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 ().

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 . 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 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.