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.

‘Pastor Freak’ of Come As You Are Church says his Bible-themed body art has helped him share the gospel
A Michigan minister is using his 150 hours’ worth of body art to make a statement of faith.

Known as “Pastor Freak,” Steve Bensinger, 44-year-old senior pastor of Come As You Are Church (CAYAC) in Kalamazoo, Mich., says the tattoos–which all have biblical themes–have helped him reach more than 2,000 people with the gospel since 1997 when he founded CAYAC. He also believes they have helped make Christianity more accessible to nonbelievers.

“We accept people for who they are and get to know them,” said Bensinger, who pastors the church with his wife of 22 years, Betty. “Telling and showing them a positive side of who God is based on the Word of God. Then when we say we love them, we really mean it.”

At 6 feet, 1 inch and 290 pounds, Bensinger is formidable even without his Mohawk, facial piercings and tattoos, which he sports on his arms, back, neck, feet and legs. “By my mere appearance people look at me and want to call me a freak,” he told Charisma. “I took their power away and began calling myself freak.”

But Pastor Freak also calls himself an evangelist. On his forearm is an image of Jesus on the cross along with John 3:16, and on his leg is a graveyard scene with Bible verses on the tombstones. Each of the tattoos could have cost Bensinger $100 to $200 an hour, but the pastor gets deep discounts.

“Every day people ask me about or comment on my tattoos in admiration or wonder,” he said. “That gives me the opportunity to talk about my tattoos, which are all biblical and talk about Jesus, His love, grace and power.

“Most people have an entirely wrong concept of who God is. They look at Him as a big ogre, waiting to judge them and send them to hell. We are trying to go around and show a positive image of Jesus, His love, grace and transforming power.”

Tony Bender, large enough to be a bodyguard, is an insurance adjuster who joined CAYAC a few years ago. He says he felt called to pastor, but his former church believed having tattoos was sinful, and Bender has several.

At CAYAC, Bender says he is learning how to use his comic-style tattoos to draw young people into conversations about Jesus. And he says Bensinger is teaching him how to walk in his calling. “I’ve never walked into a place where I was more loved and welcomed, and I have been a lot of places,” Bender said of CAYAC.

Bender says being a Christian is about more than spending an hour and a half in a pew, but about going where the people are. Members of CAYAC reach out to seniors in their community, provide toys for children, assist a local motorcycle ministry and share the gospel at the local mall. “[Store employees] look for us to come and talk to them, listen and take prayer requests,” said church member Laura “Wheezy” Owens.

“We are the church, doing what God told us to do,” Bensinger added.

For the last 2-1/2 years, Bensinger has been president of the Christian Tattoo Association (CTA), an international ministry for tattoo professionals and enthusiasts founded in 1990. Today, CTA lists more than 100 affiliated shops, with members and branches as far away as the United Kingdom and Australia.

Critics of tattooing often cite Leviticus 19:28, which prohibits tattoos. But Bensinger believes the ban against tattooing is no different from the prohibitions against trimming one’s beard or mixing fabrics that are also listed in that chapter.

“When Jesus said it is finished on the cross that meant we now live under grace, not the law,” Bensinger said, noting that Revelation 19:16 says, “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

“It’s not about rules but relationship,” Bensinger said. “No one is made right with God under the law. We are not harming our bodies or anyone else. The body of Christ should be known for our love. Because of our love for each other we can do what Christ commanded.”

Bensinger believes he is impacting those whom the church might otherwise not reach, such as 19-year-old Jenn McGuiness. “I walked in the doors a Roman Catholic, but I walked out a saved Christian,” she said.

McGuiness worked as a nude dancer before a friend told her about Bensinger’s ministry. “Pastor Freak knew nothing about me, but preached that you don’t have to make a living dancing at DeJaVu [the local adult club where she worked] but that God would provide all my needs,” McGuiness recalled. “I gave my life to the Lord that night and have been coming ever since.”
LaVenia Jean LaVelle in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Bill Winston hopes his business school will help close the economic gap between minorities and the general population
If you ask pastor William S. Winston his age, expect to hear this: “My real birthday”–the day he became a Christian–“is Sept. 22, 1980.” If you persist, he will say he’s at least 50 years old.

There are other numbers, however, that Winston is more willing to reveal. When he moved his congregation from a downtown storefront to the Chicago suburb of Forest Park, Ill., between 12 and 15 people followed.

Now, 16 years later, Living Word Christian Center claims a membership of 14,000. The congregation paid $4 million for the three-theater cineplex behind a mall to house their church, and today Winston estimates the renovated building is worth 10 times as much.

“I am an example that real wealth is not in dollars; it’s in your own insight, your own ability to see opportunities and take advantage of them,” Winston said.

That’s the vision Winston hopes to cast into the students at his Joseph Center School of Business and Entrepreneurship, where his dream of training a workforce of Christian entrepreneurs is coming to life. More than 130 men and women have graduated from the nine-month business program based on biblical principles.

“If everybody develops their unique ability, that unique ability would make room for them in this universe of opportunities and bring them into substantial income,” Winston said.

African-Americans make up roughly 13 percent of the U.S. population but only 3.5 percent of the leadership of firms, and they generate less than 3 percent of the income firms produce, said Eric Dobyne, regional director of the Minority Business Development Agency, a division of the Department of Commerce.

“If you look at that number and think about … the amount [African-Americans] would be able to contribute to the overall economy if they were just at entrepreneurial parity–meaning the point at which the percentage of the population is equivalent to the percentage of firms–you’re talking about a significant impact on the American economy,” Dobyne said.

He said The Joseph Center could help shrink that gap. “In order for us to progress I think it’s going to be important that we have partnerships between the public sector, being the government, the private sector, being corporations, and the faith-based organizations,” he said. “So anytime I see an entrepreneurial center open, I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

India native Rajan Oommen said The Joseph Center helped point him in the right direction. He grew up in an entrepreneurial family and ran his own deep sea fishing business but believed he needed more training. He considered getting an MBA, but when he saw The Joseph Center’s graduation ceremony, he took it as a sign that he should attend.

Now, almost four years after graduating from The Joseph Center, Oommen has his own mortgage business and says he earns a six-figure income. “I need to make far more money than this,” he said. “I have been told by God specifically to do things in [million-dollar] amounts, [such as helping to build Bible schools and churches]. The six-figure dollar amount will not … suffice to do those things.”

Born in Tuskegee, Ala., Winston says he grew up in a community of entrepreneurial-minded African-Americans. He joined the Air Force, then later got a job at IBM, working in sales on commission.

But Winston sensed a call to ministry. He attended Oral Roberts University for a year before moving to Chicago in 1988 and founding Living Word. He said one verse has driven him through the years: Isaiah 48:17, “‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go'” (NKJV).

“I was born for this part of His vision to be manifested on the earth,” Winston said. “There’s a reason Moses was born. There’s a reason Abraham was born.”

Shevelle L. Freeman, a 41-year-old psychologist, is currently enrolled at The Joseph Center. For five years, she has clung to a vision of opening Revelations Counseling Center in Detroit, Atlanta and her hometown of Chicago.

She was confident in her ability as a counselor but didn’t believe she had the skills to run her own business. When she heard about The Joseph Center, she said she knew she needed to “run for it.”

But becoming an entrepreneur isn’t about making a lot of money, she said. “It’s about kingdom business. All that I do is to the glory of God. For me, this is using my gifts, helping this world and lifting up God in the process.”
Abigail Reese in Chicago

Susie Jennings spearheads Operation Care, which has helped rally her community to reach out to an often forgotten group
Susie Jennings, a pint-size nurse, born and river-baptized as a child in the Philippines, is uniting faith-based, social and health-care services with corporate giants to open arms, hearts and pocketbooks for one of America’s often forgotten groups: the homeless.

What began as Jennings’ blanket drive for the homeless a decade ago has blossomed into Operation Care , a nonprofit organization in Dallas that is backed by a board of directors composed of major players from such groups as Verizon, the IBM Corporation and SBC Communications.

Several times a year now, Jennings said, Operation Care brings the city’s homeless from the concrete shadows to celebrate holidays, and be fed, clothed and when possible reunited with families through a visit or a phone call near Easter and Valentine’s Day, in summer and fall, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

At least once a month, she said, her Operation Care volunteers hit the streets to witness to the homeless, take them comfort items, food and bottled water labeled with emergency and shelter numbers and the words, “Jesus Is the Living Water.”

Always friendly, smiling and nodding, Jennings has a vision that looms much larger than her 5-foot frame. Her energy seldom wanes, and those around her instinctively know they must move with her or respectfully move out of the way.

Operation Care is not unlike other homeless ministries, which often begin with one person’s calling and become established operations that enrich communities and lives in limitless ways, according to Steve Burger, executive director of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions based in Kansas City. “There’s always the apparent need and that committed person that becomes totally enmeshed in the issue,” he said. “Personalities and past experiences can play in–and the Holy Spirit.”

Jennings said the Operation Care outreach stems from the loss of her husband in April 1993. “He had been suffering long-term emotional illness aggravated by a chemical imbalance in his brain,” she said. “He had a bad reaction to some medication; during that time he lost a close friend, lost his job, and his psychiatrist moved away. … Then he disappeared and became a missing person.

“We found his body in Oklahoma. He had committed suicide–homeless and alone. We buried him the day before Easter. … Reuniting families is an important aspect of this ministry.”

That spring, as full-time nurse supervisor for Baylor University Medical Center, the young widow was already teaching a preschool Sunday school class at her church in downtown Dallas.

“Then the Lord grabbed hold of me,” Jennings said. “I remember driving home from the church one day and turning my head to look away when I passed the Canton Street Bridge downtown. Under the bridge, more than 100 homeless men and women peered out from the cardboard boxes that served as their homes.

“But God called me not just to look at them, but to go under the bridge in person and help them. … At first, I said, ‘Oh, no, God, not me! … Why me?’ I had always despised homeless people. I couldn’t stand the way they smelled. … They don’t smell bad to me anymore.”

According to Ray Bailey, executive director and 25-year veteran of homeless outreach with the 50-year-old Dallas Life Foundation, Operation Care’s Christmas Gift gathering at the Dallas Convention Center was the largest homeless outreach event in the city’s history.

Several thousand volunteers pitched in from the mega Prestonwood Baptist Church, The Potter’s House and more than 121 area churches. An estimated 8,000 homeless and needy individuals filed in for food, personal care items, tents, blankets, medical exams, vision care, foot washing and podiatry care, makeovers, haircuts, manicures, individual and family portraits, legal advice, prayer, and spiritual and emotional counseling.

Jennings admits that she seems to meet herself coming and going these days with the demands of her job, ministry and caring for her 88-year-old mother, but she’s not discouraged. Instead, she said, she’s listening to hear if God is calling her to give up her lifetime nursing vocation.

“If God called me, I’d leave it tomorrow to help the homeless in Dallas and across the country for Him.”
Marcia J. Davis in Dallas

Ministers Unveil Black Contract With America

The newly formed High Impact African-American Leadership Coalition unveiled its Black Contract With America on Moral Values during a Feb. 1 press conference. Released in concert with the group’s first summit, held at Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles, the contract is aimed at lobbying for better access to health care, revision in the education and criminal justice systems, more funding to fight AIDS and the genocide in Sudan, and a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The group, led by Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr. and formed in partnership with the Traditional Values Coalition, later set a goal of getting 1 million signatures in support of the document.

Virginia Officials Allow Bible Classes to Continue

In a 5-1 decision, the Staunton, Va., school board ruled Feb. 14 that Bible classes can continue to be taught in area public elementary schools, the Associated Press (AP) reported. First-, second- and third-grade students will continue to be bused to nearby churches for the weekly Bible lessons, which have been offered in the small rural community since 1929, the AP said. Officials said they would conduct a one-year review of the classes to determine if there is validity to some parents’ concerns that the 30-minute lessons are divisive and unnecessary since students also take character-education courses. The Supreme Court ruled in the 1950s that the classes do not violate the separation of church and state because they are held away from school property, the AP said.

Ohio Governor Proclaims Feb. 14 ‘Day of Purity’

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft declared Feb. 14 a Day of Purity to encourage youth to support abstinence. The move was motivated in part by the efforts of a 14-year-old girl in Ohio who had launched an abstinence-education campaign in her school. Florida-based Liberty Counsel launched the Day of Purity last year. Since then, hundreds of schools, churches and Christian organizations have participated, with elementary- to college-age students wearing special white T-shirts symbolizing purity and encouraging their classmates to remain virgins until marriage.

The prolific charismatic author is best remembered for his in-depth teaching on worship and intimacy with God
Renowned Pentecostal Bible teacher Judson Cornwall, whose itinerant ministry was cut short by cancer four years ago, died Feb. 11 at his Phoenix home. His family said that he had suffered a severe stroke three days earlier and had trouble communicating. Cornwall was 80.

“When he died, his wife, Eleanor, and their daughter, Justine, were singing ‘Into Thy Presence We Come’ to him, and Eleanor told him it was OK to leave, and he did,” said Terri Gargis, Cornwall’s longtime secretary.

A third-generation minister, Cornwall was preaching at the age of 7 during the Depression era, and later was regarded as an apostle and pioneer. After starting and pastoring churches in the West, Cornwall, a former Assemblies of God preacher, ministered worldwide for more than 20 years, preaching, teaching and training ministers and laity of various denominations.

Grant Thigpen, pastor of 2,000-strong New Hope Ministries in Naples, Fla., who had known Cornwall for about 15 years, said he had “a profound knowledge of the Word, and he loved to worship the Lord.”

“Judson encouraged me by telling me I would never fail as a pastor if I continued to love the Lord and love the people God placed me over,” Thigpen, 54, told Charisma. “He was a man of integrity, deep revelation and an excellent communicator.”

While preaching at the International Worship Institute (IWI) in Bedford, Texas, in July 2001, Cornwall suffered excruciating pain in his back. After returning to Phoenix, he was diagnosed with an inoperable, malignant tumor on his spine. For several years, he also battled diabetes.

Gargis said Cornwall’s pain grew increasingly worse in the last year, forcing him to stay in his lounge chair for most of the day.

“He was eaten up with cancer, so his whole body was shutting down,” Gargis, 60, told Charisma. “It is sad to lose Judson. He has been a wonderful friend and boss for the past 19 years. And yet I rejoice to know his worn-out body is dancing before the Lord.”

LaMar Boschman, founder and dean of IWI (), said during Cornwall’s last visit at the institute, “he had visions of heaven and angels.”

“He was anticipating the worship and the presence of the Lord, the celestial realm,” Boschman, 51, said.

Although cancer ended Cornwall’s traveling ministry, which featured speaking engagements at four churches monthly, he stayed busy. In 2003, Cornwall started recording his books on tape for the Oklahoma City-based Library for the Blind. Gargis noted that he recorded 41 of his books on tapes and three other books from other Christian authors.

Iverna Tompkins, Cornwall’s sister, said her brother will be best remembered for his in-depth teaching on worship. “Multiple thousands have testified of their lives being changed by the practice of this revelation,” Tompkins, 75, said.

Boschman agreed, noting that Cornwall was “one of the fathers and pioneers of contemporary worship.”

“Before worship became a style of music and worship companies grew into an industry, before there were worship leaders and worship CDs, Judson had a message of spiritual worship,” Boschman told Charisma.

“Like a farmer with a holy seed, he crisscrossed the globe and cast it into the earth, and it caught root and grew into the mature revelation we enjoy today.”

A prolific author of more than 50 books, many of which have been translated into other languages, Cornwall wrote classics such as Let Us Worship, Elements of Worship and Let Us Praise.

“His last book was written at the urging of the publisher after learning that Cornwall continued to counsel others from his wheelchair,” Tompkins, a Bible teacher and conference speaker, said. “The book is well named Dying with Grace, for this is exactly what he did to his last breath.”

In the book, released last year by Charisma House, Cornwall wrote: “I believe that just as He gives us a grace to live, God gives us a grace to die. Dying is a part of living. Death is not a cessation of life–it is merely a stepping into the next realm, into the divine, heavenly realm, and God will give me–and you–grace to take each step from this life to eternal life.”

Eleanor, Cornwall’s wife of 61 years, said he “never complained about anything while he was sick.”

“He was an excellent patient and did everything that was asked of him,” Eleanor, 82, told Charisma. “He never lost hope that he would be healed. In the last few months, he physically couldn’t take the trip to church every Sunday, so we held our own services at home.”

Gargis added: “Judson never stopped praising the Lord during the years he was fighting his cancer. He read the Bible all day long and his heart stayed in a constant state of praise. He wanted to be healed and get back out on the road, but that didn’t happen.”

Other well-known charismatic leaders who have died in the last year-and-a-half include Fuschia Pickett, Derek Prince and Kenneth Hagin Sr.

In addition to three brothers and a sister, Cornwall is survived by his wife, three daughters, nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, including a great-grandson born just before Cornwall’s 80th birthday. The boy was named after Cornwall.

Hundreds of people attended Cornwall’s memorial service, which was held Feb. 17 at Scottsdale Worship Center in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Eric Tiansay

SWEDISH COURT CLEARS PASTOR ACCUSED OF HATE SPEECH
Pentecostal pastor Ake Green said he is relieved that a Swedish court has cleared him of charges that he incited hatred against homosexuals when he preached a sermon in 2003 saying homosexuality was “a cancerous growth in the body of society,” Reuters news service reported. In June, Green, 63, was sentenced to one month in jail for his condemnation of homosexuality, becoming the first person ever to be convicted under Sweden’s hate-crimes legislation passed in 2002. The court ruled that there was no indication Green “used his position as a preacher as a cover for attacking homosexuals,” Reuters reported. The court added that he had the right to preach “the Bible’s categorical condemnation of homosexual relations as a sin,” even if those views were “alien to most citizens.” Green said he would continue to preach as usual, “but I won’t be dedicating so much time to this issue,” Reuters reported.

CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST CHRISTIANS ARRESTED DURING GAY EVENT
Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe dropped all charges against four Philadelphia Christians arrested while preaching during an October OutFest gay-pride event. “We are pleased and relieved for our clients that justice has finally been done in the criminal system, and though it is apparently slow and rusty, the system still works,” said Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association, which is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia and certain local officials for allegedly abusing their power. Charges against a 17-year-old girl arrested during the event also were expected to be dropped.

COMEDIAN SAYS CHRISTIANS HAVE BRAIN DISORDER
Former Politically Incorrect host Bill Maher said Christians and other religious people have a neurological disorder that stops them from thinking, WorldNet Daily reported. The remarks were made during Maher’s Feb. 17 appearance on MSNBC’s Scarborough Country. The host of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher said he believed the nation was “unenlightened” because of religion. “When you look at belief in such things as do you go to heaven, is there a devil, we have more in common with [Muslim nations] Turkey and Iran and Syria than we do with European nations and Canada and nations that, yes, I would consider more enlightened than us,” Maher said. He added that he was not singling out evangelicals, saying voters had rejected same-sex marriage in states such as Missouri “because people are religious. They don’t have to be evangelical, but they’re religious.”

ALABAMA LAWMAKER ISSUES $5,000 BIBLE-VERSE CHALLENGE
An Alabama lawmaker offered $5,000 to anyone who could show him a Bible verse that defined marriage as between one man and one woman, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Dozens responded to state Rep. Alvin Holmes’ challenge, but none offered a satisfactory response. “I got lots of answers dealing with morality, but nobody told me anything new,” the Democrat from Montgomery told the AP. “It doesn’t say that a husband and a wife has to be a man and a woman.” Holmes issued the challenge while debating a proposed ban on same-sex marriage in Alabama. Both the House and the Senate passed the proposed constitutional amendments to prohibit same-sex marriages. But the two chambers will have to agree on the same version of the amendment before it can go before voters in a statewide referendum, the AP said.

Stephen Sumrall Resigns
Stephen Sumrall, son of LeSEA Broadcasting founder Lester Sumrall, has resigned as pastor of the church his late father founded, The (South Bend, Ind.) Tribune reported. During a Feb. 6 service at Christian Center Church in South Bend, Ind., Stephen Sumrall announced that he was stepping down as its pastor and resigning from his post as president of LeSEA Ministries and LeSEA Global Feed the Hungry. Sumrall said he would “continue his call to ministry” as a pastor with Provident Ministries International. Sumrall’s brother, Peter, who serves as CEO of LeSEA, said his brother’s resignation came as a complete surprise and that he did not know Stephen Sumrall’s future plans. Peter Sumrall’s son, David, is to serve as the church’s interim pastor. Stephen Sumrall began holding services in an area theater Feb. 13.

Florida Pastor Scrutinized For Opulent Lifestyle
Florida pastor Clint Brown has been the focus of headlines since details from his divorce papers were publicized in Orlando news media. The recording artist and pastor of FaithWorld in Orlando has faced scrutiny for allowing his church to pay for $500,000 and million-dollar homes for himself and his wife, Angela, who filed for divorce last year. The Orlando Sentinel reported that FaithWorld also pays for two of Brown’s seven cars, though in 2002 his income topped $650,000. Brown has declined to comment, but church members have come to his defense, describing
Brown as down-to-earth and generous.

Ralph Reed to Run for Georgia Lt. Governor
Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed plans to run for lieutenant governor of Georgia in the state’s 2006 election. Current Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, a Democrat, is expected to challenge Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue in that race. Reed, 43, promised to “work tirelessly” in support of Perdue, the Associated Press (AP) reported. When Reed led the state’s Republican Party from 2002-03, Republicans elected their first governor since Reconstruction, the AP said. Both houses of the legislature have since come under Republican control.

Have you ever asked yourself if you made the right choice when you purchased your last Bible? Did you feel you were sacrificing accuracy for readability–or vice versa–when deciding on a translation?

It’s no wonder. A simple online search for comparisons of different Bible translations can uncover everything from controversy to claims of conspiracy. It can be a bit overwhelming to process all the points made in a comparison, much less come to a conclusion. However, the task becomes easier when you boil it down to a few key questions that can help you evaluate which translation best meets your needs.

1. What method of translation was used? There are three basic methods of Scripture translation. The first is word-for-word (sometimes called literal translation). Translations that fall into this category include the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the King James Version (KJV) and the New King James Version (NKJV).

The second method is thought-for-thought (sometimes referred to as dynamic translation). Translations that fall into this category include the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), the New International Version (NIV), the Contemporary English Version (CEV) and the New Living Translation (NLT).

Very loose translations called paraphrases make up the third category. These include The Living Bible and The Message.

2. Who did the translating? Some translations are done by individuals, some by nonprofit organizations and others by international teams. In general, the broader the group doing the translating, the better.

Another closely related aspect to consider is whether the translation has gained widespread acceptance in the Christian community. The person or group behind the translation may have a lot to do with its popularity–or lack thereof.

3. Which manuscripts did the translators use? Many of the handwritten original copies of the Bible were lost during the time of the early church, but quite a few have been discovered during the last three or four centuries. Translations can differ depending on which manuscripts and therefore which languages–Hebrew and Aramaic for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament–are being used as a primary source.

For example, the KJV was published in 1611 before many older manuscripts had been discovered. These older manuscripts are considered by some scholars as more reliable than the ones used for the translation authorized by England’s King James I in 1611. For this reason, groups such as the International Bible Society (IBS) point out that the KJV may not be as accurate as modern translations such as the NIV.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at a few of today’s offerings.

I believe God is giving Christians an open window for four more years.
Because Christians and their values played such a big part in the re-election of President George W. Bush, I wanted to witness his inauguration January 20. I admit I watched his speech on a large-screen television in a warm place on that cold day–partly because I had attended the Ask for America Inaugural Prayer Breakfast across town at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, hosted by Carol and Stephen Poulos of Ask for America, and I couldn’t be two places at once.

To me, it was significant to pray for this president, whose faith has become a driving force not only in his personal life but also in the policies of his administration. And pray we did. A long list of well-known Christian leaders prayed for every conceivable aspect of public life. They even asked me to pray for the media.

The event went largely unnoticed by the media, even though more than 1,500 attended. It was overshadowed by the pageantry of the day, the unprecedented security, the few protesters who seemed to get far more coverage than they deserved and the tendency of the media to downplay anything “religious.”

They couldn’t ignore it completely because of the prayers, the religious songs and the remarks the president made in his speech. He spoke of the “longing of the soul” and of having “mercy, and a heart for the weak.” He pointed out that “God moves and chooses as He wills.” He said we “bear the image of the maker of heaven and earth.”

In a nod toward our pluralistic society, Bush also mentioned the Quran. Later the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor of Houston’s Windsor Village United Methodist Church, prayed a powerful benediction that closed with the words, “Respecting persons of all faiths, I humbly submit this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Americans have long embraced a tradition of referring to the deity in public even when there was little belief behind it. But true Bible-believing Christians have generally been marginalized. That is changing because we have a president who claims his favorite philosopher is Jesus.

But it’s changing also because Christians are becoming a part of the process. Though ministries are hampered by laws preventing them from being “too political,” individual Christians can speak up–and did during the recent election–by voting for righteousness. Even political pundits credited moral values as the factor that determined which candidate was chosen.

The mood was upbeat at both the prayer breakfast on the morning of the inauguration and the Christian Inaugural Eve Gala the night before, sponsored by Lou Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition. The latter was a fancy affair held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and attended by more than 800 people, including evangelicals D. James Kennedy and Ralph Reed and charismatics Keith Butler and Jan Crouch. Politicians such as Karl Rove, Bush’s senior adviser, and Ken Mehlman, newly elected Republican National Committee chairman, and media personalities such as Janet Parshall showed up. Outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft made one of his final appearances before retiring to private life.

Attending these events was fun but sobering. Our nation faces many threats from without and within. Terrorism threatens our way of life, but so does an ultraliberal agenda that wants to legitimize homosexuality and take all references to God out of public life.

Charismatics and Pentecostals have traditionally been more interested in foreign missions, correct theology and personal piety than they have been in politics. But the time has come when we cannot stand on the sidelines.

I believe God is giving us an open window for four more years. This is a time to change laws, put in new judges, elect godly officials and regain lost ground in what many have called the cultural wars.

As people of prayer, we must pray not only for our president but also for all those in authority (see 1 Tim. 2:1-2). And we must get involved.

It’s time to be “silent no more,” as Rod Parsley prayed eloquently at the Inaugural Prayer Breakfast, “because our times demand it, our history compels it, our future requires it, and … because You, Almighty God, are still watching.”