When I was in Central Asia, the lack of heating gas was a serious issue. There were weeks were it seemed just about impossible to get warm. And in this article they’re saying that this year is much worse than years past: It’s colder and there’s less gas for heating. And it’s mostly because they have a terrible, selfish leader who does not fear God.

Please pray for the folks in Central Asia, and click here to read the whole article from BBC.

 There’s a post over at JD Greear’s blog that should set our perspective and get us praying. It starts like this…

Summit members,

We have had a very tragic set of events occur in the last 48 hours in our church plant in East Asia. Our team leaders have let us know that they have been given 10 days by the authorities to evacuate the city. The authorities in the country, through duress, have procured the names of the national believers and are pursuing them.

Have a look here.

What do you think?

Hey folks,

I just received this email from a leader in our church. Please don’t get distracted by how long it looks. It took me 2 minutes to read it.

Please stop and take 5 minutes to lift this guy up in prayer:

Please pray that he will live long enough for me to see him in the hospital. Pray that he will live long enough to make that trip to our home. Pray that salvation will over take him when I share with him. Pray for Delores, too.

I have a friend who I spent a good chunk of time with when I was in Central Asia. His name is…

Well, let’s call him ‘Bob’ just to be safe (in the picture above, ‘bob’ is on the right, and yes, believe it or not, I am on the left).

‘Bob’ was faithfully discipled for over a year after he gave his life to Christ, and for a while, he was bearing all kinds of fruit.

But when pressure from the oppressive government of his country started to cramp down, he really backed off. He started dating a non-believer, and recently he sent me an email and said that he is now married to her.

Here is the response I received (‘Dad’ is how we write about God):

Do you remember Manzura?! Is this she whom I got married .

I will send you pics. I am still in ‘_______’.

I work at Tour Agency. I’m doing well.

Walk with Dad not so well man, ask Him to be better.

With his love, love you.

Have you heard about Ben Stein’s new movie coming out next year? It’s called ‘Expelled‘.

If you go to the website, the flash intro has this quote:

If people think God is interesting, the onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about. Otherwise they should just shut up about it.

So I’m sure the first thought through your head is, “Great, another movie bashing the intelligence of those who believe in God.”

But it’s actually just the opposite.

It’s about how people in scientific community who question Darwinism are immediately ‘expelled’. Noone is allowed to consider Darwinism.

I’m really excited about it!

There’s also a blog devoted to it here

That’s a quote from Piper in his sermon “Where Is God“, which is a response to catastrophic occurrences like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.

Piper is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota. They are so close to the bridge that collapsed that you can see the lights of rescue crews from the church.

They sent their video crews out to capture some of what’s going on out there, with some audio from the ‘Where Is God’ sermon spliced in. Here’s an excerpt:

Famines, pestilence, persecution — these happen so that the world will see that followers of Jesus count Christ more precious than everything they’ve lost — and discover that He can be that for them, because one day they’re going to lose everything. Everybody loses everything on earth, some day.

Read this

I don’t know if you’ve read this anywhere, but a couple dozen Korean missionaries to Afghanistan have been held hostage for several days now, and at least two of them have been killed.

The deadline that their kidnappers gave has come and gone, which leaves their fate uncertain (from a worldly perspective).

Please keep them in prayer:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200708/200708010038.html

Check out this awesome article. It really highlights what’s involved and at stake for many Central Asians.

Here’s an excerpt:

When Sherzod, who recently graduated from Jacksonville (Ark.) High School, telephoned his Muslim parents in Uzbekistan to tell them of his newfound faith, his father disowned him, making it clear he was no longer welcome in his home and was never again to speak to his mother or his siblings. He withdrew all funds from Sherzod’s U.S. bank account, arranged to cancel his son’s U.S. sponsorship and college scholarship and even drew up legal papers declaring Sherzod is no longer his son.

As devastating as that must be for an 18-year-old, Sherzod remains strong in his commitment to Christ.

“I am not sorry I accepted Christ,” he said. “I am not sorry for getting baptized. Even though my parents did that, I am not sorry for anything that happened.”