MUSIC

City on a Hill: The Gathering
By various artists, Essential.

City on a Hill: The Gathering is the final chapter of Steve Hindalong’s award-winning City on a Hill series, and he ends it on a resoundingly worshipful note with its 14-tracks aiming to remind the church to love others as an extension of our faith.

The Gathering combines original worship music with remakes of traditional hymns and features the impressive musical collaborations fans have come to expect from the City projects.

Unique vocal pairings include Ginny Owens with GlassByrd (“We Will Trust You”), FFH with Paul Colman (“Instrument of Peace”), and Caedmon’s Call with new Essential act Silers Bald (“Hallelujah Never Ending”).

Bebo Norman and Sixpence None the Richer’s Leigh Nash blend their distinctive vocals on album highlight “Beautiful, Scandalous Night,” a stirring portrait of Christ’s death and resurrection, written by Hindalong and Derri Daugherty. The Gathering also features Jars of Clay, Sixpence None the Richer, Sara Groves and Andrew Peterson.

Rich lyrics, solid vocal performances and masterful production make The Gathering a beautiful finale to this series and should leave listeners yelling, “Encore! Encore!”
Angela Folds Fox

Simple Things
By Amy Grant, Word.

Amy Grant’s new album finds the singer getting back to the basics because when the world becomes almost unbearably complicated–with its international conflicts and general unease–it’s comforting to seek out simplicity.

This may be why Grant sings, “I believe in simple things” on the album’s title track. Simple Things is not as spiritually centered as her recent album of hymns, nor is it as lovey-dovey as the music she made during her “Baby, Baby” pop hit phase. Instead, it’s a little of each.

“Out In the Open,” for example, is a Point Of Grace-ish song about God’s desire for fellowship with humanity; and the album-closing “After the Fire” is a simple, acoustic guitar-accompanied gem that expresses God’s steadfastness during trials.

“Looking for You” details a romance almost too good to be true, whereas “Eye to Eye” concerns itself with ironing out the rough spots in a relationship.

“Innocence Lost,” which features a Celtic hymnlike feel, is probably this album’s best song. It’s a meditation about the price paid for maturity. On it Grant sings: “I miss my innocence/Oh, to be innocent.” Such innocence is one of life’s better simple things.
Dan MacIntosh

Jekyll & Hyde
By Petra, Inpop.

Jekyll & Hyde is an appropriate title for this long-lived Christian rock band, in that the band’s lineup is always doing an about-face. Petra recently lost three members–drummer Louie Weaver, guitarist Quinton Gibson and keyboardist Bryce Bell–leaving only vocalist John Schlitt, founding member Bob Hartman and bassist Greg Bailey.

Hartman wrote or co-wrote all 10 songs on this heavily-reminiscent-of-1980s-metal album. Petra’s new songs sound like a combination of early Alice Cooper, Poison, Styx and AC/DC, with aggressive, crunchy electric guitars laying the foundation for each tune.

Schlitt provides the vocals and continues to be the consummate rock ‘n’ roll screamer, making Jekyll & Hyde no doubt a great album to hear live. However, on disc it alternates sonically between fresh and dated.

Overall, Jekyll & Hyde lives up to its promise of being the most aggressive album Petra has ever made, but that doesn’t mean it is the band’s best. Petra seems so determinedly out to prove it can still rock that the songs sound much the same, the relentless metal beat driving the point home every time.

Yes, Petra can rock out, but it should take a lesson from the band’s 1982 album, More Power to Ya, which rocked hard with single “Judas’ Kiss” but also softened the mood with the title track and “Rose-Colored Stained Glass Window,” and lighten up a little.
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

BOOKS

Spiritually Parenting Your Preschooler
By C. Hope Flinchbaugh,
Charisma House, softcover, 167 pages, $.

Hope Flinchbaugh firmly believes in making the home a positive spiritual environment for the nurture of children, and for readers of Spiritually Parenting Your Preschooler, it is a joy to listen in as she instructs her own children in the ways of the Lord. Many parents will identify with the exasperation Flinchbaugh felt when she asked God, “Is it really possible to actually walk in the Spirit with three wild preschoolers in the house?” This book is her answer.

Not a book about “historical parenting,” Spiritually Parenting shows parents how to teach their children to come to Jesus and to follow the Spirit. Among other important topics, Flinchbaugh offers advice on choosing a school, spanking (she believes in it, in moderation) and winning the war of wills.

The author also encourages new mothers to pray the Scriptures with faith for their babies and urges other mothers not to place burdens on the new moms by sharing birthing stories that are not edifying.

Flinchbaugh writes insightfully and with humor, incorporating illustrations of everyday life. She seems to have thought through the child-rearing process with great care, and her readers will appreciate the effort.
Christine D. Johnson

FICTION

Cover Girls
By T.D. Jakes, Warner Faith,
hardcover, 256 pages, $.

Best-selling author T.D. Jakes has attempted what few writers can do well–cross genres.

In his first novel, Cover Girls, Jakes tells the story of four women in four different seasons of life–none of them aware of how intricately their lives are woven together. Nor do they realize that what appears on the outside is a cover-up for harsh, intimate truths.

Michelle is young and pretty, but her marriage is as shattered as her past is violent. Tonya appears to be a spiritual giant, but her outward appearance suggests anything but the joy of the Lord. Their boss, Delores Judson, with all her money and power has a life spinning out of control and a great-grandchild on the way who was conceived in incest. The fourth woman, Miz Ida, knows people think she is “three bricks shy of a load,” but it will be her faith and prayers that see these three women to the throne of God.

Although the beginning of Cover Girls displays the typical mistakes of a first-time novelist–point-of-view shifts, weak dialogue–the author’s talent strengthens as the pages turn–and pages will turn. The book will sell well because of the author’s name but will do well because of the author’s talent.
Eva Marie Everson

And the Shofar Blew
By Francine Rivers, Tyndale House
Publishers, hardcover, 464 pages, $.

In the Old Testament, God used a shofar–a trumpet made from a ram’s horn–to call His people to action. And the Shofar Blew by award-winning novelist Francine Rivers is a contemporary story about hearing God’s voice and about building–both churches and relationships.

Young Paul Hudson is zealous about serving God and building the church he believes God wants him to pastor. But over time he stops listening to God’s voice, and his success becomes his focus. The consequences of his actions affect everyone around him–his faithful wife, his son who is ignored by Paul, and his church members–all of whom also must discern God’s will or follow their own paths. Conflict builds slowly as the author carefully develops each character’s motives and responses.

The resulting believable spiritual growth of several characters will inspire readers to
examine their own hearts. Discussion questions at the end of this novel are designed to help readers take the lessons learned from the story and apply them to their own lives.

With And the Shofar Blew Rivers has succeeded in constructing a timely novel that ministers as much as it entertains.
Leslie Santamaria

Firefly Blue
By Jake Thoene, Tyndale House,
softcover, 361 pages, $.

Dubbed “the Christian Tom Clancy,” Jake Thoene’s writing does have that edge, with quick action, suspense and government conspiracy. Firefly Blue is the sequel to Shaiton’s Fire, both volumes in a series of post-9/11 novels by Thoene. However, reading the first novel is not necessary for understanding and enjoying this second
offering.

Firefly Blue centers on the FBI’s special counterterrorism unit called Chapter 16, a reference to the book of Revelation. The discovery of a hijacked shipment of sodium cyanide tips off an old enemy who has made new friends. While dealing with a potentially deadly plot, main character, Special Agent Steve Alstead, is caught between family, faith and country. He has to maintain his marriage and faith while fighting terrorism.

Thoene effectively develops the secondary characters in the novel, adding interest. However, it is at some expense to knowing more about Alstead and his family.

Thoene does a good job avoiding a preachy style. Some characters quote Scripture, but the Christian aspect of the book does at times seem to be tacked on as an extra thought.

The author excels in exploring with great insight the emotional aspects of law-enforcement work, giving his writing depth and validity. And even though this novel has many side stories, Thoene masterfully ties all the twists together for a satisfying and intriguing ending. Readers looking for a fun and light read will enjoy Firefly Blue.
Margaret Hull

The Light of Eidon
By Karen Hancock, Bethany House

Publishers, softcover, 400 pages, $.

In the tradition of . Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, Karen Hancock has created an exciting allegorical fantasy. The Light of Eidon, the first novel in the Legends of the Guardian King series, is a classic hero’s journey. Fifth in line for Kiriath’s throne, Abramm Kalladorne has renounced his title, changed his name to Eldrin and entered a religious order to make himself worthy to tend the Holy Flames of Eidon.

As the story begins, Eldrin’s years of study are about to culminate in his initiation, but he has reservations. Evil forces thrust him into slavery in a foreign land where he must fight in gladiator-style games. In captivity, Eldrin faces many false gods with counterfeit powers and must decide what he believes about Eidon and truth.

Hancock’s writing, often eerie and suspenseful, is rich in sights, smells and sounds. Tension is sustained as the reader wonders whom Eldrin should trust. The allegories for atonement and salvation are fresh and insightful.

Hancock’s book will appeal to Christian fantasy readers and to fans of Francine Rivers’ Mark of the Lion trilogy, but The Light of Eidon is so well-done it also should attract new readers to the genre.
Leslie Santamaria

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Retired syndicated cartoonist, speaker and author Tim Downs delivers his first novel, Shoofly Pie, a book you can’t put down once you get involved with its roller-coaster plot. The title alone is intriguing.

“Shoofly Pie,” Downs explains, “is made from a concoction of molasses and brown sugar. It’s so sweet that it’s impossible for flies to resist, and that’s why I used the term as a euphemism for a decomposing body.”

Set in rural North Carolina, Shoofly Pie finds Kathryn Guilford questioning a friend’s death. She enlists the help of Nick Polchak, the “Bug Man.” He studies bugs on corpses, offering clues to the when, where and how of death.

Intensely curious and even-keeled, Kathryn has to work with sarcastic wiseguy Nick, best described as an endearing eccentric. Their relationship is the basis for much of the novel’s witty dialogue.

According to Downs, Nick is “a scientist who takes a completely material view of life and death.” As Nick gets closer to the truth, a personal tragedy forces him to reconsider the inadequacy of his worldview. Says Downs: “That’s what I want my readers to ask themselves: Where is my own worldview inadequate? How am I like Nick?”

Shoofly Pie will not disappoint fans of the popular CBS-TV series CSI. “It’s a love story, a mystery and an adventure all rolled into one,” Downs says.

The author hopes to do a series, with sequel Chop Shop on the way. With his detailed style of writing that makes you feel as if you’re right alongside the characters, here’s hoping Bug Man novels become movies.
Mark Weber

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CHARISMATIC

TOP SELLERS

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

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

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

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

5. The Three Battlegrounds
Francis Frangipane (Arrow Publications)

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

7. A Divine Revelation of Heaven
Mary K. Baxter (Whitaker House)

8. Holiness, Truth and the
Presence of God
Francis Frangipane (Arrow Publications)

9. No More Sheets
Juanita Bynum (Pneuma Life Publishing)

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

CHARISMA RECOMMENDS

Upside Down
By Benny Perez, Charisma House,

224 pages, softcover, $.

Author and speaker Benny Perez has a heart to encourage youth to become consumed with God’s purposes. Perez offers a comprehensive training manual for today’s youth, addressing topics such as bucking the trend, setting the pace, influencing culture, and advancing the atmosphere of faith and revival. He wants young people to have a blazing passion for radical evangelism and discipleship.

Divine Desperation
By John Hurston,
Creation House Press,
224 pages, softcover, $.

John and Maxine Hurston gave their lives to God in the 1950s. They served first as missionaries in the United States and then in Liberia, witnessing a national revival. Later, they moved to Seoul, South Korea. There John Hurston became mentor to a young Bible student, David Yonggi Cho, who today pastors the world’s largest church. This account is proof of what dedication to God’s will can do.

Heaven Is So Real!
By Choo Thomas,
Creation House Press,
224 pages, softcover, $.

Raised in Korea, Choo Thomas was the only child of nonreligious parents. She embraced the Lord in 1992 and wanted to spend every moment in His presence. Her desire led to a deep prayer life, moments of seeing Jesus and a series of heavenly journeys, which changed her life forever. As Thomas recounts her heavenly visits, she often says she wants everyone to realize that heaven is very real–and that heaven and hell are closer than we think.

Favor Makes No Sense
By Jerry Grillo, Creation House Press,

128 pages, softcover, $.

Jerry Grillo has been in ministry for more than 20 years. He issues a challenge to Christians to move from poverty to prosperity, from fear to faith and from failure to favor. Grillo reminds us God is not hiding from us and that He wants us to know Him and the power of His resurrection.

Adoracion sin reservas
(Extravagant Worship)
By Darlene Zschech, Casa Creación,
204 pages, softcover, $.

Well-known worship leader Darlene Zschech shares that we can enter the presence of the Lord when we understand what it means to be an extravagant worshiper. Worship is not about performing–it’s a way of life. Zschech teaches how we can become people of excellent and extravagant worship in every area of our lives.

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To order these books call (800) 599-5750 or go to .

I personally believe Bush is the real deal in terms of his walk with Christ.
It will be interesting to see how the secular media respond to the new book The Faith of George W. Bush when it comes out next month. More than any other presidency in recent memory, Bush’s has been “faith-based,” yet the media often have trouble knowing how to cover the faith aspect.

For those of us who are believers, there is something that rings true about the conversion experience described in the excerpt from the Bush book we’ve featured in this issue. It’s more than just knowing “one of us” is in the White House. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you have a sense there is something real about our president’s faith and how it motivates him to lead the country.

When Bush was running for president he gave J. Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma, an opportunity to interview him. The headline for Grady’s article in November 2000 became prophetic. We called it “The Faith of George W. Bush.”

Little did we know how close the presidential election would be or how soon our country would be embroiled in a war against terrorism. Little did we expect this man–who wasn’t considered a success until he was nearly 40 and was labeled by many an intellectual lightweight–to become a leader of almost Churchillian proportions.

The key to his success? In a word, faith. It was his faith that transformed him from the mediocre son of a famous father and grandfather into what many are already considering a great president.

That’s the topic of this book. I believe the author, Stephen Mansfield, did a masterful job in not only explaining where Bush came from but also identifying his spiritual roots and telling his spiritual odyssey in a way that is believable to the nonbeliever.

We didn’t want to publish a book that, like so many others, merely preaches to the choir. We wanted to get out the message to the wider market–not to preach, but to show what can happen to a man when his life is touched by Christ and
he believes God has called him to the presidency because, in his words, “My country is going to need me.”

Our desire to reach nonbelievers is the reason we teamed up with Penguin Group (USA), the second-largest book publisher in the world, to publish this book. Our publishing house–Charisma House–is promoting it in the Christian products market. Penguin is pushing it in the secular arena.

The books are identical. And the message, while not written in Christianese, is very clear. At one point, the narrative even includes the plan of salvation as it was presented to Bush in 1984.

So how will the secular media respond? Usually they ignore books on conversion or spiritual experience. But it’s hard to ignore the spiritual journey of the president of the United States–especially when he has been so open about his faith. I suppose that’s why some in the media have started writing about it–even if what they say is critical. Recent articles in Newsweek, Vanity Fair and Gentlemen’s Quarterly have taken a skeptical look at the Christian experience of the president.

Nevertheless, their focusing on it has perhaps made it acceptable to write about faith. Early indications are there is a great deal of interest in this book, and we expect to get a lot of publicity and have a lot of books in the marketplace.

But we could use your help. First, you can pray. Pray that what God has done in George W. Bush’s life will be a witness to the entire world.

We didn’t write the book to proselytize or convert anyone. But it’s my belief that when confronted with genuine Christianity–the kind C.S. Lewis called “mere Christianity”–people do notice and are touched.

The Faith of George W. Bush makes it clear that Bush is not perfect and that his walk as a Christian leaves much to be desired. But I personally believe he’s the real deal in terms of his walk with Christ. Hopefully you’ll want to buy a copy and come to your own conclusion.

This book wasn’t written just to make money for the author or publisher. It was written to spread a message about a life that has been changed and a man who is affecting history as a result. Please join with us in getting the message out to those who desperately need to hear it.

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Stephen Strang is the founder and publisher of Charisma.

God made our bodies to produce health unless we interfere.
Lately I have received many e-mails from Christians who are filled with fear about their health. My passion is to help people overcome health challenges by balancing their bodies with proper nutrition, herbs, vitamins and minerals, and their minds and emotions with the Word of God. But I believe too many people are ingesting supplements without proper supervision. They are running “to and fro” seeking the latest elixir for vitality or the latest pill for eternal youth.

Some people are so desperate for a pill to “fix” them that they forget the true source of all healing–God.

Nutritional supplements do have a place in our lives. They fill nutritional gaps left by our poor American diets. But if searching for the perfect supplement or newest supernutrient has become a way of life for you, you may have allowed fear to take the throne in place of God.

Take comfort in this fact: God wonderfully designed your body with an immune system that acts as the greatest pharmacy in the world. It makes more than 100 billion types of medicines, called antibodies, to attack just about any unwanted germ or virus that enters your body.

It helps keep you well and healthy and makes you well after a viral, bacterial or fungal infection. It can even manage to stop a cancer cell from setting up shop in your body and multiplying.

All the medicines made by your own internal pharmacy are completely natural and custom-tailored to work specifically for you. They do not produce side effects, are free and are the most powerful healing agents known to man.

Your faith in God and education about your body can arm you with the knowledge you need to stimulate and support your body, especially during times of stress, poor eating, lack of sleep and negative thinking. In addition, renewing your mind will reverse negative thoughts that can destroy your health.

I recommend that you become educated on the subject of your body. The Bible says, “‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge'” (Hos. 4:6, NKJV). A good source of information for you is my book The 90-Day Immune System Makeover (Siloam).

Also, continue to focus on God as your source for healing. Have faith and take part in the process, but do not become a slave to it! Before your eyes, you will see and feel signs that will cause you to be in awe of God’s intelligence at work in your body.

Here are some practical things you can do to improve your health:

Get enough rest. Regeneration takes place while you sleep. Sleep experts agree that although seven hours of sleep per night is the minimum amount needed for a properly functioning immune system, eight hours is still optimal.

Control stress. Stress and a depressed outlook can lower immunity. Prayer is especially effective in managing stress.

Go low-fat. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating a low-fat diet may help boost the activity of your natural killer-cells, thereby enhancing your immune response.

Eat less sugar. Consumption of refined sugar can interfere with immunity. A study reported by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that sugar slowed the ability of the immune system to eradicate, engulf and consume alien material.

Eliminate alcohol. Alcohol lowers immunity by inhibiting the ability of your white blood cells to react to infection.

God made our bodies to produce health unless we interfere. Notice the self-curing nature of many conditions such as colds, fevers, cuts, swelling and bruises. These are examples of how the body always strives for health and healing unless we do something to stop the process.

If you are too preoccupied with your health, take comfort in Philippians 3:20-21: “We are citizens of heaven … and we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same mighty power that He will use to conquer everything, everywhere” (New Living Translation).

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Janet C. Maccaro, Ph.D., ., is a leading expert on natural health. She holds doctorates in nutrition and naturopathy and appears frequently on national radio and TV programs. She is the author of 90-Day Immune System Makeover and Breaking the Grip of Dangerous Emotions (Siloam). Maccaro lives in Central Florida with her husband and three children.

President Bush and U2’s Bono have helped inform Christians about the disease’s spread in Africa
The leader of the free world and a legendary rock musician have played an unlikely role in galvanizing Christians to help fight the spread of AIDS in Africa.

President Bush and U2 front man Bono are helping put AIDS on many Christians’ radar by highlighting the region where some 6,5000 people die every day of AIDS-related illnesses and another 9,500 daily are infected with HIV. Roughly 14 million children have been orphaned by the disease, with another 10 million projected to be parentless by 2010.

Bush’s promise to earmark $15 billion toward the global fight against AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean during his January State of the Union address led the National Association of Evangelicals to become “deeply involved” in the issue, according to a statement from the organization. Members lobbied Capitol Hill to ensure that a third of the funding would support sexual abstinence programs. And in June the group convened a forum in conjunction with the humanitarian organizations MAP International, World Relief and World Vision to examine evangelicals’ role in addressing the pandemic.

President Bush’s July tour of Africa, during which he again pledged to provide $15 billion in aid over five years, brought further attention to the AIDS crisis, said Larry Warren, president of African Leadership ( ). The Franklin, organization offers pastoral training to African leaders and is developing health clinics to help care for the infected.

The week of the president’s trip, Bono began a campaign to ensure Bush keeps his $15 billion promise. The effort has drawn support from many in the contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry, who have become increasingly vocal about Africa’s needs in the last two years. Christian musicians turned out in droves at a July meeting at songwriter-producer Charlie Peacock’s Nashville, Tenn., home in support of Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa (DATA), the nonprofit group Bono backs ().

Artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum of Sixpence None the Richer, dc talk’s Michael Tait and saxophonist Kirk Whalum signed their names in a show of support to urge President Bush to send aid to Africa.

Singer Margaret Becker, who helps World Vision raise funds for its Hope Initiative () aimed at caring for AIDS widows and orphans, said the current level of involvement stands in stark contrast to the CCM industry’s response nearly 10 years ago. At the Gospel Music Association’s 1994 convention, she said the vast majority of attendees declined to wear ribbons expressing their support for the fight against AIDS.

“People had such an odd stigmatization about the disease,” she said. “It was associated with liberal politics … and left-wing leanings.” The Christian music community “was sort of like, we’re not about that. That’s somebody else’s problem.”

While insiders say some Christian artists are motivated to fight AIDS because of Bono’s involvement, others have taken ownership of the issue. Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman, who also works with a group of Sudanese refugees, said his Christian pop-rock band raises awareness about AIDS at concerts and included statistics about the crisis in the liner notes of its CD.

“When you look into the face of someone who is affected by the numbers, it’s no longer a statistic, it’s now a friend,” Foreman said. “The church … has an ideology that obligates us to help. I really believe we are to lead in this.”

Christian rock group Jars of Clay founded Blood: Water Mission in April to educate Christians, especially its young fan base, about the epidemic and to raise funds to support grass-roots initiatives such as African Leadership.

“We don’t mind saying the things nobody wants to say,” said Jars front man Dan Haseltine, who visited three African nations in December.

“Some of that comes from going into the mainstream rock arena and doing what we do,” added guitarist Stephen Mason. “This is just one more risk that really kind of seems like a no-brainer.”

Jars is donating its proceeds from an upcoming children’s book called Scribblepotemus to Blood: Water Mission. It also contributed to Mission: Africa, a “field guide” to mobilize teens to fight AIDS.

The book gives detailed action steps for youth who want to get involved. Its proceeds will be split between World Vision and the aWAKE Project, a Nashville-based AIDS awareness and fund-raising effort.

“That was our goal, to educate and then motivate,” said project editor Kate Etue, who has been involved in the AIDS issue since 2001. “We felt the teens could be more revolutionary than the adults.” She added that musician Michael W. Smith and author Max Lucado, who appeal to an older demographic, are also drawing support for the issue.

The push comes not a moment too soon for World Relief president Clive Calver, whose Mobilizing for Life initiative () has been helping African churches respond to AIDS since 1997. “We’re 15 years late,” Calver said, adding that HIV infections decreased in Uganda because European churches supported Christians there.

He said Christians in Africa bear a heavy burden, caring for the sick and the orphaned. “The real need is to pray, and the real need is to give,” Calver said.

A 2001 study conducted by researcher George Barna found that just 3 percent of Christians were willing to give financially to a reputable organization fighting the spread of AIDS in Africa. But ministry leaders say that is changing.

“I think that if Barna were to do that study now, the percentage would be much higher,” Warren said. “There’s been a lot of awareness raised.”

During a July press conference, Bono told a group of reporters he has been surprised by Christians’ response to his campaign. “Particularly evangelicals, who seemed very judgmental to me over the years, turned out to be incredibly generous in their time and their support of the effort,” Bono said. “I’ve really had my view of the church turned upside down.”

Though the level of involvement is increasing, it does not match Africa’s need, leaders say. The Rev. Jessica Ingram, supervisor of missions for the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 15th Ecclesiastical District, which includes three nations in southern Africa, is raising $100,000 for a Balm in Gilead Center that will help care for AIDS victims in South Africa. She said many U.S. churches still are not tuned in to the issue.

Warren is familiar with her frustration, but believes the tide will turn. “Uganda cut their infection rate in half twice over an eight-year period,” he said. “There’s a clear example of how it was done. All we have lacked up to this point is the will to do it.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

As part of its effort to reach the world’s least evangelized regions with the gospel, Colorado Springs, Every Home for Christ (EHC) opened its Jericho Center in June. The 40,000-square-foot complex will serve as EHC’s international headquarters and house six other missions organizations rent-free.

EHC President Dick Eastman said the center will help facilitate strategic partnerships among missions groups by hosting regular consultation meetings designed to coordinate world missions efforts. “The point is that out on the mission field there [will be] some level of cooperation,” Eastman said. “If these [plans] were woven together there could be an almost exponential increase in church planting.”

The author of several books on intercession, worship and missions, Eastman said the complex has two rooms for intercessory worship, which those in planning sessions will be able to observe during meetings. “When these consultations are conducted … we will see them covered with 24-hour intercession and 24-hour worship so … God is enthroned in the strategic planning.”

More than 10 years in the making, the Jericho Center was dedicated Aug. 2 in a service that included pastor Jack Hayford and worship leader Terry McAlmon.

In addition to EHC’s 45-member staff, the Jericho Center houses the Joshua Project, an agency that charts the progress of world evangelism; Morningstar Development, which coordinates humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan; and Mission America, a coalition of ministry organizations that seeks to help mobilize the church for world evangelism. The ministries are not charged rent, but are responsible for certain overhead costs, Eastman said.

Founded in Canada in 1946, EHC has distributed 2.2 million gospel booklets in 192 nations, resulting in 30 million decisions for Christ, Eastman said. The ministry oversees an international staff of 2,000 full-time employees and 14,000 volunteer “associates,” who distribute gospel material to 50,000 homes daily.
Adrienne S. Gaines

The 82-year-old American missionary known as ‘Hermano Pablo’ has been ministering for more than 60 years
Considered by many Latin America’s most-loved evangelist, 82-year-old Paul Finkenbinder has been in ministry for nearly 61 years, but the man better known to the Spanish-speaking world as Hermano Pablo isn’t ready to call it quits.

“I believe a minister for God is a minister for life,” the ordained Assemblies of God minister told Charisma. “I don’t ever see myself retiring. I will probably be forced to slow down, and that’s OK. But I will be a minister of the gospel till the day that I leave this earth.”

Slowing down for Finkenbinder, who is battling prostate cancer, means less time preaching in crusades and speaking in conferences and seminars outside the United States. Last year, he ministered overseas for 75 days, down from two years ago when he preached outside the country for about 100 days.

Finkenbinder, however, plans to continue his widely acclaimed Un Mensaje a la Conciencia, or A Message to the Conscience, a four-minute daily program broadcast on Latino radio, television and newspapers.

On the air since 1964, the program–which features a short story, but with a very clear moral and spiritual application–airs more than 19,000 times weekly, reaching millions of people in 30 countries. Un Mensaje is also on the Internet at .

Amazingly, the program’s main listeners are non-Christians, including heads of state and business and military leaders, hundreds of whom have accepted Christ.

“I have gotten far away from God,” a listener from Chile wrote Hermano Pablo Ministries (HPM), which is based in Costa Mesa, Calif. “… Your program has made me think of what my life is like now. I want to tell you all that in this moment, I feel that the Lord has spoken to me.”

Demetrio, 23, who lives in Panama but is originally from Greece, told HPM that he learned Spanish by reading Un Mensaje, which is published in some 80 newspapers. “All of my life I have watched your program on television, heard it on the radio, and read it in the newspaper,” he wrote.” The program has greatly blessed me.”

Besides turning Hermano Pablo into a household name throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the program has made an impact with a prominent secular organization.

The International Center for Education in Latin America recently referred to Un Mensaje as the second-most effective program in all of Latin America. Un Mensaje has also been honored by the National Religious Broadcasters as the “Hispanic Program of the Year.”

Finkenbinder believes the show has been widely popular for several reasons. “The program’s main objective is to reach the nonevangelical,” Finkenbinder said. “Never has there ever been any mention of a church, denomination or religious order, and never has there ever been any … [request for] … money,” Finkenbinder added. “The fact that the program is only four minutes long is perhaps also a factor of appeal to non-Christians.”

Born in Puerto Rico to missionary parents, Finkenbinder felt called by God to be a minister in 1938, when he was 17. When he was 20, he married his wife, Linda, who is also in her 80s.

In 1943, the couple and their son, Paul Jr., began serving as missionaries in El Salvador. Twelve years later, Finkenbinder says God gave him the vision for mass evangelism through radio. Since that time, he has utilized every media tool to evangelize Latin America, influencing many leading Hispanic ministers.

“He is one of my heroes,” said Argentinean evangelist Alberto Mottesi, whose influence in Latin America is often compared with Billy Graham’s. Last fall, the school of evangelists at Mottesi’s ministry in California was dedicated in Finkenbinder’s honor.

Daniel de León, pastor of 6,000-member Templo Calvario Assembly of God in Santa Ana, Calif., the largest Hispanic church in the United States, added: “[He is] the greatest missionary of modern times. It’s pretty remarkable that he’s still ministering in his 80s with the same passion and enthusiasm of years ago.”
Eric Tiansay

In Shadowmancer, written by an Anglican vicar in the United Kingdom, God’s power overcomes witchcraft
A Spirit-filled African teenager arrives in 18th century England–only to find the place overrun with witchcraft. And the source of the darkness is the local parish priest.

That’s the setting for a new novel, Shadowmancer, that has been described as “hotter than Potter.” United Kingdom publishers Faber and Faber have deliberately pitted it against J.K. Rowling’s modern classic.

But the brains behind this latest blockbuster is a 43-year-old Anglican vicar, the Rev. Graham Taylor, whose inspiration is firmly rooted in his Christian faith.

While he has made wicked parson Obadiah Demurral the villain of the plot, he also brings Ethiopian teenager Raphah (from the Hebrew for “the Lord who heals”) to join in the fight against him. Demurral is a sadistic sorcerer, whereas Raphah is filled with the spirit of Riathamus (from the Latin for “King of kings”).

With two young comrades, Kate and Thomas, Raphah gets caught up in the war against evil. When Raphah calls on the Spirit of Riathamus, tongues of fire and a whirlwind are the result. When he prays for healing, everyone in the room is forced to the floor because of “the weight of the glory” upon them.

It sounds like a great plan that’s come together. But on the surface at least, Shadowmancer looks more like a happy accident.

Taylor–a policeman-turned-priest who’d never written a book before–felt “moved by God” to write a children’s fantasy novel. “I’ve been working with people involved in witchcraft for over 20 years,” he said, “and wanted to write something for children that was as thrilling and fantastic as Potter.”

While giving his characters a universal appeal, this father of three also made sure his story had a strong force for good. “Why can’t people get excited about the power of the Spirit of God?” he said. “I wanted a book that contained that.”

He prayed, and started writing on “a still October night” in his Yorkshire vicarage. So Shadowmancer was born–with its key references to a deity who heals, delivers from evil spirits and gives people peace and joy in their lives.

Taylor tried various publishers in England and the United States, but suffered from the common writer’s condition of “the rejection slip.” Determined to see his book appear in print, he sold his motorbike to fund its publication.

The move paid off. Last fall, 2,000 copies sold in just four weeks. Taylor started praying again­because he couldn’t cope with the demand. Then he received a phone call from the person who’d signed Rowling to her publisher.

On the caller’s advice, he hired a literary agent who signed him to “a very nice deal” with leading U.K. publisher Faber and Faber. “Then all heaven was let loose,” he said. Taylor appeared on TV and radio shows and in newspaper columns across the United Kingdom. Mail arrived “by the bagload.”

Some people involved in witchcraft asked for help. Other readers asked if the God of Shadowmancer could bring them peace. “It’s had a deep spiritual effect,” he said. This church minister ended up setting the literary world alight with his story of spiritual warfare. “It’s been called the ‘must-have book,'” he said.

Taylor later discovered the term “shadowmancing” is used by a group of American occultists to describe contacting the spirit world. The book contains stark warnings against such practices.

While the Harry Potter characters have “spells coming out of their ears,” Shadowmancer promotes the power of prayer. It has caused such a stir, copies are being imported by entrepreneurial Americans who are reportedly reselling them for $50 to $100 a copy.

Ironically, Taylor has experienced opposition from other Christians, who have challenged him for writing about witchcraft. But the author knows where the battle lines are drawn–his previous parish was Whitby, the dramatic backdrop for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Taylor feels that Christians should be writing works of fantasy fiction that can bring an influence in the marketplace–just like Shadowmancer. Penguin Putnam Books–one of the biggest U.S. publishers–plans to release the title in April, and talks are already under way regarding the film rights.

As U.K. bookstores geared up for their summer reading campaigns, Taylor had snatched the No. 3 position on the children’s fiction chart. But at the end of the day, he confessed, “I’d rather talk to people about Jesus than my book.”
Clive Price in England

Beverly Pegues’ Window International Network launches its seventh annual prayer calendar this month
It’s been nearly four years since the AD2000 and Beyond Movement disbanded, but prayer leader Beverly Pegues says the call to pray for the world’s least evangelized region is as urgent as ever.

She points to the evening news, noting that many of the current political hot spots–including Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Liberia–are located within an area known as the 10/40 Window, an imaginary rectangle between the 10th and 40th parallels north.

This month her Window International Network (WIN) launches its seventh Praying Through the Window prayer calendar, which focuses on the political and spiritual leaders of the 68 Window nations.

The effort is a continuation of the prayer campaign she helped coordinate as part of AD2000, an initiative that mobilized millions of Christians around the globe to pray, evangelize and plant churches among unreached people groups in the 10/40 Window.

After nearly seven years, AD2000 disbanded in 1999. “It would be difficult to say [the group’s goals] were actually accomplished,” said Luis Bush, former international director of AD2000, “but certainly there was a major advance.”

As an example he cites a June 30 Time magazine cover story that examined missionary activity in the Muslim world. The article reported that the number of missionaries to Islamic nations nearly doubled between 1982 and 2001, from 15,000 to 27,000. Bush also noted that many indigenous leaders are reaching remote people groups, such as the 25,000 missionaries from India who are evangelizing cross-culturally throughout the 10/40 Window.

But Pegues said the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, was a sign that prayer for the 10/40 Window must continue. “Either we’re going to … do everything that we need to do in the 10/40 Window, or we’re going to have things … like 9/11 … and all these different things that are happening in the world.”

Last year, WIN mobilized some 22 million Christians to pray for Window nations, Pegues told Charisma. The prayer calendar, which can be downloaded from WIN’s Web site (), includes at least two nations each day, with statistical information about their populations and major religions.

Now head of The World Inquiry, an organization that assesses the ministry activity occurring inside the 10/40 Window, Bush applauds Pegues’ efforts. He said Christians must continue to find creative ways to reach Window nations with the gospel. For his part, Bush hosts regional consultations with Christian leaders from across the globe to hear “what’s on their hearts.” He said their visions are inspiring, with one Chinese believer hoping to send 100,000 missionaries to Israel.

Pegues said she has a particular burden for the women and children of the 10/40 Window, and has written a book about the prayer needs of that demographic. With illiteracy, poverty and oppression of women rampant in many Window nations, Pegues said prayer is the foundation for transformation.

“Otherwise it would be overwhelming,” she said. ” I still believe the prayer power is what is going to make all these other things happen.”

Meanwhile Peter and Doris Wagner, who headed up AD2000’s United Prayer Track in the 1990s, have shifted their focus to what they call the 40/70 Window, which spans from Iceland to northern Japan and includes the Silk Road and Europe. They said they believe reaching non-Arab Muslims along the Silk Road is a key to evangelizing the Arab world. And they hope to spark a revival in European nations that have grown cold to the gospel.

“Enormous progress was made in the 10/40 Window because God’s people targeted it,” Wagner said “The task is by no means finished, but we felt God … moved us on to a different assignment.”

Pegues said her life’s calling is to the 10/40 Window. This month she heads to Indonesia to lead a summit designed to train Asian believers in intercession for the region. She said the call to prayer rings loudly in her ears.

“Will the church wake up and take her place?” she asks. “If we don’t reach these people, how will they be reached?”
Adrienne S. Gaines

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To get a copy of the Praying Through the Window Seven prayer calendar, call Window International Network at 719-522-1040, or visit .

Rocketown has become one of the most popular hangout spots in Nashville, Tenn.
A Christian-run skate park co-founded by musician Michael W. Smith is attracting thousands of teens in Nashville, Tenn., and is set to be duplicated in other cities across the nation.

Rocketown, a 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art youth complex, provides a safe haven for youth that rivals many secular clubs, concert venues and skate parks in the area. The facility is composed of a 13,000-foot indoor skateboard park, a dance and concert venue, a coffee shop and a clothing store designed to get kids inside this former warehouse that cost roughly $3 million to renovate.

“The mission is … attract kids, and so we need to be … an attraction,” executive director Roger Thompson said. “The more often they come, the more often they’re going to interact with us and the volunteers, and we’ll be able to build a relationship with them.”

Since it opened in January, Rocketown has seen more than 50,000 teens walk through its doors. Because of repeated requests, Thompson and the Rocketown board, which includes Smith, are developing a program to help other communities launch similar ministries. Meanwhile, the center continues to seek funds and volunteers for its own efforts.

The idea for Rocketown, at least in germ form, dates back to 1992 when Smith saw “the loneliness, confusion, and hurt in the eyes of teenagers in my hometown.” He said he “dreamed of building something new: a safe and exciting place for teenagers to interact that was relevant to their culture.”

Rocketown leaders say about 90 percent of the regular attendees are unchurched. Keith Steunebrink, who manages Rocketown’s Empyrean coffee shop, said the arts have helped build a bridge. In addition to booking art exhibits and live bands, he helps run a summer training camp for improvisational acting.

“Art and music … are a great place to start talking about God,” he said. “It’s a very easy transition to lead into discussion about some [deeper] things.”

Sixth Avenue skate park manager Alex McGlothlin leads a Bible study for young skaters on Sunday nights at the park. “It gives us a good chance to … actually get involved in the kids’ lives,” he said. He also has helped some of his students financially, contributing such items as skating equipment and shoes.

“Alex is pretty cool,” admitted young Mikey, who at 4 feet tall has the low center of gravity he needs to brave the ramps and rails at Sixth Avenue. Mikey attends the skaters’ Bible study where, “You learn about the Bible, and about some kings, and how you can do skateboarding and be with God.”

For many teens at Rocketown the Sixth Avenue Bible study is the only time they hear the gospel. But leaders say youth often are most affected when they see the gospel.

Thompson and a staff member gave up a recent Friday night’s sleep to talk with four teenage girls left behind after an event. “We were there until 2 [a.m.] with these girls whose parents didn’t even want to come pick them up,” he recalled. Thompson said one of the girls said she wanted to come back because someone showed compassion for her.

“This is where we get to be Christ with these kids,” he said, “by sitting in a downtown parking lot with them until 2 in the morning. That’s one out of 400 that we might have gotten through to [that night], but to us, it’s worth it.”
Rachel Williams in Nashville, Tenn.

Once a drug addict and a thief, Canadian minister Monty Lewis uses his testimony to draw people to Christ
An ex-drug addict who used to beat other addicts senseless, steal wallets and forge doctors’ signatures to maintain his habit now advises the Canadian government on chaplaincy issues within the prison system and recently received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for turning his life around.

A salvation experience while lying naked, about to commit suicide, in the isolation hole of a maximum-security institution left Monty Lewis changed forever. He was delivered of his chemical addictions; anger, fear and other emotional problems eventually disappeared too.

“In my entire life, I had never felt loved until that moment, that instant when I told God I wasn’t worth saving but asked Him to let me die with dignity. An explosion of God’s love filled that prison hole and a peace I’d never known let me sleep like a baby for the first time in years,” recalls Lewis, 58, of his 1977 conversion at Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick.

The next morning he received a visit from a Salvation Army captain, who led him in the sinner’s prayer.

Lewis, who finished hosting his second Coalition of Prison Evangelists’ (COPE) conference for 250 international prison evangelists in September in Fredericton, New Brunswick, believes God protected him through almost 20 years of brawling, stealing, forgery, drugs, alcohol and womanizing. At one point, he had dozens of charges pending, from assault causing bodily harm to robbery with violence, stretching from his home province of Nova Scotia on Canada’s east coast to British Columbia on the nation’s west coast.

“I always had a sixth sense–a voice inside would say, ‘Don’t go down that alley’–I know now it was the Holy Spirit. I remember once being in a car with a hooker; we were driving to a pig farm in Penticton, British Columbia, and that same voice told me clearly to get out of the car. I found out later it was the famous pig farm where 50 prostitutes were killed, dismembered and buried,” he said.

The sordid quality of Lewis’ early adult years was preceded by an equally disturbing childhood as Lewis’ alcoholic father frequently beat his mother and told Lewis he would never amount to anything. As a child, Lewis was sexually abused by some teenage boys, an experience he said made him feel “dirty, stinky and never as good as anyone else.”

After accepting Christ and going clean, Lewis got a lucrative job, married Lynda, who he met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and had three children. In 1986 he started Cons for Christ, a Canadian ministry whose workers visit inmates in jail and send them Bibles, and follow up by discipling them when they’re on the outside.

Cons for Christ has since spread internationally to Haiti, Estonia, the Ivory Coast, Britain and France. Cons for Christ sponsored its first COPE conference in British Columbia in 2001. The conference was co-sponsored and funded by Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

Lewis is now chaplain’s adviser to the department of public safety in New Brunswick and wrote a training manual used throughout the Canadian prison system called Can the Chaplain Do It Alone? As an ordained minister with the Apostolic Church of Pentecost of Canada, he frequently shares his testimony at schools, churches and prisons.

Although the severe limp in his left leg from a terrible fight and the “train tracks” running down his left arm from years of shooting heroin belie Lewis’ past, he now seems every inch a respectable, hard-working person; a man with a mission.

“God has shown me my destiny,” Lewis told Charisma, “and it’s to reach the hearts of those who are imprisoned not just by bars, but by their own sin, shame, hatred and unforgiveness.”
Josie Newman in Toronto