Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Visit Midland

Men prepare for return home to continue fight for religious freedoms, other human rights

By Kathleen Thurber
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS (MRT) - Li Heping visited Midland with two other human rights lawyers from China after the three attended the Christian Lawyer Global Convocation in Washington over the weekend along with more than 1,000 lawyers from about 150 different nations. The three told portions of their stories [of intimidation, interrogation, even torture] with the help of a translator.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story
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The China Aid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.

Pack the House for MAAS

Admission for Thursday night's show (starring Midland native Matt Hinkley) is $20 per person, with proceeds benefiting Midland/Odessa Area AIDS Support. Tickets are available at the Yucca Theater door, or in advanceFirst Presbyterian Church-Midland, Iron Press Cleaners, Midland Community Theatre and Lat's Face It Makeup Studio.

MAAS is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization funded by donations from concerned individuals and foundations. Services are confidential and free of charge. Contributions are tax deductible.

MAAS is an organization set up for support and education. It is our mission to provide compassionate care and support of all kinds of people with AIDS, people who are HIV positive, and to the families and friends of people affected by this disease.

It is also MAAS' mission to provide all people with education, as well as accurate and timely information regarding AIDS. AIDS pertains to all of us. Proper knowledge of AIDS prevention is vitally important for everyone to know. MAAS provides a weekly support group for people with AIDS, People who are HIV positive and for their families and friends. MAAS trains and equips volunteers to serve on care teams. Approximately 5 to 7 people are on a care team. Each care team is assigned to care for one person living with AIDS and their family members. This groups offers on going instruction in grief recovery as well as warm, compassionate love and support.

MAAS was started in June of 1991 and is facilitated by an AIDS family member who is also a Stephen Minister at First Presbyterian Church of Midland. Private counseling is made available to individuals, families, and friends affected by this disease, as well as spiritual guidance.

For more information, please contact:
Judy Warren - Executive Director
Midland/Odessa Area AIDS Support,Inc.(MAAS)
800 W. Texas Street
Midland, Texas 79701
(432) 520-3055
(432) 684-7821

God Issues Today: "Good News About the News"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"As we saw yesterday, we must expect tempests and trials in this broken and fallen world," Dr. Denison writes in today's post at God Issues.

Coming Sunday to the Tall City

Internationally-acclaimed guitarist Doyle Dykes will perform a concert on Sunday, October 19, at 7:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church-Midland, located on Texas Avenue, at the intersection with A Street. The concert is FREE and open to the public, and child care for infants through 5-year-olds will be provided.

FBR Report: Villager Shot, People Forced to Porter and Vote "Yes"

The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) is a multi-ethnic humanitarian service movement. They bring help, hope and love to people in the war zones of Burma. Ethnic pro-democracy groups send teams to be trained, supplied and sent into the areas under attack to provide emergency assistance and human rights documentation. Together with other groups, the teams work to serve people in need.

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Villagers forced to vote "yes" in SPDC referendum election

On 8 May 2008, in Ho Hae Village, the Chairman of the Village Peace and Development Council forced 250 villagers to vote "yes" for the new constitution drafted by the SPDC. The chairman voted yes for all villagers who did not know how to vote. Ho Hae Village is in Maing Khon village group, Kyaing Township, eastern Shan State.

Earlier, on 20 April, five villagers voted "yes" for 1350 villagers in Maing Inn Village group by the order of the Chairman of the Village Peace and Development Council in Kyaing Ton Township, eastern Shan State.

Burma Army Shoots Villager Without Reason

On 6 February, 2008, 17 soldiers entered Nam Hin Village and shot a villager for no apparent reason. The bullet passed through his cheek, destroying his upper teeth. The soldiers were led by Burma Army Captain Ngwe Hlaing, LIB 221. The village is in Kyaung Ton Township, in the Eastern Shan State. The team interviewed a neighbor afterwards.

Interview with a villager from Nam Hin after the shooting. (LRT refers to Lahu Relief Team)
LRT - Please tell your name and your occupation?
Villager - My name is Cha Mu. I am a farmer and working at a hill farm.
LRT - I heard the Burmese soldiers come frequently to your village. When they come what work do you, the villagers, have to do for them?
Villager - When they come I ran away to my farm. The village chief looks for chickens for them and if he can not get chicken he has to kill a pig for them. When we leave our homes they steal our chicken and eggs.
LRT - Then what do you do for them?
Villager - We carry their equipment and rations as porters wherever they want to go. They carry only their guns and we carry all the rest of their things.
LRT - When they come how many days do they stay in village and how regularly do they return again?
Villager - They have come ten times this month. We carry their things 3 times a week. Because we always have to work as porters, we cannot do our own jobs.
LRT - Did you hear that a troop shot a villager in Nam Hin village?
Villager - Yes, It was near my home and I went to see what had happened.
LRT - Why did they shoot?
Villager - I do not know exactly, we cannot find a reason.
LRT - Could you tell me details of the incident?
Villager - On that evening we came back from the hill farm, Cha Mu returned from visiting his friend's home. As he entered into his compound, a soldier called him and shot. The bullet passed through his two cheeks and destroyed all his upper teeth.
LRT - What happened after the shooting?
Villager - That time Cha Mu's mouth was bleeding and I thought he might be dead. Soldiers dragged Cha Mu to the path at entrance of the village and the jungle. The soldier pretended he thought Cha Mu entered the village with a gun, and said that was why he shot. After two hours the commander came to him.
LRT - Did the commander take any action against that soldier?
Villager - I saw he beat and kicked him. Then he said to Cha Mu's parents that he would give treatment well and brought him to Mandalay. After a month, Cha Mu came back from Mandalay. His parents borrowed and paid 500,000 kyats for medical treatment. Now Cha Mu has no upper teeth and his face is ugly. His parents say they do not know how they can pay back their debt.

Villagers Forced To Leave Their Village To Work As Porters

The Burma Army forced villagers from Htaw Day Village to porter for them two to three times a week every week from 7 November 2007 to 1 January 2008. Because of this oppression, nine families have been forced to leave and only seven households remain. Villagers are afraid that if every family leaves the Burma Army troops might take action against the village chief.

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(FBR Photo:
Caring for IDP
Children)

The Free Burma Ranger’s (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people (IDP's) inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks. For more information about FBR and its mission, please visit http://www.freeburmarangers.org/

God Issues Today: "Ships are Safest in the Harbor"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"What do you do when the storm finds you," Dr. Denison asks in today's post at God Issues.

Photo Album: "Fellowship"

Wednesday Night Gathering for First Presbyterian-Midland and Tru Lite Christian Fellowship, for dinner and a Service For Wholeness

Midland's Chin Community in the News

This summer, I offered this post about a small-but-growing community - right here, in the Tall City - of refugees from Burma/Myanmar. An oppressed people, they had been allowed to emigrate from refugee camps in Asia, to the United States, where they are now making new homes and new lives for themselves.

Now comes Sunday's reports from the MRT's Audrie Palmer - under the heading "From Myanmar to Midland" - which provide a more detailed look at these people, the incidents that drove them from their country, and they welcome they are receiving in our country.
● They wanted a better life — a free life — and they got it
● Touched by refugees' plight, one Midland woman does what she can
● Midland schools get creative in effort to educate Myanmar students

Recommended reading, all of them ... highly recommended.

God Issues Today: "When God is Asleep"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"In the aftermath of the worst week in Wall Street's history, no one is sure what comes next. How do we pray in such a storm as this," Dr. Denison asks in today's post at God Issues.

Coming Sunday to the Tall City

Internationally-acclaimed guitarist Doyle Dykes will perform a concert on Sunday, October 19, at 7:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church-Midland, located on Texas Avenue, at the intersection with A Street. The concert is FREE and open to the public, and child care for infants through 5-year-olds will be provided.

It's a Matter of Perspective

The following is from Spencer Kerrigan, National Director
Partners Relief & Development, USA ...

My full-time work with Partners first began with a significant decrease in pay. I had departed a comfy corporate career, complete with all the trimmings. I wasn't sure how I was going to weather this challenge. Would I be able to make ends meet? Would I have enough left over for a new home project, college tuition, Starbucks?

This job was a sacrifice. Or was it?

Two months into my position, a powerful storm, Cyclone Nargis, slammed into Burma and destroyed large swaths of land in the Irrawaddy Delta. Well over 130,000 people lost their lives. Millions of acres of land were ruined. Thousands of children lost one or both parents and whole communities were blotted out.

The event was catastrophic.

The Burma government defied the international community by refusing aid, blocking supplies from getting to desperate villagers, and doing very little to preserve lives. By all accounts, it appears they deliberately sabotaged the relief effort.

Partners immediately mobilized to deliver aid to the suffering. To date, our team has done the following:

● Sent in 15,000 lbs of Vitameal for food needs
● Sent in 100 rolls of plastic sheeting for shelter
● Sent in 800 heavy-duty tarpaulins
● Sent in 250,000 packs of PuR water purification solution which will provide drinking water for more than 23,000 people
● Sent in 34 UV water filters each with the capacity to provide clean drinking water for 1,000-2,000 people per day
● Sent in 9 Katadyn ceramic water filters each with a 26,000 gallon filtering capacity
● Sent in several hundred pounds of clothes
● Provided and helped facilitate more than $300,000 USD worth of food, shelter, medicine, transportation costs, and communications equipment
● Helped initiate and fund the Delta Network, comprised of more than 120 brave men and women who risk their lives to enter the delta region and bring relief and hope
● Helped create a disaster response network with an NGO on the ground in Rangoon to coordinate fund transfers, relief distribution and communications

Brave men and women risked and continue to risk their lives to transport and deliver medicine, food, shelter, and hope to stranded victims. They are heroes. They could not have delivered practical gifts of love were it not for those of you who generously gave. Literally, thousands of lives have been saved. Thank you.

In spite of the tragedy in the Delta, we have received reports of atrocities continuing in Karen State, Burma. The Burma Army has stepped up attacks on unsuspecting villagers in Walakee. The following was reported by one of our staff:

Villagers from the surrounding areas have come to the border. [The] villagers fear forced [military] portering, being used as land mine sweepers, and the extortion of money. Currently 49 families are along the border and in need of supplies. Villagers were told by the DKBA [a proxy army of the junta] that if they did not return to their villages, they would destroy their rice and corn fields. That day we sent the following: 150 blankets, 150 mosquito nets, plastic, rice, sardines, salt, oil, chiles, cooking pots, and lighters.

Though becoming the National Director of Partners USA has presented certain challenges for my family and I, they pale in comparison to the moms and dads who huddle right now with their children in hide sites in the jungle. These 49 families have literally had their entire world ripped from them - homes, land, livelihood, and in many cases, loved ones. It is likely they will never know the indulgences of our world. Those refinements are simply not to be found in a conflict zone. Its apparent to me that a decrease in my comforts, such as a healthier retirement plan or a fancy coffee, cannot be labeled sacrifice. It's a matter of perspective.

Your partnership with our work is vital. If you would like to immediately help these families, please click here.

We are grateful you continue to stand by us as we strive to love vulnerable, courageous, beautiful people. We simply could not bring emergency supplies and hope to dark, troubled places without your prayers and support.

In the journey,

Spencer Kerrigan

God Issues Today: "Fear, Facts and Faith"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"We have been seeking factual reasons to trust Jesus' presence and power in the midst of fear and pain," Dr. Denison writes in today's post at God Issues.

Should a Thirteen-Year-Old Carry an Assault Rifle?

The following is from Steve Gumaer, Executive Director, Partners Relief & Development ...

Geniro is 13 years old. He carries an assault rifle and has completed basic training to join one of the resistance armies fighting for freedom in Burma. The army Geniro is a member of is one of many factions that are fighting for their freedom and defending their homes in Western Burma, like the Karen do in Eastern Burma.

Like me, you may be deeply disturbed and wonder, why do they give their young kids weapons. As I have struggled with this and asked God how we are to respond, I have realized one thing: These people are desperate. Their villages are burned down, their fathers are forced to serve as porter slaves, and their livelihood is destroyed by one of the most abusive and brutal regimes in the world today.

The war in Burma has stripped away the support and protective mechanisms that would keep this boy off the battlefield. In desperation the leaders of his community encourage boys like Geniro to join the adults in a life or death struggle against a merciless dictatorship.

Not only are Burma's children serving as combatants, they are being robbed of their childhood by a regime that denies them access to basic education, healthcare, and security. Further compounding their misery is a famine currently underway in Chin State where Geniro lives. This famine has claimed the lives of 44 children so far and leaves more than 50,000 vulnerable to starvation in 120 villages.

As part of our LifeLine campaign to physically be a life-line to the people of Burma, Partners has already sent in funds to buy rice and other food products. I just returned from a trip to help train 7 new Free Burma Ranger relief teams to work in this part of Burma. The teams will pay special attention to the needs of children. Their duty is to protect, nurture, and arrange sustainable care for children who have been marginalized by the war.

As we work for change in Burma for kids like Geniro, we also spread a net of compassion on the ground for as many children as we are able to reach. There are over 1,500 children in our children's homes, 65,000 children going to school each day, and thousands more that Partners are impacting as we press on into the battlefield to demonstrate God's love.

We can't do this work without you. Please continue to pray for our staff and the teams we support in the field. Ask God to guide, provide, and empower them. And would you consider asking Him what you could do to play a part in supporting and loving the people of Burma who are in desperate need of help? If you would like to give towards our work, please click here and you will be linked to our secure online donation page.

13 year-old boys shouldn't have to carry guns as big as them around. And parents shouldn't have to feel forced to expose their 13 year-old sons to the horrors of war. Together, we can do something about it.

For the children of war,

Steve

God Issues Today: "Good in the Bad"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"So far this week we've reviewed the evidence which proves that Jesus Christ existed and that he was crucified by Pontius Pilate and worshiped by the first Christians as their risen Lord. How do we know they were right," Dr. Denison asks in today's post at God Issues.

Midland-based Group Reports Chinese 'House Church' Raided, Hymnals and Cross Siezed

Issued by ChinaAid, October 4, 2008

SHANDONG, CHINA — On September 20, 2008 at 9:30 a.m., about 20 plainclothes officers raided City Glory Gospel Church in Yantai, Shandong province. Officers forced members of the house church to register their names and leave the meeting site. Authorities also confiscated the property of the Christians, including the collection box, a large cross, Bibles and hymnals. Officials told the church members they had been tipped off about the meeting.

Pastor Liu and his wife, who were visiting from Taiwan, were speaking on prayer and parent-child relationships to the approximately 60-member congregation when the meeting was raided. Section Chief Sun Jing from Yantai Municipal Bureau of Religion and Director Sun Liping from Zhifu District Bureau of Religion showed their identification. Other officials were present, including the Deputy Director of the Municipal Bureau of Religion and authorities from the Public Security Bureau and Bureau of Security. Four of the officials were holding camcorders and cameras.

Pastor Liu, his wife and one church member were each taken to different rooms for more than two hours of interrogation. Afterwards, police demanded Pastor Liu and his wife no longer have contact with the church.

Law enforcement officials took the hard disk from one church member’s computer and copied all the content. They also seized the collection box, a large cross, 15 Bibles and 42 hymnals. Officials later returned the Bibles, but on September 27 the church received a “Notice of Hearing on Administrative Penalty” and “Notice of Administrative Penalty” from the District Bureau of Religion. The Christians were told that the official charge is “setting up a gathering site without approval.”
Read the eyewitness account of one City Glory Gospel Church member

CAA recommends you send your letters of support for City Glory Gospel Church to:

Director Sun LipingZhifu District Bureau of Ethnic Religious Affairs of Yantai Municipality76, Shifu Street, Zhifu District, YantaiTel: 0535-6215520

Director Qu XiangwenYantai Municipal Bureau of Ethnic Religious Affairs17-3, W. Yuhuangding Road, YantaiTel: 0535-6252597 Fax: 0535-6240140.

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The China Aid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.

God Issues Today: "When Fear Has the Edge"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"I hope this brief review will help you when you need to know the fact of God's presence in your life," Dr. Denison writes in today's post at God Issues.

God Issues Today: "A Two-by-Four Every Day"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"What do we do when the roof caves in? How do we know with certainty that our God is real, that his power is sufficient, that his promises are true," Dr. Denison asks in today's post at God Issues.

God Issues Today: "Grieving My Mom"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist!) and Mansfield, Texas.

"My mother passed away a week ago last night," Dr. Denison writes in today's post at God Issues.

Photo Album: "Prayer"

Partners Blogcast: "Famine in Chin State"

Steve and Oddny Gumaer started Partners Relief & Development in response to the needs of refugees and displaced people from Burma. This blog is meant to be a more personal stream of conversation than newsletters allow for. The opinions expressed here may not be those of Partners Relief & Development.

By Nathan Willis - In Chin State, (an area in north-western Burma, bordering Bangladesh and India) there is a famine. Every fifty years, a certain species of bamboo flowers. This natural phenomenon causes exponential rat reproduction. These rats eat rice crops and other food sources, resulting in famine.

People are starving and the impact of the famine is exaggerated by the Burma Army's unwillingness to value the lives of the people they govern. It is reported that the food aid that was granted by the UN Food Program to help the victims of this famine was taken by the military and sold on the open market.

Within the past few days we have received confirmed reports of 44 deaths by starvation. All children. Each has a name, family and home. Starving to death, they wandered into the woods to forage for food. They found a fig tree and gorged themselves on unripe figs which produced diarrhea and led to their death.

Partners have sent in money to purchase rice and provisions for the most affected communities. In addition to food assistance, this month, Partners is deploying staff to help the Free Burma Rangers provide relief training for teams on the front-line of this crisis. As a part of this deployment, 7 Partners Staff members are participating in the training.

Your partnership is a vital ongoing thread of love and hope to the people directly impacted by disaster, disease and dictatorship. Thank you for caring and doing what you can to pour love on the people of Burma.

If you have questions or wish to contact Partners, you can send an email to info@partnersworld.org and let them know what you think.