabhya’s family waited. But the 10 days came and went, and still Sabhya did not return. Finally, his father, Salim, decided to go search for his son. When he found Sabhya, he convinced him to return home. However, on the bus ride back, Sabhya suddenly jumped from the moving vehicle and hid himself. Salim went looking for him among the mass of people , but with a heavy heart, he returned home—without his lost son.

Meanwhile, Sabhya continued to wander the streets. He did not eat, and children threw stones at him and chased him out of their communities.
The evil spirits had complete control over him, but their powers were weakening. While they tormented Sabhya, his family shared their struggle with Ragini Silva, a believer who attended a Gospel for Asia-supported church.

“Don’t worry,” Ragini said. “Tomorrow our pastor and the church believers are coming to my house to fast and pray. We will pray for Sabhya.”
The next day, Sabhya’s wife and mother-in-law attended the prayer meeting. After days of praying, Salim surprisingly received a call from his son asking him to bring him back home. Through the power of prayer, the evil spirits left Sabhya, and the Lord restored his sanity.

Sabhya and his family gave their life to the Lord, and they now serve Him with their whole hearts.

Judas Iscariot is no Bible believer’s favorite. So it’s no surprise that Lady Gaga’s controversial video for a song that goes by the name of Judas is drawing the ire of the Catholic church.

And it’s not just the video, which features Lady Gaga dressed up like a gothic Mary Magdalene. It’s the timing of the video’s release—over the Easter holiday.

“In the most biblical sense I am beyond repentance. Fame hooker, prostitute wench. Vomits her mind,” Lady Gaga sings in the video, donning a black cape. The song is part of Gaga’s latest CD dubbed Born This Way set for release on May 23.

“This is a stunt…Lady Gaga tries to continue to shock Catholics and Christians in general: she dresses as a nun…she swallows the rosary. She has now morphed into a caricature of herself,” Bill Donahue, spokesperson for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told the Telegraph.

“She is trying to rip off Christian idolatry to shore up her talentless, mundane and boring performances. Another ex-Catholic whose head is turned around… Is this the only way to jet up her performance? This isn’t random, we are getting closer to Holy Week and Easter. Does she actually believe her own BS?”

BS? Those are strong words from a Catholic spokesperson.

Although representatives of the Catholic church is outraged and launching verbal missives against Gaga, some Christian onlookers suggest that the Gaga’s detractors are overreacting and fueling the publicity fire.

“To consider Lady Gaga’s latest Madonna-aping act an attack on the church, is like calling a toddler riding her tricycle into the Empire State Building a terrorist attack,” says Gary McCullough, director of Christian Newswire. “I suggest that our response to little Miss Stefani (Lady Gaga’s real name) should be to offer her a band-aid for her skinned knee while trying not to laugh. This is no attack on the church. It is just one more anxious cry by Miss Stefani to be the center of attention.”

As McCullough suggests, this isn’t the first time Lady Gaga has mimicked Madonna. In June 2010, she enraged the Catholic church by “abusing Catholic symbols” in her video for Alejandro. At that time, Donohue said Gaga had “become the new poster girl for American decadence and Catholic bashing, sans the looks and talent of her role model.”

What’s your take on Gaga’s video? How about a Catholic group calling it BS?

You can listen to the Lady Gaga Judas lyrics here:

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Pastor Larry Stockstill is throwing his mantle to the next generation.

On Sunday, Stockstill told Bethany World Prayer Center’s south campus that he would hand the pastoral baton to his son, Jonathan.

Jonathan is the worship leader at the Baton Rouge-based church and also heads the Christian band Deluge. But when Oct. 2, 2011 rolls around, Jonathan and his wife, Angie, will take on another assignment: lead pastors of Bethany World Prayer Center.

“Jonathan and I fasted together for 21 days in January to confirm what our board of overseers and our family was sensing as a direction from the Lord,” Stockstill told the congregation. “Since 2006, my life has become focused more and more on the Remnant movement for pastors and the Surge movement for worldwide church planting.”

Stockstill unofficially started taking over some of the lead pastor duties in January, including administrative, pastoral and weekend responsibilities. The father and son will work side by side for the next six months until an official ceremony in October.

The Stockstills believe that the transfer of values from father to son is the missing ingredient in character development in today’s generation—and they are serving as an example of how to sow seeds of righteousness from one generation to the next.

Indeed, the Stockstills have passed the baton of integrity and righteousness in their family for more than 125 years, from 1885 to 2011. The story began with Joel Ernest Stockstill, who led his son, Roy, to Christ. Roy founded Bethany World Prayer Center in 1963. He served as senior pastor of the church for 20 years. Then he handed the church over to his son, Larry Stockstill, in 1983. Stockstill faithfully led the church for the next 28 years. Stockstill’s older son, Joel, is a pastor at Bethany’s north campus.

Stockstill and Joel will remain on Bethany’s staff as teaching pastors, filling in for weekend and midweek services, doing video teachings for small groups, and fulfilling other teaching opportunities. Stockstill will lead the Surge missions vision of Bethany and develop the Remnant leadership vision. Joel will continue to develop a nationwide 220 youth movement and focus on building an apostolic church planting and oversight movement for North American churches.

“We are excited about the shift in our leadership team to encompass our local, national, and international vision,” Stockstill says. “Not only will the next generation receive the leadership they deserve, but the vision of Bethany will multiply exponentially across the Baton Rouge area, the United States, and the entire world.”

You can read more about the Stockstills in the Fall 2010 edition of Ministry Today magazine.

Check out Jonathan Stockstill singing Worship You:

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Deadly violence. That’s the scene across the northern states of Nigeria in the wake of the April 16 presidential elections. The deadly violence is impacting churches, Christian homes and businesses, and mission compounds and pastors, according to Open Doors.

What sparked the violence? The election of a Christian president. Nigerian citizens voted in Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian politician from the People’s Democratic Party. But Muslims are lashing out. The violence comes as no surprise, considering the pre-election violence.

The violence is erputing in predominantly Muslim states, including
Adamawa, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Gombe, Yobe and Katsina.
There are reports of rampaging youths taking to the streets in protest
against the President Jonathan’s victory.

Indeed, the backlash is growing worse. According to Open Doors, more than 60 churches were torched, thousands of houses belonging to Christians were destroyed, and both pastors and church workers killed. Christians in the villages were not spared. Many Christians were seen fleeing, abandoning their homes for fear of attack.

“Last year there were more martyrs in Nigeria–approximately 2,000 Christians killed in the northern part–than in any other country in the world,” says Open Doors USA President and CEO Dr. Carl Moeller. “Nigeria is such a key country in the spread of Christianity all over Africa. Please join me in prayer for the Christians there, especially for those in the north.”

Prayer Points:

1.   Pray that the unrest will calm down.
   2.   Pray for wisdom and God’s direction for the Open Doors Nigerian team.
   3.   Pray for the Christians in the 12 Sharia (strict Islamic law)-governed states of northern Nigeria to put their trust in God amidst new attacks.

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Amid political upheavals, protests, and the radical religiosity, the gospel is moving forward in the Middle East, thanks in no small part to one devoted church.

The Free Evangelical Church of Beirut has been shining brighter and brighter light into the Arab world since pastor Joseph took a job there in 1994, reports ReachGlobal, the international missions arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America.

The church’s first mission was to establish a home for girls whose parents were either killed or unable to care for them as a result of the 15-year civil war in Lebanon. The home, Beit al Safa, or “Home of Serenity,” now houses between 12 and 20 girls at a time. “It was a girls’ home because we felt this was the weak element in our society,” says Joseph.

Beit al Safa was the start to delving into several other areas where the Arab world could use strengthening. Joseph felt that God was calling him to move forward with the gospel not just in Beirut, Lebanon, but throughout the Middle East.

Others did not always share Joseph’s mission, especially in the wake of a long and painful war. Joseph recalls, “Some of them said, ‘Let’s not reach out to Muslims: they were fighting with us.’ They had hard feelings and were aching from the war.”

God must have miraculously healed those wounds, however, because by 1998, the church was sending out missionaries.

An African man who came to study at the nearby Arab Baptisti Theological Seminary was the first to leave the FECB in order to minister to another nation. He ventured back to his home country with the support of the church to start missions work there.

Just two years later, another church member relocated to a nearby nation to teach theology and evangelize nonbelievers. Two years after that, another member did the same in another nearby country.

Two years later, a church member planted a church in a Lebanese neighborhood with a high concentration of refugees. The following year another church member relocated his family to one more Arab nation to plant churches.

This faithful body of believers hopes to continue its expansion by setting up training centers in all the countries where they have now planted churches. Training will follow the Acts 19 model of training a small group of believers daily in a lecture hall for two years.

In the midst of hectic times for the Middle East, the FECB is a like a city on a hill. They pray that the current political events would provide new opportunities for ministry and to share God’s truth. Pray that the Lord would bring them new leaders and resources to train those leaders, as they continue to reach the Arab world for the kingdom.

Openly gay students at Christian universities might be a somewhat shocking notion to some, but gay students who are actively battling for gay rights at Christian universities is perhaps jaw-dropping for others.

The New York Times is reporting that scores of Bible colleges and evangelical Christian universities are home to a growing gay rights movement on campus. Apparently, gays and lesbians are coming out of the Christian closet and rejecting notions that they should seek help with same-sex gender issues.

Most college administrators are not embracing the movement with open arms, denying campus recognition of clubs oriented toward gays and lesbians, the Times reports, but others are allowing gay student groups. Baylor University is one that does not allow gay clubs, while Belmont University does.

“Baylor expects students not to participate in advocacy groups promoting an understanding of sexuality that is contrary to biblical teaching,” Lori Fogleman, a spokeswoman for Baylor University, told the Times.

Of course, that’s not stopping gay Christian university students from forming off-campus groups, though.

“Gay students say they are often asked why they are attending Christian colleges at all. But the question, students say, is unfair,” Times reporter Erik Eckholm writes. “Many were raised in intensely Christian homes with an expectation of attending a religious college and long fought their homosexuality.”