LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS) -- Dear friends, it has been some time since I was last in touch with you all with an update, but we have been so busy at ANS covering the Olympics in London, as well as many other stories, that time has just slipped by.

I do hope you have been blessed by the many excellent reports we have been releasing from our three main sources at the Olympics – More Than Gold (www.morethangold.org.uk) 2K Plus International Sports Media (www.2kplus.org.uk) and the Press Service International Media Team (www.pressserviceinternational.org), which is led by the irrepressible Mark Tronson. A huge thank you to all of their fine writers for bringing us such fascinating reports from the 2012 London Olympics.

I, for one, will be sorry that it will soon be over and I am sure that many of you will feel the same, especially if you home country did well. Norma and I have been jointly supporting both Team USA and Team GB, so we got the best of both worlds with their excellent tallies of gold medals.

Trip to Ukraine

Anna Wooding dancing

I am delighted to tell you that on this coming Sunday, my younger son, Peter Wooding, will be leading a team from the UK to Ukraine on behalf of Mercy Projects (www.mercyprojects.co.uk) where they will work at a special needs home in Konotop.

What makes this trip so special for Norma and myself is that our 16-year-old granddaughter, Anna Wooding, will be part of the team, her first trip of this kind. Anna is a wonderful dancer and will be not only performing some worship dances for the children, but will be also teaching them to dance. Please pray for the trip.

Caped Crusader – Rick Wakeman in the 1970s

Besides my work with ANS, I have been really busy lately talking on radio and TV in both the US and the UK about my latest book, Caped Crusader – Rick Wakeman in the 1970s which was recently published by the Gonzo Media Group in the UK with a foreword by (Sir) Elton John

Book cover

This authorized biography of my dear friend Rick Wakeman, who is arguably the world’s greatest rock keyboardist, is lavishly illustrated with dozens of photos from Wakeman’s extraordinary career which includes the time his career took off when he joined the folk group, Strawbs, in 1969, and played on three of their albums, and later rose to greater heights during his times with the British super group, Yes.

Rick is still touring with his one-man shows and is also planning three in New Zealand. You can get more information about his appearances from: www.rwcc.com/live.asp#tour

Also, if you would like to purchase a copy of “Caped Crusader” just go to: www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 

Front Page Radio

Max Lucado

My special guest on this Sunday’s (August 12, 2012) Front Page Radio on the KWVE Radio Network (www.kwve.com ) at 5:00 PM (Pacific Time) is best-selling author, Max Lucado, who has sold some 80 million books. You can hear an advance copy of the interview by going to: http://www.assist-ministries.com/FrontPageRadio/FPR08.12.12MaxLucadoMono.mp3

Would you like to join our ASSIST support team?

As a little background, when I started the ASSIST News Service (ANS) some 20 years ago, I made a decision that we would not charge for the service, but instead trust the Lord to touch the hearts of our subscribers to stand with us both in prayer and also financially. My belief was that it was wrong for us to charge you to bring our unique stories into your in-box, especially those in which we feature stories of our brave brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith in countries like Cuba, Egypt and Pakistan.

In recent Summer months, much of our support has dried up, making it difficult for us to continue and this is despite being busier than we have ever been since ANS began all those years ago.

It costs us about $5,000 per month to run ANS, and that includes the expenses of our office in Lake Forest, California, our telephone and some travel costs, and also our list server which sends you the stories many times a day.

For those of you who have been sacrificially helping us, I say a huge “thank you” and for those of you who feel you would like to now help us, now is the time that we need you to stand with us.

However, if you haven’t yet, and would like to be involved in supporting ASSIST, just go to: www.assistnews.net/assist/donations.htm and you can designate your gift as “Where Needed Most” or scroll down to my name, where you can make a donation to help us carry on. You can also sign up for make a monthly gift which would also be a wonderful blessing to us.

If you prefer, you can also make a check out to ASSIST and mail it to: ASSIST, PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609, USA.

I hope that you don’t mind me sharing this situation with you, but as Norma and I have now been married for 49 years, we want to make sure that we can carry on working as a team to bless so many that need their “voice” to be heard.

So if you can stand with us at this difficult time and make a one-off gift, or make a monthly donation towards our support, we say in advance, a huge “thank you” from both of us.

Yours sincerely in Christ, Dan Wooding

Dan Wooding, 71, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 49 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States and around the world. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. Dan recently received two top media awards -- the “Passion for the Persecuted” award from Open Doors US, and as one of the top “Newsmakers of 2011” from Plain Truth magazine. He is the author of some 45 books, the latest of which is “Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s.” To order a copy, go to: http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 .