Across the United States, dynamic outreaches to inmates and ex-offenders are helping reduce recidivism rates
Christian prison ministries across the country are reducing recidivism rates of countless ex-offenders. But more than simply changing statistics, these organizations are credited with transforming lives.

Robert Valdez, 29, spent most of his life selling drugs in the streets of New York. Today, for the first time ever, he earns honest wages working as a land surveyor–thanks to House of Hope of Alachua County, an after-care prison ministry in Gainesville, Fla., that houses converted inmates immediately upon release.

“I would have gone right back to the things I was doing before if it wasn’t for this place,” Valdez said. “The most important thing I have learned is that without my relationship with Jesus, I am lost.”

Since its humble beginnings in 1996, House of Hope has been home to more than 150 men, and the organization has seen dozens of lives drastically changed.

According to a recidivism report released by the Florida Department of Corrections in July 2003, approximately 40.5 percent of male inmates re-offend after three years of release from prison. This is in stark contrast to House of Hope’s recidivism rates–only 17 percent of their total number of graduates have ever re-offended.

Thomas Johnson, executive director of House of Hope, said his program offers the world what it is looking for: an answer. “The world has no answers for the state of self-destruction that it’s in,” Johnson told Charisma. “There’s no answer other than Christ.”

A recent study conducted by Byron R. Johnson, Ph.D., director of The Religion and Civil Society Program at The Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, N.J., found a significant relation between faith-based mentoring and decreased recidivism rates.

The study reports drastically reduced recidivism rates for Texas inmates who completed InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI)–a pre-release, faith-based program that was launched in April 1997 under the recommendation of then-Gov. George W. Bush.

According to the study, IFI program participants were “significantly less likely than the matched groups” to be either re-arrested (17.3 percent vs. 35 percent) or re-incarcerated (8 percent vs. 20.3 percent) in the first two years after release.

“Findings are consistent across a wide range of studies,” Byron Johnson said. “When religious commitment goes up, crime goes down.”

There are four key elements regarding IFI’s success, Johnson added. The program encourages inmates to experience a spiritual transformation, it relies heavily upon volunteers and mentors, it provides support systems for inmates upon release, and it emphasizes education, work, life skills and mentoring built upon a foundation of biblical principles.

IFI is operated by Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM), the largest prison ministry in the United States, through a contract with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The organization was founded by Charles Colson, a former aide to President Nixon who was imprisoned on Watergate-related charges.

According to Mark Earley, president of PFM, relationships are critical to its participants’ success. “We match them with someone early on so that there is a relationship developed before their release,” Earley said. “Our key to success is that we don’t finish involvement when they leave prison. We get them hooked up with a local church, a job, an accountability partner.”

Though recent statistics are promising, it is the lives of IFI’s graduates that reflect the true change, Earley said.

After serving 13 years of a 35-year prison sentence for the murder of his wife, IFI graduate Robert Sutton said he experienced true freedom before ever walking out of a jail cell. “I was taught that even though my body was confined, my mind and spirit could be freed through Jesus Christ,” Sutton said.

Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives said Sutton’s life reflects the effectiveness of faith-based organizations all over America.

“[Robert Sutton] left prison a different man,” Towey said. “When you look at how he has spent his life since being out of prison, it’s astounding to see the contrast from before.”

Today Sutton is on staff at The Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, where he has been a faithful member since his release in 1998.

It is the story of everyone who has had a spiritual conversion, Towey said. “They are desiring to do good, one day at a time. You can see that in Robert Sutton’s face.”
Suzy Richardson

The Back to Jerusalem movement seeks to take the gospel from China to Israel, to the world’s most unreached people
After a combined 40 years in prison for preaching the gospel, three Chinese house church leaders are reviving an 80-year-old vision to take the gospel from China to Jerusalem–a region that comprises 90 percent of the world’s unreached people.

Peter Xu Yongze, Enoch Wang and “Brother Yun,” whose dramatic testimony of torture and imprisonment is recounted in the book The Heavenly Man, are spearheading the effort known as the Back to Jerusalem movement. The campaign seeks to mobilize 100,000 Chinese missionaries who would die to evangelize the estimated 2 billion people in the area known as the 10/40 Window.

The vision was first articulated by China’s Jesus Church in the 1920s, and was implemented in 1949, the same year the Communist Party took over China. Most of those missionaries were imprisoned and died before being freed.

Yongze, Wang and Yun explain their strategy in Back to Jerusalem: Called to Complete the Great Commission, written with Paul Hattaway, who has authored several books about the church in China.

The initial 36 workers were sent out in 2000. Hattaway said that number has climbed to about 1,000 today. “The number of Chinese missionaries is growing every week, and many hundreds more are being trained inside China right now,” he said.

The 10/40 Window, which includes much of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, is home to the three largest spiritual strongholds in the world today–Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.

“The Chinese missionaries will face opposition in these regions,” said Luis Bush, who heads the World Inquiry, a ministry that assesses missions activity inside the 10/40 Window. “But they believe the persecution they have already endured was like a training ground for this difficult mission that left them equipped to take the gospel through these territories. That is a very deep conviction.”

Patrick Johnstone, editor of Operation World, a prayer compendium on the various nations of the world, said the missionaries could face an excessive amount of persecution “if their zeal is not tempered by wisdom and a deep understanding of the cultures that they seek to reach.”

Hattaway said Chinese missionaries are receiving language, cross-cultural and religious training, and plan to work closely with local believers in each nation they visit. He added that 100,000–a tithe of what house church leaders estimated to be 1 million full-time Christian workers in China–is the minimum number of missionaries organizers plan to send out.

Journalist David Aikman, who has written extensively about China’s Christians, said the Back to Jerusalem movement has gained strength in the last decade. “There is no part of China that I have visited in which house churches are active where ordinary Christians are not aware of the movement and in most cases, eager to support it,” he said.

Bush believes now is a good time to revive this vision, noting that China recently joined the World Trade Organization, which significantly opened communication with the outside world. He also points to the country’s anticipation of the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, which is spurring a more world-friendly attitude.

Johnstone said publishing a book on the Back to Jerusalem movement may be premature, but he noted that the Bible encourages evangelism nonetheless.

“This type of movement will take time and years of language learning, and there will be a steep learning curve with many mistakes,” Johnstone said. “There needs to be an effective network of support and pastoral oversight with adequate accountability, which is not yet there.”

Still, the Chinese house church leaders have pledged to do whatever it takes to fulfill the Back to Jerusalem vision. “The leaders are concentrated on getting the job done in the power of the Lord,” Hattaway said. “The details of how this happens they are leaving up to the Lord.”
Jennifer LeClaire

Leaders say their U.S. assignment is complete, and they want to help other nations plan their own events
Three years after California pastor Lou Engle issued an urgent call for youth to convene in Washington, D.C., to pray for their nation, the leader of what has become a national prayer movement said the mission has been accomplished.

“I believe in some small way, The Call helped heal the broken covenants of the past, thereby bringing our nation under a measure of covenantal protection,” said Engle, pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena. “My assignment was to help shift the courts of America through prayer back to righteousness. I believe we opened that door.”

In the future Call organizers say they will help other countries host their own Call events. Meetings are scheduled for Sydney, Australia, in 2004, and Berlin in 2005.

The last U.S. Call event–dubbed The Call Texas and held Nov. 27-29 in Dallas–brought 25,000 participants to the Cotton Bowl for three days. Attendees fed the poor on Thanksgiving Day, then spent seven hours at a worship banquet the following day. There evangelist Tommy Tenney issued a charge “to break strongholds, sow seeds and change destiny. Hitler proved there is power in a rally. We’re here to activate.”

The next morning The Call Texas began at 7 o’clock and was marked by fasting, repentance, worship and prayer spanning the next 12 hours. Its goals were to pray that God would right the injustices committed against the unborn and various ethnic groups, to reconcile the generations, and to transform the culture.

The seven previous Call events drew 640,000 people to pray for such concerns as national security at the Boston event–held 11 days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001–prayer in schools at the New York Call; and the media during the Los Angeles and San Francisco gatherings.

Participants in The Call Texas came from across the country. Allen Lao, an engineer from California, came to pray that the spirit of grief lingering over the nation since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963 would be broken. Kana Steinmayer, a housewife and evangelist who attended with her husband and teenage children, came to show her support for the emerging young leaders.

“The kids get inspired by all the moms and dads of the faith championing them in their call,” she told Charisma.

“Joining the generations is the most important thing God is doing right now,” noted Colorado pastor Dutch Sheets of Springs Harvest Fellowship in Colorado Springs, who was among the prayer leaders during the event. “It’s the key–even flashpoint–of revival.”

Lynne Chapman fasted 40 days in preparation for the event. Having had three abortions, Chapman now leads a San Francisco-area ministry for others who have had abortions. She told Charisma: “I came here to break the back of abortion. In order to do that you get to the root.”

Addressing the legacy of abortion, which was legalized as a result of a court case that began in Dallas, was one of the meeting’s primary goals. Engle believes abortion also has roots in the Sand Creek Indian Massacre, which took place on Nov. 29, 1864, in Colorado. On that day U.S. soldiers tore open pregnant women and impaled them on swords.

Sheets said that God takes covenant-breaking seriously, and he led the crowd in repentance for the historic atrocity. Jay Swallow, a veteran evangelist whose great-great grandfather was killed in the massacre, responded: “We forgive. Today is a new day. We’ll walk as equals now–no more underlings. I release forgiveness. We forgive in Jesus’ name.”

In keeping with the theme of repentance, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., asked forgiveness for crimes against both First Nations people and African Americans, as well as the aborted unborn.

In addition to planning international Call events, organizers want to help mobilize groups to go to their state capitals to spend five hours in prayer for local and national concerns, especially the elections.
Karen Tom in Dallas

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

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 charisma@.

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

Since the death of their 6-year-old daughter, Harry and Cheryl Salem have been helping people find healing from grief
After spending years traveling to encourage congregations to become people of dynamic faith, Harry and Cheryl Salem are finding a new audience–through some of their prayers that were not answered.

The Tulsa, traveling ministers are helping people struggling with loss find new hope by sharing their own personal story of tragedy.

Although close friends such as Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland prayed for her, the Salems’ 6-year-old daughter Gabrielle died of cancer in 1999 after battling the disease for almost a year.

The family faced the ordeal publicly. They continued to travel in ministry, with the young girl appearing to sing hooked up to an IV drip on occasions.

Many joined in praying for Gabrielle, but after her funeral one man approached Harry Salem–formerly a senior leader in Roberts’ ministry–and told him his daughter had died because Salem did not have enough faith.

Just three months later, while they were still reeling from Gabrielle’s death, the couple discovered that Cheryl, a singer and former Miss America, had cancer and needed surgery. Their message of faith was being challenged.

“It’s easy to have faith when everything is going good. Faith really comes out when things are tough and when you don’t see what you are hoping for,” Harry Salem said. “We went from faith to trust. Faith is believing for something good in the future; trust is going on when it doesn’t happen.”

The Salems have recounted their journey in two books–From Mourning to Morning and From Grief to Glory–and in numerous TV appearances. They have also found themselves speaking on grief and ministering to individuals they meet as they continue to travel to churches with their two sons, Harry III, 17; and Roman, 14.

“We have a deeper message,” Harry Salem said. “Our ministry has exploded because there are more people out there waiting for their miracles because they didn’t get their first one, people sitting in churches asking: ‘What did I do wrong? Where did I fail?'”

Now cancer-free, Cheryl Salem said she had learned “you can’t have religious ideas about grief. It has no economic lines, no political lines; people deal with so many forms of loss–maybe a loved one, sometimes a career or a marriage. People grieve over some of the strangest things.”

They encourage people to be honest about their feelings and doubts. “People say a faith person shouldn’t ask why,” Harry Salem said. “Jesus hung on a cross and asked, ‘My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ Our flesh has a voice.”

For the Salems, part of their healing came from gaining a higher perspective. “God showed us that Gabrielle was not in our past, she was in our future,” Cheryl Salem said. “She is healed, whole, happy, filling heaven with joy. You can’t go forward looking back. … We had to begin to let God give us a new vision for our life.”

The Salems were not strangers to adversity. Harry lost his father at age 10, while Cheryl overcame the injuries of childhood sexual abuse and a serious car wreck. They knew they had to work hard to avoid the marriage and family breakdown many who suffer serious loss experience.

“If you focus on what you don’t have, you will lose what you do have,” Harry Salem said. “Gabrielle is where we want her to go; we still have two boys and still have choices to make. We can’t neglect them.”

They said the outpouring of love and support they received from around the country helped them. “We had to decide, do you still go on when you have no answer? That’s the real question in life,” Harry Salem said. “Can you go on when you don’t always get a yes? We all go through stages when we don’t understand, and the question is, ‘Do I still serve God when I don’t understand?'”

They find reliving their experiences tiring at times, but satisfying. Cheryl Salem said one day God showed her that “only scars that have changed other people’s lives will be seen in heaven. This [loss] is one of those scars that we have, and we want it to be one that we keep for eternity because we want it to change other people’s lives.”
Andy Butcher

BOOKS

Fatal Distractions
By Joyce Rodgers, Charisma House,

224 pages, paperback, $.

Church of God in Christ evangelist Joyce Rodgers is a minister who seeks to prevent Satan from using one of his most lethal weapons, distractions, to poison our hearts. In Fatal Distractions she discusses the attitudes that distract us and bring about spiritual death, specifically “the death of our God-ordained purpose in this life.”

Rodgers’ seven deadly sins are envy, loneliness, anger, bitterness, hurt, despair and rejection. They build until we cap them with the most insidious distraction of all: ourselves.

Fortunately, she reveals how to stop Satan dead in his tracks: by practically applying the Bible and prayer to our lives. She emphasizes, much like Bible teacher Joyce Meyer, whom she quotes, how we can block internal distractions with godly attractions–such as replacing fear with unrestrained praise.

Having a heart for women, Rodgers addresses her primary audience like an older sister. She tempers a deadly serious message with humor and
compassion.

Sometimes the author goes for the jugular. For example, she writes, “Women in particular are susceptible to the subtle yet insidious distractions that ‘dress themselves up’ to be something beautiful, yet inside are rotten to the core.” Some women might not appreciate the stereotyping here, since men are certainly vulnerable to the same temptations.

Nonetheless, Rodgers’ powerful statements cut through to our hearts. She directs our passion toward God and away from fatal distractions. Rodgers’ audience appeal, which is evident by her many appearances on TBN, Daystar and radio, is strong. Her message brings life to defeat the power of Satan’s deadly arsenal.

Pamela Robinson

Optimize Your Marriage: Making an Eternal Impact on Family and Friends
By Phil and Susy Downer with Ken Walker,
Christian Publications, softcover,
264 pages, $.

Although this is a book about marriage, its primary focus is on Christian discipleship and training and how they affect not only the family but also all of life. This is not surprising, seeing that authors Phil and Susy Downer are the founders of Discipleship Network of America (DNA) and conduct conferences on aspects of Christian living.

Clearly, Optimizing Your Marriage was born out of the authors’ personal experience and ministry.

On the brink of divorce, this couple discovered that God’s grace could mend their broken relationship. Now they share the worst and the best of times, including the practical tactics they have learned to circumvent their personal weaknesses and turn them to strengths.

There is a strong call to mentorship here–to pass along this wealth of experience and understanding to others. The content is solid, basic principles that may be review for some readers and fresh insight for those new to the faith.
Deborah Delk

MUSIC

Illuminate
By David Crowder Band, Sixstepsrecords.

Worship leader David Crowder follows up his impressive 2002 debut with another groundbreaking modern-worship album. Produced by Charlie Peacock, Illuminate explores the theme of light, capturing God’s creativity on “Stars,” and emphasizing our earnest desire to be light and be filled with the light of truth on standouts such as the alternative arrangement of the hymn “Heaven Came Down” and “How Great.”

It’s difficult to find a weak spot on this well-crafted modern-worship feast. From the acoustic opening interlude “Sparks Fly” to the 1960s-turned-1980s electronic-flavored fun of “Revolutionary Love” and the catchy rocker “No One Like You,” Illuminate lights up the crowded modern-worship category.

As an added bonus, Crowder partnered with the makers of Propellerhead software to allow him to put a copy of the music program on the disc. Listeners can see and mix the tracks to their own taste, proving that Crowder remains a step ahead of the rest.

Natalie Nichols Gillespie

The Heavens Are Telling
By Karen Clark Sheard, Elektra Records.

Karen Clark Sheard, considered one of gospel’s premier vocalists, recently released her third solo project, The Heavens Are Telling. A member of the trend-setting group The Clark Sisters and daughter of the late gospel icon Mattie Moss Clark, Sheard showcases her strength as a live vocalist with the first half of the CD consisting of tracks recorded at her home church in Detroit.

Strong live cuts include a moving remake of Andraé Crouch’s “We Are Not Ashamed” with guest artists Mary Mary and the worshipful tune “God Is Here,” penned by Israel Houghton (of Israel & New Breed) and CCM artist Martha Munizzi. Other favorites include the calypso-influenced “Glorious (Make the Praise)” and the gospel rendition of R&B artist Jill Scott’s “He Loves Me.”

The second half of the CD includes five studio cuts, all produced and written by Sheard’s cousin J. Moss and Paul “PDA” Allen. Other urban-
flavored tracks include the inspiring “Go Ahead” featuring mainstream artist Missy Elliott and the funky “Praise Up.” “I Owe,” with special guest Ramiyah, draws the listener in with its infectious melody and gratitude-laden lyrics.

Sheard has sealed her place as one of gospel’s finest with this project.
René Williams

Songs 4 Worship: The U.K. Collection
By various artists, Integrity Music.

Songs 4 Worship: The U.K. Collection introduces or reintroduces listeners to modern praise songs made popular or recently emerging from the British Isles and Australia.

Tim Hughes performs his international hit “Here I Am to Worship” and Delirious rouses listeners with “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?” Brian

Doerksen adds “Come Now Is the Time to Worship,” and Robin Mark leads worshipers with an Irish touch on “Forever.” Paul Balcohe closes disc one with the popular song “Open the Eyes of My Heart.”

Darlene Zschech is featured on “The Power of Your Love,” and Irish worship leader Eoghan Heaslip closes the two-disc collection with “O Come Let Us Adore Him.”
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

The Art of Praise
By various artists, Integrity Gospel.

This collection allows a variety of talented worship leaders in gospel-laden churches to show off their best side and work their background choirs into a frenzy of praise.

Desmond Pringle shines on the opener, “You Are Good.” Other standouts include the jazz-infused “Above All” by the Take Six-like harmony group J-4 Twenty3, the smooth silky vocals by Daryl Coley on “Desperate Desire” and the give-and-take by Joe Pace & The Colorado Mass Choir (featuring Alicia Williams and Maurice Carter) on “I Will Bless the Lord at All Times.”

The Art of Praise easily brings down the walls between “gospel” music and “modern worship,” allowing the body of Christ to benefit from both musical styles.
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Professional Rapper
By John Reuben, Gotee Records.

John Reuben, known for sharp wit and occasional musical quirkiness, gets more serious with his third Gotee Records release, Professional Rapper. Sure, quirky John Reu makes his mark. But a probing Reuben teams with Adrienne Liesching (The Benjamin Gate) for the haunting confessional of “I Haven’t Been Myself,” which states: “I’m not all right / I haven’t been myself lately / I’m not OK with the way I’ve let my thoughts overtake me.”

With that same transparency, Reuben narrates his insecurities on the romantic “5 Years to Write.” Reuben deserves credit for stepping outside his comfort zone, providing inspiration and comfort to listeners who identify with struggles like his. His passion and sincerity make Professional Rapper one of his best and a milestone for Christian hip-hop.
DeWayne Hamby

MUSIC SPOTLIGHT

Stacie Orrico Is Staying True

With her song “More to Life” being the No. 3 dance single in the United States and following right on the heels of her wildly popular hit “Stuck,” Stacie Orrico is on her way to reaching her goal.

Orrico, 17, sings edgy R&B, has toured with Destiny’s Child, appears repeatedly on MTV’s TRL, and is popular in Europe, Australia and Japan. Yet this pop star is a Christian who says she wants to “change some people’s lives along the way.”

“I want to set a new standard in the mainstream market and show up-and-coming artists that you can be a respectable woman, stay true to the things you believe in, and you don’t have to take all your clothes off to be successful,” she says.

Her music is making a difference. “Stuck” made one young woman reconsider a relationship she was in. Orrico explains: “I said in a show that relationships are supposed to add to your life and bring you joy, and that person should be teaching you things. … You should be growing together. This girl had never heard anyone say that relationships were actually meant to be beneficial to your life.”

Orrico’s lyrics are about growing up, guys and family. “I’m writing music that doesn’t say Jesus, doesn’t quote a Bible verse, but it’s about things that every girl–I don’t care if you’re a Christian or a Buddhist or an atheist–you’re going to go through this. But it’s music they can groove to as well.”
Marsha Gallardo

The first step in prayer is clearing the channel, making it ready for God’s love.
In February, my thoughts always turn to love–not only because of Valentine’s Day but also because 32 years ago this month I met my true love, my wife. Yet as wonderful as the love is that I have for her, as important as it has been in my life and as much happiness as it has brought me, it is but a speck compared to the love of God, which is manifested to us in the form of His Son, Jesus.

The Bible teaches us that God is love. It is the very essence of who He is. What small child doesn’t learn that in Sunday school? But for most of us, coming to understand His love is a process that occurs as we grow and mature spiritually.

It is as infinite as the sky appears to be. And God’s ways of manifesting that love are, Glenn Clark writes in The Soul’s Sincere Desire, “as uncountable as the stars of the heavens.”

Clark’s book has opened new realms of prayer to me recently. Through his words I’ve begun to see that if I want a message from the God of love my receiving apparatus must be pure and vibrant with love. Any unloving thoughts will interfere with the flow of communication between us, just as rusty pipes prevent the flow of life-giving waters from reservoirs in the mountains.

This means that hindrances such as unbelief, selfishness and fear must go. John, the disciple of love, considered fear one of the major sins that separates man from God. In fact, he believed that love and fear could not abide together. He wrote, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers … shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone” (Rev. 21:8, KJV).

John also wrote that “there is no fear in love; [for] perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). According to Clark, John could have added, “Absolute fear casteth out love”–and without love we cannot have perfect prayer.

The first step, then, in preparing ourselves for prayer, is the clearing of the channel to make it ready for the inflow of God’s love. “This is best done,” Clark points out, “not by thinking of one’s self but by fixing one’s eyes on God. Think of Him as all-loving, all-powerful, all-perfect, with no anger and no distrust and no fear.

“Remember that every residue of wrong thinking, of malice or of selfishness in your heart or brain clogs the reception of the downpouring light of love.”

The cleansing of the soul Clark recommends is intended to liberate us, to “make the way straight for the message of God to come to us.” To be truly free, he says, “we must first remove all the beams and motes of Self, with its vanity, covetousness, and egotism; of Anger, with its brood of jealousies, envies, and faultfinding; and of Worry, with its children of fear and cowardice.”

When we have done this, we will be able to see God in a way we couldn’t when the channel was blocked. And merely to see God, Clark says, is to have Him. “One who sees–that is, one who possesses in his soul,” he continues, “is one whose prayers are answered.”

In light of Clark’s teaching, let’s use February, the month during which we direct our thoughts toward love, as a time to meditate anew on God’s love, a love that surpasses human understanding. Perhaps the following affirmation by Clark–what he calls a “psalm of love”–will help us to focus on it more during the holiday and beyond:

Thou and Thy Love are infinite;
Thy Love therefore fills all space,
There is no space where Thy Love is not,
Otherwise it would not be infinite.
It is filling the very space which we are
occupying,
Here and Now.
That Love is in us and we are in that Love.
We could not escape it if we would,
And we would not if we could.
It abides in us and we in it.
Therefore when we let go doubt,

and irritation, and self,
And resign ourselves completely to the great All-Power
That resides within and about us,
We are Love, even as God is Love.

Pulitzer Prize nominee Clifton Taulbert hopes his 10-lesson curriculum will motivate people to engage in acts of kindness
As the United States observes Black History Month, the residents of a Mississippi Delta cotton town are again rising to prominence through a native son who has shared their legacy worldwide.

Clifton Taulbert, whose memoirs have been made into a movie (Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored) and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize (Last Train North), has transformed another book into biblically based teaching.

Becoming a Good Samaritan: On Your Road Between Jerusalem and Jericho is based on his Eight Habits of the Heart, originally published in 1997. Designed for groups of up to 20, the 10-lesson curriculum includes a challenge to commit to develop a caring attitude and engage in unselfish acts.

The lessons delve into the eight habits, which include such traits as brotherhood, dependability, friendship and a nurturing attitude. Those are qualities the Tulsa, Okla., author believes are necessary if the church hopes to become a community demonstrating Christ’s character.

Taulbert unveiled the Bible study in August at Victory Christian Center’s annual Word Explosion, which drew 35,000 people to the Mabee Center at Oral Roberts University. Afterward, the audience responded with a standing ovation.

The acclaimed speaker, who credits the Holy Spirit with inspiring him to write the best-selling stories about those who raised and trained him, said he was overwhelmed by the reception. “What I saw was people recognizing difficulties existed during legal segregation, but it also showed them when you yield to God you can do great things in spite of difficulties,” said the native of Glen Allen, Miss.

Ironically, Taulbert is better known in distinguished academic, governmental and professional circles. A guest professor at Harvard University, he has addressed corporate seminars, international forums and a Library of Congress audience hosted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

However, when Victory Christian pastor Billy Joe Daugherty invited Taulbert–a member of an Assemblies of God church–to speak, Taulbert
initially resisted. After first appearing there in March, he accepted Daugherty’s suggestion to transform his “eight habits” seminar into a Bible-based study.

Daugherty said the message is a fresh word, one that is sorely needed in the body of Christ. Daugherty compares Taulbert to figures such as T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer, saying they came to prominence long after they started teaching.

“To me, the body of Christ is discovering a treasure with someone who has the ear of the Air Force Academy, whole school systems and Washington departments in our government,” he said.

Those who have used the curriculum say it has already had powerful repercussions. Mickey Gordon has taught two sessions to seniors in her Bible class at Victory Christian Center’s high school. It is also used at Glory House, a church-affiliated residential home for women.

The teacher thinks the study has the potential to create a kinder, gentler nation by emphasizing selflessness. “I’m seeing a calmer class and kids reaching out to teach each other and forming community,” Gordon said. “These are common-sense principles that have become uncommon.”

While Evangel Christian School in Louisville, Ky., is just implementing the curriculum in high school Bible classes, middle school students began reading Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored last fall. Principal Kevin Miller said shocked students wanted to know if the events described in 1950s and ’60s Mississippi really took place.

“We talked about the importance of everyone being created in God’s image and being equal,” said Miller, whose suburban school has doubled the number of African American students–from 7 to 14–this year. “There’s a lot of lessons in there. And I think the curriculum will help with the atmosphere and culture of our school.”

Taulbert hopes Good Samaritan will help stimulate positive actions. And he couldn’t be happier that the characters from Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored–the real people who shielded him from many of segregation’s cruel realities–will help make that happen.

“I find it very exciting that behind the wall of segregation there was Jesus Christ, preparing hearts and stories for another time in history,” Taulbert said. “[God] knew it would be needed in the 21st century.”
Ken Walker

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 .