The following reports were released during the last month by Charisma News Service. Go to our Web site at www.charismanews.com 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.

SAUDI ARABIA AMONG TOP RELIGIOUS-LIBERTY OFFENDERS
Saudi Arabia once again topped the U.S. State Department’s list of nations that failed to respect religious liberty. Bluntly stating that “freedom of religion does not exist” in Saudi Arabia, the State Department’s 2003 Report on Religious Freedom listed numerous instances of religious persecution, noting improvement in only two countries–Laos and Kazakhstan–though hostility toward minority religions still exists in both. Also criticized were Egypt, for prosecuting people who hold unorthodox religious beliefs, and Iran, for officially sanctioning discrimination against minorities, Reuters reported. The State Department also listed China, which the report said selectively cracked down on unregistered churches, and North Korea, where the State Department cited reports of executions, torture and imprisonment.

ONLY HALF OF PROTESTANT PASTORS HOLD BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
A recent study by the Barna Research Group revealed that only 51 percent of ministers, representing a random cross-section of Protestant churches, have a biblical view on six core beliefs: the accuracy of biblical teaching, the sinless nature of Jesus, the literal existence of Satan, the omnipotence and omniscience of God, salvation by grace alone and the personal responsibility to evangelize. Released in January, the survey of 601 senior pastors in seven denominational segments discovered that Southern Baptists had the highest percentage of pastors with a biblical worldview (71 percent), while Methodists were lowest (27 percent). Among the other segments examined, 57 percent of the pastors of Baptist churches (other than Southern Baptist) had a biblical worldview, as did 51 percent of nondenominational Protestant pastors, 44 percent of pastors of charismatic or Pentecostal churches, 35 percent of pastors of black churches, and 28 percent of those leading mainline congregations.

CALIFORNIA CASINO ‘REBORN’ AS A CHURCH
A former Fowler, Calif., casino reopened in January to a different crowd–worshipers. Jan. 11 marked the “grand opening rebirth” of the former Vineyard Casino that has been converted to Vineyard Worship Centre, a 700-member Assemblies of God (AG) congregation. The 49,000-square-foot casino, which reportedly cost $15.5 million to build, closed in 1997, less than a year after it opened, The Selma Enterprise reported. It was vacant for seven years before the AG provided the $2 million to buy the property.

MINNESOTA MAN WANTS $126,000 CHURCH DONATION BACK
A 55-year-old man is suing a Cloquet, Minn., church because it won’t give back a $126,000 donation he gave during a deep depression five years ago, the Associated Press reported. Marcel Mager said he made the anonymous donation during a time of emotional distress and thought giving the church money would ease his pain. His wife had left him two weeks before the January 1999 donation. It was nearly their entire life savings. Five months later, Mager asked for the money back, but leaders at the Cloquet Gospel Tabernacle church said no. They had already used the money for a new family ministry space. Mager sued the church in 2002, and the issue has yet to be resolved. The pastor, the Rev. Richard Doebler, said church leaders regret the situation but don’t plan on returning the donation.

Gospel Artists Honored at Annual Stellar Awards

A who’s who of gospel artists were recognized at the 19th Stellar Awards held Jan. 10 in Houston. Among the honorees were Byron Cage, whose awards included Male Vocalist of the Year and CD of the Year; and Kurt Carr, who earned Song of the Year and Producer of the Year awards for “The Presence of the Lord Is Here,” recorded on Cage’s self-titled CD. Among the other recipients were Vickie Winans, for Artist of the Year; and Lee Williams & the Spiritual QC’s, for Group/Duo of the Year.

Pauline Parham Dies

Pauline Elizabeth Holman Parham, daughter-in-law of Charles Parham, who is considered the father of the modern Pentecostal movement, died Dec. 22 at her home in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., The Dallas Morning News reported. She was 93. Widowed after 16 years of marriage to Robert Parham, Pauline Parham went on to pastor four churches and run two Bible colleges. She was also dean of women at Christ for the Nations until 1984. She is survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Former Baptist Head Returns to Pulpit

Jailed Baptist minister Henry Lyons returned to the pulpit upon his release from a Florida prison Nov. 29. Lyons, former head of the National Baptist Convention, told the congregation at First Baptist Institutional Church in Lakeland, Fla., that he had “truly, truly repented” of his sins, The St. Petersburg Times reported. Convicted of racketeering in 1999 and sentenced to 5-1/2 years in prison, 61-year-old Lyons said he hopes to return to his former church in St. Petersburg.

If you have a news tip for Charisma News Service, e-mail us at [email protected].

The ministry veteran was regarded by many as a spiritual mother in the charismatic movement
Respected Bible teacher and author Fuchsia Pickett died in her Tennessee home Jan. 30. She was 85.

A well-educated theologian who was in ministry for more than 50 years, Pickett influenced many Christian leaders, including Benny Hinn and Judson Cornwall, and was considered a spiritual mother by many in the charismatic movement.

Pickett’s friends say she was recovering from pneumonia but that she died of natural causes. Joan Gebhardt, who was staying with Pickett at her home in Kingsport, told Charisma that Pickett died in her sleep.

“She went to be with Jesus very peacefully,” said Gebhardt, who had been Pickett’s close friend for the last 15 years. “She wasn’t suffering.”

Although she once traveled extensively, preaching and teaching, Pickett’s deteriorating health had prevented her from maintaining a rigorous speaking schedule in recent years. She also suffered from scoliosis, which caused her to sit when ministering before large crowds.

Judy Wirt, administrator of Fuchsia Pickett Ministries for the last three years, told Charisma that Pickett was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia in October. Her monthlong hospital stay was preceded by what turned out to be her last speaking engagement.

“She spoke at a church in LaVergne, Tenn. It’s very appropriate that the church is called The Father’s House,” said Wirt, noting that Pickett ministered just eight times in 2003. “At that time, she told the church that she wouldn’t be coming back.”

Sue Curran, pastor of Shekinah Church, the Blountville, Tenn., congregation Pickett and her husband, Leroy, had attended since 1988, visited Pickett the week she died. “During my last conversation with her she was desirous to live as long as the Lord wanted her to,” Curran said. “Our church prayed to that end. I told her the body of Christ needs her message. And she said she appreciated that because she wanted to be needed.”

Respected Bible teacher and author Judson Cornwall, who had been a close friend of Pickett’s for about 35 years, told Charisma that she will be “greatly missed by Christians all over the world.”

“Her insight into the scriptures was phenomenal,” said Cornwall, 79, whose itinerant ministry ended in 2001 after he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer on his spine. “She saw what many missed, and her teaching ministry was a blessing to all who would listen. The life that was in her seemed to be available to all who would listen with spiritual ears.

“Her gifting was manifold,” added Cornwall, whose latest book, Dying With Grace, will release in May from Charisma House. “As a teacher, she was par excellence. I personally will miss most the spiritual impartation that came out of her.”

Reared in a Methodist family, Pickett was led to Christ by a Presbyterian friend, educated at John Wesley College and later ordained by the Methodist Church. She spent 17 years in ministry before she was dramatically healed of a fatal bone disease and filled with the Holy Spirit in 1959 in a Pentecostal Holiness church.

Four years later, she saw a vision of a huge hydroelectric power plant, which she told Charisma in 1997 was God’s way of showing her how He planned to network churches together and pour out His Spirit in revival. “I’ve lived to see it come in,” Pickett said. “I feel the heavens are breaking. The revival has come, but the flood hasn’t. I think the Lord has brought us to a place where we are now willing to let the Lord do it.

“[The revival] will bring repentance and restitution,” Pickett added. “The church will reflect the glory of God.”

Pickett held an earned doctorate in theology and a doctorate in divinity. Saying she believed God had called her to both teach and preach, Pickett spent more than 40 years as a Bible teacher and 27 years as a pastor. In 1971 she founded Fountain Gate Ministries, which included a church and Bible college. She relinquished leadership of Fountain Gate in 1988 to enter full-time traveling ministry.

“I don’t want to stand before the Lord and know I did not do enough for Him,” Pickett once said. “I want to know I did all I could do to please Him.”

Recently, Charisma House released a new series of Pickett’s classic teachings, including The Five Laws of the Dying Seed, God’s Purpose for You and Possess Your Promised Land, as well as several titles on the person of the Holy Spirit.

A memorial service was held Feb. 3 at Shekinah Church. Pickett is survived by her husband, Leroy; her son, Daryl; three grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.
Eric Tiansay

BOOKS

After God’s Own Heart
By Mike Bickle, Charisma House,

hardcover, 256 pages, $19.99.

Mike Bickle, a leader in the 24-7 prayer and worship movement, believes that God has set worldwide prayer in motion to prepare the church for a great harvest of souls. Bickle’s perspective comes out of a sense of the prophetic, of what he believes God is doing in this time.

In After God’s Own Heart, Bickle examines the life of the Old Testament figure David and finds that he wanted to see a full release of God’s power in his generation. Bickle has that same desire and uses David as a model of what God wants for His people today, starting with true intimacy. He proposes that David was named a “man after God’s own heart” for one reason–his unrelenting passion to search out and understand the emotions of God.

Peppered with humor–“God is not a boring fuddy-duddy who wears slippers and putters around heaven feeling constantly perturbed”–After God’s Own Heart is written by an author who practices what he preaches in his own life and ministry. However, recognizing that many believers do not yet fully appreciate what it means to find pleasure in being “married to God,” he gently leads readers into a scriptural understanding of God’s loving character.
Christine D. Johnson

Out of the Crescent Shadows:
Leading Muslim Women Into the Light of Christ
By Ergun and Emir Caner,
New Hope, softcover, 160 pages, $9.99.

Authors of the best-selling Unveiling Islam, brothers Ergun and Emir Caner bring a knowledge of and compassion for Muslim women that is born of their own experience. Themselves converts from Islam to Christianity, the Caners subsequently led their mother and grandmother to Christ. Now the authors challenge the Christian church–in particular, American Christian women–to lead Muslim women out of a veiled existence into the light of Christ.

Although directed to a general audience, this release will find its primary readers among Christian missionaries, especially those in areas heavily populated with Muslims. Missionaries will value the wisdom of understanding the Islamic religion and the texts it holds sacred before attempting to proselytize. Only then can the missionary reassure the would-be Islamic convert with appropriate biblical authority of the divinity and lordship of Jesus, who is generally considered important to the Muslim only as a prophet to announce Muhammad as the final prophet of Allah.

The Caners provide the necessary knowledge of Islam. In 10 chapters, they reveal what’s inside the heart as well as the mind of a Muslim woman. She will love the Lord with all her heart, soul, mind and strength, for her conversion will cost her the love and fellowship of her own family and friends. She will know only too well what it means to trust fully in the Lord.

Yet, while providing such knowledge of Islam, the Caners emphasize the best way to win souls–unconditional love, which “breaks down barriers and builds bridges more effectively than a thousand training sessions in evangelism methodologies and programs. Love–unconditional love that mirrors the love the Father has for you–is the means by which grace is communicated.” In the end, they imply, it is our hearts, not our minds, that deliver the truth.
Pamela Robinson

Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions
By George Barna, Regal, hardcover,
140 pages, $15.99.

After writing several books on teens and devoting two decades to adult ministry, George Barna has concluded that in order to win the battle for the hearts and minds of America’s children, the church must make children’s spiritual health its top priority. Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions is the result of two years of nationwide research to determine the beliefs of today’s youth, their religious involvement and how they are being ministered to by churches.

In interviews with 907 teenagers, Barna found that by the time teens reach the age of 13, their spiritual beliefs are set and usually carry through to adulthood. This makes it imperative that children are reached while still in their formative years, asserts Barna, who makes a credible case for his theory using statistics and Scriptures.

Barna challenges churches and parents to partner in ministering to children through effective programs that make use of team leadership and teach spiritual truths in an age-appropriate manner. Many pastors, youth workers and parents will find this book a helpful tool in refocusing their energies and setting priorities for children’s ministry.
Jane Casselberry

Making It Right When You Feel Wronged
By Jeff Wickwire, Chosen Books,
softcover, 192 pages, $12.99.

While his church was being renovated, Jeff Wickwire was betrayed by a trusted builder and as a result, lost $10,000 of church funds. Wickwire had a choice to obey God and let Him handle the consequences or to become bitter with unresolved hurt and anger.

Thankfully, but not without difficulty, he chose the former; but in his 25-plus years as a pastor, he has seen the devastating consequences when believers choose to take matters into their own hands.

In Making It Right When You Feel Wronged, Wickwire uses the experiences of biblical characters such as Absalom and Peter to illustrate the consequences of good or bad choices when offense comes. He looks at what Jesus taught about
handling offenses and guides readers toward the freedom that comes only in forgiveness.

Although the principles espoused in Making It Right are useful to every Christian who has been wronged, pastors and church leaders will especially appreciate Wickwire’s practical insights in dealing with dissension in the church.
Christine D. Johnson

FICTION

Second Touch
By Bodie and Brock Thoene,
Tyndale House, hardcover, 360 pages, $22.99.

Award-winning authors Bodie and Brock Thoene are releasing their second book, Second Touch, from their latest series The A.D. Chronicles. Famous for their historical fiction, they have built poignant stories around the people whom Jesus touched in the gospels. Political intrigue, suspense, romance and gentle humor fill the pages.

Picking up the threads from the preceding novel, First Light, the authors show Peniel, the boy born blind who was healed by Yeshua, facing new challenges in his attempt to follow his healer as the enemies of Yeshua hunt him. Two new characters introduced are Lily, a young woman stricken with leprosy who is searching for the Messiah, and Simon, a proud Pharisee whose life is almost destroyed by his self-righteousness.

Besides weaving a wonderful tapestry of love, healing, repentance and redemption, the authors fill these stories with deep spiritual insights. As always, this husband-and-wife writing team have done their homework investigating rich meanings in the Scriptures as well as researching the culture of the first century.

Old and new Thoene fans will not be disappointed. This book will make readers see the Savior in a new light and cause them to fall in love all over again.

Deborah L. Delk

Dark Blue
By Melody Carlson, NavPress,
softcover, 208 pages, $12.99.

Melody Carlson has written another winner with Dark Blue, a story that will reach the deepest part of a teen’s heart while accurately portraying a teen’s world. Dark Blue is the tale of Kara Hendricks and her journey from being the codependent, lifelong best friend of Jordan Ferguson to being the independent sophomore whose best friend is Jesus.

When Jordan announces she will be trying out for the cheerleading squad, Kara decides to help her. Kara is sure all the “cool kids” who are members of the squad will reject Jordan, but Jordan is chosen for the team. In no time, Kara is feeling rejected and lonely and begins to associate with a new group of kids at school.

As her friendship with art-groupie Edgar Peebles grows deeper, Kara discovers the secret behind his kindness; Edgar’s best friend is Jesus. Soon, Kara asks Jesus into her lonely heart and awakens the next morning no longer lonely.

The end of Dark Blue holds a nice surprise as readers discover new strength in Kara. Jordan decides to become friends with her again, but only if she “loses the losers,” and Kara finds the confidence to say goodbye to her old best friend and keep the new one.
Eva Marie Everson

The Chase
Susan Wales and Robin Shope, Revell,
hardcover, 368 pages, $12.99.

Jill Lewis, star investigative reporter for a major Washington, D.C., newspaper, is at the top of her game. She is ready to bathe in the career-making limelight of uncovering a blockbuster scandal about a presidential candidate’s involvement in a babies-for-sale adoption ring. Instead she finds herself fired and her life endangered.

As Jill continues the investigation on her own from the supposed security of her hometown, she discovers her own family played a role in the scandal, and people she’d known all her life are now suspect. Enter the one person who can help, and though Jill is attracted to him, she finds that he, too, has a hidden agenda.

Through intricate and unexpected plot twists, authors Susan Wales and Robin Shope allow the reader to watch Jill evolve emotionally and spiritually. It’s not until Jill ultimately surrenders herself to God’s plan that she becomes strong enough to face the truth about what she’s uncovered about herself and the Washington scandal.
Sandra Carroll

MUSIC

Enter the Worship Circle: Third Circle
By various artists, Blue Renaissance Music.

Touted as one of the best-selling independent CDs and introducing songs such as “You Are So Good to Me” and “I Will Not Forget You,” the first Enter the Worship Circle debuted in 1999 and was later followed by Second Circle, both of which garnered much critical acclaim. Third Circle continues the organic worship experience with a new collection of original songs.

Recording without studio rehearsals, artists Ben and Robin Pasley, Barry and Michelle Patterson, and Kate Hurley create a stripped-down, spontaneous worship event evident especially on the upbeat “Together.” Highlights include the stirring energy of “To You,” the simple praise of “God Is Good,” engaging percussion on “For My Ashes” and the tender testimony of “I Don’t Know.”

With a proven track record for moving and original worship music, the artists on this newest entry should garner attention from listeners seeking to incorporate new tunes into corporate worship.
DeWayne Hamby

His Passion
By various artists, Integrity.

His Passion is an Integrity compilation and companion product to the media group’s devotional by the same name about Christ’s last days on Earth. Paired with the book, it is probably a powerful fit.

Alone, the collection of inspirational praise and worship by the singers Integrity uses most (worship leaders such as Lenny LeBlanc and Eoghan Heaslip, plus the Integrity Worship Singers) is middle-of-the-road musical fare centered around the impending crucifixion.

Slater Armstrong opens with the quiet “O the Passion.” Other classic hymns such as “When I Survey (The Wondrous Cross)” and “Hallelujah What a Savior” are given a soothing updating here and are mixed in with the modern “Here I Am to Worship” and “Above All.” Standouts include Paul Baloche’s tender “Offering” and the choir’s crescendo on the appropriate “Worthy Is the Lamb.”
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Carol Umberger is the award-winning author of The Scottish Crown Series from Integrity Publishers. Her novel Circle of Honor won the 2000 Golden Heart Award from Romance Writers of America for Best Short Historical novel, the HOLT Medallion for Best First Book and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award for Best Long Historical.

Umberger didn’t start out writing Christian fiction. Once a member of the U.S. Air Force, she started her publishing career writing general-market romance. But she says: “It became increasingly clear to me that to incorporate faith like I wanted to, I would have to look elsewhere to sell my books. My faith is inseparable from my writing. I just didn’t realize it early on. It was a growth process.”

Her stories are making a difference in people’s lives. “I sit in awe of what God is doing with my little stories. I had a young woman who told me I inspired her to return to her faith, and as a writer, she would now set her aim higher. Others tell me that they enjoy the stories and enjoy learning the history,” she says.

About her writing Umberger says: “Faith isn’t about what church we worship in or what rules we go by. It’s about relationship–our relationship to God and to one another, and I am so blessed to explore those relationships with my characters. I want to write powerful fiction that reaches people. Hopefully, my stories will encourage and strengthen the faith of readers.”
Cindy Crosby

CHARISMATIC TOP SELLERS

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

2. Matters of the Heart
Juanita Bynum (Charisma House)

3. Pigs in the Parlor
Frank and Ida Mae Hammond

(Impact Christian Books)

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

5. The Three Battlegrounds
Francis Frangipane (Arrow Publications)

6. A Divine Revelation of Heaven
Mary K. Baxter with T.L. Lowery (Whitaker House)

7. (tie) The Final Quest
Rick Joyner (Whitaker House)

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

9. Within the Gates
Rebecca R. Springer
(Christ for the Nations)

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

It’s hard to believe that the vision for all this was birthed nearly 28 years ago.

If you’ve been a reader of Charisma very long, you know my monthly column takes many forms. The last few months I’ve shared what God has been teaching me about prayer. At other times I’ve railed against racism or sin in the church–trying to motivate our nearly 250,000 subscribers to love and good works.

Yet sometimes I like to update you on what’s happening at Strang Communications as we move forward with God.

One exciting thing we did recently was host an invitation-only meeting of about 60 charismatic leaders. Our purpose was to discuss what we consider a serious problem concerning ethical accountability among leaders in the body of Christ. We invited Jack Hayford, who gives spiritual oversight to our organization, to lead this symposium.

In just 24 hours the group drafted a 1,000-word statement of commonly held values regarding biblical discipline. This statement is being published in the March/April issue of Ministries Today magazine. We also issued a statement about the importance of the fivefold ministry in the church that will appear in Ministries Today as well.

K>10>C. CharismaLife, the division of our company that provides curriculum and other resources for charismatic churches, is currently partnering with Focus on the Family and Tyndale House Publishers to bring to America’s churches a new program called “Kids’ 10 Commandments,” or K>10>C for short. This is a curriculum any church–charismatic or not–can use to teach the Ten Commandments to children. For more information about the program, visit our Web site at www.charismalife.com.

Charisma House. The book-publishing arm of Charisma magazine, Charisma House, is enjoying unprecedented success. Our recent book The Faith of George W. Bush hit No. 26 on the New York Times best-sellers list within six weeks of its release. Casa Creación, our Spanish publishing house, just released the book in Spanish.

The Seven Secrets, our new release by John Hagee, promises to bring a favorable response as well. You’ll read about the book and about Hagee in our next issue.

CharismaKIDS. Charisma has spawned not only CharismaLife and Charisma House but also CharismaKIDS, a new line of books that launches this spring. The books are designed to teach powerful spiritual concepts to children and will boast such best-selling authors as Juanita Bynum, Don Colbert and Jack Hayford.

Magazines. At a time when many magazines are declining, we are enjoying circulation growth in most of our publications. We have a new focus for each of our magazines, from Christian Retailing –which relaunches Inspirational Giftware this month–to New Man, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this summer.

Charisma Women’s Conference. Our annual Charisma Women’s Conference–the conference that gave birth to SpiritLed Woman magazine–will be held at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, April 22-24. We’re expecting up to 10,000 women to attend this 10th anniversary celebration.

The focus is on ministry to each woman who attends. Many testify to having their lives changed. This year a live worship CD is being produced because so many want to take the conference worship home.

International. Our Spanish publishing area is growing as well. We have new titles by Joyce Meyer, John Maxwell, Beth Moore, Max Lucado and many others. In fact, this area now represents more than 10 percent of our entire organization.

There’s so much more I could write about–our Internet sites (log on to www.strang.com), our health books, an exciting new author we’re introducing in April named Jordan Rubin, and many things that are too premature to share.

It’s hard to believe that the vision for all this was birthed nearly 28 years ago with a small church magazine called Charisma. And the vision continues to expand. I hope you are as excited as I am!

I also hope you will pray for us. As we speak out for righteousness and take an increasingly higher profile in the media and in the church, we need God’s direction, protection and blessing.

Christian aid ministries working inside the country take precautions against threat of attack
The capture of Saddam Hussein in early December may have been cause for rejoicing for many Iraqis, but the jubilant mood was short-lived for foreign relief workers, including Christians who are helping to rebuild the country.

“Since the capture of Saddam, we have received one report that terrorist activities are being planned for northern Iraq,” said World Relief Disaster Relief Desk Officer Brandon Pustejovsky, who witnessed the celebration in that area on the day of the capture. “I wish the news was better, but I think we are dealing with issues of pride, religion and family, which extend beyond the influence of a mere man.”

Pustejovsky was the only non-Iraqi working for the agency in Iraq until just before Christmas, when he returned to the United States. World Relief’s 11 Iraqi employees are continuing to work under the auspices of Mission East. That group is one of several Christian relief organizations that carried on with their efforts long after hundreds of secular nongovernmental organizations left the country following the August bombing of United Nations offices in Baghdad and attacks on “softer” targets, including aid workers.

Those who remain face daily uncertainty about their safety. “The danger and the problem there is that it’s so unstable,” said Judy Moore, who is based in Albania but serves as World Vision’s interim operations director for Iraq. “One day will be fine, and the next day people will be killed. Every time you go out, you don’t know whether you will be attacked or you will be safe.”

As an added precaution, members of the World Vision team placed the agency’s identifiable vehicles in storage, avoided wearing apparel bearing the World Vision logo and stopped keeping a routine schedule. In addition, the organization has declined requests from network TV news agencies to accompany the staff and cover the work they do.

“It’s tough to turn down, but we always put the safety of our staff first,” said Dean Owen, World Vision’s public relations director.

Like World Vision, other Christian agencies that have chosen to stay try to keep their workers as safe as possible by maintaining a low profile. When Samaritan’s Purse realized in October that it could no longer guarantee the safety of its workers–or successfully continue its operations in Iraq–the organization called a 90-day hiatus and pulled its workers out of the country.

“The mainstream media accused us of offering aid just so we could distribute Bibles and only going over there to help Christians. It was crazy,” said Samaritan’s Purse International Projects Director Ken Isaacs. “No one came to see what we were doing. They compromised us and put us in a high-profile position.”

Still, the work continues. Under the agency’s direction Iraqi Christians feed 1,000 families a month and provide other means of financial and material support. And an existing Baghdad hospital and a partly built clinic completed by Samaritan’s Purse continue to make good use of the 16 tons of medical equipment donated through the organization last year.

Though some churches have been threatened, Isaacs does not believe faith is the primary motive for the persistent danger in the country. “Iraq is a fairly secular Islamic country. If they attack a church it’s because they want a juicier target,” he said. “This is about power and force and evil, and the terror is being exercised to scare the Iraqis. It’s all about chaos and destabilizing everything.”

But neither the United States nor most Christian agencies have given up their efforts to stabilize the country, despite negative reports that reach Americans, Isaacs said. The U.S. government kept the food pipeline flowing, he said, while reports of problems such as power outages were exaggerated and failed to tell the full story.

Electricity was quickly restored after the war, but the sudden availability of consumer goods such as appliances created an overload on the country’s antiquated electrical grid.

“The problems have less to do with the war and more to do with bringing the country up to the 21st century,” he said.

To many Iraqis, whatever chaos exists today is minuscule compared with the overt persecution the people–including Christians–faced under Hussein’s regime. “Before the war, churches in Iraq were persecuted just as Islam was,” World Relief President Clive Calver told Charisma. “Christians were shot, churches and bookstores were bombed, people were thrown in jail. When I went to Iraq immediately after the conflict, church after church asked me to please thank the Americans and their brothers and sisters [in Christ] for giving them their freedom.”

World Relief suffered a personal loss in September when a church leader in Iraq who worked with the agency was killed in a land-mine accident. At least one worker has been shot at, though it’s not clear whether the shooting was random or related to the relief work.

World Vision has not lost any workers in Iraq, but the agency–with 20,000 workers worldwide–loses about one worker per year. “We work in very dangerous places, and Iraq is now near if not at the top of the list,” Owen said. “We are monitoring the situation very carefully and will continue to do so until the situation improves and we don’t have to be so vigilant.”

Security is such a high priority for World Vision that the organization offers an intensive and comprehensive five-day course on security issues for its own staff and for that of other aid agencies, as well as for journalists who work in dangerous areas.

Despite the daily threat of danger, all three agencies say they have seen such an outpouring of love and faith among the Iraqi Christians that they can’t help but believe that God is at work in the country. The Iraqi people remain hopeful, Calver said, that a just government will be established–in spite of lingering concern that fundamentalist Muslims will end up in power.

Said Calver: “This is their message to the [United States]: ‘You won the war, now make sure you win the peace.'”
Marcia Ford

Businessman Rob Smith is returning to his homeland to purchase farms that will provide homes for 400,000 children
Haunted by pictures of children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic, Rob Smith has returned to South Africa, the country he grew up in but left nearly 30 years ago because of his disgust for apartheid.

After selling his home in Everett, Wash., and leaving a prosperous cabinet- making business, Smith is putting “flesh to a dream.” In the next decade he hopes to purchase 4,000 farms in South Africa, eventually providing homes for 400,000 children orphaned by an AIDS outbreak that has left an estimated 13 million children in Africa under the age of 15 with one parent and 3.6 million with no parents.

“He’s held this dream in his heart for several years,” said Karen Schaeffer, who helps coordinate outreaches and fund raising for the project. “[In 2002], the Lord really started to convict him about going back to South Africa.”

The seed for the project was planted when Smith saw a 3,000-acre farm for sale in Zambia for $42,000. He saw how affordable the project could be and how far the U.S. dollar could be spread.

Initially, Smith and his wife planned to adopt 100 children and care for them on a farm. He ruled out that idea because the scope wasn’t big enough.

“He wanted to help as many kids as he could,” said Marc Fulmer, a friend of Smith’s who is now involved in the project. “Adopting just wasn’t enough.”

Smith shared his dream with Fulmer after a Sunday morning church service. One week later, the 53-year-old Fulmer told Smith he wanted to be part of the project. In September, Fulmer and his wife moved to South Africa to take charge of building the villages.

Fulmer, a successful Seattle building contractor, will oversee the construction of 60,000 buildings over the life of this ambitious project. Each “village” will consist of prefab homes big enough for six to seven children. It won’t be dorm living. Homes will be built in clusters of five, and each cluster will share one common meeting place. It’s there that meals will be eaten and classes will be taught.

By opting for a small meeting place and not building one large school, Fulmer said initial costs will be capped, and progressive growth can be managed more easily. Communities on each farm will house about 120 orphans and 30 widows.

“Go-Goes,” a South African term for grandmothers, will be in each house. They will cook the meals and care for the children. “They will function as a family,” Fulmer said.

The project has quickly gone from idea to action. In November 2002, Smith’s idea became the Agathos Foundation, a Christian-based program. Agathos is Greek for “good.” In September, the foundation was nearing a deal on its first purchase, a 1,000-acre farm in Winterton, South Africa. Also in September 35 people from Smith and Fulmer’s church–Mars Hill Church–made a three-week outreach to South Africa.

The purpose of the farms is twofold: to provide a place to live and a source of revenue. The objective is self-sufficiency. Support is expected to be temporary because long-term costs will be covered by the sales of the farm products. Children will not be expected to work on the farm unless they’re interested in pursuing a career in agriculture.

Eventually, Fulmer said businesses will also be bought, and profits will be used to support the villages. He’s careful to avoid referring to the homes as orphanages.

“We’re trying to get away from the word orphanage because it tends to have certain connotations,” Fulmer said. “Orphanages always need to be sponsored, constantly needing funds. What is key to our model is we’re self-sustaining.”

Fulmer admits at times he is overwhelmed by the size of the project.

“Once I wrapped my mind around this, I saw that I’m totally not qualified for this job,” he said. “It’s too huge. It’s massive. I really need to rely on my faith that God is going to supply what we need and that He is going to lead me.”

Smith, the son of a pastor, is neither rich nor an experienced fund-raiser. But he has a plan for funding. If 250 individuals pay $25 a month for six years, he said the finances for a village would be met and no more support would be necessary.

“Once the village is up and running, it takes care of itself,” Fulmer said.
Gail Wood

For more information about the Agathos Foundation or to send a tax-deductible contribution, write to 11701 25th Ave. S.E., Everett, WA 98208; call 425-357-6799; or visit www.agathosfoundation.org.

Industry veterans say equipping believers to work behind the scenes can bring change from the inside out
Churchgoers are expected to flock to theaters to see Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ when it opens this month. But Christians inside the entertainment industry hope believers will become as enthusiastic about making another kind of showing–behind the scenes in Hollywood.

Through his 14-city Conquering Hollywood tour that began in September, producer and director S. Bryan Hickox, winner of several Emmy Awards, including one in 1987 for Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife starring Melissa Gilbert, is seeking to train Christians to be marketable in Hollywood.

His two-day event, which costs roughly $300, offers writing instruction from faculty at Act One, a Los Angeles-based ministry that teaches screenwriting to Christians, as well as workshops on acting and how to make a successful pitch. The tour has already made stops in Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix, and is scheduled to hit San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in the coming months. The last stop will be Honolulu June 11-12.

Hickox believes a few hundred Christians working behind the scenes as set designers, makeup artists, casting directors and the like can influence the content coming out of Hollywood. Hickox said research shows that Christians and non-Christians want more films with a moral base, pointing to the success of Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty and The Matrix Reloaded as proof.

A 40-year industry veteran who accepted Christ in 1974, Hickox said in the early days of his career “less than 6 percent of the media gatekeepers had any church or synagogue affiliation. That is changing. In Hollywood, there is an awakening.”

But he doesn’t foresee the entertainment industry being gutted of “objectionable content.” He sees room at the table for Christian perspectives, and he doesn’t want believers to miss an opportunity.

“We have a chance to impact the world,” Hickox told Charisma during a break at the inaugural event, held in Jacksonville, Fla. “Other countries are growing weary of American morality. As Christians stand on truth, we can reclaim the entertainment industry.”

Casting director and acting coach Michael Stark said the tour is about helping Hollywood “clean up [its] act.” An actor who spent 26 years working in films and daytime dramas, Stark hopes the tour will encourage young artists to help reform the industry. “We old guys can talk to the young guys, but it’s the young guys who will have to do it,” he said.

Richard Colla, a director, writer and producer whose career dates back to a stint as director for the TV series Gunsmoke, doesn’t consider himself a Christian but wants to help students learn how to sell their stories. His track record is good–he has sold every script he’s ever pitched. “I certainly am interested in the condition of man, and that certainly requires an examination of the character of man,” Colla said.

Participant Jeff Carr has loved film for years but realized only recently that he could be a Christian and pursue filmmaking as a career. “I was kind of thinking God had a cruel sense of humor to give me these ideas, only to have to pitch it to a den of thieves,” said Carr, 27. “I never knew this [network of Christians] existed.”

The network has been mostly underground, stealthily working behind the scenes trying to find creative ways to keep the characters on That ’70s Show from losing their virginity, for example, or convincing a studio executive to remove a scene in which church choir members are portrayed as hypocritical drug addicts.

“Most of the victories of the Christians in Hollywood are what you don’t see on the screen,” said Act One founder Barbara Nicolosi. “But we’ve got to get beyond playing defense. We’ve got to start making the movies we want to see.”

In 10 years she believes there will be “a profound change” in the entertainment industry as Act One students and other Christians develop a brand of morally based films that make viewers want to be better people.

Chatting during a break from an afternoon workshop session, 25-year-old Naji Hendrix said the conference has been a source of encouragement. The Iran native accepted Christ five years ago and believes God wants her to make a film about her testimony.

The tour has brought her dream “a little closer to reality,” she said, “like it’s not impossible to fulfill my vision.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Leaders Dutch Sheets and Chuck Pierce hope their 50-state initiative will spark widespread revival
A movement of targeted intercession has been working its way across the United States as part of an attempt to turn the nation back toward God and prepare for a revival on par with the Methodist revival of the early 1800s and the Azusa Street Revival of the early 1900s.

Dubbed the 50-State Prayer Tour, the move has been led by pastor Dutch Sheets of Springs Harvest Fellowship in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Chuck Pierce, president of Glory of Zion International Ministries in Denton, Texas, and head
of the U.S. Strategic Prayer Network (USSPN). Both have written extensively about revival and intercessory prayer.

Sheets gained prominence in 2000 when he mobilized thousands to pray for the presidential election. Last June he issued an urgent call for Christians to fast and pray that godly people would replace the retiring Supreme Court justices.

Pierce and Sheets said they were each impressed to visit the 50 states to mobilize intercessors and “shift” each region into God’s purposes. Sheets said the nation was in a pivotal season and would either change for better or for worse.

“This year, more than any other in recent history, will determine the future of America and the world,” Sheets wrote in a spring 2003 ministry newsletter. “We will see either great breakthroughs or great setbacks. It is much as it was for Paul, ‘a wide door for effective service has opened for me, and there are many adversaries’ (1 Corinthians 16:9).”

The first meetings were held in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona. Pierce said he was led to start there because the region has the greatest concentration of First Nations people in the lower 48 states. Sheets said New Mexico was called to be a reservoir of revelation for itself and the nation. “We declared that a ‘Jesus of Nazareth, blood bought prophetic people’ would arise in New Mexico, having greater wisdom than the supernatural forces presently operating there,” Pierce reported after the event.

The two men went on to Oklahoma and Arizona, where they prayed for healing from broken land covenants, and that the states would fulfill their purpose.

Since those meetings, the tour has attracted hundreds of intercessors in each state. Equipped with historical information about each state, the pair, who some consider to be a modern-day apostle and prophet, said they seek to deliver specific messages that will help Christians in each region understand their state’s calling.

Pierce believes they have a unique ability to bring spiritual breakthrough. “Our giftings have a synergistic effect that helps the body break through into a new place of revelation and faith,” he told Charisma.

Delaware USSPN coordinators Dale and Miriam Mast agree, saying Pierce and Sheets helped intercessors there move into a new level of faith and authority. “They brought their mantle of authority into our state,” Miriam Mast said. “There were pockets of vision, but we did not have the ability to rally the people.”

Through the course of the tour, which had hit 31 states by December and was to end in April, leaders say they have seen dramatic answers to prayer. In January 2003, Pierce and 200 intercessors in Sacramento “decreed” that by mid-October the government of California would change. They believe it was no coincidence that on Oct. 7 voters recalled former Gov. Gray Davis and elected actor Arnold Scwharzenegger to replace him.

In February in Florida, Pierce said God showed him a network of terrorist activity in Tampa. He told attendees, “It will be found out in the week to come.” The next week a Florida professor believed to be the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was arrested with three others and charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder.

In June in New Jersey, which prayer leaders say is called to be a “watchman state,” Sheets prayed for the state to receive a mantle of prayer, enabling it to guard the United States against evil. Pierce later told participants: “There are vipers working in Jersey City and Newark. Find those vipers, so the vipers do not become snipers.”

Small groups of intercessors began praying in their homes from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. By August the “night watches” had spread across the state.

Prayer leaders believe the intercession aided in the July capture of three New Jersey teens planning to murder three people and other random victims. The teens were heavily armed with rifles, handguns, machetes and ammunition. In August two British men were caught trying to smuggle in Russian anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down commercial aircraft.

In other states, the fruit of the intercession was less tangible, leaders say. In Michigan, intercessors prayed for the state to regain its voice, which they said it had lost as a result of unholy alliances made with Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Their research found that Henry Ford funded Hitler in the 1940s, and in 1982, Coleman Young, then Detroit’s mayor, gave the key to the city to Hussein after the Iraqi leader donated nearly a half-million dollars to a Chaldean church, run by a group of Catholics from Iraq.

Intercessors across the nation say the tour helped bring greater unity among believers in their regions. “We know that Missouri is not an island,” said Regina Shank, USSPN Missouri prayer coordinator. “The plan for Missouri is connected to a bigger plan.”

Since the October meeting in her state, Shank said several people have contacted her, saying they want to join her in praying for the state. Like other intercessors across the country, they want to see more than church growth. “We’re looking for the kind of revival where bars shut down,” central Missouri USSPN coordinator Linda Ordway said, “a true move of God that we haven’t seen for a long time.”

Karen Tom

An American Bible teacher recently preached the gospel to Yasser Arafat–the second time R.T. Kendall witnessed to the Palestinian leader in 18 months. On Nov. 20, Kendall met with the 74-year-old head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization at Arafat’s compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

“Rais [the Arabic word for president], there is something I want you to think about,” Kendall, minister at famed Westminster Chapel in London for 25 years until his retirement in 2002, recalled telling Arafat. “It has been revealed to me that Jesus Christ is very important to you.” Kendall said Arafat replied: “Very, very important.”

Kendall, who began praying for Arafat daily in 1982 after hearing evangelist Arthur Blessitt talk about his visit with the Palestinian president, said he knew Arafat had dreams about Jesus. Arafat told Kendall he had a dream in 2002, when the Israelis took over his compound. “On the third day of the siege … a lamb led me to Bethlehem,” Kendall recounted Arafat saying. “There I saw the Virgin Mary holding Jesus. I kissed Jesus. When I woke up I was so moved that I ordered a lamb to be slaughtered and taken to the priests at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for them to have a feast.”

Kendall then said: “I want you to confess that Jesus actually died on the cross for your sins. Not that He was delivered from the cross, but that He actually died.” However, a translator objected to his “call for conversion.” “But Arafat lifted his hand to the translator to suggest that it was all right for me to continue,” Kendall said.

After he explained to Arafat the benefits of becoming a Christian, Kendall noted that the translator objected again. Later, Kendall asked Arafat: “Will you do me a favor? Will you consider this?” Arafat said that he would. Kendall, who first shared the gospel with Arafat in July 2002, told Charisma he prayed for Arafat and gave him a copy of his book Total Forgiveness.

“Whether I did any good on my two visits to this torn, frail but unusual leader, I don’t know,” said Kendall, whose meetings with Arafat were arranged by the Rev. Andrew White, archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy to the Middle East. “I only know I never tried so hard in all my life to lead a person to Jesus Christ.”
Eric Tiansay

Thousands journeyed to the Holy Land last fall despite State Department warnings against traveling to the Middle East
Despite U.S. State Department warnings against traveling to Israel, where the intifada between Israelis and Palestinians has escalated in the last several years, thousands of Christians journeyed there recently to show their support for the nation they say is crucial for the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

More than 4,000 Christians from 80 nations attended the annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) in October. Founded in 1980 to “bless” Israel and encourage Christian support for the nation, the ICEJ is represented in 100 countries and has 55 branches worldwide.

The Feast of Tabernacles, held at the Jerusalem Convention Center, is the ICEJ’s signature event and has become the largest tourist event in Israel. It includes a week of activities–from a parade of nations through the streets of Jerusalem to nightly music festivals to an outdoor worship concert in the desert near the biblical spring of Ein Gedi.

“Our [delegates] are driven by biblical considerations,” ICEJ Executive Director Malcolm Hedding said. “They believe that Israel’s modern-day restoration is evidence of God’s faithfulness to His promise to Abraham. … They therefore come to bless what God is blessing and to share their love … with Israelis.”

Blessing and encouraging Israel was Texas pastor John Hagee’s reason for taking a group of 100 Christians to Israel in early November to tour holy sites. Pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Hagee said his 21st visit to the nation was the most “joyous, pleasant trip we’ve ever had.”

“I went to Israel to send the message to the government leaders and to the people on the street that Israel is not alone, and 70 million evangelicals in America support them,” Hagee told Charisma.

Demonstrating support for Israel and “[strengthening] the Israeli people through commerce and tourism” is what motivated televangelist Benny Hinn to lead a group of 250 supporters to the Holy Land Nov. 1-7.

“[Hinn] wants his partners to understand the unique biblical importance of the Holy Land and to experience the spiritual perspective that can only be gained by visiting this place,” Benny Hinn Ministries spokesman Don Price said.

The Israel Ministry of Tourism has reported a sharp decline in tourism since the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians intensified nearly four years ago. As some tourist-related businesses have been forced into massive layoffs or closure, Christian tourism has brought a ray of hope, ICEJ leaders said.

Hagee and Hinn said local leaders received them warmly, and the ICEJ reported that every Israeli prime minister except one has appeared at the feast since its inception.

On opening night of the feast, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon thanked the packed house for their support. “Your friendship is important to us,” he said. “With your support, we can realize the hopes and dreams for peace, security and prosperity in the whole land.”

Despite the Israeli government’s welcome of Christian groups, Messianic Jews within the nation say they frequently experience hostility from officials, and members of the Messianic Jewish Alliance were not allowed to participate in the Jerusalem March, which coincides with the Jewish observance of the Feast of Tabernacles.

“When we went to the municipality of Jerusalem to apply for our permit, we were told we could not march,” said Avi Mizrachi, pastor of Adonai Roi and founder of Dugit, a Messianic outreach center in Tel Aviv. “We took it as religious discrimination. … Even a New Age cult was allowed to march and give out their brochures,” Mizrachi added.

Messianic Jews in Israel are seen as neither Jewish nor Christian, but as traitors, Messianic leaders say. “Ideally it would be wonderful to see our Christian brothers and sisters, when they see discrimination against their Messianic Jewish brothers, [to] stand up and register … their disapproval of such actions,” said Joel Chernoff, president of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance, adding that relations between Christians and Jews in Israel have improved significantly in the last two decades.
Cameron Fisher in Jerusalem
with Adrienne S. Gaines