As tension escalated in Iraq in early April, foreign aid workers were encouraged to leave the nation until hostilities settled.

At press time insurgents in Iraq had kidnapped at least 40 foreign workers from 12 nations, prompting humanitarian organizations to remove their foreign personnel. World Vision removed all of its foreign workers in

April, continuing its efforts to distribute medical supplies, rehabilitate schools and improve water supplies with Iraqi staff. Baltimore-based World Relief did the same, relocating its only American relief worker, Brandon Pustejovsky, to Turkey.

“Iraq is clearly one of the most volatile and dangerous places in the world right now, especially for relief workers,” said World Vision spokesman Dean Owen. “Clearly the tension and the difficulty of working in Iraq for aid workers is increasing.”

Owen said that although World Vision offers extensive training for aid workers that includes mock hostage-taking incidents and executions, at least one missionary has been killed on the field in each of the seven years he has worked for the organization. “Aid workers have become an increasingly large target,” Owen said.

Since the war in Iraq ended last year, Christian groups have been working to assist Iraqi Christians in spreading the gospel within their nation. Campus Crusade for Christ launched an initiative to print and distribute Bibles, while Duluth, Equip, founded by author John C. Maxwell, planned to train Iraqi ministers as part of its effort to equip 1 million church leaders outside the United States by 2008.

As other missionaries were leaving the nation, Heather Mercer announced plans to enter Iraq to scout out land to plant a church, Waco-based KXXV-TV reported April 13. Rescued in 2001 with fellow American Dayna Curry from capture by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mercer was to help Antioch Community Church in Waco find sites in northern Iraq, where relief workers say the situation had been calm until recently.
Adrienne S. Gaines

The couple will train 10,000 people in healing ministry during a healing crusade to be held Oct. 2 at the Astrodome
Charles and Frances Hunter have never been ones to call it quits, but on Oct. 2 the couple known for their worldwide healing ministry will host their last citywide Healing Explosion, to be held at the Astrodome in Houston.

“I think it will be a historic event because we’re going to train 10,000 people how to minister healing,” said Frances Hunter, 88. “When we anoint the 10,000 people on the healing team, do you have any idea the explosion of power that’s going to go out?”

The training sessions will be held Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, and Frances Hunter believes the Oct. 2 Healing Explosion will affect people around the world. They’ve already received reservations from India, Indonesia, Korea, Peru, Ecuador and the Ukraine.

“We believe that these 10,000 people who are going to be on the healing team … [will] go back to their churches, and they’re going to start teaching their people so our churches can really come alive with the power of God.”

The Hunters have been teaching Christians how to minister healing for more than 30 years. Known as the “Happy Hunters,” the couple has hosted healing crusades worldwide since the mid-1980s, written dozens of books on healing, and produced training videos about healing ministry, which they will soon release on DVD. In 1990, they began the World Evangelistic Census, a campaign that mobilizes people to do door-to-door evangelism while taking a census of the world.

Recently, both Hunters have had their own bouts with illness. Charles Hunter, 84, had six major spinal operations between May and December 2003. Frances Hunter had a bout with breast cancer, which eventually led to a mastectomy. “In the hospital [we] still laid hands on the sick, and they’d get healed,” Frances Hunter said, adding that she led her surgeon to Christ.

The first Sunday they were able to return to their church, Lakewood Church in Houston, “a lady comes up from behind me, throws her arms around me and says: ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Five years ago I was in stage-four breast cancer. You laid hands on me, and I was totally healed.’ And there I sat with a bandage still on me.

“That’s the amazing thing. … Jesus didn’t say you had to be healthy to heal the sick. He just said you had to believe.”

That’s the crux of the Hunters’ message, teaching that Jesus gave all believers authority to minister healing. Frances Hunter hopes their ministry will reach a new generation, and they plan to teach participants at the Healing Explosion some of the new things they have learned.

“A chiropractor showed us how to get carpal tunnel syndrome healed,” Frances Hunter said. “We put our fingers on their wrists, the thumb on one side and the index finger on the other, and we command the ligament and tendons to relax. We command the carpal tunnel to open up, and we command any blockage to dissolve in the name of Jesus.”

The Hunters also encourage people to take care of their bodies, but they say there’s no substitute for God’s power. A former neurosurgeon agrees. He’s been praying for the sick since the 1980s when he was first exposed to the Hunters’ teaching.

“There are thousands of people who have learned to heal through their videos,” said Dr. Phil Goldfedder, who retired three years ago. “I remember laying hands on a man with a back problem, and he was healed. I was as surprised as he was.”

Eventually Goldfedder began to ask patients if they wanted him to pray with them, and many were healed. “The problem was learning how to write it on the chart,” he said.

Jim and Sue Daniels have been praying for the sick since they met the Hunters in 1983 at a church in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. They said when they applied the principles they learned from the Hunters, their grandson was healed from injuries he suffered after a fall. Years later, a friend of his was healed of scoliosis.

Both in their 70s, the Daniels are two of the many healing ministers who have been invited to attend the Healing Explosion, including Marilyn Hickey, Mike Francine and Rodney Howard-Browne.

“For [the Hunters] to do something like this is mind-blowing,” Howard-Browne said. “To do it when you’re in your 40s is a big deal, but to do it when you’re in your 80s is mind-blowing. I feel that if the Lord has said this is the last Healing Explosion, we as the body of Christ need to get behind them.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Former leader Paul Risser resigned i nMarch after the denomination lost money in two alleged Ponzi schemes
Delegates from the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel were expected to elect a new president during the denomination’s annual convention June 1-4 in San Francisco. Former President Paul Risser resigned in March after the denomination lost $14 million in two allegedly fraudulent investment companies.

Federal investigators claim International Product Investment Corporation (IPIC), headed by California-based Gregory Setser, bilked Christians of $160 million over roughly three years, while Orange County, Financial Advisory Consultants (FAC), headed by James P. Lewis Jr., swindled hundreds of people out of $814 million over 20 years.

Setser, who says he is innocent of all charges, was released on bail in February and awaits trial. Lewis was denied bail in March.

In a statement, Foursquare officials said neither Risser nor the corporate treasurer, Brent Morgan, who also resigned March 10 as a result of the loss, were seeking personal gain through the investments. “There was no criminal intent or conflict of interest found on the part of the President or the Treasurer,” the statement said. “Both men were acting only in a desire to further the interests and investments of Foursquare.”

Risser said he hoped the investments–roughly 6 percent of the proceeds from the $250 million sale of a Los Angeles radio station–would “advance God’s kingdom both in the U.S. and around the world,” officials said. But the denomination’s board of directors questioned whether Risser had the authority to make the investments.

Foursquare spokesman Ron Williams said Risser is still held in high regard by the denomination, which was founded by Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. Today Foursquare has 5 million members in 138 countries. Williams said Risser will continue to serve the denomination, possibly by speaking at churches and conferences and assisting the missions department.

Though both IPIC and FAC allegedly defrauded Christians in what Securities and Exchange Commission investigators say were Ponzi schemes that paid earlier investors with money from new investors, interest in FAC spread among several Foursquare leaders by word-of-mouth.

Believing the company had a 20-year track record, Jeff Miller, pastor of Mission Community Foursquare Gospel Church in Riverside, Calif., invested nearly $70,000 of his personal money in FAC after being referred to the company by other denominational leaders.

“I believe there were many Foursquare leaders involved in this fund,” Miller said. “My boss had been given a recommendation by other district supervisors.”

He questioned the fact that FAC did not have an advisory board. “But when you see such high returns, and when you see other pastors and denominational leaders investing, you think there is stability,” Miller, 52, told Charisma.

Within two years, he believed his retirement fund had grown to $100,000. A later statement put his investment at more than $140,000. But in November, FAC denied his request to withdraw money, claiming the Department of Homeland Security had frozen the company’s bank accounts. Miller received a payment in December, but he later found out the company was allegedly fraudulent.

The SEC charged Lewis with securities fraud in December. Lewis allegedly promised investors up to 40 percent returns, claiming FAC bought distressed businesses and resold them at large profits. But federal investigators say no specific information about FAC’s business ventures was ever supplied to investors.

Brick Kane, CEO of Los Angeles-based Robb Evans and Associates, the court-appointed receiver in the FAC case, said it is still unclear whether investors will recoup any of their money. He said Lewis’ assets would cover about 6 percent of what he owes investors.

Hindsight is 20/20, but Kane said there are warning signs for potential scams, such as high rates of returns, a lack of external audits and few details in annual reports. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Kane said.

Miller said he and his wife are determined not to become bitter. “We were going to be able to retire at 57,” Miller said. “I would have loved to be able to do ministry without being concerned about income. But the Lord is our resource.”

Williams said Foursquare’s board of directors has established a bylaw committee and financial committee to cooperatively clarify who is authorized to engage in investments. He said there was no loss of money from tithes or missions giving.
Adrienne S. Gaines

Campus Crusade for Christ’s The King’s College is focused on training leaders in the heart of New York City
It’s the tallest building in one of the world’s best-known cities–and that makes the Empire State Building a fitting place to house a small liberal arts Christian school, says one college administrator.

“We are a leadership school,” said J. Stanley Oakes Jr., president of The King’s College in New York City. “We want to produce Supreme Court justices and leaders in business and education. … If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.”

Fulfilling a dream of the late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International (CCCI), The King’s College is a Christian liberal arts college that Oakes believes will one day compete with prestigious secular schools. “Dr. Bright told me that God wanted him to develop a university on the level of an Oxford,” he said.

Bright tapped Oakes, a senior CCCI staffer, to explore his idea of launching a new school. Through a friend Oakes learned that The King’s College, founded by radio evangelist Percy Crawford in 1938, had closed in 1994. Realizing the value of the school’s charter and 11,000 alumni, Oakes persuaded Bright to leverage the defunct college as a basis for building his dream. “We just started out as a faith venture,” Oakes said.

Stepping out on a limb in 1996, Oakes and his wife personally borrowed $100,000 for the initial legal work. Next came the mammoth task of raising $1 million, which took a year to accomplish. Yet much more money was needed.

Then heavy-duty praying yielded a miracle when a Christian businessman offered $5 million. The only hitch was that Oakes had to raise the same amount in matching funds within four months. Miraculously, $7.7 million poured in.

Occupying two floors and 35,000 square feet in the Empire State Building, The King’s College reopened in 1999 with 17 students. Enrollment has reached 228 full- and part-time students, with 400 students expected in the fall semester. “Applications are up about 300 percent from last year,” Oakes said. He forecasts 2,000 students by 2014 and university status soon after that.

Although The King’s College owns land for a suburban campus, officials opted for a Manhattan beachhead because of its strategic location and proximity to the halls of power–the media, United Nations headquarters and the New York Stock Exchange.

At King’s the curriculum covers three majors: business, education and the Oxford program (politics, philosophy and economics). Prospective students are evaluated for leadership potential and not just SAT scores. “This year we will turn down 50 percent of the applicants,” Oakes said.

The student body represents many denominations. About 75 percent receive scholarships. Many are Pentecostal such as Daniel Sanabria, 22, who attends Bay Ridge Christian Center in Brooklyn. For the last three summers he has led missions trips to Turkey, Ethiopia and Peru.

One of 160 students living in nearby dormitory apartments, Sanabria is majoring in business/marketing. “I believe that if I am a business owner and I make money I’m going to take myself around the world and do evangelism,” he told Charisma.

Amy Weaver, a 21-year-old from Lancaster, Pa., discovered King’s on the Internet () after a stint with Youth With A Mission. “It was not on my radar at all,” she said.

But she said she loves the school and looks forward to a career in international journalism. “I’m learning to depend on Christ more and more every day,” she said, “and realizing how intrinsically He weaves the story of my life, and how he ties everything together.”

Instead of traditional chapel services, students are mentored in small groups and join evangelism outreaches aimed at New York City high school students. In August, 40 teenagers made decisions for Christ in one day, Oakes reported.

Faculty members stay close to King’s College students through prayer times, social activities and discipleship groups. “I’ve taken students camping in the Adirondack Mountains,” said Robert Carle, professor of theology. “I have found the faculty to be deeply caring.”

Critics have condemned King’s costly urban home and elitist mind-set, which Oakes denies. He sees graduates modeling the apostle Paul.

“You take Paul, an educated man under the power of the Holy Spirit, and you can change the world,” he said. “We want to train leaders, but we want them to serve and to give.
Peter K. Johnson in New York City

Participants in the Christian Hospitality Network offer hotel and retreat discounts to pastors and missionaries
When pastors need a break from the stresses of ministry and missionaries return from their fields of labor, there is a network of inns and retreats dedicated to serving these ministers at a portion of the cost to traditional patrons.

The burden that goes along with full-time Christian ministry has inspired innkeepers around the world to offer their hotels and getaways to Christian workers as a place of refreshing and renewal. They have joined the Christian Hospitality Network (CHN), which within a year has attracted 880 lodging properties that offer a minimum 25 percent midweek discount to ministers.

These innkeepers subscribe to the practice of hospitality as a Christian virtue, pointing to the Bible’s instruction in Hebrews 13:2 to “eagerly show hospitality to strangers because in so doing some have entertained angels without knowing it.” This belief has fueled the early success of the CHN, along with the dedication of its founder, Paul Cowell.

“Over 1,800 full-time Christian workers leave the field every month due to the stresses of the ministry,” Cowell said. “We [Christian innkeepers] have the opportunity to help pastors, ministers and missionaries find a place to get the rest they need to continue the battle God has called them to.”

First inspired to minister through hospitality in 1963 while visiting a camp in the Adirondacks Mountains, Cowell spent decades traveling with his wife, Jean, to hundreds of inns and retreats around the world. Thirty-four years of notes later, he built Whitestone Country Inn, a luxurious AAA Four-Diamond estate in Kingston, Tenn.

Touted as “A Sanctuary for the Soul,” the bed and breakfast is set on 360 acres on Watts Bar Lake and includes 21bedrooms, three conference rooms, three dining rooms, 12 miles of walking trails and a wedding chapel meticulously built to replicate a historic Anglican church.

The realization of Cowell’s dream came after he spent 25 years as pastor of Christ Chapel in Knoxville, Tenn. Cowell made a series of profitable investments, including the eventual purchase of more than 100 outlets of Book Warehouse.

He also recognized early on the potential for growth in television home shopping. He bought 51 percent of Shop-At-Home, the precursor to the wildly popular Home Shopping Network. Cowell eventually sold his shares and business ventures, which provided the capital to build Whitestone.

“I am sovereignly blessed,” Cowell said. “A return on my investment is not my top priority.”

Cowell launched CHN in hopes that weary Christian workers could find relief at inns worldwide. “In the first five years of being an innkeeper, hundreds of pastors came, and I thought, why not expand this to other innkeepers who are perfectly willing to give pastors and missionaries the same opportunities I do,” Cowell told Charisma.

“In the first six months, we had 700 innkeepers join CHN,” said Steve Tackett, executive director of the organization. “We’re excited about what God is doing among those who are joining together to proclaim hospitality as a Christian virtue.”

Today the network makes more than 1 million room nights available and hosts a getaway for missionaries each year. “This is a four-day retreat for missionaries on the field in which they are working,” Cowell said. “We come to them and give rest and relaxation in a way that they have been unaccustomed to, at least since becoming missionaries.”

The first such retreat took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in November 2002. Through proceeds from fund-raisers and donations, CHN treated more than 100 missionaries to four luxurious days at the Chiang Mai Westin Hotel. The amenities even included foot massages.

Interviews with the families indicated that they not only had a refreshing weekend, but also were rejuvenated for the ministry, as some participants had been on the brink of resignation. CHN officials held a similar event in November in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and have plans for a third in Ghana in November.

“Missionaries and pastors are front-line soldiers and they need a place of refuge,” Cowell said. “They have experienced acts of violence and prejudice, and others are just worn out–or worse yet, burned out.”
Cameron Fisher in Kingston, Tenn.

Natives of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Paul Kyle and his family are spreading the gospel worldwide through song

When Paul Kyle and his wife, Hilary, packed up their furniture and moved from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Minneapolis in 1994 with their seven children, they had no idea what was in store.

“We asked ‘why Lord?’ many times–especially when temperatures in winter dipped into the minus 70s,” said Paul Kyle, a noted worship leader whose songs “Lord Jesus We Enthrone You” and “The Flame” have been popularized worldwide.

In Belfast, Paul Kyle had given up a career as a medical doctor a short time after his graduation in the 1970s to launch a unique endeavor. In a city infamous for religious hate, he established Community of the King, a fellowship that brought together Protestants and Catholics in both life and worship.

Moving West in 1994, the Kyles–whose children range in age from 27 to 12–felt inspired by the Irish saint St. Brendan, who set sail in a leather boat some 1,500 years ago to preach the gospel to nonbelievers “over the ocean.” They soon discovered that the Lord still needed the Irish to reach unchurched America.

Soon after settling in the United States, the Kyles were asked to set up “something spiritual” on Sundays by the owner of a well-known Irish pub in downtown Minneapolis. “Something low-key and casual, that people could enjoy a good influence without having things shoved down their throats,” as Paul Kyle recalls the job description.

Like a modern-day version of the Partridge family, the Kyles spent five years as a regular musical feature at the pub. But instead of using their music simply to entertain, the Kyles used their songs, Irish folkdance and storytelling to share the gospel during the Sunday Spiritual Luncheon.

Thousands passed through the pub’s new “St. Brendan’s Lounge,” as local newspapers and television reported on the outreach with some amazement. Many visitors found their way back to God. After five years Paul and Hilary were ready to start a new fellowship with people they had reached at the pub.

“In my Father’s house there are many mansions,” Paul Kyle sings on his latest CD The Ascent of the Bright Hostage. Similarly, the Kyles’ new house, known as the Father’s House, also has plenty of room for some of their new friends, who have moved in to the 6,500-square-foot home to share their lives and be discipled on a day-by-day basis. Some 50 believers gather each Friday night in the “Upper Room” for worship and teaching.

The Kyles have continued their reconciliation ministry from the States, and they eventually began to do similar work internationally, traveling to such nations as Korea and Australia. Paul Kyle has also recorded several CDs, including The Flame, whose title cut became the unofficial Olympic theme song in Australia when he recorded it in 2000.

Kyle said the song, which is still sung across Australia, is about Christians receiving a torch of faith from their ancestors, and it issues a challenge for listeners to be faithful to pass the torch on to the next generation.

The Kyles have taken their music and Irish spirituality to all kinds of settings in places from Australia to Sweden, and as Irish Protestants they intentionally reach out to Catholics. Not long ago they performed and shared the gospel in a home for the elderly run by Catholic nuns in Nice, France.

During the ministry time, Paul and Hilary were able to lead all those present in prayers of repentance. Paul said that afterward the director told him, “You should hold such a meeting in every old people’s home in France.”

Currently Paul is putting the finishing touch on a Father’s Love musical. In August, the cast and crew–who are from various countries–will gather in Minneapolis for its debut in an area church, aptly named Our Father’s House.
Herti Dixon in Minneapolis

Elderly Church Leader Beaten in Chinese Prison

An elderly house-church leader was recently beaten and crippled for leading 50 fellow inmates to Christ. According to China Aid Association (CAA), prison guards beat Chen Jingmao, 72, a South China Church (SCC) leader, on Feb. 6 for “bringing others to Christianity … [and] … shame upon the Communist Party.” Now fellow believers must carry Jingmao, who suffered broken legs, to the bathroom and to eat. Jingmao, who is from Chongqing City, located in Yunyang County, was arrested on July 9, 2001, and sentenced to four years in prison for “using an ‘evil cult’ to obstruct the law,” referring to his association with SCC. CAA President Bob Fu said the attack violated Chinese prison law, which guarantees a prisoner’s protection from beatings and torture.

Eritrean Families Arrested While Praying

Authorities in Eritrea, located in eastern Africa, recently raided the homes of Christians, arresting entire families caught praying and reading the Bible together. In two separate incidents on March 17 and 18, the families, including children, from the Rema Charismatic Church in the capital of Asmara were jailed, Compass Direct reported. Meanwhile, 10 believers from the Full Gospel Church meeting in a home in the Aba Shwale district of Asmara were taken to jail on Feb. 23. All were detained in prison except for an elderly woman who hosted the group. She was ordered to pay the equivalent of $37–almost half a month’s salary–for holding an illegal meeting for worship in her home.

Indonesian Christians Attacked by Muslims

Muslim militants recently attacked Christians in Central Sulawesi, leaving one dead and five injured. According to Barnabas Fund, four men riding on two motorcycles sped through the village of Maranatha, located near the regional capital Palu, wielding machetes on March 11. A 40-year-old mother of two identified only as Nuci was killed after being struck in the head, neck and back, though she was able to protect her baby. The attackers also wounded five other believers. The situation in the village was said to be still “tense” last month, though no further incidents had been reported.

Michigan state Rep. Triette Reeves supports traditional marriage and hopes to use her position to strengthen families
Politics wasn’t Michigan state Rep. Triette E. Reeves’ first choice for a career. “Every time I tried to get out [of politics]–and I tried–I still ended up in politics,” she told Charisma. “It was my undeniable destiny.”

That call to public service has put Reeves in support of legislation defending traditional marriage and requiring Michigan bookstores to cover sexually explicit magazines or put them in restricted areas. And though Reeves is a Democrat, conservative groups count on her to vote against abortion.

She describes it as a “strange alliance,” one that surfaces only when she is addressing moral concerns. Issues that affect the poor and disenfranchised are often sources of contention, as Reeves, 38, has also supported forums on maternal and infant health care, affirmative action and legislation that would establish a prescription-drug program for seniors.

“She is serious in response to her call to ministry and politics to be an advocate for the poor, women and marginal people, lifting up their rights and responsibilities as a voice of God,” said Tony Curtis Henderson, an adjunct instructor at the Detroit extension of Atlanta’s Interdenominational Theological Center.

A married mother of three and an associate minister at True Believers, a Pentecostal church in Detroit, Reeves believes her call is to promote God’s will, not an agenda. And though she believes she has little in common with conservatives, she has seen God build relationships between white and black Christians in different political parties, something she says “only the Holy Spirit can do.”

In 1999 she began participating in a small prayer group started in the legislature and befriended a white Republican colleague, former state Rep. Mark Jensen. They didn’t always see eye to eye.

“Generally, issues divided us based on the constituents we each represented,” Jensen told Charisma. “We thought we were on opposite sides, but after we talked I often changed my mind because our core beliefs were very much the same, especially regarding right to life and respect for humans.”

Now their families go on outings together. “Spending time to understand each other’s communities opened our minds and hearts,” he said. “She has been a real blessing to me and my family.”

Reeves began her political career in 1998 after she lost her job following the birth of her third child. The former legislative aide said she felt the Holy Spirit leading her to run for office. “I didn’t know why God was doing what He was doing because I didn’t like politics,” she said.

Campaigning as a minister, with the slogan “It’s Time to Serve,” Reeves won by an overwhelming majority to serve Michigan’s 13th district, on the outskirts of Detroit, then was re-elected four years later to represent Detroit in the 10th district.

Most recently, she has been outspoken in her opposition to gay marriages, and she says Christian politicians must stand together against same-sex unions. “The institution of family that God created in the beginning between a man and a woman is the most important thing to promote and nurture,” she said

But ultimately, she believes the fight against same-sex marriage is a spiritual one, and she urges Christians to “deal with the spirits through spiritual warfare.” To that end, she began Family Life Ministries, a nonprofit advocacy group that links churches with resources to help strengthen families. Pursuing a master’s degree in spiritual formation, Reeves also oversees Fisherman Ministries, a prophetic training course that shows people how to answer God’s call on their lives.

Staying sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading in her own life has been challenging, even causing her to change her views several years ago when she stood to vote on
partial-birth abortion. Following the traditional Democratic position on abortion, she was prepared to vote pro-choice when she says the Holy Spirit whispered, “What is it?”

She had her office research the procedure, and after reading the packet of information she “cried like a baby,” unable to believe it was legal in the United States. She believed God was telling her, “This time you are going My way,” and she has opposed abortion ever since.

“[Abortion is] wrong from my perspective based on my convictions through the Word of God,” Reeves said. “I believe you can be a Christian and not receive certain convictions by the Spirit. It came by conviction for me.”

Now she presents information on abortion and same-sex marriage to churches and pastors conferences, presenting them as issues that destroy individuals and families. “The statistics shock them,” Reeves said. “Most church leaders don’t have any idea of the prevalence of abortion, especially in the African American community.

“Abortion is not a top 10 sin–more significant than racism, hate, lying, adultery or oppression,” she added. “If it’s against God, it’s against God, whether moral, social or economic.”

She believes Christians should be engaged–“not in politics, but a Christian’s role is to be God’s prophetic voice to political leaders, the community and have an agenda that promotes God’s will.”
LaVenia Jean LaVelle

The following reports were released during the last month by Charisma NOW. Go to our Web site at to subscribe to the free weekday service or to access full-length versions of each day’s stories. The site also includes a search engine so you can access archived news.

INTERCESSION URGED FOR OLYMPIC GAMES IN GREECE
Prayer leaders from Greece are calling on intercessors worldwide to pull down the spiritual stronghold over the host nation of this summer’s Olympic Games. According to Joel News, a Dutch-based prayer and revival news service, the Olympic fire was lit March 25 in Olympia, Greece, during a religious ceremony led by a high priestess who dedicated the Games to Greek gods. The ceremony marked the start of a 46,800-mile relay across all five continents that will culminate on Aug. 13 in Athens with the opening of the Games. “The main ceremonies and symbols of Athens 2004 are dedicated to idols [or spiritual powers], and the dates and rituals have been carefully chosen,” observed Joel News, which urged intercessors “to resist Satan’s evil schemes and to pray God’s destiny” for Greece in the coming months and during the Olympics.

PASTOR WANTS TO ‘SPIRITUALLY’ HELP TEENS HELD IN CROSS BURNING
A Pentecostal pastor in Washington state says he hopes he can help the teens who admitted to burning a 3-foot-by-5-foot cross March 24 in front of his home in Arlington, a predominantly white community about 40 miles north of Seattle. Jason Martin, who leads 150-member, nondenominational Jesus Is Lord Life Tabernacle in Marysville, said he’s not angry at the two 16-year-old boys who turned themselves in to police March 27, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Martin, 38, said if the boys are willing to hear him out, he hopes to tell them that he forgives them. “I would like to help them spiritually, of course,” said Martin, who is black, “to help them know that Jesus loves them, that He died for their sins, and that no one has not committed a sin,” the AP reported.

NORTHERN CANADIAN TERRITORY EXPERIENCES CHRISTIAN REVIVAL
Pentecostalism is reportedly spreading among indigenous people living in a remote territory of northern Canada. According to The Winnipeg Sun, a Pentecostal revival is growing in Nunavut, which means “our land” in the Inuit language. The region covers an area roughly the same size as Western Europe. The Canadian newspaper observed: “After years of patient work, fundamentalist religious leaders across the eastern Arctic are about to join hands and [expand] their rapidly growing flocks to form a new church that combines speaking-in-tongues, cast-out-the-devil Christianity with Inuit cultural pride.”

ADULT FILMMAKER HELPS CHRISTIAN ANTI-PORNOGRAPHY GROUP
A pornographer and a Christian anti-pornography group have become unlikely allies in a crusade against explicit material. James DiGiorgio has joined forces with in an effort to keep children away from pornography, the Los Angeles Times reported. DiGiorgio and his crew recently produced a public-service announcement for , founded by youth pastors Craig Gross of Fireproof Ministries and Mike Foster of Crossroads Christian Church, both based in Corona, Calif. The production featured puppets and a wholesome message urging parents to keep their adult videos and magazines from falling into children’s hands. DiGiorgio, who has directed more than 100 adult films, has received harsh criticism from his industry, but the father of two said he believes the industry has to take responsibility.

Church on the Way Selects New Senior Pastors

On April 4, pastor Jack Hayford named Jim and Alice Tolle as the new pastors of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif. Hayford has been serving as interim pastor since the death of his son-in-law and the church’s senior pastor Scott Bauer on Oct. 24. Tolle asked that Hayford remain as teaching pastor “while I seek to put my arms around this wonderful ministry.” A formal installation service is to be held in September.

Southern Gospel Artist Admits to Gay Struggle

Southern Gospel artist Kirk Talley canceled all further concerts after admitting to a 30-year battle with “feelings of loneliness and depression, all stemming from the struggle of homosexuality,” according to a statement he posted on his Web site. Talley said he is seeking restoration, and described being “set free” from his struggles after an intense prayer and counseling session. He said he plans to take a six-month break from the music industry.

Organist Gives One-Handed Easter Concert

Less than a year after severing his left arm in a car accident, organist Mark Thallander received a standing ovation for his one-handed performance of “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” during an Easter service at Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Mo., AG News reported. Today the noted musician uses a prosthetic arm. “So many people around the world were praying for me,” Thallander said of his recovery, AG News reported. “I felt those prayers and Jesus sustained me through the entire event.”

The Liebmanns moved to Jerusalem in 1999 and opened their home to men who had been living on the streets
Gerald Liebmann fancies himself a doctor, his home a hospital and the hundreds of homeless men in Jerusalem his pool of potential patients. He says he earned his “M.D.” in the school of hard knocks, spending years of his life addicted to heroin and living on the streets.

“All I can offer them is what saved me,” Liebmann said. “This is our home. We’re the doctors; they’re the patients. The medicine is love and accountability. If they don’t want the medicine, we can’t help.”

Since 1999, when Liebmann, his wife, Tracy, and their two children, Gina, 17, and Michael, 14, moved to Jerusalem, the family has opened its home to more than 100 homeless men, who receive food and a place to sleep, and quickly become part of the family.

“It’s a 24/7 atmosphere,” Tracy Liebmann said. “It’s a home, not a shelter. Our kids have never been harmed.”

“Gina and Michael have never complained about moving here,” Gerald Liebmann added. “I’m not saying it’s good to go through such things as terrorist aggression. We’re not foolish, but it does show you how much trust in God my children have.

“I don’t deserve to have such a devoted family, willing to go all the way for God. I am really a blessed man.”

Liebmann didn’t always consider himself so blessed. He grew up in New York City, abused as a child and an alcoholic by the time he reached his teens. He later became addicted to heroin and spent most of his days begging on the streets.

He moved to California in the 1980s, then later to Hawaii. But the cycle was the same: living on and off the streets, making and losing money in legitimate and illegitimate jobs, and whirling in and out of secular rehabilitation centers.

Liebmann met Tracy in Hawaii in 1984 when she bought drugs from him. “We’d drink and fight all the time,” said Tracy Liebmann, who grew up in South Central Los Angeles with parents who were Jehovah’s Witnesses. “I never had a Christmas until I was saved in 1988.”

The two married in 1986 after they both entered a rehab center. They came out clean and six months later headed back to California. “By the time we landed, we were drunk on the champagne they served,” Gerald Liebmann remembers.

Soon he was back on the streets before being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, but he was homeless again upon his release. His wife was living house to house with relatives.

Finally, Gerald Liebmann joined the Victory Outreach Rehabilitation Center, a ministry of Victory Outreach International, which was founded by Sonny Arguinzoni and now has more than 500 churches across the United States.

“I met the Lord one week later,” Gerald Liebmann said. “Nicky Cruz was preaching at a Victory Outreach Conference. I knelt down with my whole body shaking. I knew I wouldn’t go back to the old life.”

That was Aug. 14, 1987. Tracy Liebmann accepted Christ the following year. “I never knew there was a whole world of Christianity where you could be happy,” she told Charisma. “I didn’t know love until I felt it at Victory Outreach.”

For seven years, the Liebmanns were mentored by Victory Outreach staff, then became mentors themselves. “If you’ve been a wounded soldier, you know what the wounds of another feel like,” Gerald Liebmann said.

The Liebmanns eventually planted a church in California. Describing himself as an Italian with a Jewish name–though he believes his aunt’s claim that he is Jewish–Gerald Liebmann later began attending Messianic Jewish events. “As I was praying, God said: ‘I want you to go to My people.’ It was like a light bulb. From then on, Israel was deep inside me.”

The Liebmanns moved to Jerusalem in 1999, hoping to see homeless men like Oleg Fiegleman touched by the same love that transformed them. A Russian immigrant and former music teacher, Fiegleman hoped to make a living in Israel but found himself drinking night and day. “I didn’t even know what country I was in,” he says today.

That was before he met the Liebmanns. Now the worship leader for the church that meets in the Liebmanns’ home, Fiegleman says: “I never heard please or thank you before. … I’m treated like a human being here. God has given me this chance.”
Arlene Bridges Samuels in Jerusalem

For more information about the Liebmanns’ work, visit .