After 27 years at the helm of the evangelistic Power Team ministry, founder John Jacobs announced his retirement in May.

The 43-year-old attributed the move to the pressure of leading a large ministry, coupled with several personal “hits” in the last three years, including a divorce and hasty remarriage that was later annulled, the death of his parents and financial hardship brought on after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A statement from The Power Team said it was time for Jacobs “to go on with his own life, separated from this ministry, so he can focus on identifying, clarifying, and letting the Lord refresh and purify him in several key areas.”

Jacobs said he had not been asked to retire. “But I felt like God wanted me to go deeper,” he said. “I believe it was my timing for my life to build structure, to go deeper, to finish some emotional healing, some wounds from friends.”

Jacobs said he will continue doing feats of strength and speaking in churches. He is scheduled to be in several hundred schools next year, he said, and is working on a project that will target some of the nation’s most troubled schools.

Based in Dallas, The Power Team hosts events in churches, prisons and schools across the country and abroad, and has seen thousands come to Christ.

But after Jacobs’ divorce in 2000 from his wife of 16 years, several members left to form a similar group called Team Impact. Jacobs was accused of assaulting one of its members, Jeff Audas, in May 2000, but the misdemeanor charge was dropped. In August 2002, Jacobs filed for personal and ministry bankruptcy, leading to a reorganization of the Power Team and the appointment of a trustee who oversees the group’s finances.

Jacobs’ personal bankruptcy was reversed in May after a bankruptcy court determined that he “exhibited a reckless disregard for the truth” in disclosing his financial condition.

In its May 14 statement, The Power Team said it had assembled an apostolic board of spiritual leaders as well as a performance board to manage day-to-day operations. They said the changes would “insure the future success of this ministry.”

Jacobs plans to remarry this summer. He said he is living in an apartment, driving a Ford Taurus and “really enjoying living the simple life.” He asked that Christians pray for him “and to pull for me spiritually. … After being with The Power Team for 27 years, it has definitely taken a toll. … I’d appreciate, really, people’s prayers.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

A jubilant 17-hour celebration drew a million people to the nation’s capital over Easter weekend
In what Christian leaders hailed as a historic event, a million believers from various denominations in Mexico united over the Easter weekend to proclaim Christ in the country’s capital.

Observers say the Mexico City gathering–which evangelicals deemed inconceivable just 12 years ago because of anti-Protestant laws
in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation–reflects the growing revival that is sweeping through Latin America, where the great majority of believers are Pentecostals.

On April 19, pastors, ministry leaders and lay people representing more than 20,000 churches converged in the world’s largest city–population more than 23 million–for Marcha de Gloria, or March of Glory.

“This is a historic day in Mexico,” said Carlos Quiroa, 42, who helped start the march in the early 1990s. The pastor of Strong Tower Church, a 1,000-member charismatic congregation in Mexico City, added: “This meeting is the largest meeting ever of Christians [in Mexico].”

Celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, the March for Jesus-type event featured a 10-mile procession on Reform Avenue, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, which saw four of its eight lanes closed to traffic for the march. Costing $300,000 and financed by numerous churches and ministries, the massive 17-hour event required hundreds of police and security personnel.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Maricela Ramírez, whose husband, Jaime, pastors 350-member Nueva Vida Foursquare Church in Santa Barbara, Calif. The couple had traveled to Mexico City along with California-based Argentinean evangelist Alberto Mottesi, who was the main speaker.

“It’s impressive that all of these people are here to lift up the name of Jesus,” Ramírez told Charisma as she surveyed the huge procession. “Mexico City will not be the same after this.”

The march–which took three hours to complete–featured a praise band and 400 dancers in white and green uniforms. Young and old alike carried Christian signs, banners and balloons with Scripture verses.

Broadcast live on 130 Christian radio stations throughout Mexico, the march culminated at the Zócalo. The city’s main square, it features the National Cathedral–headquarters of the country’s Catholic Church–and the National Palace, the office of the president and Mexico’s lawmakers.

“The march ends here because it’s the historical, political and religious heart of all of Mexico,” said Cecelia Pezet, 49, pastor of a 500-member full gospel church in Mexico City who, with her sister, Mercedes, launched the march with Quiroa.

The rally–which began at 6 p.m. April 19 and ran through 7 a.m. the following day–featured continuous praise and worship, prayer and preaching. The all-night vigil rivaled the excitement and atmosphere of a Latin American championship soccer game, as the majority of the participants stood, danced, raised their hands and shouted “Christ is alive” and “Make way for Jesus Christ”–the theme of the seventh annual event.

“Christ who walked in Israel 2,000 years ago is here today,” Mottesi told the massive crowd during a steady drizzle. “I’ve come here to tell you that there is a great revival happening in all of Latin America, including the Mexican republic,” he said.

Mottesi, 61, is among Latin America’s leading evangelists, and his influence is often compared to Billy Graham’s. “Mexico is about to have one of the biggest revivals in the history of Christianity,” he told the crowd.

Quiroa said Mexican Christians look forward to the gathering every year. “This time of year is for vacations, but the Christians stay here, and they prefer to go to the march,” said Quiroa, who estimated that about 50,000 people have accepted Christ through the marches. “They expect miracles and healings. There are many people who bring their unsaved family members to the march in order to bring them to God.”

The thousands gathered at the Zócalo erupted in a loud roar, even as the rain came down harder. “Nobody is leaving, despite the rain,” said Antonio Reza, 40, pastor of a Hispanic Southern Baptist Church in Moreno Valley, Calif., who attended the event as part of Mottesi’s team. “They’re so hungry for the power and presence of God. It’s amazing.”
Eric Tiansay in Mexico City

Australia’s prime minister was on hand for the opening of Hillsong Church’s 3,500-seat convention facility
Sydney’s Olympic Superdome, built for the 2000 Games, will resound with acclamation for Jesus this month as the 2003 Hillsong Conference gets under way.

Some 15,000 Christians are expected to attend the five-day event, hosted by Hillsong Church and now in its 17th year. Its teachings on leadership, worship, evangelism and other areas of ministry are widely regarded as a benchmark for the contemporary church. In recent years it has drawn increasing numbers of participants from the United States and other countries.

From humble beginnings in 1983, Hillsong Church has grown into Australia’s largest church, with 14,000 members in several congregations across Sydney. There are also Hillsong churches in London and Kiev, capital of the former Soviet republic Ukraine.

In October Australian Prime Minister John Howard participated in the grand opening of Hillsong Church’s new convention center. The facility, located in a modern business park in Sydney’s northwestern suburbs, contains a 3,500-seat auditorium, a large youth meeting hall, college lecture theatres, Sunday school rooms and a day-care center. The complex is fitted with state-of-the-art sound, lighting and media systems, and is considered one of Australia’s most technologically advanced buildings.

Surveying the crowd packed in for the opening, Howard said: “It’s a great gathering, and what touches me is the exuberance and the openness of your commitment. I admire the commitment, the evident reach, and the capacity of a Christian church to grow as you have grown in an age which is increasingly secular.

“Most importantly I pay tribute to the fact that you are serving not only the canons of your religious belief, but you are also serving the interest of the community and the interest of our nation.”

Hillsong’s senior pastor, Assemblies of God National President Brian Houston, says relevance to individuals’ needs has been the key to the church’s growth. “That is why we see over 100 people make commitments to Christ every week,” Houston said. “Our church is an enigma in every way because Australians have a perception that the church is old, irrelevant, empty and boring. But Hillsong Church is relatively young, contemporary and full.

“Perhaps outside our walls Hillsong Church is best known for its music, but I think that the music is a reflection of what is happening inside our church. What keeps people coming is what is added to their lives and families by the various ministries of our church.”

Hillsong’s worship album Blessed caused a media flurry when the week after its July 2002 release it landed at No. 4 on the Australian Record Industry Association chart, just behind rapper Eminem. In March the church recorded 19 live worship songs for their upcoming album Hope, which will be released at the Hillsong conference.

Worship pastor Darlene Zschech says their music’s cross-cultural appeal is a reflection of their desire to stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit. She says talent ranks way down on the list of qualities she looks for in worship-team members.

“I’m always saying, ‘Remember the first time you got saved, and this song of worship in you was like a fire, and it had to get out. Is it still there?'” she said. “We’re always teaching and challenging each other and ourselves on these things.”

In addition to the success, there have been some tests along the way. In the last three years allegations of sexual misconduct were brought against Houston’s father, Frank, and Pat Mesiti, a close friend. Both were high-profile Assemblies of God ministers. Houston permanently withdrew his father’s ministry credentials and barred Mesiti from ministry pending a lengthy restoration process. He believes his handling of the situations has had a positive outcome.

“Obviously, as a leader I have had to make some strong decisions, and I believe that our church has respected me and our eldership for this, and that is why our church has seen some of its best growth in its history in this time.”

The new facility and Prime Minister Howard’s visit are clearly milestones, but Houston expects Hillsong to continue doing what he says it has always done–“to champion the cause of the local church and set a model that inspires others.”

Adrian Brookes in Sydney, Australia

The group, considered by many to be a cult, reportedly has been in ‘chaos’ since its top leader stepped down
The only thing that seems certain about the controversial International Church of Christ (ICOC) is that the organization is in a state of flux.

A recent leadership change and a widely circulated letter by a British leader critical of the group’s practices are provoking speculation about the organization’s direction and future.

The ICOC, founded in 1979 and also known as the Boston Church of Christ, is considered by many to be a cult. Claiming more than 100,000 members, the ICOC has been banned on at least 40 college campuses. Attention has been focused on the group’s aggressive recruiting practices and its insistence that followers be baptized and discipled by the ICOC. Former members claim the group teaches they are the only ones going to heaven.

However, after the group’s founder Kip McKean stepped down from his leadership position late last year to address self-described “character sins,” a leader from one cult watchdog group described the ICOC as being in “a state of chaos.”

“Nobody is stepping into a clear leadership position,” said James Walker, president of the Watchman Fellowship. “They really haven’t replaced the leadership position that Kip held. They are like a ship without a rudder and are hemorrhaging people.”

ICOC spokesman Al Baird disagreed, telling Charisma the church is a “movement in progress” and that the facts don’t bear out Walker’s statement. “We’re going through transition, not chaos,” he said. “We’re growing, not dwindling.”

Baird described the change as a “maturing of the movement from a one-person to a consensus-style leadership” and “a move in the right direction” toward its stated goal of trying to restore New Testament Christianity. Baird said the feedback he has received overall about the changes has been positive.

The Boston Globe reported that McKean’s resignation came as a result of his daughter’s decision to leave the church. He was forced to resign because of his rule that leaders must step down if their children leave the ministry. He said in 2000 “that when a teen falls away [from the church] … there are some sinful dynamics in that family,” the Globe said.

In addition to McKean’s resignation, a 39-page letter written in February by Henry Kriete, a current leader in the London Church of Christ, and addressed primarily to the leaders of the ICOC, is being widely discussed. The letter has been circulated on the Internet and calls for ICOC leaders to repent and renounce their abusive practices and aberrant teachings.

Michelle Campbell, director and co-founder of REVEAL, an organization aimed at helping former ICOC members, said Kriete’s letter is “very much like that of the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. There was inappropriate behavior and disorder, and he wrote to them in hopes of turning their hearts toward the will of God rather than on the will of man.”

However, Walker said while it could be a genuine attempt to change the legalism in the church, the problem of the movement’s message of salvation by works has yet to be dealt with. But the letter “shows something big is happening,” he said. “Whether it’s for better or worse I don’t know, but I’m optimistic.”

Activist Dave Anderson, founder of , a Web site
providing recovery information for those affected by the ICOC, said the church’s leadership has apparently become decentralized. “Local leaders seem to have the ability to chart the course,” he told Charisma. “Some are making changes, and some are standing fast, but it’s really hard to say what they’re doing. They’ve lost uniformity.”

Prior to McKean’s resignation he had taken a one-year sabbatical, which according to a November 2001 statement was to address “serious shortcomings in our marriage and family.” McKean is currently on staff at the 9,000-member Los Angeles International Church of Christ.
Jeremy Reynalds

Travel the Road hopes to attract young adults to missionary journeys through ‘reality TV with a purpose’
With the world’s largest Christian TV network as their platform, two 20-something Californians are hoping to attract young adults to venture into the mission field with their “reality TV with a purpose.”

Travel the Road (TTR), which premiered in May on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), chronicles the extreme expeditions of Timothy Scott and William Decker, who backpacked for 18 months across 40,000 miles and 25 countries, including many that are hostile to the gospel, such as Cambodia, Laos, Ethiopia and China.

Billed as a pioneer of Christian programming that is “like no other show,” the 12-episode series is set in exotic National Geographic locations with Survivor cinematography, combined with the drama of Fear Factor and the excitement of Amazing Race.

But unlike those reality TV programs, TTR’s theme is the Great Commission, as Scott and Decker–with nothing more than their Bibles, passports, pocket money, the clothes on their backs and a video camera–sought to share Jesus with unreached people groups, despite the lack of local contacts and translators.

During their sojourn from September 2000 to February 2002, which entailed travel via trains, boat, bus and a gasoline tanker, the pair filmed their physical and emotional trials, and logistical difficulties. But they also showed accounts of salvation, healing and deliverance from demonic spirits.

“The Scripture says, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel.’ They’ve taken that literally, showing us ministry in action by praying and laying hands on the sick, and ministering to the lost,” said Paul Crouch Jr., TBN’s vice president of program development. “They’re taking the words of Christ and so graphically illustrating it for today’s generation.”

Phil Smethurst is the founder of Overland Missions, a Port Canaveral, ministry that takes young adults on extreme expeditions. He said Scott and Decker–whom he has known for two years–have “a genuine heart for missions.”

“When … on the mission field, they are more concerned with the souls of the people than the actual video production,” said Smethurst, 35. “Many times they lose their best footage because it’s not appropriate for the villagers. … Our vision dovetails real well with their vision. This ministry is definitely birthed of God.”

But Scott and Decker, who live in Hermosa Beach, Calif., took contrasting paths in becoming a modern version of the apostle Paul and Barnabas.

A former intern for Paine Webber, Scott planned to become a stockbroker in 1998 after receiving degrees in biblical studies and business administration from Vision Christian Bible College in Denver. But during a weeklong mission trip to the Czech Republic, Scott–who was 19 at the time–says God burdened him to go overseas and preach the gospel.

Scott, now 25, was good friends with Decker, 29, a professional photographer who attended a Denver art college with Scott’s brother, Mike. Although he wasn’t a Christian at the time, Decker, who was 24 then, accepted Scott’s invitation in 1998 to travel overseas because he was “looking for a change.”

As the pair made their way from New Guinea to Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia, Decker says he saw the Lord “undeniably” working through Scott as he prayed and witnessed to people. Scott eventually led him to the Lord in Bangkok, Thailand.

“From then on, the Lord really moved in my life,” said Decker, who attends several Los Angeles-area charismatic churches with Scott.

After the two came back to the United States in 1999, Decker and Scott launched a TTR Web site to share photographs and accounts of their journey. On their next trip in 2000 they brought a video camera to record their travels.

“Our purpose or plan was never to take a camera to shoot a television series,” said Scott, whose brother, Mike, serves as TTR’s producer. “Our first focus was to minister the gospel.”

Highlights of their adventures included camping out in Ethiopia with lions outside their tent; ministering to a family in the Himalayas; preaching to thousands in Burundi, where hundreds responded to an altar call; and praying for a Korean woman who was healed of altitude sickness in Tibet.

“We both realized that the power of the gospel is sharper than any two-edged sword,” Scott said. “The biggest thing we realized is people everywhere are looking for a union with God.”

After editing 300 hours of footage to seven hours for the series, the duo will hit the road again by September. They say they’ll be gone for at least two years, with scheduled visits to northern China, Mongolia, Siberia and eastern Russia. As with previous journeys, the pair–who receive support from donors–expect their upcoming journey to cost about $12,000 each.
Eric Tiansay

Pastor Marty Harris says his innovative outreach is an “emergency room” for people who have fallen through the cracks
A church for the homeless in Southern California and an outreach shelter to the same in New Mexico are setting examples for ministries to follow and inspiring others to respond to Jesus’ command to help the helpless.

Marty Harris, a psychologist and associate provost at a Christian university in Orange County, Calif., pastors one of the few churches in America whose congregation is mostly homeless.

“I had no experience in this type of thing,” said Harris, who leads the Vineyard Homeless Church in Santa Ana. “I used to be afraid of homeless people. My mom taught me to walk on the other side of the street if you saw one. Now some of my best friends are schizophrenic and homeless. Experiencing a friendship with people like that has changed my world.”

The church often meets outdoors in front of the county courthouse or in a Presbyterian church’s fellowship hall. Ministry teams set up tables and prepare food, and one team goes out to round up a congregation. When the parishioners are gathered—a regular group of more than 100 street people—they worship together, hear a sermon, eat a hot meal and enjoy fellowship.

As much as he can, Harris offers practical help with struggles such as criminal behavior, promiscuity, prostitution and drugs. About a third who attend are truly homeless. Another third are temporarily homeless, and the rest come from nearby apartments.

“Some are actively psychotic before and after services, but not during,” Harris said. “They won’t eat our food because they think it’s full of snakes. They will be hearing voices and yelling, then sit quietly through the service and help clean up. It’s their time with God.”

Harris earned a doctorate in clinical psychology and studied at Cornell University. Helping the homeless was the last thing on his mind when he accepted a professorship at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif. Then he was invited to speak at the church and “fell in love with the people.” He became their pastor four years ago.

For those in homeless ministry, the costs are great, but the benefits are greater. In Albuquerque, N.M., Jeremy Reynalds runs a homeless shelter for men, women and their families. Joy Junction serves as many as 6,000 people a year at its 52-acre campus and is the largest homeless shelter in the state.

“They provide an invaluable service to the city, county and state, all at no expense to the taxpayer,” said Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez in a letter of praise.

A typical stay at Joy Junction can be two to three months, and residents are required to attend Bible studies and participate in other activities essential to reintegration into mainstream society.

“I never had any idea that I would spend my life helping homeless families,” Reynalds said. “While providing meals and a place to stay are obviously an essential part of what we do, the most important thing we do is present Jesus to these folk who come to us for help.”

Back in Santa Ana, Calif., Harris’ homeless church is supported mainly from his own income, with insurance and food as the main expenses. He brings students and fellow faculty members to Sunday services.

“Many [students] are surprised by the number of homeless in Orange County and the prevalence of mental illness,” Harris said. “They realize how much they have and are grateful. Some even find their … calling in the homeless church.”

There are many reasons for people becoming homeless, Harris said. They may have serious physical ailments, drug addictions or a poor work ethic. Many are mentally ill.

Harris’ approach to helping the homeless is as complex as their histories. Some can be transitioned into mainstream society. Others benefit from finding their families or getting care for mental illness. But others seem to defy assistance.

“You can’t force someone to seek medication, and sometimes they are unwanted by their families,” Harris said. “Sometimes you resolve that this is their quality of life and this is how they’ll worship. Maybe my role is not to make them better but to give them a chance to worship and connect with people.

“My hope and dream, of course, is never to have a homeless church—to come and nobody’s there. Our church is not the ideal. It’s the emergency room.”
Joel Kilpatrick

Participation in an annual prayer campaign called ‘Objectif France’ has more than doubled in the last four years
After four years of organized prayer effort, French Christians are seeing their nation of 60 million people change before their eyes. “Many things are changing in the spiritual realms of our country,” prayer campaign coordinator Jacky Minard said, “and we are hearing many testimonies of a new openness to evangelism.”

The “Objectif France” movement–dubbed France 2003 this year–has steadily gained momentum among churches and prayer groups since its initiation in 2000. In a nation where fewer than 1 percent of the population are Christian, the prayer effort has doubled, growing from 700 churches and prayer groups participating to more than 1,500.

Central to the campaign is a comprehensive prayer guide. Written by the movement’s organizers and other French Christian leaders, the guide rallies churches and prayer groups around a common theme each year, inspiring prayer for France. To promote informed intercession, each guide contains historical and
current information with prayer focuses for each of the 40 days.

The 2003 prayer guide, Shine Your Light On Our Nation, featured six sections covering France’s spiritual outlook, the church, public life, the Francophone world, society and prayer for cities.

Some 4,600 prayer guides in the French language were sold this year, an increase of more than 30 percent over 2002, Minard said. A free English version of the guide is accessible online at .

Throughout the annual campaign, which occurs the 40 days before Easter, churches and prayer groups encourage members to pray individually and to attend corporate prayer gatherings. “We have everything from Protestant Reformed churches to evangelical churches to charismatic Catholic prayer groups involved,” Minard said. “The campaign is becoming well-known throughout the French church.”

The 2002 campaign focused on the transformation of French society–specifically for repentance of France’s transgressions against its African colonies, reforms in the educational system and the reversal of government corruption.

Organizers have documented a number of answered prayers since then:

* In March 2003 French President Jacques Chirac made a historic visit to the former French colony of Algeria and expressed a desire for reconciliation.

*In 2002, a French minister of education asked his cabinet to reintroduce a religious studies curriculum for French schools after a 27-year vacuum of religious studies in the educational system.

* Perhaps most encouraging, after a 20-year hold on the government by the left-wing majority, the right wing took the National Assembly last year.

“With a Catholic-Christian heritage in the right wing you could say there is some fear of God there,” Minard said.

Since the 2002 elections, France has experienced a major transformation in the way the government views religion, specifically Christianity, Minard added. Before then, the government looked upon evangelical churches with the same suspicion as religious sects.

“Officials here recognize the failure of ‘republican’ values to change behavior and feel that only religion can give us a moral base,” Minard said. “They think the only religion that can really bring development is Christianity and that the most dynamic Christian churches are evangelical.”

For John Beynon, a British missionary with World Horizons who conceived the idea for the prayer campaign, these are signs of the power of prayer. “When you get the majority of the body of Christ in a nation to fast and pray, God answers, and it starts to change the country,” he said.

Beynon and Minard hope to see more changes such as these resulting from this campaign, which they plan to continue through 2005. Beynon said: “We want to keep praying until there has been a total national transformation.”
Jeff Slaughter in Lille, France

Ron Phillips says his Fresh Oil ministerial fellowship is growing as the movement gains reluctant acceptance
Southern Baptist affiliates of a charismatic network of churches known as Fresh Oil represent just 1 percent of the denomination’s 43,000 congregations. But Fresh Oil’s leader says there is a grudging acceptance developing within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Ron Phillips acknowledges that many Baptists frown on spiritual gifts, and some state conventions remain hostile to charismatics. However, because the denomination supports local church autonomy, many think if a congregation supports mission work that it should be left alone, he explained.

Regardless of where fellow Baptists stand, Fresh Oil members are no longer concerned with debating the issue. “In Tennessee there is openness and acceptance, not disagreement,” said Phillips, pastor of Central Baptist Church in suburban Chattanooga, Tenn. “But we’re past rubbing each other’s wounds. We’re moving on to missions.”

Now five years old, the network has cooperated with both the SBC and independent agencies to help build five churches overseas. Attendees at March’s annual conference donated $30,000 to overseas missions.

With his services aired weekly on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Phillips’ outspoken nature rankles cessationists within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Yet they can’t get upset with his church’s annual gifts of nearly $200,000 to regional and national SBC causes.

Central Baptist supports the convention because it agrees with its evangelistic spirit. And despite disapproval of charismatic gifts by the convention’s domestic mission agency, the scene is different overseas.

“At least half the international mission force operates in the power of the Spirit,” Phillips said. “They can’t work without it. I’ve been on the field and seen evidence of it.”

Some of the 450 Baptist pastors (an overwhelming majority of the group’s 500 affiliated ministers) who identify with Fresh Oil report mixed reactions to their stance.

Dwain Miller of Second Baptist Church in El Dorado, Ark., said no state or regional official has ever complained about his emphasis on the fullness of the Spirit. Nor is his embrace of the movement as controversial as it was five years ago.

“I preach in a lot of fundamental churches, and we agree to disagree,” Miller said. “Fresh Oil is a fellowship of hungry and thirsty people who are tired of the same old thing.”

The annual conference gives laypersons a chance to see what a church looks like where the glory of God is present, he added.

At this year’s meeting, a member of his church–who previously had a vision of God’s glory flowing into Second Baptist–interceded for Miller. In addition to having a similar vision, he sensed that April 27 represented a key turning point.

The evening of April 27, a traditional Sunday evening service ran for three hours as numerous people confessed and repented of wrongdoing, the pastor said.

“It’s an old-fashioned spiritual awakening and revival,” said Miller, who has seen record numbers accept Christ this year. “I see God pouring out His glory.”

Two other SBC pastors who departed for nondenominational churches say they now feel much freer to move in the Spirit. Dwain Kitchens’ views on the Holy Spirit changed after his son’s radical conversion in Teen Challenge. The following year the pastor encountered the Spirit at a Jim Cymbala conference in Tampa.

Although only a small contingent at his church in Florida resisted his openness to spiritual gifts, last year Kitchens moved to Cathedral in the Pines in Beaumont, Texas.

“I was 46 and wanted to go out and flap my wings a little bit,” the pastor said. “I knew that would cause trouble. Most guys my age and younger would say the gifts are valid, but they aren’t embracing it. I knew some pastors who were, but they were certainly in the minority.”

An Alabama pastor who left the SBC in 1999 sees many Baptists driving up to an hour to attend his charismatic church, which draws more than 1,100 worshipers a week. Eddie Lawrence of Faith Tabernacle in Florence, Ala., thinks they are drawn by God’s presence.

“What I see happening is spearheaded by worship,” Lawrence said. “This seems to be what God is using to bring breakthrough. As people experience the Spirit of God and feel the Father’s presence, there’s nothing that can replace that.”

Regardless of opposition within the SBC, John Kilpatrick senses a mighty move of the Spirit in Fresh Oil. The pastor of Brownsville Assembly of God, home of the world-renowned Pensacola Revival, Kilpatrick was one of several charismatic speakers at the March meetings.

When he spoke, many people hit the floor, crying and asking God for forgiveness. Kilpatrick said whenever he talks about God’s presence, the Holy Spirit invariably comes.

“I don’t know enough about the background of Southern Baptists to gauge the hunger,” Kilpatrick said. “I only know when I was there, it felt a lot like Brownsville.”
Ken Walker

Pentecostal missionaries in Uganda began the ministry to help children orphaned by AIDS and war
With exotic African rhythms sounding in the background, 11-year-old Benon Kalinimi smiled, sang and danced as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Had he not told his testimony, the audience at First United Methodist Church in Phoenix likely would never have thought the young Ugandan had been orphaned or that his future once looked bleak.

After both of his parents died of AIDS, Benon ended up among Uganda’s estimated 1.1 million orphaned children, and was forced to hustle daily searching for food in the streets of the capital city, Kampala. That was before he encountered Watoto Child Care Ministries.

Today he and 17 other children, ages 6 to 13, are traveling throughout the United States spreading a message of joy and hope through song and dance as part of the Watoto Children’s Choir. With a newfound faith in Christ, Benon told the audience at a recent Concert of Hope that he wants to become a doctor “to provide free health care to the poor people in Uganda.” He credits his involvement with the choir as a major turning point in his young life.

“This experience changes their lives like you cannot believe,” said Timothy Skinner, who co-wrote all of the songs for the choir with his brother, James. “Kids who were introverted, shy and lacked self-confidence learn to work together, get to see the world and [gain] a sense of achievement.”

The ministry was founded in 1991 by Skinner’s parents, Canadian missionaries Gary and Marilyn Skinner, to care for the thousands of Ugandan children orphaned by AIDS and civil war. Today it has bases in the United States, Canada and England, and since 1994 has been sending the choir around the world to minister free of charge, using a blend of contemporary gospel, African rhythm and dance. The children audition to be in the choir and are allowed to participate in only one tour.

Timothy Skinner, who is the choir coordinator, said the tour helps to increase awareness about the AIDS crisis in Uganda and raise money for the Watoto (translated “the children”) ministry through love offerings during concerts.

Calling Watoto a “spiritual discipleship program,” Skinner said the 40 children selected each year for the choir go through a four-month training period during which they learn English, dance choreography, social etiquette and teamwork. When on tour, the children participate in daily Bible studies.

Though the choir now has a robust schedule, its first U.S. tour was a step of faith. After traveling to the United States, Gary Skinner–who moved from Toronto in 1983 to plant 8,000-member Kampala Pentecostal Church, which is affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada–purchased a used bus and literally booked the tour out of the yellow pages.

Today there are enough invitations to support two choirs,with one touring the United States and another in Australia. The choirs spend six months on the road at a cost of $50,000 each. Sales of T-shirts, CDs, videos and jewelry, along with offerings and sponsorships, fund the tours. When the tour is completed, the children return to Watoto’s children’s villages and remain under the direction of the ministry.

Watoto raises money to build single-family homes for the orphans. So far, 60 homes, at a cost of roughly $10,000 each, have been built in three villages. Each house accommodates eight children and a housemother, who looks after the children.

Nearly 1,500 children receive care through the ministry, though the Skinners hope to one day help as many as 30,000. Future plans include building a secondary school, technical training college, retreat center and children’s camp.

“Our goal is to equip these precious children with the essential moral values and life skills,” Gary Skinner said. “That will enable them to make a significant and lasting impact on the future of their country.”
Bruce Goolsby in Phoenix

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For more information about Watoto Child Care Ministries, write to P.O. Box 1320, Lutz, FL 33548-1320, call (813) 948-4343, or visit .

Kidnapped by Muslim militants in the Philippines, the widowed survivor says Christians ‘need to show we care’
An American missionary whose husband died in a gun battle ending the couple’s yearlong ordeal as hostages of Islamic extremists says that only God’s love can stem the rising tide of religious violence in the world.

“We need to find ways to defuse the raging resentment and hatred that fuels ‘holy war’ and introduce a God who does more than demand rituals–He truly loves us,” Gracia Burnham has urged.

“They need to know what it feels like to be forgiven. They need us [Christians] to show we care,” she wrote in In the Presence of My Enemies, recently released by Tyndale House Publishers.

The 309-page book tells the story of the New Tribes Missions (NTM) workers’ harrowing experiences in the Philippine jungle, after they were abducted by members of the Abu Sayyaf, a group with links to Osama bin Laden.

Missionary pilot Martin Burnham died June 7, 2002, when he was accidentally shot by Filipino troops attempting a rescue. Gracia Burnham was wounded in the thigh, but recovered and is now back in the United States, where she is raising the couple’s three children.

“People in today’s world will not pay attention to Christians because we can explain our theology in crystal-clear terms,” she wrote. “They will not esteem us because we give to charity or maintain a positive outlook on life. What will impress them is genuine love in our hearts.”

Burnham tells how her 43-year-old pilot husband was a tower of strength as they endured sickness, danger and hunger–at one stage reduced to eating leaves. They were caught in more than a dozen firefights between their abductors and would-be rescuers, but he encouraged her to continue to trust God, as she struggled with depression and doubt.

“I hope nobody calls me a hero because I know the facts about the bitterness that blazed in my heart that year,” she admitted in her book. “I still have lots of maturing to do. … We all have pockets of darkness inside ourselves. Recognizing how much I carry inside of me was one of the most difficult parts of my entire ordeal.”

In her account, Burnham–who was featured in several major network TV interviews in May–recalled how her husband shared his faith with some of the guerillas. She revealed that in one of his journal entries near the end of their captivity he wrote: “I really feel like I’m going to die here. … God, please give us strength for the journey.”

Although she knew she was supposed to forgive her captors “the truth is that I often hated them,” she wrote. “I despised them not only for snatching me away from my family … but also for forcing me to see a side of myself I didn’t like.”

Burnham said that she later came to accept that what happened was “no one’s fault except that of sinful human beings, the kind we came to the Philippines to help.” She said that she refused to let what happened “dampen my joy or detract from the love that God means to flourish in my heart.”

She wrote: “Some people in America want me to be offended and angry and bitter with the [U.S.] government for not doing this or that [to secure our release]. Others want me to be depressed and morose–the poor, whimpering widow. I can’t be either of those.”

Burnham–who has launched a foundation in her husband’s name to raise money for mission aviation and tribal mission projects–says she wrote the book to “honor the legacy of a wise and godly man who kept me going, trail after trail, gun battle after gun battle,” and resolves to “keep living in the embrace of God’s gladness and love for as long as He gives me breath.”

Although NTM refused to give in to ransom demands, some of the couple’s relatives arranged a $300,000 payment–though it did not result in the pair’s release.

The Burnhams’ ordeal was not the first time that the Sanford, organization–which focuses on missionary efforts among tribal groups–became the focus of a worldwide prayer campaign.

Three NTM workers were abducted by armed guerillas in Panama in 1993, sparking an eight-year effort to learn of their fate. It was not until two years ago that mission leaders were able to confirm that the men had been killed in 1996, shot by their abductors during a Colombian military raid.
Andy Butcher