Charisma Staff

The dirt road is hilly, pocked with mud puddles and strewn with pebbles. But the sky on this day is blue, the sun bright, and a gentle breeze carries the scent of the sea just a few miles away.

The Haitian mother and her two daughters who travel the road each week on their way to First Eglise Evangelique Baptiste de Saintard enjoy the walk. Dressed in their Sunday best—Mama in a crisp red suit and wide-brimmed black hat, daughters in white lace and pink satin respectively—the three join arms and sing a little chorus of praise.

In this remote area of Haiti, the scars of the 2010 earthquake aren’t visible on the landscape, only in the souls of its people. But tell-tale signs of poverty haunt every corner—in the form of emaciated dogs and hungry children looking for scraps of food.

The church is a haven, tucked behind a security wall.

Christians working in remote Pakistani communities are facing extreme pressure, according to a Voice of the Martyrs Canada report. A … Read More

Israel intends to expel 81 pro-Palestinian activists in coming days who arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport last week, reported local media.

The activists are the last batch of over a hundred people who landed at Ben-Gurion as part of the “fly-in,” an event led by the “Welcome Palestine” organization.

The event’s organizers originally planned to fly upwards of 1,000 international activists to Israel, in order to stage Palestinian solidarity events in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Gospel for Asia-supported missionary, Gobesh Manranman, was arrested July 3 on his way to church. He is in jail, charged with being a member of a murderous rebel group that is the target of a government crackdown.

Gobesh, who is pastor of a small congregation in a village near a large city center, was taken into custody while walking to church Sunday morning.

Pastors are often charged with being associated with this rebel group because they openly minister to individuals who are part of the group. They do not condone their rebel activities.

Rather, they want to introduce them to the Savior. Other times, local people who are angry becuase many in their village choose to leave their traditional faith to embrace Christ, make false allegations against them.

Saturday (July 9) will be Independence Day for the citizens of South Sudan. 

A 2005 peace deal brought an end to the civil war, while promising Southerners the chance to vote for independence. That referendum vote came in January when an overwhelming majority chose to split from Khartoum.

In preparation to become Africa’s newest sovereign state, the legislative assembly on Thursday ratified the new constitution for the nation-in-waiting. There’s a lot of hope riding on the actual secession.

God’s Word is breaking through in a country that Luis Palau says has resisted gospel preaching for hundreds of years—southern France.

Palau led an evangelistic campaign in southern France last week. The campaign, which targeted the cities of Istres, Aix-en-Provence and Marignane, ended with a three-day gospel festival on Marseille’s crowded Plage du Prado beach. The festival reached 16,000 with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the first time a gospel event was allowed in an open venue.

Franklin Graham will be a witness to South Sudan history this weekend.

The CEO and president of both Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will be on hand to celebrate South Sudan’s first weekend of Independence from Sudan.

Saturday marks South Sudan’s official Independence Day.

“Americans just celebrated the birth of the United States, so it is with special appreciation that we now turn to another nation preparing to start its own journey of independence,” Franklin Graham said in a Samaritan’s Purse statement. “Saturday, July 9, will be the day that South Sudan will officially become the youngest country on earth.”

Constanza, 22, spent most of her childhood in an orphanage where the walls where covered in black mold. Though the … Read More

The often unseen or unrecognized abuses suffered by Christians at Pakistan’s lowest level of society—street sweepers—have come into sharp focus this year.

While one Christian sanitation worker in Lahore has been suspended and criminal charges filed against him for objecting to discrimination against fellow workers, another was killed the same month for not tending to a shopkeeper’s command fast enough.

Anayat Masih Sahotra, who has worked as a street sweeper for Lahore’s Solid Waste Management department for 24 years, said he is facing baseless charges of forgery and fraud from his employers because of his work as a labor leader for area sweepers, who are nearly all Christians. He was suspended and accused of the crimes on May 14 after he asked SWM Managing Director Wasim Ajmal Chaudhry to fulfill a promise to make 400 Christian workers regular employees with full benefits, he said.

Open Doors says Eritrean military officials have rounded up another group of evangelical Christians this week.

Authorities arrested 35 believers on Sunday, on suspicion of gathering for worship in Assab, a port city. The group, which included 17 women, was taken to the Adi-Nefase military camp near Assab, a notoriously harsh detention center.  

Open Doors also reports that 25 Christian students from Mai-Nefhi Educational Institution (roughly 12 miles southwest of Asmara) have been released on bail in order to sit for their final exams. They may have been part of a group of students arrested at the beginning of June for “unpatriotic behavior.” Sources in the country expect the students to be taken back into custody as soon as their exams have been completed.

Will Graham is getting quite a welcome in Kenya.

Moments after arriving in Nakuru with his wife, Kendra, he was greeted with a parade through the city’s downtown quarters.

“Just arrived in Nakuru! What a reception,” Graham posted on his Twitter account, @TellaGraham. “I’ve never had a reception like that before.”

The grandson of Billy Graham and son of Franklin Graham will be preaching three nights at the Will Graham Celebration of Peace Nakuru from Friday to Sunday at Githma (Mama Scrape Grounds). All events are free.

Wednesday’s downtown parade was just a taste of the excitement that is brewing in Kenya, where Billy Graham preached at two crusades in Nairobi (1960, 1976) and Kisumu (1960).

An appeal by an Iranian pastor convicted of apostasy has failed. According to Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs, … Read More

Months after a record-breaking earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, missionaries are still dedicated to aiding in relief efforts. COGIC Charities, … Read More