Picture this: you arrive at a venue, and people are lined up on both sides of the street, cheering, waving, smiling, taking pictures, and reaching out to shake your hand as you pass. If you are with a Bibles For China (BFC) team, this is what greets you when you arrive at a local church in rural China. Chief Operating Officer Barry Werner is quick to note that the hoopla is less about the team and more about what’s coming. ‘It’s a spontaneous celebration the moment you arrive with a Bible. It’s God’s Word: the most precious thing they’re ever going to receive. They don’t want to miss one moment. Let the celebration and the praise begin!’ When word gets out that a team is on its way, people will walk all day to a church and wait for hours for the team to arrive and give them their own copy.

Every eight seconds, somewhere in the world another person indicates a decision to follow Christ after watching the JESUS film. That’s 10,800 people per day, 324,000 per month, and more than 3.8 million per year! That’s like the population of the entire city of Coventry coming to Christ every 28-25 days. And yet, if you are like many people, you may have never even heard of it. Called by some ‘one of the best-kept secrets in Christian missions’, a number of mission experts have acclaimed the film as one of the greatest evangelistic tools of all time. Since 1979, more than 200 million men, women, and children worldwide have indicated decisions to follow Jesus after viewing the film. In addition, through hundreds of partners, an estimated 10+ million decisions have been made as the film JESUS is used extensively by the Body of Christ worldwide.

Coming from modest beginnings as a cassette tape lending library more than 40 years ago, Faith Comes By Hearing can truly say they understand and appreciate the saying, ‘You’ve come a long way, baby.’ At one time, the ministry focused solely on those in the American church and provided content in one language: English. Today, they are an international organization providing free digital access to Scripture recordings in over 830 languages that are spoken or signed by over 5.7 billion people. Across all of their digital platforms, the ministry has seen Bible engagement from more than 200 million users in just the last four years. Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH) has been on the technological forefront in digital Bible distribution with the Digital Bible Platform, which houses the world’s largest repository of digital Scripture text, audio and video that is freely shared with partnering developers via an open API (application programming interface).

A couple camped nearby as they wished to have some quiet space and be at Ffald-y-Brenin (a House of Prayer near Fishguard) on their wedding anniversary, 30 July. The wife was upset to discover they had missed morning prayers. They went to the High Cross where she listened to The Grace Outpouring on her phone. She couldn't read it because she is blind. She has a stick, dark glasses and a guide dog. They went to evening prayers which were led by one of our volunteers. When it came to 'wherever darkness touches me I trust you to lighten it' the Holy Spirit came onto this blind lady and she fell to the floor crying 'my eyes hurt, my eyes hurt'. When she stood up and opened her eyes her first words were - 'I like your shirt!' Then she turned to her husband and saw him for the first time in eight years. They hurried home to see the children whom she has never seen before.

More than a thousand people made decisions for Jesus during a recent four-day mission in which Every Tribe of East London took a group of hip, young, local missionaries to share the love of Jesus in the Eastern Cape town of Adelaide. The mission team members shared the good news from door to door in the small, historic town, and also ministered to God’s people in taverns, taxi ranks, hair salons and old age homes. 1,064 salvations were harvested during the four days and there were many testimonies of healing, signs and wonders. ‘It surprised me that many people we met had never heard the name of Jesus and that He loves them and has wonderful plans for their life’ shared Stephanie Swart, a sales consultant who participated in the outreach.

Summers are intense at Musalaha in three summer camps for Israeli and Palestinian children. This summer there was anxiety due to the Gaza conflict. Each year church teams come to help with our summer camps. This year a youth group from Bolton assisted the staff at Beit Sahour camp. On Wednesday I visited the camp, wondering how the children had related to one another in the midst of the conflict in the country. I marvelled at how much they enjoyed themselves playing with one another. Pray for similar camps to spread to all parts of the country, where Arab children could meet Jewish children. One of the children said ’I wish I could stay in this camp forever [rather] than go home to war.’ Meanwhile as Middle East shelling continues, internet users have been flooding the web with dozens of photos of Jews and Arabs together showcasing peace and love, under the hashtag #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies see:

A former LA deputy sheriff arrested while street preaching in Scotland has been told by police he will no longer face charges. Tony Miano was arrested in Dundee after a member of the public complained he had been using ‘homophobic language’. He was on a weeklong street-preaching mission in the city in January with evangelist Josh Williamson when he was arrested under hate-crime legislation. (See Prayer Alert 2.2014). The Christian Legal Centre, which represented him, said he was held by police for 24 hours and that they refused to watch video footage of his street preaching. Mr Miano, 50, said it ‘took months’ for the prosecutors to watch the footage. ‘When the prosecutors finally managed to get the video footage off my camera they could plainly see that the accuser had made allegations about my speech that were simply untrue,’ he said.

According to the press release, Wycliffe Associates, a global organisation that involves people in the acceleration of Bible translation around the world, earlier this year, 32,000 pounds of Ketengban Scriptures were delivered to the people via the Pilatus PC-6 aircraft funded by Wycliffe Associates volunteers. New Testaments were also delivered to their neighbours in Lik villages - the first Scriptures ever in their heart language. Andrew and Anne Sims, members of the translation team, were caught off guard as they entered the Ketengban village in Indonesia. They had come to check on the progress of the Old Testament translation, yet hundreds of people greeted them as a celebration broke out. Off to the side, eight boys covered in white mud from head to toe stood expressionless and silent, never moving.

A former LA deputy sheriff arrested while street preaching in Scotland has been told by police he will no longer face charges. Tony Miano was arrested in Dundee after a member of the public complained he had been using ‘homophobic language’. He was on a weeklong street-preaching mission in the city in January with evangelist Josh Williamson when he was arrested under hate-crime legislation. (See Prayer Alert 2.2014). The Christian Legal Centre, which represented him, said he was held by police for 24 hours and that they refused to watch video footage of his street preaching. Mr Miano, 50, said it ‘took months’ for the prosecutors to watch the footage. ‘When the prosecutors finally managed to get the video footage off my camera they could plainly see that the accuser had made allegations about my speech that were simply untrue,’ he said.

Nandar Nant from the children’s prayer movement in Myanmar, reported: ‘Every week and every month we have prayer gatherings in different orphanages, homes and churches. On Saturdays we organize a 24 hours of prayer. At the moment 50 churches, 60 orphanages and about 3500 children are involved, and next year we plan to expand again. Children have great faith and an innocent heart,’ she says. ‘When we started praying for the seven spheres of society, we saw amazing changes. Parents repented for not taking care of their children, and the children repented for disobeying their parents. People came free from addictions and adultery. We saw miracles of healing and unity among churches. Christian singers and actors now openly share about their faith. Personally I believe these changes are related to the children’s prayer movement. The children are really engaged as they see how God changes things because of their prayer.’