Mission Network News

We continue our broadcast with a look at a continuing rumor circulating via e-mail that has created confusion and unnecessary concern for a West African missionary. Mark Kelly, with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board says on April 20th, 1999, Mike Hutchinson was involved in a car accident that killed a 16-year old boy. Kelly says: "Mission supporters are e-mailing prayer concerns to other intercessors, and in the process, spreading a rumor that Mike Hutchinson, who was a Southern Baptist missionary in West Africa, is about to be tried for murder and in danger of being hanged. Like a lot of rumors, this one contains a kernel of truth, but the majority of facts in it just aren't true." Kelly adds that these rumors can be detrimental because: "It's wasting a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of prayer concern is being generated that just really could be better directed toward real, urgent needs that are current."