BOOKS

Light Force
By Brother Andrew and Al Janssen,
Revell, hardcover, 330 pages, $.

In the presence of deadly force, Brother Andrew, “God’s Smuggler,” moves fearlessly throughout the Middle East with a Bible in each hand and a “light force” by his side. Historic in its telling and inspirational in its reading, Light Force: A Stirring Account of the Church Caught in the Middle East Crossfire is a reminder that the Holy Land may be the most overlooked mission field in the world today. By way of enlightenment, then, Brother Andrew details his fight to equip the church that is struggling to survive in this deeply divided field of war.

From Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to Jerusalem, Brother Andrew serves God’s purposes with divine favor and blessed determination. In this story, we begin to see the Spirit-filled wisdom of Matthew 10:23: “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
J. James Estrada

True Prosperity
By James Robison, Tyndale House
Publishers, hardcover, 176 pages, $.

Have nothing or have it all–these are the two extremes seen in the church, author and TV personality James Robison writes. In the simply titled True Prosperity, Robison examines the Scriptures for God’s perspective on this divisive issue.

In sharing his life story, Robison reveals that he, “a boy born as the product of a forced sexual relationship and raised in poverty,” has learned that being raised in a dysfunctional family doesn’t relegate a person to a lack of success for the rest of his life. Despite his beginnings, he never believed that God had overlooked him.

Using his story and the examples of many others, Robison puts prosperity in biblical context, explaining that it is not something he seeks; rather, he seeks God’s will and “prosperity finds me.” Though he and his wife, Betty, always have lived below their means and have achieved a measure of financial wealth, he writes: “Possessing things is not the issue. It is when our things possess us that they become a problem.”

In True Prosperity, Robison has achieved what he set out to do–bring biblical balance to what has long been a hot-button issue in the church.
Christine D. Johnson

Watcher
By Marilyn Hickey, Harrison House,
softcover, 288 pages, $.

There are certain things the enemy simply does not want the believer to know. Darkness and confusion cannot stand the clear light of truth invading its preferred and pervasive dens of ignorance and indifference.

However, Marilyn Hickey has learned a thing or two in 30 years of ministry. Her latest book, Watcher: Are You Ready for His Return? inspects end-time truths and includes topics never-before specified for the Christian.

We discover Bible “love” is absent in the Quran, but God has a plan for Muslims. The heavenly Father’s call for revival in the Islamic world is unveiled by examination of Isaiah and Jeremiah. Find yourself in one of three places: the overcoming church, the lukewarm church or the tribulation church. Solve the Revelation timeline. Learn the names of the Antichrist, the counterfeit of Jesus.

Avoid being a last-days scoffer by transforming ritual into relationship. Watcher will keep you focused.
J. James Estrada

MUSIC

Nothing Without You
By Smokie Norful, EMI Gospel.

Smokie Norful became a household name with his megahit “I Need You Now.” Receiving airplay on gospel and mainstream radio stations alike, the song catapulted this young man to the title of Billboard’s No. 1 Gospel Artist of 2003 and saw him racking up award after award for the phenomenal debut CD.

Well, Norful is back with his sophomore project, a new collection of songs titled Nothing Without You. Many will enjoy the riveting opening cut “Power.” Reminiscent of the classic ’70s sound, this song showcases Norful’s ability to merge the old with the new, all while giving praise to God.

Making sure to provide us with some Sunday-morning church, cuts such as “Worthy” and “I Understand” beckon the listener to sing along with hands lifted. “God Is Able,” one of the most moving cuts on this project, showcases Norful at his best–with an emotive vocal delivery and simply a piano and strings.

Taking us back to the old-time church, Norful also includes the classics “I Know the Lord Will Make a Way” and “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus.” Music great George Duke provides the CD’s title track, a beautiful love song to the Lord.

Other well-known producers include brothers Cedric and Victor Caldwell, Alex Asaph Ward, Myron Butler, Tommy Sims and Percy Bady. “Continuous Grace,” with its uplifting message and powerful choir vocals, is certain to be sung in choir stands everywhere. This 12-track CD closes with the poignant “Healing in His Tears.”

Nothing Without You is a powerful collage of inspirational tunes and solidifies Smokie Norful’s place in gospel music.
René Williams

Clean
By Shane & Shane, Inpop Records.

Shane Bernard and Shane Everett, known as Shane & Shane, follow up their last disc, the stripped-down Upstairs, with a new pop offering titled Clean. The duo, delivering a theme focusing on redemption, new beginnings and a celebration of God’s grace, use their talented vocals in acoustic-led praise on 11 memorable tracks.

The tempos range from the pop-rock sounds of “Fringes” and “Saved by Grace” to the mellower message of “Acres of Hope” and “Yearn.” Along with original tunes, Shane & Shane breathe new life into Twila Paris’ standard “He Is Exalted” and the familiar praise song “There Is None Like You.”

“God Did” delivers an important message about looking holy versus being holy. The disc closes with the simple praise of “Your Grace Is Sufficient.”

With their voices conveying the passion behind their words, Shane & Shane showcase more of the music that made their previous releases such noteworthy efforts. Clean should be a welcome listen for fans of earthy, organic worship.
DeWayne Hamby

Gloria
By various artists, Rocketown Records.

Imagine if the Rocketown Records family of artists were throwing a Christmas party complete with new music under the direction of Scott Dente and their buddy Charlie Peacock at Peacock’s Art House studios. Gloria, a multi-artist holiday collection, requires a little less preparation than that actual party but nonetheless delivers the same personal feel. The project features acoustic and pop renderings of mostly original material and a few classics.

Watermark’s Christy Nockels could sing “Happy Birthday” and make it sound like a new song, so it’s no surprise that her powerful rendition of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” shines as one of the highlights of this disc. Also, the extremely underrated Cindy Morgan delivers a jazz-flavored “Follow That Star.” Shaun Groves and George Rowe blend their voices together on the organic sounds of “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

The bluesy folk of “Love Came Just in Time” is a departure from more traditional sounds, but Taylor Sorenson and Alathea create a great musical moment. Christine Dente’s “Christmas Kind of Feeling,” on the other hand, is an instant classic that seems destined for a TV special. Guest Amy Grant also pitches in to deliver the Christmas praise “God Is With Us.”

The Rocketown family has blended themselves together well to create a holiday offering that could be a yearly listening tradition for many.
DeWayne Hamby

When He Came
By Martha Munizzi,
Martha Munizzi Music.

Although previously well-known in contemporary Christian music and Christian conference circles, Martha Munizzi has recently experienced phenomenal success in the gospel community. Her previous project, The Best Is Yet to Come, peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Gospel chart and saw the praise and worship artist’s ministry expand to epic proportions.

The songwriter of “Say the Name,” “Shout” and “Because of Who You Are” (recorded by Munizzi as well as Vicki Yohe) decided to hit while the iron is hot, delivering a new Christmas project titled When He Came. Her first studio project contains a diverse collection of revamped traditional favorites and new holiday picks.

A funky rendition of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and the original song “White Christmas,” penned by Munizzi and fellow praise and worship artist Israel Houghton of Israel and New Breed, are two standouts. Rousing remakes of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” are made extra special with Munizzi’s soulful and reverent flair.

The gospel-flavored “His Name Shall Be Called” will certainly find you clapping your hands and rejoicing. One of the most stirring offerings on the 10-track CD is a medley of two Christmas favorites “Silent Night” and “Away in a Manger,” featuring Munizzi’s children on background vocals.

Other great cuts include the beautiful title tune, “When He Came,” the urban-tinged “Peace on Earth” and “My Only Wish,” a song about the greatest gift of all.

The combination of a powerful voice, touching songs and impressive production make for a great mix and a perfect gift for under the tree.
René Williams

A13-month singing tour, a two-month missions trip and work on a new album left Rebecca St. James exhausted. She thought living on her own would be a time of spiritual refreshing and renewal. Instead God was silent, and she felt lonely and disillusioned.

“I had kind of bought into that feminist mentality that you’ve got to do it yourself, don’t rely on anyone, be independent. I felt myself closing over, shutting off, becoming cold and hard.”

Her pastor challenged her to trust God and reach out for community. She realized she was not the only woman to feel this way. “The feminist movement was very beneficial … but it was also very damaging in our attitudes towards men, in our buying into this over-independent mentality, in the area of beauty … in the area of intimacy. … Even our understanding of what it means to connect with other people has been hurt.”

Offering a biblical approach to womanhood, St. James with Lynda Hunter Bjorklund wrote SHE (Tyndale House). They explore the truths concerning protection, intimacy, femininity, beauty, purity, freedom, mentorship, boundaries and purpose.

St. James says: “We’ve got to abandon every area of struggle to Him. … [The book] kind of says: ‘This is what you’re feeling. We’re coming along beside you. We’ve felt this. There’s hope. … Go to Him for your answers. In all these nine areas let’s together go to God and trust Him.'”
Leigh DeVore

CHARISMATIC TOP SELLERS

1. A Divine Revelation of Hell
Mary K. Baxter (Whitaker House)

2. My Spiritual Inheritance
Juanita Bynum (Charisma House)

3. Total Forgiveness
R.T. Kendall (Charisma House)

4. Pigs in the Parlor
Frank and Ida Mae Hammond
(Impact Christian Books)

5. The Three Battlegrounds
Francis Frangipane
(Arrow Publications)

6. A Divine Revelation of Heaven
Mary K. Baxter (Whitaker House)

7. The Tongue: A Creative Force
Charles Capps (Harrison House)

8. The Battle Belongs to the Lord
Joyce Meyer (Warner Faith)

9. Heaven
Jesse Duplantis (Harrison House)

10. Prison to Praise

Merlin R. Carothers
(Merlin R. Carothers)

Churches and missions organizations have been reaching out to victims of the recent storms

Since a recent wave of hurricanes swept through the southeast United States and much of the Caribbean, Christians have been reaching out to their communities, sharing hot meals, water, ice and other relief. Leaders say church attendance has gone up as a result.

Covenant Centre International church in Palm Beach Springs, Fla., lost the roof and much of the interior of the building, forcing the church to rebuild from the ground up, pastor Norman Benz said.

“Florida has been hit hard, but I believe God is in control and this will result in a real move of God in our state and even nationwide,” he said. “Buildings are clothing for the ministry, but it’s really what God is doing in the lives of people that matters.”

Steve Lyons, a hurricane expert with The Weather Channel, told Charisma the 2004 season–which saw hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne rip through Florida from mid-August to September–is just slightly above normal. In a typical season, hurricanes form and then dissipate at sea, but this year storms are making landfall in the United States, primarily Florida, at an alarming rate.

In Pensacola, where Hurricane Ivan made landfall, churches have been rallying. Pastor Jody Herrington, assistant to the president at the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry, is leading relief efforts for Brownsville Assembly of God.

“God has used this [hurricane] to open the eyes and hearts of the community toward this church,” she said. “This is a moment for us to reach out to the community. The loudest gospel we can preach to them is to serve them.”

Herrington said scout teams are assessing damages in neighborhoods and then reporting back to the church so needed supplies and services can be provided. “We want them to see Jesus with skin on,” Herrington said.

Perdido Bay United Methodist Church, also in Pensacola, helped about 1,000 people per day after the storm hit Sept. 15, leaving many without food or a roof over their heads. “We’ve been able to offer security for people who have lost their security,” associate minister Rusty Glasgow said.

The church cared for two brothers who lost their homes, cars and jobs to Ivan. The young men packed their wives and children into their mother’s small house.

Central Chapel Worship Center joined with the American Red Cross to feed people and distribute supplies, even though the back of the church’s sanctuary was torn off by the storm. Senior pastor Tim Nail said at one point they were nearly out of food when a woman on the serving line prayed for God to provide. The next morning, five big trucks arrived loaded with food.

Pace Assembly of God became a key distribution point for aid, partnering with U.S. Army troops and federal relief agencies. As church members worked to help others, tragedy struck. Four key members–Bill Walther, Traves Neff, Cristy King and Daniel Wesley–died in a plane crash a week after Ivan hit.

Neff, who at the age of 26 was Continental Airlines’ youngest commercial pilot, wanted to perform an aerial assessment to help remote areas hurt by Ivan. The small, single-engine, four-seat Cessna crashed shortly after takeoff. Walther was a Pace Assembly staff member described as pastor Glyn Lowery Jr.’s “right-hand man.” King and Wesley, both 20, were raised in the church and due to be married in January.

Lowery was supposed to be on the flight but opted out at the last minute. He has been shaken by the tragedy but is comforted knowing his friends are in heaven. “I know they were doing what they wanted to do, and I know they wouldn’t come back for anything in this world,” he told Charisma.

Pensacola Mayor John Fogg, a committed Christian, told Charisma he’s encouraged by the outreach of area churches–many of them greatly affected themselves–and the strong sense of community that has developed in post-Ivan Pensacola. “I’m extremely optimistic that at the end of the day–and the end of the day may be a year or two down the road–we are going to be a better community because of this,” he said.

The four storms have taken a heavy toll. In addition to battering Pensacola, Hurricane Ivan ravaged Jamaica, killing 50 people and destroying more than 8,000 homes. In Haiti, the death toll was staggering–more than 3,000 dead and 200,000 homeless after Jeanne, then a tropical storm, ripped through the nation Sept. 17.

According to ASSIST News Service, an American Youth With A Mission (YWAM) staff member in Haiti said groups of needy people turned into angry mobs as relief aid was distributed. YWAM staff encountered one man who said the storm killed six people in his house. The man said he slept in a tree for two days, waiting for help.

Ann Briere, spokeswoman for Food for the Poor (
) based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said the aid organization has been involved in hurricane relief in Jamaica, Granada, Grand Bahamas and Haiti.

In Granada, Briere said, 90 percent of the population of only 100,000 had their homes either destroyed or badly damaged. She said both Granada’s spice tree and tourism industries were critically damaged, crippling the economy.

Though the United States has suffered billions of dollars in damage, there are means to gain help from relief agencies, she said, unlike in Caribbean and Latin nations. “Those who haven’t traveled in the Third World don’t fully appreciate the lack of resources there,” she said.

Food for the Poor partners with local churches and organizations to distribute aid, helping pastors help their people, she said. “We believe we see Christ in all of the faces of the poor,” Briere said.

Springfield, Convoy of Hope () sent out quick-strike response teams to bring food, water and supplies immediately, sometimes the day after the hurricane. Randy Rich, vice president of administration and disaster response, said the organization delivered 169 semitrailer-loads of food and supplies weighing more than 6 million pounds to some 300,000 hurricane victims. “Our heart is to be a resource for churches reaching out to their neighborhoods,” Rich said.

Florida children, many still recovering from their own losses, are joining others from across the United States to provide shoe boxes filled with school supplies, candy and letters of encouragement to 7 million children worldwide, including many in Haiti and Granada.

“I know what it feels like to see just about everything you have swept away by a storm,” said 11-year-old Connor of Melbourne, Fla., which felt the impact of Charley, Frances and Jeanne. “I hope my shoe box gift makes another kid who’s lost a lot in the hurricanes feel better.”
Richard Daigle in Pensacola, Fla

Two Christian TV networks can no longer be seen on the nation’s second largest satellite TV provider.

Daystar and FamilyNet were removed from DISH Network Sept. 17 after an arbitration panel unanimously ruled that DISH’s parent company, EchoStar Communications Corp., must comply with a 1996 contract it made with Dominion Sky Angel, the nation’s only Christian direct-to satellite TV service.

The agreement forbids EchoStar from broadcasting any Christian channels on DISH Network besides Dominion’s Angel One network, and Trinity Broadcasting Network and Eternal Word Television Network, which were airing on DISH before the contract was made. Dominion also was awarded more than $3 million for past economic damages and legal fees, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The dispute stems from an April 2003 breach-of-contract lawsuit that Dominion filed against EchoStar after it began airing Daystar and FamilyNet. The networks fought to remain on DISH, which is said to reach 25 million homes, leading to a heated dispute between Daystar and Dominion in particular.

Roughly a month before the arbitration panel’s ruling, Dominion founder Robert W. Johnson Sr. died of heart failure Aug. 5 at the age 66. His son, Robert Johnson Jr., is serving as Dominion’s interim CEO.

“It is our desire to put this issue behind us and move forward in obedience to the vision that the Lord has given for this important work of ministry,” the younger Johnson said.

Before Daystar and FamilyNet were removed from DISH, Daystar founder Marcus Lamb said he hoped Dominion would “do not necessarily what is legally right, but what is spiritually and Scripturally right and allow Daystar and FamilyNet to stay on the DISH Network so we can continue to win souls on that secular platform.”

Though he said FamilyNet was disappointed with the ruling, Chip Turner, vice president of marketing and distribution, noted that his network had increased the number of cable outlets on which it is carried by 100 percent.

EchoStar spokesman Steve Caulk said the company believed the ruling was unjustified and planned to appeal.
Adrienne S. Gaines

Declaring that gay rights are not civil rights, some 160 black ministers urged Congress to support a marriage amendment

More than 160 African American pastors convened on Capitol Hill Sept. 8 to register their opposition to gay marriage and in the process publicly chided the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) for failing to meet with them to discuss the issue.

The Sept. 8 press conference was the culmination of a 24-hour summit sponsored by the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), a conservative lobbying group based in Washington, D.C., and Strang Communications, which publishes Charisma magazine. The event was aimed at educating black ministers about the homosexual agenda and allowing them to voice their opposition to legislative attempts to legalize gay marriage.

Among the attendees were Bishop Paul S. Morton of the New Orleans-based Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, California pastor Frederick K.C. Price, National Religious Broadcasters Chairman Glenn Plummer, Detroit pastor Marvin Winans and Church of God in Christ Bishop Samuel L. Green.

The pastors said their intent was not to bash homosexuals, but to oppose the assertion that the gay rights movement is a continuation of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s. They also expressed concern that gay marriage would threaten the stability of black families.

Recent statistics show that more than two-thirds of black babies are born to single parents, which pastors say only adds to the challenges of divorce, teen pregnancy, fatherlessness and the disproportionate number of HIV/AIDS cases in the black community.

“These trends should not be overlooked,” said a statement signed by most of the summit participants and presented to the CBC. “Further destabilization of traditional marriage must be prevented at all costs.”

The ministers’ effort to preserve traditional marriage, which translates into support for a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples only, put them at odds with the CBC, many of whom have expressed their opposition to a marriage amendment.

When none of the CBC members showed up for a meeting scheduled before the press conference, the pastors took note. “Apparently, [the CBC] doesn’t respect God’s people enough to meet with us,” Morton told the media.

Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) and Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) later addressed the pastors. Jefferson told Morton he would support a marriage amendment. But Kilpatrick said that though she opposed gay marriage, she did not want to open up the Constitution “under this current administration.”

Winans, who is from Michigan, was not deterred. “Anything short of an amendment … will be circumvented to allow gay marriage,” he said.

Despite their unity on gay marriage, the pastors were not all supporters of President Bush, though he opposes gay marriage. Some argued that the fight for a marriage amendment would take years and wouldn’t be won from the top down.

“The House must have two-thirds of the representatives in place,” Winans said. “It aids when you have a man at the top [who is sympathetic to a marriage amendment] … but again, the House of Representatives are from the ‘hood to represent people and vote in accordance to what the majority of people want.”

Others said supporting Kerry this month would send a conflicting message. “I could not vote for someone who was opposed to [traditional marriage],” Price said. “To me, you’re saying … that homosexuality is all right–especially when you say I have to bow my knee to it.”

In the coming year, additional summits are to be held across the country, culminating with a large meeting in Washington, D.C. More than once, the pastors were told they held the key to turning the tide on gay marriage.

“This is our Esther moment,” said Atlanta pastor Darryl L. Foster, who leads the ex-gay outreach Witness Ministries. “God has anointed African American preachers who believe the Bible to ‘save our people’–white, black, everybody. Homosexual activists know they need the credibility of black people” to cast gay rights as a civil rights issue.

The pastors hope to present themselves as a nonpartisan group, but plan to work with the TVC as they develop a lobbying plan. “We want to create a tipping point,” said TVC founder Lou Sheldon, “where every Christian knows they must call their … representatives about this issue.”
­Adrienne S. Gaines in Washington, D.C.

Tommie Harris Jr. is a Pentecostal preacher’s kid who wants God to get ‘all the glory’ during his football career

Tommie Harris Jr. is a rookie defensive tackle with the Chicago Bears, but he is not a neophyte when it comes to recognizing the spiritual challenges of playing in the NFL, with its barrage of temptations.

“The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood,” Harris told Charisma a few weeks before the season started in September. “It’s all about the spirit man. A man who can’t control his spirit is like a city without walls. That man has no protection. I plan on looking to God to help me control my spirit in the NFL.”

If he needs any reminders, Harris can look at a cross tattoo on his left arm and another tattoo on his shoulder that says: “For God I live and for God I die.” Harris, who got his tattoos when he was 17, can also look at his No. 91 jersey number, which will remind him of Psalm 91.

“I want to dwell in the shelter of the most high and keep my eyes always on God,” said Harris, who credits his parents for their Christian influence.

Harris’ father, Tommie Sr., is a retired career Army man and Pentecostal minister. His mother, Janie, is a former missionary and special education teacher.

Tommie Sr. said his son calls himself MAGOH–“Man After God’s Own Heart.”

“My wife and I are not concerned with the trappings and pitfalls of life in the NFL because he’s well versed about the issues of life, and he tries to apply God’s Word,” he told Charisma. Tommie Sr., 51, is a former Church of God in Christ pastor who is currently a music minister at a Spirit-filled Methodist church in Texas.

Harris has also made an impression on former Green Bay Packer and ordained minister Reggie White. The NFL’s all-time sack leader when he retired in 2000, White believes Harris has the right priorities.

“Most of the time, I just talk to Tommie on how to get stronger,” White told a Chicago newspaper. “He didn’t want me to show him anything about football. He just said I just want to know the truth and life and get closer to the Father. I haven’t heard a lot of young men as concerned with that as he was.”

Harris, who turned 21 five days after being picked 14th overall during the NFL draft in April, left Oklahoma University after his junior season when he won the prestigious Lombardi Award as the nation’s top interior lineman.

A three-year starter who was a two-time Associated Press All-American first-team selection, Harris made news off the field at Oklahoma because of his twice rejected Playboy’s offer to be photographed as part of its preseason All-America team out of respect for his four sisters and his dislike for the magazine’s portrayal of women.

In addition, before Oklahoma’s game against Louisiana State University in last season’s Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Harris passed on the party atmosphere of Bourbon Street.

Oklahoma Sooners coach Bob Stoops called Harris “one of the spiritual leaders on our team.”

“He participated in a number of Christian activities and often spoke publicly about his faith,” Stoops, who expects Harris to be “an exceptional professional player,” told Charisma. “His faith provides him a great base.”

Harris, who stands 6 feet, 2-1/2 inches tall and weighs 289 pounds, became the first Bears rookie to start an opening game since 2000 after impressing coaches with his speed and athleticism in training camp and the preseason.

Harris, who is involved with a team Bible study made up of several Bears players, said he wants to live a lifestyle in the NFL that aligns with the Bible.

“The way I live may be the only Bible that someone reads,” explained Harris, who has two cousins in the NFL, Detroit Lions guard Stockar McDougle and his brother, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jerome McDougle.

Harris said he desires to stay spiritually focused as a professional football player. “During training camp, I heard it said that man doesn’t stumble over mountains; he stumbles over rocks,” recalled Harris, who sees himself preaching someday. “It’s the little things that keep us from Christ. … My prayer is that God may get all the glory for me playing in the NFL and that God would continue to grow me in Christ.”
Eric Tiansay

Author of the best-selling Wild at Heart, Eldredge says he wants to help Christians break free of works-oriented religion
John Eldredge has a simple way of summing up Isaiah 61:1–“God has sent Jesus on a mission. He has great news for us. God has sent Him to restore and release something. That something is you. He came to give [us] back our hearts and set us free.”

That’s the crux of the message he shares in books such as his best-selling Wild at Heart, which has sold more than 1 million copies, and at conferences across the country that attract thousands of participants each year.

“It’s possible that reading my books may create more questions than provide answers,” Eldredge told Charisma. “That’s OK with me. I want my readers to seek God with their whole heart and get the answers for themselves.”

He offers some assistance in his latest book, Epic, which summarizes the gospel and helps readers share the reasons for their faith. But Eldredge’s own journey to faith has been less structured.

He describes himself as a “flaming pagan” who experimented with drugs in the 1970s. The son of an alcoholic parent, Eldredge realized he didn’t like the person he had become and at the age of 19 prayed that God would begin changing him.

After studying drama at California Polytechnic University, he spent more than a decade at Focus on the Family, first in its public policy division then as an instructor in its institute. Writing came later, as a byproduct of his interests in acting and counseling.

But he was also seeking a deeper Christian life. “I realized in order for my words to touch others I could not write about anything that I had not first lived,” he said. “To this day I do not teach beyond my personal experiences and my own walk with God.”

He says his best-known book, Wild at Heart, “is not about things a man can do to be a nicer guy. It is a book about the recovery of a man’s heart, his God-given masculinity, and his need to be real.

“Many churches have taught men to be nice, be passive, be polite. The real life of the average man seems a universe away from the desires of his heart.”

A member of Imago Dei church, which he describes as charismatic, Eldredge said he was deeply influenced by the teachings of Jack Hayford, former senior pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif. “From pastor Hayford I learned the dynamics of healing, counseling, deliverance and discipleship–to see God’s people truly set free,” Eldredge said.

He brought those characteristics to Ransomed Heart Ministries in Colorado Springs, which he founded in 2000, and to the four-day retreats he hosts in Colorado for approximately 300 people six times a year. He refers to the events as times for “open heart surgery.”

“God shows up and heals the hurting and brokenhearted,” Eldredge said. “Dogma doesn’t do it. Legalism doesn’t do it. If people come with open hearts and a desire to pursue Jesus, they will find Him.

“Jesus is the antidote for our wounds. One of the things I tell men is this: Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that. Because what the world needs are men who have come alive.”

Today Eldredge, who holds a master’s degree in biblical counseling from Colorado Christian University, is perhaps one of the nation’s best-known men’s ministers, with Wild at Heart video Bible studies held at thousands of churches nationwide. Jason Kemp led a Wild at Heart Bible study at the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth, Calif.

“The teaching of John Eldredge was deeply impactful,” Kemp told Charisma. “It helped me become more adventuresome and to view my life from the perspective of a spiritual battle. There are few books that have changed my life like Wild at Heart has.”

“I went because I had read the book and was hoping his video would expand on the book to make it come alive, and it did,” added Greg Hunt, a small-group leader at the Church at Rocky Peak and a participant in the Bible study.

“I was reminded that God designed the husband to love and ‘rescue’ his beautiful wife, and to offer her my strength, which I gain from following the Lord and making right decisions based on the Bible. It has had a tremendous impact on my marriage.”

Eldredge’s message, however, is reaching beyond men. He is collaborating with his wife, Stasi, on a book for women titled Captivating, which is scheduled to release next spring.

And his Waking the Dead is aimed at helping the American church get unstuck from a works-based Christianity. He said many Christians think more knowledge, performance and duty will result in righteousness, and they become exhausted trying to use clever designs of their flesh to handle life and to stay on the straight and narrow path.

“I see a richness in Scripture that beautifully portrays the progressive relationship God desires to have with His people,” Eldredge said. “Many Christians get stranded in the servant-master stage. The full and ultimate height of our relationship is to be a bride to God the bridegroom.”
Judith Hayes

Patricia King’s reality show documents her Extreme Prophetic school’s street outreach in cities in North America and Europe

The camera reveals the eyes of a man hardened by anger, vestiges of prison life still marking his face as he listens to Extreme Prophetic team members on the streets of Las Vegas.

Canadian minister Patricia King and participants in her Extreme Prophetic school are shooting a reality show documenting their evangelism activity on city streets in North America and Europe. The man in this segment had walked out of prison just hours before team members stopped him on the sidewalk outside a casino and told him that God loved him and had a plan for his life.

Tears ran down the man’s face when Stacey Campbell, one of the team members from Kelowna, British Columbia, shared prophetic insights about childhood events that had filled the man with anger. He accepted Christ there on the street, virtually unconscious of the cameras that would spread his testimony around the world.

“We don’t even think of it as religious broadcasting,” King told Charisma. “It’s not at all churchy. It’s just God being God and touching people’s lives with His love. We are so blessed that He shows up every time we shoot, and the people He touches are never the same.”

King, the woman behind Extreme Prophetic, is a hip and extroverted 50-something grandmother who lives with her husband in Kelowna, about a three-hour drive from Vancouver. Saved in the 1970s after practicing the occult, then serving as a missionary with Youth With A Mission, King has become known as a Bible teacher who emphasizes prayer, evangelism and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

She credits a 1994 visit to the Toronto Blessing renewal with spawning both a storm of questions and some “amazing” spiritual experiences that motivated her to dig deeper in prayer and Bible study. The result was a teaching series about biblical encounters with a supernatural God. She later founded a “glory school” and wrote a book, Third Heaven, Angels and Other Stuff.

“The Western church, for the most part, has an academic orientation rather than spiritual,” said King, who says God led her to change her name from Pat Cocking last year after her ministry began receiving obscene messages. “The school offers an invitation to walk in that divine realm and dispels people’s fear of legitimate supernatural encounters.”

But she hasn’t stopped there. King believes supernatural encounters should be taken to the streets. “[People] are not hungry for institutionalized religion; they are hungry for true encounters with God,” King said. “The whole idea behind the Extreme Prophetic school is to take God’s prophetic gift with extreme love into extreme places–anywhere and everywhere the unsaved congregate.”

The four-day schools, held in such cities as Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Chicago, offer hands-on training in prophetic evangelism. King and her team offer what they call “spiritual readings”–a New Age-sounding term they use to describe personal prayer during which they offer any prophetic insights they believe God has given them.

One episode of the Extreme Prophetic show pans in on people lined up outside a Kelowna juice café. They had waited for up to an hour to hear what Extreme Prophetic team members had to say. Many received words of encouragement, others accepted Christ.

The Extreme Prophetic school has spawned similar ministries in other cities. Doug Addison, a Los Angeles pastor and evangelist, attended one of King’s glory schools and now runs InLight Connection, a prophetic street outreach.

“I immediately saw that this type of evangelism is relevant for our spiritually curious culture,” Addison said. “It is a great way to get into deeper spiritual conversations with people, pray with them, and lead them to Jesus.”

Others stepped out more hesitantly. Former Chicago ad executive Rob Hotchkin said he’d been conditioned to ignore people on the street. “During the Extreme Prophetic school God gave me a heart for these people,” he said. “I remembered that these people are human beings. They are lost and broken but God loves them.” Today he works for Extreme Prophetic ministries.

The show airs on Monday nights and Sundays on The Miracle Channel, which streams a simulcast of the show on its site, . King’s Web site, , also carries the program. Sky Angel has recently agreed to air an Extreme Prophetic TV special, and King anticipates that the show will be picked up in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Julia Loren

Jon and Sonnet Barr say their technique at The English Exchange is centered around building relationships
In the 15 years since the Iron Curtain fell in Russia, Christian missionaries from the United States have witnessed decidedly mixed results in their efforts to gain a foothold in the largely atheist country.

Through the years, evangelists flooded in, sparking reports that thousands of Russians were professing new faith in Christ. But almost as soon as the missionaries packed their bags, many of the new believers fell away and developed an aversion to Christianity.

Now another wave of missionaries has launched a new movement aimed at producing more lasting results in Russia. The idea is to lay the groundwork for evangelism by developing loving and trusting friendships between Russians and American Christians first. Their vehicle: English classes.

“The missionaries [of the past] rushed in to do ministry without researching the culture to realize that Russians make life-changing decisions differently than the Western perspective,” said Sonnet Barr, a missionary with Moscow-based The English Exchange, affiliated with the interdenominational United World Mission based in Charlotte, N.C. “You can’t fault their hearts, but you can fault the failure to respect and understand the attributes and characteristics of a different culture.”

Added Jon Barr, her husband: “Russians were quick to raise hands, come forward in meetings and say the sinner’s prayer. But the reality was that they were looking for a relationship that would last a lifetime, and the lengthy dialogue required by Russians to change the ideas of the heart.”

The idea of using conversational English as a ministry tool is not new in Russia or elsewhere around the world. But what distinguishes the Barrs’ approach from others, according to experts, is their focus on building relationships–an often tedious and painstaking task.

“The Barrs have made their approach less evangelistic,” said Eugene Richardson, missions pastor at Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, Calif., which has sent several of its members to serve on short-term assignments with the Barrs.

“Their approach is to establish a relationship so there is trust,” Richardson said. “Who they are becomes a greater witness than what they say.”

The Barrs arrived in Moscow in May 2001 to minister at a camp that used the Bible to teach English. Jon Barr, a graduate of Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, Mo., was assigned to train Russian youth leaders. Sonnet Barr, who has an undergraduate degree in music from California State University in Bakersfield and a certificate in Bible from Columbia International University in South Carolina, was assigned to train worship leaders.

Just eight days into the mission, one of the main ministers suffered a stroke and returned to the United States. “With three other teammates who had been in the country less than a year,” Sonnet Barr said, “[God] started what He wanted: a program based on loving relationships with His people totally dependent on Him.”

The Barrs’ program uses staples of the American summer-camp experience–silly songs, dances, skits and other activities designed to build camaraderie.

Teachers, recruited from U.S. churches and Christian colleges, are encouraged to maintain a fun and friendly atmosphere, sharing their faith only in informal settings outside the classroom.

Not everyone, though, has been satisfied with the slow, long-term approach to evangelism. Some missionary organizations working with the Barrs have pulled their ministers out of Russia because of a lack of quick, quantifiable results in the form of church plantings and baptisms.

The Barrs defend their plan, defining their ministry as a “plowing” mission. They measure success in the relationships established with several Russians who became Christians through the program and now share their faith with successive students.

They also measure success in their effort to tackle tough subjects. This summer they held lectures on black history and race relations in the United States to counterattacks by skinheads on Africans, Armenians and Georgians.

But the Barrs say they are most gratified by the response to their follow-up efforts with graduates of the program. After the July camp, a group of Americans maintained the social ties through kite-flying, bowling and other activities. As a result, 15 of the students took the next step and attended a church service.
Dion Haynes in Moscow

The granddaughter of two Pentecostal ministers says she often is led to share personal messages from the Lord through song

For Dove Award-winner Nicole C. Mullen, nothing beats meeting the audience after a concert. Well known for contemporary Christian hits such as, “Redeemer,” “Come Unto Me” and “On My Knees,” Mullen often senses the need to deliver personal messages from the Lord to concertgoers, many of whom have stood in line to meet her. Fitting her gift, she sings them.

“This is for you,” Mullen told one woman recently and with a hum, sang out, “When you call on Jesus …” Tears flowed, as they often do. She said she has been having these kinds of ministry encounters since she was 8 years old, and her singing around the world is a fulfillment of a prophecy declared when she was 12.

Both of Mullen’s grandfathers are Pentecostal preachers in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mullen’s parents, Mary Jane and Napoleon Coleman Jr., branched off and helped start a nondenominational church by hosting it in their home. The pastor and his family even lived with the Colemans for a time.

The ministry grew to a storefront, and now New Life Temple in Madisonville, Ohio, spreads down the block.

“We always had gifts of the Spirit moving,” Mullen said. After a church service, she told Charisma, “I would capture a single mom and say, ‘Hey, can I sing you this song the Lord has put on my heart for you?’ They would sit and listen to my a cappella version, and sometimes they would start crying. I could see the Lord really working on their hearts.”

Still, Mullen wasn’t the celebrated singer in the choir or her family’s favored child prodigy. She was known as just one of the three little Coleman girls until she privately began to dream bigger after a special message from God was delivered to her.

The last week of confirmation class, the church elders came and laid hands on the children. “Sister Dottie prayed over me and said the Lord had given her a word for me,” Mullen recalled. “I remember it clearly to this day: ‘Say not in your heart that you are small but that you are great because I live within you.’

“Then she said the Lord had told her how He was going to take me to different places to sing and how He was going to use me.” Mullen was excited and told her mother but was cautioned that “the true test of prophecy is that you don’t have to make it come about.”

In fact, nothing of magnitude seemed to be happening when Mullen started out singing backup vocals after she attended college at Christ for the Nations Institute. One connection led to another, though, and being introduced to Christian singer David Mullen and agreeing to help him with vocals and choreography caused her to step into destiny. And love.

Traveling kept them apart much of their two years of dating–Nicole toured with Amy Grant, while David performed across the country as a solo artist. When they wed 11 years ago, David decided to concentrate on production and songwriting and encouraged Nicole to perform solo. They work together on everything now, including raising their three children and tending their farm outside Nashville, Tenn.

Mullen continues to reach out to hurting women, and she devotes much of her time to encouraging young girls. In concerts, she sings her African-influenced song “Freedom” in honor of the Trokosi slaves in Ghana. Partnering with International Needs Network, she’s trying to help raise funds to free these women, whose parents gave them away as young girls to abusive priests as a sacrifice for their ancestors’ sins.

The ministry is purchasing the women’s freedom and teaching them the liberating gospel, as well as life skills to help them become self-supporting.

Mullen also reaches out to young girls in her own neighborhood. For years she taught dance classes, and her students have performed with her in concerts. Weekly now, some 40-50 young girls come to her Baby Girls Club. Together they sing Bible verses, share their current “drama” in small groups and pray. After crafts and dance class, there’s a talent show.

Mullen reminds them of such rules as, “You have to keep it under 90 seconds because we don’t want to hear all four verses of ‘I Believe I Can Fly.'” They also know when they come or leave they “gotta give Miss Nicole her hug.”

Sister Dottie has passed away, but it seems her prophecy has stood the test. Mullen’s fifth release, Everyday People, debuted in September. She has been honored with 20 Grammy and Dove Award nominations. And her worldwide performances include appearing at Carnegie Hall and singing the National Anthem at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Marsha Gallardo in Nashville, Tenn.

Pentecostal Pastor Detained in Iran

An Assemblies of God pastor is still being detained at an unknown location in Iran, though nine other church leaders arrested with him have been released, Compass Direct reported. As of mid-September, Hamid Pourmad, 47, had not been able to contact his family since police raided a denominational meeting held in Karaj, located 20 miles north of the capital. Voice of the Martyrs expressed concern for Pourmad, who converted to Christianity from Islam 25 years ago, and feared there may be a new crackdown on Christians under way in the mostly Muslim nation.

House-Church Leader Released in Vietnam

A prominent house-church leader was released Sept. 6 after eight days of interrogation. The Rev. Tran Mai was arrested on Aug. 29 as he crossed the border of the Asian nation after several months abroad, Compass Direct reported. He was questioned regarding his association with two other prominent house-church leaders who are currently in police custody, the Rev. Bui Van Ba and the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang. Mai’s release came after the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF), an association of 30 unregistered house-church groups of which Mai’s group is an active member, called for a three-day period of fasting and prayer from Sept. 5-7. The VEF also urged Christians to pray for the protection of house churches, especially in light of Vietnam’s new Ordinance on Religion, which is scheduled to become law on Nov. 15, Compass reported.

Gunmen Open Fire in Colombian Church

Masked gunmen opened fire on worshippers gathered for an evening service at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Puerto Asis, Colombia, Sept. 4, killing three and wounding 13 others, Compass Direct reported. The pastor, Francisco Sevillano, was not harmed. Colombian army spokesmen blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) for the attack, Compass said. Sources told the news service the shooting appeared to be aimed at an individual in the worship service and not the entire church body.