Saturday, April 9, 2005

4:38 PM Good news from the Smart Christian Blog about the spread of the gospel along the ancient silk road that connects Europe, the Middle East and Asia: God is doing wonderful things among the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, along the ancient Silk Road. Kyrgyzstan: 30,000 believers now. 1% of Kyrgyz pop. At least one Christian is on the ballot for upcoming elections. Kazakhstan will be affected by the continuing uprising. Pray for peaceful change. An anti-Christian movement is trying to pass laws against “new religions.” In spite of this believers have grown to over 10,000. Uzbekistan will not recognize Uzbek believers. They have to meet in Russian churches as part of Russian-speaking congregations. Conversions continue at a good rate. Pray for courage for house church leaders. Turkmenistan has destroyed all church buildings, arrested pastors and persecuted their families. Despite this there are now 1000 believers. Azerbaijan is now home to 10,000 believers, most of them in Baku. The vision for the Turkmen of northern Iraq is still on the hearts of the Azeri pastors. The Azerbaijani Old Testament has just been printed. Pray for the Silk Road Church. 4:24 PM I just took the Christian Traditions Selector that helps you discern which traditions are most in accord with your own beliefs. Here are my results: 1: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/ Fundamentalist (100%) 2: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God (94%) 3: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic) (86%) 4: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.) (69%) 5: Congregational/United Church of Christ (68%) 6: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene (67%) 7: Church of Christ/Campbellite (60%) 8: Presbyterian/Reformed (50%) 9: Seventh-Day Adventist (50%) 10: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England (42%) 11: Lutheran (40%) 12: Eastern Orthodox (27%) 13: Roman Catholic (11%) (Hat tip to Jon Trainer for the link.) 6:56 AM Here are the latest entries on the Crosswalk weblog: A Very Personal Statement of Faith—Part 1 A Very Personal Statement of Faith—Part 2 A Very Personal Statement of Faith—Part 3 6:55 AM Janice Shaw Crouse explains what evangelicals can learn from the pope.