SEVEN ABOARD MISSIONARY PLANE MISSING IN VENEZUELA

BRYANT - A Jackson County missionary pilot, his wife and five others are feared to have met the same fate as his father when their plane apparently crashed in a Venezuelan jungle Feb. 16.
Bob Norton, 48, of Bryant "grew up with a missionary spirit and was carrying on for his dad" Elwin, who was killed in a plane crash 29 years ago while serving as a missionary pilot in Mexico, said Bob Norton's mother, Nytta, by phone from her home in Bryant Wednesday.

Norton was accompanied on the flight by his wife, Neiba, a registered nurse. Their passengers included two adults accompanying two sick children, and Gladis Zerpa, another missionary serving as a teacher at La Gran Sabana Adventist School in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar.
A volunteer search team coordinated by Bob Edwards of McMinnville,Tenn., who had worked with Norton on several search and rescue missions a number of years ago, hopes to get satellite images to locate the plane in the dense jungle.
Venezuela's National Civil Aviation Institute and several air rescue groups stopped searching for the plane 72 hours after it was reported missing.
Betsy Burgdorff, a spokeswoman for Gospel Ministries International near Collegedale, Tenn., said that the satellite will not be in position to photograph the location until next Wednesday. Because of the high cost of the project, the team is seeking donations to pay for the images.
Based at the campus as director of Adventist Medical Aviation Venezuela, Norton was on his way to have the plane inspected at Ciudad Bolivar when he received a call to pick up two sick children in the village of Carun and take them to a medical center in another village, said Burgdorff.
Shortly after taking off from Carun, Norton and his passengers encountered bad weather. "There was radio communication, but it could not be determined whether they were in trouble," she said. "But we do know the weather was bad and that it's believed the plane went down in a very dense jungle."
On the night of Feb. 16, Nytta Norton said she received a call from the radioman who had been tracking her son's flight that the aircraft was missing and a search for it and its occupants had begun. She said her youngest son, Bill, and his wife had left the same day to serve as missionaries in New Guinea.
Nytta Norton said her husband was about three minutes from an emergency landing strip when his plane crashed while on a mission trip. They were both serving as missionaries in the country at the time, she said.
Norton said chances are probably slim that her son and his wife and their passengers will be found alive.
"It's extremely dense jungle" where the plane is believed to have crashed, she said. "It may take weeks or months before they find them. But it's all in God's hands, and I'm happy to leave it at that."

THREE MARTYRED IN ERITREA; PRAY AND MAKE DIFFERENCE IN ERITREA

Eritrea ― The persecution in Eritrea has not let up as hundreds of Christians remain imprisoned, many of whom are tortured and eventually killed.
Eritrea is currently ninth on the International Christian Concern Hall of Shame. The Hall of Shame is a list of the ten countries with the worst Christian persecution worldwide. Eritrea follows other very high-risk areas, including North Korea, Iraq and Iran.
Eritrea has no constitution and is run by a singular communist ruling party. Since 2002, 2000 Christians have been imprisoned in military barracks and sometimes metal shipping containers. ICC remembers the deaths of three martyrs this month.
All three faithful followers were arrested for being believers outside the specified ramifications. Anyone outside of approved Christian denominations (which consist of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Eritrean Lutheran Evangelical Church, and the Roman Catholic Church) does not have permission to worship and may be imprisoned, forced underground or thrown out of the country. For these three believers, imprisonment, torture and death were the results.
One woman was horrifically tortured until she was finally given the option to either sign an official document recanting her faith, or be killed. Two other men were also given this option on separate occasions. Two of the three were purposely exposed to malaria and given the incentive of medicine if they recanted. After suffering immeasurable torture, all three faithful believers were killed for their bold refusals to deny Christ.
These direct attacks affect many other believers indirectly. Believers who are imprisoned or have been martyred leave families behind. One of the three martyred Christians mentioned was 42 with a wife and children at home. ICC pleads for you to pray for the victims of this spiritual warfare, including those who are imprisoned, tortured and killed, as well as their afflicted families.

MURDERED ILLINOIS PASTOR DEFLECTED GUNSHOTS WITH BIBLE

MARYVILLE, Ill. - A pastor shot and killed during his Sunday sermon deflected the first of the gunman's four rounds with a Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of paper into the air in a horrifying scene that congregants initially thought was a skit, police said

The gunman strode down the aisle of the sprawling First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with The Rev. Fred Winters, then pulled out a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and began firing until it jammed, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said.

Churchgoers wrestled the gunman to the ground as he waved a knife, slashing himself and two other people, Trent said.

None of the about 150 congregants seemed to recognize the gunman and investigators do not know details of Winters' conversation with him, but they planned to review an audio recording of the service, Trent said. The service was not videotaped.

"We thought it was part of a drama skit ... when he shot, what you saw was confetti," said congregant Linda Cunningham, whose husband is a minister of adult education at the church. "We just sat there waiting for what comes next, not realizing that he had wounded the pastor."

Winters had stood on an elevated platform to deliver his sermon about finding happiness in the workplace and managed to run halfway down the sanctuary's side aisle before collapsing, Cunningham said.

Two congregants tackled the gunman as he pulled the 4-inch knife, and all three were stabbed, police said. The gunman suffered "a pretty serious wound to the neck" while one congregant had lower back wounds, Trent said.

Congregants knocked the gunman between sets of pews, then held him down until police arrived, said church member Don Bohley, who was just outside the sanctuary when the shooting began.

"People came running out and told us to call 911," said Bohley, 72.

Winters was pronounced dead at Anderson Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Natalie Head said.

Authorities didn't know whether Winters, a married father of two who had led the church for nearly 22 years, knew the gunman. Police described the gunman as a 27-year-old from nearby Troy but would not release his name pending possible charges.

Trent said investigators had not immediately uncovered evidence of a criminal background or mental illness.

"We don't know the relationship (between the gunman and pastor), why he's here or what the circumstances came about that caused him in the first place to be here," said Illinois State Police Master Trooper Ralph Timmins.

The Rev. Mark Jones, another pastor at First Baptist, said he briefly saw the gunman but not the shooting, though he heard a sound like miniature firecrackers.

"We have no idea what this guy's motives were," Jones said outside the church.

The gunman and 39-year-old congregant Terry Bullard underwent surgery at St. Louis University Hospital and were in serious condition Sunday evening, spokeswoman Laura Keller said. The other victim, Keith Melton, was treated and released from Gateway Regional Medical Center.

"I would call it heroic," Trent said. "While many understandably were stuck to their seats, they took to action."

First Baptist had an average attendance of 32 people when Winters became senior pastor in 1987; it now has about 1,200 members, according to the church's Web site. Winters also was former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the site.

"Our great God is not surprised by this, or anything," Nate Adams, executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association, said in a statement. "That He allows evil and free will to have their way in tragedies like this is a mystery in many ways."

The red brick church sits along a busy two-lane highway on the east side of Maryville, a fast-growing village of more than 7,000 about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. A farm sits directly across from the church, but subdivisions of newer homes can be seen from every side.

"Things like this just don't happen in Maryville," Mayor Larry Gulledge said. "We've lost one the pillars of our community, one of our leaders."
Sharla Dryden, 62, pulled into the church parking lot for a 9:30 a.m. service Sunday to see "just a lot of chaos, lot of police, fire, and people just devastated."

"I would have been devastated if anyone had been shot, but to hear it was the pastor was terrible," Dryden said. "You just never expect this to happen at a church."

At Winters' two-story brick home in Edwardsville, several friends gathered to pay their respects but declined comment. Family members also declined comment.

A statement on First Baptist's Web site asked for prayers for Winters' family, the congregants who tackled the gunman, the gunman and his family, and church members.

More than 20 investigators remained inside the church hours after the shooting, said First Baptist spokesman Marty King. An evening prayer service was planned for members at Metro Community Church in nearby Edwardsville.

Last month, a man shot and killed himself in front of a cross inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif. In November, a gunman killed his estranged wife in a New Jersey church vestibule as Sunday services let out.

In July, two people were killed and six wounded in a shooting rampage at the Tennessee Valley United Unitarian Church in Knoxville, Tenn. An out-of-work truck driver who police say targeted the church for its liberal leanings pleaded guilty to the shootings and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

PASTOR KILLED IN ILLINOIS CHURCH SHOOTING; GUNMEN OPEN FIRES AT SERVICE IN BAPTIST CHURCH

The pastor of an Illinois church was shot and killed during a service Sunday morning, according to the Maryville Police Department.

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News reports that a gunman opened fire after 8:00 a.m. at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., fatally shooting Pastor Fred Winters, 45. Illinois State Police spokesperson Ralph Timmens said that the gunman walked up one of the aisles at the church and exchanged words with Winters, who walked over towards him. The suspect then pulled out a .45 caliber handgun and started shooting. Police said the pastor used a Bible to deflect the first of four rounds fired. Timmens said the gun then jammed, and the assailant pulled out a knife and started stabbing himself. When parishioners tried to subdue him, he stabbed two others in the process.

At a press briefing this afternoon, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said the Bible exploded, producing what appeared to be confetti, causing some in attendence to believe the episode was a skit being performed as part of the service. Only one of the four rounds fired struck and killed Winters. Officials don't know if Winters and the suspect knew each other. "We don't know the relationship (between the gunman and pastor), why he's here or what the circumstances came about that caused him in the first place to be here," Timmins said. Winters was taken to Anderson Hospital in Maryville, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, according to spokeswoman Natalie Head.

The gunman and one victim, 39-year-old Terry Bullard, were being treated at St. Louis University Hospital, said spokeswoman Laura Keller. Bullard underwent surgery for stab wounds and was in serious condition, she said. The second wounded congregation member was treated and released. Keller said the gunman was undergoing surgery early Sunday afternoon but could not provide his name, condition, or type of injuries. At a press briefing he was described as a 27-year-old white male from Troy, Ill. The Rev. Mark Jones, another pastor at First Baptist, said he briefly saw the gunman but did not recognize him by name or face. "We have no idea what this guy's motives were," Jones said outside the church. "We don't know if we'll ever know that."

Police said at the time there were approximately 150 people in the church for the first of three Sunday services. Many coming for the second service arrived to find emergency vehicles directing them away from the church, which reportedly has 1,500 members. Some parked at a nearby senior center where they were consoling one another. First Baptist parishioner Sharla Dryden pulled into the church parking lot for a 9:30 a.m. service in time to see "just a lot of chaos, lot of police, fire, and people just devastated." "They just said there had been a shooting," said Dryden, 62. "I would have been devastated if anyone had been shot, but to hear it was the pastor was terrible. You just never expect this to happen at a church."

(KMOV)Winters (left), a father of two who had led First Baptist for nearly 22 years, was the former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the church's Web site. "Our great God is not surprised by this, or anything," Nate Adams, executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association, said in a statement. "That He allows evil and free will to have their way in tragedies like this is a mystery in many ways. But we know we can trust Him no matter what, and draw close to Him in any circumstances." A notice on the church's Web site announced a prayer service this evening at 6 p.m. at Metro Community Church in Edwardsville, Ill., and asked, "Please continue to pray." Maryville is about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES INTRODUCING ' PORN PLANES ' ; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE....

As part of a promotional deal with Sports Illustrated, Southwest Airlines has unveiled a Boeing 737 featuring a plane-sized seductive picture of string bikini-clad supermodel Bar Refaeli. Passengers are responding critically to this plane on Southwest's corporate blog, saying the picture is "soft porn" and offensive to families.

Michael Leahy, author of Porn Nation and the soon-to-be-released Porn University and Porn @ Work, is also critical of this decision by Southwest and of the underlying message it sends."I'm disappointed in Southwest Airlines' sexist display of soft-core pornography on its aircraft, as well as Sports Illustrated's continued objectification and sexualization of women," says Leahy.

"As a recovering sex addict and a former college athlete, I started losing respect for Sports Illustrated back when they first started publishing their sex-saturated swimsuit edition as an obvious effort to increase sales. I'm sure their tactic has worked handsomely, but sadly, at the expense of every self-respecting woman in America. This isn't art, and it sure has nothing to do with sports, unless they now consider sunbathing a sport.

" Some organizations, such as the American Family Association, have distributed newsletters urging all parents to send objection letters directly to Southwest. Leahy, a father and husband, agrees with this call to action. "I wonder what our children are thinking as they gaze through airport windows at this fine example of yet another major American corporation's lack of integrity and wholesale disrespect of women," Leahy continues.

"I hope every person who finds this offensive and finds themselves booked on this airline and certainly this airplane, refuses to board and demands that Southwest re-book them on a competitor's airline at Southwest's expense. Shame on you, Southwest. This isn't edgy. It's insulting."