Christians must have the highest standards of righteousness.
To anyone who has read the recent press reports, it’s obvious that Paul Crouch is the victim of attempted extortion. A convicted felon with a history of child molestation and drug abuse accused Crouch of sexual harassment in 1996. I believe the charge is bogus.

First, the alleged incident had no witnesses. Second, the accuser has zero credibility, whereas Crouch has a lifetime of ministry achievements to his credit. Third, Crouch has never been accused of sexual misconduct at any other time, and since this accusation was made public, no one has come forward with other charges. Finally, he has denied this charge in the strongest way possible in court and to other Christian leaders.

So if Crouch is innocent, why did he pay his accuser $425,000? Crouch says it was to avoid embarrassment to the ministry he founded and loves, and because he believed the man would “go away.”

Sadly, the man didn’t. After receiving the huge settlement, he threatened to sell a biography he wrote to a publisher unless Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) paid him $10 million.

If that isn’t extortion, what is?

I believe Christians should rally around Crouch and TBN. If Crouch says he’s innocent, that’s good enough for me. He has years of credibility as a man of God.

It’s too early to tell what kind of long-term damage these charges will bring to TBN. Some Christians are quick to throw a brother in the pit at the first allegation. Yet it’s possible the man lied about what he says happened with Crouch.

God is the judge. If there was wrongdoing, He will expose it.

Meanwhile, each of us must judge ourselves. What is in our lives that is not pleasing to God? Self-assessment is especially important for large ministries with high visibility that often become a laughingstock for their showmanship and extravagance. That’s because what they do affects the rest of us in the body of Christ.

Long before the Los Angeles Times reported on the charges against Crouch, prophetic voices had been warning that a new season of judgment is coming to ministry leaders who don’t walk in righteousness. We’ve raised concerns in previous issues about ministries with a haphazard attitude toward divorce, remarriage and other lifestyle issues. Immorality in leadership is more common than any of us wants to admit.

God has brought down ministries before that lacked integrity. Consider Robert Tilton, Larry Lea and Praise the Lord (PTL)–the ministries they had no longer exist.

If anything, the media buzz over the accusations against Crouch should be a warning to other ministries in which unrighteousness exists. Surely the media realize the attack against Crouch is extortion. But they seem to take great delight in rehashing reports of extravagant living, well-stocked wine cellars and behavior unbecoming to Christians–especially those in leadership.

I know Satan would like to bring down an effective ministry such as TBN that is beaming the gospel into places not otherwise reached. But I also believe God is judging His church. The fact that a ministry is big and successful doesn’t mean it is blessed by God–and success is not a license to do whatever the leadership wants to do regarding money, morality, pride or arrogance.

This is a time for humility and repentance. All ministries are subject to media attention and attack. If it’s unwarranted, it will backfire on the media, just as the unfounded charges against President Bush backfired on CBS and Dan Rather.

But there is another side too. The Christian community must have the highest standards of righteousness among its leadership. At a time when there are so few values in the culture and a plethora of failed leaders in government and corporate America, we must live by a higher standard. Otherwise, how can the world look to Christians for answers?

If the unthinkable is true and Crouch did what his accuser says, then for the good of TBN and the larger body of Christ, Paul must step down. Otherwise, God cannot bless that ministry.

Let’s support Crouch and pray for him during what must be the most difficult time in his life. And let’s pray he discerns God’s will.

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

Christian ministries are offering humanitarian assistance for the victims of what many believers say is a Muslim-led holy war
Like the eye of a storm, an uneasy calm has settled over northern Nigeria in the wake of religious violence that has claimed thousands of lives. But Christian observers fear that without intervention, Nigeria could become another Sudan, where 2 million Christians died in a religious conflict that spanned two decades.

Christians comprise nearly half of Nigeria’s 139 million people. Many of the country’s 36 states, including the recently troubled Plateau state, are predominantly Christian though others, such as Kaduna state, have large Muslim populations.

Though Nigerian Christians and Muslims have lived in peace for decades, the communities recently have become more polarized. In 2000, for example, 12 northern states imposed Sharia law, the Islamic legal code.

Moreover, religious violence has steadily increased in the last few years. According to Compass Direct, a Christian news service that highlights religious persecution, violence in the last three years has claimed at least 10,000 lives. More than 300 churches have been destroyed and at least 10 pastors and their families killed.

Nigeria has sustained millions of dollars in property damage, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. In May President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau state after nearly 1,000 people died in interreligious violence. But the fighting has continued.

A May 11 rally in Kano state–protesting violence against Muslims– turned into a riot. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), based in Kano, put the death toll at 3,000 believers, including three pastors.

Meanwhile, coordinated attacks by Muslim militia in the Quanpan area and in Langtang have left dozens dead and thousands displaced. On June 9, violent clashes between Muslims and Christians in Numan killed at least nine people and destroyed several places of worship.

Some reports attribute the violence to land disputes between Christian farmers and Muslim herders. Others speculate that opportunistic leaders are instigating the violence in order to cement a power base within their respective communities.

Local Christians, meanwhile, say the true motive behind the violence is jihad, or a Muslim holy war. With the recent 200th anniversary of the Sokoto caliphate, established by a Muslim leader who Islamized much of northern Nigeria, they are concerned that militant Muslims are using violence to restore Islamic rule to a nation that has received international attention for a Christian revival.

“The ultimate aim … is to Islamize the entire country,” said a CAN leader and pastor in Kano state who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. “They are trying everything to take over the Plateau state in the form of jihad.”

Nigeria’s desperate situation has not gone unnoticed by international leaders. David Alton, an independent member of the House of Lords and co-founder of the human-rights group Jubilee Campaign, recently contacted President Obasanjo. Alton said the president told him that his government “has zero tolerance for any acts that have the potential of threatening the nation’s peace and stability.”

Obasanjo, a Christian who in 1998 became the nation’s first democratically elected president after 15 years of military rule, also called for international help in dealing with what he called “the consequences of decades of misrule and structural as well as systematic dislocation.”

“We should do all we can to support this … approach,” Alton said. “If we fail, then Nigeria could easily suffer the same fate as Sudan, where 2 million died in two decades and where Christian communities have led terrorized lives.”

Christian leaders in Nigeria reiterate the call for support. “We need to speak out and warn people that terrorism is everywhere, not only in the Middle East,” the CAN leader told Charisma. “We have people ready to pay the price [for evangelism] and are not afraid, but we need international support.”

Many Christian groups are already responding to the crisis. Texas-based Gospel Revival Ministries (GRM) has long supported indigenous pastors. Now, in addition to the support it sends for pastoral salaries and training, the ministry has begun coordinating relief efforts. Area churches provide humanitarian aid and religious materials.

“We feel blessed to be able to aid the church in Nigeria,” said John Musser, president of GRM (). “Their response to the daily threat of violence has been humbling. This is a people who understands that the only way to achieve reconciliation is to reach out with the gospel, in love.”
David Mundy

As Living Water Teaching prepares for its 25th anniversary this month, co-founder Marion Zirkle says the best is yet to come
A Central American charismatic ministry is flourishing six years after a tragic accident killed its founder and leaders.

This month, Living Water Teaching (LWT) celebrates its 25th anniversary of ministry in Guatemala. Jim and Marion Zirkle relocated to Guatemala from the United States in October 1979 to start LWT (), focusing on Bible schools and medical and evangelistic campaigns in Central America.

But on Nov. 1, 1998, in thick fog and torrential downpours, an LWT plane crashed in southwestern Guatemala, killing 11, including Marion’s 56-year-old husband.

The crash also claimed the lives of the couple’s son, James L. Zirkle II, who was LWT director in Guatemala; Chris Hamberger, the Zirkles’ son-in-law; LWT staff members and six American medical-team members. Seven passengers survived.

“For two to three years, I had to fight the good fight of faith so that this ministry would not fall,” said Marion Zirkle, LWT president and co-founder. “The devil fought me in every way through my emotions and my mind. …

“The Word of God brought me through and told me that, ‘I was more than a conqueror through Him,'” the 60-year-old ordained minister added. “I dared to believe it. God is a restorer, and He can make it better than it has ever been.”

This year, the ministry had its largest Bible-school enrollment, with 92 students studying to be ministers at LWT’s 22-acre campus in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

LWT has Bible schools in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Paraguay, as well as Guatemalan Bible graduates teaching in Cuba. The ministry also has worked in Mexico, Africa, Germany and Japan.

Through its various ministries, LWT has recorded more than 600,000 salvations and 20,000 graduates from its Bible schools.

LWT has also provided more than 250,000 people with medical and dental care and distributed more than 500 tons of medical supplies. In addition, Zirkle launched Operation Shoebox, an annual Christmas outreach that is similar to Samaritan’s Purse’s shoebox ministry. Last December LWT helped more than 15,000 children through the outreach.

LWT is still a Zirkle family affair. Zirkle’s youngest daughter, Debbie, and her husband, Keith Spanberger, are the executive directors of the ministry, working at LWT’s U.S. headquarters in Caddo Mills, Texas.

Zirkle’s daughter-in-law, Laura Zirkle Sarti, is a missionary in Guatemala, along with her husband, Manuel. Zirkle’s oldest daughter, Kimberly Hamberger, whose husband died in the plane crash, is also a Guatemalan missionary.

Barry Tubbs, an associate minister with Kenneth Copeland Ministries, which has supported LWT for 20 years, noted that “the anointing and calling on Jim Zirkle’s life is definitely on [Marion Zirkle’s] life.”

“The thing that impresses me the most is her tenacity,” Tubbs said. “Despite going through the tragedy, the ministry is just as strong if not stronger.”

Zirkle said she began praying about remarrying more than three years after Jim’s death. “I asked the Lord to bring the right man into my life who would be willing to move to Guatemala and walk this vision with me, a man that would have to recognize that I was in leadership,” she said.

Mr. Right turned out to be Clarence Wright, a 64-year-old former Baptist minister who went on three LWT missions trips starting in 2001 after attending Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Okla. The two were married in July 2003.

“God is a God of new beginnings,” said Wright, who serves as LWT’s vice president and teaches in its Bible school. “This is so true in my life here at Living Water Teaching.”

Zirkle said future plans include expanding LWT’s aviation department in order to better serve and oversee the ministry’s work in other countries. “I have no doubt that the best days are right ahead of us,” Zirkle said. “There is an expectation and an excitement in my spirit that I can’t explain but know that it is of God.”
Eric Tiansay

Canon Andrew White is a quintessential English clergyman who plays a central role in the Middle East peace process

He’s either the antichrist or the “vicar of Baghdad,” depending on your point of view. But one thing is for sure: Canon Andrew White is a husband and father who’s been charged with quelling the biggest family feud in history.

White spearheads the religious track of the Middle East peace process, aiming to bridge the age-old chasm between Abraham’s warring “children” in the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities.

He has negotiated in many areas of conflict, including the 2002 siege at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. He is now working with other religious leaders to rebuild Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein–“the biggest weapon of mass destruction,” as he calls him.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Representative to the Alexandria Process, the official name for the religious track of the peace process, White assisted in the recent launch of the Iraqi Centre for Reconciliation, Dialogue and Peace in Baghdad.

It was a most bizarre opening for a peace center–as tanks and troops oversaw the proceedings. “There again, this is Baghdad,” White said, “where making peace is dangerous business.”

Just after his interview with Charisma, his security guards intercepted armed intruders at his Baghdad base. A few days later he was worshiping near the churches that were bombed Aug. 1.

So far his ministry has been through the International Centre for Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral in England. But he is about to set up his own foundation to support his work in the Middle East.

Brought up in the Assemblies of God, White became an Anglican while training as an operating department practitioner at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London.

“I got involved with St. Mark’s Church [in] Kennington, which was the great charismatic hothouse of the Church of England in those days,” he explained.

His pursuit of theology and Jewish and Islamic studies prepared him well for his present role. “In the early days of visiting Iraq I was really frowned upon,” he said. But that changed as war loomed–and governments realized that White had knowledge and experience of the country.

Despite being tall and quintessentially English, White has the ability to blend into the regional culture–thanks to his Anglo-Indian looks. His family has roots in India that go back to the 19th century.

Locals in Iraq and Israel will often refer to him as “Father Andrew.” They include a homeless Iraqi teenager named David who has been fostered by this Anglican priest since the Iraq war.

Back home in England, White has two sons of his own–Josiah, 7, and Jacob, 5. His wife, Caroline, is a lawyer. “It’s not easy being away so much of the time,” he said. “They make sacrifices, too.”

He said it’s most challenging for the boys, who will say things such as, “Why aren’t you like other daddies?” But they still join in. Jacob chats with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the phone. “My other son sees himself more identified with the Jews–he will talk to the rabbis.”

Another religious leader who has shown an interest in White’s work is Benny Hinn. The healing evangelist interviewed him recently on his TV program–and was clearly impressed with the gently spoken Anglican clergyman.

He also prayed for his guest, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. But their meeting resulted in a strong backlash. “I was called the antichrist,” White said. “All sorts of people started saying I was a Mason and other untrue things. I was accused of being part of a one-world movement trying to take over the world.”

How did he feel about that? “I haven’t thought about taking over the world yet,” he joked. “I haven’t had time.” However, the TV appearance also produced “hundreds of positive e-mails.”

A Canadian viewer wrote to say he became a Christian as a result of watching the interview. “He thought the church was totally irrelevant–then suddenly realized it was relevant.”

So much of White’s ministry sounds like an Old Testament prophet’s life–stories of angelic protection, meetings with kings and princes, working on the edge of danger–the list goes on.

Even when he relaxes, the biblical trappings are there. “I had my 40th birthday in Baghdad the other day,” he said. “We killed a sheep and ate it in a tent in Saddam’s garden.”
Clive Price in London

Three years after the prayer meeting, the Wiyot Tribe was given 40 acres of land on the site of a 144-year-old Indian massacre
A leader of California’s Wiyot Tribe credits a 2001 prayer and reconciliation meeting with paving the way for the historic transfer of a sacred land site where scores of Native Americans were massacred nearly 150 years ago.

On May 18, the Eureka, Calif., city council voted unanimously to return to the Wiyot Tribe 40 acres of Indian Island, located off the coast of northern California. Nearly 500 people attended the official deed-signing ceremony June 25.

Amid cheers, Eureka Mayor Peter La Vallee signed over the deed to the Indian Island property to Cheryl A. Seidner, chairwoman of the Wiyot Tribe. Then they exchanged gifts in a gesture of goodwill.

“I think what we are doing is reinventing history,” La Vallee said, the Associated Press (AP) reported. “You can’t say you’re sorry, but 144 years later, we can say it wasn’t right and honor the culture of the tribe and its roots.”

Historical documents show that on Feb. 22, 1860, a band of white men invaded the Wiyot village at night, killing scores of elders, women and children as they slept. Seidner said more Indians were killed in two other massacres on nearby South Spit and at the mouth of the Eel River.

“We lost our regalia, our elders, our weavers and our dreamers–all the things that make a community,” Seidner said, the AP reported. “We have not danced since that day. We have to relearn. I can’t wait for that first dance.”

The tribal leader credits a reconciliation conference in 2001 with creating an atmosphere that made the deed-signing ceremony possible. In May of that year, a group of pastors with the Humboldt Evangelical Alliance (HEAL) invited the Native American ministry Wiconi International, based in Vancouver, Wash., to facilitate a time of healing and reconciliation between evangelical churches in Humboldt County, the Wiyot and other First Nations people in the region. Wiconi led a three-day event at Arcata First Baptist Church.

During this event more than 75 people came together to pray over the Indian Island site. Fern Noble, a Cree and Native Representative for the International Reconciliation Coalition in Los Angeles, told participants: “We must allow the Holy Spirit to heal the wound so we can all come together as one, as God the Creator intended.”

During the 2001 conference, members of HEAL honored the Wiyot Tribal Council of Table Bluff Reservation with gifts and a commitment in writing to work with the tribe to get back this sacred site.

First Baptist’s pastor, Clay Ford, said that when he first heard about the massacre, he and some colleagues wanted to apologize to the tribal leaders.

“It’s dawning on more and more Christians to see the need … for us to repent for the sins of the past,” Ford said, the AP reported. “I wrote a proclamation of repentance acknowledging that though we personally weren’t there when the massacre happened, we represented Christian people and churches who did nothing, as far as we could tell, to make things right. And we apologized and asked for forgiveness.”

When Ford’s proclamation was presented to the Wiyot during the reconciliation meeting, the tribe also was given $1,000. Many churches and individuals continued to pray for the Wiyot and to raise funds to help them purchase the land on Indian Island, a goal they had been working toward since the 1970s. They had purchased 1-1/2 acres before the city voted to give them 40 acres.

“As I have been told, this has not happened in any city in the state of California, and I’m hearing that this might be something really new across the nation,” Seidner said. “I don’t know … for sure.”

Richard Twiss, president of Wiconi International and keynote speaker at the 2001 conference, said the land restitution is “the fruit of following traditional indigenous protocol in presenting the redemptive message of faith and hope in Jesus Christ as Healer, Great Spirit and Chief Shepherd of all tribes and nations.”
Jim Uttley Jr.

Judge Orders Bible Moved From Courthouse

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ruled Aug. 10 that a Bible displayed in a monument outside a county courthouse in Houston must be removed, United Press International (UPI) reported. Real estate broker and lawyer Kay Staley filed a lawsuit against the county, arguing that the display violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The 4-foot monument, which contains the King James Bible under glass, was constructed with private funds during the 1950s as a memorial to Houston philanthropist William Mosher, the Washington Times reported. Harris County argued the display primarily honored Mosher, the Times reported, but the plaintiffs said it promotes a specific religion at a government building. County Judge Robert Eckels planned to appeal the decision.

Pastors Asked to Make Invocations Generic

Pastors who give the invocation at Tampa, Fla., city council meetings can no longer use the name “Jesus,” the St. Petersburg Times reported. Saying she was following the “nonsectarian rule that we must follow as a governing agency,” council chairwoman Gwen Miller issued a memo telling council members that all invocations must be nonsectarian, the Times said. She also asked that council members send guest ministers a brochure from the National Conference on Community and Justice that explains how to prepare interfaith invocations.

Florida Court Refuses to Recognize Gay Marriage

In July, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeals issued a unanimous opinion that voided the marriage between Linda Kantaras and “Michael” Kantaras, who was born a woman. The appeals court said it “must adhere to the common meaning of the statutory terms and invalidate any marriage that is not between persons of the opposite sex determined by their biological sex at birth.” Represented by Liberty Counsel (LC), a Christian law firm that seeks to advance religious freedom, Linda said she knew of Michael’s sex-change operation when they married, but after becoming a Christian believed their relationship was improper. LC chief counsel Mathew Staver called the decision “a victory for traditional marriage and common sense.”