The prospect for Russia’s orphans is frighteningly dim. Buckner International told Mission Network News that 10 percent of orphans who graduate from the orphanage system commit suicide within three years. Many others end up involved with drugs, prostitution and other crimes.

Sasha joined an Operation Mobilization team that works with at-risk children and youth in Russia last fall. A former drug addict himself, Sasha feels that he can connect to many of Russia’s youth, especially their orphans.

Recently, Operation Mobilization was able to start working with a vocational school for orphaned teens. According to statistics, most of them will go on to be sent to prison, die from narcotics, or become homeless and die from disease or alcohol. Only 40 percent are likely to go on to live normal lives with a family and employment.

Passionate to see these statistics moved around, Sasha told the director of a vocational school that Operation Mobilization staff wanted to influence the students there for good. “We told him that we were willing and able to spend time with these children and by our example show them that there were better values in life. Of course, we told him we are Christians; but even so, the administration responded positively, which in our country rarely happens,” Sasha says.

Since then, much progress has been made. The Operation Mobilization team wowed a psychologist from the school, who said he was amazed at how open the students were with the team and how respectfully they had been treating everyone. “They talked about them more than I have ever heard, even though it’s my job,” says the psychologist.

Most importantly, the Operation Mobilization staff has been able to convey God’s love to the would-be hopeless students. Almost all of the kids have a suspended sentence, have been tried in court, and have even beaten their own teachers; yet, God is opening their hearts to the Operation Mobilization staff and their message.

Pray that these at-risk students would defy statistics. Pray that they would not only turn away from drugs and crime, but that they would truly come to know and understand the redemption their Savior has for them.

When controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones burned a Koran last month, he probably never expected it to lead to nearly a dozen deaths—and he’s not apologizing for it, either.

At least 11 people were killed in Afghanistan, including some United Nations officials, in the wake of a protest in response to a Koran-burning Jones supervised. Jones watched as fellow pastor Wayne Sapp drenched a Koran with kerosene and burned it after finding it “guilty” in a mock trial, ABC News reports.

The apparent peaceful protest turned violent when demonstrators suddenly attacked the United Nations office in northern Afghanistan. Protestors opened fire on security guards and set fires inside the compound, according to the Associated Press.

President Barack Obama condemned the attack and offered his deepest condolences to those injured and killed, as well as to their loved ones.

“The brave men and women of the United Nations, including the Afghan staff, undertake their work in support of the Afghan people. Their work is essential to building a stronger Afghanistan for the benefit of all its citizens,” Obama said. “We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue.”

Jones showed no personal remorse over the connection between his Koran-burning event and the deaths. Instead, he used the incident to try to prove his point about radical Islam.

“The United States government and the United Nations itself, must take immediate action. We must hold these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities. The time has come to hold Islam accountable,” Jones says.

“Our United States government and our president must take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam. Islam is not a religion of peace. It is time that we call these people to accountability. We demand that our United States government stand up and speak out against these acts. These people must be called to justice.”

Jones went on to “demand action” from the UN. As he sees it, Muslim-dominated countries need to change the laws that govern their nations to allow for individual freedoms and right, including the right to worship, free speech, and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed.

While college football in the United States ended in January, many colleges and universities are preparing for the 2011 season in the fall. Spring football practice opened this week. And at least one football player knows what his focus will be this year-Christ.

Starting quarterback for Michigan State University Kirk Cousins was on the campus of Cornerstone University to talk about his faith and football. Cousins believes he knows why God has given him this opportunity: “to use that platform to glorify Him and to point back to Him, in a world where a lot of people really aren’t following Jesus and aren’t choosing to honor Him above all else. In a culture where it’s really about sports, God can take something that’s broken and use it to point back to Him.”

According to Cousins, God has given him a great opportunity to serve Him. “There’s not many things where 75,000 people come and watch you, and they boo and cheer you depending on how you do,” Cousins says. “So there are pressures. But that only causes me to stay even closer to the Lord and that much closer in my faith walk.”

Cousins says it isn’t easy to be a Christian surrounded by the hype of football. That’s why “it’s very, very important to surround yourself with other believers-not to huddle only with believers-obviously you need to be light in darkness, but to make sure you’re being sharpened daily by people who are walking with the Lord.”

How does he do that? “I’ve done it with Athletes In Action, a ministry of Campus Crusade [For Christ], which has done a great job working with athletes to develop us,” Cousins. “[I] spend a lot of time with other teammates who are Christians and have good friends on campus at Michigan State who are Christians who are sharpening me and encouraging me to stay close to the Lord.”

Cousins is challenging young athletes to honor God in everything they do and develop relationship where they can share their faith. The end goal is to see people turn to Christ. “Sometimes things happen over night, but a lot of times they don’t. It takes time and effort over a long period of time,” Cousins says. “When you choose to honor God above all else and try to make a difference in guys’ lives, it doesn’t return void.”

Pray for Cousins and other Christian athletes that they’ll have a platform not only to honor God, but to share their faith and lead people to Christ.

Michigan State’s Green-White Spring Scrimmage will be Saturday April 30 at 1:30 on the Big Ten Network.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has wrapped up his trip to Cuba—and he’s calling for the U.S. to lift the decades-old embargo.

“I think we should remove the embargo … I hope for the future, all Cubans could be completely free (to travel to the United States) and U.S. citizens also will be free to travel to Cuba,” Xinhua press reported Carter as saying before leaving Washington. “It was a great pleasure for us to return to Havana, I hope we can help to improve the relations between the two countries.”

Carter, 86, and his wife, Rosalynn, arrived in Havana on Monday by invitation of the Cuban government. During the trip, Carter met with Cuba President Raul Castro and other Cuban officials and citizens, including Fidel Castro. During the meetings, Carter learned about new economic policies and the upcoming Party Congress, and discussed ways to improve relations.

Castro, 84, heaped praise on Carter. In a commentary published in the nation’s official media, Castro said the former president, “did what he could to reduce international tensions and promote the creation of interests sections in Cuba and the United States.” Castro also said Carter’s administration was the “only one that took some steps to lessen the criminal blockade imposed on our people.”

Is it time to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba?

Highly-toxic plutonium is seeping from the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan’s tsunami disaster zone into the soil outside.

Radiation levels in the sea near quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant are 3,000 times above legal limits. The new numbers suggest that radioactive water continues to leak from the plant, threatening coastal livelihoods. Radioactive materials have also been found in locally-grown vegetables.

Even as more bad news emerges, it doesn’t change the struggle to survive the next 24 hours for the hundreds of thousands of people who remain homeless. Government reports say there are 27,600 who are dead or missing. Damage could reach $310 billion, making the quake, tsunami, and radiation crisis the most expensive natural disaster on record.

Pioneers has three teams on the ground evaluating where their relief response will be most effective. Spokesman Matt Green says, “They’re still in the process of really assessing how they can serve the nationals and what impact the radiation and contamination will have on their continued ministry in the affected area.”

The Red Cross says the number of Japanese people in shelters has dropped from nearly half a million to 244,000, and more supplies are reaching the areas that need help the most. The top priorities are still getting fuel, housing, clothing and medicine to the survivors. Almost one million people still do not have running water.

Pioneers ministry leadership at the Orlando, Fla. base stands ready to support the efforts of those teams in any way needed. Green explains that “their hope is to connect with national believers and do what they can to alleviate the suffering, and also resource the nationals to really love their fellow Japanese.”

Green adds, “Our teams there are building relationships, coming alongside the Japanese Evangelical Church, serving them and helping them learn to reach their own people.”

Operation World reports that only 1.5 percent of Japan’s 126 million people are believers. And based on statistics from the Joshua Project, the Japanese are the second-largest unreached people group in the world.

Although Pioneers church planting teams were in areas physically unaffected by the earthquake, they want to bring hope to those who are suffering. At the same time, Green says, “Our hope would be that God would use this to mobilize more people to go and serve in Japan. We’ve seen this happen in other parts of the world where disaster has hit.”

Mobilizing more people to help is not a priority until the government gets the crises under control. However, that idea goes farther when applied to ministry in the future. In fact, Green says, this may have been a wake up call from God: “One of the Japanese pastors said to the team yesterday, ‘We have, up to now, been mostly concerned with increasing our numbers rather than faithfully proclaiming the Gospel and demonstrating the love of Christ.'”

Please join Pioneers in prayer for the people of Japan, asking that God would spare the lives of those still in danger, and that their team would be His agents of love and mercy. “Pray for the softening of hearts of the Japanese people,” Green says. “They’ve been resistant to the Gospel for many years. God is the only one who can open their hearts.”

You know the drill. It was the end of a long workday. I was racing from one errand to another before it was time to pick up my daughter for our dinner date. I didn’t have a moment to spare…

So when Richard, a disheveled character with enough sand on his face to nearly disguise the scar on his cheek, approached me asking for money to buy food, it took me a minute to catch on to what the Lord was doing. I honestly didn’t have as much as a penny in my pocket and apologetically told him so. After Richard walked on by, it suddenly dawned on me that I was standing in front of an ATM machine!

“Hey mister!” I cried out after him.

Richard turned around slowly as I raced up to him with my debit card in hand. We were standing in front of a Subway, so I invited him inside for a meal. Richard had a grateful heart, but also an aching one. He hugged and kissed me and thanked me profusely for the double meatball and tuna fish footlong sub—then he dropped the “S” bomb. Richard told me he wanted to kill himself.

“Brother, do you know where you’ll go when you die?”

“Yes, I do. I am going to be with Jesus Christ in heaven.”

“Do you really believe that?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said beginning to weep, “I just want to go now. I don’t want to live here another day. Nobody cares about me. Nobody loves me.”

Richard told me how the Lord talks to him about everything from quitting his cigarette habit to receiving healing for his chronic health conditions. Richard vowed to the Lord more than once that he would launch a ministry to help homeless people if he only had the money. Then Richard preached a message from Matthew 25:31-46 right there in the parking lot. You know the one. It’s where Jesus talks about feeding the hungry and visiting people in prison—the one about separating the sheep from the goats. (In case you haven’t read it in a while, the sheep enter eternal life and the goats eternal punishment.)

Some may have seen Richard’s sermon as manipulation. Yes, I knew he was angling for some cash. But by the grace of heaven I purposely looked beyond his desperation to the heart of a hurting man who was physically wasting away day by day. Richard was so full of the Word of God, even in his malnourished condition, that I finally asked him, “Did you grow up in the Church?”

“I grew up on TBN,” he answered. “The Church doesn’t care about me.”

That floored me. Here was a man full of the Word of God who felt totally rejected by the Church. He wasn’t always homeless and distraught. Somewhere along the line, Richard lost his hope. Now, he was living with a group of homeless men behind Walmart in the bushes, waiting to die. What went wrong?

God’s love never fails. And this man clearly had a running dialogue with God in which the Father was continuing to woo Him to His heart. I dare say Richard understands the heart of Jesus better than some career pew-warmers. Again, what went wrong?

I don’t know all the circumstances of Richard’s life. But as I continued to stand there before him, I also continued to ask the Holy Spirit what was going on in Richard’s heart.

Richard is a man who never found God’s love manifest in God’s Church. Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for Christian television. But Christian television alone is not enough to sustain the human spirit. We need real fellowship with other believers who can weep with us when we are weeping and rejoice with us when we are rejoicing. True brethren who don’t judge us, but embrace us with all our weaknesses with the unfailing love of the Father.

There are plenty of wonderful local churches that are full of the love of God. It seems Richard never found one. Instead, he found churches that were full of religion, and not the pure and undefiled type James talks about. Unfortunately, there are plenty of those, too.

I’ve visited many churches in the past year. I’ve learned that there are many different flows—and as long as it’s flowing from the heart of Jesus it’s all good. But I’ve also seen far too many local churches with cultures that profess love but embrace cliques; that preach a heart for the lost, then rebuke people for evangelizing “without permission;” that confess children are the priority, but unless the parents have money to give to the offering the church van won’t stop in their neighborhood anymore.

What is going on? I don’t claim to have all the answers. And I’m not prone to focusing on everything wrong about the Church. Jesus loves the Church—and so do I. But I’m grieved when I see the cliques, the hypocrisy, and the control. That spiritual climate doesn’t leave much room for people like Richard.

Sure, maybe Richard never found the right local church. Maybe he didn’t look hard enough. But should it be so hard to find a local church full of love and grace? No church is perfect. I mean, as soon as I walk in the door any supposed perfection goes out the window because I am so far from perfect myself. But I strive to be a sheep and not a goat.

I ended up spending about an hour with Richard; an hour I didn’t really think I had to spare. But I am glad I did. I couldn’t get Richard out of my mind the rest of the evening, or even the next day. Here’s the bottom line: We can’t blame the Church as if it’s some separate entity that’s not living up Christ’s stature. We are the Church. And the Great Shepherd is coming soon to separate the sheep from the goats. Which side will you be on?

Jennifer is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including Breakthrough!. You can e-mail Jennifer at @ or visit her web site at .

A former leader of U.S. Department of Justice prosecutions against the porn industry on Wednesday dispelled claims by a front group for that industry that they do not distribute illegal material. ??

In a letter distributed to members of Congress by the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), the group states that Congress does not need to prosecute illegal adult pornography producers and distributors under existing laws because “they are not involved in obscenity.” ??

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” says Patrick Trueman, CEO of Morality in Media and former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division. ??

Under the test established by the U. S. Supreme Court, hardcore pornography may be found to be obscene and thus not protected by the First Amendment. Today, hardcore Internet pornography is the lifeblood of the porn industry and Trueman believes it should be prosecuted under U.S. obscenity laws. ??

“Many of the very groups that are part of ASACP are the one responsible for giving the children of America unfettered access to hardcore obscene pornography on their Web sites,” Trueman says. “The damage to these children is incalculable.”

??Under the tenure of Attorney General Holder, no illegal adult pornographers have been indicted and the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force in DOJ’s Criminal Division has been shut down. These actions caused U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Reps. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., and Randy Forbes, R-VA. to circulate a letter for signatures in Congress urging Holder to enforce existing obscenity laws. The Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography has been working to get signatures on the letter. ??

“As a result of these efforts, Congress has been flooded with a groundswell of public outcry regarding the lack of obscenity law enforcement, with more than a quarter million people asking their elected officials to sign this letter,” says Trueman, who also serves as director of the Coalition. ??

Pornography addiction is rampant, leading to grave social costs documented at and at a conference held by the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton University entitled, “The Social Costs of Pornography.” Addiction to pornography by children and adults, violence against women, increased sex trafficking, divorce and many more societal ills can be traced to pornography consumption, according to research. ??

“We will see which side our elected officials take on this matter now that they’ve been solicited by the pornography industry for support,” says Trueman. “The War on Illegal Pornography has provided a clear way for elected officials to respond. We’re simply asking for the enforcement of existing obscenity laws which would shut down most of the hardcore pornography available today on the Internet.”

Israel’s military airstrikes targeted and hit a terrorist squad in the Southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

According to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the site had launched rockets toward Israel on Tuesday. Hamas is reporting that a Palestinian citizen was killed and another injured in Rafah city.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby issued a statement on Wednesday asking Israel to show restraint. But Israel has vowed to protect itself.

“The IDF will not tolerate continued rocket and mortar fire aimed at the communities of southern Israel,” the IDF said in a statement. “The IDF will continue to act decisively to thwart any attempts to harm Israeli citizens.”

What does the revolution in Egypt have to do with the terrorist attack in Jerusalem last week? And the escalating violence in the Israel and the Gaza Strip? Plenty, according to Shaddy Soliman, pastor of Every Nation Church in Lake Mary, Fla. and co-author of Islam and Terrorism.

“The Egyptian revolution has fallen into the direction of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Soliman says. “The Egyptians now wish they had never protested. The uprisings in Bahrain and Yemen has Hezbollah and al-Qaeda elements in it. Then there’s Libya. The Middle Eastern world is leading toward one thing: striking Israel.”

Soliman isn’t surprised. That’s because it’s the year 2011. The number 11 in Bible numerology means disorder and chaos. Barely 90 days into 2011 the world has witnessed an uprising in Tunisia, followed by Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and Libya, as well as the devastating earthquake in Japan, among other events.

“The symbol of 11 is manifesting,” Soliman says. “We’re seeing history-making events unfold before our eyes. I think this chaos will continue into September, which is the beginning of the new Jewish year. That’s not a prophecy—it’s just a prediction. Fasten your seatbelt, because we haven’t seen the best of it yet. The good news is that 12 is the number of order and perfection.”

So what about peace in the Middle East? Will that come to pass in 2012? As Soliman sees it, there will be no peace in the Middle East until the Muslims confess Jesus is the Son of God and accept Him as God, and until the Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah.

“As long as these two tribes of people exist without accepting Jesus, there will always be war. The only common denominator that’s going to bring people together is a change of heart,” Soliman says. “Until then, the Church in America needs to wake up. We have a responsibility to make disciples and take the Gospel to the four corners of the earth. We’re not making disciples locally, therefore we’re not going to make disciples in the world.”

You’ve heard about the 10/40 you might not actually know what it is.

The term was coined by Ralph Winters, a missiologist who saw an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians.

Winters brought this to the attention of the delegates gathered in 1974 at the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization, pointing out a huge swath of the world that extends from 10 degrees to 40 degrees North of the equator, and stretches from North Africa across to China.

It was a catalytic effort to get the Church to embrace the Great Commission and streamline evangelistic work. The concept revolutionized missions.

Another concept recently burst onto the Gospel it involves not the geography, but the demography. It’s called the 4/14 Window.

The 4/14 Window targets people aged four to fourteen years old, as the most open and receptive to every form of spiritual and developmental input.  

In fact, you could say it’s a new missional focus: the 4-14 Window golden age of opportunity to transform the world. The primary building blocks of the 4-14 Window Global Initiative are national, track, and prayer based initiatives. Africa Inland Mission is part of the movement.

AIM recently highlighted the work of an island outreach team that launched a Good News Club. Sixteen children came to the first meeting. AIM notes that globally, the statistics show that 80 percent of those who come to Christ do so between the ages of four and 14.

AIM’s teams have developed opportunities to work with Africa’s children through education, outreach programs, and through services to orphans and other children at risk.

Kimberly Daniels is in a battle. But this time, it’s not spiritual warfare with principalities and powers—well, not exactly.

After a much-hyped March 22 election for Jacksonville’s City Council, Daniels, founder of Spoken Word Ministries, an inner-city multi-racial church in Jacksonville, is in a run off with Republican opponent David Taylor.

Daniels, who ran on the Democratic ticket, will continue her battle in a May run off election.

“I ran for City Council because I was convicted to get involved with my city,” Daniels says. “As I walk the streets of Jacksonville, the morale is low. We need bridge builders in government who can connect with the community. We need praying people in the midst of our government.”

Daniels is certainly a praying woman—and at least some of Jacksonville knows that. She broadcasts “25 Minutes of Power!” weekdays at noon on Jacksonville’s Christian radio station. She also runs “Morning Commanders,” a prayer ministry that brings together more than 20,000 prophetic intercessors across the country on morning prayer calls. And she’s known for books like Prayer that Brings Change.

“We need people in office that will lead by example with integrity to make the people of Jacksonville proud and not ashamed,” says Daniels, a veteran of Desert Storm who has a bachelor’s degree in Criminology from Florida State University. “People are trying to use my past against me. But you can never use my testimony against me because that’s what gives me victory.”

Daniels’ opponent could “face discipline by the Florida Supreme Court after a Florida Bar investigation found he violated rules after apparently threatening and taking money from a woman who was divorcing a client he represented,” according to The Florida Times-Union. Daniels’ past includes prostitution and drugs, but she turned her life over to Jesus and now travels internationally with the Gospel.

“I’ve never seen racism like I have in this campaign,” Daniels asserts. “Racism needs to be dealt with in our city and I pray that God will use me to bridge that gap. My city really needs a cleansing from that spirit. The good news is I have more white supporters than black supporters. There are some great people in Jacksonville that are tired of all the prejudice that goes on here. What the devil meant for evil, God is turning around.”

In the March 22 race, Taylor grabbed percent of the vote compared to Daniels’ percent, according to the Times-Union. Steve Burnett ran independently and conceded defeat after winning less than 10 percent of the vote with nine precincts left, the Times-Union reported.

Will Daniels win in May?

“I’ve already won,” Daniels says. “Whether I win this race or not, I have already won because I have obeyed God. I can’t lose. With everything that I’ve been delivered from, when I got on the ballot I won. If it is my destiny for me to win this race, I’ll be in that seat.”