Rami Ayyad
From the October 8, 2007
ChristianityToday magazine
Rami
Ayyad, manager of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was found dead of
multiple stab and gunshot wounds early Sunday, October 7.
Ayyad, 26, was kidnapped at 4:30 p.m.
Saturday as he closed The Teacher's Bookshop, which is operated by the
Palestinian Bible Society and located in a central part of Gaza City. No
one has claimed responsibility. But Ayyad had received regular death
threats for his work as the public face of the bookshop.
The interior ministry of Hamas, the
ruling power in Gaza since the June ouster of its political rival Fatah,
has issued a statement condemning the murder, the Associated Press
reports. An AP story said Hamas has launched an investigation.
On Friday, October 5, Ayyad noticed a car
lacking license plates following him, according to a Palestinian Bible
Society press release. On Saturday at 6 p.m. Ayyad phoned his wife that
he had been kidnapped by a group of people right after he had closed the
bookstore. Ayyad told his wife that he would return home late that
evening. Ayyad placed a second call with a similar message to someone
else. At that time, a Bible Society official reported the incident to
police in Gaza City.
According to a Reuters report:
Ayyad's mother, Anisa, said her son had
telephoned his family after he was seized. "He said he was going to
be with the 'people' for another two hours and that if he was not
back (by then), he would not be returning for a long, long time,"
she said.
At 6:25 a.m. Sunday October 7, Ayyad's
body was found near the bookshop. "Signs of bullets and knife stabs
could be clearly seen on his body," the Bible Society release said.
Unconfirmed reports added that his head had been severely injured.
Ayyad leaves behind two young children
and his pregnant wife, Pauline. Ayyad helped lead Gaza Baptist Church's
Awana club and directed the church's summer children's camp.
On April 15, a bomb destroyed much of the
shop's downstairs storefront, but no people were injured in that attack.
On February 3, 2006, local militants detonated two small pipe bombs,
destroying the shop's doors. Following that assault, the Christian
bookshop's workers found a communiqué demanding the shop close
immediately.
Gazan authorities had no confirmation of
who was responsible. A secretive group calling itself "The Sword of
Islam" has carried out similar bombings of Internet cafes in Gaza.
At the time of the February attack, many
Gazans gathered for a pro-bookshop rally to encourage the Bible Society
to reopen the shop. The shop reopened five weeks later.
In addition to offering Bibles and
Christian books, the shop, which opened in 1998, offers public computer
classes and other educational opportunities to Gaza's 1.4 million
people, many of whom are jobless and destitute.
The Palestinian Bible Society's Gaza
ministry includes relief work in Gaza's refugee camps and community
health, educational, microenterprise, and development projects.
The Bible Society said in its statement:
"The Bible Society in Gaza has received
previous threats and vandalism. However, the support from the
community has been very well noticed because of the humanitarian
role that the Bible Society has been taking the last four years in
the strip."
Gaza's dwindling Christian population of
under 5,000 remains in shock. For the most part, Palestinian Muslims and
Christians have dwelled peacefully together for centuries in this area
of the Middle East.
During a phone interview with
Christianity Today, a Christian worker who recently left Gaza and asked
not to be identified said that Ayyad's death marks the first time in
memory that a Palestinian Christian has died for the gospel.
The worker told CT that he believes
Ayyad's murder was committed by non-Palestinians likely affiliated with
Al Qaeda.
"The long tradition of coexistence between Palestinian Muslims and
Christians doesn't mean anything to them," the worker said. "This is a
campaign to purge Muslim lands of all 'infidels.' That includes
Christians as well as Jews.
"All things work together for good. God has a purpose for letting this
happen. It will not silence the church."
On Sunday, the Associated Press reported from the funeral:
The report included this comment:
"He paid his life for his faith, for his dignity, and the dignity of the
Bible and Jesus Christ," said Issa, a 24-year-old Christian who came to
pay his respects at Ayyad's home. "I am terrified and cannot believe
this has happened in Gaza," said Issa, declining to give his last name
because of the tense atmosphere.
A relative grieves over Rami's body during his
funeral in Gaza City just a few hours after his body was discovered.
---------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Mae Sprague
From the September 2007 edition of
Horizons
from Mission Services Association:
Eleanor
was born
Feb. 18, 1936 to James and Neva(Smiley) Reinhart in Fisher, IL. She
accepted Jesus as her Savior and was immersed at the age of 12. During
her teen years her parsonage family was Chuck and Jessie Lee Troyer who
later went to Italy as missionaries. Their example challenged her to
want to go to Bible college. She entered Lincoln Bible Institute,
Lincoln, IL., in 1954 after graduating as valedictorian from high
school. It was while in Bible college that she met her husband-to-be,
Richard Sprague, during the 1955-56 school year. They were married on
July 9, 1956 and she became a partner with him in his ministries.
Eleanor gave birth to three sons: Stephen, Gary, and
Terry. She was a praying mother who continually asked the Lord to care
for our family. Since we often accepted ministries that could not
provide adequate salaries (several were new churches that we helped
start), Eleanor took jobs that contributed to the well-being of our
family. During the 1970’s she began working for Mission Services, then
located at Kempton, IN. She became the bookkeeper and served in that
capacity for eight years until MSA moved to Tennessee. It was during
those years that her husband merged his efforts to start a disaster
relief program with International Disaster Emergency Service, Inc
(IDES). He accepted the invitation of IDES to be the first staff member,
but had no promise of income. Eleanor’s wages from MSA, although
minimal, were enough to keep our family going, along with the odd jobs
and preaching gratuities her husband received.
When MSA moved to Tennessee, Eleanor sought a position
in the local nursing home that advertised for an office manager. She was
called in for an interview and was hired on the spot. She worked there
for 16 years, contributing greatly to the family financial picture as
her husband continued to work with IDES for less than adequate income.
It was Eleanor who kept the home fires lit and burning during those
years when Dick was gone from home representing IDES across the U.S.A.
As a result she handled much of the office work for IDES as a volunteer
helper. Eventually the IDES board approved an adequate salary for her
husband, thus relieving her of the burden of providing the extra income
needed to support the family.
Eleanor retired from her nursing home position in 1996,
a position that gave her many opportunities to minister to the elderly
residents of the home. She missed that more than anything else about the
job. Her retirement meant she could then travel with her husband when he
was on trips for IDES. She traveled with him to many different states
and conventions during the next five years. They even took a side trip
to fulfill her dream to see Niagara Falls.
During this time the IDES bookkeeper died. Eleanor came
on board as a relief bookkeeper and served for several months. She
learned a new computer system and kept the IDES daily
financial records in good shape until a permanent replacement was found.
Eleanor often contributed poignant articles for FRIENDS
AND NEIBHBORS QUARTERLY published by her husband. They are good
indicators of her faith and concerns. Here are a few short excerpts from
those articles.
“LET’S GO BLESSING HUNTING” was written in 2002. She
wrote, “The
world is a beautiful place. The flowers are in full bloom and it is a
pleasure to see them. We can see many ways God cares for us by looking
at our world around us. Other ways we see His care are through His words
in our Bible, through our friends, and especially our families. All are
blessings from God. Be sure to thank the Lord for all your blessings as
you look around to find each one. Have a great day blessing hunting.”
It was just after she was diagnosed as having
Parkinson’s disease in 2003 that she wrote the following: “A lesson we can learn
from God is to try to make “our area” a beautiful place to enjoy and
share. We all need a beautiful, peaceful, relaxing place where we can
just sit and visit and rest for a while. God has been so generous to us.
We need to remember to thank Him for all the goodness and all the
beautiful things we enjoy. We must remember to reach out to Him as well
as to our friends.”
In the summer of 2004 she wrote: “This time of year we
begin to think of the friends and family members we will see at reunions
and other celebrations. The senior classes are anxious to receive their
diplomas and have their open houses where we can honor their
accomplishments.”
“Some families have reunions. It is enjoyable to visit
with relatives we see once a year and get their news updated. Won’t it
be nice in heaven when we reunite with saints who have gone ahead of us?
What wonderful news we will have to share. As you live each day, think
about that heavenly reunion. Use your abilities to serve God and the
Lord Jesus. By doing so you GET READY FOR HEAVEN.”
It was shortly after writing this that her diagnosis was
changed from Parkinson’s Disease to Lewy Body Dementia. Check the
internet to learn more about it. This was new to us and, to our
consternation, proved to be much more debilitating than Parkinson’s
alone. She soon had to give up writing as she began to lose one body
function after another. She often did not recognize her husband and
would look at him and say, “Where is Dick?” She lost the ability to
talk, to balance check books, to play the piano, to give herself baths
and dress herself, until finally she lost the ability to swallow without
aspirating into her lungs. Then just a few weeks later she lost the
battle for life and we had to give her up to the hope Christians have in
Christ.
Thus, after 51 years and nearly one month of our
marriage, Eleanor, at the age of 71, has gone on before us into the
great hope that Jesus provides. We have received cards and e-mails from
all over the U.S.A. and several foreign lands. Memorial gifts to Kempton
Christian Church, IDES, and Mission Services Association, have exceeded
expectations. Her influence as a helpmate to her husband is a legacy
that is worth emulating by any Christian woman who wants to serve Jesus.
Our preacher said it this way in his funeral sermon...
“Dick and Eleanor, Dick and Eleanor... that says it
all.”
Russell
F. Blowers 83. Born and raised in
Ohio, Russ was the Senior Minister Emeritus of the East 91st Street
Christian Church, where he was the beloved senior minister for 46 years.
