HOSTAGE SAYS “GOD BROUGHT” ATLANTA FUGITIVE TO HER
In the days after an Atlanta fugitive’s capture March 12, few could stop talking about Ashley Smith, the 26-year-old widow whose 9-1-1 call effectively ended the two-day manhunt. Authorities say Smith’s gentleness contributed to Brian Nichols’ peaceful surrender after he held her for more than seven hours in her suburban Atlanta apartment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. On March 11, Nichols, 33, a jailed defendant in a rape trial in Atlanta, overpowered a deputy and fatally shot a superior court judge, court reporter, sheriff’s deputy and off-duty customs agent before taking Smith hostage. Smith reportedly talked to Nichols about faith, read from The Purpose-Driven Life and told him that he must be held accountable for what he did, but his life still has a purpose. By ministering to other inmates, “you can go to jail and save many more people than you killed,” Smith told him. When Nichols let her go so she could visit her 5-year-old daughter, Smith called the police. While some observers say Smith was too kind to Nichols, others say she exemplified Christian principles, showing him that though he was wounded and messed up, he was not beyond redemption, the New York Times reported.

CALIFORNIA JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled March 14 that withholding marriage licenses from homosexuals would constitute discrimination, the Associated Press reported. “Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before,” Kramer wrote in his decision in a pair of lawsuits seeking to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage. The decision was automatically stayed for 60 days, allowing time for both sides to appeal. Both opponents and supporters are expecting a long fight. “The decision will be gasoline on the fire of the pro-marriage movement in California as well as the rest of the country,” said Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, which is representing the Campaign for California Families, one of two groups defending the ban.

CARDINAL TELLS CATHOLICS TO SHUN DAVINCI CODE
One of the Roman Catholic Church’s top theologians condemned Dan Brown’s best-selling novel March 16, telling the faithful to avoid The DaVinci Code “because this is rotten food,” Reuters reported. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said Brown’s book, which asserts that Christ married Mary Magdalene and fathered children, is “a sack full of lies” that insults the Christian faith. The highest-ranking Catholic leader to oppose the book, Bertone urged Catholic booksellers to remove it from their shelves because the novel sows doubt and confusion. “I am happy that a lot of people have been put on the alert and that I have sounded the alarm of vigilance against the spread of this book,” he told Reuters. “I have arrived too late. Millions of copies have been sold. I can’t hope to slow down sales, but at least to prompt a critical response.” Brown declined to comment, but his publisher, Doubleday, issued a statement saying the book merely examined centuries-old ideas “in an accessible work of fiction,” Reuters reported.

United Pentecostal Leader Nathaniel Urshan Dies

The Rev. Nathaniel Urshan, former leader of United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI), died March 11 at the age of 84. A former minor league baseball player, Urshan went into the ministry after surviving a near-fatal bout with tuberculosis. In 1949 the Pentecostal preacher’s kid became pastor of Calvary Tabernacle in Indianapolis and served the ministry for 30 years. He went on to become general superintendent of the UPCI, a Oneness Pentecostal denomination that grew from 400,000 members to more than 4 million during his tenure from 1978 to 2002. Funeral services were held March 17 at Calvary Tabernacle. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jean; a daughter; two sons; 13 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

Pat Robertson Turns 75

More than 1,000 people gathered in San Antonio March 11-13 to celebrate Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat RobertsonÕs 75th birthday. Also a fund-raiser for the Robertson Endowed Honors Scholarship, the weekend included a Black-Tie-and-Boots gala, golf tournament and barbeque..Participants included Sen. Sam Brownback, Foursquare President Jack Hayford, former Rep. Dick Armey, author Max Lucado, Curves founder Gary Heavin and former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who is to serve as a distinguished professor of law and government at Regent University beginning July 1. The Oak Ridge Boys and Randy Travis provided special music.

200 Million to Convene For Global Prayer Day

As many as 200 million Christians are expected to unite in prayer May 15 for what is being considered the world’s largest prayer gathering ever. Spawned from continentwide prayer gatherings that began in South Africa in 2001, the Global Day of Prayer (www.glob aldayofprayer.com) is expected to be broadcast on television, radio and the Internet, Assist News Service reported. Stadium events are planned in Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Egypt, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Argentina, Dallas, and Alberta, Canada.

BOOKS

The Divine Visitor
By Jack Hayford, Integrity Publishers,
hardcover, 224 pages, $18.99.

Do you need to take a deeper look at who Jesus is–His deity, His humanity, His suffering and His death–and what this meant to humanity? With piercing clarity, Jack Hayford uses vibrant imagery of a soldier’s surprise visit home to illustrate God’s visit to Earth to rescue mankind in his latest book, The Divine Visitor: What Really Happened When God Came Down.

Hayford, the founding pastor of The Church On the Way and chancellor of The King’s Seminary, takes the reader through God’s visit to Earth at the appointed time in history; the limits of God stepping into time and space; the frailty of humanity; the nature and character of Jesus the Visitor; and His suffering, wounds and blood for the redemption of mankind.

Hayford helps the reader grasp how Christ “lowered” Himself to become a man and how He shouldered the weight of His knowledge that the visit would ultimately lead to intense suffering and a brutal death.

In a way that is similar to the portrayal of the crucifixion in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, Hayford paints a portrait of Jesus’ visit to Earth and the work it accomplished.
Tracee N. Mason

The Nearly Perfect Crime
By Francis MacNutt, Chosen,
hardcover, 256 pages, $18.99.

Although both conservative and liberal religious establishments are likely to squeal with indignation at MacNutt’s thesis, this is a significant work that will help more Christians appreciate the vital nature of healing ministry.

A combination history book, commentary and call to restore healing to a place of prominence, The Nearly Perfect Crime: How the Church Almost Killed the Ministry of Healing will stir a passionate response within open-minded readers.

One emotion will be anger over the church at largely downplaying the reality of Spirit baptism, a common occurrence in the first three centuries after Christ’s birth. Another will be dismay at Protestant reformers who invented the theory that spiritual gifts died in the first century, thereby thwarting Christ’s mission of healing and deliverance.

Pentecostals and charismatics will be cheered by the former Catholic priest’s detailing of how the awakening of Pentecostalism in 1901 revived belief in healing. Yet MacNutt includes a word of correction, noting the racism white Pentecostals harbored for their black brethren a century ago, a sin we are still struggling to overcome.

Though a staunch believer in the gift of tongues, MacNutt points out that Azusa Street pioneer William Seymour came to believe that it was not glossolalia that was the best evidence of Spirit baptism, but exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit.
Ken Walker

A Biblical Guide to Counseling the Sexual Addict
By Steve Gallagher, Pure Life Ministries,
softcover, 203 pages, $13.99.

Sexual misconduct by Christians hits the news. Or it remains a silent, ignored problem people are too afraid or offended to discuss. Steve Gallagher, author of best-seller At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry, seeks to see change. In his new book, A Biblical Guide to Counseling the Sexual Addict, Gallagher addresses the troublesome issues people face and offers practical strategies for success.

Statistics related to the $10 billion annual industry of pornography, to 25 million Americans visiting cyber-sex Web sites between one and 10 hours each week, to unhealthy attitudes about sexuality, to bizarre sexual conduct and to carnal desires guiding decisions should alarm Christians– especially as Gallagher reveals that believers’ statistics match those of the unchurched.

Gallagher guides readers through the process of identifying and defeating the devil’s schemes. Those wanting change and willing to be honest can follow Gallagher’s advice to see victory over sin.
Chris Maxwell

God’s Cleansing Stream
By Chris Hayward, Regal, softcover,
176 pages , $11.99.

In his book God’s Cleansing Stream: Developing a Life-Changing Deliverance Ministry in Your Church, Chris Hayward offers a guide toward true hope for those who know Christ. Problems, addictions and defeats do not need to remain the rulers of today’s believers.

Modern self-help philosophy isn’t enough either. And Hayward, president of Cleansing Stream Ministries, defines God’s technique of true deliverance.

Though the title might frighten an audience because of unscriptural extremes in the deliverance movement, Hayward’s desire is to use a balanced, biblical guide toward freedom from bondage. Sins, he argues, no longer need to control God’s people. He believes that modern congregations can, through the Holy Spirit, engage in practical strategies to heal wounds of rejection and cleanse the stains of sexual sin that often become the footholds of demonic attack.
Chris Maxwell

FICTION

Monster
By Frank Peretti, WestBow Press,
hardcover, 464 pages, $24.99.

After waiting such a long time between his novels–six years to be exact–Frank Peretti fans will not be disappointed by this lengthy volume. Instead of demons, which he is known to write about, this time the author turns to something more tangible–a real live monster.

Monster is a fast-paced story that draws the eye down the page. Avoiding unnecessary detail, Peretti chooses not to delve deeply into each character’s background. Instead, he simply lets the plot unfold, and readers watching the hunt for this unknown creature that is wreaking havoc high in the mountains of Idaho.

Nothing like the “Darkness” novels that first made him a household name, Monster will attract an ever-widening fan base for Peretti, and as do all his works, this one will make readers think.
Christine D. Johnson

Proof
By Bill Bright and Jack Cavanaugh,
Howard Pub., softcover, 352 pages, $12.99.

Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, had a passion for the gospel and spiritual awakening and revival. Before he died, Bright teamed with award-winning writer Jack Cavanaugh to create a series of historical novels set against the backdrop of revivals in America.

On September 23, 1857, Jeremiah C. Lanphier and six other believers gathered in New York City to pray for revival. Proof is based on the times and circumstances of the resulting spiritual awakening.

J.K. Jarves is a highly respected attorney and businessman. This atheist is also conniving, controlling and bitter. After his daughter becomes a Christian, Jarves sues the church that led her to Christ.

The church’s only hope rests on an inexperienced lawyer, Harrison Shaw. The trial ultimately becomes a showdown to prove that the Holy Spirit is real.

This tale is full of suspense, corruption and intrigue. But the overriding message is the power of prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit and the proof once again that if God is for you, no one can be against you.
Leigh DeVore

MUSIC

Now Is the Time
By Anointed,
Sony Urban/Columbia Records.

Anointed is back. The duo known for such songs as “Under the Influence,” “Revive Us Again,” “The Call” and “It’s in God’s Hands Now” has returned with its sixth project, Now Is the Time.

Taking much more creative control than on previous albums, brother and sister Steve Crawford and Da’dra Crawford Greathouse wrote many of the songs. “Mighty Long Way” reminds us of God’s faithfulness. “Gonna Lift Your Name” is a festive, praise-filled track.

Steve takes the mic alone on “Now That I’m Free.” His vocal prowess and lyrical interpretation are inspiring. He also takes the lead on a tasteful remake of a song from Andraé Crouch. Anointed’s rendition of “Jesus Is Lord,” featuring Crouch with Da’dra, keeps the integrity of the original recording and gives it an updated sound.

The title tune will encourage, inspire and motivate anyone who has been waiting for the “right” time. “You Are,” a pretty ballad with sparse instrumentation, is a song of worship.

It’s nice to see the return of one of Christian music’s greatest groups.
René Williams

I Am Free
By Ross Parsley, Hosanna! Music.

Ross Parsley is the primary worship leader at New Life Church pastored by Ted Haggard in Colorado Springs, Colorado. On a new CD, recorded live, he offers fresh songs for those who enjoy the music of Phillips, Craig and Dean and Paul Baloche. Parsley’s voice is smooth, unassuming and confident, and the many well-recorded string arrangements add to the full and polished sound of the album.

All the original songs possess good melodic hooks. Beyond them, the congregational standard “How Great Thou Art,” sung with a choir and piano, adds musical diversity. Also featured are catchy modern arrangements of “I Stand in Awe” and “Fairest Lord Jesus.”

Original standout tracks include the title track, the heartfelt and lyrically powerful worship song “Hear Us From Heaven” and “Beautiful,” which talks about God’s indescribable beauty.

Though the musical style of the songs on I Am Free isn’t entirely unique, Parsley’s use of a familiar sound is powerfully effective.
Matt Fehrmann

In her new book The God Adventure, Terry Meeuwsen, co-host of CBN’s The 700 Club, challenges people to choose the extraordinary life God has for each of us.

Meeuwsen says we are created not only to be in relationship with God but also to walk through life with Him and to be used by Him. “He absolutely … wants us to come to Him with our concerns. But I think He also wants us to learn to just want to be with Him, not asking Him for anything, just letting Him pour His heart into our hearts.”

She says the adventure is trusting God enough to know that nothing is going to happen without His approval first. Once we embrace that truth “then it becomes this adventure of wanting to see His hand all around you and work in things going on around you. And the fear of what is that going to require of you or what’s the cost of that going to be fades away because the anticipation of what He is doing is just replacing it.”

In the book, Meeuwsen shares her testimony of coming to Christ and then her step of total surrender to the adventure God had for her. When she married her husband, Andy, they both determined to be risk-takers. God has led them to do many things, including adopting three sisters from Ukraine, giving them seven children.

Life is no cakewalk, Meeuwsen says, but “as far as Andy and I are concerned, there’s only one thing worse than a difficult life–and that’s an irrelevant life. A life lived in the safe, tepid shallows. A life that doesn’t make any difference at all.”
Leigh DeVore

When needs arise in the world, the church must help the church.
I hope you’ll read Matthew Green’s article on the response to the tsunami by the church in Sri Lanka (see page 54). I’m sure you’ll be inspired. As you know, we asked Charisma readers to respond generously to the need right after the tsunami hit–and so far, more than $239,000 has come in. We worked with the churches in the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) to provide immediate assistance to those who were left homeless and without food.

Then we sent Green, editor of Ministries Today, to Sri Lanka in February to see how the money was spent and how the church is responding. He brought back a good report. Not only was the money used wisely, but also the church, a persecuted minority, is showing the love of Jesus to those in need.

We made contact with the NCEASL through Clive Calver, former president of World Relief. He believes that when needs arise, the church must help the church. That’s what we did in the tsunami crisis.

But the needs are still great. Homes and churches must be rebuilt.

I hope many pastors will follow the lead of Bishop Keith Butler of Word of Faith International Christian Center in Southfield, Michigan. He had planned to take an offering for the tsunami victims and give it to a large secular relief organization. When he found out Charisma readers were helping the Christians in Sri Lanka through Christian Life Missions–Charisma’s nonprofit partner–and the NCEASL, he chose to send the donation to Christian Life Missions.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if thousands of churches would take offerings and channel them through the church to help meet the need?

We pledge to send 100 percent of what comes in to the church in Sri Lanka. Please mail your tax-deductible gift to Christian Life Missions, P.O. Box 952248, Lake Mary, Florida 32795-2248.

Secular Newsstand

We’ve all heard the expression about getting outside the four walls of the church. Charisma is making great strides next month in going beyond the boundaries of the Christian community to get the gospel message into the marketplace. Beginning with the June issue, as many as 50,000 copies of Charisma will be on secular newsstands in two major drugstore chains and in other places magazines are sold.

For many years it was nearly impossible for Christian publications to find a place among the many titles on magazine racks. But the leaders of Curtis Circulation Co. say they see a new interest in spirituality in the nation and think there are opportunities for Christian magazines. Along with Charisma, they are initially placing New Man and Vida Cristiana and later more of our titles as well.

Now we need your help in getting the word out. Tell your friends to look for one of our magazines on the newsstand. Or buy a copy and give it to someone to read. With hundreds of thousands of our readers each doing his part, I believe we can sell out of Charisma’s June issue.

Congratulations to Southeastern

On April 30 Southeastern College of the Assemblies of God in Lakeland, Florida, became Southeastern University, and we want to congratulate President Mark Rutland and his team for this important milestone. We told Rutland’s story–an inspiring account of how he provided vision to a small college that was dying–in the November 2004 issue. (See his article on higher education on page 65 of this issue.)

Many don’t know that I have ties to Southeastern going back to 1962. I was 11 years old when my father became a professor there. At the time, it was a small Bible college with only about 400 students. Later my mother graduated from Southeastern. And my brother-in-law James Ferrell was a professor at the college for nearly 30 years.

So I feel a personal tie to Southeastern even though I was never a student there. And I am happy to congratulate Rutland on the college’s new status as a university. I know that even as it grows academically, the school will retain its spiritual foundations, continuing to provide a quality higher education in a Pentecostal atmosphere.

Through her Smile of a Child foundation, the TBN co-founder is helping the world’s children
Jan Crouch is no stranger to the limelight. But on a warm day in January, the co-founder of the world’s largest Christian TV network worried that media attention would spoil the work she says God has called her to do.

“I’ve been doing it for 20 years, and I would do it as long as I lived if nobody knew about it but the children,” said Crouch, who leads the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) with her husband, Paul. Keeping it out of public view “kind of kept it precious in my heart,” she said. “It’s a personal thing the Lord just keeps blessing me to do.”

That “personal thing” is the humanitarian work she funds through her nonprofit foundation, Smile of a Child (SOAC). She gives out toys and dolls stamped with the message “Jesus loves you and He has a place in heaven for you,” as well as supplies to needy children around the world. In Costa Rica she’s building a medical facility, and in Port au Prince, Haiti, where her private plane landed for a day in January, she’s funding a hospital.

Built in cooperation with Bishop Joel R. Jeune of Grace International Inc., the $2 million project will be the most sophisticated medical facility in the nation. And despite Crouch’s efforts to remain low-key during her Jan. 27 visit, her generosity, like her signature pink hair, hardly went unnoticed.

For most of the day she was escorted by Alix Baptiste, secretary of state of Haitians living abroad. Later she met with Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue to present him with the keys to six fire trucks and three ambulances, more gifts to Haiti “from Jesus and the Christians of America,” she said.

“Let me officially thank you and the Christians of America,” Latortue said during a private meeting with Crouch and several other American Christians.

He told Crouch of his nation’s need for fire trucks last summer, and their conversation was broadcast on TBN’s Behind the Scenes in late August. “I realized I was dealing with pure Christians,” he said of the meeting. “I had no doubt one day you would be here to help the people of Haiti.”

Crouch’s work in Haiti began more than 20 years ago. When a local minister took her to a hospital for abandoned children, she saw children lying on cardboard beds, covered in newspaper, so thin “they looked like skin wrapped around a bone skeleton,” she said.

“I just kept saying: ‘Jesus, that could be me. That could be me.'”

The memory of one child still haunts her. “As I was holding him, all I could say was, ‘Jesus loves you.’ And as I was holding him, he just quit breathing and died in my arms. I said, ‘One day children won’t have to die on cement floors.'”

When the 60,000-square-foot hospital is completed this summer, it will house at least 85 beds and two operating rooms–unlike any other on the island. Crouch said the project has evolved organically, as a result of a handful of low-key requests.

Joseph Montopoli, assistant fire chief for the City of Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue in South Florida, was watching TBN one night when he saw Latortue telling Crouch that his nation needed ambulances and fire trucks.

Montopoli quickly went to work, getting his station to donate two vehicles. He then located a vendor who sold decommissioned trucks. SOAC purchased six fire trucks for roughly $35,000. One is valued at $24,000.

“As a Christian man, your heart definitely goes out to them,” said Montopoli, who will also help Haiti develop its fire department and teach rescue workers how to operate the vehicles. “Whatever I can do to help out.”

Ministers working in Haiti see the construction of the hospital and the donation of the trucks as one small sign that God is turning things around in a nation long plagued by violence, poverty and government corruption. Since the ouster of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, local ministers say the nation has seen more calm and the beginnings of needed improvements, such as road construction and sanitation work.

“The church here in Haiti is very strong,” said Luke Weaver of Florida-based Gospel Crusade, which has partnered with Jeune to oversee 260 churches in Haiti.

Weaver, who has visited Jeune’s ministry annually for 30 years, said adherence to Voodoo has decreased since 1997. That year Jeune led a team of 150 pastors in confronting a demonic spirit they believed to be behind Haiti’s involvement with Voodoo, which under Aristide had been declared the national religion.

“Haiti is in the midst of a big blessing because so many Christians have been praying for Haiti,” Weaver said. “With a stable government, other nations will pour resources into Haiti. I believe God is going to cause Haiti to become the pearl of the Caribbean; I believe it will turn into a tourist attraction.”

Other observers agree that the elections in October and November will signal a turning point. “It’s time for this nation to have God at the center of this country,” said Dr. Luc Mesadieu, a dentist and pastor who is running for president. “Forty-six percent of the nation is Christian. We have the power to take this nation for the Lord. When the right people lead a country, we have blessing.”

Mesadieu said his house and car were burned during Aristide’s regime, and his bodyguard was burned alive because he opposed the former president’s policies. Though he says Haiti is safer now that Aristide is gone, he still faces threats. “We are ready with God’s help,” Mesadieu said. “We are for progress and development. We are for a Christian movement for a new Haiti.”

Changing a nation isn’t exactly what the “little girl with the pink hair,” as Crouch called herself, expected to do when she met Jeune 20 years ago. She simply wanted to help him feed hungry children, provide them with a school and later develop a clinic.

But she said surviving colon cancer last year convinced her that God had a big work for her to do. Founded just six years ago, Smile of a Child uses all the donations that come in to fund ministry work, Crouch said, adding that none of the money is spent on administrative costs.

Now she has her sights set on building a similar hospital in Kenya with help from her friend Makena Marangu, a Kenya-born plastic surgeon. Her experience in Haiti is challenging her to think big.

“I am just one of 2.5 billion Christians,” Crouch told Charisma. “If everyone would undertake something that only you and God could do … can you imagine what would happen?”
Adrienne S. Gaines in Port au Prince, Haiti

Observers say Christians in Iraq are hopeful but concerned in the wake of the nation’s first post-war election.

Though the Jan. 30 election largely was viewed as a success, the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reported that 300,000 Christians in Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Iraq were unable to vote because voting boxes were not distributed to them.

In the United States, where Christians make up at least 80 percent of Iraqi expatriates, a limited number of polling places created travel challenges that may have deterred some from voting, said Nina Shea, director of Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom, an advocacy group for Iraqi Christians.

AINA founder Peter BetBasoo said because of their size, Iraqi Christians could have won as many as 10 seats had there been no voting irregularities. “Although Assyrians [who with the Catholic community of Chaldeans make up the Christian minority in Iraq] applaud the election, and have been staunch supporters of the U.S. policy in Iraq, they feel they have been deliberately locked out of the process,” AINA reported. “In their eyes this is not an auspicious beginning to Iraqi democracy but a continuation of 1,400 years of discrimination and marginalization of their community, not only in Iraq but now also in the West.”

Shiites won 140 of 275 seats in the Iraqi National Assembly, while the National Rafidain List, which represents the Christian minority, won one seat. Four Christians were elected on the Kurdish ticket, which won 75 seats.

Christians in Iraq, who make up roughly 3 percent of the population, were primarily concerned the new government would implement Shariah law, which would make them a permanent underclass. Because Kurds, also a minority, won enough seats to block the move, BetBasoo said it is unlikely the Muslim legal code will become law.

BetBasoo said Iraqi Christians believe their situation can only get better, adding that among Assyrians and Chaldeans, “there’s hope, but there’s also concern.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Businessman-turned-preacher Bill Keller says mainstream television and the Internet are the best ways to reach the lost

Some 21st century evangelists are winning souls one click at a time.

They are the missionaries of the Internet, and they claim hundreds of thousands–even millions–of salvations, healings and answers to prayer from their online ministries.

LivePrayer.com is one of the most successful examples. It finished up its 64th month online at the end of 2004 with 100,000 reported decisions for Christ, a daily devotional subscriber list of roughly 2 million and more than 40,000 prayer requests sent in every day. A volunteer team of more than 700 retired pastors responds personally to each request.

“Three to four times a month I will share an invitation for salvation in my daily devotional, and we mail out a booklet to those who let us know they responded,” said Bill Keller, who runs LivePrayer.com. “As of the end of December, we sent out our 100,000th booklet.”

LivePrayer.com offers video clips of people praying for finances, health and relationships, plus a 24-hour live video feed that usually features someone sitting at a computer reading prayer requests and praying aloud over them. A former salesman who claims to have amassed and lost several fortunes before finding the Lord, Keller believes that mainstream television and the Internet are the ways to reach lost souls today.

The founder and president of Bill Keller Ministries based in St. Petersburg, Fla., gave his life to Christ at the age of 12 and said he always knew he would be a minister. But he began selling computers in the late 1970s and found that he had a knack for sales. By his own admission, greed took over, and by the late 1980s he was consumed in a fast lifestyle that included alcohol, drugs and lots of wheeling and dealing. By 1990, he was sitting in federal prison, convicted of insider trading.

There, he turned his life back over to Christ, received a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and became a traveling preacher upon his release in 1992. He then worked in Christian television but became frustrated when he began to feel he was merely “preaching to the choir.”

“The lost are not sitting in church on Sunday mornings or watching Christian television,” Keller said. “They are out there living their lives, so it was up to me to go outside of the Christian trough.”

Keller started LivePrayer.com and two years ago launched a live call-in TV show, Live Prayer With Bill Keller, which airs from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday on the UPN station in the Tampa Bay area.

Keller is not the only one using new millennium media to reach the masses. Presbyterian minister Charles Henderson launched The First Church of Cyberspace in 1994. The site says the outreach is “an attempt to bring Christianity online with thoughtfulness, humor and a willingness to address the more controversial questions that tend to be avoided in the traditional church.”

The cyberspace church is just one of many that offer sermons, articles, devotionals, live forums and links to other resources. Few sites reach non-Christians the way LivePrayer.com does, but efforts are under way to change that.

The Internet Evangelism Coalition, a consortium of several outreach ministries, has designated April 24 as Internet Evangelism (IE) Day. An affiliated Web site, www.InternetEvangelismDay.com, will offer a five-minute video testimony from a student who found God online, short drama scripts, PowerPoint presentations, discussion questions and a variety of links.

The organizing team hopes IE Day will inspire churches to use their Web pages for more than just making announcements to their members. A 2001 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that roughly 25 percent of adult Internet users–around 28 million people–had gone online to get religious and spiritual material.

“It’s an exciting challenge,” said IE Day coordinator Tony Whittaker. “The potential of the Web is enormous.”

In addition to the IE Day efforts, a conference dealing with Internet evangelism for the 21st century also is scheduled this month at Liberty University.

The race to save souls can mask a desire to bring in the cash. Some sites prey on seekers by renting out their subscriber lists, placing ad banners all over the place and soliciting heavily for donations.

Keller insists that his goal is to reach the unsaved, not make a buck. He said LivePrayer, which takes $70,000 a month to stay online and on the air, is supported by anonymous ministry partners who give large monetary gifts. Some visitors also send in donations.

Keller knows it will take money to reach the millions of people who don’t know Christ. “But I have to stand before God one day and give an accounting, so [exploiting subscribers] just isn’t worth it.”
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Rioters burned images of Hinn and threw rocks at those attending his Festival of Blessings in the city of Bangalore

More than 7 million people attended evangelist Benny Hinn’s recent Festival of Blessings in Bangalore, India, despite unprecedented rioting that led to at least 30 injuries.

Angered by allegations that Hinn was coming to convert Hindus, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called for his visa to be revoked, and dissidents threw rocks at vehicles transporting nationals to the event. Others burned images of Hinn in effigy, demanding that the California-based minister “go back, go back, go back.”

Indian news media reported that 300 buses were damaged during the meeting Jan. 21-23, which was attended and supported by local officials, including Chief Minister N. Dharnam Singh. “The programme has neither any impact on Hindus nor [has] it led to conversion of people into Christianity,” Singh said, India’s Central Chronicle reported. “BJP is obsessed with making an issue out of every religious issue.”

Though no one on Hinn’s team was harmed, Jon Wilson, vice president of events for Benny Hinn Ministries, said roughly 25 attendees visited the ministry’s first aid center, with one little girl suffering a massive bump on her head after being hit by a rock.

“I never thought I would face such a thing,” Hinn told Charisma. “It was frightening. People started to throw rocks, slash tires, burn cars. I think the scariest part was seeing me burned in effigy. Beating a dummy with sticks. I thought, My God. I thought I would be killed.”

Indian media carried reports of the protests for days before the event, which was Hinn’s second crusade in the nation. The first, held last year in Mumbai, drew what was then his largest crowd–some 4.8 million attendees.

The Bangalore event is Hinn’s largest to date, and he said the news reports might have contributed to the record-setting crowd. Hinn said thousands of attendees reported miracles.

“I felt no struggle on the platform,” Hinn said. “A lot of deaf and mute were healed. A lot of cripples. One young man jumped over a rail and hadn’t walked in 20 years.”

However, one man in the crowd died, and Hinn was blamed for his death. Police later said the cause of the man’s death was unknown and that Hinn was not responsible, news reports said.

Anti-Christian forces in India have fiercely opposed evangelism efforts there for years, said Joseph D’Souza, president of the All India Christian Council. But he fears the crusade may have reawakened opposition that had begun to calm since the nation’s recent election and the passing of an anti-conversion law.

“For those of us who have been involved in fighting for religious freedom this was a very complicated situation,” D’Souza said.

Though he believes Hinn should have been given the freedom to hold the crusade, he attributes some of the violence to the publicity that preceded the event. He said the advertisements were perceived as targeting Hindus for conversion and drew attention to the vast scale of the event–a clear sign of foreign funding.

“We have just come out of a difficult seven years of head-on persecution by the BJP-led forces,” he said. “Due to the election results they are quiet now, but we must not give them ammunition to attack Christians. This crusade definitely gave them much ammunition. … We must not lose the credibility Christians gained through the times of persecution.

“The fact of the matter is that God is doing a wonderful work across the land through locals and nationals, and this wonderful work is not drawing attention of those who are the enemies of the gospel,” D’Souza added. “The crowds that attend these crusades are representative of what God is doing on the ground.”

Because of India’s anti-conversion law, Hinn was not permitted to give an altar call, but he led the crowd in the sinner’s prayer en masse. No one knows how many people made professions of faith, Hinn said, but he noted that after last year’s India crusade 300 churches were planted to disciple new converts.

“The Lord knows how to get those people to the church because we’re not allowed by law to do it,” Hinn said. “The great thing is, I’m allowed on television to say anything I want. So when I get back I encourage [those who attended the crusade] to find a church.”

This month, Hinn is scheduled to host a healing crusade in Nigeria, where his team is anticipating the ministry’s largest crowd ever, with 6 million to 8 million people expected each night.
Adrienne S. Gaines

In Indonesia, the world’s largest Islamic country, pastor Petrus Agung has built a church the size of a stadium
It’s not exactly common to see a church the size of a stadium in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation. But Jemaat Kristen Indonesia (JKI), translated Gospel of the Kingdom Church, isn’t afraid to take risks.

Despite a traditional law that forbids any group from building a facility larger than the city’s grand mosque, the congregation, located in Semarang, the capital city of Central Java, is building a 12,000-seat arena dubbed the “Holy Stadium,” which was to open this spring.

Though the largest mosque in Semarang seats 3,000, JKI–which has grown from 25 people to 6,000 since 1991 and now operates an FM radio station, the city’s only nonsmoking café, a medical ministry and a drug-treatment center–received a permit for construction of its stadium in record time.

Pastor Petrus Agung, who leads the ministry with his wife, Tina, chalks it all up to the favor of God. Saved at the age of 17, Agung said he was called to pastor in 1990 when God spoke to him three times. “The first time I thought it was the devil,” he told Charisma. “When the voice said, ‘Start a church in the city,’ I laughed. I said: ‘Devil, you are a liar. I am an evangelist. I have no calling to be a pastor. It will be a disaster.'”

But the voice persisted. “Before I rebuked that voice the third time, the Lord said, ‘It’s Me.’ I cried and said, ‘Forgive me, Lord.’ And He said, ‘Start a church.'”

Agung obeyed, launching JKI in February 1991 with his wife, a handful of musicians and some friends. In seven years, Agung said, the church grew to 400 members, which he said is small by Indonesian standards. “There are millions of people around us, so that’s very slow,” he told Charisma.

The church’s growth rate began to change after Agung began speaking in public- and private-school assemblies. At one school, he said, the principal brought all the students into the auditorium and told the pastor he could speak freely with the students for two hours.

At first the youth were not responsive. “I was so frustrated,” he said. “But the Lord said: ‘Don’t worry. Keep talking.’ After 15 minutes, He said stop. … So I stopped, and I thought it was my worst preaching, but I said: ‘If you want to receive Jesus … if you want to change your life, come. I will pray for you.’

“They ran, and I began to pray for them. They began to weep and cry. … It was always like that … and not only in the Christian schools.”

The church grew to 700 within two months, then Kong Hee, pastor of 16,000-member City Harvest Church in Singapore, came to preach a revival meeting and challenged Agung to believe that God would grow the ministry to 2,000 people by the end of 2000.

“I said in my heart, ‘I don’t know,'” Agung said. “But I tried to be polite with him, so … I said, ‘2,000 is fine.'”

Then at the revival meeting that night, Kong Hee surprised his friend even more. “He said something powerful: ‘Let’s say 2,000 before 2000. So by the end of 1999 you are going to reach 2,000,'”Agung recalled. “I was so afraid when he declared that.”

But before Christmas 1999, JKI had more than 2,000 members, with hundreds getting saved that year. Agung says since then the church has held a baptism service almost every month.

Though the congregation, whose average age is 21, earns less than $300 a month, they have sacrificially given jewelry, bikes, homes and land to build the new facility. Agung and his wife gave their car, money and all her heirloom jewelry, including her wedding rings, to the project. But the couple is convinced they can’t out-give God.

Today, the ministry is debt-free, and the Holy Stadium is more than 80 percent paid for even though construction is not complete. In the wake of the tsunami that devastated parts of South Asia, the church has become a center for distributing relief and supplies.

Agung said obedience to God is at the heart of the church’s growth. “We have to hear what He says and just obey it,” he said. “Do it, whatever He says.”
Larry Keefauver in Semarang, Indonesia

A variety of ministries hosted pre-inauguration events aimed at praying for the president and the nation’s future

Thousands of Christians from across the nation came to Washington, D.C., in January to celebrate the re-election of George W. Bush and to participate in several inaugural events sponsored by area Christian organizations.

The Fourth Inaugural Prayer Breakfast, held Jan. 20 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, drew more than 1,000 participants, who came to pray for the president and the nation before the swearing-in ceremony at noon.

The event’s organizers, Stephen and Carol Poulos of Ask for America, called on guests to renew their commitment to pray for the United States and its leaders, not just on Inauguration Day, but every day. “God has given us a mandate to pray,” Carol Poulos said. “We want our voices to be heard not only in this room, but across this nation.”

Government and military officials joined prominent Christian leaders in prayer during the four-hour, bipartisan and nondenominational gathering. Participants interceded for the president, the three branches of government, the nation’s capital, the armed forces, the media and a national revival. Prayer leaders included Col. Ralph Benson, chaplain of the Pentagon; Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell; Ohio pastor Rod Parsley of World Harvest Church in Columbus; Matt Crouch, president of Gener8Xion Entertainment; Lou Engle, founder of The Cause and former leader of The Call prayer events; and Stephen Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine.

Strang was featured in the Feb. 7 issue of Time magazine as one of the nation’s 25 most influential evangelical leaders alongside author Rick Warren, evangelist Joyce Meyer, Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes and National Association of Evangelicals President Ted Haggard.

Vicki Yohe and Lindell Cooley, former worship leader at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Fla., and now senior pastor of Grace Church in Nashville, Tenn., led worship during the event.

Attendee Martha Fisher of Oneness in Christ Ministries said the prayer breakfast gave her an expectation that “God is establishing His presence globally in a way not seen before.”

“God wants to bless America so that we in turn can bless others,” Stephen Poulos told participants. “At this very moment, the [United States] is coming alongside the many nations surrounding the Indian Ocean that were ravaged by the tsunami. Without the blessing of God, the kind of compassion that our Lord and Savior Jesus wants to bestow would be impossible.”

A second inaugural day prayer initiative, sponsored by Faith and Action Ministries, was held at the Honorable William J. Ostrowski House in Washington. Approximately 100 people, many of whom were pastors representing more than 30 denominations, gathered to pray for President Bush and the future of the United States.

“The focus of our prayers [was] to thank God for Bush’s re-election and for the principles he espouses,” said the Rev. Rob Schenck, who heads up the Capitol Hill ministry.

Schenck said he believes Bush’s moral legacy will have a lasting impact on the United States through his appointments to the federal bench. “We must pray that he will make the right choices,” Schenck said. “The inauguration is about the next four years; Bush’s federal court appointments are about the next 40.”

The Christian Inaugural Eve Gala, a black-tie reception and dinner held at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Washington, drew 850 guests, including such leaders as outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft, senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, Republican Sen. Dan Thume of South Dakota, and newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

The event was sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) in cooperation with Strang Communications and other Christian ministries. TVC founder Lou Sheldon said the “thrust of the evening was to celebrate the providential hand of God upon America.”

In his keynote address, Ashcroft encouraged attendees to keep interceding for the president, noting that Bush’s faith and the nation’s prayers had helped him make strong decisions.
Sandra K. Chambers in Washington, D.C.

Nigerian Students Face Death Threats

Muslim militants pronounced a death sentence on five Christian students expelled from colleges in November for conducting an evangelistic outreach. The families of two of the students, Hanatu Haruna Alkali and Abraham Adamu Misal, were attacked on Jan. 26, when militants went to their homes in the northern state of Gombe, Compass Direct reported. Alkali and Misal escaped harm but are now in hiding. The location of the other three students is unknown. Alkali’s sister said the militants attacked their house, and family members fear for their lives.

Pakistani Christian Acquitted of Blasphemy

Judicial Magistrate Dr. Mohammed Anwar Gondal ruled Dec. 17 that blasphemy charges against Anwer Masih were based only on hearsay, and he nullified the police report filed against him because it violated the criminal procedure code, Compass Direct reported. The ruling made Masih the first Pakistani Christian ever to be acquitted of blasphemy charges in lower court. Masih, now 32, was arrested in November 2003 after a neighbor who had converted from Christianity to Islam claimed Masih mocked his new beard and derided Islamic beliefs. Masih remains in hiding and has been unable to reunite with his wife and children because of death threats against him. Compass said Masih likely will have to apply for asylum abroad and assume a new identity.

Colombian Seminary Student Released

Luis Alberto Vera was released in January from jail in Medellín, Colombia, but the seminary student still faces an uphill battle to clear his name, Compass Direct reported. A member of a Foursquare church in Bucaramanga, Vera was arrested Nov. 26 for allegedly mugging a man in 2002. Vera’s arrest came after a routine police check matched his I.D. number with an arrest warrant. Vera has amassed $2,110 in legal bills fighting what Compass said was the result of sloppy police work and an overloaded justice system. “I’m not sure I will be able to continue my studies,” said Vera, who left his hometown last year with his wife and son to attend the Biblical Seminary of Colombia.