Sam Der-Yeghiayan came to the United States and attended Evangel University, thanks to an Assemblies of God missionary

The first person of Armenian heritage to ever become a federal judge keeps a low public profile. Sam Der-Yeghiayan (dare-yea-ge-yan) doesn’t grant interviews, to avoid giving political adversaries fodder for misconstruing his Christian views.

But that doesn’t stop others from loudly applauding his accomplishments.

The one-time Assemblies of God missionary who helped him enter the United States isn’t surprised that his protégé now sits on the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois.

“Sam always had the drive to be somebody and not just be another person,” said William Ilnisky, pastor of Lighthouse Christian Center International in West Palm Beach, Fla. “That’s what made me willing to invest time in him and help him out.”

Born in Syria but raised in Lebanon, 52-year-old Der-Yeghiayan came from a Christian family. But as a teen he generally spent more time with gangs than in church, Ilnisky said.

The two met soon after Ilnisky went to Beirut in 1969 to establish a campus ministry near American University. His first year the missionary also taught at a high school for Armenians.

While Der-Yeghiayan “played a lot of games,” at 18 he accepted Christ and was filled with the Spirit, telling Ilnisky, “I’ve traded my gun for a sword.”

Despite this change, “I realized if he stayed in Lebanon he would probably be dead quickly because of uprisings between Muslims and Christians,” Ilnisky recalled. “In Lebanon, everyone carried a gun for protection.”

Because of his connections to Evangel College, which became a university in 1998, Ilnisky arranged for Der-Yeghiayan to obtain a visa and enroll. His first home in Springfield, Mo., was with the school’s president, the late Robert Ashcroft, father of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

After obtaining a social sciences degree, Der-Yeghiayan went on to the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., and became a naturalized citizen. After graduating in 1978, he became a trial attorney for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Chicago.

Four years later Der-Yeghiayan became counsel for the INS Chicago district, overseeing a three-state area. He held that post until becoming an immigration court judge in 2000, where he served until joining the federal court a year ago.

Rated “qualified” by the American Bar Association, Der-Yeghiayan was approved by Congress 89-0.

Der-Yeghiayan is the third Evangel grad to hold high public office. The others are Adm. Vern Clark, chief of U.S. naval operations, and Todd Tiahrt, a five-term congressman from Kansas.

The first alumnus on the federal bench, Der-Yeghiayan has a legion of admirers in Springfield. His alma mater recently presented him its 2004 Regius Award, which honors social sciences alumni for outstanding professional achievement.

While in Missouri Der-Yeghiayan visited Bryan Sanders’ administrative law class, where the professor said the judge “captivated” his students.

A former real estate developer and attorney, Sanders believes the skilled graduate’s integrity enables him to walk a fine line between his Christian beliefs and upholding the law.

The professor is also impressed with the judge’s humility, saying “it’s like a breath of fresh air” to see someone of importance avoiding an arrogant stance.

“He’s very well reasoned and cautious in the things he says and does,” Sanders said. “He’s not a knee-jerk judge. I think that’s what has gotten him credibility. I didn’t perceive in him a political bent. He truly looks to the written law.”

Robert Spence, who succeeded Ashcroft as president and knew Der-Yeghiayan his senior year, remembers a focused, dedicated student–one who opened a pizzeria during college to help pay his tuition.

Sometimes challenged by struggles with language differences, Der-Yeghiayan “had to work a little harder and excelled,” Spence said. “It was obvious to those who knew him that he was going somewhere.”

J. Calvin Holsinger, a semi-retired professor who continues to teach a course in public history, echoes that sentiment. He described his former student as a “go-getter,” and Holsinger said he was touched by the people who came from long distances to attend the spring dinner honoring the Evangel graduate.

“People from his past who heard about it made an effort to be there,” said Holsinger, who heard the judge praised as a capable, helping person. “He seeks to do his best for the country.”

During Der-Yeghiayan’s swearing-in ceremony, Attorney General Ashcroft said the Founding Fathers knew individuals who would lead this nation best were those committed to fundamental maxims of liberty.

“This nation needs more men and women, more boys and girls, who will follow in Sam’s footsteps,” Ashcroft said, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reported.

On Evangel’s campus, many would add a hearty, “Amen.”
Ken Walker

Organizers say the Appleton, Wis., shopping and activity center will help churches reach out to teens in their community
In 1954 Appleton, Wis., opened the nation’s first fully enclosed shopping mall. Now, 50 years later, the Valley Fair Mall is getting a major makeover to become the nation’s first youth mall.

But this isn’t some corporate leech trying to tap into the $90-per-week wad of cash the average teen spends. This is a faith-friendly, community-based effort that sees dollar signs as secondary.

“What good does it do to gain the world and lose your soul?” asks Dave Lehman, founder and executive director of the nonprofit YouthFutures, a faith-based community organization. “This could be very profitable, but that’s not our passion. We want to take that money and invest it in kids.”

The investment begins with the pending purchase of the dying Valley Fair Mall with an Aug. 21 Grand Reopening planned. “Part of the concept behind the mall is that there are 94,000 teens in this four-county region, and like a lot of other communities, there’s not that much for teens to do,” said CEO Greg Books, a former pastor and currently an elder at Evangel Worship Center in Menasha, Wisc.

“Teens really don’t have that much to do, and it’s a breeding ground for trouble,” Books said. “What we want to create is a venue where there’s entertainment choices–a skate park, theater, paintball, stores, food court, places to sit, a comedy house–there’s just a plethora of choices, but none of those choices will get you into trouble.”

An inexpensive theater, skate park, PC gaming venue and hip-hop clothing store already are open, and other attractions should open their doors in time for the Grand Reopening. With an eye toward investing in teens, Books and Lehman describe their concept as a town square. Community involvement is essential and gives the church space beside government and commercial establishments.

“Richard John Newhouse wrote a series of books where he coined the phrase ‘naked public square,'” Books said. “And his concern was that in political debate and in public debate you can be involved no matter your motivation–unless that motivation is religious, and then you’re required to check your beliefs at the door as the price of getting into the square.”

YouthFutures wants its mall to be a place that welcomes faith. The plan calls for a major anchor to be Matt’s House, which will occupy a former Kohl’s department store, and offer a café, climbing wall, inflatable games, a recording studio and practice rooms, and more.

“Matt’s House is really a bridge for the churches into the community,” said Rob Strauss, president of Matt’s House and former pastor at Calvary Bible Church in Neenah, Wis. The name for Matt’s House comes from Matthew the disciple, who Strauss said essentially threw a party for his friends to introduce them to Jesus. Matt’s House isn’t its own church or youth group, but instead it is a point of contact for the 34 local churches involved.

While Matt’s House is a Christian-based tenant, organizers say the mall itself is more of a venue that allows faith to have a voice, distinguishing Valley Fair from other wholly Christian ventures, such as the Concord, N.C., mall owned and operated by First Assembly of God.

The whole idea is the brainchild of Lehman, who’s been mulling the prospect for more than 10 years. Three years ago he resigned from Appleton Community Evangelical Free Church to pursue the project full time. “Dave showed me the concept on the back of an envelope–that’s where all great ideas are birthed,” Books said.

So far Lehman and Books aren’t alone in thinking this is a great idea. At least 13 corporate donors have signed on with substantial gifts. Appleton Mayor Timothy M. Hanna and U.S. Congressman Mark Green are both on the YouthFutures board of advisers. The Chris Farley Foundation plans to open the Chris Farley Comedy House at the mall. Teens have signed up as well, eagerly joining a Teen Advisory Board and committing to raise $250,000 for the mall themselves.

And the youth mall concept doesn’t end in Appleton. Said Books: “There are literally hundreds of cities that have that same combination of a dead or dying mall, a teen population with nothing to do, and a strong, vibrant faith community.”
Kevin D. Hendricks in Appleton, Wis.

The inner-healing method is being used worldwide amid concerns that it is a form of guided-imagery therapy
Even as an adult and devout Christian, “Mary” struggled to overcome a childhood marred by incest. She was seeing a Christian counselor on a weekly basis. But feelings of guilt and shame still crippled her to the point where she was taking antidepressants and a host of other medications.

Her counselor, meanwhile, was facing his own struggles. Ed Smith had been a Southern Baptist pastor for 17 years before opening a Christian counseling
practice in Campbellsville, Ky., in 1991. He thrived on helping others but by 1996 was completely burned out, discouraged that his clients were not seeing significant results.

Smith, who had a doctorate in pastoral ministry from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., was using cognitive therapy–the same as many other counselors, Christian and non-Christian.

Week after week, often growing into year after year, Smith would discuss with his clients their past trauma, such as rape, incest or abuse. “I would look for ways to apply biblical truths,” he said. “I would tell them these truths repeatedly.”

Yet his clients still struggled with guilt, shame and other emotional pain.

“What I was doing was a farce,” Smith said.

It dawned on him that he was actually standing in God’s way. So he came up with a simple approach and used it in his next session with Mary (not her real name). Instead of discussing her painful past, Smith told Mary to “go to the memory” of her childhood abuse. He then prayed aloud a simple prayer: “Lord Jesus, what is it You want Mary to know in this memory?”

The results were dramatic, Smith said, as Mary encountered God’s presence and healing power. What’s more, he said, for the first time Mary grasped that she was not at fault for what had happened to her as a little girl.

The guilt and shame were gone and Mary soon no longer needed to see Smith nor was she in need of prescription drugs. Her medical doctor was stunned and called Smith. “He wanted to know what I had done,” Smith said.

Smith explained to him the concept, which he named “theophostic prayer ministry”–“theo” meaning God and “phostic” meaning light. The doctor was soon referring a host of other patients to Smith.

That was eight years ago, and since that time Smith changed his practice into a ministry–International Association for Theophostic Ministry–and focuses on training people in theophostic prayer ministry (TPM). Smith doesn’t know how many pastors and laypeople minister in TPM, but one indication of its growing popularity is that his office receives an average of 800-1,000 requests per month for basic training kits. Based on those requests, TPM is being used in more than 100 countries.

“Theophostic ministry is shining the light of Christ into darkness,” said Jean LaCour of Orlando, Fla., who has been ministering with TPM since 1999. “We simply lead the person to the feet of Jesus through prayer, and allow God to reveal His truth to their wounded heart and mind.”

Smith said that oftentimes the woundedness stems from what he calls lie-based pain. “I believe that emotional pain in people’s lives is almost always rooted in what they believe–not what is, but what they believe,” he said. “That’s why in traditional counseling, people have to keep going back over and over again. Because counseling can’t give them the experience that God wants to give them.”

TPM is used in various churches–from charismatic and Pentecostal to Baptist and Roman Catholic. Recognized leaders such as John and Paula Sandford, Paul Meier of New Life Clinics and Charles Kraft of Fuller Theological Seminary also use the method. Smith has recently spoken at annual conventions for the American Association of Christian Counselors and the Christian Association of Psychological Studies.

But TPM is not without its critics, who say the method is actually guided imagery and age regression therapy. David Entwistle, a Christian psychologist who has researched and written about theophostic prayer ministry, said several elements of TPM troubled him. For one, he said TPM techniques may not offer adequate safeguards to distinguish true from false memories.

But for Entwistle, the most central issue is how to understand the presence of Jesus in the “memories” of people undergoing TPM. “On what basis are we to conclude whether the appearance of Jesus in TPM is literal or figurative, based on revelation or imagination?”

Smith said TPM training seminars and resources stress that TPM facilitators are never to engage in guided imagery or recovered memory therapy. “We don’t do that,” he said. “We’re not implanting or suggesting any kind of memory content. We’re to be careful that we’re not the ones trying to give the person the truth.”

However, Smith said, he cannot monitor everyone who claims to use theophostic ministry. “Theophostic is simply a tool and people can use it improperly,” LaCour explained.

She added that she believes God has been using TPM all along. “It is profound how Jesus expresses His tender love to people,” she told Charisma. “His love that I have seen poured out is more tender, more fierce, more cleansing than I could ever imagine.”
Nancy Justice

Pakistani Pastor Released on Bail

A Pakistani pastor imprisoned on blasphemy charges since December has been released on bail, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) reported. Jailed in Lahore, Pakistan, Anwar Masih was accused of insulting various prophets. His accuser, Nasser Ahmed, a recent convert to Islam, is said to have a grudge against Masih and previously was accused of severely beating a neighbor. In a May 28 letter to Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, the Rev. Hans Stuckelberger, president and founder of CSI, called for a broader review of the blasphemy law, calling it an open incitement to violence.

Christian Children Lured To Buddhist Monasteries

Children from Christian families in Myanmar are being lured from their homes and placed in Buddhist monasteries. According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the children between the ages of 5 and 10 reportedly have their heads shaved and are trained as novice monks, never to see their parents again. During a visit with Chin and Kachin refugees in India in March, CSW officials also heard other accounts of persecution and discrimination. The government of the Southeast Asian nation, located between India and Thailand, offers incentives to impoverished villagers to convert from Christianity to Buddhism in Chin state, an area that is 90 percent Christian.

At least 350 People Die in Religious Clash in Nigeria

Two months after Muslim militants killed a pastor and 48 members of his church, fresh religious violence has erupted in the town of Yelwa in the central state of Plateau. The Muslim-Christian clash in May resulted in the deaths of at least 350 people, Compass Direct reported. Elsewhere, more than 120 people were killed and thousands more displaced when inter-religious violence erupted in Sarkin Kudu and Dampar villages in the northern state of Taraba in April. The skirmishes followed the murder earlier this year of a Church of Christ in Nigeria pastor and members of his congregation. Samson Bukar died on Feb. 23 when Muslim militants attacked his church in Yelwa.

Authorities credit Marcos Pereira da Silva with bringing an end to a three-day prison revolt in Brazil that left 31 dead

A controversial Pentecostal pastor is credited with ending a three-day riot at the Benfica detention center in Rio de Janeiro that left at least 30 inmates and one guard dead in late May, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

After calling in representatives from the Roman Catholic Church to negotiate peace, police allowed in Marcos Pereira da Silva, pastor of the Assembly of God of the Last Days, located outside Rio de Janeiro, three days after the riot began.

Popular among gangs and known for mediating riots, Da Silva persuaded inmates to release the remaining hostages in exchange for a promise that prison guards would separate detainees from rival gangs, the New York Times said.

“If the pastor didn’t resolve this, the police would have stormed the place … and the tragedy would have been much greater,” Astirio Pereira dos Santos, the head of Rio’s prison authority, told GloboNews, the Times reported.

The uprising began May 29 when inmates attempted to escape. When authorities tried to stop them, prisoners attacked the guards, took their guns and held 26 guards and staff hostage. Authorities said bodies were decapitated, mutilated and burned, the Times reported.

Rebellions are common in Brazilian prisons, which are often criticized for overcrowding and abuse, the AP said. The bloodshed at Benfica marked the worst prison riot since 1992, when police killed more than 100 inmates at Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo, the Times said.

Nella Davidse says desperate women come to the popular resort town looking for opportunity
Three nights a week, missionary Nella Davidse goes to bars and hangs out with prostitutes.

She lives in Pattaya, a popular resort town on the coast of Thailand, where an estimated 20,000 women work as prostitutes. Most are lured by the promise of big money and the hopes of meeting a rich, foreign husband. Many are raising children in extreme poverty. Most loathe their jobs, but feel they have no choice.

It’s not an easy place to be. But, Davidse says, it’s where God wants her.

“I needed perseverance,” said Davidse, 42, who left her native Holland to join Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Thailand nine years ago. “For a long time we didn’t see much fruit. I felt like I had my feet in the door, and if I pulled back, it would smash. … I had to say … ‘God, I trust in You and not in people.'”

Davidse first trained with YWAM in northern Thailand. While still taking language lessons, she found herself on a short outreach to Pattaya. She walked the streets and knew God had called her here.

In 1999 Davidse founded the Tamar Center, a downtown mission offering English lessons, job training and discipleship to the bar girls of Pattaya. “We came with an invasion of eight people, all committed for five years,” she said. “After a year, only I was left. That was hard.”

One by one, life circumstances and discouragement took Davidse’s team away. But she stayed, focusing at first on relationship-building and daily intercession, adding English lessons and job opportunities and finally moving the center into an old school building.

From there, she and seven other single women counsel, give health-care advice and teach regular language classes. Lessons are preceded by a short devotional and usually close with worship in English and Thai.

Many at the center make greeting cards as a means of alternate income; the cards are sold on the Internet at www.tamarcards.net. Training in sewing or hairstyling is also offered annually.

“God told us we shouldn’t call this place Sodom anymore,” Davidse said. “We should call it Nineveh because this is the city that will come to the Lord.”

The center joined with an American missions team in March to host two dinners for bar-girls. Almost 50 were invited the first night; on the second, that number more than doubled. Tamar staff reported several healings and say even the local teenagers hired to serve dinner came forward at the evening’s close and asked to receive Christ.

“Revival is on the way,” said Surapon Yuthiwattana, who pastors New Vision Christian Fellowship in Pattaya. “We believe that God will revive Pattaya city–every ministry and church and government and business.”

But things are still hard for Davidse. Part of the trouble is the culture. Thais profess Christ with ease, she says–tell them He is something good, and they want Him. But without a clear understanding of who God is or what He requires, they falter.

“We see girls coming to the Lord and really excited, but to really persevere and be changed–we haven’t seen it,” she said.

Among other things, she’s praying that the Holy Spirit will convict the city of its sin. “They come to Jesus because they want something,” Davidse said. “It feels so different sometimes, me living my life for God, making sacrifices for Him–and here are people who only want something from Him.”

Still, it’s clear God is working here–even in unexpected ways. The U.S. Navy visits Pattaya each year, dropping off 3,000 sailors for a little R&R. When that happens, Davidse and her staff join sailors and local churches in a worship service at a local hotel. Not long ago, Davidse met an American couple whose son had become a Christian in a Pattaya hotel room while there with the Navy.

For Davidse, the incident was further proof that God works in mysterious ways. “When we came here, we felt God saying: ‘Don’t focus on the darkness. Focus on Me,'” she said. “It’s like the seed in the ground–dying to self and trusting God. I just want to be obedient.”
Benjie Hughes in Pattaya, Thailand

BOOKS

Discover the Book God Wrote
By Bill Bright, Tyndale House
hardcover, 256 pages, $19.99.

Campus Crusade for Christ founder and president, the late Bill Bright, hands readers a map to discover the treasure of the Bible. Discover the Book God Wrote is Bright’s magnum opus. In it, he leaves no doubt that he cherished every verse in the Bible as a rare gem.

New and old converts will appreciate the clarity and passion with which Bright wrote. Although the book could be adapted for group study, it is meant for private devotional time. The 18 chapters are divided into four parts: Why Should I Believe the Bible? How Can I Understand the Bible? What Is the Bible About? How Does the Bible Change My Life?

As the reader and completes the “Discover the Treasure” section at the end of each chapter, an intimacy with the Bible bonds him to God on a deeply personal level. He truly develops a right relationship with God as He reveals Himself in His Word. Even the four appendices coach him in developing intimate friendship with God, offering summaries of the books of the Bible, a one-year Bible-reading plan and two methods of Bible study.

Those looking for an informal companion to the Bible will find Bright’s book extremely useful. The book should be on every bedside table, along with a well-thumbed Bible.
Pamela Robinson

Drawing Near
By John Bevere, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, hardcover, 224 pages, $19.99.

Three years removed from the success of his last book, Under Cover, the question for John Bevere has been “What’s next?”

What’s next is Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy With God, an explosive inspection of Scripture, leading to the very center of the “heart of God.” New and longtime believers will find this message instrumental in helping them develop a close relationship with the One who is “passionate” for us.

Early on we discover that God sent Moses to deliver His people so that they could come to Himself and “worship in the desert”–outside the routine of Egypt–a step that is not only before, but also above entrance into the promised land.

As we delve deeper, so does Bevere, describing three distinct levels in both communication and relationship. Ultimately, we come away knowing what is essential for reaching and remaining in a place of intimacy with Him.
J. James Estrada

Changing Church
By C. Peter Wagner, Regal Books,
softcover, 248 pages, $14.99.

Wow! This is a book that will blow readers’ minds. C. Peter Wagner is known as an authority on spiritual warfare and church growth and movements within the body of Christ.

In Changing Church: How God Is Leading His Church Into the Future, a follow-up to Churchquake, Wagner takes a look at the diminishing old wineskins of denominational Christianity and the vibrant uprising of the new wineskins of nondenominational, independent charismatic and/or evangelical churches.

Wagner cites the impetus for this movement as the resurgence of the office of apostle in what he is naming the Second Apostolic Age. It is proving to be extremely timely considering the crises that are occurring in some denominations today. Some readers will no doubt be going through the transitions of wineskins while others may be angered by Wagner’s conclusions about denominational structures.

This author does not pull any punches and is not afraid to tackle controversial topics within the body of Christ. In fact, there is enough controversy to almost ensure the reader may question or take exception to one point or another. Yet, Wagner’s remarkable ability to bring perspective to these momentous changes makes this a must-read for all leaders–old wineskin and new wineskin alike.
Deborah L. Delk

MUSIC

Facedown
By Matt Redman, Sixstepsrecords.

Singer-songwriter Matt Redman, known for his Passion conferences worship duties and penning new classic worship tunes (“The Heart of Worship,” “Let My Words Be Few” and “Better Is One Day”), is regarded as a pioneer in the modern worship movement. For his Sixstepsrecords debut, he delivers 13 new songs recorded live at the Facedown songwriters conference in Atlanta.

Standout tracks include the celebration of “Praise Awaits You,” the solemn piano praise of “Pure Light,” the worship ballad “Breathing the Breath” and the challenging prayer of “If I Have Not Love.” With “Nothing But the Blood,” Redman takes an opportunity to rework the classic hymn with fresh verses, which blends
perfectly with the newer songs.

With the continued popularity of the modern worship movement, Facedown should certainly generate interest from the masses enjoying the rock-flavored praise of Delirious, Passion and Redman’s labelmates Chris Tomlin and David Crowder Band.
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Upstairs
By Shane & Shane, Inpop.

Shane Bernard and Shane Everett are two guys in the Christian music business that are almost impossible not to like. Their songs are quiet masterpieces, and the talented duo demonstrates their musical prowess once again on the unadorned Upstairs, a collection of six new songs and four old favorites.

Even better, the disc is actually a CD-ROM, with 20 minutes of video footage and chord charts for a few songs. Shane and Shane do it all here (with production, percussion, and piano help from Will Hunt).

Barnard wrote the songs, sings and plays acoustic guitar, mandolin and accordion; Everett sings and adds banjo and acoustic guitar. Both also get production credit.

The result is a collection of Scripture-based worship songs filled with pleading, longing and pure desire to draw closer to the Creator. “I Miss You” is a perfect example, stating: “Oh, I miss you so / The feel of forever / Oh, that taste I know / It hurts to remember. … ” The upbeat “May the Few” exalts the Lord, and “Yearn” begs for more of Him. “Still at Shore” is the only departure from a heavenly focus, a delicate love song that somehow still fits.
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Hold You High
By By the Tree, Fervent.

With its fourth album in four years, Hold You High, By the Tree returns firmly to its roots in the arena of modern worship, leaving rock ‘n’ roll to some of the band’s other albums. After several departures from the band, rumors at the beginning of the year were that By the Tree was breaking up. Instead, the group is back with a new project that is atmospheric, sometimes ethereal (the remake of the classic hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” is a good example) and definitely vertical.

Produced by band frontman Chuck Dennie, Hold You High remains planted in the middle of the modern worship sound, breaking little new ground but covering familiar territory adequately. One misstep is the cover of “God of Wonders.” When the original of a song is nearly perfect (as is the Caedmon’s Call/Mac Powell version), it’s best to leave it alone.

By the Tree is at its best on its own turf, with highlights including the rhythmic, poetic “Jesus Washed” and the new version of the band’s hit “Reveal” from its 2001 Dove Award-winning debut album.
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Even More
By Anthony Evans,
INO Records.

Anthony Evans’ debut release, Even More, is a rarity. He manages to do what few have done before him: strike that delicate balance between adult and urban contemporary styles without seeming overzealous or alienating committed fans of those genres.

Son of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church pastor Tony Evans, Anthony pulls from his own varied experience. He got his start singing in church, then in college as part of Liberty University’s Sounds of Liberty. Later, he did a two-year stint with the group Truth.

Today, at the ripe old age of 25, Evans has toured with Kirk Franklin, Evans’ mentor and an Oak Cliff member, and has performed with Franklin at such high-profile venues as The Tonight Show.

Franklin makes appearances on two tracks, “Incredible” and “Unity (We Stand),” which features the soulful vocals of Crystal Lewis. But Evans also will win fans of Christian Top 40 artists such as Ginny Owens and MercyMe. Though “I Love You” has a smooth, urban feel, the opener, “You Know My Name,” and “Here’s My Life” are clearly pop.

Evans has production assistance from the likes of Pete Kipley (MercyMe), Dan Muckala (Aaron Neville, Mandy Moore), Shaun Shankel (Point of Grace, Kimberley Locke) and Greg Bieck (Joey McIntyre). But what makes Even More stand out is Evans’ gentle, sincere vocals. He shines on the soft, mellow ballads, namely “The One” and “Come Home.”

Lyrically, Evans pulls from personal experience, telling his own story between the lines. He honors his dad on “Just Like You,” on which he sings, “All that I desire is to follow your footsteps for the rest of my life / So one day when I have a son of my own / I pray that he will see in me all I see in you.”

And on “Restore Me,” he sings of those times when he’d like God to let him just start over: “Restore me / I need Your mercy / Take me to the place I used to be / Use all the pain and the hurt to do a greater work / And restore me.”

This is not one of those CDs a person buys for just one or two standout songs. It’s the sort of release that can be played from start to finish, over and over, simply because Evans makes it so pleasant to listen to.
Adrienne S. Gaines

For Jeremy Camp, the 26-year-old musician with two CDs and a new DVD, worship has become a way to share with others that God remains faithful.

He started playing guitar after he went to college in 1997. Soon he was writing songs and leading others in worship in Southern California venues.

In the midst of this, tragedy struck. In February of 2000, his wife of two months died of cancer. Camp then remembered a pastor at a youth camp who shared about the death of his own wife. After that sermon, Camp, then 16, decided to become a Christian.

When Michelle died, Camp contacted this man. He says: “This pastor prayed for me. He began to share how God had been faithful in his life, despite losing his wife. He said: ‘Go out and minister. Even if you don’t understand. Know that you will reach many people. Know that you will see their lives changed for eternity.'”

Camp took his advice and continues to proclaim God’s faithfulness. He also enjoys spending time with his new wife, Adrienne. They were married in December of 2003.

Camp’s music is often overshadowed by his testimony but that doesn’t bother him. As a result of last year’s shows, more than 500 people made commitments to Christ.

Camp has responded to tragedy in his life by forging new songs of worship, expressions of his faith in God’s bigger plan. He next recording, Restored (BEC Recordings), will release in November.
Jonathon Heide

CHARISMATIC TOP SELLERS

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

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

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

4. Matters of the Heart

Juanita Bynum (Charisma House)

5. The Three Battlegrounds
Francis Frangipane (Arrow Publications)

6. The Tongue
Charles Capps (Harrison House)

7. Prison to Praise
Merlin R. Carothers (Merlin R. Carothers)

8. Pathways to Spiritual Understanding
Richard Powers (Hensley Publishing)

9. A Divine Revelation of the Spirit Realm
Mary K. Baxter with T.L. Lowery

(Whitaker House)

10. The Believer’s Authority
Kenneth E. Hagin
(Faith Library Publications)

Of the 43 million people in the world with HIV or AIDS, 70 percent live in Africa. I was aware of the problem because we’ve reported on it in Charisma and because I serve on the board of World Relief, an organization that helps persons with AIDS. But I had to see it for myself to get the full impact of the heartbreak it causes and to see what Christians are doing to make a difference.

In early June I traveled with my 17-year-old son, Chandler, to Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi and Mozambique, where I saw some of the worst poverty I’ve ever seen. The people live on an average income of $40 per year. The grinding poverty contributes to the spread of AIDS.

But I was impressed by what World Relief is doing. This organization has mobilized churches from many denominations to help prevent AIDS and to care for those dying of AIDS and for orphans (one in 12 children in Africa is orphaned because of AIDS).

“It’s not just a government problem,” one pastor in Rwanda told me. “It’s a problem of all the people. Satan brought HIV/AIDS because of the sin of fornication, and the church must respond.”

World Relief works through churches to foster awareness of how HIV is transmitted, to teach people how to care for and support those who have the virus, and to strengthen families economically through microeconomic development. In many places the programs are working. I was told that in the early ’90s 30 percent of the population of Uganda had HIV. Now it’s only 6 percent.

But the statistics don’t reveal the human side of the story as visiting does.

In Kware, a slum outside Nairobi, Chandler and I visited the home of Milka, who learned last November that she has AIDS. She got HIV from her husband, who left her to raise two daughters alone.

Milka is getting treatment and is still able to function, but she worries about the day when she can no longer work. She wants to live long enough for her 6-year-old to finish school. Chances are, she won’t last that long.

Milka became a Christian after being helped by World Relief. That’s the story we heard over and over. Though the AIDS- prevention training and care of the sick are not specifically evangelistic, the people being helped are prompted to ask about becoming a Christian because of the love of those who are reaching out to them.

While we were there, we also saw more evangelistic programs, such as youth clubs organized by World Relief in Malawi. In Rwanda, we saw a microeconomic development program that has provided $35 loans to 17,000 desperately poor people. The people meet weekly in groups of 35 to repay the loans, encourage one another and learn business principles.

The seemingly small amount of money allowed one woman to buy an electric razor and set up a barbershop in the local marketplace. Another woman bought a sewing machine and does mending and tailoring. She has earned enough to send her children to school, repay her loan and buy a goat–a highly prized possession in Rwanda.

What impressed me most was seeing the church be what it is supposed to be–the hands of Christ extended to the desperately poor. It helped me understand why the church in Africa is growing in spite of the increasing pressure of Islam.

I returned from Africa determined to focus more on helping the poor and encouraging others to do the same.

Toward the end of my trip I asked pastors in Mozambique what message I should bring back to America. One Assemblies of God pastor stood and spoke for the group:

“Pray God will give us strength, and pray the AIDS patients who aren’t saved will be saved,” he said. “And pray we will find homes for the orphans.”

He reiterated: “Ask them to pray for us. Their prayers can reach across the sea to help find a cure for AIDS.”

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Stephen Strang, publisher of Charisma, invites you to support the work of World Relief through a tax-deductible gift to Christian Life Missions, our nonprofit partner. You can send it to P.O. Box 952248, Lake Mary, FL 32795-2248.

More than 1,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., April 28 to raise awareness about the humanitarian needs of North Koreans and to draw attention to legislation that would allow U.S. officials to give North Koreans refugee status on a case-by-case basis.

Dubbed the North Korea Freedom Day, the event was organized by the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC), a consortium of about two dozen organizations including Jubilee Campaign, Prison Fellowship, the National Association of Evangelicals and the Defense Forum Foundation, which aids North Korean defectors.

Though most media coverage has focused on North Korea’s nuclear agenda, organizer Suzanne Scholte said the purpose of the event was to turn attention toward the humanitarian plight of North Korea’s 23 million people, especially those who risk their lives to escape through China. The NKFC reported that those caught by Chinese police are returned to North Korea, where they are treated as defectors and are most likely killed or worked to death in prison camps.

Chung Byung-Ho, professor of anthropology at Hanyang University in South Korea and one of a dozen speakers addressing the crowd on the West Lawn of the Capitol, said 2 million to 3 million North Koreans have died of starvation and brutality in recent years.

After an April 22 train explosion in Ryongchon that killed 170 people and injured 1,300 others, the North Korean government blocked South Korea from entering the nation to provide relief and medical assistance. Activists such as An Hyuk, a North Korean defector and co-founder of the Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag, challenged dictator Kim Jong-il to “open his roadways and airways” to receive help for the victims.

Interestingly, on May 7 North Korea agreed to hold high-level military talks with South Korea and to allow aid for the train victims, the Associated Press reported.

On the freedom day, North Korean defectors presented testimony before the House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee. At the same time, about 200 participants lobbied key representatives about passing the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004, which among other things will provide funds for nonprofit groups to aid North Korea.

Said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.: “In a free North Korea, people would have a chance to reclaim their conscience and put their faith in a God of their own choosing, not one dictated by the State.”
John Lindner in Washington, D.C.

Thugs on notice, Shepherds in need, Unreasonable demands, Prophet problems
Bugged by Thugs

I was very happy to read “Thugs in the Pulpit” (May/June) by Richard D. Dobbins. We just left a large church because of the loveless lifestyle of the pastor. Money was the big issue around which everything else revolved. The church reminded me of an auctioneer’s block, with statements such as “Who will give such-and-such amount?” “Stand up, those who will give blank number of dollars.” After a year or so of this extortion, we left and shook the dust off of our shoes. When members of the family were sick, the pastors were inaccessible. However, we are mature Christians and have now found a loving church–not a perfect church–but a caring church whose main focus is not money.
name withheld

Money Trouble?

I read with interest “Feed the Shepherd” (May/June) by Ken Walker. In this neck of the woods, I know five pastors who used to draw full-time salaries from their churches, but have recently had to take outside employment because their congregations could no longer afford to pay them. Three of these pastors are now working full-time jobs. I myself have been pastoring a small, storefront church for the last 20 years and have never received a salary. Watching my brothers lose their paychecks has not made me very hopeful! I am submitting my address, because I’m wondering if anyone else is going through the same thing in any other part of the country.
Doug Hoffman
Jubilee Gospel Church
165 Elmwood Ave.
Burlington, VT 05401

REPLY It seems we’ve struck a nerve. Participate in our online poll in the “Pastors’ Discussion” at www.ministriestoday.com to answer the question, “Do you have to work an outside job to supplement ministry income?”

High Expectations?

I have just finished reading Larry Keefauver’s column, “Professional Shepherds?” (May/June), and I have just a couple of questions. First, who or what should we neglect to make these living-room, nursing-home and hospital visits? Our spouses? Our children? Preparation and prayer? The counseling appointments and other requests for our time? How about leadership time and administrative tasks? Second, what about the apostle Paul’s writings in Ephesians 4 that the fivefold ministries are given the responsibility of equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry? Are we going to go back to the days of only the clergy being eligible for ministry? Is the pastor the only one God can speak or work through? Is a pastor only considered a scriptural or effective pastor if he or she shows up at the nursing home, drops by the home of every person with a problem, or personally attends to every person’s need? No! It would seem to me that if we are to follow Keefauver’s prescription, we had better make every church in America 100 people or fewer.
Jay Satterwhite
via e-mail

Fivefold Kudos

J. Lee Grady’s article (“Stuck on Titles?” January/February) was an inspiration to me, in light of issues I am dealing with in my own church. I am glad you will be devoting future issues to the topic of the fivefold ministries. A member of my church, a self-proclaimed prophet, has been attending some charismatic meetings and is attempting to give “personal prophecies” to members of my congregation–even going so far as to say that they will die if they don’t heed his words. This “prophet” feels no sense of accountability to me as the pastor of the church because of what he has been taught. In his eyes, he has more authority than me as the pastor. I finally had to ask him to leave the church. The Lord is using you to bring reform to charismatic churches and ministries, and I have been blessed by your articles.
Jim Williams
Calvary Assembly of God
Elkhart, Indiana

REPLY Keep reading. In our September/October issue addressing the gift of prophets, we’ll explore the topic of personal prophecy and offer practical guidelines for pastors and leaders who are seeking to release this ministry effectively and responsibly in the context of the local church.