WAYNE PEDERSON, PRESIDENT OF HCJB WILL SPEAK AT THE CLOSING PLENARY OF THE FEB CONFERENCE ON “THE 21ST CENTURY CHRISTIAN VOICE IN SOCIETY“. HE IS ALSO LEADING THE MORNING BIBLE STUDIES AND WILL BE LOOKING AT JESUS AND PAUL – “1ST CENTURY VOICES IN SOCIETY“.

Other Programme Speakers include Gary Hoogvliet (United Christian Broadcasters); Felix Widmer (Trans World Radio Europe); Wilfried Schulte (Neues Leben); David Nolent (Top Chretien); Henryk Krol (CCM); and Dr Bex Lewis (from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Winchester).

THE CONFERENCE OPENS THURSDAY EVENING MARCH 22ND AND CONCLUDES WITH THE SATURDAY NIGHT PLENARY AT 8.00PM REGISTRATION FORMS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.FEB.ORG/CONFERENCE OR CONTACT THE FEB OFFICE AT FEB@FEB.ORG.

PLEASE BOOK A PLACE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS WE NEED TO CONFIRM NUMBERS WITH THE KIM HOTEL BY FEBRUARY 15TH - AFTER THAT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE ACCOMMODATION ON SITE.
Contact: feb@feb.org

***********************************************

EUROPE

• EUROPEAN UNION
  The European Parliament has backed proposals to open up more EU documents to public scrutiny. The proposals include digital data such as audio and video recordings as well as text. They would also reveal how ministers vote at EU meetings to improve accountability and to limit the exceptions under which information can be withheld on the grounds of security or intellectual property rights. Maros Sefcovic, EU Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations said that many of the amendments will be accepted by the Commission.
  Source: European Parliament 

   

• UK – PROTECTION OF MINORS
  The British Phonographic Industry’s (BPI) Parental Advisory Scheme has been extended to mark explicit content in digital music and video downloads using a logo signposting unsuitable files on sites including iTunes, HMV and Amazon. The scheme will provide consistent labelling – and should help parents to monitor their children’s online music and videos.
  Source:BBC News  

   

• SPAIN
  International Media Ministries (IMM) hosts “Connect 2012” a three-day Conference in Madrid from 17-19 April 2012. Phil Cooke will be the Guest Speaker, and Workshops will include: “Website and Design“; “Working with Oral Learners“; “Video over IP“; “Expectations with Media” and “Media beyond Sunday Morning”. On 19th April there will be a Gala Dinner to celebrate 30 years of IMM, with Guest Speaker Greg Mundis. Visit www.imm.edu
  Contact: Tamara@imm.edu

• SERBIA
  In 2011, the Serbian Bible Society published the Gospel of Mark in the southern Serbian Roma dialect. One of the main translators, Serif Bakic is pastor of a Roma church in Leskovac, and oversees the ministry of Ikonos. Ikonos produces programmes in the Romano-Serbian dialect.
  Contact: office@twr-serbia.org

• UK
  Premier Christian Media submitted a Report, “The Marginalisation of Christianity in British Public Life“, to a recent UK Parliamentary Inquiry investigating Religious Discrimination. It found that a significant number of UK Christians perceive a strong bias exists against Christians in public life and increased marginalisation of Christianity. Christians believe that the media often represents Christianity in a negative and misleading way. There has also been inconsistency in the way Law Courts interpret equality laws in relation to Christians.
  Contact: Sharon Molloy sharon.molloy@premier.org.uk  

   

   

• SWITZERLAND
  Swiss TV is to introduce HDTV on 29th February 2012 on six TV Stations. Fenster zum Sonntag will broadcast a programme in HD for the first time on March 3rd 2012 “Erstens kommt es anders”.
  Contact: Juergen Single juergen.single@sonntag.ch
   

   

   

• CZECH REPUBLIC
  The Czech Republic’s Coalition Government has approved a multibillion dollar plan to compensate Christian groups for property seized by the former Communist regime. The plan is expected to be passed by Parliament. Czech churches will get 56% of their former property back and 59 billion koruna ($2.9 billion) in financial compensation, paid to them over the next 30 years. In return, the state will gradually stop covering their expenses, including salaries over 17 years. In 1948, the Communist regime confiscated all the property owned by churches.
  Source: Associated Press
   

   

   

• HUNGARY
  Hungary could face legal action from the European Commission if it fails to bring its new constitutional provisions into line with European Union law. The Commission is concerned that the Hungarian media law may restrict press freedom. Hungary’s Constitutional Court has also rejected the country’s restrictive new Church Law as well as its Media Law and the criminal code. The Church Law, which would have taken effect on January 1st, only includes 14 Christian churches and Jewish congregations, forcing all others to seek recognition from lawmakers. The Hungarian Court has also rejected aspects of the Media Law, including rules on content regulation and confidential sources.
  Source: European Voice 

   

AFRICA

• WEST AFRICA
  “The last quarter of 2011 showed a growth in the responses from viewers of Christian television programmes in West Africa”, reported Martien Timmer, International Director of 3xM. In November alone, 3xM colleagues in West Africa received 45,000 responses, of which 35,000 were from Central African Republic.
  Contact: Martien Timmer info@3xm.nl 

   

• SOUTH AFRICA
  A commercial FM Radio Licence for Durban has been awarded to One Gospel KNI FM for a Gospel Music Station. This is the first commercial radio broadcast licence awarded to the Association of Christian Broadcasters (ACB) and the culmination of two ACB members working together. The station will be broadcasting in isiZulu and will be on air in May.
  Contact: Dave Hotchkiss djhotchkiss@telkomsa.net  

   

   

• SOUTH AFRICA
  South African Regulator ICASA has issued a 145-page discussion document on the broadcast regulatory framework for the digital era. There will be regional presentations and a March deadline for written comments.
  Contact: Dave Hotchkiss info@acb.org.za
  

ASIA

• INDIA
  India is being closely monitored by human rights groups as there are signs that enmity towards Christians is growing. Christians have been threatened and attacked by extremists, with several incidents around Christmas time. The All India Christian Council is asking the Indian Government to pass a bill to curb communal violence and seek justice for victims, and has also launched a nation-wide prayer campaign.
  Source: Christian Today  

   

AUSTRALASIA

• CHRISTIAN DIGITAL RADIO
  The growth of digital radio in Australia has been faster and stronger than most other countries, with research showing that over 960,000 Australians in metropolitan cities are tuning into digital radio. More than 600,000 digital radios have been sold since the end of 2009. Inspire Digital is Australia’s newest Christian radio station, broadcasting on DAB+ in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
  Visit www.inspiredigital.com 

   

• VISION RADIO NETWORK
  Sydney has another new Christian Radio Station launched in December by Vision Radio Network. It broadcasts on 1611AM and includes contemporary Christian music, messages from international Speakers and Bible teaching. Vision Radio Network now has 514 locations around Australia.
  Contact: Ian Worby iworby@ucb.com.au
  

GLOBAL

OLYMPICS
FEB Member, 2K Plus International Sports Media, will be reporting from the 2012 Olympic Games in London for over 1000 radio stations around the world. They will produce reports, news and features with a Christian perspective in six languages including English, Arabic, French, Creole, Portuguese and Spanish. 2K Plus works in partnership with major Christian broadcasters such as TWR, HCJB Global, FEBA and CVC – and is currently looking for a French language producer and two English language journalists on a voluntary or secondment basis.
Contact: Adrian Barnard office@2kplus.org.uk 

 

• OLYMPICS
  ‘More than Gold‘ is running 11 Church Workshops throughout the UK from February to April in the run-up to the Olympics. The “Get Set Training Day” Workshops will give Churches ideas and resources on how to run Community Festivals; Using Sport to impact every age-group; Reaching Children and Youth and Using International Mission Teams.
  Contact: David Willson info@morethangold.org.uk  

   

• APPS DOWNLOADS HITS RECORD HIGH
  According to analytics firm Flurry, over 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December. The USA was responsible for nearly half of the downloads, followed by China and the UK. The UK had 81 million downloads, with Canada having 41 million, and both France and Germany 40 million. USA had 509 million and China had 99 million. Flurry also estimated that nearly 7 million Android devices and iPhones were activated on Christmas Day.
  Source: BBC Technology
   

   

   

• BROWSER & TEXT MESSAGING USAGE
  Although Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still the world’s most popular browser, both it and Mozilla’s Firefox have lost market share to Google’s Chrome in 2011, which is now firmly in second place. Internet Explorer currently has a 39% market share, Chrome 27% and Firefox 25%. Also, a recent Forbes Report indicates that text messaging may be on the decline. In Finland 8.5 million text messages were sent on Christmas Eve 2011, down 22% from 10.9 million sent on the same day in 2010. Hong Kong reported a 14% drop and Australia a 9% decrease. It seems that more people are using free social networking sites to send messages via the internet.
  Source: Mashable  

   

MIDDLE EAST

TOUCHLESS SMARTPHONES AND TVS
According to a small Israeli start-up company called XTRA3D – there will soon be no need for TV remote controls as you will be able to make hand gestures to control the channels and adjust the volume. XTRA3D is a developer of motion capture technology and has just received an US$8m investment to bring the first motion-control smartphone to the market early in 2012. Webcams and 2D cameras are used to extract 3D out of a 2D image and the company claims that the technology can be installed into any consumer electronics device.
Source: BBC Technology News 

 

 

• PROJECT HANNAH LAUNCHES IN ARABIC
  TWR launched Project Hannah broadcasts in Arabic in the first week of January 2012. The weekly “Women of Hope” 30-minute programmes are broadcast on Saturdays at 9.11pm (21.11) on 1233 kHz AM/MW. Schedules for other Arabic programmes can be found at www.arabicprograms.org
  Contact: Branko Bjelajac bbjelajac@twr.org
  

USA

• CHRISTIANITY IS WORLD’S LARGEST RELIGION
  According to a recent study “Global Christianity” conducted by the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, Christians are by far the largest religious group in the world. A hundred years ago Europe was the centre of world Christianity, but today the Americas are home to more than a third of all Christians. The United States has the world’s largest Christian population of more than 247 million, followed by Brazil and Mexico. China is also in the top ten, with an estimated 67 million. The study calculates that there are nearly 2.2 billion Christians around the world – about one third of the world’s population. Islam is the world’s second largest religion with 1.6 billion followers. The number of Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased from about 9 million in 1910, to 516 million today.
  Source: CNN 

   

• SUPREME COURT DECISION
  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Religious workers cannot sue for job discrimination, saying for the first time that churches – not courts – are the best judges of whether clergy and other religious employees should be hired or fired. It tempered its decision by refusing to describe what constitutes a religious employee so it is unclear whether anti-discrimination laws protect them or not.
  Source: Religion News
  

The FEB Conference will be at the Kim Hotel, Dresden, Germany

22-25 March 2012

Theme: “The Christian Voice in Society”

• Wayne Pederson, President of HCJB, will be the Bible Teacher
  
• Gary Hoogvliet – Director of Broadcasting UCB (UK)

• David Nolent – Director of Evangelism, Top Chretien (France)
  

• Felix Widmer – International Director TWR Europe (Switzerland)

• Thorsten Grahn – Director International Ministries ERF Medien (Germany)

• Henryk Krol – President & CEO DR Studio and CCM Media (Poland

• Bex Lewis – Lecturer in Humanities and Social Sciences (UK)

• Wilfried Schulte – Chairman Neues Leben Medien (Germany)

Harvey Thomas is a Licensed Lobbyist, who presents the interests of Christian Communicators to the European Union (EU), on behalf of the Fellowship of European Broadcasters.

Harvey participated in the EAVI Conference in Budapest, Hungary from 6-7 December at their invitation. EAVI is the European Association for Viewers Interests – an Organisation promoting Media Literacy Educational programmes. The Conference was held in association with the Visual World Foundation with the theme of “Media Education and the Citizen.” He interviewed Paolo Celot, Secretary General of EAVI, on the Media Education of European citizens, which is a central focus for EAVI.

1991 – 2011:
FEB CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF SERVICE AND FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRISTIAN COMMUNICATORS. THANK YOU ALL – AND WE WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR

In this Edition: Europe; Africa; Asia; Central America; Global; Middle East; USA

EUROPE

• FEB DRESDEN CONFERENCE 2012
  David Nolent from TopChretien and Gary Hoogvliet have confirmed as Speakers for the 2012 FEB Conference, Kim Hotel, Dresden, 22-25 March 2012. David Nolent is Director of Evangelism for TopChretien, France, and Gary Hoogvliet is Director of Broadcasting for UCB in the UK. Other Speakers include Felix Widmer; Thorsten Grahn; Wayne Pederson; Bex Lewis; Henryk Krol and Wilfried Schulte. Registration Forms are available online or contact the FEB Office.
  Contact: feb@feb.org

• HUNGARY
  FEB Chairman, Harvey Thomas, participated in the European Association for Viewers Interests (EAVI) Conference in Budapest on 6-7 December. The Conference was held in association with the Visual World Foundation with the theme of “Media Education and the Citizen”. Harvey interviewed EAVI Secretary General, Paolo Celot on the Media Education of European citizens, which is a central focus for EAVI.
  Contact: Irena Panayotova irena.panayotova@eavi.eu

• UK
  UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that 20 UK towns and cities are expected to get their own local TV stations. The first “pioneer” areas include Belfast, Brighton and Hove, Cardiff, Glasgow, Grimsby, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Swansea. Over 65 towns applied earlier this year. The government hopes to licence the first local stations from summer 2012. “I am confident these new stations will provide local communities with programming which is relevant to their daily lives, will support local democracry and enhance local communities”, said Mr Hunt.
  Source: BBC News
  

• EUROPEAN COMMISSION
  Technology and Media Companies including Apple, Google and Facebook have joined a coalition put together by the European Commission to “deliver a better Internet for our children“. The initiative, led by EC Vice President Neelie Kroes, has agreed a Statement of Purpose covering 5 areas: Simple reporting devices to enable effecting reporting and responses to content that is harmful to children; age-appropriate privacy settings; wider use of content classification; wider availability and use of parental control; and effective take-down of abusive material. FEB is actively supporting this initiative and is discussing additional measures to protect Minors with MEPs and Officials.
  Source: European Commission

• UK
  The Baptist Times Newspaper is to close at the end of 2011 after 156 years of continuous weekly publication. A special edition will be published in January 2012 to celebrate the paper’s history and the contribution it has made to the life of the Baptist Church. Falling cirulation and the difficulties of selling advertising space has contributed to its demise. However, the Baptist Times will survive as an online resource from next spring, with a news digest, opinion pieces and features at www.baptisttimes.co.uk
  Contact: Mark Woods editor@baptisttimes.co.uk

• NORWAY
  Norea Media Mission’s General Manager, Tore Askildsen has been elected as Mayor for Mandal for the Christian Democratic Party (KrF). Martin Birkedal is acting as General Manager of Norea.
  Contact Martin Birkedal martin.birkedal@norea.no

• UK
  Meryl Streep’s performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (UK Release date: 6 January 2012) has had many comments – both positive and negative. Damaris Trust has created a free package of Resources for Church and Community Groups, exploring some of the significant life issues featured in this film. Visit www.damaris.org/theironlady
  Contact: Holly Price holly.price@damaris.org

• EUROPEAN UNION
  The European Union’s Civil Liberties Committee has proposed amendments to current Regulations aimed at enhancing transparency, accountability and democracy in the EU by allowing greater public access to EU documents, and setting out principles and exceptions to such access on the grounds of public or private interest. The amended Regulation 1049/2001 will be put to a Parliamentary vote in December.
  Source: European Union

• UK
  The TWR-UK website now has a section called, “We speak your language” containing a selection of broadcasts available in Arabic, Cantonese, Polish, Bengali, Hindi and other languages. These programmes are suitable for those who are residents in the UK but whose “Heart language” is not English.Visit www.twr.org.uk
  Contact: Russell Farnworth info@twr.org.uk

• NETHERLANDS
  “Mobilising Your Mission” is the theme for the ICCM’s International Conference on Computing and Mission 2012 being held 8-11 February 2012 in Zelhem, Netherlands. David Housholder from Interserve USA is the keynote speaker. The Conference will include 12 technical workshops.
  Contact: Mick Leggett itdept@hcjb.org.uk

• UK
  The Evangelical Alliance has Researched how UK Evangelicals use old and newer forms of communication. In the last week, 97.3% had used email to an individual; 55.1% had sent group email; 45.9% had posted messages on social networks; 43% had commented on other people’s pages and 39.4% had used the internet from a mobile phone. Only 12.5% used Twitter; 9% had taken part in a conference call or video conference; 8.9% had uploaded a video clip to Youtube or a similar service and 2.6% had appeared on radio or TV.

  88% of respondents agreed that the internet provides an excellent way for Churches and Christian organisations to communicate although it was apparent that going online is currently an individual preference rather than a cultural norm in Church Communities. Online giving to charities went up 85% between 2008 and 2011 – with 53.6% of the survey respondents making donations online; 13.1% by text; 81.9% by cash or cheque and 85.1% by direct debit or standing order.
  Contact: Lauren Sibuns l.sibuns@eauk.org

• FRANCE

• SPAIN
  “Mi Esperanza” (My Hope) is a national evangelistic event taking place in Spain from 15-17 December. 1400 evangelical churches are taking part and inviting people to homes to hear a 30 minute TV programme with testimonies, music and a brief evangelistic message from Billy Graham. Spain’s population is 46 million – with approximately 450,000 Evangelicals.
  Contact: Ana Maria Huck eea.malaga@evangelismoenaccion.com

• UK
  Correction: The OneSheep Consortium website www.onesheep.org will not publish content as mentioned in last month’s “Snippet“, it will be a sign-up form for their email newsletter. HCJB Global and FEBA UK are founding members of the OneSheep Consortium which aims to help Christian enterprise by empowering content creaters to produce media that connects.
  Contact: Mark Taylor mtaylor@feba.org.uk
  

AFRICA

• SOUTH AFRICA
  African Enterprise will hold a city-wide Mission in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa from 12-18 August 2012 50 years after the first AE Mission in Pietermaritzburg. This will be followed on 19 August by a Jubilee Celebration at the AE Centre.
  Contact: Miles Giljam m.giljam@aeint.org
  

ASIA

• KOREA
  According to “The Next Web” – new legislation from Korea’s Communications Committee will see authorities begin to censor social networking and mobile applications before the end of 2011. Separate teams will also be formed to monitor radio and programming channels. Korean web users and civil protection groups argue that the new teams will limit citizens’ freedom of speech – and that social networking services are a “personal media for communication that cannot be censored”.
  Source: The Next Web
• GUAM
  TWR President Lauren Libby visited the island of Guam to celebrate the on-air dedication of two newly upgraded 250,000 watt digital-capable Thomson transmitters, which have been installed to provide increased signal coverage to China and south-east Asia. The new transmitters join three existing 100,000 watt units.
  Contact: Branko Bjelajac bbjelajac@twr.org

• VIETNAM
  The Bill Gates Foundation has provided a US$30m donation to a rural Internet initiative in Vietnam. The donation, together with $3.64m worth of Microsoft software will go towards a government initiative providing basic computer skills and the internet to 760,000 people. 12,070 internet-ready computers will be set up in 1,900 public libraries in 40 of Vietnam’s most disadvantaged provinces. Currently only 31.6% of the population has access to the internet at home.
  Source: The Next Web
  

CENTRAL AMERICA

• JAMAICA
  The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will visit Jamaica from January 21-31 2012 to kick-off a year of events to mark the 50th Anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain. He will preach at an ecumenical service in Montego Bay and a special service at the Cathedral in Spanish Town. Director of the Jamaican Tourist Board, Elizabeth Fox, said, “2012 marks the start of a significant year in Jamaica’s history. Jamaicans are deeply religious people and Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other country in the world. We hope that religious groups will come back and visit during the Archbishop’s visit.”
  Source Christian Today

GLOBAL

• LinguaDMS
  TWR International has developed LinguaDMS (LDMS), a new online tool to manage, archive and distribute digital files such as videos, audio files and text documents. LDMS serves content to websites, mobile applications, Internet radio and terrestrial broadcast outlets. It will complement the traditional broadcast stations around the world and will continue to evolve as digital technology changes.
  Contact: Felix Widmer fwidmer@cttw.at

MIDDLE EAST

• CYPRUS
  SAT-7 PARS is now available on IPTV Television. GLWiZ is the largest source of web-streamed Iranian television worldwide with over 120 channels and hundreds of thousands of subscribers. This media platform allows SAT-7 to reach a wider audience in Europe and as far as North America. GLWiZ and most other IPTV sites are currently blocked within Iran. Viewers can watch the low resolution feed for free at www.glwiz.com or pay for a high resolution version.
  Contact: Rita Elmounayer ritaelmounayer@sat7.org
  

NORTH AMERICA

• CANADA
  BBC Worldwide has launched iPlayer in Canada. The Canadian version offers up to 1500 hours of viewing and a subscription service accesses a full selection of programmes. Canada is the 16th country to have the commercial iPlayer, with launches earlier this year in Australia, Western Europe and Scandinavia. Plans to launch in the USA have been delayed to allow time to focus on some editorial and technical issues.
  Source: C21Media.net
  
  

• FEB DRESDEN CONFERENCE 2012
  Felix Widmer and Thorsten Grahn are confirmed as Speakers at the 2012 FEB Conference, Kim Hotel, Dresden, 22-25 March 2012. Widmer is International Director for TWR Europe and Grahn is Director of International Ministries at ERF, Germany. Other Speakers include Wayne Pederson; Bex Lewis; Henryk Krol and Wilfried Schulte. Registration Forms are available online or contact the FEB Office.
  Contact: feb@feb.org

• UK
  The UK’s Culture Media and Sport Committee reports that the provision of mobile broadband to parts of rural Britain is poor and is asking Ofcom to set tougher rules for the 4G spectrum auction, making at least one licence winner guarantee to give 98% of the population broadband coverage, rather than 95% as currently planned. Operators have complained that the extra 3% will prove costly. When Ofcom announced that it was postponing the auction, critics warned that the UK was slipping behind in the next broadband revolution.
  Contact: Rory Cellan-Jones rory.cellan-jones@bbc.co.uk
  
  

• EUROPEAN UNION
  MEPs and the Council of Ministers have negotiated a compromise on the EU Radio Spectrum Policy which was drawn up by the European Parliament in May 2011. Under the new agreement, EU countries will have to free up the 800 MHz frequency band for wireless broadband services by 1 January 2013. At least 1200 MHz will be allocated to mobile data traffic after 2013 but before 2015. The Commission will assess by 1 January 2015 whether there is a need to harmonise additional spectrum bands to manage the huge growth in wireless data traffic. The compromise still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament
  Source: European Union Press Release

• UK
  Safer Media has been conducting a “Block Porn Campaign” over the last year, in conjunction with Claire Perry MP. Prime Minister, David Cameron, has now announced several measures to address this issue including a new website www.parentport.org.uk; new guidelines on billboard advertising and a free application for Mobile phones so that parents can choose the times of day their children use their phones and whether they can access the internet. Four major ISPs (BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media) have agreed to offer new internet customers a service called Active Choice where subscribers must choose whether to restrict web content.
  Contact: Miranda Suit: mediamarch@gmail.com

• POLAND
  CCM Media are using Google adverts to promote the “Knowing God” evangelistic webpages, in an effort to reach more people in Poland. They have also just held a Training Course for 44 group leaders for “Christianity Explored” in Katowice. The offline course is used as part of following up people who have completed the “Knowing God” course. In 2012 CCM will prepare an online version.
  Contact: Henryk Krol hkrol@ccm.pl

• UK
  BBC CEO Mark Thompson has proposed 14% cuts to the BBC’s Local Radio budget, which will merge local areas into regions for off-peak broadcasting. Thompson said, “BBC Local Radio’s strength is that it is local and that it provides a vital life-line service for audiences who in many cases consume no other form of radio”. He says that the challenge he is setting to Local Radio is tough, but necessary in order to make savings.
  Source: Broadcast

• TURKEY
  Operation Mobilisation (OM) has marked the 50th anniversary of their work in Turkey by launching the 1881 Project – an 18 month initiative to reach all Turkey’s 81 provinces with the Gospel. They are also offering an expansion plan to allow seekers to sign up for the OM Bible Correspondence Course via SMS and Smartphone as well as Online.
  Contact: George Verwer george.verwer@om.org

• UK – CHILDREN’S MEDIA USE AND ATTITUDES
  UK’s Ofcom produced a research document in October giving an overview of media use, attitudes and understanding among children and young people aged 5-15. It also documents the views of parents about their child’s media use and how they manage it. It found that children aged 12-15 are now more likely to miss their mobile phone or the internet – than television. 91% of children in the UK have internet access via a PC/laptop, up from 87% in 2010 – with 43% of 12-15s having internet access in their bedroom, compared with 14% of 8-11s and 4% of 5-7s. Digital Video Recorder (DVR) ownership also continues to increase – 66% of children now have one at home compared to 52% in 2010. According to BARB data, children aged 4-15 watched an average of 17 hours 34 minutes of television per week, up from 15 hours 37 minutes in 2010, with 31% using an online catch-up service. At least 50% of 12-15s go on social networking sites once a week or more. It also found that parents express high levels of trust in their child to use the internet safely.
  Source: Ofcom

• GERMANY
  On 31st October, Germany commemorated the day on which Martin Luthur nailed his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg in 1517. Bibel TV showed four days of films, talk shows and documentaries about Martin Luther and his friend Philip Melanchthon, which included a concert and a special children’s programme. Hamburg-based Bibel TV has been broadcasting for 9 years on Astra 12552 MHz, as well as via digital cable TV and IPTV.
  Contact: Erline Eichholz presse@bibeltv.de

• UK
  The All Souls Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Noel Tredinnick, will “Celebrate Christmas Praise” on Saturday 10 December 2011 at 7.30pm at the Methodist Central Hall, London. Soloists Beverley Trotman, David Erik and Gerard Brooks will be performing – and the evening will be a seasonal blend of music, word and worship.
  Contact: Janet O’Brien office@langhamarts.org

AFRICA

• SIERRA LEONE
  40 Talking Bibles in the Krio language have been provided by the Barnabas Fund for distribution in Sierra Leone. Talking Bibles look like a printed book of Scripture and play a recording of the New Testament – they are particularly used in countries where many adults cannot read.
  Source: Barnabas Fund

• SUDAN
  The Church in Sudan is facing increasing hostility since the secession of South Sudan in July. 5 Church members in Omdurman West who were constructing a new church building were recently attacked. The Sudanese Church of Christ continues to meet for Sunday worship in spite of opposition from Local Authorities. The church has been trying to erect the building since 1997 but delaying actions by the authorities have prevented its completion. An estimated 1 million Christians still live in Sudan, but in October, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir again asserted that Sudan will have a strictly Islamic identity.
  Source: Compass Direct News
  

ASIA

• BANGLADESH
  FEBA’s “House of Peace” programme has been extended from 15 to 30 minutes each morning in Bangladesh and the format has changed to include practical explanations of concepts and teaching for new believers. The evening programme, “Lighthouse” is a 30-minute magazine programme including a 3-minute Bible story with related dialogue, health issues, drama, song teaching and a phone-in.
  Contact: Jonathan Frank jfrank@feba.org.uk

• KAZAKHSTAN
  According to the World Evangelical Alliance, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazabayev has said the two restrictive laws on religion that he signed on October 13 are intended to check Islamist extremism. The two new laws ban prayer rooms in government buildings; require existing religious organisations to dissolve and re-register – and provide stricter penal provisions for offences relating to activities of unregistered organisations. To register at a local level, a religious group must have 50 members, with regional levels requiring at least 500 members and national levels requiring 5,000. Some Human rights groups including the OSCE and religious communities have told President Nazarbayev that instead of controlling extremism, the restrictions will actually encourage it.
  Contact: Rev. Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe via www.worldevangelicals.org

AUSTRALASIA

• BARRIERS TO CHRISTIAN FAITH IN AUSTRALIA
  A survey of 1,094 Australians, carried out by McCrindle Research on behalf of Olive Tree Media, has revealed the top ten barriers to Christian faith in Australia. National census data shows that 60% of Australians mark the Christianity box, but when the option of Spirituality is added to that question the figure drops to 40%, with only 8% indicating that they are involved in practising their religion or worship regularly as part of a group. The survey listed the top 10 barriers to faith as being Church abuse; hypocrisy; judging others; religious wars; suffering; issues about money; church being outdated, hell and condemnation; homosexuality and exclusivity. The survey also identified that the dominant influences on religious belief come from family first, followed by mass media, social media and the internet.
  Contact: Karl Faase info@olivetreemedia.com.au

• AUSTRALIA NETWORK TENDER HALTED
  The ABC Network in Australia will continue to run the country’s international TV Channel, which reaches more than 44 countries across Asia, the Pacific and the Indian subcontinent, until at least August 2012, after a tender process to continue the service was cancelled. Sky News had been bidding against ABC to run the free-to-air Australia Network for the next 10 years, but various leaks of confidential information to the media led authorities to decide that a fair decision on who should take on the new A$223m (US$230m) contract could no longer be made.
  Source: C21Media.net

GLOBAL

• INTERNET EXPLORER
  Since October, Internet Explorer can no longer claim more than half of the web’s traffic, ending more than a decade of the default Microsoft browser’s reign. Safari’s hold on 62.2% of Mobile traffic has reduced IE’s overall share of web browsing, despite still having 52.6% of desktop traffic, according to Netmarketshare.com. IE’s diminishing share (49.6%) reflects its absence from mobiles and tablets, which now make up 6% of web traffic. Firefox is the second most popular web browser(21.2% of traffic), followed by Chrome (16.6%) and Safari (8.7%).
  Source: Mashable

  
  

• HCJB & FEBA UK JOIN FORCES
  HCJB Global and FEBA UK have joined forces to form the OneSheep Consortium, aimed at equipping Christians with new media skills and develop new ways of communicating the Gospel through social media. Research will look at how young people are using social media. Content will be published on a dedicated website: www.onesheep.org
  Contact: Jonathan Frank jfrank@feba.org.uk

MIDDLE EAST

• CYPRUS
  SAT-7 is hosting “Network 2012” from 21-23 March 2012 in Cyprus. Ziya Meral will provide an updated perspective on the year of change across the Middle East and Africa and will highlight the challenges of being a Christian in this region. Visit www.sat7.org/network
  Contact: Terence Ascott web@sat7.org
  

• QATAR
  Church City, on the outskirts of Doha, is becoming known as the home of the Christian community in Qatar. Land was allocated by the government to the Christian community so that all the main church denominations could build their church buildings there. The Catholic Church was the first to build, followed by the interdenominational church, Indian Churches, Orthodox and Anglican Churches. The Bible Society has just celebrated the inauguration of a Bible Resource Centre in the newly-built Anglican Church. According to the 2010 Census the total Qatari population is 1,758,793, with only 20% being Qatari and the remaining 80% being expatriates. There are about 100,000 people in the Christian expatriate community.
  Contact: Hrayr Jebejian hrayrj@mtnmail.com.cy
  

USA

• BILLY GRAHAM ARCHIVES
  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) plans to make more than 1,600 messages from more than six decades of Billy Graham’s ministry available for streaming online at www.billygraham.org. Ken Barun, Communications Senior Vice President, said, “Billy Graham’s messages have inspired millions around the world and will continue to do so with the release of this audio library. His messages can now be accessed by many for easy listening and sharing”. The searchable database will direct users to messages based on queries of specific dates, locations, message titles or topics. The streaming audio will be played via an embedded media player on the BGEA website and will be compatible with both desktop computers and mobile devices.
  Contact: Ken Barun kbarun@bgea.org
  

• USA
  CBN has recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary in Television broadcasting. Reinhard Bonnke was the Keynote Speaker, with music from Dove Award Winning band MercyMe amongst others. The festivities concluded with a Zambelli Fireworks display over the CBN building in Virginia Beach. CBN was founded by Dr Pat Robertson and was the first Christian TV station in USA – it now reaches all around the world. Robertson still hosts the daily 700 Club programme, with his son Gordon now serving as CBN’s CEO.
  Contact: Michael Little michael.little@cbn.org
  

(13th October 2011) FEB Chairman, Harvey Thomas CBE, has welcomed the initiative launched by Prime Minister David Cameron to protect Children from Internet Pornography and unsuitable commercial exploitation.

“At least we have a positive move forward”, Mr Thomas said. “We give credit to BT, SKY, TalkTalk and Virgin for putting the burden on new Customers to ‘Opt-In’ to pornographic and other inappropriate Websites and not having them automatically available.”

“The United Kingdom has led the way both by the Bailey Report and through this initiative.” Mr Thomas added, “I hope now that the EU will have the political will to move forward with European-wide efforts to protect our young people from the disturbing and negative influences that technology make so easily available.”

The Fellowship of European Broadcasters draws together Christians in Broadcasting and Christian Broadcasters from throughout Europe. FEB is part of the Global Media Partnership linking with like-minded Associations in Australasia, Indonesia, Russia, the Middle East, North and South America and Africa.

FEB also supports the new website “Parentport” www.parentport.org.uk to help parents make their views heard on issues relating to inappropriate programmes, adverts, products and services. The new website has been jointly developed by a number of Organisations including the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the BBC Trust, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) and the Video Standards Council (VSC).

“It is more than time to take strong steps to protect our children”, Harvey Thomas said. “These are at least the first of those steps.”

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• SPAIN
  FEB Corporate Member International Media Ministries (IMM) are holding “Connect 2012” a Media Conference 17-19 April 2012 in Madrid, Spain with Phil Cooke as a guest Speaker. Visit www.imm.edu
  Contact: Tamara Gutel tamara@imm.edu
  

• NETHERLANDS
  The Jesus.net Conference was held last week on a boat in Amsterdam with 75 people from 22 countries. The theme was “Join the Experience“. The goal of Jesus.net is to lead searchers step by step through to a Christian commitment and contact with a local church. Jan-Willem Bosman, organiser of the Conference, encouraged people to work together for God’s Kingdom. Participants represented the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Campus Crusade, TWR, Youth for Christ, Alpha and others.
  Contact: Jan-Willem Bosman jwbosman@agape.nl

• UK
  Damaris has launched free seasonal resources to help churches do outreach in the run-up to Halloween and All Saints’ Day. There is a video countdown calendar, featuring Rob Parsons and Pete Greig talking about their heroes of faith, as well as episodes of “deovox” audio podcasts. Churches and individuals can republish and share them to focus on spiritual issues at this time of year. Visit www.damaris.org/allsaints
  Contact: Holly Price holly.price@damaris.org

• FINLAND
  Helsinki is hosting a “Megacity” Campaign, organised by Great Commission Media Ministries. The 30 day mass media evangelism Campaign began at the end of September and aims to reach up to 1.4 million people in the greater Helsinki area. Results from the first 3 weeks include 50,100 video downloads of testimonies from Youtube; 98,640 unique visitors to the campaign website; 11,000 “one-on-one” contacts on the streets of Helsinki; and many reports of decisions for Christ from participating churches.
  Contact: Hannu Haukka hannu@irrtv.fi
  

• UK
  The London 2013 Festival was launched last month with a Breakfast for over 200 Christian Leaders. The Festival will have a four-fold emphasis: Equipping Christians in ‘whole-of-life-discipleship’; Encouraging Leaders to embrace an outwardly focused mission philosophy; Developing Programmes to connect and serve communities across London; and at the end, a Celebration and Evangelism Event, at which Franklin Graham will preach. Contact: media@london-2013.com
  

• BULGARIA
  3xM has published impact research on partner Studio 865′s Christian Television programmes. 2,667 people were interviewed in Plovdiv, Burgas and Varna. The research found that the programme “Christianity” attracts more viewers than other programmes on the same channel, and 60% of interviewees thought that it is the best or a better programme than most of the TV programmes that they watch. As a result of the programme, 12% claim that they will attend a church service again, or more often. “Christianity” deals with current issues in society from a Christian perspective. It includes a studio interview, commentaries and a Christian News programme.
  Contact: Stoyko Petkov spetkov@studio865.org
  
  
• UK
  BBC”s “Songs of Praise” programme was only planned to last for 6 episodes. This month it celebrates its 50th anniversary, with a live audience of more than 6,000 at Alexandra Palace, the birthplace of TV. The programme is a cornerstone of the BBC’s religious coverage and has visited 1,800 congregations in the UK and abroad. According to Aaqil Ahmed, Head of Religion and Ethics at the BBC, broadcasters take their responsibility seriously to ensure that religion and ethics stays in their schedules, but “the continuation of religion as a genre will be decided by the quality of the programming delivered by commissioners and producers.”
  Source: Broadcast
  

• SPAIN
  Canal de Vida in Madrid has signed a Partnership agreement with TWR Europe. Canal de Vida is the successor to Evangelismo en Accion which was founded by Juan Gili and was an active Christian Broadcaster in Spain for 40 years. Canal de Vida is linked with the Federation of Reformed and Evangelical churches in Spain (FEREDE) and is a media organisation working in TV, Radio and the Internet. It is currently involved in the My Hope campaign for which 1,250 churches in Spain are working together.
  Contact: Felix Widmer fwidmer@cttw.at and Jose Pablo Sanchez josepablo@canaldevida.org

• SCOTLAND
  FEB Chairman, Harvey Thomas, chaired the afternoon Session of the EURALVA Conference, held in Edinburgh, Scotland last week. The Conference theme was “Serving the Citizen: Broadcasting Accountability in an Online Europe“. Speakers included EURALVA President Preben Sorensen, Ignasi Guardans, Director of Public Affairs at the European Broadcasting Union and Monica Aubel, from the European Commission’s Audio-Visual and Media Policies Unit and Paolo Celot, Secretary General of the European Association for Viewers Interests (EAVI).
  Contact: Preben Sorensen prebensorensen@bbsyd.dk
  

AFRICA

• ZIMBABWE
  The Archbishops of Canterbury, Central Africa and Southern Africa and the President of the All Africa Conference of Churches the Archbishop of Tanzania, met with President Robert Mugabe on 10 October 2011 to present him with a dossier giving a full account of the abuses which they say Anglican congregations have been subject to in Zimbabwe since 2007. They have asked that the President uses his powers as Head of State to put an end to all such behaviour, and that the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe will be allowed to carry out its mission in peace and serve its communities with love.
  Source: www.archbishopofcanterbury.org

• KENYA
  TWR is increasing the number of languages in which audio programming is available for streaming on the internet. Radio is still seen as the best solution in many places, particularly in parts of Africa where many people cannot access electricity. TWR will distribute 800 wind-up radios to Malawi, Kenya, Angola, Swaziland and Mozambique.
  Contact: Hannah Combe hcombe@twr.org.uk
  

ASIA

• KASHMIR
  According to Ecumenical News International, Muslims in Kashmir, to the north of India and Pakistan, are supporting the rebuilding of a Christian School that was destroyed by fire during anti-Christian violence a year ago. The school is in the town of Phylwama and is run by the Church of North India (CNI), the main Protestant denomination in North India. The school has about 450 students, most of whom are Muslims. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir is also contributing to the school rebuilding.
  Source: Religion News

• FEBC
  FEBC is using new technology to reach a closed Asian country with the gospel, by developing “memory chip lending libraries” to be used in cell phones. Listeners can borrow memory chips and play Bible messages on their cell phones and MP3 players. In some cases even speaker boxes can play the chips to larger groups within homes. Hubs are opening all over the country allowing thousands of cell phones access to FEBC’s broadcasts.
  Contact David McElwee: info@febc.org

• AFGHANISTAN
  According to the latest International Religious Freedom Report from the U.S. State Department, there is no public Christian Church left in Afghanistan. The last one was razed in March 2010. This reflects the state of religious freedom in this country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew the Islamist Taliban regime. US taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan’s new government and more than 1,700 military personnel have died serving there. The new Afghan Constitution states that Islam is “the religion of the state” and that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam” but it also says that “followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provision of the law”. The report also says that the right to change one’s religion is not respected either in law or practice. Conversion from Islam is considered apostasy and is punishable by death under some interpretations of Islamic law. More than 99% of the Afghan population is either Sunni (80%) or Shia (19%) Muslim.
  Source: CNS News
  

AUSTRALASIA

• INTERNATIONAL FILM AWARD FOR ‘MORE4ME’
  Australian Christian filmmaker Lincoln Fenner has won an award for Best Documentary at the New York Film Festival. “More4Me” is a feature-length documentary from Creation Box Films, which highlights the issue of ‘need vs greed’. Viewers follow Lincoln across 5 continents as he asks, “What’s the one thing you can’t live without?” The film was inspired by an Operation Christmas Child DVD (Samaritan’s Purse) which was sent to Fenner by his mother, showing Cambodian children receiving the only gift (a shoe box full of simple gifts) that they had ever received. The film has now been offered worldwide distribution, with 75% of the profits being donated to the aid organisations featured in the film. Visit www.more4memovie.com
  Source: Squawk

GLOBAL

• OLYMPICS 2012
  The ‘More than Gold’ Agency has been established to coordinate the Christian response to the Olympics and help Churches in the UK make the most of outreach opportunities. CEO David Willson asks each church to appoint a “Gold Champion” to coordinate information and resources. Willson says, “There is something appropriate that every church can do in the context of the Games to engage with their communities. And we are coordinating the skills and experience of over 60 Christian agencies to provide the resources and training that will help them.”
  Contact: David Willson david.willson@morethangold.org.uk
  

• GLOBAL DAY OF WORSHIP
  11-11-11 (11th November 2011) is the date set for the Global Day of Worship. Beginning at 7.00pm at the International Date Line, worshippers from across all 24 time zones are invited to share their unique expressions of praise via the internet. Everyone is encouraged to worship from 7.00pm – 8.00pm local time. Visit www.globaldayofworship.com for more information.
  Contact: Eunice Barruel eunice@globaldayofworship.com
  

• EMDC CONFERENCE
  The Eurasia Media & Distribution Consultation (EMDC) 2012 Conference will take place from 19-23 March near Frankfurt, Germany. EMDC is a multi-agency consultation that meets every 18 months at a secure venue, where minority language workers, translators, literacy workers and language development workers in the greater Eurasia region can meet with media specialists, IT technicians, and recording specialists. Write to info@emdcon.org for access to EMDC’s secure website.
  Contact: Steve Baughman steve_baughman@sil.org

LATIN AMERICA

• PERU
  As SEAN International celebrates its 40th birthday, Peruvian Pastor Oscar Ugarte shared his testimony of becoming a Christian during his time in prison and being presented with SEAN’s Abundant Life Course, which he studied and then put into practice within the prison. Ugarte started a church which grew to over 100 people during the time he was there. More information is available on www.seaninternational.com
  Contact: Terry Barratt admin@sean.uk.net

MIDDLE EAST

• EGYPT
  Egypt’s top Muslim official, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb, has called for emergency talks between Muslim and Christian leaders following the recent violence, which has left at least 24 people dead, mostly Coptic Christians, a number of whom were crushed to death by an armoured car that ploughed into a group of protesters as they sang hymns and held a Cross. They had been protesting against a recent attack on a church in the city of Aswan. Egypt’s 10% Coptic minority of the Muslim-majority country’s 80 million people have been the target of previous attacks.
  Source: Daily Telegraph
  

USA

• FACEBOOK
  Facebook (FB) has filed paperwork to form a political action committee, FB PAC, which will advocate for social networks to American politicians. The PAC plans to back candidates in future elections and give FB employees a way of making their voice heard in the political process, according to a FB spokesman. The social network, which has 800 million users, has purchased domain names such as FBPAC.org and FBPAC.us. According to “The Hill“, a congressional newspaper, Facebook has already spent $550,000 on lobbying and political influence in the 2011 fiscal year.
  Source: Mashable.com

• USA
  National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) released a report in September analysing various content policies of social networking websites. They say that several new media platforms, including Facebook, Apple, Comcast, AT&T and Google have adopted policies to censor certain Christian views on “hot button issues“, and have already used these policies to remove some viewpoints considered too controversial. NRB Senior Vice President and General Counsel Craig Parshall plans to send the report to these companies with an invitation for dialogue and discussion. Contact: Craig Parshall cparshall@nrb.org
  
  

• FEB CONFERENCE 2012
  It’s time to sign up for the 2012 FEB Conference, which takes place at the Kim Hotel, Dresden from 22-25 March 2012. Speakers include Wayne Pederson, President of HCJB Global – who will be our Bible Teacher; Bex Lewis, an expert on the use of Digital and Social Media; Henryk Krol, President of CCM Media, Poland and Wilfried Schulte, Chairman of Neues Leben Ministry, Germany. Registration Forms are available online or contact the FEB Office.
  Contact: feb@feb.org

• SPAIN
  FEB Corporate Member IMM has just completed the production phase of “Open the Bible: The Four Gospels” (OTB) for the Arabic language. Post-production work has begun and the DVD release is December 15th. This programme was first completed in English in 2009 with Christopher Gornold-Smith, followed by a French-African version with host, Pastor Filemon Saba.
  Contact Jerry Gibson: jerry@imm.edu

• UK
  Philipp Schindler, Google’s Vice President, has predicted that an Internet boom in the UK could open as many as 365,000 jobs within the next 5 years, with the Internet accounting for a fifth of GDP growth. Internet-based or related companies are still growing strongly compared with many other European businesses.
  Source: The Next Web

• Germany
  ERF Medien has begun broadcasting one of its three radio programmes on the German terrestrial digital radio DAB+. Chairman of the Board, Jurgen Werth, said that this is an important moment in the 52-year history of ERF. “In Germany a new digital transmission for radio is being established, and ERF is on it from the very beginning.” ERF Radio will now be known as ERF Plus and will continue to broadcast over satellite, cable and internet. ERF will discontinue its broadcasting on medium wave by the end of 2011.

  DAB+ will improve the quality of reception and will reach a wider audience. There are currently 27 DAB+ transmitters across Germany which can be received by 53 million people. By the end of 2014, 110 additional transmitters will have been added to the network so that all Germans will be able to listen to digital radio.
  Contact Michael vom Ende: michael.vom.ende@erf.de

• UK
  The Damaris Trust will release a new Viewfinder service in October. This resource is designed to help churches run multimedia outreach services for 18-30 year olds and this month is based around the film ‘X-Men: First Class‘. Visit www.viewfinderservices.org
  Contact Holly Price: holly.price@damaris.org

AFRICA

• SOUTH AFRICA
  Six different Media Events will take place in Cape Town during the weekend of 16-18 September, to coincide with a march on Parliament by the R2K campaign, which seeks to have a “public interest” clause introduced into the Protection of Information Bill. The two main events are The Pan African Conference on Access to Information, supported by UNESCO and the African Union Commission – and Highway Africa, the annual meeting of African journalists. All the events culminate in the Africa Information and Media Summit (AIMS) at the International Convention Centre on Monday 19th September.
  Source: ScreenAfrica.com

• SOUTH SUDAN
  CBN Africa is providing South Sudan with programmes for broadcasting by national TV station SSTV in Juba. Programmes include International 700 Club and Turning Point. CBN’s sister ministry, Operation Blessing International (OBI) has been delivering emergency medical relief supplies to the new nation including two complete World Health Organisation Emergeny Health Kits. Each Kit includes all the components necessary to operate a field medical clinic for 10,000 people for 90 days.
  Contact: Keith Strugnell keith.strugnell@go-tell.org
  

• SOUTH AFRICA
  The Independent Forum for Religious Broadcasting is holding its Annual Forum on October 5th 2011 at the Ulwazi Centre, Johannesburg. The Theme will be “Morals and Ethics in the Media“.
  Contact ifrb1995@gmail.com

ASIA

• HONG KONG
  Growing numbers of HongKongers are at risk of developing a condition doctors call “iPhone syndrome” by overusing their smartphones. Many cases involve people in their 30s who have pain and numbness in the neck, wrist, fingers and thumbs which lead to muscle strains and further damage, caused by bad posture commonly adopted while using smartphones and handheld games.
  Source: Hong Kong Sunday Morning Post

• SINGAPORE
  TWR-Asia has renewed their Corporate Website, making it more user-friendly and easier to read. New features include listening to sample episodes of TWR programmes in more than 80 languages across Asia, and improved integration with social networking sites.
  Contact Aaron Tan: atan@twr.org

AUSTRALASIA

• VISION 500
  This year the 500th Vision Radio Network transmitter will be installed in Australia. 490 transmitters are already working across the continent. The first station came on air in 1999. To celebrate this milestone, Team Vision is running a promotion to gather photos of listeners from every community where broadcasts are heard, to create Australia’s biggest Family Photo album.
  Contact: Renee@christianmedia.org.au

• .XXX DOMAIN
  South Australia’s Family First Leader, Dennis Hood, has called for all porn sites to be legally banished to the new Triple-X domain to make the web safer for children. Triple-X domain names went on sale for the first time last week. Hood said there was no good reason why adult businesses should continue to operate under a .com address. “Family First strongly believe the government should legislate to require all adult internet sites to move over to a .xxx domain so that children will be able to be safe online.”
  Source: Australian Christian Today
  

GLOBAL

• MOSHI MONSTERS
  Mindcandy’s social game for children, ‘Moshi Monsters’ is launching its own record label, releasing its first download “The Moshi Dance” by Lady GooGoo on iTunes on 18th September. Moshi Monsters claims over 50 million registered users in 150 countries, including half the children in the UK aged 6-12. Three years ago, Moshi Monsters was an obscure internet game for 5-12 year olds but became a phenomenon, on its way to establishing itself as the first social-networking site for children, claiming Fun, Education and Safety.
  Source: The Next Web
  

LATIN AMERICA

• HONDURAS
  Over the coming weeks, Pastor Ernesto Pinto will lead meetings with pastors to plan the 2012 Pastors’ Couples retreats, live radio programming and interviews in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba as part of Family Life Network’s Spanish ministry. Family events and special meetings for couples and youth with “Iglesias Centre Americanas” will be held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
  Contact: Claude Pratte cpratte@fln.ca

• CENTRAL AMERICA
  Family Life Network’s unique Low German Cookbook Ministry has received positive feedback, with an ongoing demand for the recipe book which includes Christian devotionals and inspirational material. The cookbook is geared towards Old Colony Mennonites.
  Contact: Claude Pratte cpratte@fln.ca
  

MIDDLE EAST

• ISRAEL
  The European Coalition for Israel (ec4i) has produced a 15 minute documentary entitled, “Give Peace a Chance“, ahead of the planned Palestinian statehood bid taking place at the United Nations on 20th September. The video outlines Israel’s core issues and the dangers of dividing Jerusalem. Visit www.givepeaceachance.info
  Contact Tomas Sandell: tomas.sandell@pp.inet.fi
  

• MIDDLE EAST MEDIA
  Middle East Media has produced a new 3-D animation “The Dream Maker“. The series features biblical messages woven into a story that encourages Middle Eastern children to trust the Maker of the Universe. Its latest project is a web-based series called “The Prodigal Daughter”, which aims to challenge attitudes towards women.
  Contact TJ Malievsky: tjmalievsky@gmail.com

• LEBANON
  On 3rd September hundreds of guests attended the groundbreaking for a new studio for SAT-7′s work in Lebanon. Rev. Dr Habib Badr, Chairman of SAT-7′s International Board, opened the ceremony, Terence Ascott, CEO, gave a brief overview of SAT-7 and its work in Lebanon, and Lebanon’s Executive Director, Naji Daoud outlined the plans for the new premises, which will bring together under one roof all programme production work.
  Attending the ceremony were His Excellency Walid Daouk, Minister of Information; Colonel George Salameh, representing the Minister of the Interior and Rev. Dr. Sahiouni, President of the Council of the Evangelical Community in Syria and Lebanon, together with representatives of many Christian denominations and ministries. The first phase will take 2 years, will cost US$2 million and will include 4 different studio areas and meeting space.
  Contact Ruth Lancaster: ruthlancaster@sat7trust.org
  

USA

• SOCIAL NETWORKING
  According to a recent Nielsen report, the average American spends a quarter of their time online on social networking sites, with Facebook being the most popular, followed by Blogger, Tumblr, Twitter and LinkedIn. Americans increasingly access them using mobile apps. Android phone users average 56 minutes per day surfing the web and using apps. Of the 250,000 Android apps available in the market, most people only use a handful on a regular basis, with the top ten apps accounting for 43% of all the time used.
  Source: Mashable.com

• USA
  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has launched a new Internet Evangelism initiative to reach people online with the Gospel. The programme was launched in beta format in April and already thousands have viewed the online Gospel presentation and indicated a personal commitment to Christ. In the next few months, trained volunteer “E-Counsellors” will be available to chat online and “Discipleship Coaches” will offer follow-up training to those who have made a commitment.
  Contact Preston Parrish: pparrish@bgea.org

• USA
  “Real Answers with Steve Russo” has produced a 90 minute TV special entitled, “The Real Answers Halloween Special“, as well as a daily one-minute radio feature called “Real Answers” with the underlying theme that the Bible contains real answers.Visit www.realanswers.com
  Contact Steve Russo: RussoTeam@aol.com

• USA
  Hilary Clinton, US Secretary of State has released the 13th Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. In her speech she said, “As we look around the world we see many countries where governments deny their people the most fundamental human rights: the right to believe according to their own conscience – including the freedom to not believe or not follow the religion favoured by their government: the right to practice their religion freely, without risking discrimination, arrest or violence; and the right to educate their children in their own religious traditions and the freedom to express their beliefs…. The United States Government will continue our efforts to support religious freedom and tolerance and we will speak out against efforts to curtail religious freedom…. it is our core conviction that religious tolerance is one of the essential elements of a sustainable and peaceful society.” Clinton also mentioned UN Human Rights Council Resolution 1618 which was adoped in March 2011 and called on all states to take action against religious bigotry.
  Source: US Department of State
  

The Reverend Dr John Stott has died at the age of 90.

Dr Stott died at his retirement home at St Barnabas College at 3.15pm on Wednesday 27th July 2011 surrounded by close friends.

Dr Billy Graham paid tribute to him, describing him as a “close friend and advisor” and saying the evangelical world had lost one of its greatest spokesmen.

Stott will be remembered as one of the pioneers of the 20th century evangelical movement and was one of the main authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974. He was the author of more than 40 books, including his most famous “Basic Christianity“, which sold more than two million copies and has been translated into over 60 languages.

BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent, Robert Pigott said Dr Stott was good at simply expressing “the complexities of theology“. He played a critical role as a Christian thinker, helping to revive evangelicalism in England after World War II at a time when this traditionalist Protestant branch of Christianity had lost almost all its influence and its followers were widely derided as uneducated.

Known to many as “Uncle John”, Dr Stott was born to an agnostic father and a Lutheran mother and was ordained a minister in the Church of England. He worshipped at All Souls Langham Place as a child and later served as Rector there for many years.

FEB Chairman Harvey Thomas CBE said, “John Stott was a great man of God and it was an enormous privilege to work with him on Billy Graham Crusades and on the Lausanne Congress. His depth of vision and clarity of thought were both an inspiration and an example to many of us who learned from him”.

End