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On June 13, 2009 Russian National Overseer Vladimir Shestopalov and his family were traveling in the Moscow region when they were hit head-on by a SUV,

DETROIT, MI – A federal judge has denied an evangelical group’s request for permission to hand out Christian literature on sidewalks at an Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds denied Anaheim, Calif.-based Arabic Christian Perspective’s request for a temporary restraining order. The group describes itself in its court filing as “a national ministry established for the purpose of proclaiming the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ to Muslims …(that) travels around the country attending and distributing Christian literature at Muslim festivals and mosques.”

A lawyer for the group said it would seek a permanent injunction against the city of Dearborn. “It’s not over,” said Robert J. Muise of the Thomas More Law Center, an Ann Arbor-based Christian rights advocacy group.

Another lawyer on the case said the Dearborn officials action could be part of what he described as a broader Muslim legal attack on critics of Islam in our “Judeo-Christian nation.”

“Muslims are using the courts in this country to stop our free speech rights,” said William J. Becker Jr., a Los Angeles attorney who has represented a number of prominent critics of Islam.

The 14th annual Dearborn Arab International Festival is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors Friday through Sunday to the city that has the Detroit area’s greatest concentration of Arab-Americans.

Festival organizer Fay Beydoun said the evangelical group was being offered a good spot in an area with a number of other religious, nonprofit and political groups. “You have to pass right in front of it to get anywhere,” said Beydoun, executive director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce.

Southeastern Michigan has about 300,000 people with roots in the Arab world. It includes large numbers of both Muslims and Christians.

The group sued Dearborn after police told the Rev. George Saieg members would need to restrict literature distribution to a designated table-and-booth section of the festival site.

The city said safely accommodating the 150,000 daily festival-goers requires limits on where people can leaflet. It said other Christian and Muslim groups already have tables and booths for distributing material at the festival.

City officials say anyone is free to have conversations — but not leaflet — on sidewalks within the festival’s barricades.

“It appears to be a legitimate governmental interest for crowd control and safety,” Edmunds said in denying the request. “The festival area is more akin to a fair than a normal city street.”

Becker said the case is similar to one he handled in Los Angeles, in which Jews for Jesus member Cyril Gordon won about $250,000 after being arrested for trespassing in 2006 outside an Israel Independence Day event in a park. “This is a case where your right, my right and anybody’s right to walk down the street and express their views is being disrupted by a police action,” he said.

An official of the Council of American-Islamic Relations said Arabic Christian Perspective was asking for special treatment. “They should abide by the rules and purchase a booth like the other religious groups,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the group’s Michigan chapter. “Christians can talk about Christianity and Muslims can promote Islam. This is the right we have as Americans.”

(Source: OneNewsNow)

This is article two of a series on the missions heart of the late J. Herbert Walker, Jr. , former director of World Missions for the Church of God.

The Lord has been good to me in that, at various times in my life, He has given me a word of knowledge. The first one came when I was a student at the Church of God Bible School in Sevierville, TN. I was sitting on the steps of the boys’ dormitory while two girls walked around the circle by the dorm. I had never seen these girls nor did I know who they were. Turning to Johnny Carter, sitting next to me, I said, “Johnny, do you see that blond-haired girl? I am going to marry her one day.”

Later I learned that her name was Lucille and that she was three-and-a-half years older than me. I was only fifteen when I had the experience. However, because of rapid promotion in school, I found that Lucille and I were in some classes together. As time passed, the age difference between us became less important. We became good friends, and I learned of her deep interest in missions.

In the summer of 1944, Lucille studied at the University of Mexico in Mexico City and lived in the home of our pastor, Brother Ruesga. The next school year two of Brother Ruesga’s daughters came to Bible school and roomed with her. The following summer Lucille returned to the University of Mexico for another summer of study. Her interest in missions deepened. We both were active in the Missions Club, even serving as officers. Sister Avis Swiger, our sponsor, exerted a good influence over us as she shared numerous letters from missionaries and encouraged us in our prayer life to be concerned for those in world missions.

J. Herbert Walker, Jr.

Taken from The Pentecostal Minister written in 1987.

For more articles like this visit the new World Missions Centennial web site, www.wmcentennial.org.

© 2009 Church of God World Missions

Both Jesus and the Apostle Paul modeled accessibility and had close bonds with their disciples. That’s the way we should do ministry.