Brisbane Christian News - Brisbane Christian Chat

	30.10.01 - Chatrooms may be unavailable for a few hours to a couple of days. From Site Admin. We have had to do some rearranging of hardware this morning so subsequently our chat facilities will be unavailable for a period of time - hopefully only a few hours. We are also using the time to do some maintenance as well. We apologise for this inconvenience and hope you all chat with extra vigour and enthusiasm when the chatrooms open once again :) Thanks for your patience. Hopefully by the time you read this the chatrooms are back on-line.
	30.10.01 - New facility, new momentum at Queensland's international Christian broadcaster. From Voice International. Member of Parliament for Maroochydore, Fiona Simpson, today unveiled new beginnings at Queensland's International Christian Radio Broadcaster, Voice International Limited (previously Christian Voice (Australia) Ltd). Ms Simpson poured the concrete slab of the new Broadcast Centre which, with 12 studios, will become Queensland' largest radio studio complex. At the same time, the local Member officially re-named the facility "Voice International Broadcast Centre" to reflect the organisation's name change and drive towards sensitivity to the numerous backgrounds and cultures of its audience. Ms Simpson said it was an exciting venture for the Sunshine Coast to have a broadcaster with a potential audience reach of 2.8 billion people. "This is a huge vision with a great heart for people. I don't know of anyone on this earth who doesn't need to know they are loved by God." Asia and Australia Director of Voice International, Mike Edmiston, elaborated, "the change to Voice International Limited was made to unify our indentity across China, India and the rest of Asia under the name that our listeners easily relate to, our station ID of Voice International." "Our programmes and style of presentation are new to shortwave listeners and have brought interest from a diverse audience, not just the Christian minority. Our goal is to be a trusted friend to all of our listeners. Of course, trust and friendship are aspects of relationship that have to be earned and we are uncompromising and uncomplicated in building that relationship. To that extent, we don't allow politics or denominational issues to obscure our vision. We broadcast a wide variety of music and lifestyle programming that is culturally-relevant and culturally-sensitive, which is why we are recruiting staff from different cultures. Our belief in Jesus and what He taught will be obvious in our programmes, which should offer the same values, love and hope that He does. We hope we're able to do justice to that awesome task and, so far, we have much to be encouraged about." While the Broadcast Centre is under construction, temporary studios on site will deliver partial programming to complement what is currently received via satellite, from the UK, at Voice International's shortwave transmitter site at Cox Peninsula, near Darwin. Station Manager, Ray Moti, who joined Voice International from SBS, said, "We are currently building our bilingual staff in lock step with the physical building so that we will be completely self-sufficient by mid next year. At that time, we will send multiple live programming streams from the Broadcast Centre via satellite to affiliate Asian FM stations and to Cox Peninsula. From there, broadcasts will reach almost half the world's population from the site's six high-powered transmitters.".
	25.10.01 - Help needed for Christian film. From Luke Henery. I'm making a short film and I need a editor and a DOP. We have no budget so I can't pay them. Its a Christian film with the whole purpose to spread Gods word. We are shooting on DVCam so I need a DOP, Lighting, Sound and Editor. We are planning on shooting around November 18 -19. If anyone could help out it would be very much appreciated.
	24.10.01 - Vacancy: Production Manager - Urgent! From Trans World Radio. The expansion of Trans World Radio in Australia is continuing. And to relieve the load on their Melbourne office facilities, modern studios and offices are being established in Brisbane. Trans World Radio is urgently seeking to employ a Radio Production Manager. This person will take charge of all production, including the blocking of English programs for the Asia Pacific region. The role can be tailored to suit the applicant and has potential for development into production of new programs. The Production Manager will be required to undergo four weeks intense-training in Melbourne, after an initial two weeks in Brisbane. Enquiries should be urgently directed to TWR’s Asia/Pacific English Ministry Co-ordinator, Kevin Hooper: hooper7@bigpond.com.
	24.10.01 - Volunteers: Admin and Radio Production. From Trans World Radio. Trans World Radio is looking for several mission-minded volunteers to assist in the new Brisbane office, as well as in their Melbourne office. Assistance is required in these areas: follow-up ministry (responding to letters from listeners); general office and reception duties; and studio and production assistant duties. Training for Brisbane based staff will take place in TWR’s new local facilities. Melbourne responses to: infoaus@twr.org. Brisbane responses to: hooper7@bigpond.com.
	17.10.01 - ARPA (Australasian Religious Press Association) Awards 2001. The ARPA (Australasian Religious Press Association) Awards 2001 were held recently. Click here for the full results of the winners and runners-up.
	17.10.01 - Persecuted Christians need our support: The Bible League. From The Bible League. At a time when some of the more fanatical adherents of the Muslim religion are under increasing scrutiny, The Bible League has sought to remind people of the need to support Christians who are persecuted for their faith. National Director for The Bible League, Bob Cole, said it was sad to see the Australian community being torn apart by racism, suspicion, taunts and abuse. He said it was such attitudes his organization was trying to overcome in its work overseas. "Many Australians find it surprising, even unbelievable, that in today's world, the largest group of people being persecuted for their religious beliefs are in fact Christians." Mr Cole said more than 200 million people, in more than 60 nations, were denied the right to freedom of worship because they were Christian. His comments come as The Bible League prepares to lend its support to persecuted Christians in those nations with its fourth annual Bibles for the Persecuted campaign. Last year's appeal raised more than $200,000. "Each year, it has grown and we want to encourage as many Australians as possible to join in this year's program," Mr Cole said. This year, the campaign will be spearheaded by the introduction of an 1800-donation line (1800 800 937) and a specially-designed web-site - www.BiblesforthePersecuted.com. A Bibles to the Persecuted kit will be provided to all those who access the web-site or call the toll-free number. The kit provides a Bible "money bank" and prayer devotional booklet containing details on countries to be targeted with Bible distributions. Mr Cole said all supporters had to do was put at least one dollar in the "money bank" during the campaign and return it to The Bible League. "Each $21 we receive during the 21 day campaign will allow us to send three Bibles to persecuted Christians," he said. The Bible League is a major provider of Scriptures to persecuted Christians throughout the world. Last year, it placed more than 14 million Scriptures in countries where access is restricted. It also trained national Christians in each of the targeted countries to set up and run new churches. To find out more about The Bible League campaign, or its work, call 1800 800 937.
	12.10.01 - Submitting Events & News. From Site Admin. Submitting an event through our on-line Event Submission form just got a whole lot faster. We have streamlined the process as much as possible to encourage you to submit all your band/church/concert events. Now it takes even less time to enter event details as you can click your way through the start of the form rather than typing in all the information. Submit an event here now. We have also improved the News Submission form to make submitting news articles a breeze. Just following the easy instructions and you'll be finished in no time at all. It's all part of making BrisbaneChristianChat.com the most user-friendly website possible. If you have any suggestion on how to make this website even more user friendly then please let us know by e-mailing or phoning.
	12.10.01 - Care Walk 2001. From Phil Spence, CityGate Christian Church. On Saturday 27th October Citygate Community Care will host its annual 'Care Walk' fundraiser. It is a 10K walk beginning at 4pm from Harvey Norman, Aspley. First prize is 3 nights for 2 for the person who raises the most money. From 6pm there will be Harley rides, face painting, jumping castles, sausage sizzle, cafe tent, prizes awarded, charity auction + 4 bands (Paradox, The Agents, CityGate Band & Nitro Band). Come for the walk or come for the concert but come.
	11.10.01 - Inspirational Bible verses go mobile. From Stephen Jeffs, Project Manager, Australian Christian Channel, (07) 5479 1179, www.acctv.com.au. For the first time in Australia, many mobile phone users can now read the Word of God from their screen, thanks to Optus and the Australian Christian Channel. This new service called Verse of the Day allows Optus digital mobile customers to request that a short verse from the Bible be sent to their phone. This request is made through either the Optus Info2you and (net)worker WAP mobile services. Australian Christian Channel Project Manager, Stephen Jeffs said in a time when people can feel concerned and insecure it was exciting to see the launch of a new service that brought messages of hope and salvation to people all around Australia. He said the Verse of the Day service would focus on positive and uplifting messages that reflect the challenges faced by many in day to day life. He said there would also be a different Bible verse available each day. "We are excited to join with Optus to deliver the powerful message of the Gospel in this new format. This is an excellent opportunity to be able to touch the hearts of so many Australians, when they need it most. It's possible this is the first time in the world a service of this type has been made available to mobile phone users." How to access Verse of the Day. You need to be an Optus GSM mobile customer with an SMS or WAP compatible handset. If you are already an Optus (net)worker customer (Optus' WAP service) you'll find Verse of the Day under Entertainment. If you have a WAP phone, but are not using the WAP features, call 1300 303 555 to set up your (net)worker service. If your mobile does not have WAP but is SMS compatible, you can access Verse of the Day through the Info2you service. Visit www.info2you.com.au to create your own account and choose the information you would like sent to your phone. Or dial #121# from your phone and you'll find Verse of the Day under Entertainment. Info2you messages are charged at a flat rate of 22c (including GST) for each message of 160 characters you receive.
	04.10.01 - Disappearing News and your help. From Site Admin. For an unknown reason it appears that parts of the news have been disappearing at random. Recently news articles involving The Screamin' Jamaican, the Paul Colman Trio and The Frugals have been affected. These stories are back again now but it is still unknown as to why these stories disappeared off the site in the first place. We take good care that the entire BrisbaneChristianChat.com website is up-to-date and error free. We would appreciate it if you contacted us to let us know of any problems, broken links, missing news etc that you come across while visiting the site. Nothing is too small to mention. It's often the smaller things that are easier to miss. So big or small, if it doesn't look right or work right, let us know straight away by emailing admin@brisbanechristianchat.com. Thank you.