The Elijah List has more than 127,000 subscribers and has become the largest platform for prophetic ministers
A fast-growing Web site that posts prophetic messages and prayer alerts is playing an increasingly influential role in today’s Christian prophetic movement.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Elijah List has moved from a small-scale newsletter to a Web site with 127,000 e-mail subscribers, making it the largest platform for modern prophetic voices in the country.

Steve Shultz, founder and organizer of the Elijah List, said he didn’t have big plans when he first began sending e-mails containing prophecies and prayer requests to a circle of friends in the late 1990s.

“That’s the funniest thing of all this is [that] it was an accident,” Shultz said. “I was just sending a few [prophetic] words to people. I thought, Well, this is getting tiring—pasting and sending.”

Then 9/11 happened, and the Web site began getting 500 to 600 subscribers a day. “Whenever there is a disaster we get more subscriptions because people turn to God,” Shultz said.

Based in Albany, Ore., the Elijah List sponsors conferences and sells books and teaching tapes about prophecy. Shultz described the site as an online bookstore with an edge because some of the material is “cutting edge.”

“Most of what we make available is not available at your Christian bookstore because it’s a little too cutting edge for your local Christian bookstore,” Shultz said. “They’re afraid they’re going to be criticized.”

From 1991 to 1998, Shultz ran a business that reunited about 5,000 people who had lost contact with one another, attracting a national audience as he appeared on talk shows such as Geraldo.

But the rise of the Internet undermined Shultz’s people-finding business and led to his ministry, the Elijah List, which has grown from a one-man operation to employing 50 people.

Shultz said the primary purpose of the Elijah List is to dispense prophetic words as they come out “from all the different streams,” and he referred to the Web site as “a clearinghouse of many prophetic streams.” The Web site includes links to prophetic ministers listed alphabetically.

“What we’re trying to do is pick the most edifying and encouraging prophecies and once in a while a warning prophecy,” Shultz said.

But the Elijah List has stirred controversy. Jonathan Benz, resident prophet and pastor of prayer and outreach at Covenant Centre in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., encouraged intercessors he was affiliated with to unsubscribe after the Web site posted prophecies saying Hurricane Katrina was the result of God’s judgment. He said those kinds of messages took the focus off helping the victims.

Shultz said he’s constantly seeking feedback from prophetic leaders he knows and from his pastor. “We don’t call it a board, but there are advisory people who I trust who give me a thumbs up or down,” he said. “Since 1997 when this began, there are three or four words I wish I wouldn’t have sent out. I rushed them. I’ve learned as we went.”

Among those advisers are Chuck Pierce, president of Glory of Zion Ministries; James Goll of the Encounter Network; C. Peter Wagner of Global Harvest Ministries; and Cindy Jacobs of Generals International.

Shultz also sits on the board of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, founded by several prophetic leaders including Wagner and Jacobs.

Shultz’s pastor, Denny Cline of Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Albany, said he has been surprised by the way the Elijah List has grown. He believes God has used the Web site to “build up the saints.”

“We are both aware of the hot buttons the prophetic can push, but Steve is prayerful and gets wise counsel from other men and women who many people would know before publishing words that reach so many people,” Cline said. “I am always amazed at how many people are touched, encouraged and stirred because of the prophetic and the many impacting words that go out on the Elijah List.”

The Web site also is criticized for being too commercial. But Shultz explains that like a pastor, a prophet needs to support a family by selling books and CDs, or charging for conferences.

Shultz said he accepts and expects controversy. Yet he remains committed to a spiritual gift he believes is beneficial to church growth.

He believes the best days are ahead for the prophetic movement and plans to release a monthly magazine titled Voice of the Prophetic, which will include prophetic words and teaching articles about prophetic ministry. “We are a lightning rod,” Shultz said. “But it’s worth every bit of it.”
Gail Wood

The Rock and the Rabbi offers a contemporary telling of Peter’s relationship with Jesus
An off-Broadway musical based on the relationship between the disciple Peter and his Lord, Jesus, is bringing audiences to their feet from Orlando, Fla., to Tulsa, Okla., and throughout the Southeast.

This first-time dramatic collaboration between a former television host and a central Florida minister of music is venturing beyond church walls and taking the gospel message to secular audiences amid thunderous applause and testimonies of changed lives.

Told from Peter’s perspective, The Rock and the Rabbi, a contemporary treatment of the classic biblical story, is a cross between a concert and musical theater. The play begins and ends with Peter’s miraculous catches of fish, and follows his relationship with Jesus through Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

Though its message is strictly biblical, the show defies traditional religious labels. “People expect hymns and a costumed drama with period sets,” said Gary Richardson, the show’s writer-producer and narrator, “but what they get is minimalist storytelling and hip, ‘island-style’ music that’s heavy on percussion.”

The idea for the play emerged in 1974 when Richardson learned of Peter’s two miraculous catches of fish: one at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and one at the end. Then in 1997, after discussing the idea with Danny Hamilton, minister of music at Harborside Christian Center in Safety Harbor, Fla., Richardson believed he had the makings for a good production.

Richardson had produced numerous vaudeville-style shows to existing music tracks, and Hamilton, the show’s composer-music director, had many sacred titles in print. But neither had created a theatrical presentation from scratch.

With the show written, the pair heard Neal Coomer, a former member of the Christian music group East to West, sing at a Tennessee church. Despite numerous hit songs, Coomer was searching professionally, feeling a call to minister outside the church but unsure how to pursue it.

When he took a look at the book and score of the show, Coomer liked what he saw: a strong theater piece with a Christian context, meant to be performed in secular venues. He had found a way to realize his passion, and the pair had their Peter.

After a series of short engagements including the Lamb’s Theatre in New York City and Hard Rock Live at Universal Studios in Orlando, the production eventually found a permanent home at the Plaza Theatre in Orlando. Coomer would commute weekly from New York City, and the other actors, musicians and support staff would commute locally.

The show caught the attention of Larry Peyton of Tulsa-based Celebrity Attractions, a theatrical promotion company that has placed shows such as Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera in a variety of Southeastern venues.

The Rock and the Rabbi opened in Tulsa in July and is scheduled to travel to states such as New York, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri this year, with David Wise now playing the role of Simon Peter.

“The message is so positive,” said Derrick Williams, a Tampa, Fla.-based musician who sings the role of the Rabbi. “It’s not manipulative. It challenges your intellect. Even if you don’t choose to believe it, you’ll still be entertained.”

“People generally leave with a euphoric feeling of hope and joy,” Hamilton said. “They see the truth of this message of forgiveness, hope and love. The show makes it real.”
Amado J. Bobadilla in Orlando, Fla.

Pharmacists challenged for refusing to dispense ‘Plan B’ Pill
Four Illinois pharmacists have sued the U.S. drugstore chain Walgreen Co., saying they were wrongly terminated for refusing to dispense the “morning-after” contraceptive pill known as Plan B, Reuters reported. The pharmacists, represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, argue that the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act entitles them to opt out of procedures they object to on moral grounds. Walgreen spokesman Michael Polzin said the four were not fired but placed on unpaid leave and offered jobs in other states, Reuters said. Elsewhere, Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogelman said the company planned to comply with a Feb. 14 Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy ruling requiring Wal-Mart to carry the Plan B pill. Before the ruling, only Illinois stores carried the drug.

Appeals Court OKs Home Worship Service
A federal appeals court ruled in January that a Florida county’s land-use ordinance could not be used to prohibit an Orlando rabbi from holding worship services in his home. Rabbi Joseph Konikov filed suit in May 2001 and again in February 2002 after receiving code violations for holding prayer and worship meetings in his home and being charged $50 per day for continuing the meetings. Although the district court initially ruled that the Orange County ordinance was permissible, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found the ordinance to be unconstitutionally vague and in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, said the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented Konikov.

Advocacy Groups Continue to Push for Ban on Gay Marriage
The Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage announced in February that a nearly yearlong effort to allow Florida citizens to vote on a state constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage fell short of the necessary 611,009 petitions, Baptist Press (BP) reported. The coalition said it will continue the petition effort in hopes of getting the amendment on the 2008 ballot. The petitions signed before the Feb. 1 deadline will remain valid for four years, leaving the coalition 155,000 more petitions to gather before 2008, BP said. So far, 19 states have amended their constitutions to maintain traditional marriage, and four others will be voting on similar measures this year, the news service reported.

Atheist Seeks to Remove ‘In God We Trust’ From U.S. Currency
Atheist Michael Newdow filed a lawsuit in November seeking to prevent the U.S. government from printing the phrase “In God We Trust” on future coins and paper money, arguing that it violates the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the Constitution, CNS News.com reported. Previously Newdow sought to remove the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Though his first attempt to revise the Pledge was dismissed on a technicality, he sued again, and that case is pending. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), said Newdow’s lawsuit must be taken seriously, but the ACLJ is prepared to defend the national motto, even if it goes to the Supreme Court, CNS News.com said.

Shanghai Community Fellowship reaches out to the estimated 500,000 expatriates in China
In a country known for stifling its underground church movement, a nondenominational charismatic ministry in China is thriving above ground and drawing dozens to Christ.

Christians in China say the Holy Spirit is moving powerfully among the more than 500,000 foreign expatriates, also called expats, working in Shanghai. English services in the ivy-covered Gothic-style Shanghai Community Church (SCC) are bursting at the seams with 1,500 worshipers from 53 countries.

“It’s a slice of heaven,” said Karen Pierce, an aerospace engineer from Minnesota who lives in Shanghai with her husband.

“Every Sunday we experience the miracle of God,” said John Chin, a church elder from Canada.

The nondenominational, charismatic Shanghai Community Fellowship (SCF) blossomed out of two small groups of foreign passport holders meeting at the Shanghai Hilton and Ritz-Carlton hotels. It jelled in 1996 when the Chinese government stepped in, warning believers that they were gathering illegally. Through what church leaders consider a miracle, the Christians gained permission to worship in the state-sanctioned SCC.

Built in 1925 for Americans, the church operated until the 1940s and closed for a time after communist leadership took control of China in 1949. Chinese Christians also worship there, but in separate services.

Although no provision exists yet for foreigners to register legally as a church, SCF operates under the auspices of the officially approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement of Protestant Churches of China. The Chinese government bans denominations and recognizes only five religions: Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam and Taoism.

SCF is a lay-led ministry directed by seven elders from denominational backgrounds. The group operates an annual budget of about $500,000 and recently adopted a formal charter. It has distributed more than 1 million Bibles and pays medical expenses for orphans.

Shanghai is a rapidly expanding boomtown of 20 million people gorging on the fruits of China’s new economic power and affluence. Since 2003 SCF attendance has swelled from the rising influx of foreign workers. Standing-room-only crowds led to a second worship service in 2004.

The congregation is a multiethnic mix of expat believers and seekers from North America, Taiwan, Macau, Europe, Africa and Australia. Some raise their hands and speak in tongues during worship. Others stand quietly with eyes closed.

“There is no one way of worshiping God,” Pierce said. “There’s dancing in the aisles, liturgy and Spirit-led charismatic worship—without condemnation. All of the petty stuff fades away.”

“Although we are so different, the Holy Spirit has kneaded us together like a blanket with different colors,” said Mexico-native Jorge Solorzano, a plant manager with a U.S.-based auto parts firm.

“We learn to live with each other,” said Maxim Beti, a student from Cameroon. “We have the same aim in Jesus Christ.”

Although overt proselytizing is forbidden in China, people are won to Christ through one-on-one evangelism. Friends invited Constanza Leon, who is from Mexico City, to a church-sponsored Alpha course, which is an evangelism outreach. She became a born-again Christian after a few weeks, and she said her new faith helped her get through a serious personal problem. “It was Jesus in my life,” she said. “He changed my character.”

Observers say seeds of revival among Shanghai’s expat community are starting to bloom—even under China’s communist regime. Said Chin: “God is working something impossible.”
Peter K. Johnson in Shanghai, China

The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. was remembered for her work to keep her husband’s vision alive.
Four U.S. presidents, numerous preachers and members of Congress were among the 10,000 mourners who converged in suburban Atlanta for the funeral of a woman hailed as the “first lady” of the civil rights movement.

Coretta Scott King, 78, wife of the late Martin Luther King Jr., died Jan. 30 of pneumonia brought on by complications of ovarian cancer.

In 2005, King had suffered a heart attack and a stroke that left her partly paralyzed. She was diagnosed with cancer in November and sought alternative treatment at the Santa Monica Hospital in Rosario, Mexico, nearly a week before her death, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott met while attending college in Massachusetts. He was a doctoral student at the University of Boston, and she was attending New England’s Conservatory of Music. The two married in 1953.

Coretta Scott King’s commitment to nonviolent social change spanned some 50 years. She marched beside her husband during the tumultuous civil rights movement and continued to champion his cause when an assassin’s bullet claimed his life in 1968.

She went on to become the voice of his legacy, speaking out on issues such as racial equality, poverty, women’s and children’s rights, and health care. She successfully lobbied Congress to make her husband’s birthday a national holiday. In 1983 Congress passed a law making the third Monday in January Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The Kings’ youngest daughter, the Rev. Bernice A. King, delivered the eulogy at her mother’s Celebration of Life funeral service held Feb. 7 at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, where she is a minister.

King told the crowd that her mother’s death had prophetic significance. “[God] said, Make no mistake that the very thing that took your mother out is the same thing that emerges across the nations,” she said. “The cancer was concentrated in the reproductive area.

“What God is saying to us through the transition of Coretta Scott King is that we … are suffering from complications of a cancer of materialism and … racism and violence. … It’s a cancer that’s eating away at the … nature of what God created humankind to be.”

Although King commanded national attention during her life, her passing made history. She became the first African-American and the first woman to lie in state at the Georgia Capitol, where 42,000 mourners viewed her body. The state response stood in sharp contrast to segregationist Gov. Lester Maddox’s refusal in 1968 to allow Martin Luther King Jr. to lie in state after his death.

Standing in the pulpit of the crowded, 10,000-seat sanctuary, President Bush expressed his condolences to the nation and to King’s adult children: Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter and Bernice.

“Coretta had every right to count the costs and step back from the struggle,” the president said. “But she decided that her children needed more than a safe home; they needed an America that upheld their equality and wrote their rights into law.”

Dignitaries at the service included first lady Laura Bush, former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter and former President George H.W. Bush.

Other speakers included poet Maya Angelou, noted civil rights activist Andrew Young, Malaak Shabazz, daughter of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, and Oprah Winfrey, who spoke at a memorial held Feb. 6 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor. More than 115,000 flocked to the historic church to pay final respects, the AP said.

News of King’s passing prompted President Bush to order federal agencies to fly flags at half-staff, and Dekalb County Schools canceled classes Feb. 7 in honor of the funeral. Many ministers crossed denominational lines to honor King’s life and her contributions to the world.

“I know I speak for The Potter’s House congregation when I say that her untiring efforts as a leader of the civil rights movement and undying commitment to protect the dignity of a people was an inspiration to us all,” said Bishop T.D. Jakes, who also spoke during the funeral. “It was truly a blessing to recognize such a strong woman, one who laid a foundation of character and integrity for the next generation of this nation’s female leaders from all cultures and creeds.”
Valerie G. Lowe

Elsie Mason, ‘First Lady of Church of God in Christ,’ Dies
Elsie Louise Washington Mason, wife of Church of God in Christ (COGIC) founder Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, died Jan. 31 in a Memphis, Tenn., hospital. She was 98. Widowed in 1961, Mason served as an evangelist, was secretary of the denomination’s missions department and helped found an orphanage in Haiti, the Commercial Appeal reported. She also served as editor of COGIC’s official newspaper, The Whole Truth, and despite failing health recently completed a history of COGIC titled The Great Cloud of Witnesses. “She was a very distinguished lady, a good wife and a dedicated church worker,” David Hall, pastor of Temple COGIC in Memphis, which was founded by C.H. Mason, told the Appeal. “She was very active in many facets of our church and she will be greatly missed.” Funeral services were held Feb. 6 at Temple of Deliverance COGIC in Memphis. She is survived by three sisters: Ceneta Qualls and Ida Jamison of Memphis, and Clara McAdams of Los Angeles.

Jordanian King Urges Cooperation among Christians, Muslims and Jews
King Abdullah of Jordan urged cooperation among Christians, Muslims and Jews at a luncheon speech during the National Prayer Breakfast events Feb. 2, the New York Times reported. The speech was the first by a Muslim head of state before a mostly Christian audience. Quoting as often from the Bible as the Quran, Abdullah told the 3,000 attendees: “Extremism is a political movement under religious cover,” the Times said. “Its adherents want nothing more than to pit us against each other, denying all that we have in common.”

End of the Spear Opens in Top 10
End of the Spear opened at No. 8 and by February had grossed more than $10 million amid criticism that it lacked an overt gospel message and that its producers should not have cast an openly gay man as the lead. The film, released Jan. 20 by Every Tribe Entertainment, is based on the true story of five missionaries who were killed by the Waodani tribe in the jungles of Ecuador 50 years ago. Though some Christians said casting gay activist Chad Allen as the lead was irresponsible, Every Tribe CEO Mart Green maintains that Allen was the best man for the part. “[Allen] raised the bar for us,” he said. The film is expected to release on video in May.

Canada’s Christian Prime minister May Put Gay Marriage Before Voters
Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper, who is a member of the Christian Missionary Alliance, became Canada’s prime minister in January after promising to let Parliament vote on whether to reopen the issue of same-sex marriage, Reuters reported. Canada is one of four nations worldwide where gay marriage is legal. If Parliament were to approve the motion and a bill were introduced defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, observers question whether it would pass in the House, and they doubt it would gain approval from the Senate, which is led by the Liberal Party.

Hispanic Ministers call for immigration Reform
A newly formed coalition representing more than 20 million Hispanic evangelicals announced its opposition Feb. 3 to immigration reform proposals its members regard as anti-immigrant. Among the group’s concerns is H.R. Bill 4437, which would subject to arrest anyone assisting undocumented workers. Comprised of leaders such as the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Dr. Jesse Miranda of AMEN ministries, the Hispanic Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform outlined four major goals, including humanitarian border protection policies and an opportunity for immigrants who are already contributing to the U.S. to pursue an option to eventually become citizens. “What we are looking for is a more balanced and comprehensive approach to immigration,” said Mark Gonzalez, founder and president of the Standing for Truth Foundation, “and we believe [these proposals] accomplish that.”

World Council of Churches seeks to dialogue with Pentecostals
More than 50 Pentecostal groups were expected to participate in the World Council of Churches (WCC) assembly held Feb. 14-23 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The council, whose liberal-leaning members are losing congregants to Pentecostal and charismatic churches, planned to discuss ways to begin serious dialogue with Pentecostals and similar groups, who make up 25 percent of the world’s churches. “We need a fresh look at global Christianity,” WCC head Samuel Koiba told the AP. “I will also call on Pentecostals, charismatics and others to approach us in an open mind and not with the hostility of history that has led to suspicion.” While participating in the WCC conference as “observers,” the Pentecostal and charismatic groups were to hold a separate, smaller gathering during the weeklong event, the Christian Post said. The WCC meeting—the largest since its 1998 gathering in Zimbabwe—was also expected to address rifts over same-sex unions and homosexual clergy, and discuss ways to forge closer ties between Christians and moderate Muslims, the AP said.

Your study will be enriched when you explore different versions.
Have you ever wondered if you made the right choice when you purchased your last Bible? A few key questions will help you evaluate which Bible meets your needs.

1. How was it translated? Three basic methods of Scripture translation are used: word for word, thought for thought and paraphrasing.

Word for word is also known as “literal translation.” Bibles in this category include New American Standard Bible and King James Version.

Thought for thought is sometimes called “dynamic translation.” Bibles in this category include New Revised Standard Version, and New International Version.

Paraphrases generally are not translations but revisions of translated versions of the Bible. Some are created with careful attention to the original languages; some are not. Contemporary paraphrases include The Living Bible and The Message.

2. Who translated it? An individual? A nonprofit organization? An international team of experts? Better translations generally emerge from large, diverse groups. Also consider whether the person or group behind the paraphrase could be the reason for its popularity or unpopularity.

3. Which manuscripts were used? Many original versions were lost during the early church period. Some have since been found. Translations differ depending on the manuscripts’ source languages: Hebrew and Aramaic for Old Testament and Greek for New Testament.

Here are overviews of several popular Bibles.

Area churches are partnering with police to combat a recent increase in youth violence
A series of deadly gang shootings that culminated in November with the shooting of a 17-year-old boy on the steps of a church while he was attending the funeral of another slain boy has caused black pastors in Toronto to work with police and civic leaders to find effective solutions.

Increasing handgun violence in poor, predominantly black Toronto neighborhoods motivated Orim Meikle, pastor of Rhema Christian Ministries, to start prayer walk outreaches and home visits to the city’s five most violent ghettos in 2004. Hundreds of the church’s members walk and pray en masse through the gang-infested areas during the summer months.

Initially Meikle said his team knocked on residents’ doors and asked how they could help. “Their unanimous answer was jobs: ‘We need jobs,’” Meikle said. “So we got some government grants-for skills training and small-business startups-started training youth on computers, and showed them how to dress, walk and behave during a job interview. If you dress like a gangster, you’ll be treated that way. But if you dress for success, that’s what you’ll get.”

Rhema also opened a transitional home for young men at risk for criminal activity, and the church plans to buy more houses.

Meikle believes dysfunctional families, coupled with the glorification of violence, gratuitous sex and drugs in gangsta rap music, has wrongly influenced some young black males to become gangsters themselves. His 2,000-member church includes four families who have had a child gunned down or stabbed. Many other families live in violent areas where fear of gang threats and shootings are a constant companion.

Omar Hortley, the 21-year-old only child of a single mother, was a member of Rhema until he was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2004. Meikle counseled and comforted Hortley’s mother until she pulled through the shock.

“What do I say that will comfort the mother? It’s very difficult,” Meikle said. “In that tragedy, God brought some good out because she committed her life to Christ.”

Meikle, a 38-year-old father of two who immigrated to Canada from Jamaica in 1975, has swiftly risen to a place of prominence with both police and politicians for his outspoken attitude on black empowerment. “Sometimes we have this attitude that people should just accept us as we are, but we also have a responsibility to lift ourselves up,” he told Charisma. “So we’re not going to take the handout approach, but we’ll come to the table to collaborate with other community members.”

He believes churches must once again become an integral part of the city’s fabric in order for them to work effectively with schools, government agencies, grass-roots organizations and the police. “Functional churches should lead the charge,” he said. “The spiritual component sets the tone for the whole city infrastructure.”

Don Meredith, chairman of the Greater Toronto Area Faith Alliance and pastor of Grace Christian Life Centre, echoes that sentiment. Meredith, a 41-year-old father of two teenagers, detected the gang problem back in 2002 and, along with 24 other pastors, followed up by visiting the city’s police chief for answers.

That effort resulted in the formation of the Faith Alliance, an interfaith coalition representing 40 churches. Today Meredith spends much of his time networking with politicians, police and social agencies to find holistic solutions to curb violent crime in poor neighborhoods.

The group has put forth several solutions that have proved effective, such as the mingling of police officers and youth to play after-school basketball in the church gymnasiums of high-crime neighborhoods. Rhema is a participating church.

Meredith’s conviction that there often is a lack of parental involvement in Toronto’s urban communities compelled him last year to visit Rev. Eugene Rivers, a Boston minister who created the National TenPoint Leadership Foundation-named for the 10 tenets the document says are necessary for neighborhood transformation.

“Meredith and I met, and we said there are lessons to be learned here, and it’s got a spiritual dimension. The root component of the problem is fatherlessness,” said Rivers, who grew up in poor, violent neighborhoods in Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago and eventually attended Harvard.

In 1988, Rivers established the Azusa Christian Community in one of Boston’s most dangerous neighborhoods. The house where he lived with his wife and children was shot at twice and burglarized six times. The purpose, he said, was to live on the same level as the street youth so they’d feel safe enough to trust his group’s motives.

“The way you raise a child is by going to where he lives,” Rivers told Charisma. “The black churches need to put men on the street to live with the troubled youth.”
Although Azusa Christian Community was launched in 1988, Rivers said area churches wouldn’t pay any attention to their efforts until 1992 when a young man was shot during a funeral just as the 17-year-old was in Toronto.

“The first churches to pay attention and come on board were the high-steepled ones-the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians,” Rivers said. “Now our coalition has 47 churches of almost every denomination who work in close conjunction with the police, social and community services.”

Rivers’ efforts helped reduce Boston’s homicide count by more than 80 percent between 1990 and 2000. His plan has since been implemented in cities worldwide.
Josie Newman in Toronto

The much-anticipated Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe raked in a whopping $65 million domestically at the box office, securing its place in best-opening-weekend history at No. 23. But more important than Walden Media and Disney’s collective payoff is how the film’s underlying message ranked in the hearts of moviegoers.

Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Torrance, Calif., rented out two showings opening weekend. Members were encouraged to bring along unsaved friends. A fellowship night commenced directly after the movie, where both kids and adults created ice cream sundaes and played Narnia-themed trivia games with prize giveaways.

“We sent out 10,000 postcard invitations, gave away Narnia-themed booklets and sold over 400 tickets,” said pastor Bob Rognlien, who preached a Narnia-themed series that began Christmas Eve. “We wanted to make a connection with people so that they’d come back for the series.”

Pastor Bruce Cadle transformed his New Hope Church in Melbourne, Fla. , into the fantasy world of Narnia, complete with wardrobe and falling snow. “The response was just incredible,” Cadle told Charisma. “We saw a 50-person increase in one week. Almost all of them said they’d be back and would bring visitors.”

Many pastors got their creative inspiration and materials from Narnia Sneak Peak Events organized by the Mission America Coalition. The group’s goal was to encourage church leaders “to consider the fantastic ministry opportunity” provided by the film. In cooperation with Outreach magazine, Mission America held events in 150 cities nationwide.

“We were so blessed by their personal support,” said René Bogue, service coordinator at New Life Foursquare Church in Canby, Ore. “This was a good wake-up call. Many people did not know the story was a Christian allegory.”

Mission America’s outreach ideas included organizing book giveaways, forming Narnia-themed reading groups, buying out entire theaters and having children act out scenes from the story. Pastor Dave Johnson of Kalamazoo Community Church in Michigan said his church sold out almost 400 tickets in less than an hour. “We were pretty impressed by the reaction,” he said.

The positive response prompted them to purchase 400 more tickets, which also sold out. Members and guests received gift bags filled with Turkish Delight and a copy of Knowing Aslan, which explores the parallels between Aslan’s character and the character of Jesus.

Just weeks after the film released, Mission America was getting feedback from churches that hosted Narnia outreach events. Deacon Godsey of Trinity Church in Omaha, Neb., said 40 people accepted Christ after a showing. “And 20 others rededicated their lives,” he said. “I’m convinced we might encourage members to send thank-you letters to Disney for making the movie.”
Danielle LoCicero

Pastors and ministry leaders gathered in Dallas in January to discuss the future of the church
When revivalist Steve Hill took the microphone at the annual meeting of the Charismatic Leaders Council, he asked a woman in the back of the conference room to dim the lights. After speaking for a few minutes he asked her to dim them even more.

“This is what is happening in today’s church,” Hill told the group, which included healing evangelist Benny Hinn, Baptist broadcaster James Robison and theologian C. Peter Wagner. “There is a dimming of the gospel taking place in America. We’ve got to start preaching the cross again.”

The impressive group of Pentecostal and charismatic church leaders met in a hotel in Dallas in early January. Convened by veteran Pentecostal pastor Jack Hayford and Charisma’s publisher, Stephen Strang, the group listened to panels that included Bishop T.D. Jakes, Argentinean pastor Claudio Freidzon, Jane Hansen of Aglow International and John Dawson, president of Youth With a Mission (YWAM).

Hill’s sober warning was underscored by Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania, who delivered a plea for renewed focus on youth ministry. Luce cited statistics about American teens that made some people squirm. Included at the top of his list was the fact that only 4 percent of today’s teens are or will be evangelical Christians.

“We are losing,” Luce said bluntly. “What sort of world will our children and grandchildren grow up in?”

Several panel members lamented the fact that charismatic leaders are faltering, either by lack of integrity or by failure to pass the baton to younger leaders. Meanwhile, Jakes, pastor of the 30,000-member Potter’s House church in Dallas, pleaded with his colleagues to provide merciful restoration to ministers who have suffered moral failures.

Other participants expressed concerns that U.S. churches are watering down the gospel and making their message seeker-sensitive in order to attract crowds. Said Seattle pastor Casey Treat: “I am excited about ‘relevant’ ministry. But have we become so relevant to the world that we’ve become irrelevant to God?”

Not all the talk was negative. Many panel members said they were hopeful that genuine revival is around the corner-just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street revival that launched the Pentecostal movement.

“Out of our constriction and confinement, a new thing will emerge in 2006,” predicted healing evangelist Mahesh Chavda, who said his North Carolina church is fasting and praying for a spiritual awakening this year.

Bible teacher R.T. Kendall, former pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, said he has sensed for years that true revival is on the horizon. “Something big is at hand. Isaac is coming!” Kendall said.

“What we have seen up to now is Ishmael. Abraham thought that Ishmael was the promised child. Wrong. As the promise to Isaac was proportionately greater than the promise to Ishmael, so what is coming is that much greater than anything we have seen. It will at long last be the coming together of the Word and the Spirit.”

James Robison surprised everyone in the room with his pleas for Christian unity. Admitting that he cannot wear the charismatic label, he begged everyone else to take theirs off. “We cannot let our theological beliefs nullify love itself,” he said.

Several voices also reminded the group that God is calling women not simply into ministry but also into church leadership. YWAM’s Dawson told the group about 25-year-old Brianna Esswein, a vivacious missionary nurse who died in Nigeria in December when a truck plowed into her van. He expressed hopes that Esswein’s story will inspire a new generation of women to head to the mission field.

Perhaps the most hopeful signals came from international and ethnic voices. Hispanic church planter Sammy Rodriguez reminded the group that Hispanics and other immigrant communities are the fastest-growing segments of the American church. Korean-American pastor Ché Ahn, whose father started the first Korean Southern Baptist church in the U.S. 47 years ago, said Asian charismatics in this country are using their wealth and education to transform society.

Myles Munroe, a Bahamian megachurch pastor and international speaker, chided the Americans for being too narrow-noting that our sport of baseball celebrates a World Series that is for U.S. and Canadian teams only. Said Munroe: “You must develop a global focus.”
J. Lee Grady in Dallas