News  January 28, 2021: 

News  January 28, 2021: Leading The Way Launches on GOD TV; International advocacy group calls for immediate release of Cuban pastor detained on “trumped-up charges”; Ethiopia: “Urgent” humanitarian crisis now unfolding

Leading The Way Launches on GOD TV

By Peter Wooding 

Assist News Service

Leading The Way with Dr Michael Youssef will take a major step towards achieving its Vision 2025 goal to double its global media footprint with the ministry premiered on GOD TV on January 16, 2021.

As part of Leading The Way’s strategy to win one million souls for Christ by the year 2025, Dr Michael Youssef’s Bible teaching programmes will be aired three times a week on GOD TV across five continents: Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Australia.

These broadcasts, which will air Saturdays at 4pm, Sundays at 3pm and Thursdays at 2am, will reach into nearly every country in the world, with a potential audience of about 300 million connected homes – as many as one billion viewers.

“For over 30 years, Dr Michael Youssef has proclaimed the uncompromising truth of Scripture with the love and grace that comes from a true pastor’s heart. We are grateful for his ministry and the excellence that he and his team bring to all their work in media,” says GOD TV President Ward Simpson. 

He added: “We look forward to partnering with Dr Youssef and his Leading The Way team to take the gospel through media to the nations of the world.”

Fergus Scarfe, UK Regional Director for GOD TV, also welcomed this significant partnership:

“We are thrilled that Dr Michael Youssef is launching Leading The Way onto GOD TV this month. We know his passion for evangelism and love of the Word will be a real blessing to the GOD TV family around the world.”

Leading The Way UK’s Director Dr Alan Kerbey highlighted why this is such a timely platform to reach millions of people in such challenging times: “The power of the media to proclaim the life-changing message of the Gospel across the globe has never been more relevant than it has been over this past year. Nations have been forced into lock-down and millions of families around the world have been confined to their homes.

“We are thrilled to announce that Leading The Way‘s media reach will undergo a further ‘step-change’ in 2021 as we embark on a unique partnership with GOD TV. This collaboration between Leading The Way and GOD TV is a real meeting of hearts and minds as we continue to strive to win souls for Christ, uphold the uncompromising truth of God’s Word and pray for a fresh spiritual awakening across the globe.”

 

PETER WOODING

Peter Wooding is Senior Editor at Assist News Service and an award-winning radio, TV, and print journalist. Peter has worked as news editor at UCB Radio in the UK, and has reported from countries around the world including Israel, India, Russia, Serbia, South Sudan, Ukraine and Mozambique. Continuing his father Dan’s legacy, Peter now leads the global expansion of ANS. He is also the London Bureau Chief for the Global News Alliance, Media and PR Officer for Leading The Way UK and UK Director for Mercy Projects. Peter lives in North Wales, UK, with his wife, Sharon, and their three daughters, Sarah, Anna and Abigail.

International advocacy group calls for immediate release of Cuban pastor detained on “trumped-up charges”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The international Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) human rights organization has called for the immediate release of a pastor who is in custody in Cuba on what the group says are “trumped-up charges.” Cuban pastor Karel Parra Rosabal was arrested in Las Tunas on January 12 apparently because of his involvement with the Apostolic Movement, a network of independent churches that the Cuban government refuses to register, rendering them effectively illegal.

The leader of the unregistered Fuego y Dinámica Apostolic Church in Jobab, Las Tunas, Parra Rosabal was arrested when police came to his home with a search warrant. According to CSW, “while searching the house, the officers informed Pastor Parra Rosabal that he was under arrest for the crime of ‘hoarding’ – having too many tools without proof of purchase.” It is common for Cuban pastors to supplement their income through a small business, CSW said, and Parra Rosabal has a legally registered bicycle repair workshop at his home. Following the search, police requisitioned approximately $1,890 USD worth of the pastor’s repair tools.

However, CSW noted, Parra Rosabal was eventually told by the police that he was being arrested “so that you learn that illegal churches in Cuba are not allowed.” According to CSW, this is “the latest case in a long record of the Cuban government targeting the pastors of unregistered churches for harassment and imprisonment.”

In a statement, CSW’s Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl added: “We call on the authorities to allow Pastor Parra Rosabal to return him to his wife and three young children and to allow him to continue his pastoral work and maintain his small business, which not only sustains his family in a difficult economic climate but also provides a valuable service to the community in an area of the country where transport options are severely limited. The police must return his bicycle repair equipment.”

“CSW also calls on the international community, including the European Union which is planning an upcoming human rights dialogue with Cuban authorities, to urge Cuba to uphold its obligations under international law, especially in regard to the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion,” Stangl said.

Ethiopia: “Urgent” humanitarian crisis now unfolding

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Ethiopia is in the midst of a full-blown humanitarian crisis as refugees flee to the border with Sudan and up to two million people face starvation while the government wars against a separatist group in the country’s Tigray region, CBN News reports. Among daily reports of mass killings on both sides is the reported massacre of over 700 Orthodox Christians outside their church in Tigray’s city of Aksum earlier this month.

Fighting since November 2020, those engaged in the current conflict are the Tigray Regional Government, led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF); and forces supporting Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, including President Isaias Afwerki’s Eritrean Forces.

In a statement raising the alarm, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: “We estimate that 2.3 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray including 1.3 million children. Localized fighting and insecurity continue. Access to most parts of northwestern and eastern and central Tigray remains constrained due to the ongoing insecurity and bureaucratic hurdles.”

Aid agencies have warned Ethiopians face mass starvation if world leaders fail to quickly intervene, CBN News said.

Although the Ethiopian government denies there have been atrocities, the UN says it has “consistent” information to the contrary, CBN News reports. Elizabeth Throssell, the spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said in a statement: “We have received consistent information pointing to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law by all parties to the conflict – including artillery strikes on populated areas, the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting.”

(Pic) Leading The Way Founder and President Dr MIchael Youssef