I am not alone in my desire to see the church return to biblical standards.

Jack Hayford called it a “watershed moment.” The occasion was a meeting of 50 to 60 key charismatic leaders who came together in Orlando in January to discuss tough integrity issues facing the church (see the report on page 20). In an age when it seems nearly anything goes–even in the church–and when confrontations about conduct, doctrine and morality are often greeted with charges of “judgmentalism” or “legalism,” the symposium convened to determine what can be done to set a standard.

Hayford and I both had felt for a while that we had to do something. We saw that too many leaders who are endeavoring to walk in integrity are hurt by extremists–those who, by their erroneous teaching or extravagant lifestyles, create negative stereotypes for all charismatics. So last fall Hayford wrote an article in Ministries Today magazine calling for accountability.

Then we decided to host an invitation-only meeting of ministers who are concerned about the same integrity issues that concern us. The group included charismatic leaders from several major denominations as well as various independent “streams.” Our common denominator was a commitment to God’s Word in the power of the Spirit.

Hayford set the tone for the meeting by declaring that charismatics must shed the image that our convictions regarding basic, Christ-like values are foggy. “By reason of an absence of a collective voice to address this,” he said, “the silence seems to be approval, or, at the very least, an indifference to righteous standards.”

A longer analysis of the meeting by Hayford appears in the March/April issue of Ministries Today, along with a copy of a statement, dubbed the “Orlando Statement,” that was drafted by the group. “I was impressed how quickly common acknowledgment was made that a reasonably practical, solidly biblical statement be set forth,” Hayford wrote in Ministries Today. “All expressed concern that a tidal drift from the stream of the Spirit’s purity and from leadership accountability be stemmed.”

I was encouraged by the strong affirmations made by other leaders. As a Christian journalist for the last 28 years, I have seen ministries rise and fall and some increasingly disturbing trends develop. A decade ago, leaders of a widely known charismatic church were accused by more than two dozen women of gross sexual wrongdoing by the leadership. When we appealed to leaders to investigate the charges, the response was to sweep the issue under the rug. Recent experience has shown that a similar attitude on the part of Roman Catholic leaders created one of the greatest crises that denomination has faced in 50 years.

Unquestionably, there are wonderful things happening. But it seems that not a month goes by that another scandal doesn’t develop. This month Lee Grady reports in his column that in at least one city charismatics are saying churches should condone homosexuality.

The leadership symposium was an encouragement to me that, like the prophet Elijah who believed he was the only one serving God but found out there were 7,000 other prophets that had not bent their knee to Baal, I am not alone in my desire to see the church return to biblical standards of life and ministry.

The symposium and its resulting statement was Step No. 1 in a process that must continue. I hope the statement will be widely accepted, and I’m urging all ministry leaders to affirm it.

Please read it on our Web site, , and then post your comments. I believe a tidal wave of response will make a statement not only to the church but also to the world. It will show that we are committed to focusing on the church’s greatest calling, emphasized at the symposium by evangelist Reinhard Bonnke: winning souls.

Our hope, as Rod Parsley so aptly expressed it, is that “a paradigm shift can take place in the leadership and the body of Christ at large, where souls, once again, truly become our focus.”

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Stephen Strang, founder of Charisma, hosted the symposium in Orlando in January. Go to to access the Orlando Statement.

The co-founder of the 1970s pop group now coaches gospel choirs and mentors aspiring musicians

At the height of his fame, the co-founder of one of the most successful pop-and-funk bands of the 1970s left his lucrative career to return to his Christian roots. Today one-time Commodores guitarist Thomas McClary leads a simpler life, overseeing the music ministry at his Orlando, Fla., church and preparing to release a CD by its 100-voice choir.

Once famous for million-selling singles such as “Three Times a Lady,” “Shining Star” and “Brick House,” McClary is a deacon and worship team leader at New Destiny Christian Center. Later this year he will produce the church’s first CD on his own Visitation Records label.

“He has the zeal of Peter but the wisdom of Solomon,” his pastor, Zachery Tims Jr., said. “He keeps everything balanced. He’s a team player and a team builder. When he takes charge, people want to follow him.”

“He’s really a nice guy,” added Sam Kenoly of the Kenoly Brothers, who is also a member at New Destiny. “He’s given me so much advice that it’s like taking college courses. He’s really been an inspiration to me.”

Born Oct. 6, 1950, in Eustis, Fla., the youngest of eight children, McClary played high school sports and graduated as valedictorian. He went on to the Tuskegee Institute in Montgomery, Ala., where his life took the path that would lead to fame. While standing in line to register for classes, he heard someone whistling a sax solo by legendary jazz musician Eddie Harris.

“He was going through all the riffs, and I was thinking this guy’s got to be a musician,” he recalls.

McClary asked the student to start a band with him. His name was Lionel Richie, and they founded the Commodores in 1968 with four other Tuskegee students.

They started off as a backup band for Jerry Butler, Candi Staton and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Later they landed a two-year opening spot for the Jackson 5’s world tour. Their popularity growing, Motown head Berry Gordy wanted to sign them.

Their string of pop smashes brought them negotiating power. They demanded to keep their song-publishing rights–something Motown’s Jobete Publishing never surrendered to artists.

But the Commodores became trailblazers, creating music that won fans worldwide. “Some of the letters we’d get were amazing,” McClary remembers. “One lady was dying of cancer. She said every time she put a certain song on, it would ease the pain.

“We had people write us from around the world who didn’t speak a lick of English but knew the spirit in which the songs were written. … We tried to be good stewards of that gift that God gave us even though we didn’t give God the glory at that time.”

One of the group’s most beloved songs, “Jesus Is Love,” hit the R&B Top 40 in 1980.

By 1982 McClary and Richie had co-written songs for Diana Ross and Kenny Rogers. After their manager–the glue that kept the group together–died, both men went solo.

McClary cut the Hot 100 single “Thin Walls” and produced a hit with the group Klique. He was scheduled to produce James Ingram, Melissa Manchester and the Four Tops. Then, “I heard an audible voice from God while I was in the shower,” he recalls. “The voice said, ‘It’s time for you to come home now.’ I thought I was hearing things.”

McClary went home–literally. He returned to Eustis, where he joined a church and produced a documentary titled The History of the Apostolic Faith. He used his celebrity influence and recording royalties to fund local church and community charities and, as a local hero, gave motivational speeches at youth groups.

Meanwhile, Universal Records keeps all of the Commodores’ music in print with various hit compilations. Because of the group’s enduring popularity, McClary says there may be a reunion tour in the near future. He keeps in touch with his band mates and reminds them of the source of their good fortune.

“I tell the guys all the time that God had to honor me to honor His Word,” McClary explains. “I was a tither even back then. I tithed even though I wasn’t saved because of my praying parents who feared God. My accountants used to laugh at me and wonder why I’d be giving six figures to the church. … For the last 20 years the royalties have not stopped. It’s been incredible.”
Bill Carpenter

High-profile charismatic leaders convened in Orlando in January to discuss the state of the church
A who’s who of prominent charismatic ministers decried what they called an ethical “crisis” in the body of Christ during a first-ever symposium in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 6-7, calling on Christian leaders to deem those who demonstrate persistent ungodly behavior as unrepresentative of true Christianity.

The invitation-only meeting was hosted by Ministries Today magazine, published by Charisma’s parent company, Strang Communications. It drew more than 50 high-profile leaders including Rod Parsley, Joyce Meyer, Rick Joyner and Myles Munroe, and was moderated by Foursquare leader Jack Hayford, pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif.

After discussing issues of moral and financial integrity and the appropriate use of titles, particularly apostle and prophet, participants endorsed a document that has been dubbed the “Orlando Statement.”

“This event was not just significant for the 50 people in attendance, but for the church at large,” said Ministries Today publisher Stephen Strang, who convened the meeting. “It will make a statement about the growing unity in the charismatic-Pentecostal community regarding the need for ethics and a renewed focus on winning the lost.”

An attempt to foster unity and further world evangelism, the Orlando Statement affirmed the “fivefold” ministry gifts listed in Ephesians 4, with the panel noting that the titles apostle and prophet should be used by those who demonstrate “the character and gifting requisite those titles.” The document noted that the use of those titles must “be submitted to the demands of servanthood and not become a distraction … to the very offices that they claim to serve.”

The group also acknowledged an ethical crisis in the church that is marked by a greater tolerance for sexual infidelity, an increase in divorce “under the guise of commitment to ministry callings,” an “indulgent understanding” of the concept of restoration, and a lack of self-moderation in areas of financial responsibility and extravagance.

The crisis was attributed to an increase in the number of ministries that operate outside existing accountability structures, as well as a failure by existing accountability structures to enforce their legal standards because of a lack of peer relationships.

During the two-day event, the group also attributed the moral breakdown to an increased prevalence in ministry being seen as a profession “in which the importance of success and power outweigh the demands of servanthood and integrity.”

The participants urged Christian leaders to asser-tively accept responsibility to minister discipline with love and grace, and to identify behavior that is “adverse to godly values” as “alien to the lifestyle of charismatic Christians and unrepresentative of the true charismatic Christian community.”

“I am certain that the symposium was the beginning of an opportunity that could have a lasting effect on bringing greater understanding and credibility to the charismatic movement from its leaders to the broader body of Christ,” said Parsley, pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio.

Hayford, who serves as Ministries Today’s senior editorial adviser, moderated three panel discussions. The first consisted of Meyer, Parsley, evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Christian International Ministries founder Bill Hamon, theologian C. Peter Wagner and North Carolina pastor Kingsley Fletcher.

Wagner issued a strong challenge for the church to recognize the ministry of apostles. Although none of the panelists questioned the legitimacy of the fivefold gifts, some expressed concern that the power vested in the titles apostle and prophet often motivates the holder to exercise authority rather than to serve.

“All the fivefold should shepherd the church of God,” said author John Bevere, who issued a forceful call for accountability in prophetic ministry in his 1999 book Thus Saith the Lord? “If we’re not careful, we’re going to get right into what the Pharisees did–more interested in serving themselves than in serving people,” Bevere said.

Bonnke, founder of Christ for All Nations, said the use of titles is a “side issue,” and he called the church to focus on its primary task: winning souls. “It’s not a matter of position but a matter of function,” Bonnke said. “If we concentrate on functions, we will see the fivefold ministries in all their excellence.”

The second panel–comprised of Bevere, Joyner, Generals of Intercession head Cindy Jacobs, Detroit pastor Keith Butler, seminarian Mark Rutland and evangelist Steve Hill–explored ethical and moral issues. Expressing his concern at the onset of the discussion, Hayford said: “Like the book of Judges, the Pentecostal-charismatic movement is increasingly moving toward everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. We’re watching the dumbing down of a movement, in many ways–dumbing down in the thoughtful pursuit of what we’re really about.”

Hayford added that many people embrace charismatic tenets but are hesitant to identify with the movement because of concerns about high-profile leaders who flaunt excess and demonstrate shoddy ethics.

“We don’t have good character because we think we’re so important,” said Jacobs, who added that the larger a ministry becomes, the more layers of accountability it needs.

Joyner, founder of Morningstar Ministries, was more blunt: “In anything, our main commodity is truth, integrity, reality. Shame on us for what we’ve allowed the church to become on our watch.”

The third and final panel–consisting of Munroe, National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) head Ted Haggard, Bible teacher R.T. Kendall, Charisma editor J. Lee Grady, pastor and author Francis Frangipane, and pastor Frank Reid of Bethel AME Church in Baltimore–explored the Pentecostal-charismatic movement’s future.

Haggard suggested that the distinction between the Pentecostal-charismatic community and the evangelical world was quickly becoming irrelevant. In his work with the NAE, he said he has “found no resistance to the Pentecostal-charismatic message, and within 10 years, I don’t know if there will be a distinction. I don’t think the issue is theological; the issue is style.”

Munroe, pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, expressed concern that many in the movement had not offered a public statement on the issues of homosexuality, gay marriage and the doctrine of universal reconciliation. “My heart is that we will take generational responsibility in this room before we leave,” he said. “I don’t want to be famous or important, but I want to be faithful to this generation.”

The Orlando Statement was published in the March/April issue of Ministries Today and posted on its Web site. Readers can log on to to read the entire document.
Matt Green

Chinese evangelist Nora Lam, who pioneered missionary ministry for women, died Feb. 2 in a nursing home in San Jose, Calif., at the age of 71. She had suffered a massive stroke six months before.

“Nora Lam liberated thousands of women for missionary ministry, and she especially helped Christians respond to the needs of persecuted, underground believers in China on many different levels,” said William Bray, who serves on the board of directors of Nora Lam Ministries (NLM).

“Most people probably think of her work only in terms of Bible distribution, evangelism and support for persecuted house churches and Bible schools in China, but she was also very concerned for children and the humanitarian needs of Chinese people everywhere,” added Bray, who is a staff member of Christian Aid Mission.

Lam, who fled her native Shanghai in 1958 as a refugee from Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, is best known for her book China Cry, which chronicles her suffering under communist persecution. The book, which the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) made into a movie in 1991, tells how Lam refused to deny Christ even while enduring physical abuse. She immigrated to the United States in 1966.

“Nora Lam was a dedicated soul-winner, prayer warrior and precious saint of God,” TBN founder Paul Crouch told Charisma. “Our lives are richer for having known her. Jan and I, along with all of us at TBN, will dearly miss her.”

Lam spent 30 years traveling around the world holding evangelistic crusades and raising awareness about China’s persecuted church. She supported Christian humanitarian ministries working there and hosted radio and TV broadcasts to free Chinese around the globe.

“Nora Lam’s life on this earth is over, but the work she started goes on,” said her youngest son, Joseph Lam, vice president of NLM, Assist News Service (ANS) reported. “Every one of us is still inspired by the life of sacrifice and service, which she taught us to live. We are still distributing Bibles, saving orphaned babies and helping persecuted believers.”

Her oldest daughter, Ruth Lam Kendrick, head of NLM, added: “Mom loved the house churches of China and needy children everywhere, and that is the legacy she has left for us to fulfill,” ANS said.

Lam is survived by three daughters–two of whom were adopted–two sons and seven grandchildren. A memorial service was held Feb. 24 in San Jose.
Eric Tiansay

Since Sept. 11, 2001, and the start of the war on terror, violence against believers has become more common

Christians in Pakistan have been the targets of a number of recent terrorist attacks in random violence that has become increasingly common since Sept. 11, 2001, and the onset of the United States-led war on terrorism.

“Muslim fanatics associate Christians in Pakistan with ‘Christian’ America,” said Ann Buwalda, U.S. director of the international human rights organization Jubilee Campaign. “They justify killing innocent believers, including women and children, as a reprisal against the West.”

On Jan. 15, a church compound in Karachi was rocked by a grenade blast. Fifteen minutes later, a car bomb exploded outside the complex, injuring nearly a dozen police officers and bystanders. Similar attacks in Chianwali, Islamabad and Bahawalpur have Pakistani Christians on edge.

Unlike many Muslim nations, the Pakistani government allows Christians–roughly 2 percent of the population–a great deal of religious freedom, yet they are afforded little state protection. On Jan. 25 three Muslim men opened fire in a Sunday service in Patoki. Though the men were easily identified, the police made no
immediate arrests.

“The position of Christians in today’s Pakistan is that of a wounded traveler on the way to Jericho,” said former Pakistan High Court Judge M.L. Shahani. “The [Pakistani government] … has refused to look after the injured traveler by refusing to afford proper security to churches and Christian organizations.”

Today many churches employ armed guards and screen congregants with metal detectors. Despite the ongoing hostility, the Catholic renewal movement is growing, and many churches are hosting large retreats that include healing services. Such services used to be attended by Muslims; however, it has become increasingly dangerous to minister to or evangelize Muslim seekers.

In January Mukhtar Masih, the pastor of a small Church of God congregation, was gunned down over a dispute with a local mosque about the church’s use of loud speakers–a common practice in Christian communities.

Meanwhile, Pakistani believers say the nation’s blasphemy laws–which carry a mandatory death sentence–are used to silence Christians and settle disputes. Anwer Masih, a young Christian laborer, is currently on trial for insulting a local troublemaker, who allegedly brought the charge as payback for an old grudge.

The Center for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) is a Christian organization that provides legal representation and financial support for persecuted Pakistani believers. CLAAS leaders claim that during blasphemy trials, the judicial system is held hostage by Muslim fanatics who pack courtrooms and threaten judges, defense lawyers and the accused. Both a judge and a defense lawyer have been murdered in connection with blasphemy acquittals.

One defendant, Manzoor Masih, was shot dead after a High Court proceeding. Another defendant, Ayub Masih, was shot by his accuser during a trial, yet the accuser was never criminally charged. Ayub Masih survived but was kept in solitary confinement for his own protection until his acquittal four years later. Thanks largely to CLAAS, to date every Christian accused of blasphemy–who survived prison–has been acquitted.

To varying degrees, every Christian in Pakistan is at risk. Poorer Christian women, who are particularly vulnerable to rape, are denied justice because of a nearly impossible burden of proof, CLAAS officials said. However, Natasha Emmanuel, a 10-year-old Christian raped in March 2003 by a Muslim neighbor, was for the first time able to circumvent the requirement to have two male witnesses testify to the rape by using DNA evidence, which led to her rapist’s conviction.

Many Christians are not so fortunate. In January, six Christians were arbitrarily arrested after a failed assassination attempt on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. These Christians, who say they are innocent, happened to be in the same train compartment as members of a dangerous Muslim group.

“To be Christian in Pakistan is to walk daily in the valley of death,” said CLAAS founder Joseph Francis. “Yet we must never to give up hope, never to cease praying, and never to stop striving for justice.”
David Mundy
with Adrienne S. Gaines

Tireless Christ for the Nations Co-Founder Celebrates 90th Birthday

As she approaches her 90th birthday on April 18, the leader of an international Bible training organization shows no signs of stopping–or even slowing down.

Freda Lindsay is still deeply involved in the ministry activities at Dallas-based Christ for the Nations Institute (CFNI), which she founded with her late husband, Gordon. The two-year Bible school has trained more than 28,000 students in the last 34 years, and has established 44 associate Bible schools in such nations as Germany, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Brazil, Japan and India.

Lindsay has served as president of the international ministry since the death of her husband in April 1973. CFNI’s board elected her president the day after Gordon Lindsay’s funeral. “She was forced into a leadership role as a woman and had the enormous debt of a new building,” said her son, Dennis Lindsay, adding that within several years everything was paid for.

Dennis Lindsay, who was on staff with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Europe for several years, has served as CFNI president since December 1985.

In the 1970s, Lindsay’s role didn’t sit well with some who believed women should not be in such a leadership position. “I used to get a lot of letters from people chewing me out,” she told Charisma. “I would write them back humbly and say, ‘All of these men put me in this position, and I report to these men.'”

Dennis Lindsay said his mother has the hard-working ethic of a German yet the friendly warmth of a Texan. “She can be like a ‘sarge’ at one moment and the next moment at ease. That has helped her in leadership over the years.”

For more than 30 years, “Mom Lindsay,” as she is known around campus, has lived in the same two-bedroom apartment on campus, which she said has kept her living expenses low and enabled her to give back to the ministry.

One of 12 children, Freda Lindsay began working in the fields of Oregon when she was 9 years old to help put food on the table. In 1932, 18-year-old Freda Schimpf attended a revival meeting in Portland. As she was making her way out the door, evangelist Gordon Lindsay stopped her and said, “Freda, I thought this would be your night.”

Convicted, she rushed to the altar. “I was no big sinner, but I knew I wasn’t serving the Lord,” she said. “That night, I felt the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Freda, if you follow Me, obey Me, walk faithfully in pureness, you will one day marry this evangelist.”

Five years later she married Gordon Lindsay.

In 1948 the Lindsays began an evangelistic ministry and publishing house called Voice of Healing, which was the precursor to Christ for the Nations.

The same year, Israel became a nation, and Lindsay said the Middle Eastern country has long held a special place in her heart. She has traveled to the Holy Land 34 times, and her daughter has lived there for more than 30 years. “If there is one reason Christ for the Nations has been blessed in the areas it has, it is because of our love for Israel,” Lindsay said.

Her love for Israel may be matched by her passion to train young believers from around the world. Each year CFNI has about 200 international students, 50 of whom are on scholarship. They are required to sign an agreement saying they will go back to their country to minister in their own nations.

Pavel and Andrey Novik, Russian brothers who are enrolled in their first year at CFNI in Dallas, first heard about the school when they lived in Belarus. “Christ for the Nations is for the nations, not necessarily Americans,” said Andrey, whose father pastors a Slavic Pentecostal church near Boston. “Mom Lindsay loves international students.”

CFNI reaches 120 nations, has helped build more than 11,000 churches, has distributed more than 60 million books in 82 languages, and provides food, clothing and medical aid to nations in need.

Still, Lindsay would like to see God do more. A few years ago, she says she gave the Lord a list of things she would like to see come to pass in her final days. Among these– she hopes to complete a World Missions Training Center and build a new Bible school in Vancouver.

The problem? She thinks she may make it through the list too quickly. “If that happens,” she said, smiling, “I’ll have to make another list.”
Carol Chapman Stertzer in Dallas

The Network of Anglican Dioceses and Parishes was formed in response to the denomination’s election of V. Gene Robinson

Angered by the U.S. Episcopal Church’s recent election of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire, a group of conservative Episcopalians, headed by a charismatic bishop, have formed a new network that leaders say will function as a part of the broader Anglican Communion.

Chartered Jan. 20 in Plano, Texas, the Network of Anglican Dioceses and Parishes (NADP) was organized by the bishops of 12 dioceses, which represent at least 10 percent of the 2.3 million Anglicans in the United States. So far, four diocese have ratified the charter.

The Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA) is part of the Anglican Communion, a global association of denominations that trace their lineage to the Church of England.

The new group’s charter said the network constitutes “a true and legitimate expression of the worldwide Anglican Communion,” Reuters reported. Its leader,
Robert Duncan, a charismatic Episcopal bishop from Pittsburgh, said ECUSA strayed from the denomination’s constitution when it blessed homosexual unions and elected V. Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, as a bishop.

The new network, which was formed after consultation with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, would “operate in good faith within the constitution of the Episcopal Church,” Duncan said. “We are not splitting off from the Episcopal Church.”

Formed during the annual meeting of the American Anglican Council (AAC), a conservative group of Episcopal churches, the network is led largely by people influenced by the charismatic renewal that swept through ECUSA 40 years ago.

“The majority of the bishops and priests who are leaders of the orthodox movement leading the charge today against ECUSA have charismatic renewal backgrounds,” said AAC board member Roger Ames, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio.

“They are the fruits of the charismatic renewal of the ’60s to the ’80s,” said Ames, who is charismatic. “The days of working … to bring charismatic renewal have now come of age. The majority of the leaders who are resisting [ECUSA’s] culture moves have been prepared like Esther for a time like this.”

Before his death in 1991, ECUSA renewal leader Dennis Bennett said that if his denomination ever declared that homosexuality was the norm, he would have to leave, his widow, Rita Bennett, told Charisma. Though she has chosen to remain in her Episcopal congregation, Rita Bennett said: “I believe the Episcopal Church has stopped teaching and taking the book of Moses and the Torah seriously. All the laws on sexuality are given there. … It’s dangerous to throw out the law and be left with grace only.”

Alan Hansen, president and CEO of Acts 29 Ministries in Atlanta, which is designed to help strengthen leaders, believes ECUSA is going through a “mini-reformation.” Churches that choose to withdraw from the Anglican Communion entirely stand to lose their facilities, and ministers would forfeit their parishes and possibly their retirement benefits. Duncan claims his network–a “realignment” that remains connected to the broader Anglican Communion–would circumvent that kind of sacrifice.

Still, Hansen, who is charismatic, said the mini-reformation will not come without a price. He believes orthodox clergy will be persecuted as they work to restore fellowship with the rest of the Anglican Communion and the ecumenical family.

Since Robinson’s election, Anglicans worldwide have expressed their disapproval of ECUSA’s actions. In December, the archbishop of the Anglican Church in Uganda sent a letter to ECUSA’s presiding bishop saying the Uganda church “has recognized your departure from the faith” and “cuts her relationship and Communion.” The letter also rescinded an invitation to participate in a January ceremony to consecrate a new archbishop.

Letters of condemnation also have been circulating from Anglican leaders in Guatemala and Papau New Guinea. In October the top primates, or spiritual leaders, of the Anglican Communion condemned ECUSA’s moves during a conference at Lambeth Palace in London. In February, ECUSA reported a $3 million drop in donations, due in large part to churches withholding financial support in protest of Robinson’s election.
Mercedes Tira Andrei

Chinese House-Church Leaders Arrested

Three prominent house-church leaders were arrested recently in what is believed to be a government crackdown on the underground church. In January police arrested Qiao Chunling, 41; Deborah Xu Yongling, 58; and Zeng Guangobo, 35, who escaped two days after his capture, Christianity Today reported. The arrests followed the release of a book, Jesus in Beijing by David Aikman, and four-hour video, The Cross: Jesus in China, produced by China Soul for Christ Foundation. Both document the growth of Christianity in China, and police allegedly are focusing on those mentioned in the book and video. Some fear the crackdown may be as brutal as China’s action against the Falun Gong, which led to at least 64 deaths.

Missionaries Beaten in India Attack

Six Gospel for Asia (GA) missionaries were beaten recently by anti-Christian fundamentalists who reportedly intended to kill the believers. The attack occurred in Orissa State, where Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were martyred in 1999. Onlookers intervened during the attack, sparing the missionaries. The men, however, were beaten so badly they had to be hospitalized. “Pray for their full recovery and strength,” GA officials said in an e-mail to supporters. “Like several other Indian states, Orissa has an anti-conversion law in effect. Pray for souls to come to Christ in Orissa and for the believers to stay strong in their faith.”

Sri Lankan Christians Blamed for Monk’s Death

Christians in Sri Lanka were recently attacked after the death of a Buddhist monk. According to the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEARLC), Soma Thero, who championed Buddhist nationalism, died of a heart attack while in Russia, but Buddhist monks labeled his death the result of a Christian conspiracy. Rioting reportedly marked Thero’s Dec. 24 funeral, at which 15 Christians were wounded. On Dec. 28, two churches in Puvakpitiya were attacked as they ended morning worship. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but property damage was extensive. Security has been stepped up around churches, WEARLC said.

Ohio minister Mark Olds uses his testimony to share God’s love and redemption with ex-offenders

I’m a Christian and I’m not going to let you die.”

Those words were spoken to Mark Olds in 1979 by a state trooper who with four other law enforcement officers had him trapped at a roadblock on a North Carolina highway. Instead of attempting to escape, which he believes would have likely cost him his life, Olds surrendered, marking the beginning of his journey from robber to reverend. Today the ordained minister hopes to help others turn from lives of crime through his Cleveland-based The Righteous Men Ministries.

Olds has reached out to hundreds of men and women, helping them find jobs and clothes, and organizing support groups for their families. He also has the distinction of being the first person ever to be ordained a minister while incarcerated. He even led a congregation of inmates behind bars.

“He is another affirmation that human redemption is not only possible but miraculous,” said the Rev. Harold A. Carter Sr., the pastor of New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore who ordained Olds in 1984. “In God’s world it can happen whenever faith is alive.”

Olds still finds it ironic that his faith came alive while he was serving a 61-year sentence for a string of bank robberies and a prison escape. He thanks God for the caring Christian policeman who interrupted his aggressive path toward self-destruction.

“To this day I believe God used that man to save my life,” Olds recounts in his biography Not Without Scars.

His decision for Christ at the age of 30 marked the end of more than a decade of drug dealing, gambling, bank robbing and even committing murder.

“I thank God He called me when I was still foolish, or else I may have thought I did this myself,” Olds told Charisma. “[God] knew what He was getting when He got me, and He knows who you are, but He still chose you and loves you.”

Today Olds is co-pastor of Eagle Rock Covenant Assembly in Cleveland, but he continues to reach out to inmates through his Seven Phases of Change seminars, which help inmates develop the discipline to avoid returning to lives of crime after they are released.

The curriculum is drawn from Olds’ own experience. While in prison, he had earned the respect of inmates, wardens and chaplains alike. He studied the Bible along with black history books and the works of Martin Luther King Jr.

He came to believe that the way to get people to behave properly was to get them born again. He said that although many Christians stress this view regarding sexual immorality and drug abuse, he also applied it to social issues such as racism, criminal justice and economic inequality.

He honed his unique brand of liberation theology–which taught that through Christ a person could find not only spiritual liberty, but also social and economic freedom–by writing articles while in prison, most of which were published on the outside. He also published a short booklet, Words of Liberation From Prison.

When he was later baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues, he said the experience “opened up a whole new realm to my faith.” Emboldened to preach, he anticipated a great life of ministry outside of prison. But upon his release in 1989, he found that creating a new life on the outside would take time.

He was 40 years old, and the only job he could find was as a mechanics assistant. Slowly, opportunities to get better-paying jobs and ministry positions began to open, thanks to help from Christians he met upon his release.

In 1991, Olds became associate pastor of The Full Gospel Evangelistic Center in Cleveland. He later became an associate pastor at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church before starting The Righteous Men Ministries (TRMM) in 2002.

He hopes to see TRMM spread across the country. “There has to be practical mentorship, but it is too much for one church to handle,” Olds told Charisma. “Churches in a community must come together and be willing to work to help these people come back in to society … because without Christ there is no point.”

Olds’ resolve stems from the miracles he has experienced. He has not only reconciled with his adult daughter, who was in grade school when he went to prison, but he has also married and has three more daughters and a granddaughter.

In a documentary about Olds’ life, released last year, one inmate said, “What allows [inmates] to feel like a human again is no matter what we’ve done, Christ still loves us.”

That’s a message Olds hopes will spread. “Everyone is incarcerated,” Olds said, “some physically, some have other strongholds. My story shows people you can start again. … God can use you.”
Tiffany Colter in Cleveland

Original Bibleman Willie Aames is hanging up his cape and will head a Kansas-based entertainment company

Robert “T” Schlipp figures he’s found his dream job. He’s a superhero.

Last summer, Schlipp resigned as children’s pastor of one of the largest churches in Northern California to become the new Bibleman, the Christian super-action hero who triumphs over evil by quoting Bible verses. His accomplice in good deeds, Biblegirl, is his wife, Anayansi.

“Being able to be a superhero, a superhero who delivers something of real value, is every kid’s dream come true,” Schlipp said. “We’re truly blessed.”

Schlipp replaces Willie Aames, the original Bibleman who toured the country the last eight years, putting biff, bam and pow into Bible-verse memorization. Initially Aames, who starred in the TV series Eight Is Enough from 1977-1981, was to remain as a consultant for Bibleman Live and continue to do Bibleman videos. But Aames said he was told in January that his position as senior executive vice president at Pamplin Entertainment, which produces the Bibleman videos, “was no longer needed.”

Pamplin CFO Andrea Merek would not discuss the circumstances surrounding the departure, but said they “parted ways on good terms.”

Aames’ final appearance as Bibleman was to be in the March release of Divided We Fall. Though he will hang up his Bibleman cape, Aames said he will serve as co-owner and president of the Kansas City, Outpost Broadcast Communications. He said he hopes to create characters “like Bibleman”–who has helped bring thousands to Christ.

In one year, 16,000 children and adults committed their lives to Christ in Bibleman outreaches. In September at a Franklin Graham crusade in Tulsa, Okla., where Aames made one of his last appearances as Bibleman, nearly 600 people–mostly children–accepted Christ.

The Schlipps, who married in March 2000, will begin an 8-1/2-month tour this month, doing between 80 and 100 performances, traveling across the country and living in a mobile home. “That’s pretty ambitious,” said 28-year-old Robert. “But we’re young, and we’re naive.”

Initially, Schlipp worried there would be a resistance to anyone other than Aames being the Bibleman. But he’s been reassured by an open-arm reception. “We don’t have to convince people about Bibleman,” Schlipp said. “There’s already a good reputation. We haven’t had to do a lot of publicity.”

Schlipp first met Aames six years ago at a Bibleman performance at Schlipp’s church, Sunset Christian Center in Rocklin, Calif. Schlipp served as children’s pastor there for seven years until he resigned in February 2003. Aames first asked him to join the Bibleman tour as a villain. In June he became the lead.

“Pastor T believes in the [Bibleman] ministry as much as I have,” Aames said. “The impact that Bibleman has had on our nation’s youth has been nothing short of miraculous. It would be a win for the enemy if we were to let this ground-breaking ministry fade.”

Plots of Bibleman adventures will center on the same themes. Bibleman, Biblegirl and Bibleman’s computer, Unis, will overcome villains such as the Wacky Protester, or an evil computer named Lucy that sneaks into the Bibleman’s headquarters. Bibleman counters by quoting Scripture and swinging his light saber, which Schlipp calls the sword of the Spirit.

Biblegirl has been in four videos, but she’s never been on the tour. “It’s an opportunity to have something positive for girls to look to, and to encourage them to learn Scriptures,” Anayansi Schlipp said. “Kids often tend to be the afterthought in the church world. After seeing the live Bibleman show for the first time, I was really impressed with the quality of it.”

In addition to Aames’ work on a new millennium Christian superhero, he plans to produce a series for 8- to 12-year-old girls, as well as some productions for adults, including a show titled Novella for the Spanish TV network TeleMundo, a fall pilot on the Food Network titled Local Entrée, and a documentary based on the book of Acts.
Gail Wood and Rhonda Sholar