Sources: HCJB Global, Assist News Service, Reuters, CNN, Mission Network News

Defying pressures by the U.N. and the Organization of American States to reinstate ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya as head of state, the country's new leaders said this week there was "no chance at all" of Zelaya's return to office.

A military coup unseated Zelaya, staving off for now a nationwide, nonbinding referendum that could have led to a constitutional revision and allowed him to seek re-election.

With tensions high in the capital, Tegucigalpa, evangelical radio stations are focused on prayer, according to Patricia Guevara, a journalist at Radio HRVC, La Voz Evangélica de Honduras. HRVC and its counterpart, FM Stereo Luz, are both partner ministries of HCJB Global Voice. The stations air satellite-fed Christian programming from Radio Station HCJB in Quito.

"The pastoral and church associations have united like never before to intercede, maintaining [a spirit of] neutrality while inviting peace and respecting order and justice," Guevara said. "Information released to foreign media is not completely correct; it has been distorted." The population is divided on whether or not to support Zelaya's ouster.

The crisis has been exacerbated by a June 30 earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale. "Christians continue to pray," Guevara added. "The call is for Christians to stand up to pray and intercede, asking the Lord to act on outbreaks of violence that may arise?. We see this as an opportunity for an awakening of the evangelical church in Honduras. We are on our knees before the Lord. Thanks for praying for us."

HRVC has been on the air for 46 years, broadcasting the gospel initially to Tegucigalpa and later using nine repeaters that cover 70 percent of the country and portions of neighboring Nicaragua and Guatemala.

In addition, the station offers Stereo Luz, a popular FM service for Tegucigalpa. "We also broadcast on shortwave, and we can be heard worldwide on the Internet at www.hrvc.org," explains program producer Jessenia Zelaya (no relation to Manuel Zelaya).

Meanwhile, Orphan Outreach has moved several of its interns out of Tegucigalpa to avoid potential problems, according to a ministry spokesperson, Tiffany Taylor.

"We had already made a decision for their safety and moved them out of Tegucigalpa, but they are not able to do the ministry that they were called there to do right now," Taylor explained. She said any interruption of the work spells big trouble for those most vulnerable as the ministry teams "are the hands and feet of Christ to these people."

Zelaya, elected in 2005, recently found himself pitted against other branches of government and military leaders regarding a nonbinding vote that had been planned for Sunday, allowing the president to run for another term. CNN reported that Honduras' Supreme Court ruled the referendum illegal, and the military and Congress agreed.

Despite the military and Congress' position, Zelaya pressed forward, vowing last week that he would push for the referendum. His four-year term was scheduled to end in January 2010, and under current law he could not run for re-election.