Nicknamed the ‘Minister of Defense,’ White began questioning his effectiveness in ministry during the last years of his life
At 6 feet 5 inches and 300 pounds, Reggie White was arguably one of the best defensive players in National Football League (NFL) history. But friends and colleagues say it was the 43-year-old’s strength off the field–as an ordained minister and humanitarian–that left the biggest mark.

“He was a big guy with a huge heart,” said longtime friend and fellow minister Paul Cole. “You could be in a room with other guys who were physically large, but Reggie would fill the room if he was there. Literally, he would walk in and something happened in the air. It was more than his physical presence; there was something bigger inside him.”

White’s sudden death on Dec. 26–likely caused by respiratory problems stemming from sarcoidosis (inflamed lungs) and sleep apnea–sent shockwaves of grief throughout the sports community. Survived by his wife, Sara, and their two children, Jeremy and Jecolia, White was buried Dec. 30 in Charlotte, N.C.

“He was one of the greatest players who ever put on a uniform at his position,” said Johnny Majors, White’s former coach at the University of Tennessee. “I once referred to him as the Tony Dorsett, [a legendary running back], of defensive linemen. There’s never been a better one.”

Twice honored as the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, White was voted to play in a record-setting 13 Pro Bowls, helped lead the Green Bay Packers to victory in Super Bowl XXXI in 1997, and held the all-time record for quarterback sacks (198) at the time of his final retirement in 2000.

But he was also an outspoken Christian who lost a $6 million deal as a sports analyst after he labeled homosexuality a sin during a 1998 speech before the Wisconsin state legislature. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native who became known as the “Minister of Defense” founded and supported several ministries. Among them were Urban Hope, which helps provide loans to minority businesspeople who can’t get funding from traditional sources; Christian Athletes United for Spiritual Empowerment (CAUSE); and the Inner City Church of Knoxville, Tenn., where he was a co-pastor.

Yet after a second and final retirement after the 2000 season, White grew introspective and began questioning his effectiveness in ministry. “I’ve been a preacher 21 years, preaching what somebody wrote or what I heard somebody else say,” said White in his final interview with the NFL Network in 2004.

“I was not a student of the Scripture. I did not read the Bible every day because I didn’t understand it. As much as I gave the perception that I understood what I was talking about, I didn’t understand it. I came to the realization that I had become more of a motivational speaker than a teacher of the Word.

“In many respects, I’d been prostituting,” he went on to say. “Most people who wanted me to speak at their churches were only asking me to speak because I played football, not because I was this great religious guy or this theologian.”

White put his ministry on hold and began an extensive study of the Hebrew language and the Torah. “I came to the realization that if I’m gonna find God,” White said, “I’ve gotta go back and research the Scripture in its original language to see what it says.”

After two years of study, White even altered his diet, giving up eating pork and meat from scavengers such as shrimp and lobster, as per Old Testament law. Some friends and colleagues began questioning whether he was straying into legalism.

“When Reggie started down the road of going back to the original language it really revitalized him,” said Qadry Ismail, a former wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings and the Baltimore Ravens who took up Hebrew studies along with White. “From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, that’s what Reggie held to be true. The traditions that we should not be involved in–the ones that have crept up into our ‘Christian’ lives over time–he moved away from.”

For a season, MorningStar Ministries founder Rick Joyner wouldn’t allow White to teach certain doctrines in his church. “As is common with those who have the insatiable hunger for deeper knowledge and understanding, sometimes they are open to those who have carried doctrines to extremes, and I felt that this happened to Reggie,” Joyner wrote in a tribute on his Web site in the days after White’s death. “However, I was never too concerned about Reggie, knowing that his sincere love of the truth and his integrity, would ultimately lead him to ultimate truth.”

Joyner said the two had reconciled before White’s death.

White’s story will be featured in the March/April issue of New Man magazine, which is owned by Charisma’s parent company, Strang Communications. “Reggie was one the best defensive players the NFL has ever seen–if not the best ever,” said New Man editor Robert Andrescik. “He lived an exemplary life. All of the scandals you hear about with pro athletes … Reggie rose above all that. He made us proud because he played hard and lived godly, both on and off the field.”
Jarrod Gollihare

Illinois Court Rules Decalogue Monument Constitutional

The U.S. Court of Appeals of the 7th Circuit ruled in January that the City of LaCrosse, Ill.’s sale of a piece of land on which a Ten Commandments monument sits was constitutional, the La Crosse Tribune reported. The monument, donated to the city by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1965, was located in a public park for years. When the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed suit alleging the statue violated the separation of church and state, the city sold the land on which the monument sits to the Eagles. The site is fenced in, and there are signs noting the land is private property, but the foundation still refused to withdraw its case. The appeals court ruled 2-1 that the fence and signs are sufficient for reasonable passers-by to recognize the land as private property. Opponents of the decision may appeal to the Supreme Court, the Tribune said.

Virginia Lawmakers May Consider Gay Marriage Ban

Republicans in Virginia’s General Assembly are preparing resolutions requesting an amendment to the state’s constitution limiting marriage to heterosexual couples only, The Washington Post reported. The ban on same-sex marriage would be similar to the ones passed in 11 states Nov. 2. Legislators in Maryland and Kansas also are likely to take up the issue this year, the newspaper said. So far, 17 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.

Court Denies Case on Gay Adoption Ban

On Jan. 10 the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to a Florida law banning gay adoption, the Los Angeles Times reported. Enacted in 1977, the law prohibits gays and lesbians from adopting, though homosexuals are permitted to serve as foster parents. Lawyers said the state encourages singles to adopt and permits former drug abusers and ex-offenders to adopt children, the Times reported. The high court gave no reason for refusing the case. Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, said the ban on gay adoption “serves the legitimate purpose of preserving the traditional model of the family.”

Whether or not he’s drafted by the NBA, Roger Powell Jr. says his ultimate goal is to pursue full-time Christian service
Roger Powell Jr. helped lead the University of Illinois basketball team to the top this season, but the senior forward believes he has a higher calling. In October, Powell, 22, received his minister’s license at Mount Zion Full Gospel Tabernacle, a Pentecostal church in his hometown of Joliet, Ill. The license allows him to preach.

“I want to show myself approved and study the Bible,” Powell told Charisma in December, shortly after the Fighting Illini was named the No. 1 college basketball team in the nation.

“Once I get ordained, I want to let the Lord lead me–be it as a pastor, evangelist, youth minister or something else,” added Powell, who preached his first sermon on being a “living sacrifice” from Romans 12. “I don’t know exactly what that calling is yet, but it’ll be in the ministry.”

For now though, his focus is basketball. For just the third time in school history, and the first time since 1989, Illinois reached the top of national rankings this season. The last two times Illinois went to No. 1, the Fighting Illini ended the season in the NCAA tournament’s Final Four.

Powell, who is 6 feet 6 inches tall and a leading scorer for the team, believes Illinois has what it takes to qualify and win the Final Four, which will be held this month.

“I don’t have a speech planned [if we were to win],” admitted Powell, who is a four-year starter at the university, which is located in Champaign. “I’m just going to glorify God. I would probably say, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’ I’d be too excited.”

He is excited about his future, including the prospects of playing in the NBA. Although he withdrew his name from last year’s NBA draft to return for his final college season, Powell sees playing professional basketball as part of his destiny.

“I believe God’s going to open a door for me to play in the NBA because He’s given me the talent,” he said. “It’s a great way to get the gospel out and reach kids.”

Powell said that out of respect for Reggie White, he did not want to comment on the late football star’s concerns that Christian athletes entertain believers, rather than teach them biblical truth.

Besides being heavily involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Powell proclaims his faith every time he steps on the court. It’s not surprising that he is considered the team’s spiritual leader.

“We call him ‘The Rev’ now,” teammate Dee Brown told The (Champaign) News-Gazette. “He’s giving himself over to God. That’s a positive thing. It’s not easy. I wish I could do it.”

Last spring, Powell told Illinois coach Bruce Weber that he had found his calling, and Weber wasn’t surprised. Weber said Powell “hasn’t gone overboard,” concerning his faith. “I think he’s always had a strong faith, and now it’s just that he’s going to make that his future,” Weber told the newspaper.

Powell, who attended Mount Zion as a youngster but didn’t surrender his life to Christ until his sophomore year in college, began courses in religious studies at Urbana Theological Seminary in January. He received a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Illinois in December and plans to pursue a master’s degree in theology.

“He’s got a long journey to go, but he’ll get there,” Mount Zion pastor Craig Purchase told The News-Gazette. “He’s not T.D. Jakes, now, but he could be some day. Or better yet, maybe he’ll just be Roger Powell Jr.”

Speaking of Jakes, Powell is a fan of the well-known Dallas pastor, as well as other prominent charismatic ministers, such as Creflo Dollar and Rod Parsley. While watching the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) last year, Powell said he received a revelation regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Friends from a campus group called Get Free Ministry had offered to help him “get baptized in the Holy Spirit.”

“I’ve never spoken in tongues, so when they offered I said I really didn’t know much about it and that I would pray about it,” Powell recalled. “I prayed and asked God to show me the answer. The next day I turned on TBN, and Marilyn Hickey was on.

“The first thing she said was: ‘Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? If you haven’t, then you should be baptized.’I was sitting in my bed and I raised my hand. I said, ‘Thank you, Lord, for that revelation.’ That was my answer to prayer.”
Eric Tiansay

Carol Kent says God taught her how to surrender to Him after her son committed murder in broad daylight
Her son was a respected soldier with a promising military career, but Carol Kent doesn’t want to give anybody the impression that he is a hero. That is far from the truth–he shot and killed a man in broad daylight. Instead, she wants to share with others the painful journey of faith God has helped her walk for the last half-decade.

Her journey began on Oct. 24, 1999. The telephone rang at 12:35 a.m. Her husband answered, listened, then informed her that their son, Jason, had been arrested for the murder of his wife’s ex-husband. Kent said she collapsed to the floor in shock.

Her son–a 25-year-old who loved Christ, was a model student and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy–had become so obsessed with the alleged abuse of his two stepdaughters that he shot their biological father in plain view of passers-by.

An author and speaker, Kent prayed and interceded for 2-1/2 years before her only child’s trial. When the trial finally took place, she walked around the courthouse seven times in a Jericho-style prayer walk, petitioning God for His will. But her prayers did not yield the results for which she had hoped. The jury delivered their decision and Jason accepted his sentence: life in prison, without the possibility of parole–ever.

“Jason received the punishment with a demeanor of quietness,” she said. “As if he had prayed much. He didn’t break down. He didn’t show anger. He was just at peace, much more at peace than any of the rest of us. Then they put the cuffs on him and the waist chain, and they sent him out.”

As her son serves his penalty, Kent, too, lives out a life sentence of hope deferred. But she says with the loss of former expectations comes the possibility of new dreams forged by fire, heartache and suffering that are made of strong metals.

She tells her story in her book When I Lay My Isaac Down (NavPress). She says through the darkness, she found a path to redemption in the story of Abraham and Isaac.

God tested Abraham, commanding him to offer his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Abraham rose early the following morning and headed toward the altar. His son asked, “Father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God will provide for Himself the lamb, my son.” And the two of them walked on together (see Gen. 22:1-8).

Kent knows that her son is not a picture of Isaac, who had done nothing wrong. “I don’t excuse what he did,” she said. “His actions would not have been God’s plan for his life. But Jason is my personal ‘Isaac.'”

She says God enabled her to lay down her claim to her son with complete trust and submission, even while her mother’s heart recoiled at letting go. “I realized that what I sacrificed on the altar were my own desires, prideful ambition for my son, family holidays and an idyllic future.”

The first time Kent saw her son after his arrest, it was through the filter of a thick Plexiglas barrier. Ten inmates had assaulted him at the jail. “He was beaten and bruised, his two front teeth were jagged pieces. He was broken, hurt and sad. And so was I,” Kent said. “There was nothing I could do about the circumstances that brought Jason to that place. There was no way to bring [his victim] back to life. There was no way to fix things and make life as it was before.”

The Kents spent Easter with Jason following his trial. They sat together, as a family, in the prison courtyard and determined they would not waste their sorrow. They would allow God to use their tragedy as a platform upon which to proclaim His goodness to a world in need. A part of that proclamation is the Kents’ prison ministry called Speak Up for Hope, , a nonprofit organization through which the couple helps churches and ministries reach out to prisoners and their families.
Tonya Stoneman

Jack Dyer has spent 26 years delivering food and medical supplies to remote regions in Honduras and India
The man known as “Papa Jack” to thousands of Miskito Indians has taken a break from his adventures after a nasty fall on a mountain trek. But just because he’s 73 years old doesn’t mean Church of God missionary Jack Dyer is considering retirement.

“I’m a perpetual motion machine,” he told Charisma. “If I stop moving I’ll die.”

Dyer has been recuperating following that nearly fatal fall in the Himalayas in India last year. But that was just one of countless close calls he’s had in his 26-year missionary career, most of it spent among the Miskito Indians of Honduras, where he used his plane to ferry medical supplies and people to remote clinics, among many other duties.

Dyer grew up in Baton Rouge, La., and became a successful engineer before experiencing the “anointing of the Holy Spirit,” as he put it. He was a deacon and Sunday school teacher in a Baptist church but felt something working on him spiritually. “The Holy Spirit was touching me,” Dyer said.

The turning point came when he heard a sermon on Revelation 18. “It tells them to get out of Babylon,” he said. “God spoke to me just as clearly as I’m talking to you and said: ‘That’s you, Buddy. You’re mine, but you live in Babylon.’ And He said, ‘Get out.'”

Dyer heeded the message and began selling his extensive properties, including an Arabian horse farm, using the money to fund his future mission work and other “spiritual endeavors” such as a church camp for wayward boys. He moved with his wife, Shirley, to Honduras to be a missionary bush pilot, working with the Church of God and an organization called Friends of the Americas.

Dyer describes his experiences in his unpublished memoirs, which he wrote in third person. “I don’t like people blowing their own horn, so I just didn’t put my name in the book,” he explained. “I just think it’s more interesting that way.”

In the book, he writes of his arrival at a refugee camp in Mocoron, Honduras, in 1981: “He soon realized he was in a situation like he had never seen before. There were some 11,000 people living in an open field. There was no clean drinking water, no sanitary facilities, almost no food and nothing but the crudest thatched roofed sheds to protect them from the torrential rains that fell intermittently. They were living in a sea of mud mixed with human excrement. The odor was almost more than his stomach could bear. For a moment he thought he would throw up.”

But Dyer said he adjusted to the living conditions and was soon busy helping, sometimes transporting too-heavy loads to save lives or landing on dangerous terrain.

His adventures didn’t end with the refugee crisis. The day-to-day routine of a jungle bush pilot keeps Dyer living on the edge. On more than one occasion he damaged his plane and nearly lost his life landing on remote jungle strips. But he said he felt that he was in God’s hands, which enabled him to perform feats far beyond the limits of his own skills.

One such feat occurred when he decided to land on a sandbar in the Coco River. He scouted it out by air but saw it was covered with logs, so he sent an Indian friend upriver by canoe to clear it. Then he flew up to deliver Christmas boxes to the Miskitos. Dyer finessed the risky landing and handed out the boxes to grateful Indians.

Dyer was in his late 60s when he wrapped up his work in Honduras. But rather than retire to Baton Rouge to fish and dandle grandkids like an ordinary person, he set off to India for a new chapter in his missionary career. That led him on the trek that almost ended his life: He blacked out while hiking in the Himalayas and wound up at the bottom of a mountain. Doctors said a heart condition apparently caused the blackout.

Dyer returned “home” to Baton Rouge for medical treatment last year, but he made a monthlong trip to Honduras in November and planned another to India early this year. “I’m open to what God does with me,” he said. “I just want to be used.”
Ernest Herndon

Charles Blair said one of the nation’s presidents has pledged to donate a piece of land to build a church for every 25 converts
Charles Blair is no mathematician, but he is a fan of numbers. The former pastor of Calvary Temple in Denver has a particular favorite: 1,850. That’s how much he says it costs in dollars to support an Ethiopian missionary for a year, build a church and furnish the congregation with Bibles and discipleship materials.

Another favorite is 25. That’s the number of converts needed in order for the government to donate a patch of land for a church building.

Those figures form the crux of a fund-raising effort Blair launched nearly two years ago. Dubbed The Ethiopian Call, the campaign’s goal is to raise enough money to plant 1,000 churches in Benishangul-Gumuz, which has a population of 600,000 and is located in western Ethiopia near the Sudan border. So far, Blair says, enough money has been raised to sponsor 649 churches.

Blair said he hopes North American Christians will support the Ethopian church ” and trigger a ripple effect that will be felt throughout all Ethiopia. We believe God’s going to give us the nation.”

Blair spent more than 50 years as founding pastor of Calvary Temple before he retired in 1998. In the 1970s, he found himself the subject of newspaper headlines after he unwittingly sold unsecured securities in an effort to raise funds for a retirement center. He was fined and put on probation, and the church went on to repay the investors.

Now, despite retirement, Blair said he doesn’t want to miss what he calls an “unprecedented” opportunity to help fulfill the Great Commission. Blair has been working in Ethiopia since the early 1990s, when communism fell in the east African nation. At the invitation of the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia, a consortium of more than 20 denominations, Blair began training promising young leaders to evangelize their nation and plant churches in remote villages. Blair’s organization reports that some 60,000 Ethiopians have converted to Christianity through their efforts.

Blair said the spiritual and social transformation is apparent. Roughly two years ago Yaregal Aysheshim, president of Benishangul-Gumuz, contacted Blair. A Christian, Aysheshim said he noticed a marked difference in the villages in his region: crime was down, the AIDS infection rate had dropped and alcoholism had decreased, Blair recalled.

“He said he’d be in office for 2-1/2 more years, and he wanted to establish 1,000 churches within that time,” Blair said. “He was willing to donate a piece of land for every 25 converts. … We felt it was an open door, one that could close.”

Since then, Blair has met quietly with Christian leaders, telling them the story of how he met an African president willing to donate land for building churches. Thousands of dollars have poured in, and more than 100 churches are currently under construction. But Blair said more is needed to reach the 1,000-church goal by Sept. 1, when Aysheshim’s term ends.

Ray Noah, pastor of Valley Christian Center in Dublin, Calif., has led his church in sponsoring 50 Ethiopian church-plants, and he hopes to sponsor 50 more. He visited Ethiopia twice last year, assisting Blair in training the sponsored pastors.

“These pastors … don’t have anything, but what they have is a passion for the Lord,” Noah said. “They’re very grateful for the resources we bring in, but once you give them that help, they go out there and do the work.”

Though Ethiopia is home to the world’s oldest Christian community, the residents of Benishangul-Gumuz are largely animists. Many still plow by hand and survive by hunting and fishing. Many don’t wear clothing or attend school.

“There’s spiritual darkness and with that spiritual darkness is cultural darkness,” Noah said. “You can tell where a church has been planted. It not only changes the spiritual life of that community, it changes the cultural and social life of that community.”
Adrienne S. Gaines
For more information about The Ethiopian Call, contact the Blair Foundation at 877-418-6265; write 2265 Fraser Road, Kawkawlin, MI 48631; or visit .

Critics say Stan Telchin’s recent book is unbiblical and may cause unfounded distrust of Messianic congregations
An author’s claim that Messianic Judaism is unbiblical and causing division in the body of Christ has sparked controversy in the Messianic community and led some of its leaders to protest his book.

Stan Telchin, a Messianic Jew and author of Messianic Judaism Is Not Christianity (Chosen Books), says those within the movement think Messianic Judaism is superior to Christianity, which he says impedes the Bible’s call to unity.

The 80-year-old Jews for Jesus missionary adds that Messianic congregations appeal largely to Gentile Christians who enjoy traditional Jewish customs such as wearing yarmulkes and prayer shawls. Telchin says this offends and angers the Jewish community, which holds such practices in high regard and reserves them only for observant Jews. He says the Messianic movement may, in effect, alienate the very people it is trying to win to Christ.

“The Bible calls us to provoke Israel to jealousy,” Telchin told Charisma. “What Messianic Judaism is doing is provoking the Jewish community to outrage.” Telchin said this is because Messianic congregations make “a caricature, a charade” of what happens in synagogues.

Author of the best-selling book Betrayed, in which he shares his testimony, Telchin says his intent is to “reveal and to help heal the division that is occurring among brothers and sisters in the Messiah–a division being fostered by those who insist that Messianic Judaism is not Christianity.”

Barry Rubin, president of Messianic Jewish Publications and rabbi of a Messianic congregation in Columbia, Md., says the book, subtitled A Loving Call to Unity, does anything but promote unity. “In his interest toward unity, he has actually done the antithesis,” Rubin told Charisma. “He has not really come to Messianic Jews with his concerns. Instead he published a book that, for the most part, is going to Christians.”

The book has been surrounded by controversy since it released in August. The confusing title drew a negative reaction, prompting its publisher–Chosen Books, a division of Baker Book House–to issue a press release explaining that people needed to read the book’s lead-in line, title and subtitle: Some Messianic Jews Say, “Messianic Judaism Is Not Christianity”: A Loving Call to Unity.

Rubin says Telchin’s book focuses on minute issues that are in no way normative in Messianic Judaism. “Stan Telchin is not a theologian, he is not a leader of any Messianic congregation, and he is [in] no way a spokesman for Messianic Judaism, and yet he has chosen to act as if he were,” Rubin said.

Rubin joined Joel Chernoff, president of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America; Jamie Cowen, president of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, and other leaders in writing an open “letter to the editor” to trade publications that advertised Telchin’s book, including Charisma’s sister publication Christian Retailing.

“Telchin presents a skewed picture of the Messianic Jewish movement,” the letter stated. “By not presenting a balanced picture of today’s Messianic congregations, in effect Telchin portrays exceptions as the rule, characterizing them as standard fare.”

The letter went on to say the book might cause Christians to “shy away from standing with Messianic Jews in Israel at a time of their greatest need, and avoid connecting with us here in the States.”

Telchin, who was pastor of a nondenominational charismatic church in the Washington, D.C., area for 14 years, says he knew the book would draw criticism. “I want Jewish people to get saved,” he said, “but you’re not going to reach the Jewish people through Messianic Judaism–it’s not working.”

Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus, writes in the book’s foreword that through the years Telchin has grown uneasy and troubled “by such terms as ‘Gentile Church’ when he knew that the Messiah established only one Church.” Rosen added that “questions should arise [from the book] and much discussion should be the result.”

Rubin estimates there are about 300 Messianic congregations in the United States. Telchin said the claims in his book do not apply to all Messianic congregations. Originally intended to be a vehicle to attract Jewish people, Messianic congregations appeal mostly to Gentiles, Telchin said. “About 80 percent, of those who attend Messianic synagogues are not Jewish,” he said.

In his ministry’s November newsletter, Rubin admitted that most Messianic congregations “consist of at least 50 percent non-Jews,” but added that most of these ministries have an excellent relationship with local Christian churches. He said the problems Telchin refers to in his book “barely exist, if at all” and that “by being so visible to the Jewish community, Messianic congregations are a strong witness of the faith.”
Nancy Justice

Through his stage shows and book, Rob Lacey presents the Scriptures in the language of popular culture
Rob Lacey didn’t receive a sudden revelation to rewrite the Bible. But in his personal study of Scripture, the 42-year-old Welshman discovered that rephrasing passages to fit modern language connected with believers and nonbelievers alike.

So the 16-year theater veteran set out to take the Word to the street–literally–by paraphrasing the Bible in a way today’s postmodern culture would understand. The project started off as a book, releasing as The Street Bible in Britain in 2003 and capturing the 2004 Book of the Year award at the United Kingdom Christian Booksellers Convention. In September, it released as The Word on the Street in the United States.

“It’s an overview of the Bible that’s perfect for non-Christians, and Christians love it because it gives a fresh angle to something they know very well,” Lacey told Charisma. “But I’m very passionate that everyone realizes it’s not the Bible. It’s an intro and advertisement for the Bible.”

In sometimes gritty and oftentimes witty language, Lacey presents Old Testament law as an instructional manual, the wisdom books as rock opera, the Gospels as one story with four narrators, the epistles as e-mails, and Revelation as virtual images. With a vocabulary and structure designed primarily for 18- to 34-year-olds, the passages reflect God’s eternal truth and wisdom.

The book also is performed as one-hour and 20-minute stage shows.

Accompanied by Bill and Rachel Beales on guitar, keyboard and vocals, Lacey opens the show by reviewing the entire Bible in two minutes. “The show is the Bible as performance art,” Lacey said. “It’s comedy, it’s theater, it’s performance poetry.”

Lacey gave dozens of performances last summer alone, but the ministry concept almost never got off the ground. Two weeks after inking the book contract in March 2000, Lacey was diagnosed with cancer in his bladder.

He underwent painful chemical treatments, but the disease continued to spread, and eventually Lacey had to undergo surgery to remove his bladder.

“I was a hermit in my own house, and the only positive thing in my life at that stage was writing,” he said. “It was my lifeline creatively, emotionally and certainly spiritually to be soaked in the Bible. It was the only thing that kept me sane.”

During the operation, doctors discovered a tumor and found cancer cells in Lacey’s bones. Lacey said if his physicians had known how much the cancer had spread, they would not have performed the surgery. Afterward, Lacey’s medical team told him he had less than a year to live.

“I had just finished the first draft of The Word on the Street, but it was nowhere near ready,” he said. “If that had been the end, the book would not have been completed.”

Rather than accept the doctors’ report, Lacey underwent alternative treatment in Mexico. A member of Glenwood Church, a Free Evangelical congregation in Cardiff, Wales, he also visited Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship to receive prayer for healing. But his condition worsened, and in December 2001, friends and family began visiting Lacey to pay their last respects.

Still determined to finish the project, Lacey began editing his book. The work proved both therapeutic and fruitful. “Because I had seen a lot more, I had a lot more authority and courage and a right to talk about the big issues,” he said. “I had looked death in the face, but because of what Christ had done, death blinked first.

“I had two very good options. I could either die and go to heaven and be pain-free, or God would heal me, and I could see my little boy grow up. It was totally dark at times, and at other times, it was glimpses of real intimacy with God, a very beautiful time.”

During the summer of 2002, Lacey began to improve. In August, no cancer could be detected in his lymph nodes, and by October he not only could walk without assistance, he also began swimming to regain his strength.

Today he is in good health, and tours the country with his stage show. Lacey said he has revised the format some to allow the audience to draw their own biblical insights from the presentation.

“I was preaching through drama and wasn’t just telling the stories,” he told Charisma. “I realized that was rather arrogant to an unchurched person, especially in this postmodern society. I began using Jesus’ model of parables and leaving it to the Holy Spirit and the listener to work things out.”

Last fall, Lacey opened the Gates Arts and Training Center with his wife, Sandra, in Cardiff. The center holds acting and dancing classes and produces plays for the community.
John Hillman

Colombian Student Alleges False Arrest

First-year theology student Luis Alberto Vera, 24, was arrested Nov. 26 on charges of firearms trafficking and aggravated theft. Though he said the charge is bogus, he faces a lengthy and likely expensive legal battle to clear his name, Compass Direct reported. A student at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia in Medellín, Vera is not an isolated case, observers say. Special anti-terrorism laws and a growing network of anonymous informants have increased the risk of regular citizens being wrongly accused of terrorism, Compass said. Ricardo Esquivi of the Evangelical Council of Colombia said at least 30 pastors and church leaders across the nation are currently imprisoned because of anonymous tips from informants.

Pentecostal Churches Double in Egypt

The president of the Pentecostal Churches in Egypt reported in December that the number of Pentecostal churches in Egypt has doubled in the last three years, Assist News Service (ANS) said. “When God called me [to] the ministry of being responsible for the Pentecostals in Egypt February of 2001, the number of the churches was only 35,” Bishop Azez Morgan told ANS. “However, in this last three years, the Lord has blessed us with the strategy for church growth and it now has doubled to 75. There are churches all over the country, but there are still places we still do not have our churches, but we have plans for this.”

House Church Leader Arrested In China

One of China’s most prominent house-church leaders was recently arrested for his religious activities. Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) reported that pastor Zhang Rongliang, 53, was detained Dec. 1 in Xuzhai village in Zhengzhou, located in Henan Province. At press time, no one had heard from him. Zhang, whose wife and children are now in hiding, leads the Fangcheng Mother Church and the China for Christ Church, which is one of the largest house-church networks in the country, with more than 10 million members.

Some 1.3 million people are believed to be addicted to the drug, which causes brain damage similar to the effects of a stroke
As use of a man-made drug spreads nationwide at a pace the National Institute on Drug Abuse says is unrivaled by any other in recent history, ministries are reaching into the lives of addicts, families and entire communities with a message of hope and healing through Jesus Christ.

Dubbed the “devil’s drug,” methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system, creating an intense high that can last as long as 24 hours. The drug causes brain damage similar to that caused by Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and epilepsy; use can also produce psychotic behavior, resulting in extreme violence.

Also known as “speed,” “meth” or “chalk,” methamphetamine is made in clandestine laboratories from everyday household products and is the most prevalent synthetic drug manufactured in the United States. According to a 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 1.3 million people used the drug during the previous year.

“It is the devil’s greatest tool in the world of drugs,” warns Paula Wood, reformed methamphetamine addict and founder of Break Free Ministry, an organization that reaches out to methamphetamine addicts and their families.

Founded in 2003, Break Free is run by Paula and husband Andy Wood from their home in Savanna, area that has been ravaged by the drug. The ministry consists of 10 team members, eight of whom are former meth addicts.

Wood says her team will go anywhere to spread the message that saved her life. “We tell them that there is hope,” she told Charisma. “The only hope is through Jesus Christ.”

The team travels to the streets equipped with a custom-built cooker that feeds hundreds. “We pray with them, we clothe them, we cook for them and we love them,” Wood added.

Since August 2003, Break Free has hosted four rallies. In just one weekend, approximately 90 people dedicated their lives to Christ, Wood reported. Now Break Free is working to establish a discipleship home for addicts because of the increasing need for in-house rehabilitation facilities specifically for meth addicts.

“It may take anywhere from three to four months to get into a facility,” Wood said. “By the time a bed is open, the person is back on the street. We get calls every day, asking if there’s a place to put them.”

One of those calls came from 26-year-old Cory Weidner, who was a drug addict by the age of 14. Weidner was facing a 20-year prison sentence when he met Wood in a county jail, where she works as a licensed practical nurse. “They loved me after everyone else gave up on me,” Weidner said. After his release, Break Free ministered to Weidner until his placement in Teen Challenge, a faith-based drug rehabilitation facility.

“It is an epidemic, a mushroom cloud that is exploding over this country,” said Dr. Mary Holley, founder of Mothers Against Methamphetamine, a ministry that distributes methamphetamine-related literature nationwide. “We haven’t seen the worst of it yet.”

An obstetrician in Alabama, Holley estimates that 10 percent of her pregnant patients are meth addicts. She says a faith-based approach is key to rehabilitation. “Faith-based programs tend to be far more successful because they go deeper into the heart of people,” she said.

John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and President Bush’s “drug czar,” warns that methamphetamine is a threat to entire communities. “With meth, you have all the harms of other drugs, but there is also a safety hazard” because meth labs exude potentially explosive toxic fumes.

In October, Walters released the nation’s first comprehensive strategy for reducing the production, trafficking and use of synthetic drugs. The Bush administration’s National Synthetic Drugs Action Plan provides an overview of recent trends in the consumption and trafficking of synthetic drugs and outlines a plan for addressing the problem based on four core areas: prevention, treatment, regulation of chemicals and drugs, and law enforcement.
Suzy Richardson