Leaders of Orthodox churches from Russia to the ancient Christian centers in the Middle East prepared Monday for a rare gathering forced by a crisis in their ranks: The refusal of the Holy Land patriarch to step down even as his authority is shattered by rebel clerics, angry followers and the hair-trigger issue of land rights in Jerusalem.

By BRIAN MURPHY, AP Religion Writer, May 22, 2005

The government has offered to donate 35 acres beside the Sea of Galilee for an evangelical Christian center to boost Christian tourism, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The government told a group of evangelical leaders, including the Rev. Ted Haggard of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, it would be willing to improve a nearby airport and provide power, water and phone lines for the center, The Gazette of Colorado

AP and "Come and See", May 12, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, interested in shoring up his standing in the influential US Evangelical Christian community, met eight leading Evangelical figures Tuesday, including Jay Sekulow, a high profile Messianic Jew.

Sekulow, who runs a conservative civil liberties group called the American Center for Law & Justice that was set up by evangelist Pat Robertson, is considered close to US President George W. Bush and was one of three strategists charged by the White House with the task of getting Bush's controversial court nominees through the Senate.

Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2005

Jordanian authorities reportedly confiscated copies of the controversial bestseller, "The Da Vinci Code," for slandering Christianity.

The Washington Times, May 10, 2005

A NEW report shows that the Church of Scotland?s controversial Israeli hotel project is depriving other overseas aid projects of funds.

A report from the Board of World Mission to be presented at this month?s General Assembly of the Church of Scotland shows that, by the end of this year, the ?13 million Tiberias resort development by the Sea of Galilee will drain the Kirk of a further ?555,000.

Sunday Herlad (UK), by Jenifer Johnston

The 1.4-million-member United Church of Christ will vote this summer on whether to divest from certain U.S. firms doing business with Israel, a protest against the Jewish state's occupation of Palestinian territories, church officials said Friday.

The measure would single out as possible divestment targets U.S. corporations "involved with Israel's illegal occupations of the West Bank and Gaza, the construction of the 'security fence,' and the continuation of...Israeli settlements within Palestinian territories...."

By Teresa Watanabe, LA Times Staff Writer

A large, two-story building built by Southern Baptists in the 1950s of beautiful, locally quarried limestone, with an incomparable view of the city of Nazareth, Israel, Jesus' boyhood home, is being put up for sale.

The spacious villa, owned by the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, has become the center of controversy between Baptists in Israel and IMB leadership in Richmond, Virginia. The upcoming sale is part of a series of world-wide property sales held in order to raise funds for IMB ministry projects around the world. Baptists in Israel do not dispute that the IMB is the legal owner of the property but they strongly oppose its sale. The facility is currently being used as center for ministry into the city of Nazareth as well as the Galilee.

Special For Come and See, May 5, 2005

Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land have announced that they are breaking off all contact with the embattled Patriarch Irineos I because of corruption suspicions and consider him dismissed.

Aljazeera.net, May 5, 2005

Christian communities actively courting Israelis, whose members are collectively known as Messianic Jews, have been considerably reinforced by recent immigration waves and now comprise some 10,000 Israelis, according to Messianic leaders and their Jewish opponents.

Eitan Shishkoff, who heads the Messianic community in Kiryat Yam outside Haifa, said there are 10,000 members in roughly 80 Messianic congregations across the country. This figure has approximately doubled since the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union began in the late 1980s.

LARRY DERFNER and KSENIA SVETLOVA, THE JERUSALEM POST, April 28, 2005