Charles and Frances Hunter invite Christians worldwide to expect the miraculous
Thousands of churches from around the world were scheduled to participate in the Worldwide Day of Healing (WWDH) on Sept. 22.

“We’re really excited and we’re expecting tens of thousands of churches to be trained to lay hands on the sick and thousands upon thousands of healings that day,” said Joan Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Worldwide Day of Healing, which is based in Houston.

Originally launched last year as the National Day of Healing for All Nations, the successful global event was spearheaded by veteran healing evangelists Charles and Frances Hunter. Joan Hunter is their daughter and founder of Joan Hunter Ministries.

Her ministry’s Web site (joanhunter .org) will stream live reports throughout the three-hour Worldwide Day of Healing, which will be hosted in various locations around the globe. “This is a life-changing and church-changing event,” Hunter said. “Many churches have started having their own day of healing, once a month, after
we had the National Day of Healing [last year].”

The number of reports of miraculous healings and deliverances after the initial day of healing was overwhelming. Last year Hunter said a healing team of 150 people was dispatched to pray for hundreds of people in the parking lot of Dallas-based Daystar Television Network, which aired the prayer event worldwide. She said more than 500 people were reportedly healed.

“It was incredible beyond words,” Hunter said. “Daystar played it in the middle of the night and hundreds [more] were healed as it played. Around 1,000 called in or e-mailed with their testimony of their healing, as a result if it re-airing.”

At Marilyn Hickey Ministries in Englewood, Colo., Richard Patton, the ministry’s director of healing, also reported widespread healing as a result of last year’s event. “People came out of wheelchairs, backs were healed and major emotional healings took place among those who had been molested and abused. This was healing of the whole man.”

Robb Thompson, pastor of Family Harvest Church in Tinley Park, Ill., reported that 139 people attending last year’s day of healing were also healed of various ailments, including mental disease and chronic pain.

As a result of the thousands of healings that were reported worldwide, Charles and Frances Hunter published a 100-page book, What’s New? The Historic First National Day of Healing. The book is a compilation of the many miraculous testimonies recorded after the first day of healing.

In one account, Patton describes the healing of a man who had a massive stroke one year earlier. “The right side of his body was paralyzed, and his right fist clenched tight. He came in a wheelchair. The Lord grew out his legs [and] his arms and his shoulders straightened parallel.

“His clenched hand and his body muscles on the right side loosened, he moved his hand and his arm for the first time. He walked farther today than he has in a year.”

This year’s Worldwide Day of Healing kicked off in June with a pastors’ breakfast at pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston. Hundreds of ministers from across the U.S. attended the event, and a healing training seminar at Lakewood Church was scheduled for August.

The healing day was again to be taped at Daystar’s studios, where intercessors would be stationed in the parking lot to offer prayer for healing. “We’re seeing the healing power of God remain in the church for the ones that participated last year,” Joan Hunter said.

In addition to churches and ministries already involved in the WWDH event, she said many more have been signing up for the prayer initiative, including churches in countries such as Austria, Liberia, Nigeria, Scotland, Ireland, England and the Philippines.

But whether it’s Christians in the U.S. or in other parts of the world, according to Hunter, praying for people to be healed is every believer’s responsibility. “Healing and [prayer] for the sick has been left up to the pastors and the ‘Benny Hinns’ [and] the ‘Hunters,'” she said. “But it is for every believer. I am more of the [motivator and] activator, showing people it is their responsibility to pray for the sick. And they do get well.”
Leilani Haywood

Bishop Clifford and Pamela Frazier hope to strengthen families through their Battle for the Family conferences
A Missouri church is waging war on troubling statistics that show declining marriage rates among African-Americans and increasing out-of-wedlock births.
“We have more households in the [African-American] community headed by single moms than two-parent families,” said Pamela Frazier, co-pastor of the predominantly black City of Life Christian Church in St. Louis with her husband, Bishop Clifford L. Frazier.

According to U.S. Census reports, 42 percent of African-Americans are married, compared with 61 percent of whites and 59 percent of Hispanics. Roughly 68 percent of African-American births are to single mothers, compared with 10 percent of white births and 7 percent of Hispanic births. And single parents head 62 percent of African-American households, while 27 percent of white households and 35 percent of Hispanic homes are led by singles.

The Fraziers hope to curb those trends and strengthen existing families through their Battle for the Family conferences and seminars, which offer practical ministry addressing various aspects of family life. “We talk about issues that singles and single parents can relate to, divorced and separated individuals and families,” Clifford Frazier said of the annual family conference. “We cover finances and how to raise kids, especially for single parents.”

Through its Let’s Get Married outreach, the 1,100-member church has motivated 25 cohabiting couples to wed since 2004. “A lot of them are shacking up because that’s what they grew up with,” Frazier said. After the couples participate in a nine-week course, the church sponsors a mass wedding and reception for all the graduates.

According to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study commissioned by Princeton and Columbia universities, churches have a significant impact on African-American marriages and families. Churchgoing African-American women are 73 percent more likely to be married at the birth of their child, the study found, and unmarried mothers who attend church are 148 times more likely to marry after the birth of their child than nonattenders.

“Religion functions for African Americans much like it does for other Americans when it comes to things like getting married and having a good quality relationship,” said W. Bradford Wilcox, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia who led the study’s research on religion and marriage.

“But there are other factors in the environment for African-Americans that tend to exert a negative influence [such as poverty and racism],” he said, “and those things help account for the distinctive marriage trends we see in the black community.”

Wilcox said the majority of respondents wanted their churches to offer more programs on relationship issues.

For the Fraziers, the emphasis on family ministry was unintended. “We started a church in Dallas and immediately were putting out fires among couples and families,” said Clifford Frazier, who has ministered in 48 nations with his wife, whom he and the church affectionately call “Mama.”

“Mama told me that we need to be proactive instead of reactive. That’s when our ministry started addressing the family.”

In 1997 the couple moved from the Dallas church, called Heartline Ministries, to pastor City of Life (thecityoflife.com).

Every February, the Fraziers devote a week to ministering on family issues, and for years in Dallas they hosted a live call-in radio show called Straight From the Heart that grew from 15 minutes to 30 minutes to an hour. The couple said hundreds of lives have been changed.

Ann Perry was so tired of her husband’s drug addiction, she once held a gun to his head, thinking she’d shoot him and herself. But instead of taking both their lives, she dropped the gun and later stumbled onto Straight From the Heart. “Mama would always say, ‘If it’s bothering you, it’s bothering God,'” Perry recalled.

Perry told her husband to listen to the show, and he eventually visited the Fraziers’ church. There, he accepted Christ and found complete deliverance. Today the Perrys lead a Celebrate Recovery ministry through Heartline Ministries in Dallas.

Johnny Gulley was a drug dealer and had been divorced for 12 years when his ex-wife, Linda, invited him to a Battle for the Family conference. After attending a series of classes for men, Gulley accepted Christ, abandoned his criminal lifestyle and eventually reconciled with his wife.

Gulley kept his commitment to Christ even after he was arrested on old charges of auto theft and sentenced to life in prison, where he started leading Bible studies and baptizing people. In time, Gulley’s sentence miraculously was commuted to time served and he was released. Today he is the president of the deacon board.

“There is nothing too hard for God to do on family issues and bedroom issues,” Clifford Frazier said. “We’ve seen God do the impossible.”
Leilani Haywood in St. Louis

Celebrating 10 years since the original event drew 1 million men to the National Mall, Stand in the Gap 2007 is one of several diverse tools ministries are using to reach men
Ten years after the history-making Promise Keepers conference that drew more than 1 million men to the nation’s capitol, men are again being summoned to Washington, D.C., for Stand in the Gap 2007.

Organizers are preparing for 250,000 men to convene on the lawn of the Washington Monument for the Oct. 6 event, which is being hosted by the National Coalition of Men’s Ministries, a network of more than 80 Christian men’s organizations. Speakers include Joseph Garlington, David Jeremiah, Samuel Rodriguez Jr. and Erwin McManus.

“We are urging men to return, remember, renew and rebuild their commitment to God, their families, churches, neighborhoods, communities and the nation,” said Marty Granger, chairman and executive director of the event.

Stand in the Gap (standinthegap2007 .org) comes at a time when men’s ministry events rarely pack out stadiums. Promise Keepers (PK), which is supportive of but not involved in Stand in the Gap, hosts seven national conferences each year. But recent studies show that only about 35 percent of U.S. men attend church regularly.

“The church has taken the pressure off men—in a bad way,” said Brian Doyle, president of Iron Sharpens Iron (ISI), a fast-growing men’s ministry that holds conferences in 24 cities every year. “If we can get our families to church, then we think we’ve done our job spiritually. We give the spiritual responsibility over to ‘the professionals.'”

Jim Weidmann, PK’s senior vice president, said his organization is developing more community-based resources for men. In addition to enhancing its Web site, the group plans to launch PK Adventure, a 90-minute multimedia series that combines the experiences of men’s conferences, moviegoing and corporate training events. Hosted in movie theaters by local men’s ministries, the resource will debut in November with a football-themed program featuring Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy.

Similarly, Men’s Fraternity provides a series of courses on “authentic manhood” that are held in 6,000 locations nationwide—up from 1,000 locations three years ago.

“We’re seeing people spontaneously conduct the courses in boardrooms, places of business, on campuses, in the military and even in prisons,” global director Rick Caldwell said.

Although the courses aren’t designed to appeal to “macho values,” Caldwell said the meetings are tailor-made for men. “We don’t have the guys hold hands or sing ‘Kumbaya,'” he said. “We dispense with a lot of church trappings.”

In Daytona Beach, Fla., roughly 100 men gather for the Church for Men, which meets one Saturday evening each month in a Salvation Army gym. Founded by Mike Ellis, the outreach event discusses issues men more often grapple with, such as anger and lust, and offers a one-hour in-and-out guarantee—even displaying a shot clock to time the message.

Ellis said rather than being a literal congregation, the Church for Men is meant to complement local ministries. “Not only are [attendees] coming into a steppingstone church experience that they feel comfortable in,” he said, “but what’s happening is they’re meeting men and pastors from area churches, and these guys are—after 48 years, nine years, 11 years of not going to church—are finding home churches for the first time. And that is one of our goals.”

Other men’s ministry leaders echo that sentiment. “The men’s movement isolated itself, and the dialogue needs to continue to grow,” said Kenny Luck, founder of Every Man Ministries. “Instead of competing with the local church, it needs to complement it.”

Originally established as an independent organization, Every Man Ministries (EMM) is now an outreach of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. And though based in a local church, EMM hosts conferences across the U.S. “We’re getting flooded with calls from churches,” Luck said. “I’m excited about training churches. I don’t work for Every Man Ministries. I work for local pastors.”

To help train and empower men’s ministry leaders, Florida-based Man in the Mirror recently launched the Web site disciplemen.com. Patrick Morley, founder of Man in the Mirror, which partners with about a dozen other men’s ministries including PK, describes the site as “a single, online, neutral location for leadership resources.”

Man in the Mirror President David Delk believes the site provides an essential ingredient that has been missing from the men’s movement. “Right now there’s an incredible inefficiency in men’s ministry,” he said. “There are a lot of good-hearted men who want to help other men, but they’re too busy. … This will multiply their success exponentially.”

At Stand in the Gap 2007, participants will be challenged to leave a legacy of spiritual strength to the next generation. And like the original event, which draws its name from Ezekiel 22:30, it will call men to accountability. “Men today tend to be isolated,” said National Coalition of Men’s Ministries President Rick Kingham. “If you can get them together to stand for God, it’s a grand success.”

Kingham, who will be emceeing at Stand in the Gap 2007, said he anticipates big things for the men’s movement. “The next phase will be a massive mobilization of men empowered to be a credible witness of Jesus Christ to the entire world,” he said.
Rachael Cox and Drew Dyck

Leaders at the Pentecostar World Conference say the global Christian movement can’t be stopped
In July more than 300 delegations from across the globe ignored travel warnings issued by some governments and convened in Surabaya, Indonesia, for the 21st triennial Pentecostal World Conference (PWC), a global coalition of some of the world’s most influential Pentecostal leaders.

Christians from 34 nations packed the sprawling 20,000-seat auditorium of Graha Bethany Church July 17-20 as speakers such as Foursquare President Jack Hayford, former Assemblies of God (AG) Assistant General Superintendent Charles Crabtree and Bishop Jerry Macklin, pastor of Glad Tidings Church of God in Christ in Hayward, Calif., addressed the crowd.

Bishop James Leggett, general superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church and PWC chairman, said the global Pentecostal movement doesn’t belong to certain churches or denominations. “The fire of the Holy Spirit is now moving around the world. There is absolutely nothing that can bring this movement to an end,” Leggett said. “Not even a clumsy leadership … or criticism.”

Hayford said divisions within the Pentecostal community were being healed.
“Competitiveness has long been known among the family of this movement,” he said. “But somehow, the Spirit of the Lord is bringing the family back together again. The love of God brings unity.”

Crabtree said brighter days lie ahead for the Spirit-filled movement. “It is just the right time for us to start celebrating the future of the Pentecostal movement,” he said. “The triumphant God of Pentecost is alive, and He gives us everything we need to press forward.”

To build a strong future, several leaders said churches must empower the next generation. “God thinks and moves generationally,” said Brian Houston, president of the AG in Australia and pastor of 20,000-member Hillsong Church in Sydney. “… We must not try to pump new life into the ways of the fathers, but move forward toward the sons, moving from the predictable to the unpredictable.”

Some leaders cautioned churches not to lose their Pentecostal identity or make the blessings of God self-centered. “Many in the church are too earthly minded and worldly, focusing on being fashionable, not spiritual,” said Dag Heward-Mills, a medical doctor from Ghana and founder of Lighthouse Chapel International, a charismatic denomination with 400 branches in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

“We have many big churches with lots of money, but they are powerless to bear fruit. The message of suffering does not go well with the message of safety first. Sacrifice and suffering, however, release God’s power. Jesus paid with His life. We must be willing to do the same.”

In addition to sermons given by Christian leaders, including the host church’s senior pastor, Abraham Alex Tanuseputra, three prominent Indonesian politicians—the city’s mayor, the provincial governor and the nation’s minister of religion—publicly thanked PWC for staging the event in their city and country.
Samuel Karwur in Surabaya, Indonesia

Elam Ministries has been training Iranian nationals to evangelize their nation for nearly 20 years
Ministry leaders say more Iranians are coming to Christ than ever before as many become disillusioned with the fundamentalist Islamic government that has brought them war, economic chaos and a religious dictatorship.

“I believe with all my heart that millions of Iranians can be won for Christ in our generation and profoundly impact not only the character of Iran, but also the whole of the Middle East,” said Sam Yeghnazar, founder of Elam Ministries, an organization that has been evangelizing in Iran for nearly 20 years.

Christians in Iran are also optimistic, said John Reinhold, president of the American Evangelistic Association (AEA), which partners with Elam. “They are completely convinced that Iran will become a Christian nation and will be the messenger to the Islamic world, that revival will spill out of there and actually change history,” he said.

Iran is largely Muslim, and conversion from Islam is illegal. But Yeghnazar said Iranians are very open to the gospel. “[Jesus] reminds them of all that they long to see in a true hero—a man who will stand up for truth, who is willing to sacrifice Himself for others and who will return to judge the world in righteousness,” he said.

With bases in the United Kingdom and U.S., Elam has been offering leadership training in Iran since it was founded in 1988. “It’s not a Western agency working to get Westerners into Iran,” said Clive Calver, former president of the Christian humanitarian organization World Relief and senior pastor of Walnut Hill Community Church in Connecticut. “It’s basically about Iranians ministering to their own people.”

But ministering among their own people has not shielded these Christians from persecution. Iranian government officials have not only required pastors to report proselytizers to the Ministry of Information but also have been known to tap phones, send informers to services and have pastors followed, Yeghnazar said.

Church leaders have also been imprisoned, and many have been martyred. But the threat of death has not stopped Iranian Christians. Yeghnazar said Assemblies of God churches, which have faced the most opposition, have “never shrunk from proclaiming the gospel to Muslims.”

The Tehran Assemblies of God church has a huge cross outside it, Calver said, “which is just ‘in your face’ to everybody. That ‘secret’ church … [is] openly showing its commitment.”

In the midst of such danger, Yeghnazar says Elam leaders are motivated by “the conviction that every Iranian should have the opportunity to hear the gospel.”

In addition to offering ministry training, Elam publishes books, broadcasts Christian television programs and translates Scripture into the Persian language. But Reinhold said what God is doing in Iran is “mind-boggling” and can’t be attributed solely to traditional evangelism methods. “The Lord seems to be taking a shortcut to reach the Islamic culture and mind,” he said.

Reinhold said an Iranian doctor told him he accepted Christ after seeing a vision in which Jesus told him, “You are Mine; follow Me.”

Yeghnazar said he has seen God do incredible wonders in Iran, but it always moves him when young Iranian men and women embrace the call to missions. “I don’t know what will happen to them,” he said, “but I know that the Lord of the harvest has promised: ‘Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'”
Rachael Cox

Assemblies of God Elects New General Superintendent
George O. Wood was named general superintendent of the Assemblies of God (AG) during the denomination’s 52nd General Council meeting in Indianapolis in August. Wood, who has served as the AG’s general secretary since 1993, replaced Thomas Trask, who resigned in mid-July with two years remaining in his term. Wood was one of five men elected to the AG’s executive leadership. L. Alton Garrison, former executive director of U.S. missions, was named assistant general superintendent; John Palmer, former executive presbyter of the North Central Region, was elected general secretary; Zollie L. Smith Jr., president of the AG’s National Black Fellowship, was named executive director of U.S. missions, becoming the first African-American elected to the denomination’s executive leadership team; and L. John Bueno was re-elected to serve as executive director of world missions.

Evangelical Leaders Express Support for Two-State Solution in Middle East
In a letter to President Bush published in The New York Times July 29, influential evangelical leaders urged the Bush administration to continue efforts to negotiate a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, breaking with the exclusively pro-Israel view common among many Christians. The 34 evangelicals, including the heads of such groups as World Vision, Fuller Theological Seminary and Vineyard USA, stated they sought “to correct a serious misperception” that “all American evangelicals are opposed to a two-state solution and creation of a new Palestinian state that includes the vast majority of the West Bank.” The letter added that blessing and loving people (including Jews and the present state of Israel) does not mean withholding criticism when it is warranted.” John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, told The New York Times that “Bible-believing evangelicals” would reject the letter’s assertion and that his group is strongly “opposed to America pressuring Israel to give up more land to anyone for any reason.”

Evangelist’s Tax-Evasion Indictment Dismissed
A California judge has dismissed the tax-evasion indictment filed against evangelist Morris Cerullo in July 2005. In his Aug. 8 ruling, San Diego federal Judge Roger T. Benitez said federal prosecutors and Internal Revenue Service agents misled the grand jury on the primary legal issue in the case by not telling them that the donor’s intent determines whether money given to ministers is taxable earned income or a nontaxable gift. “The grand jury asked repeatedly how to distinguish a gift from earnings,” Benitez wrote in his decision. “… Yet, the prosecutor and the revenue agent witnesses failed to tell the grand jury that the donor’s intent is the most critical factor.” In July 2005, Cerullo was indicted for allegedly filing false tax returns between 1998 and 2000, and under-reporting his income by $550,000 during that time. Benitez said prosecutors argued that all the money Cerullo received from preaching engagements was earned income. But the givers’ intent was never determined because prosecutors didn’t interview any donors.

Imprisoned Chinese House-Church Leader Admits Guilt
The prominent founder of a house-church network in southern China has reportedly admitted some level of guilt related to his prior conviction, China Aid Association (CAA) reported in August. Pastor Gong Shengliang, founder of the underground South China Church, was arrested in 2001 in Hubei Province and sentenced to death for “organizing and utilizing a cult organization to undermine law enforcement, to intentionally cause bodily injury and to commit rape.” International pressure during his resulting high-profile trial commuted his sentence to life in prison. CAA said initially Gong was thought to be innocent of all the allegations. But the advocacy organization conducted an “extensive independent investigation” and was sent a letter in which Gong acknowledges some culpability.

David E. Schoch Dies
David E. Schoch, a prophetic minister who became prominent in the Latter Rain movement of the 1950s and 1960s, died July 19 in his Benbrook, Texas, home. He was 87. Schoch founded what is now known as City at the Cross in Long Beach, Calif., and ministered around the world during 60 years of ministry. Funeral services were held in Fort Worth, Texas, July 26. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Audene; a brother, daughter, son, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

LaMar Boschman Resigns From Worship Institute
Worship leader LaMar Boschman resigned as president of WorshipInstitute.com and the International Worship Institute, which he and his wife founded 21 years ago, after admitting to a moral failure. “I am so deeply sorry to tell all of you that I have had an ongoing problem with ambition, pride, and coveteousness,” Boschman wrote in a statement posted on the Worship Institute Web site. “My extreme narcissism has resulted in self-indulgence and a moral breakdown. I have a deep regret for the realization of how this has brought, and will continue to bring, harm and pain to those I love dearly.” Steve Fry has been named president of the organizations, which offer training in worship ministry through conferences and workshops.

Randy and Paula White are ending their marriage and splitting their ministry operations
One of the most prominent ministry couples in the United States has announced they will go their separate ways after nearly 18 years of marriage. Randy and Paula White, founders of Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla., broke the news to a stunned congregation on Aug. 23 without giving details about why they are divorcing.

“It’s the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make in my entire life,” Randy White told the congregation. His wife stood by his side at the podium and promised to return to the church often to preach.

“This has been an ongoing process and journey,” Paula White said. “But God is always faithful. God always carries you through the dark places of life.”

In interviews with the Tampa Tribune, Randy White said numerous visits to counselors had not solved the problems in his marriage. He said he takes “100 percent responsibility” for the divorce—although both Whites said the breakup does not involve a third party.

“I want to apologize for the poor decisions I’ve made in my life, to my congregation and to the body of Christ,” Randy White told the Tribune. “I think I’ve let a lot of people down.”

He added that he regrets being seen in public with other women, noting that those incidents were innocent.

“It’s like hearing the news from your parents,” Without Walls member Frank Murillo told the Tribune after the divorce announcement. “They are great people. We all go through stuff. Pastor Randy will be here, and I will be here.”

Randy White plans to continue leading his 23,000-member church, which is more than $20 million in debt despite collecting $40 million in income last year. His wife will continue her multifaceted businesses and outreaches, along with her signature Paula White Today talk show, which airs on BET, CMT and other television channels.

The Whites told their congregation they had grown apart in recent years. Paula White currently spends her time in California, San Antonio and New York City, where she owns a condo in the Trump Tower and sponsors success seminars. At one time Randy White was preparing to launch a church in Malibu, Calif., a plan he is no longer pursuing.

In recent months Paula White has aligned her ministry with Rick Hawkins, founding pastor of Family Praise Center in San Antonio. She has purchased a $681,000 home there and accepted a part-time leadership position at the church, which is now led by Hawkins’ son, Dustin.

With their folksy, flamboyant style, the Whites have gained a strong following in both white and black churches in the United States and are known for pioneering innovative evangelism efforts, particularly in poor neighborhoods. But they also have generated controversy in recent years because of their emphasis on financial prosperity.

The Tampa Tribune reported in June that Paula White’s New York condo was valued at about $3.5 million and the couple’s Tampa home has an assessed value of $2.2 million.

The Whites’ ministry also owns a private jet and other properties. It is not clear yet how the Whites will divide their assets. The couple has four adult children, three from his first marriage and one from hers.

In an interview with Charisma, Paula White said the breakup of her marriage has been a deeply painful experience but that she will not let it stop her from fulfilling God’s purpose for her life.

“I understand that I am a public figure, but this is a very private matter,” she said. “[The divorce] is closure to a chapter, but it is not the end of the story. I’m very optimistic about the future.”

In several ways the Whites’ divorce breaks new ground in American religion because there are so few husband-and-wife teams in the nation’s pulpits. Paula White long has been viewed as the stronger preacher. Her personal ministry generates $50,000 to $80,000 a week in donations and product sales, the Tribune said. She believes audiences will still support her when she begins her solo career.

Divorced ministers sometimes step down from ministry, at least for a season of rehabilitation. But the Whites did not mention any plans to take a break. Besides her bases in San Antonio and New York—from which she will manage her Life by Design seminars—Paula White said she will maintain an office in Tampa.
J. Lee Grady

Worship from Casting Crowns, Paul Baloche
Plus New fiction releases
Loving God When You Don’t Love the Church
By Chris Jackson, Chosen, softcover, 208 pages, $13.99.

Although the title may lead one to think the author endorses leaving tradition behind for cell groups, house churches or other alternatives, Chris Jackson delivers a stirring exhortation for the body of Christ to mature. Executive pastor at Dutch Sheets’ Freedom Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., Jackson doesn’t gloss over the fact that some churches deal in spirit-killing legalism or function more like spiritual fraternities than loving fellowships. Yet this book forces readers to look deep within and acknowledge that their flaws and shortcomings have hurt others instead of carting around grudges for the offenses others inflict on them. Particularly insightful is the chapter titled “Ten Times Better,” in which he questions whether Christians’ marriages, job performance and integrity are 10 times better than those around them—as were the wisdom and understanding of Daniel and his friends in Babylon (see Dan. 1:19-20). Jackson emphasizes that one reason so many people are leaving the church is that there is seldom a discernible difference between Christians and the world.
Ken Walker

BOOKS

Praying Through the Deeper Issues of Marriage
By Stormie Omartian, Harvest House Publishers, hardcover, 250 pages, $21.99.
Stormie Omartian tackles 14 of the most difficult problems that confront couples today in Praying Through the Deeper Issues of Marriage: Protecting Your Relationship So It Will Last a Lifetime. Knowing firsthand the joys and sorrows of marriage, she shares wisdom gained from personal experience. Deftly balancing practical advice with prayer, Omartian reminds readers that the dangers to the marriage union are primarily spiritual. In lighter moments, she tells stories of her chihuahua, Wrigley, to help illustrate the importance of good communication. At other times, Omartian offers sober advice on how to cope with a spouse’s addictions and infidelities. Each chapter concludes with a prayer and selected Scripture passages for personal reflection. Omartian’s latest title will appeal to both husbands and wives and also to couples considering marriage. After years of writing her best-selling The Power of a Praying series, Omartian undoubtedly has something to say about integrating the practice of prayer into the oft-challenging marriage relationship.
David Rogers

Prophecy & Responsibility
By Graham Cooke, Brilliant Book House, softcover, 245 pages, $17.99.
Author Graham Cooke declares, “The world today desperately needs a prophetic church.” In the pages of Prophecy & Responsibility, Cooke sets forth a lesson guide in prophecy that will bring about required, and much desired, functionality and efficiency to an essential spiritual gift. To those who apply its teachings, Prophecy & Responsibility will help a prophet learn how to be “accountable,” “humble,” “safe” and “strong.” Although many churches crave the freshness of a spiritual “word” in their midst, many don’t know what prophetic ministry looks like. Still others have denied the potential for fear of error and misuse. Cooke embraces Scripture in order to define and map out a practical route to prophetic service.
James Estrada

I Dare You
By Joyce Meyer, FaithWords, hardcover, 256 pages, $22.99.
“If purpose is our journey and destination, then passion is the fuel that’s going to get us there.” This is just one of the many nuggets you will gain from reading Joyce Meyer’s newest book, I Dare You. This book is the missing link to many messages on purpose. Meyer positions herself as a “purpose coach,” taking readers from dream to reality with each passing chapter. With the “I Dare You” action points, readers are challenged step-by-step to move further out of their comfort zones and into their life purposes. Sections such as “Check Your Motives” and the teaching on the eight ways people extinguish their own passions will not only get readers where they want to go but will also help keep them there.
Jevon Bolden

Pray Big
By Will Davis Jr., Revell, softcover, 208 pages, $12.99.
Pastor and intercessor Will Davis Jr. believes that one of the best ways to access God’s power is through a deliberate prayer life. He offers simple tips on praying for brokenness, praying during periods of “spiritual blackout” and even praying for your prayer life. His perspective is bolstered with scriptural principles and peppered with vibrant and compelling personal encounters. In order to pray big, Davis says, one must abandon the meaningless, Christianized terms during prayer and instead pray specific, aggressive “pinpoint prayers” in understandable language. In other words, prayer should contain “no fluff, no fat, no extra words or theologically heavy terms.” Actually, Davis seems to interject this advice into his own writing style. By communicating practical truths without leaning upon elevated diction, Davis crafts a prayer manual for the everyday believer. By offering daring, concise prayers Davis helps make speaking to God “as natural as breathing.”
Jonathan Merritt

Applying the Kingdom
By Myles Munroe, Destiny Image Publishers, hardcover, 256 pages, $24.99.
Author and teacher Myles Munroe uses his third book in his Kingdom series to teach readers the importance of establishing and following through with priorities—and the top priority should be establishing the kingdom. He says that priority was never a problem with the first family in the Garden of Eden. They had all their needs met, and ruling was their top priority, not pursuing resources. All that changed after the fall. Today man’s consuming priority is in meeting personal needs. Munroe works to offer a solution to the materialism trap that is evident all around us. He provides practical principles designed to free readers from the self-destructive spirit of materialism so they can experience stress-free living above the world’s standards of success. He wraps up each chapter with a handful of principles that quickly and simply summarize the lessons taught.
Rhonda Sholar

MUSIC

Every Reason Why
By Mark Roach, Myrrh Records.
Worship leader Mark Roach delivers his debut album, Every Reason Why. His voice will soon be unmistakable to everyone, but it’s his lyrics that will stir listeners’ hearts to sing along and worship the Lord (toe-tapping or even dancing is likely to occur). Serving as worship pastor at Morning Star Church in Missouri, Roach writes music for the church. His smooth voice fits well on rousing songs such as opener “A Thousand Hallelujahs,” yet seamlessly flows straight into ballads such as “You Are,” which declares who God is. “As Long As I Have You” offers an upbeat tempo as well as faith-filled words of courage, declaring that as long as we have Him we can face anything. These songs are perfect for worship—at home or at church.
Leigh Devore

Pages
By Shane & Shane, Inpop Records.
After more than three years Shane & Shane are back with a new release. The songs came directly from the pages of Shane Barnard’s journal—hence the title, Pages. “Beg” does just that—it’s a cry for God to break through and cause us to love Him more. “Burn Us Up” speaks of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s trust in God and willingness to surrender. “We Love You Jesus” is a rousing song about love but also about death and how Jesus takes away the sting. “Holiday” is a pleasant, upbeat song that declares that Jesus is “my favorite part of me.” This duo continues to offer the acoustic-based melodies and reflective lyrics fans have come to expect and relish.
Leigh Devore

Our God Saves
By Paul Baloche, Integrity Music.
Singer-songwriter Paul Baloche demonstrates again why he is one of the most prominent names in praise and worship music with his latest album, Our God Saves. In keeping with the genre, Baloche writes emotive, lyrically repetitive songs that build to a crescendo. But unlike many of his colleagues, he never gets too comfortable with any one style, as this latest album demonstrates. Incorporating moments of rock, pop and even country, Baloche gives listeners more than a dozen songs, which collectively clock in at just over an hour in length. The disc is a comprehensive worship experience, from “Beyond Us (Only True God),” a soaring duet with Kathryn Scott, to the rock song “Your Love Came Down,” a surprisingly powerful number with arresting lyrics (“Your blood ran down from Your head to Your face, from Your hands to Your feet”). Nice moments on the album also include Baloche’s beautiful arrangement of “Rock of Ages,” as well as his duet with worship leader Matt Redman (“I Cling to the Cross”). “The Kingdom of God” and “Our God Saves,” the title track, are both fairly standard. Baloche is best when he’s doing something a little out of the ordinary. Yet, even when he’s not, his songs are catchy—and likely coming to a church near you.
Cameron Conant

The Altar and the Door
By Casting Crowns, Reunion Records.
Casting Crowns return with their third album, The Altar and the Door. This collection is packed with faith-filled, heart-stirring lyrics that will challenge and encourage listeners and bring glory and honor to God. Opener “What the World Needs” offers hard-hitting truth that Christians have to care more about the inside than appearances, and we have to stop being so like the world that the world can’t see a difference in us. The title track is based on how easy it is to know right from wrong when spending time with Him. But somewhere between “the altar and the door” we can lose sight of the lines. “I Know You’re There” is an album highlight with Megan Garrett taking lead vocals. She declares: “I know You’re there / I know You see me / You’re the air I breathe / You are the ground beneath me / I know You’re there / I know you hear me / I can find You anywhere.” This group continues to create music that helps usher listeners into God’s presence.
Leigh Devore

Fiction

SUPERNATURAL

Angel
By Alton Gansky, Realms, softcover, 304 pages, $12.99.
California has a new visitor. Aster speaks with wisdom and makes promises—and miracles happen all around him. People are drawn to him: Politicians look to him for advice, and religious leaders befriend him. It seems only one person is leery of this stranger. Priscilla Simms, an investigative journalist, is determined to find out if Aster is too good to be true. She could lose everything, even her life, in uncovering the truth.

ROMANCE

A Family in Full
By Vanessa Del Fabbro, Steeple Hill, softcover, 331 pages, $13.95.
Monica Brunett’s life seems idyllic in Lady Helen, South Africa. She has two adopted sons, a meaningful career, great friends and a beau. But things aren’t perfect. A young girl holds a grudge against Monica, a friend is filled with grief and criminals are wreaking havoc on the village. But Monica has the faith to know that love is worth any risk.

CONTEMPORARY

A Promise to Remember
By Kathryn Cushman, Bethany House Publishers, softcover, 320 pages, $13.95.
Two women’s lives collide when their teenage sons are killed in a car accident. Melanie Johnston, a single mom, feels the rich boy is getting more attention from the press. Andie Phelps, the wealthy son’s mother, and her husband feel partly responsible for the boys’ deaths. Melanie is determined to keep her son’s legacy alive and sues the Phelps, dividing the church, friends and the community.

New On DVD

3:16 Stories of Hope
Lionsgate $19.98
This companion DVD to Max Lucado’s new book, 3:16 the Numbers of Hope, features Lucado’s teaching on the message of John 3:16. He also wrote the story for the short film included, which has themes of rebellion and consequences, forgiveness, and unconditional love. This DVD has a running time of 75 minutes.

Buzby and the Grumble Bees
Thomas Nelson $14.99
Hermie and Friends are back. Buzby’s niece and nephew come for a visit and everyone gets a rude awakening when the two youngsters misbehave. Buzby’s friends devise a plan to teach them the importance of cleaning up after themselves, using good table manners and getting enough sleep. Victoria Jackson (Saturday Night Live) joins the cast as Beebee.

Travel the Road Season 2
Challenge for Christ Ministries $49.99
Follow along as missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker travel from Borneo to the Himalayan Mountains to Tibet. The pair shares the gospel wherever they go. Season two is now available on DVD, and the 14 episodes add up to more than 500 minutes of footage. Also included are commentary, deleted scenes, maps, photo galleries, country profiles and much more.

Watch and Pray

Mike Bickle’s worship-driven prayer movement partners with GOD TV.

In July, GOD TV moved its cameras into the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, Mo., transmitting to more than 200 countries live footage of a worship-fueled prayer room that has burned day and night since September 1999.
“Our vision with GOD TV is to [work together] to establish 100,000 houses of prayer [worldwide],” says Mike Bickle, founder and director of IHOP. “We are not establishing an IHOP network. … We do not want them to be called IHOP, but rather to use whatever name the Lord gives them.”

Bickle’s partnership with GOD TV formed after the network’s founders, Rory and Wendy Alec, interviewed him last October during GOD TV’s initial U.S. launch. He now heads GOD TV’s global division of prayer and hosts a daily one-hour devotional program. GOD TV also airs three hours of IHOP’s prayer room live every day and streams it 24-7 over its Web site, god.tv.

Bickle’s vision for nonstop prayer began in 1983 when prophetic minister Bob Jones declared Bickle would spearhead a “24-hour house of prayer in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David.” Bickle says that at the time “the Lord promised we would eventually have 5,000 full-time staff.”

Today IHOP is nearly halfway there, due in large part to its distinctive “harp and bowl” model of prayer—worship music mixed with intercession. “You can’t imagine how powerful it can be to mingle songs with spoken prayers and proclamations,” said Rory Alec, GOD TV’s co-founder and CEO, after he visited IHOP.

The harp and bowl model of prayer is sustainable, Bickle says, because it’s both powerful and enjoyable. “[Without intimacy in Jesus] it is much more difficult to motivate people to pray [for hours]. The war cry in prayer is best fueled by love songs.”

Bickle says some Christians find it difficult to accept the idea that aside from training and outreach, the primary responsibility of IHOP’s 1,300 full-time staff and students is worship and intercession.

“We believe that the most effective way to evangelize and care for people is in the context of night-and-day prayer, which releases more of the power of God in our labors,” he says. “This is a new paradigm for many in the church today. The New Testament presents the missions movement as deeply connected to continual prayer.”

Over the satellites of the fast-growing GOD TV, Bickle hopes thousands of believers will tune in and catch IHOP’s latest vision for 100,000 houses of prayer worldwide.
Paul Steven Ghiringhelli

SPOTLIGHT

Finding Joy

Joan Rosario: Worshiping God on the mountaintop

When Joann Rosario was writing the songs for her latest CD, Joyous Salvation, she says she wanted the project to show listeners “how to worship on the mountaintop.” But the depth of her gratitude was born in the valley, when she had lost her voice and wasn’t sure it would return. During that time, before the nodules on her vocal chords healed, she says she learned not to put her confidence in her gifts. “When you read about David it says he was excellent, but the Lord was with him,” she says. “And I think as human beings … we strive so much to be excellent in our talent and our gift that we forget to seek that the Lord is with us. The Lord being with us is the most important thing.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Prayer Point

Roughly 1.6 billion unevangelized people live in the 10/40 Window, a region from 10 degrees north to 40 degrees north of the equator that includes Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. This month we encourage you to join Window International Network (win1040.com) in praying that:

Terrorist groups in that region will be thrown into confusion
Laws banning conversion to Christianity will not be passed
The murders and inhumane treatment of Christians would be investigated.

To sign up for regular prayer updates from Charisma’s Prayer Initiative, visit prayerinitiative.com

Bible On Film

This month the first in a series of 12 animated epic Bible stories will open in theaters. The Ten Commandments—featuring the voices of Ben Kingsley, Christian Slater, Alfred Molina and Elliott Gould—releases from Promenade Pictures Oct. 26. The 3-D production is to be followed next year by Noah’s Ark: The New Beginning. “Not since my years working with Walt Disney have I been so happy to bring motion pictures to families,” says Promenade Pictures CEO Frank Yablans, former president of Paramount Pictures and former CEO of MGM/UA. “I truly feel that we are helping accomplish God’s work in bringing stories to film that will make a difference in the lives of people.”

PEOPLE

Angel Sightings

Though some Christians worry that the current fascination with fantasy novels may be luring people away from biblical truth, California-based author Alton Gansky sees it as a sign that individuals are longing to understand the supernatural. “We have a curiosity about such things because we are spiritual beings,” says Gansky, a former pastor who has written 20 novels. “The problem is if you go into them without any [biblical] grounding, it’s easy to be misled.”

Gansky explores the lure of deception in his latest novel, Angel, a supernatural thriller about a miracle-working stranger who appears in a California town after an earthquake. In a time when Gansky says many churchgoers don’t understand basic Christian doctrine, he hopes Angel—drawn from Galatians 1:6-8, in which the apostle Paul warns the church not to believe any other gospel than what he has preached—will entertain and provoke thought. “When they’re done reading the book, I hope the reader will lean back and say, ‘I wonder,’ and then maybe do some self-examination.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

EVANGELISM

Evangelist helps Christians witness without fear

She average Christian in America will likely die without ever having told anyone about Jesus. So says Daniel Owens, founder of Eternity Minded Ministries (EMM), who hopes to change that trend through his books and workshops on evangelism.

“For the unbeliever, we’re trying to get them to think more about their eternal soul, and for the church, we’re trying to get them to think more about their accountability to Christ,” he says. “And that’s really what moves us.”

Since he founded California-based EMM nearly 10 years ago, Owens has spent most of his time leading festival-style evangelistic crusades in nations such as Burundi, Peru, India and Uganda. He says thousands have come to Christ and dozens of churches have been planted in regions that previously had little Christian witness. All around the world, he says, believers have the same anxieties about evangelizing.

Through his book Sharing Christ When You Feel You Can’t and related seminars, Owens helps Christians, especially those who are introverts, find ways to share their faith. “You start with just being yourself and recognizing that the average person has seven to nine contacts with the gospel before they ever make a decision,” he says.

“So when Jesus says, ‘I want you to be My witnesses,’ that’s what He’s asking us to do, and it doesn’t mean you have to close the deal every time. It’s just being part of the person’s spiritual journey, one of their many contacts they’re going to have.”
Rachael Cox