There were plenty of news reporting opportunities at The First International Conference of Christian Journalists in the Secular Media held in 1996 in Jerusalem. After all, the Israel elections were imminent. But the Christian fellowship and resulting friendships were unquestionably the hallmark of the gathering.
Seventeen journalists from publications in 15 countries met together in conjunction with the World Prayer Congress, May 21-26. Each had an opportunity to share their story. Many testified to the cost of serving Christ in the face of persecution and oppression.
Dimitri Mustafin happened upon a Russian Bible while visiting Milan with a Soviet delegation in the 1980's. As he read it back in his hotel room he decided to follow Christ. The next day he went back to the bookseller and asked to be secretly baptized. Today he is Editor of the Protestant and Khristianskoe Slovo in Russia.
Ion Zubascu suffered greatly under the communists of Romania during the Ceausescu regime but his faith endured. Today he edits the Religion and Culture Section of a major Bucharest daily, Evenimentul Zilei.
Steven David is senior correspondent for India Today, South Asia's largest circulation magazine. His parents had converted from Hinduism to Christianity and paid a heavy personal and professional price.
The savage persecution of Christians in southern Sudan finally drove Bona Malwal to Great Britain, where he is Editor and Publisher of Sudan Democratic Gazette. His presentation, open to the public, drew a number of outsiders to the Ramada Renaissance Hotel where the conference was held.
Participants received a briefing from the Israel Foreign Ministry and were given a reception by the publisher of the Jerusalem Post and a luncheon by the pro-Israel Christian Embassy. The Embassy's Jan Willem van der Hoeven may have delivered the most vigorous defense of Israel, emphasizing its precarious position, surrounded by still-hostile Arab states.
But they also got another perspective from Palestinians at Bir Zeit University, the Bethlehem Bible College and the Wiam Center for Conflict Resolution in Bethlehem. Bishara Awad, President and Founder of the Bible College, explained why so many Arab Christians have decided to emigrate and leave the tension-filled area. Two Bethlehem Church of God pastors related the rejection they've experienced from Pro-Israel American evangelicals.
Conferees were able to participate in part of the World Prayer Congress on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem, and make pilgrimage visits to traditional holy sites in Jerusalem and Galilee. Dimitri Radyshevsky, New York correspondent for Moscow News, said the Prayer Congress transformed his entire prayer life.
"We are at the turning point of the century," said Guo Ding, Senior Editor of Ming Bao Daily of Hong Kong. "Journalists are going to play an important role in society. Being Christian journalists, we have to think about the big issue -- how to be light and salt in the world."
The spiritual interaction and personal fellowship was "superb," according to Barbara Baker, Editor for Compass Direct of Istanbul. "I was awed by the 'story' behind God's working in every single delegate's life."
Discussion on follow-up and broadening the fellowship centered on formation of an e-mail prayer network and creation of an organization or database for Christian journalists around the world.
The conference was organized by Jerry Eisley under the auspices of the Washington Arts Group, which coordinated an additional schedule of events for artists under the title Sacred Fire Jerusalem. The Washington Arts Group was responsible for coordinating the original National Conference of Christian Journalists in the Secular Media in Washington D.C. in November, 1992.
David Aikman, former TIME magazine Jerusalem Bureau Chief and Senior Correspondent, returned to Jerusalem to lead the conference.
The other participants included: