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Hindu Radicals Attack Christians During Sunday Morning Church Service

Map of Hyderabad, India

Washington, D.C. – International Christian Concern (ICC) learned has learned that Hindu extremists attacked Christians during a Sunday worship meeting on January 10 in Hyderabad, India.

Alleged members of Bajrang Dal (a Hindu extremist group) broke into the worship meeting of Heaven’s Glory Church and attacked Christians attending the church service. About eight Christians sustained bruises but there were no serious injuries.

The extremists also warned the pastor and church members to stop preaching in the area or face dire consequences.

The victims lodged a complaint at L.B Nagar police station and police officers were sent to the church immediately. Both parties were summoned to the police station on Monday, January 11, where Police Inspector Dronacharyulu suggested a meeting with the village head to resolve the tensions between the two groups.

After the meeting, the Christian leaders approached the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Satyanarayan, to express their concern that further attacks would be perpetrated against them. He promised to provide police protection to the church for two months.

The area is known for Hindu extremists who are bent on creating trouble for the Christians, reported a church representative.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa and South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said, “We condemn the attack against Heaven’s Glory Church by the suspected members of Bajrang Dal. We urge the officials of India to investigate the attack against the Christians and bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. We also call upon Indian officials to prevent further attacks from occurring at the church.”

Continue reading Hindu Radicals Attack Christians During Sunday Morning Church Service

Live Blogging Interview with Missionary to Taiwan

This interview took place on November 1st, 2009.  Click here to see the entire interview.

The interview will be conducted livetaiwan_church in the comment section of this post (scroll down this page).  Jerry has 17 years of long-term missionary work experience.

Feel free to join in and ask any questions you would like to know about short and long-term missions programs and the state of the Christian church in Taiwan.

When asked about what he hopes people will come away from this interview with, Jerry said, ”The important thing is that they understand missions, pray for taiwan, and get involved in their church’s mission program.”

Note:  Due to the openness of the internet, “Jerry” would rather not use his real name.

GatheredTogether Live Blogging Rules

Helping Flood Victims for the Long-Term

CARROLLTON, Texas /Christian Newswire/ — Dinanath Rangan, 50, watched as the rain kept pouring down. He

The children in this photo are students in a Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope Center. Flood waters still surround their home after more than a week.

The children in this photo are students in a Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope Center. Flood waters still surround their home after more than a week.

was alone, working on a farm in a neighboring village while his wife and two children stayed at home. For two days, the waters wouldn’t stop. When he discovered that the river that flowed through his home village had breached an embankment, he rushed home, but by the time he reached his village, his house was underwater.

Frantically looking for help, he managed to find a small, hand-crafted boat. He climbed in and started rowing toward his house. But the strong current beat against his tiny boat until it capsized, and Dinanath lost his life in the flood waters.

When GFA relief workers arrived in the area with aid, they met Dinanath’s widow. Constant tears flowed down her cheeks as she received the relief materials. “Thank you,” was all she could say.

GFA relief teams had stepped in when government workers weren’t able to reach the area where Dinanath’s widow resided.

“It was one village where we could not supply any help yet,” a local government official said. “I appreciate [them] for coming forward to lend a hand of help and for supplying essential commodities to people who have lost everything.”

So far GFA relief teams have helped thousands of families in the flooded Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka by supplying items like blankets, bed sheets, cooking utensils and towels. As the water recedes, the workers will stay on to rehabilitate and rebuild damaged homes.

“Ministering to the survivors of these catastrophic floods is a privilege that God has given us. Right now they need food, water, clean clothing and basic household utensils, which we are already providing,” said GFA President, K.P. Yohannan. “We also know that when the water completely recedes they will need help rebuilding their lives. That’s why we will be in these affected areas for the long-term to help them clean up or, in some cases, completely rebuild, their homes. We want to replace the livestock that was killed in the flood. We want to help them restore their lives.”

Continue reading Helping Flood Victims for the Long-Term

What is Live Blogging?

microphoneTypical blogging is pretty much an off-line type of activity.  What I mean by that is the author/blogger writes a page or post, publishes it and then walks away to have a coffee or sometimes tea.  Then if people do leave comments they are checked every so often by the post’s author and the author replies and so on.

Live blogging is where the author agrees, for a set period of time, to be online and to reply directly to comments as they come in.  It has a kind of live chat feel to it but everything that is asked and answered is kept on the website in comments attached to the post.

What we are doing here on GatheredTogether.org is a sort of live interview with you as the interviewer.  The guest will be online for 30 minutes talking about life, faith, service and everything else that you care to ask.

Who will be the Live Blogging guests?

We are going to to be doing live blogging events with, what we consider, outstanding servants of the Christian faith.  That would be Christian authors, missionaries, evangelists, and ministry leaders.  If you have someone in mind you would like to see interviewed here leave  a comment at the bottom of the post.

When are live blogging events scheduled for?

We are striving to do one live blogging event a week usually on Friday evening but it will ultimately depend on the availability of the guest who may be currently living anywhere in the world with varied time zones.  To stay up to date on the next scheduled Live Blogging guest, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and by Email.

What do I need to do to participate?

For now, comment posting is open to the public without registration being required.  If the rules are abused (foul language,

The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ

The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ

inappropriate language, etc) then registration will be required as will be moderation (comments needing approval before posting) which will just slow down the question asking and answering so please see to it that you follow the rules while participating in Live Blogging.    To stay up to date on the rules for Live Blogging participation, click here:

Live Blogging Rules

For now all you have to do to participate is show up during a Live Blog event and shout out your questions.

Man Vs. Wild Star Bear Grylls Leads Expedition to Florida Prison

alpha_courseBANNOCKBURN, Ill. /PRNewswire/ — Bear Grylls, international star of the Discovery Channel program “Man vs. Wild,” is going behind bars. No, Grylls hasn’t been arrested. Instead, he will bring a message of hope to inmates when he heads to Florida for the 2009 National Alpha Conference.

Grylls will be a featured presenter at the conference, October 20-21, at Northland, A Church Distributed, in Metro Orlando. This gathering will bring together individuals from churches of all denominations across America who share the vision to reach their communities with the good news of Jesus Christ via the Alpha course.

Grylls will also speak at “Bear Grylls LIVE!,” a citywide crusade on October 21 at Northland Church on faith and adventure. The following morning, he will travel to Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach to share his Christian testimony and encourage the inmates to explore the claims of Christ for themselves. Recording artist Benton Brown will also perform at this outreach event.

While Grylls has braved some of the world’s toughest terrains, including his famed climb of Mount Everest in 1998, his greatest adventure has been as a believer in Christ.

“I have learned over the years from numerous expeditions, close calls and hairy moments, that it takes a proud man to say that he never needs any help. And I have yet to meet an atheist in the Death Zone on Everest or in a lifeboat,” Grylls explains.

He adds, “Ultimately, you must decide for yourself whether you are going to include a spiritual dimension to your life. But for what it is worth, life becomes a lot wilder and a lot more fun if you do.”

In the weeks leading up to his visit, episodes of “Man vs. Wild” are being played in the prison chapel on DVD to help introduce inmates to Grylls who, in turn, will introduce them to Alpha, a 10-week course that explores the Christian faith and life’s most difficult questions.

More than 13 million people in 163 countries have attended an Alpha course, with more than 2 million people in the U.S. participating in churches, prisons, military bases, university campuses and other places.

Continue reading Man Vs. Wild Star Bear Grylls Leads Expedition to Florida Prison