TEXAS GOVERNOR, POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER, RE-BAPTIZED IN HISTORIC CREEK

Your Global Link With The World

“Gov. Perry has a deep and abiding faith in God. Like many people of faith, the governor wished to reaffirm his commitment in a way that holds great personal meaning,”

Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (ANS) —

Surrounded by a small group of family and friends, Gov. Rick Perry was publicly re-baptized in Little Rocky Creek near Independence, Texas, the same place Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas, was also immersed.

The prolonged Texas drought left the creek choked with algae, so the local volunteer fire department had to clear a decent place for the governor’s baptism, according to The Texas Tribune.

Mac Richard, pastor of Lake Hills Church in Austin, conducted the baptism in March, the governor’s office reported.

Perry visited nearby Independence Baptist Church after the baptism, played the organ and soaked up the colorful local history. Since 1839, Little Rocky Creek has served as the natural baptistery for the church, which is the oldest continuously operating Baptist church in Texas, according to The Tribune.

Perry hunkered down at the circa-1874 pump organ and belted out a soulful gospel hymn. “It’s not easy to play a pump organ. You’ve got to move your feet while you play,” Phl Hassell, pastor of the church, told The Tribune. “I thought he played well.”

Rev. Hassell showed the governor around the tiny historic church where he was able to see the actual pew where Sam Houston had carved his initials and those of his wife nearly 158 years ago.

“Gov. Perry has a deep and abiding faith in God. Like many people of faith, the governor wished to reaffirm his commitment in a way that holds great personal meaning,” said Felix Browne, a spokesperson for the governor.

Former Perry aide and speechwriter Eric Bearse said he wasn’t surprised that Perry renewed his faith in a private, intimate ceremony. “Baptism is a very personal expression of faith,” Bearse told The Tribune. “He has a deep and abiding faith, and it influences his view of the world and how he lives his life.”

When Sam Houston emerged from having his ‘sins washed away” at the same creek in 1854, he was said to proclaim, “I pity the fish downstream.”

Houston served as Governor of Tennessee in the late 1820s and then became the first elected president of the Republic of Texas in 1836, after helping lead settlers to victory in their war of independence from Mexico. Houston was christened in the Catholic Church, a necessity in order to own land when it was Mexican territory.

Later, his wife, Margaret Lea Houston, prayed for him to become a Baptist and God granted her wish after 14 years of persistent prayer. When Texas became a State, Houston represented it in the U.S. Senate and later became its governor. » Full Article

About the Author

Mark Ellis is a senior correspondent for ASSIST News Service and the founder of God Reports. He is available to speak to groups about the plight of the church in restricted countries, to share stories and testimonies from the mission field, and to preach the gospel.

» ASSIST News Service

Little Rocky Creek, Washington County Texas

GOSPEL RECORDINGS IN 6000 LANGUAGES NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD

Your Global Link With The World

‘Micro SD Memory Cards Are Changing Everything’

Dan Wooding, Founder & Int’l Director of Assist News Service —

A digital revolution is taking place at astonishing speed in various parts of the world, with Micro SD memory cards, smart phones and the Internet now making it easier for workers with the Global Recordings Network (GRN) to share the Gospel with unreached people groups, even in the remotest parts of the world.

GRN is a leading provider of Christian evangelistic and discipleship audio visual materials to the least reached language groups of the world.

“Our passion is to work where there are no translated Scriptures and no viable local church, or where a written Scripture or portion is available but where there are few if any who can read it or make sense of it,” said a spokesperson for the group which was begun in 1939, by American missionary to Honduras, Joy Ridderhof who, while back in the United States recovering from a bout of malaria, made Spanish evangelizing recordings that she distributed to oral learners in Latin America.

Ms. Ridderhof was then contacted and asked to produce Navajo recordings. She accepted, and then received more projects to record. This led her to form Gospel Recordings (now Global Recordings Network), and soon the work spread around the world. Often the way recordings were played were low-tech with hand-wound 78 rpm record players for people to listen to the Good News messages in often forgotten communities of the world.

This pioneer passed away on December 19, 1984 in Stanton, California, but if she had lived, she would be amazed to have witnessed the incredible digital revolution that has transformed the work of GRN in ways she could never have imagined.

“Audio visual materials are a particularly powerful evangelism medium as they communicate the gospel in story format suitable for oral learners,” the GRN spokesperson told the ASSIST News Service. “Our recordings can now be downloaded free of charge from our website Global Recordings Network, and distributed via CD's, e-mail, Bluetooth and other media.

“Since we began in 1939, we have produced recordings in over 6,000 languages. That’s over one language per week! Many of these are the least reached language groups in the world.”

One of the biggest changes in the way these recordings are distributed are via Micro SD cards, which are memory card expansions for small electronic devices, most often telephones. They also get used in smaller cameras, digital recorders, and similar electronic devices.

Even people in St. Petersburg, Russia, have benefited from this digital revolution.

A group of GRN co-workers making a recent evangelistic trip to St. Petersburg, didn’t want to draw attention to their purpose and felt that CD's would appear suspicious to the customs officers at the airport, so instead they took with them 200 Micro SD cards in a small plastic box that contained Gospel materials in Russian.

“They were able to distribute them all in an inconspicuous manner to people they met,” said the GRN spokesperson.

In fact, all of the new technology is now being used by GRN to share the Gospel message.

A co-worker in Mexico shared the following story: “A missionary working among the Mixtec’s of Diuxi asked if we had any other material in this language because she had already used the recording of one presentation called ‘Words of Life’. I told her that we had available the audio visual presentation that she immediately wanted--but she could not come to the local office to pick up the CD's. So, we suggested a solution. She went to a local cyber café, got onto the GRN webpage and was able to download the material and then burn it on CDs which she is now using for an outreach among these people who speak the Mixtec, Diuxi-Tilantongo language.”

Another GRN worker, based in the Mexican state of Baja California, used the SD Micro cards for language distribution among the indigenous people living there.

Now the GRN work is proceeding at great speed, especially now that some two billion smart phones are capable of Internet access. Most can also play a Gospel recording in their Micro SD slot.

The GRN spokesperson said, “The world is crazy to get mobile phones and there are now 800 million people in China that have access to the Chinese Internet that blocks Facebook and Twitter, but not Global Recordings Network.”

He added, “Even the Arab Bedouins, who used to search for water to decide where to set up their tents, now searches for the best mobile phone reception, and so they, too, can find the ‘Living Water’ found in Jesus Christ.” » Full Article

About the Author

Dan Wooding, 73, is an award-winning journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 50 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States and around the world. He is the author of some 45 books, the latest of which is a novel about the life of Jesus through the eyes of his mother called “Mary: My Story from Bethlehem to Calvary”

» ASSIST News Service

More ANS Global News Items

» Christian Man Beaten For Taking Two Extra Days Off From Work

On April 23, Saleem Masih,a Christian, was severely beaten by his Muslim employer. According to a story provided by the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), if a criminal complaint (a First Information Report or FIR) is not filed against the employer, BPCA said legal advocate Mushtaq Gill will attempt to legally force the serving...

» China On Course To Become “World’s Most Christian Nation” Within 15 Years

It is said to be China's biggest church and on Easter Sunday thousands of worshipers will flock to this Asian mega-temple to pledge their allegiance – not to the Communist Party, but to the Cross. According to a story by Tom Phillips of Britain’s Telegraph newspaper, the 5,000-capacity Liushi church, which boasts more than twice as many seats...

» Billy Graham Rapid Response Team Sends Chaplains To Arkansas Following Deadly Twister

Crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team have deployed to Mayflower, Ark., following the deadly tornado that tore through the state Sunday. News reports indicate that there are more than a dozen confirmed deaths in Arkansas. "We mourn with the thousands of families who lost loved ones or homes in such a violent...

MUSLIM WOMAN FACING DEATH CALLS OUT TO JESUS AND THEN THE MIRACLE HAPPENED

Your Global Link With The World

An Afghan Woman’s Journey to Freedom

Nico Bougas, Assist News Service (ANS), Athens, Greece —

An Afghan woman, who was recently in Athens, Greece, shared her amazing story at a meeting I attended, and I now share it with you below, and ask you to pray for her as she begins her new life:

I was crammed into a small boat with 65 other Afghanis. We were headed to Italy from Turkey accompanied by our smugglers. A storm approached with high winds and rain, which then descended on us mercilessly causing our boat to rock violently. The waves were intent on capsizing our vessel.

We hadn’t eaten or drunk water for three days. Women and children were crying and getting sick. Many had come close to losing consciousness. I was separated from my children who were in another part of the boat and I couldn’t get to them.

People began praying different surah’s from the Quran and repeating the creed over and over. The shouts of “We’re going to die! We’re going to die!” were interspersed with the prayers of the refugees. I, too, said a few of those prayers in my utter desperation. I felt sure that we were going to drown. We were in a hold on the boat that had a few windows. The air was pungent with body odor, humidity and a sense of terror. If we opened the windows water poured in, but keeping them shut made it difficult to breathe.

Suddenly our boat took a sharp nosedive. Everything and everyone was sliding in one direction. This was it. We were going down! Just then flashes of conversations I had had with my Christian sister in Australia and my Christian brother in Germany, and scenes from a film about Jesus I had seen in Iran came to my mind.

I breathed out a prayer to Jesus. I had never prayed to him before. I told him that if he allowed me and my children to live I would go to a church as soon as we reached land. Immediately the boat righted itself in a miraculous way and the storm eased. People rejoiced that God had heard their prayers, but I knew Jesus had answered my prayer!

Incredibly at that time, a large Greek boat drew alongside us and threw a few bottles of water into our boat. Fights broke out with people clawing to get one to assuage their thirst. Then men from the big boat lashed our boat to theirs and brought us safely to shore. They must have called ahead because on the beach where we landed there were rows and rows of water bottles and cups waiting for us!

We were then taken to a camp area where we were given food, shelter, and dry clothes. If those Greeks had been Muslims they never would have saved us. And there is no way they would have supplied us with water, food, and clothing.

Though we were headed to Italy, we ended up in Greece. Fulfilling my promise to God, the first thing I did was to ask for a church. I then headed straight for it. It was a Greek church. A wedding was taking place. I went in and sat and watched! Nobody said anything to me but it was interesting to see the church building.

The next week, I went to another church and just sat in the back and watched. I didn’t understand anything they were saying. I went to a third church and again, I did not comprehend what was being said, but strangely I had a peace come upon my heart in just being in those churches. I realized something was happening inside me. I didn’t understand it but I knew it was something good.

Then I heard about a place where an organization that operated in an 8-story building. I heard they were providing food for Afghans so I went there. It was the Hellenic Ministries Refugee Center. I heard a talk about Jesus translated into my own language. They gave me an Afghan Bible. I took it and began to read it.

I compared what I read in the Bible to what I knew my religion taught. The Bible said things like, “love your neighbor, turn your cheek when struck to give the other side, forgive your enemies.” My religion urged us to kill the infidel and hate our enemies. I had never read anywhere of love and forgiveness like in the Bible. Enemies in Afghanistan had killed my husband. All I ever heard from the two major sects in my religion was that each other were infidels.

I witnessed a man get shot in the chest and die because he was from the other sect. Another woman was shot and died right in front of me because of her particular sect. I saw men whose limbs were blown off bleeding profusely in bomb blasts over sectarian clashes. I could not get these images out of my mind. I was only 15 years old then and those images kept coming back to me, sometimes two or three times a day.

I could not help but notice the difference in the people who were working in Refugee Center where I would go to listen to the Bible lessons. They were humble and always ready to help without ulterior motives. I liked them. I was beginning to accept their teaching. I appreciated their attitude and manner. I felt myself drawn to the Jesus they proclaimed.

Then 4 months ago I made my decision. I wanted to believe in Jesus. I wanted Him to be my savior. Truly He has answered many of my prayers. Life is still difficult but I’m thankful. I have an inner peace. I am a new person. It seems God allowed me to be diverted to Greece so I could hear about the Christian faith and believe!

When my sister in Australia had telephone me and told me that she believed in Jesus I was horrified. I wept for her and cried that she had lost the way. Then my brother in Germany told me he had become a follower of Jesus. This was followed by another brother in Sweden who also had put his faith in Jesus. What was happening to my own family?

Then my own eyes were opened and I realized it was Jesus who had saved me from drowning and had saved me eternally. Other members of my family in Iran and another brother in France are very antagonistic to Christianity and upset with those of us who have changed our faith and have trusted Jesus. From the storm on the sea to the peace in my heart, I am truly thankful! Praise God.

The Director of the Hellenic Ministries refugee work, Bruce McAtee commented on her story, saying: “As a follow up, this woman joined her family in Sweden last month. Before leaving, she gave her testimony at church and I had the privilege of baptizing her. It was a powerful moment as she emerged from the water with tears and prayer. She left Greece with a burden and conviction to share with others about this new life with hope, peace, love, forgiveness, and all that is found in Christ!”

Learn more about Hellenic Ministries from their website and download a free copy of JOY! Magazine app. » Full Article

About the Author

Nico Bougas is the International Development Director for Hellenic Ministries. He has a master's degree in communication from Wheaton Graduate School and M. Div and D. Min degrees from Trinity Theological Seminary. He is the author of five books. He previously worked for Youth for Christ in South Africa and was Editor of In Magazine and Christian Living TODAY and currently serves as Consulting Editor for JOY Magazine and a Trustee for Radio CCFM and was one of the founders of Sports Outreach Africa. He previously served on the national executive of the SA Association of Evangelists and as a Trustee for the Bible Institute of South Africa and on the advisory board for the South African Theological Seminary and on the executive of The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund (SA). For further, information contact: nico@bougas.info

» ASSIST News Service

More ANS Global News Items

» Miracle at Christian Day Care Center in Afghanistan – Terrorists Went In Wrong Gate

Five Taliban attackers targeted what they thought was an underground church celebrating its first anniversary in Kabul. After they blew up a car at two adjoining gates, God confused their thinking and they mistakenly entered a heavily armed compound next door. “By the grace of God, it’s really a miracle, that’s all I can say...”

» Deranged, Violent Homeless Man Transformed By Jesus

Mentally disturbed, he lived in the streets of Lucknow, India, and responded violently to anyone who attempted to approach him. But God moved one pastor’s heart to take him in, and the love of Jesus transformed the man’s life. “When we first met John he was very violent and threw stones at people he met. The local police and two...

» British Prime Minister, David Cameron’s Claim That Britain Is A ‘Christian Country’ Is Backed By Religious Rroups

Religious groups have backed Prime Minister David Cameron’s assertion that Britain is “a Christian country.” According to the BBC, Cameron said that the UK must be “more confident” about its Christianity, a view Downing Street says he has stated before. It comes after a group of public figures warned the PM risked causing “alienation” with his comments...