Jewish believers and Christians are distributing humanitarian aid and serving as advocates for Israel
Responding to what they say is a biblical mandate to support God’s chosen people, Messianic Jews and evangelical Christians are pouring funds and humanitarian aid into Israel. The move is a reflection of a broader trend among Jewish and Christian groups nationwide to forge closer ties on issues of mutual interest.

Among the ministries working to bring help and comfort to Israel are the Joseph Project, which distributes millions of dollars in aid through 22 “blessing centers” located across Israel, and Front Page Jerusalem (FPJ), a radio network that offers Christians an Israeli perspective of world events.

“It’s clear in the Bible that God wants me and other Christians to stand with Israel,” FPJ founder Earl Cox told Charisma.

Cox said his life changed in 2002 while on a trip to Israel when he visited the site of a terrorist bombing that occurred in Netanya during a Passover Seder. “The terrorists arm their bombs with poison-coated nails to pierce the victims’ bodies,” he said. “If they don’t die, their suffering is multiplied.” He said he knew upon picking up the nails that “the rest of my days would be spent telling the Israeli side of the story.”

The Joseph Project, a ministry of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) based in Springfield, Pa., is the result of what MJAA General Secretary Joel Chernoff said was a clear, prophetic call of God.

“In 1996 God indicated to me that a million Jews would be frightened or driven out of Eastern Europe and Russia and immigrate to Israel,” Chernoff told Charisma. “This is a prophetic word much like the one given to Joseph to prepare for famine in Egypt.”

In response, the Joseph Project has filled 33 containers of humanitarian aid that have been distributed by Messianic Jewish groups in Israel. The ministry has enlisted two cargo ships from Friend Ships International, which are expected to make about 30 trips in the next two years, delivering 75 to 100 40-ton containers of aid.

“A million Israelis live below the poverty level,” Chernoff said. “While we are meeting current needs, we are also preparing for the flood of Jewish immigrants in the future. We want to help our brothers and sisters get ready.”

Funded by individual contributions and ministry sponsors, the Joseph Project distributes supplies to Jews and Arabs, though Chernoff said many Palestinian Christians are reluctant to receive the aid because they may be viewed as “collaborators” with Jews, a reputation that puts them in danger.

“Many Arabs who have been identified as ‘collaborators’ have been murdered,” Chernoff said. “As we can see a way around this, we will help in any way.”

The ministry’s roster currently is saturated with Gentile Christian organizations that help fill and ship the containers. Recently organizations in Europe and Hong Kong have joined the team.

Remaining unaffiliated with a ministry or organization, Cox has used his own resources to fund Front Page Jerusalem. A gentile Christian, Cox served at senior levels in four presidential administrations but says his “true Christian walk began two years ago” when God instructed him to work on Israel’s behalf.

“You cannot love Jesus without loving Israel,” he said. “God has called me to wake up Christians by broadcasting Israel’s side of the story.”

He originated his effort in his hometown of Charleston, S.C., by establishing relationships with local Jewish rabbis. Cox then assembled evangelical pastors and rabbis to inaugurate the Jerusalem Assistance Fund to help terror victims. Thus far, the fund has given away $40,000. Cox personally delivered the funds to victims in Israeli hospitals.

“I am so welcomed there,” he said. “The Israelis thrive on our moral support more than our money.” The Jerusalem Post called Cox’s work a real “morale boost.”

In February, Cox launched Front Page Jerusalem at the annual meeting of the National Religious Broadcasters. The weekly radio newsmagazine gives voice to Israel’s top leaders. The studios are housed in Jerusalem’s Mount Zion Hotel. By the end of 2003, Cox hopes to be broadcasting on 300 to 500 radio stations in the United States.
Arlene Bridges Samuels

For information on the Joseph Project, visit or call (800) 225-6522. For information on Front Page Jerusalem, visit or call (843) 478-5812.
gious-liberty issues

A 250,000-square-foot shopping center houses retail stores, social services and outreach ministries
There is a sense of elation that often overcomes First Assembly of God pastor Sam Farina whenever he peers across Highway 29 from his church’s parking lot. Just over this major business corridor in Concord, N.C., northeast of Charlotte, is The Village Shopping Center, a 250,000-square-foot strip mall the church owns.

The Village, acquired for a bargain price of $9 million in a foreclosure sale in March 2001, has afforded Farina’s church an opportunity to be in the vanguard reaching Cabarrus County in a unique way, by not only engaging in retail, but also providing community services and meeting local spiritual needs.

“The excitement and elation I feel is to see the potential of people being touched,” Farina said.

Tenants such as Big Lots discount store and Subway sandwich shop are The Village’s primary magnets for retail, but the rent collected helps fund church and social-service programs.

First Assembly already has converted sizeable suite spaces into rooms that accommodate its burgeoning outreach ministries. The most notable is Suite 15, a former department store that is now First Assembly’s smaller sanctuary. It seats about 600 people. Other ministries operating at The Village include a missions office, and the church’s child-care center and prayer room.

“With the purchase of a former shopping center, First Assembly is aiding our city leadership in revitalizing a crucial crossroads area of our city into a viable, exciting place where groups of all religions and various denominations can be served,” Mayor Scott Padgett said.

By 2004, the middle section of the mall will be transformed into First Assembly’s new main sanctuary, which will seat about 2,500 people–almost doubling the current sanctuary capacity of 1,400. The projected cost is about $13 million, according to First Assembly Director of Development Tom Ramseur.

“It seems unconventional, but First Assembly has been known to do things in an unconventional way,” said Ramseur, a former Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO and a current member of the Cabarrus County Board of Social Services. “We have a standard for growth, evangelism and outreach.”

Farina said he has studied similar projects in other states where churches have acquired major properties used for secular purposes and converted them for ministry. “If [the church] is going to prove [its] worth to the community, the state–and even have a tax-exempt status–we have to meet the needs of all the community,” he said.

Farina said plans for The Village include converting a former Winn-Dixie supermarket–about 45,000 square feet–into a community center that will include a children’s library sponsored by Cabarrus County and a free dental clinic for children. A home healthcare center and urban distribution center are expected in that space as well.

“If the church was doing its job we would not be needing [departments of social services],” Farina said. “We’re excited about being able to create and develop a piece of property that would fulfill community needs, spiritual needs and retail.”

The concept for The Village, Farina said, is taken from Isaiah 61:4. The prophet declared that God’s people would help rebuild a desolate place in ruins. In this case, the strip mall was not in ruins, though it was in foreclosure almost three years ago.

“That could have become a huge eyesore to the community,” Farina said. “It could have ended up as a flea market. That is not going to happen.”

Farina said his predecessor, founding pastor Tom Whidden, wanted to purchase the same property about 25 years ago from its original owner, Charles Cannon, who amassed his fortune in textile.

Most of the 45 acres that were to be developed were zoned for a shopping center. An adjacent tract was to be used by the City of Concord’s fire department, but the land had a steep drop-off.

“One of the things [the city] found out was it had to move about $1 million of rock,” Farina said.

That rock was used to help build First Assembly’s parking lot in its current location. “So that was a real blessing,” Farina added. “And now we own the land where the rock came off. God has a way of saying if that’s the piece of property you want, I’ll develop it and give it to you.”
Cedric Harmon in Concord, N.C.

Churches have been burned near Moscow, and Christians have come under attack in a traditionally Orthodox region
Citing beatings and church arsons that have occurred during the last two years, charismatic Christian leaders in Chekhov, a small industrial city outside Moscow, say they are enduring some of the worst religious persecution in Russia.

“Now, it is as though I don’t live in Chekhov. I stay off the street and, as much as possible, out of sight,” pastor Cosme Tossa, who has been severely beaten twice outside his home, said in a January interview. “I’m afraid to invite new people from the street now. We just serve the same people.”

Since the attacks on Tossa, arsonists have targeted two other churches, burning both to the ground. Police have made no arrests in any of the attacks.

Tossa and other members of Chekhov’s tiny Protestant community of some 250 people attribute the violence to the local mafia’s efforts to stop the growth of any faith other than the dominant Russian Orthodox Church.

“We are praying. We are trying to understand why it happened,” said Valentina Milovanova, a member of a charismatic Presbyterian congregation. Her church has been burned twice, most recently in October.

She recalled how thugs threatened construction workers building the church shortly before the first arson in November 2001. “They said: ‘There won’t be any kind of church here. We’ve got only Orthodoxy in this town,'” she said.

Her congregation of some 40 believers meets in the cramped living room of her apartment. Each of the city’s four other Protestant congregations also meet in apartments because they cannot get permission to rent space in local movie theaters or meeting halls. In Russia, where Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Buddhists outnumber Protestants, such restricted access to rental property is common because locals often eye Protestants with suspicion.

Milovanova is determined to eventually rebuild the church, but Tossa has had enough and would like to leave Russia for church work in the West.

“I can’t see any sort of mission for me here,” he said. Tossa has been in Russia since 1985, when he came as a student from Benin. Eventually he married a local woman, took Russian citizenship and fathered four children. As an African charismatic Protestant, Tossa has had an especially hard time in Chekhov, where he is the only black man in a city of 150,000 people.

Elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, a Pentecostal home church in Georgia was attacked for three days by Orthodox Christians, who object to the very existence of minority faiths in the predominantly Orthodox nation.

The 250-member church in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, bases its work in the home of pastor Nikolai Kalutsky. The pastor said he was defenseless as a mob of some 40 people, led by two Orthodox priests, besieged his property. Police observed the conflict but made no arrests, Kalutsky said.

The attack began on Friday, July 5, when the Orthodox Christians staked out the street in front of Kalutsky’s home and tried to persuade members of the congregation not to attend an evening prayer service.

“They blocked the road and grabbed believers by the arm and said: ‘Don’t go there! They are Satanists!’ We decided not to have the [prayer] meeting, and people were going to go home,” recalled Kalutsky, who, nevertheless, wanted to bless his church members in the street.

“Then some of them grabbed my arm so that I couldn’t even bless the people,” he said.

Kalutsky said the next day the Orthodox mob stormed into his home and broke up a 6 p.m. worship service, turning over benches, pushing and shoving members of the congregation and roughing up the pastor’s 53-year-old wife, Vera, who was hospitalized for three days with head injuries. Cowed by police, the mob simply picketed the church on the final day of the attack, a Sunday on which Kalutsky said he decided to cancel the ordinary prayer service.

The mob’s rationale for the attacks was simple, Kalutsky said: “They told us, ‘Georgia is an Orthodox country, and it is only for the Orthodox.'”

Georgia, a country of 5 million located between Turkey and Russia, was one of the first states in the region to accept Christianity in the fourth century. Today the vast majority of the population is nominally Orthodox. There are only an estimated 5,000 adult Pentecostal and charismatic Christians in Georgia, and they keep a low profile.
Frank Brown in Chekhov, Russia

Pastor Kingsley Fletcher says the move of God within his North Carolina congregation is meant to extend farther
Darlene Smith had been praying for a miracle for 12 years. She’d seen a variety of doctors, much like the biblical woman with the issue of blood, but still had lost the use of her hands and shoulders to fibromyalgia.

She was in constant pain. Just sitting for a couple of hours would cause her body to swell so much she couldn’t wear shoes. Though only 47, Smith said she was “waiting to die.”

Then on a Sunday evening as she sat in the back of Life Community Church (LCC) in Research Triangle Park, N.C., she saw a vision of Jesus walking the aisle, preparing to leave the building. She cried out, asking Him not to pass her by.

Smith says He laid His hand on her head, and she saw a bright light and felt love course through her being. When the vision was over, she sat in her pew and suddenly realized the pain was gone. She sat for a half-hour with no swelling, and later walked through a grocery store with no fatigue. She also carried her own groceries with no pain.

Now she can hardly stop talking about her healing.

“I’m just believing God that what happened to me would become commonplace to everybody,” Smith said.

Since August, miracles like Smith’s have occurred increasingly among the 1,500-member LCC congregation, leading to a rise in reports of healing and angelic visitations. It’s something her pastor, Kingsley Fletcher, describes as a move of God, the fruit of congregational fasting and prayer, and an answer to a cry for God’s presence to reside with the church.

“We’re experiencing the presence of God in such an awesome way,” Fletcher said. “It’s not just revival. We’re not just asking God to wake us up. We’re asking God to manifest His presence.”

Fletcher, born in Ghana, has long been associated with prophetic ministry, healing and miraculous signs. He notes that many of the people who have been healed did not receive prayer or have hands laid on them. “We are teaching people to look beyond the man,” Fletcher said. “We want Jesus.”

Fletcher is seeing similar miracles as he travels to minister. Diana Kee, 66, was healed of a speech impediment she’d had since age 3 when Fletcher touched her tongue during a ministry time at a Korean church in New Jersey. Kee, who is African American and had received prayer for healing many times before, believes her healing was a sign to the Korean believers.

“They saw for themselves–with their own eyes–a miracle,” she said.

“When God begins to move, everybody becomes a witness,” Fletcher said. “As you become a witness, you will testify of the power of God.”

Testifying is what Elaine Ewing has been doing since December 2001. The 40-year-old Orlando, Fla., woman tested positive for HIV after surgery in 1999. Though she never truly believed the diagnosis, she was plagued with fear. Then during a service at her church, New Destiny Christian Center, Fletcher announced that there were two people in the room who had been told they would die of AIDS.

Ewing went forward for prayer, then later received a letter in the mail saying her previous blood work had triggered a false-positive reading and that there was no sign of HIV.

What LCC is experiencing is meant to touch the nation, said associate pastor Eric Oduro Kwapong, who oversees the church’s prayer ministry. He believes God wants to restore the spiritual vitality the United States was founded on and make it a model of Revelation 14:6, which describes every tribe and nation gathering together in worship. He said true revival is experiencing a permanent move of God that “is not limited to acts and events.”

Worship leader Ron Kenoly, who has accompanied Fletcher on trips to Ghana, noted that many African ministers are coming to the United States as missionaries and bringing with them a strong commitment to prayer and fasting that produces a tangible manifestation of God’s power. More broadly, Fletcher believes God is preparing Africans for key positions of spiritual leadership.

Fletcher said that if the United States is to become a habitation of God’s glory the fire of revival must spread. “Anything that is spread can be dangerous. So when truly the anointing of God is moving, and the encounters we’re supposed to be having are really taking place, then this thing cannot stay in one place. It will spread like wildfire.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Founded by Pat Robertson in 1977, the school has the 14th largest seminary in the United States
Regent University will celebrate its 25th anniversary in September, while reflecting on the graduate institution’s unprecedented growth, both at its Virginia Beach, Va., campus and its new Northern Virginia Graduate Center near Washington, D.C.

The growth trend is reflected in both student enrollment and facilities, which include a new $35 million state-of-the art communication building and $5 million student center.

Regent’s School of Divinity, the 14th largest seminary in the United States, has reported an enrollment increase of 35 percent in 2002. Dean Vinson Synan says the growth reflects a revival among Spirit-filled churches and movements.

“The fastest-growing sector of the church in the [United States] today is the charismatic sector,” Synan told Charisma. “Most of our students come from these churches.”

The School of Divinity recently received accreditation from the Association of Theological Schools for a doctoral program. “Regent will now become the first Spirit-filled seminary in the world to offer a Ph.D. in divinity,” Synan said.

Rita Pratt, a second-year divinity student from Alexandria, Va., says she chose Regent for several reasons–the most important being its accreditation. “It is important to me that my degree be accepted by any university in case I want to go on for my doctorate,” Pratt said. “Regent stood out above all the others.

“Regent is also unique because they care,” she added. “Everyone is concerned about your spiritual growth as well as your education. That means a lot when you’re trying to hold down a job, meet family obligations and trying to go to school all at the same time.” Pratt also enjoys the convenience of being able to take coursework online and attend classes at Regent’s new Northern Virginia Graduate Center.

The five-story, 28,000-square-foot graduate center opened in the fall of 2000. Director Jeff Pittman said the center has tripled its enrollment in the last three years–the School of Divinity showing the largest increase.

“The northern Virginia campus is really a microcosm of Regent, even down to its traditional redbrick, Georgian-style architecture,” Pittman said. “The campus is designed mainly for working adults who either want to obtain an advanced degree in their field or make a career change.”

Debbie Lee of Baltimore is a fifth-year divinity student at Regent who takes classes at the northern Virginia facility. “Most students I know are not planning on leaving their career to become pastors,” Lee said. “They just want to learn more about their faith.”

Lee says she has noticed a growth in enrollment among women, particularly black women. “For the first two or three years I was the only black female in my classes, but over the last few years more and more black females are enrolling at Regent,” Lee said.

Regent University was founded in 1977 by Pat Robertson, shortly after he began the Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach. Classes began in September 1978. Today the school has an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students from around the world and was expecting to see its largest graduating class ever in the spring.

Regent has seen a 41 percent increase between 1999 and 2001 in the number of inquiries for enrollment. Though Regent is still considered a graduate school, the first class of students enrolled in its degree-completion program–for those with at least 60 credit hours–graduated in May 2002.

The momentum is expected to continue with the addition of the Northern Virginia Graduate Center. The school boasts five Cs at its core: Christian mission, career advancement, credibility, convenience, caring environment.

“We offer something different in D.C. that no one else is offering,” Regent Marketing Director Mark Begley said. “I don’t think there are any other educational institutions that are, across the board, emphasizing faith and learning. We have our niche.”
Sandra K. Chambers

Hill is remembered by charismatics and evangelicals alike as an important preacher and community leader
Longtime Los Angeles pastor Edward Victor Hill, who would have celebrated his 42nd anniversary in April as the leader of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, died Feb. 24 after a bout with pneumonia and other undisclosed medical problems, The Los Angeles Times reported. He was 69. Funeral services were held March 8 at West Angeles Cathedral in Los Angeles.

Better known as E.V. Hill, he was hospitalized Feb. 8 and listed in critical condition. In the last eight months, Hill had to preach sitting down because of a condition that had weakened his legs. He suffered also from diabetes, said his son, E.V. Hill II, pastor of Calvary Temple Pentecostal Holiness Church in North Hollywood.

Known as a preacher whose sermons “could thunder with righteousness even as he could listen with a pastor’s heart,” Hill was a force in the National Baptist Convention, one of the nation’s largest African American denominations, and a speaker at Promise Keepers rallies, the Times reported. Despite his Baptist affiliation, he was well-respected in Pentecostal and charismatic circles, and was a frequent guest on Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Praise the Lord program.

Bishop Charles Blake, pastor of West Angeles Cathedral and a leader in the Church of God in Christ, called Hill “one of the most significant personalities in the clergy over the past 30 or 40 years.”

“He was a great preacher, a tremendous preacher and a common man’s theologian,” Blake said.

Noting that Time magazine once cited Hill as “one of the most outstanding preachers in the United States,” Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell called Hill, who was a civil rights leader and conservative Republican, “a community-minded pacesetter, pro-life leader and moral crusader.”

Hill is survived by his second wife, La Dean; a son; daughter; stepson and three grandsons.

Jock Smith challenges charismatics to begin honest dialogue about civil rights and religious-liberty issues
Conservatives who defend the public display of the Ten Commandments have found an unexpected ally in longtime Alabama trial attorney Jock Smith. A partner in Johnnie Cochran’s law firm, Smith has spent much of his career continuing his late father’s civil rights advocacy.

But he says those challenging religious liberty–namely those who opposed the efforts of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to post the Ten Commandments on the state’s Capitol grounds–have “lost their cotton-pickin’ minds.”

“The Founding Fathers … instilled a value system that had meaning, had purpose, gave sovereignty to God, separated church from state so that the church would not be swallowed up, gobbled up by bureaucrats in government,” Smith told Charisma. “That’s what’s happening today.”

Ironically, some of the lawyers and judges who opposed Moore in that case (a federal judge ruled the granite display unconstitutional) are friends of Smith’s, people who have helped advance civil rights causes in his state. Though he admits that religious liberty is a significant legal issue facing the church, he believes it should be rivaled by concerns about equal economic and educational opportunities for all Americans.

“I think in order for there to be a fully appreciated, New Testament-integrated church, doors of opportunity [need] to be opened up,” said Smith, who attends Christian Life Center, a multicultural charismatic church in Montgomery, Ala. “And people need to be more tolerant or understanding about how past injustices have affected the opportunity of people, too. I don’t see that.”

Smith became a lawyer to continue the work his father began as a prominent New York civil rights attorney in the 1950s. An up-and-coming African American leader, Jacob Smith was murdered by an irate client in 1957 when his son was 8 years old.

In his memoir, Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, Smith reveals the “father wound” that almost caused him to fail high school. He enrolled in Tuskegee University with help from a family friend and became involved in the Black Power movement of the 1960s. He went on to graduate from Notre Dame’s law school and has won several multimillion-dollar cases fighting for the underdog.

Considering his background, Smith finds it surprising that he ever would have accepted Christ, who was often cast as a white man’s god, or that he would attend–as he does today–a multiracial church led by a white pastor in the heart of the Deep South. But the Christian witness of his mother and his wife was more than he could take. Jaded by the hypocrisy he had observed among ministers, Smith had a change of heart when an associate minister convinced him that God wanted people to devote their attention to Him, not to men.

That was Jan. 1, 1986, and today Smith is as well-known–publicly and privately–for his Christian commitment as his flamboyant dress. His pastors, Steve and Denise Vickers, are among his heroes.

However, his courtroom experiences have given him a unique perspective. He says many African Americans doubt white Americans would be fair and just toward blacks without government intervention.

Of the average multicultural congregation, he says: “[The] African American believes the person sitting next to them in a pew is an exception, an aberration, almost a comic strip kind of fantasy character who has somehow gotten through all the blight, and at the end of the walk through the forest has seen the light that racism isn’t right.

“That person has become almost a Howdy Doody character rather than a real flesh-and-blood symbol of a common American. I don’t think [whites] realize the depth of victimization African Americans [feel].”

Smith believes there is a need for honest dialogue among believers, particularly within the Spirit-filled community, where there are many multicultural congregations.

“I want to be educated. … I don’t want to just go around with opinions that are maybe rough around the edges or don’t seem to be supported by the facts,” Smith says. “I like honest dialogue. …We all need honest dialogue.”

Smith has what is considered the largest collection of game-worn professional sports uniforms in the world and leads a ministry called Scoring for Life! in which he uses sports analogies to help youth learn Christian principles.

He says his heart is moved by injustice, and he stays busy fighting what he describes as lonely battles for “the least of these.” In one way or another, he believes it’s a war all Christians should be engaged in.

“If [Christians] are going to be the leaders we’re supposed to be … we’re going to have to get a handle on these issues–and be the leaders with regard to changing the way people act and the way people think about these issues.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

BOOKS

The Worship Warrior
By Chuck D. Pierce with John Dickson,
Regal Books, 282 pages, paperback, $.

Highly regarded missionary leader and prophetic voice Chuck D. Pierce provides a strategic guide for finding God’s deliverance in troubled times. He commands us to worship as warriors through praise and intercession. In this way, we continually break through to the mountaintop where we are fitted to minister boldly in the valley.

The Worship Warrior stirs us to battle with biblical and contemporary accounts of those storming the heavenlies, especially through corporate worship and intercession, until prophetic revelation and gifts reveal God’s power to give the victory over Satan’s world system. As Pierce writes: “[God] longs to touch the government, the economic system and the school system. His heart wants to save the unborn child. All of this entails war. We worship so we might go to war with Him.”

Practical advice also abounds on how to prepare for worship warfare. Pierce guides us, for example, on girding our faith and sounding forth in praise. Laypeople and worship leaders alike will be strengthened in their callings.

The Worship Warrior draws the plans as to how we overcome as the body of Christ, becoming “something beyond what we are as individuals when we assemble.”

This book is not for the casual reader or for the casual worshiper. Sunday lunch precisely at noon or the Sunday afternoon ballgame themselves will not escape defeat when, led by the Spirit, we advance into the presence of God Almighty and Jesus the Lord, Who will then arm us to fight the good fight of faith–and win–here below.
Pamela Robinson

One Holy Fire
by Nicky Cruz with Frank Martin,
WaterBrook Press, 240 pages, paperback, $.

It has been eight years since Nicky Cruz wrote a new book, but now the author of the Christian classic Run Baby Run has broken his silence because he feels he has a new message. He urges readers to let the Spirit ignite their souls, as he has learned to do.

As a result of fatigue and discouragement, it took a while for Cruz to “get” what God wanted to tell him. He describes a visit from what he believes was an angelic figure to help get him back on track, refocusing his ministry back to the streets, helping the lost.

Cruz shares stories of healing in his ministry, of masses coming to salvation and of spiritual warfare. He also explores the promises in Scripture about the Spirit’s work on earth.

Not afraid to call it like he sees it, Cruz takes some in the Christian industry to task for greed and the church for its disunity. However, his is not a condemning tone but an exhortation to reprioritize. Most inspiring is the heart of this “missionary to the inner cities” for the lost that few want to reach out and help.
Christine D. Johnson

Know Fear
By Ed Young Jr., Broadman & Holman,
248 pages, hardcover, $.

We’re living in scary, isolating times and Ed Young Jr. is all over them in his new book Know Fear: Facing Life’s Six Most Common Phobias. Pastor of the large Fellowship Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Young addresses the worries that most of us are accustomed to living with every day: the future, failure, loneliness, death, commitment, God. These fears can be replaced with peace when we’re reminded of the bigger picture–the biblical picture.

In contrast to being swept along in the current of mass thinking, Young promotes a plan: Confront your fears and see how God provides and offers hope. Remind yourself that He can be trusted. Take action. “It is easier for God to guide us when we are moving than when we are dead weight,” he writes.

Have only one fear–of God. Young calls this “Christianity in the Raw.” He says, “Fear and love are the balanced equation of God’s unchanging character.” Otherwise, “… you do not have an accurate or healthy image of God.”

Why is there evil in the world? Free will. How do you free yourself from worries? Believe God has your best interests in mind.

The one fear Young doesn’t address enough is worry about finances. But that’s probably a book in itself.

Whether or not you’re a worrier, reading Young’s book is like sitting around the table swapping stories with a friendly neighbor.
Marsha Gallardo

MUSIC

Byron Cage
By Byron Cage,
GospoCentric Records.

It’s been a little more than six years since Byron Cage taught congregations around the world to sing “Shabach” and “Yet Praise Him,” which have become praise and worship staples in some circles. Now back on the scene, Cage is again showing the body of Christ how praise and worship is done with his self-titled solo release.

Worship leader at Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, Maryland, Cage combines a fluid blend of energetic praise with passionate worship. “Majesty” will get listeners’ blood pumping, as Cage declares: “He is so worthy of all of the praise. Oh come magnify Him. Jesus is His name.”

Recorded live at New Birth Cathedral in Atlanta, where Cage was once worship leader, the release continues with the upbeat “The Presence of the Lord Is Here,” written by Kurt Carr, who also produced the disc. The release also includes a medley of Cage’s best-known songs, including “Shabach” and “Yet Praise Him.”

The worship cuts are no less intense, particularly on “It Is to You,” written by Donnie McClurkin, and “Glory to Your Name.” “Thou Art a Shield” is a standout, as much for its musical excellence as for its passionate worship.

Byron Cage captures the heart of praise and worship, and wraps it in bold, soulful packaging. These songs could easily be used for congregational worship, private time with God or just to whirl in the CD player.
Adrienne S. Gaines

By His Grace
By Maurette Brown Clark, Atlanta
International Records.

Maurette Brown Clark burst onto the gospel music scene a few years ago as a featured soloist with Richard Smallwood and Vision. Then, after answering the call to start her own ministry, she blessed the gospel community with her debut CD, How I Feel. The critically acclaimed project garnered her a Stellar Award. She has just released her sophomore follow-up (an AIR Gospel debut) titled By His Grace.

The 15-track CD starts off with the groovy, R&B-flavored title cut. “Even in the Rain,” arguably the best song on this project, is an inviting tune wrapped in a smooth jazz sound.

The track highlights her songwriting abilities, as well as Clark’s improvisational vocals. Her ability to ad-lib convinces the listener that her goal goes far beyond just singing pretty melodies. You can truly sense her heart for God throughout.

“One Prayer Away,” written by Clark in response to September 11, reminds us that the Lord is always just one prayer away. Other jewels on this project are the Kevin Bond-penned song “You’ve Been Good to Me” and the reverent and worshipful “King of Kings.” Clark also covers The Winans’ hit “Restoration.” Bringing this classic into the millennium, she adds a little funk and some hip-hop. “Lean on You,” a duet with Dottie Jones of the Richard Smallwood Singers, is a moving testimony written by well-known producer and songwriter Steven Ford.

She also includes the uplifting praise-team anthem “Just Want to Praise You.” “Calvary,” a beautifully melodic song, is breathtaking in its simplicity with just her beautiful voice and piano.

By His Grace is a wonderful collage of songs of encouragement, hope and, of course, grace.
Andrea R. Williams

Cry Holy
By Sonicflood, Word.

Sonicflood may not have created the praise and worship movement, but this innovative band has been undoubtedly on the vanguard of it, amply demonstrating the viability of the genre with their groundbreaking, gold-selling debut project. After weathering new band members and a label change, the group still remains true to their original sound and passionate vision.

Cry Holy continues in the footsteps of last year’s Resonate. It sports a slightly more polished veneer but is as gritty underneath as their earlier projects. Alternating among guitar-driven rock anthems such as “Satisfied” and mellow, acoustic-based worship favorites such as “I Will Exalt the One” and beautiful new hymns such as “Love of My Life,” this album reveals a band that is comfortable with itself and yet is still growing musically and spiritually.
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Betty Robison, the cheerful wife of James Robison and co-host of their TV show LIFE Today, has been fearful and insecure all her life and tells it plainly in Free to Be Me (Tyndale House).

“It was a battle that was within,” Betty says. Busy in church, she was driven to prove herself worthy, but she was “still plain, ordinary Betty–the middle, invisible, inadequate child who grew up feeling like she never measured up.”

Her transformation was, at first, gradual. Falling in love, witnessing James’ conversion and evangelistic call, marrying into his love and encouragement, and raising children gave her new confidences. It was when James hit a frightening, suicidal low, but then experienced a spiritual release that changed him into a more compassionate, joyful man that Betty came to her turning point.

She cried to God for help. “The mental block I’d always felt when I read God’s Word disappeared.” She and James related on a new level; she began traveling with him, dared to do new things and even, before a TV audience, I “danced, as much at ease as if worshiping in the privacy of our living room.”

“I’d had a misconception about God’s love,” she says. “I’d believed He had favorites.” Like she’s experienced as a mother and grandmother: “God is always adding to his family, and yet He has enough love to go around. At the same time, He makes each of us feel like His only child.”
Marsha Gallardo

CHARISMA RECOMMENDS

Journey to Significance
By Tony Miller, Charisma House,
216 pages, paperback, $.

Author Tony Miller says God does not want to keep His promises hidden from us. No matter what our circumstances, He wants to move us into a realm of spiritual authority and anointing. Miller uses the life of David to encourage all believers to face their giants–and to learn to reign as true overcomers.

Faith Lift
By Babbie Mason, Charisma House,
240 pages, paperback, $.

Women are sometimes plagued by fear, unable to experience the abundant life Christ longs for us to have. There is freedom from the torment that can keep women from walking in faith. Babbie Mason shows how know-ing and understanding the truth of God’s Word is the foundation for destroying the self-doubt that plagues so many. Women can break free from the crippling bondage of fear and walk in true faith.

Healing Through Humor
By Charles and Frances Hunter,
Creation House Press, 192 pages,
paperback, $.

The Bible says a cheerful heart does good like a medicine. Charles and Frances Hunter know that humor strengthens the immune system. Known as the Happy Hunters, they are said to be the most anointed and energetic evangelists on Earth. This couple draws from two lifetimes of ministry experience to offer a large dose of cheerful “medicine” with their compilation of jokes, mind twisters and anecdotes.

Single Not Separate
By Virginia McInerney,
Charisma House, 232 pages,
paperback, $.

Almost 50 percent of adults in the United States are single. Yet, in the church many singles feel isolated, unimportant and overlooked. Virginia McInerney believes it is vital to close the gap between singles and couples. McInerney explains how to validate and minister to this growing group of individuals.

La batalla es del Señor
(The Battle Belongs to the Lord)
By Joyce Meyer, Casa Creación,
224 pages, paperback, $

Casa Creación is one of the top five Spanish Christian publishers. The Spanish imprint of Strang Communications, Casa Creación has worldwide distribution. La batalla es del Señor is the 10th Joyce Meyer title Casa Creación has published. In it, Meyer teaches that a life of constant fear and worry is not the abundant life Jesus wants for us. Allow Him to fight your battles, and you will experience a new freedom. Jesus is the ultimate warrior–He always wins!

CHARISMATIC TOP SELLERS

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

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

3. The Three Battlegrounds
Francis Frangipane (Arrow Publications)

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

5. God’s Creative Power for Healing
Charles Capps (Harrison House)

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

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

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

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

10. The Final Quest

Rick Joyner (Whitaker House)

I want to see charismatic and non-charismatic evangelicals work together better.
On May 1 millions of Americans will come together to observe the “National Day of Prayer.” Prayer is particularly important now, when our nation is at war with Iraq. But even when that conflict is resolved, we face an ongoing war against terrorism.

Thankfully, our president is aware of the necessity of prayer. Recently a high-level Washington official related a story about a friend who met President Bush and told him his 93-year-old mother was praying for him daily. The president grabbed the man’s arm and said: “Tell your mother two things: First, don’t quit praying; and second, it’s working!”

At a press conference before the beginning of the war in Iraq, a reporter asked the president a cynical question about how his faith helps direct him in leading the country. The president didn’t flinch. He said it means a lot to him to know that millions of people are praying for him daily and that he welcomes the prayers.

I am writing this month to encourage the readers of Charisma to observe the National Day of Prayer by attending interdenominational events in which Christians of various churches come together for prayer. Or perhaps you can hold special prayer meetings at your own church or workplace with those who wish to get together to pray.

Don’t be like the charismatics a concerned reader wrote me about. Allan Buckingham of Bedford, Texas, noted a trend I too had noticed–that when it comes to events such as the National Day of Prayer, the charismatic community doesn’t get as involved as “mainline” evangelical groups.

“It is a concern of mine that this event may increasingly be becoming the domain of traditional evangelicals with less and less participation and awareness by charismatics,” Allan wrote. “While evangelical … institutions build up to the [National Day of Prayer] … the charismatic community is often unaware of the event or fail[s] to arrange for an observance.”

Why is this? It’s not because prayer isn’t a priority in the charismatic community. Many churches and ministries do focus on prayer. But I think it shows a couple of things about charismatics:

Many ministries are so focused on what they themselves are doing that they fail to cooperate with others. It’s as if the success of their own ministry is paramount regardless of what is happening in the body of Christ or the nation at large.

There is a gulf in perceptions between charismatics and non-charismatics. Each group seems to have its own set of leaders and priorities and seems to operate in a separate world–even though the two groups have so much in common.

This is beginning to change. Ted Haggard, the dynamic pastor of 9,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has just been elected president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE)–a group dominated for decades by conservative white evangelicals, even though several prominent Pentecostal denominations were instrumental in starting it.

World Relief, the now independent relief arm of NAE, has recently elected several charismatic leaders to its board, including Bishop Keith Butler, pastor of Word of Faith International Christian Center near Detroit, and me.

Because World Relief chairman Gordon MacDonald is aware of the gulf in understanding that exists between the two groups, he invited me to address the World Relief board later this month on the subject “Charismatics: Who Are They, What Are They, How Important Are They, Where Do Non-Charismatic Evangelicals and Charismatic Evangelicals Work Together, and Can It Happen in America?” To me, just the fact that MacDonald is asking these questions is a major breakthrough.

I desperately want to see charismatic evangelicals and non-charismatic evangelicals work together better not only in NAE and World Relief but also in the Christian publishing industry and on political issues that affect the family and the church. But first we must pray that the walls of prejudice, misunderstanding and apathy come down.

So this year on the National Day of Prayer, I pray: “Lord, bring Your body together, and begin by causing charismatics and non-charismatics to work more closely together.” I encourage those who share my vision for unity to join me in this prayer.

Jerald and Sandra Tanner say a 1999 legal case attracted national exposure that still benefits their ministry
A Utah couple’s decision to post portions of a Mormon handbook on their ministry Web site triggered an unexpected lawsuit that attracted national attention–an action that instead of thwarting their Christian work has benefited it, they say.

The 1999 copyright-infringement suit centered on Jerald and Sandra Tanner and their Utah Lighthouse Ministry’s (ULM) use of the Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1. The manual addresses several issues of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), including directions on how to officially leave the worldwide church body, headquartered in Salt Lake City.

The Tanners, both former Mormons, are regarded as premier ex-Mormon scholars. They have authored more than 40 books about Mormonism and have extensively studied Mormon history and doctrine. They founded their ministry in 1983 to provide critical research and documentation about the LDS church.

Sandra Tanner said that although both sides ultimately agreed to drop the lawsuit, it gave ULM national exposure that resulted in hundreds more people contacting the ministry through its Web site. “And it hasn’t hampered anything we wanted to do or say,” she said. “It was a face-saving deal for the [Mormon] church.”

LDS spokesman Donald Jessee disagreed. He claims the arrangement forced the Tanners to “cease and desist.”

“The handbook is copyrighted material, not to be given out to anyone other than bishops and state presidents,” he said. “It was never intended to be available to the public.”

Although the Tanners had removed the portions of the LDS handbook from their Web site, they had posted some e-mails they received about the suit. As the Tanners pointed out on their site, “Two of these e-mails contained URLs, or web addresses, purporting to contain all or part of the Handbook. Note, these were never posted on our site as links.”

However, the references caused the Tanners to get caught in a legal firestorm. On Dec. 6, 1999, a judge found the Tanners liable for contributing to copyright infringement. In a written statement the couple said: “The judge reasoned … when a person merely went to one of the sites containing the Handbook, they made an illegal copy, as the text would have been temporarily copied in the computer’s … memory. By our posting Web addresses where a person might be able to find the entire Handbook, we were contributing to their copyright infringement.”

This attracted national attention, with observers saying the judge’s decision could dramatically change the Internet’s future. The suit was settled without the Tanners admitting to any wrongdoing. They were obligated to destroy all the copies of the Handbook in their possession and not to quote more than 50 words of it in any of their newsletters.

The litigation was not the couple’s first time in court. In 1983 a student conducting post-graduate research on the history of the LDS church filed a lawsuit against them, alleging unfair competition and infringement of copyright. A ruling was handed down in the Tanners’ favor after a three-year legal battle.

Another case that involved the Tanners peripherally concerned a young document dealer named Mark Hofmann, who claimed to have found sensational documents relating to the history of the Mormon church. Hofmann even brought one of his first forgeries to the Tanners for inspection.

In 1984 Hofmann claimed to have unearthed a document that could have damaged Mormonism’s credibility. Ironically, Jerald Tanner had serious concerns about the document’s authenticity. “Here you have two apostates from Mormonism challenging the veracity of this letter,” Sandra Tanner said.

When the Mormon church began checking documents more closely, two people ended up dead. Hofmann later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, fraud and theft by deception, and is now serving a prison term.

The Tanners both have Mormon ancestry. Jerald is the great-great-grandson of John Tanner, well-known for his sizeable financial contributions to LDS founder Joseph Smith and the Mormon church in 1835 when it was deeply in debt. Sandra Tanner is a great-great-granddaughter of Mormon leader Brigham Young.

The couple accepted Christ as young adults when they independently began researching the Mormon church. Today they are part of a Christian congregation in Salt Lake City.

Sandra Tanner says the Mormon church has felt ULM’s presence through the years. She notes: “We’ve had great influence in forcing the Mormon church to deal more straightforwardly with their history and acknowledge that there are problems.”
Jeremy Reynalds