Katey Update

I want to thank everyone who has been praying for Katey Kingsbury, the newest member of the Mission Network News staff. Since my last post, Katey has made incredible progress.

Katey has been moved to a rehabilitation hospital to begin her recovery from her closed head injury. She's now walking with little assistance, she's eating some solid foods, and is still recovering from her neck surgery.

Last week Thursday, Katey received a day pass from the hospital and was able to travel back to Cornerstone University to participate in her best friend's memorial service on campus. It was great seeing her on campus again and seemed to give her more inspiration to work hard during her therapy.

Keep praying. She's a got a long way to go.

Greg Yoder

MNN staffer in hospital

I would like to ask everyone to be praying for MNN's newest staff person, Katey Kingsbury. She's actually a student at Cornerstone University. Because of her interest in broadcasting, she started volunteering with MNN last year. We allowed her to try writing for us a little and she did a great job. She improved so much that we decided to hire her part time.

Her first 'official' day on the job was January 22. On January 23 Katey and her friend were on their way in to school. On snowy roads her friend lost control of her vehicle, crossed the center line and the two were hit head on. Her friend was killed, but Katey survived.

Katey's been in critical condition since and she really needs your prayers right now. She's made remarkable improvements, but she suffering from pneumonia and sinus infection. This needs to clear up immediately for her to continue to recover. Would you pray earnestly with us that God will heal her of these infections and the head trauma she's recovering from? I would really appreciate it.

Greg Yoder, Anchor/Executive Director
Mission Network News

Christmas at Mission Network News

For the first time since I started working at Mission Network News, the news teams has Christmas Eve and Christmas off. Each year, for whatever reason, we've worked Christmas Eve to try to get stories written so we could take Christmas off. That means we would write stories to cover Christmas and the day after Christmas.

With Christmas Eve on Monday, the team wanted to take two days off. So, I told them -- get the stories written and you can have the days off. THEY DID IT.

So, MNN is off Christmas Eve and Christmas. I'm praying that nothing major happens. A few years ago a tsunami hit over the Christmas holiday, but MNN was ready. We sprang into action calling everyone we knew in the region. Because we were ready, we were one of the first organizations to have audio from the field. Many news rooms use MNN as a resource to get story ideas. Since MNN had contacts on the ground, they used our news makers. Since all of our news is about what God is doing around the world, almost all of them got a glimpse of the Gospel.

Thank you for listening to Mission Network News and have a Merry Christmas.

Greg Yoder, MNN

IDOP coming November 11

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is coming November 11, 2007. It's a day where Christians around the world remember those who are facing abuse because of their faith in Christ. This year Mission Network News has done a couple of things to raise awareness of the persecuted church.

On November 1, MNN and Discovery House Music kicked off the Better Than Life Tour. The tour features songs and artists from the Better Than Life CD project. The concerts in Grand Rapids, MI and Cleveland, OH saw many Christians who are interested in the persecuted church attend. Scott Krippayne, Shannon Wexelberg and Charles Billingsely shared from their hearts as they sang songs inspired by stories of today's faithful servants. We still have events in Columbus, OH and a free event at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA.

MNN is also making available two new resources to help Christians focus on the persecuted church. First is the Better Than Life CD, a project we co-produced with Discovery House Music. We've also helped produce a book with the same name which features 30 stories of persecuted believers around the world. Both resources are available on our website.

And, finally, MNN has also produced the 2007 MNN IDOP Radio Broadcast. It's already available for download at http://www.MNNonline.org/idop.

It should be a great weekend.

Better Than Life

In less than three weeks the Better Than Life Tour will officially be underway. The Better Than Life Tour was designed to do more than just raise awareness of the persecuted church around the world.

In partnership with Discovery House Music, Mission Network News has put together a concert tour that will help Christians celebrate today’s heroes of the Christian faith. Today’s real life stories come alive in a unique way through 10 news songs featuring Scott Krippayne, Shannon Wexelberg and Charles Billingsley.

The program is also designed to challenge believers in North America to share their faith no matter what the cost.

Here’s where you can see Better Than Life:

November 1, 2007
Sunshine Community Church
3300 East Beltline
Grand Rapids, MI
7:00 PM

November 3, 2007
Grace Church
7393 Pearl Road
Middleburg Heights, OH
7:00 PM

November 9, 2007
Genoa Baptist Church
7562 Lewis Center Road
Westerville, Ohio 43082
7:00 PM

You can get tickets at Itickets.com .

In less than three weeks the Better Than Life Tour will officially be underway. The Better Than Life Tour was designed to do more than just raise awareness of the persecuted church around the world.

'Better Than Life' CD project

Those of you who have been following the Mission Network News International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church music project may be interested in an update.

Before I do that, I need to remind you that Discovery House Music is allowing MNN to be a part. We're thrilled. This has been a dream of mine, for certain.

We finally have all 10 songs selected and the producer has already started getting the music tracks completed and the singers will be in the studio beginning June 26.

We finally have a name for the CD. It's been dubbed, 'Better Than Life."

If you haven't been following our blogs, let me explain. Discovery House music is allowing Mission Network News to partner with them to develop a CD with music that focuses and celebrate those who are persecuted for their faith. In fact, many of the songs are inspired by stories heard on the Mission Network News broadcast. The other songs will challenge Christians to share their faith no matter what the cost.

Featured on the CD will be Charles Billingsley, Scott Krippayne and Shannon Wexelberg.

We're also planning a seven city tour. We have approach radio stations and churches in seven cities. We have verbal commitments for all seven. Visit this blog often to find out what cities we'll be visiting.

I can tell you the dates: November 1, 2, 3 and November 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. I know what you're saying -- eight dates. Yes, eight dates, seven cities. We're in one city with two concerts. I can also tell you we're starting off the tour in Grand Rapids, Michigan with 91.3, WCSG.

Greg Yoder

MNN in Nebraska

I am in Lincoln, Nebraska through the end of Monday, May 7, visiting Back to the Bible. They're having their international directors meetings this week. I came to thank them for their work abroad for God's Kingdom, but also for the help they've been to Mission Network News.

James Kanaganayagam was one of my first interviews. He is the Sri Lanka country director. We have talked on the telephone for years, but have never met face to face. We were able to do that this weekend. What a wonderful servant. We'll be featuring James on our Tuesday broadcast this week.

I was also able to meet up with Berni Dymet-Australia, Leandro Tarrrataca-Brazil, David Logacho-Ecuador, Prem Swaroop-India, Frans Silalahi-Indonesia, Ettore Calanchi-Italy, Berington Laing - Jamaica, Clem Guillermo - Philippines, Henryk Dedo - Poland.

What a great group of men who are serving God no matter what the cost.

Be listening to Mission Network News throughout the week as we'll be presenting stories from many of these men.

Greg Yoder, Anchor/Executive Director