MUSIC

Glory Train
By Pat Boone, Oak Records.

“Thank You, Billy Graham,” co-written by Pat Boone, is the title cut of the famous crooner’s new CD, Glory Train, and is bound for a lot of airplay. But the included DVD of the song is the highlight of this package. It’s a moving tribute to the evangelist, a universally celebrated hero of our faith.

Clips of Graham over the years, showing him preaching and making an impact on huge audiences as well as heads of state, are intermixed with studio shots of a who’s who list of artists and entertainers who contributed their voices to this recording—Bono, LeAnne Rimes, Michael McDonald, Kenny Rogers, dcTalk and others. The film has a patriotic, country beat with a “We Are the World” edge.
The rest of the CD doesn’t sound anything like the title track. The other 12 cuts all sound much the same. They are gospel tunes recorded in the 1970s and sung solo by Boone with simple accompaniments added. The old recordings were found in dusty boxes, repaired and digitized.
Marsha Gallardo

World Through Your Eyes
By Reuben Morgan, Rocketown Records.

Reuben Morgan, with Darlene Zschech, has been central to the Hillsong Music invasion from Australia for several years, penning widely known “Lord, I Give You My Heart,” “My Redeemer Lives” and “Hear Our Praises.” His explosive worship anthems are reshaped into modern-rock and pop gems on this solo debut with Morgan offering pop versions of his worship hits. Morgan is well-known in worship circles, but pop and rock music lovers should not overlook this impressive release.

DeWayne Hamby

Purified
By CeCe Winans, PureSprings.

CeCe Winans is one gospel artist whose songs have been transcendent. If Purified, the Grammy winner’s new CD, follows that path, new listeners will hear about topics ranging from holiness to diversity. “You Will,” about healing and reconciliation, pairs her with the dynamic Born Again Choir. Siblings Angie and Debbie join her on “Always Sisters,” a reminder of the need for family. The lyrics of “Colorful World” address diversity, while the title track beckons God to flow through and purify.
René Williams

Day By Day
By Yolanda Adams, Atlantic Records.

With the beat-banging lead track, “Victory” (on the soundtrack for The Gospel), Yolanda Adams opens her first CD in four years with a dose of funk and hip-hop. She’s joined by gospel superstars Mary Mary and Donnie McClurkin on the powerful “Lift Him Up” and Kirk Franklin on “Tonight.” Making up for lost time since Believe, Adams hits hard on Day By Day, delivering superb, unapologetic spiritual songs.
René Williams

All to You
By Lincoln Brewster, Vertical Music.

Lincoln Brewster carries the torch for guitar players and shows that new and old songs have their place in “modern worship” on this live CD recorded at his church in Sacramento, Calif., where he serves as worship leader. Musical highlights fill the entire album, from explosive guitar solos on “Surrender” to the two-minute dynamic instrumental break on “All to You.” Enough memorable musical and “God” moments fill the CD to make it worth the buy, especially for youth and young adults. All to You: Live showcases Brewster’s fun ability to put a new spin on well-known worship songs.
Matt Fehrmann

BOOKS

Soul Obsession
By Nicky Cruz with Frank Martin,
WaterBrook Press, softcover,
240 pages, $13.99.

Nicky Cruz, the angry son of a witch and warlock in Puerto Rico, was a dangerous hood-warlord of the Mau Maus gang in New York City in the late 1950s and early 1960s when David Wilkerson’s bold street evangelism became the catalyst to his conversion. He now writes after 40 years of ministry about the passion, mercy and vision it takes to change humanity and stand up to the devil.

In Soul Obsession: When God’s Primary Pursuit Becomes Your Life’s Driving Passion, Cruz gives us a perspective from his platform as an international evangelist. He shows us what it’s like to live amid the crowded inner-city apartments in the Bronx, to be taunted in Norway by Muslim teens—a surprising majority among minorities in Europe—and to come face to face with a hardened, tattooed Houston gang leader.

The story of his mother’s deathbed experience is worth the price of the book. Cruz includes illustrations of other brave crusaders of the gospel who have inspired him.
Advocating an outwardly focused Christian life, he writes: “Instead of striving to be comfortable and wealthy and well-fed, pray that God will use you to help others find comfort and shelter and food.”
Marsha Gallardo

Wicca’s Charm
By Catherine Edwards Sanders,
Shaw Books (WaterBrook Press), softcover,
256 pages, $13.99.

Pagan spirituality is on the rise, and Catherine Edwards Sanders has found out why. Her quest started when she was given a routine magazine assignment and it grew into a yearlong, cross-country venture of interviews with pagans and witches.
In the process, Sanders’ eyes were opened to several truths: Many TV shows include witchcraft; paganism commands a large market in chain bookstores; witch-promoted political activism and events for children are common. She also found the church has gaps paganism is filling, such as a concern for the earth, the empowerment of women, the need for ritualism in the practice of faith and others.

Her conversations with Wicca followers—which ranged from interviews with a mother of five who worked at Dairy Queen to a pair of teens who hung out in Starbucks—gives Christians an inside look into this growing spiritual trend, dispelling preconceived stereotypes and showing ways the church can improve.

Sanders’ findings expose the blatant need, especially among women, for holistic and authentic worship experiences.
Marsha Gallardo

Foolish No More!
By Ted Haggard, WaterBrook, hardcover,
224 pages, $16.99.

Don’t let the light-hearted tone of this amusing book fool you. Ted Haggard—pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and current president of the National Association of Evangelicals—delivers a serious message that’s meant to help Christians shed the legalism that blunts their effectiveness.

Using references to both the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians and modern-day anecdotes, Haggard illustrates that the same problems Paul addressed still afflict the church. He points out that too many believers, instead of growing toward maturity, are still caught up in maintaining appearances and rule-keeping.

A must-read chapter is the next-to-last, “Pick Your Fruit,” in which Haggard reviews how we can be equipped to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Haggard writes that no amount of striving for perfection will ever produce the kind of Spirit-empowered living people need to break free of the sin nature and chains of human indulgence. He prescribes regular prayer, fasting and surrendering to the Spirit.
Ken Walker

Fiction

THRILLER

Comes a Horseman
By Robert Liparulo, WestBow Press,
hardcover, 498 pages, $21.99.

This international thriller finds FBI agents Brandy Moore and Alicia Wagner investigating a series of brutal murders. The two uncover a conspiracy a thousand years in the making that reaches from the mountains of Colorado to the caves of Jerusalem-and puts their lives in danger.

ROMANCE

Remember Me
By Deborah Bedford, Warner Faith,
softcover, 304 pages, $12.99.

During summers at Piddock Beach, Sam and Aubrey became childhood friends and eventually fell in love. But Aubrey and her family move away. Now a pastor, Sam is still single and questioning God’s call on his life. He returns to Piddock Beach and discovers Aubrey has done the same. With so many hurts and unanswered questions, can these two face their pasts without crossing their personal boundaries?

YOUTH FANTASY

The Door Within
By Wayne Thomas Batson, Tommy Nelson,
hardcover, 320 pages, $16.99.

The Door Within introduces a new fantasy trilogy. Aidan Thomas finds an ancient scroll that invites him into the medieval kingdom Alleble. He encounters kings, knights and warriors, and his journey develops into a fight between good and evil. Will Aidan risk everything and trust the one true king?

NEWS

‘Prince’ Among Preachers

The biography of Derek Prince, a charismatic pioneer, includes new details about his life.

Best-selling author Stephen Mansfield has uncovered new revelations from the life of Bible teacher Derek Prince—who helped shape the charismatic movement in the 20th century—in the new book Derek Prince, A Biography: Father, Statesman, Teacher, and Leader (Charisma House).

Many who have observed the Cambridge-educated, staid British personality who became a famous preacher might conclude that “he never had a wild side, that he was never human. … But in fact it’s just the opposite,” Mansfield says.

During the research process, the New York Times best-selling biographer unearthed details even Prince’s family weren’t aware of, but which they chose to retain in the book. Among the surprises was the revelation that Prince had an affair before his conversion that resulted in a child being born out of wedlock.

The author explained that the story was included not for its shock value but to help people see that “no matter what your flaws, no matter what your failures, greatness can be accomplished if you live for a great cause.”

Mansfield, who has authored many biographies, including The Faith of George W. Bush, took on the project when Prince’s family members asked him to write a substantial work on the academic scholar turned Bible teacher.

He had the full cooperation for the project from his subject until Prince died of heart failure in 2003 at age 88. Mansfield agreed to write about Prince’s life with the understanding that he would not write a “preacher puff piece.”

The book chronicles Prince’s birth in India in 1915, his years as an atheist and philosopher at Cambridge University, his conversion to Christ while serving in the British army during World War II and his worldwide teaching ministry. He lived in Israel off and on beginning in the 1940s and had a teaching and healing ministry that spanned some six decades. He became known for helping to launch the Discipleship, or “Shepherding,” Movement in the 1970s, though a decade afterward he renounced what the movement had become.

Prince’s almost nine decades were marked by great change in the world. He served as soldier in North Africa during World War II and was in the Holy Land when the state of Israel was born. His ministry influence expanded exponentially through the advent of the cassette tape.

He taught on such themes as the breaking of generational curses, praying for nations, discarding replacement theology in favor of an appreciation of God’s chosen people, and deliverance from demons, a teaching that led to a parting of ways with the Assemblies of God.

“Almost every major doctrine that you think of as being uniquely charismatic, Derek either helped give a quantum leap to or was a pioneer of,” Mansfield says. “When you think about the charismatic movement as distinct from the Pentecostal movement, Derek was the innovator.”
Christine D. Johnson

Gospel Artist Gets Kids Rapping God’s Praise

When Grammy and Dove-winning gospel recording artist Kirk Franklin stepped away from the microphone to write a children’s book, he didn’t realize the significance the message of his Scripture-based How do Alligators Praise the Lord? would have in the months to come. 

He couldn’t have known the swamp and bayou setting for his book would soon be rocked and torn apart by a forceful hurricane named Katrina.

Franklin’s first children’s book, published by CharismaKids, stars alligators and boasts colorful swamp creatures splashed magically across the pages in vivid greens, reds, oranges, blues and purples, care of graphic designer Jason Carrier. Each book includes a rhythmic reading of the book on an accompanying CD with enough sound effects to make the story truly come alive.

The book and CD portray “greasy green gators,” “big fat carp,” otter, dragonfly, crayfish, snails, water bugs, lizards, snakes and other “swamp critters” as they march, jump, shout, dance, sing and praise the Lord in every way they know how.

Children of all ages will be captivated with the lively, haunting chorus and bright children’s voices of the CD, as well as the unforgettable swirl of swamp animals that preen and peer from the pages of the book. Do Alligators Praise the Lord? concludes with the Scripture on which it is based, Psalm 150:6: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (NIV).

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the bayous and swamps of Louisiana and Mississippi became the focus of the world. TV reports showed water rising around individuals and entire families trapped in their neighborhoods or sheltered in churches, motels or public buildings.

Franklin rushed to help, trekking to the shelters at the Reunion Arena in Dallas and the Astrodome in Houston. He visited with survivors and offered them his help. He described in his Web diary the accounts of the disaster as the “worst picture of people suffering that I’ve ever seen.”

The gifted music artist knows what its like to lose loved ones and to feel homeless. He never knew his father, and his mother abandoned him when he was just a baby. He was raised by his Aunt Gertrude in Fort Worth, Texas.

Fortunately for Franklin and the music world, his aunt collected and sold enough aluminum cans to pay for his piano lessons.  Franklin started taking lessons when he was 4. By the time he was 11, he was leading the adult choir for the Mount Rose Baptist Church in Fort Worth.

Barring a few years of rebellion as a teenager, curbed by the sight of his best friend being shot to death, Franklin walked a sometimes slow, often laborious, but for the most part fairly straight path from the choir loft of the Baptist church of his boyhood to the gospel stage. Grammy and Dove awards have marked the past few years as well as the most recent, a Gospel Recording Artist of the Year award.

When he penned his first kid’s book, Franklin may have thought that God was giving him a simple child’s tale that he could set to music. The gospel star didn’t know that the setting and the Scripture would end up meaning more to the children and their families who made it through Hurricane Katrina, some of whom received the book as a gift in aftermath of the storm.

Now, after Hurricane Katrina, Franklin’s swamp critters are “still praising”—though perhaps they’re a little paler, a little more disheveled, a little more bleary-eyed than before the storm. But they’re still dancing and singing and thanking God for the blessings found even in this tragedy—as perhaps, we all should be.
Marcia Davis-Seale

Book Line Helps Kids Build a Spiritual Foundation

In an effort to provide parents with books written for kids from a charismatic perspective, Strang Communications has launched a children’s book imprint, CharismaKids, with works by popular authors.

In her first children’s book, A Heart for Jesus, Juanita Bynum explains to youngsters what it means to receive Christ. Bynum’s engaging story line and strong evangelistic content draw kids into a compassionate yet thought-provoking presentation of the gospel. A Prayerful Heart, the author’s second children’s project, releases fall 2006.

Well-known pastor Jack Hayford takes kids on a journey in The Acts Bible Storybook by retelling many of the stories of Acts while revealing who the Holy Spirit is. Hayford’s storytelling encourages young readers to welcome the Spirit into their hearts.

CharismaKids books communicate spiritual truths to help children develop a strong Christian foundation. “A Christian parent’s greatest joy is knowing their children have received salvation through Jesus Christ,” says Maureen Haner, marketing manager at Strang.

David and Tessie DeVore’s Happy Birthday to Me encourages adults and kids to embrace cultural differences. My 100 Best-Loved Bible Stories, by best-selling author Bruce Wilkinson (The Prayer of Jabez), focuses on God’s providence and the believer’s relationship with Jesus. Other releases include Big Bad Bible Bullies by pastor Scott Hagan and Tell Me About God by speaker Karyn Henley.
Valerie G. Lowe

There is some good news coming out of Iraq. Christian churches are growing at an unprecedented rate.
Beneath the rubble of news about bombings, hostage-taking and political wrangling in Iraq lies a more positive picture of young evangelical churches.

In the northeast, Iraqi Kurdistan offers a haven for Christian activity as the two rival Kurdish governments grow in their toleration of Muslims becoming Christians. In the south, the evangelical church is growing rapidly.

In Baghdad, a total of 15 evangelical congregations have started since the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. Officially, only two evangelical churches-both Presbyterian and led by Egyptian nationals-existed in the capital during Hussein’s rule. Now there are Baptists, Methodists, and Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) congregations, all led by local Iraqi pastors.

“The people are open like never before,” says Ghassan Thomas, pastor of a CMA church in Baghdad. “It is because we have no peace. This is how we connect our message to the nation: I preach on the topic, ‘How do we get peace?’ and everyone listens, especially when I talk about the deeper peace that Christ brings.”
Most of the members of the new churches come from the Presbyterian Church, and some come from historic Christian denominations such as the Chaldean Catholic or Syrian Orthodox, which have been in Iraq for centuries.

“Muslims, too, want peace,” Thomas says. “Many of them are frightened. When the hostages are killed, often a Quranic verse is used to justify it. So many Muslims are scared of their own god. When we preach that God is love, it is so liberating to them.”

Southern Iraq is deemed too dangerous for foreign Christian workers. Most have pulled back to the more stable Iraqi Kurdistan. More than 4 million Kurds reside in this northern mountainous region, which has enjoyed autonomy since the first Gulf War in 1991.

Two Kurdish political factions control the area. Arbil is the main city of the domain of Massoud Barzani’s Kurdish Democratic Party, and Sulemaniya is the power center of newly elected Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

In both regions Kurdish refugees are flooding back. There is little street crime, and authorities have severely curtailed the activities of Islamic extremists. This has brought much prosperity to the area, which many believe is one reason the respective administrations-in their courting of Western investment-have markedly improved their defense of religious freedom.

“The last 10 years have been a golden time here, and it is set to continue with Talabani becoming president,” says Yousif Matty, a leading pastor of the Kurdish Evangelical Church, a denomination in the north comprising Kurdish and Arabic Christians. “He has been very strong on emphasizing the rule of law. Also, the Kurds have suffered at the hands of Islamists and have no love for them.”

Matty’s churches have a few hundred members, from both Muslim and Christian backgrounds. He runs four bookshops, two schools and other projects, and he received a $500,000 plot of land from the government to build his church. The government has also welcomed other Christian nongovernmental organizations.
The other evangelical denomination in the north is the Kurdish Language Evangelical Church, which is exclusively Kurdish-speaking and made up primarily of Kurds.

“There is always persecution from the family when a Muslim becomes a Christian,” says the Kurdish pastor of one fellowship in Arbil. “That will not change any time soon, but it used to be that the new convert would face persecution from the state also, yet this is less true today.”

Resisting Islam

The influence of the Kurds, who represent 25 percent of the Iraqi population, is important to the future of the country. President Talabani has less power than the Shiite prime minister, but some Christian leaders believe the best bulwark against a strongly Islamic Constitution may be the influence of the Kurds.

Though Sunni Muslims, the Kurdish people are one of the least observant groups in the Middle East. They were expected to oppose the Arabs, whom they believe have humiliated them for decades. Last summer, Nestorian Bishop Issac of Dohuk correctly predicted the Kurds would keep the constitution from becoming too Islamic.

“’Shariah’ is really Arabic, and the Kurds will resist all attempts to Arabize the culture of Iraq,” Issac says. “If we go the Shariah route, it will be like in Iran where our [Nestorian] church is less than 10 percent of the strength it was before [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini took power.”

Another point of light for the Iraqi church is that many of the 40,000 or so Christians who fled after a spate of bombings in August 2004 have returned to the country. Yet the numbers of those still in refugee camps in Jordan and Syria remain significant-perhaps 10,000, though precise figures are not available.

“It’s not the end of the world that so many Christians have fled, because it has spread the Iraqi church over the world,” Issac says, “and the new communities established in America and Australia are providing many resources we would not have received if we had all remained in the land.”

The news is not all positive, of course. Iraq remains a country in crisis. At a recent conference for 70 Iraqi pastors, all had to travel early in the morning to avoid trouble on the roads. And although they stressed that the streets gradually have become safer since the beginning of the year, church meetings throughout the south are held at 4:30 in the afternoon-with everyone at home behind locked doors by 7:30 p.m. for fear of insurgent and looting activity.

Law and order still has not been adequately restored, nor have basic services. Patience has run out with U.S. and British forces’ failure to restore stability after two years in the country.

“No population will support an army that cannot protect it,” one pastor says. “The goodwill has completely gone.”

Middle-class Christians are also continuing to emigrate in alarming numbers, as those in key professions such as medicine are targets of kidnapping and extortion. This exodus has decimated some newer evangelical churches.

Strife From Within

The Iraqi churches also face internal challenges. Some priests from the historic churches have bullied the new evangelicals. In Baghdad, a priest from the Chaldean Catholics told those who had left his church to attend Baptist services: “We will not bury your relatives who attend our churches.” Some leaders of the older church denominations have slandered evangelical congregations as “part of a Jewish conspiracy to control Iraq.”

Also, though the evangelicals are skilled in evangelism, the church is young and immature. “Our outreach activity is so much stronger than the discipling function of the church,” Matty warns. “We have radio outreach, schools, bookshops, but the church itself is not concentrating in deepening its life, nor are the leaders getting trained enough.”

Some church leaders see the splitting of the evangelical churches into so many new-and often foreign-backed-denominations as an indication of disunity. And not all missionary aid is well-spent. Some pastors have used foreign support to buy expensive cars and upgrade their lifestyles, leading to envy among other pastors.

Yet for all these challenges, the mood among 70 evangelical pastors meeting in April was guardedly optimistic. A pastor of one of the three Baptist congregations in Baghdad, who did not wish to be named, forecast three trends.

“One, the evangelical church will grow stronger, but many of its numbers will leave,” the pastor says. “However that’s not so bad. They will probably come back with more teaching and maturity, and it will benefit the church in the long term.

“Two, the historic churches will get even more negative. I see them as the major persecutor of the evangelicals in the future. It is as it always was.

“I am translating a book called The Trial of Blood, which calculates that the institutional churches killed 50 million Christians from 315 to 1570.

“Three, the Islamic extremists will moderate, though it may take a generation.”

Yet even when conflicts are at their sharpest, there are hopeful signs. Pastor Thomas from the CMA church in Baghdad tells of an incident that occurred when he received death threats written on cardboard after erecting a sign outside his church that said, “Jesus is the Light of the World.”

On the cardboard was scrawled: “Jesus is not the light of the world. Allah is, and you have been warned.” It was signed, “the Islamic Shiite Party.”

Thomas loaded up a van full of children’s gifts from a Christian relief agency, together with some Bibles and medicines, and drove to the headquarters of the Islamic Shiite Party. When he came to the compound, he demanded to “see the big sheikh, I have gifts for him.”

He was taken to meet the leader, and he introduced himself as a pastor.

“We respect you,” the sheikh said.

Thomas said, “Christians have love for you, because God is love, our God is a God of love.”

Again the sheikh replied: “We respect your God. We respect Jesus.”

This was the opening Thomas had been praying for. He said, “If you respect Jesus, would you let me read you His words?” He took out his Bible and read the words of Jesus from John 8, “I am the light of the world.” Then he brought out the cardboard with the death threat.

The sheikh read it and looked ashamed. After a brief pause, he said: “We are sorry. This will not happen again. You are my brother. If anyone comes to kill you, it will be my neck first.” The sheikh even attended Thomas’ ordination as the pastor.

“No one is expecting the situation to improve for the better quickly,” Thomas says, “but we believe that God is moving in these times and that the future will be more peaceful, especially if Christians will befriend good Muslims and work together.” ?

The Church of the Forgotten

Christians have worshiped in Iraq for hundreds of years, but their suffering has been overlooked by the world.

Though reports of church growth in Iraq have begun to surface only recently, Christians have been living in the region for centuries. Centered in northern Iraq, in the land once known as Nineveh, the Assyrian Church is one of the oldest Christian communities in the history of the faith. No stranger to difficulty and persecution-most recently during the pernicious rule of Saddam Hussein-the Assyrian Church is once again in dire straits.

Although the Assyrians and other minorities in northern Iraq praised the capture of Hussein by U.S. and allied forces, those groups have been leaving the country in droves. According to a recent statement issued by the Religious Freedom Coalition, in the last year more than 60,000 Assyrians and other minorities have fled Iraq. Those who remained are being subjected to increasing pressure and persecution.

A chief source of frustration is the inequitable distribution of reconstruction funds and resources. Michael Youash, executive director of the Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project, says these funds are being distributed through Kurdish authorities to the detriment of Assyrians and other non-Muslim minorities. He says even basic infrastructures such as electricity and water are being selectively disbursed based on religious and political grounds, leaving non-Muslim areas virtually uninhabitable.

The Assyrians and other minorities also feel disenchanted with the new regime. The Assyrian International News Agency, www.aina.org, is reporting that voter fraud and irregularities in the most recent elections resulted in the massive disenfranchisement of the Christian electorate.

Perhaps the most critical issue currently facing the Assyrian Church and non-Muslim minorities, however, is the looming specter of an Islamic Republic of Iraq. This fall, a critical vote was to be taken on Iraq’s new constitution. At press time, controversy surrounded Article 7, which read, “Islam is the official religion of the State.”

Under Hussein’s regime the country remained largely secular. Observers feared the push for Islamic rule was being fueled by outside extremists who received monetary support from international sources dedicated to the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. In July, grave reports already were surfacing of Christian persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists, including intimidation, kidnapping, church burnings and murder.

Internally, the push to institute Islam is coming from the new leadership, many of whom returned to Iraq after the liberation and are characterized as out of touch with Iraqi people. Iraq’s new prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaffari has been quoted as saying, “If we do not put Islam as the religion of the state, the people would revolt!” This despite evidence that the Iraqi people themselves desire a secular state.

There is some hope that the new constitution will grant the Assyrians some level of autonomous governance. Yet many are concerned that a premature withdrawal by American forces might leave them in the lurch.

“We are extremely grateful for what the Americans did,” says Ken Joseph Jr. of AssyrianChristians.com, “but 1,500-plus American heroes did not give their lives to create the Islamic Republic of Iraq.”

Meanwhile, Assyrian believers say they are facing a challenge from Christian organizations which, instead of empowering and equipping the indigenous church, are eroding its base by establishing new churches from existing congregations.

In the end, Joseph says, “One of the key indicators of a country’s health is its ability to protect and preserve its minorities.” In this respect, the plight of the Assyrian church and other non-Muslim minorities should be a sign of great concern.
David Mundy

SPOTLIGHT

No Limits

Israel Houghton says nothing is impossible for God

Recording his latest CD live in South Africa was a dream come true for worship leader Israel Houghton. Live projects capture the crowd’s energy and excitement anyway. But in South Africa, where Houghton says he didn’t have to “convince the people that they’re hungry” for God, the experience exceeded his expectations. Houghton says Alive in South Africa has some surprises—like the moment when “God showed up” as the crowd sang along to “Alpha and Omega,” an African worship chorus. But what he hopes leaves the strongest impression on listeners is a prophetic declaration “that there is absolutely no limit in God.” Right now, he says, “the favor of God is extra pronounced. If you sow you will most definitely reap. There’s no limit.”
Adrienne s. Gaines

Prayer Point

Thousands of families have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina, which rocked the Gulf Coast in late August. Charisma invites you to join us in praying:

Representatives of India’s Dalit Christians are demanding that the government expedite its decision on whether they will be given the same legal rights and protection as Dalits of other faiths.

Churches and Christian institutions observed a nationwide week of fasting and prayer in late August in support of the demand.

In India’s caste system, Dalits are the lowest of the lowest and considered “untouchable.” Though they are entitled to “reservations,” a government plan that reserves 26 percent of jobs and educational placements for Dalits, Christians have been denied those rights.

“The Dalit Christians’ rights were taken away by the 1950 presidential order, which confined the rights to those practicing the Hindu faith,” said charismatic leader Rev. Moses Swamidas, president of Bible Faith Mission in Tamil Nadu.

Dalits of the Sikh and Buddhist faiths won back their rights, but currently Dalits who convert to Christianity or Islam are still denied them.

This discrimination against Dalit Christians was apparent during the tsunami relief operations. John Mary, a 45-year-old Dalit Christian, knocked on scores of doors for help. But being an “untouchable” Christian, she and hundreds of others in southern Indian states were denied government relief assistance.

John Mary was one of the 573 witnesses from the southern Indian states who participated in a public tribunal in August held by the All-India Catholic Union where Dalit Christians demanded equal rights. The hearing was supported by Catholic and charismatic church leaders.

After the hearing, the tribunal determined that Dalit Christians should be given the same rights as Dalits of other faiths. The matter was to be heard before the Supreme Court in August but was handed over to the Justice Rangnath Mishra National Commission for Linguistic and Religious Minorities, an advisory panel that investigates economic and social problems among religious minorities.

John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, said the referral was simply a delay tactic. His group is working to see a law passed that guarantees Dalit Christians equal rights.

As human rights groups work to rid Dalits of the untouchable stigma altogether, observers say a favorable response from the government would improve Dalit Christians’ quality of life. “We face a terrible situation in our villages in southern India,” said B.P. John, a Christian activist in Karnataka state. “Rich and upper-class families confiscate properties of lower caste converts to Christianity. Not long back two of our brothers were killed by goons of a local elected representative who sides with them. It’s a war unleashed by the upper caste on us Dalit Christians.”

The Supreme Court was to hear the case Oct. 18.
Joshua Newton in Madurai, India

Some hope the event will stir a spiritual passion that sparks another great move of God
As the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival approaches, charismatic and Pentecostal leaders are gearing up for a celebration that they believe could draw more than 100,000 Christians from around the globe.

Roughly 150 ministers from the various streams in the Pentecostal-charismatic movement are working together to organize the Azusa Street Centennial celebration (www.azusastreet100.net). The event is to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center April 25-29.

The centennial will feature several services running concurrently each night, including women’s events at Angeles Temple led by Women’s Aglow President Jane Hansen, faith services at Fred Price’s Faith Dome led by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and rallies honoring Azusa Street pastor William J. Seymour at Bishop Charles Blake’s West Angeles Cathedral. A healing crusade will be held April 25.

Intercessors from across the nation have been praying that the celebration would spark a move of God similar to the one that birthed modern Pentecostalism.
Back in April 1906, itinerant black preacher William J. Seymour stood on the porch of the house on 214 Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles and preached to ever-increasing crowds gathered in the street below. He and others had recently been baptized in the Holy Spirit inside the house and had spoken in tongues.

Reports say the presence of the Holy Spirit was so strong people walking by fell to the ground or went to their knees in prayer. After the large crowds caused the house’s foundation to collapse, the group moved to a former stable at 314 Azusa Street, about a mile away. Those meetings birthed a movement that today is believed to have some 600 million adherents.

Event coordinator Robert Fisher, who died Sept. 28 after battling leukemia, hoped the centennial would result in another move of the Holy Spirit. “We do believe it will be a catalyst for a fresh move of God the same way the Azusa Street Revival was originally,” Fisher told Charisma in July.

“For the first time all the diverse streams of the movement that flowed from Azusa Street will be flowing back into it,” added Fisher, who was executive director for the Center for Spiritual Renewal in Cleveland Tenn. “I have a very strong spiritual sense that this is like nothing I have helped with before.”

Organizers are praying that the hallmarks of the Azusa Street Revival, which broke down barriers of racism, economic status and gender, would be evident in April. Unity in diversity and spiritual manifestations are two important themes.

“It’s sad to see the church fragmented, and I believe the centennial has every possibility of bringing us all back together,” said Cornell “Corkie” Haan, the centennial’s chief communications officer. “We are believing for another 600 million Pentecostals in this century. The world is ready.”

Foursquare President Jack Hayford said he is excited about the centennial, but added that it is difficult to say that it will be the “springboard” for the next great revival. “My personal, foremost hope is that those of us from the long-term Pentecostal tradition would come together with enthusiasm, not just to revisit history for its own sake, but to celebrate spiritual passion. That is what I think God honors.”
Ed Donnally in Los Angeles

Zambian pastor Nevers Mumba believes Christians will lead a ‘wind’ of political change that is coming to Africa
Although Nevers Mumba is running for president in 2006, Zambia’s leading newspaper, The Post, still calls him “Pastor Mumba.” It’s a title not easily shaken from the man who launched Zambia’s first Christian television ministry in the early 1990s called Zambia Shall Be Saved.

After Mumba completed a two-year program at Christ for the Nations in 1982, he returned to Zambia, founded 42 churches and launched a TV ministry that draws 2.5 million viewers each week.

African citizens weren’t the only ones watching TV; Zambian politicians began calling Mumba for counsel and prayer.

Although Mumba was content to be Zambia’s pastor, he said two prophetic encounters changed the course of his life.

During a visit to Virginia Beach, Va., to appear on The 700 Club, he received a call from someone wanting to speak with him. The young man was African evangelist Christopher Alam, who told Mumba, “The Lord is going to use you in the political process in your country.”

“At that time I had no thought of becoming involved in politics,” Mumba told Charisma, “and my theology totally contradicted his prophecy.”

Mumba put the prophecy aside and returned to preaching. But a year and a half later, while Mumba was preaching in Canada, a South African preacher asked to meet him for lunch. The two ministers had never met before, and when they sat down to eat in a restaurant, the preacher told Mumba that God would “bring His word to pass, and you shall be in political leadership in your nation.”

Mumba never saw the minister again. But within five years he handed over his TV ministry to an associate and formed an organization now called National Citizens Coalition, which gave him a platform to run for president in 2001.

Mumba lost that election but remained in politics, focusing most of his work on outreach to the poor, orphaned and uneducated. This humanitarian work coupled with his stand against political corruption motivated Zambia’s current president, Levy Mwanawasa, to appoint Mumba as his vice president in May 2003.

Mumba’s popularity increased, and within a year and a half he surpassed Mwanawasa in Zambian opinion polls by 65 percent. While Mwanawasa was traveling internationally, Mumba exposed political corruption that was going on between Congo and Zambia. As a result, Mwanawasa dismissed him as vice president.

Despite this rocky beginning in politics, Mumba announced in March that he planned to run for the presidency as Mwanawasa’s opponent in the 2006 elections. Afterward, Mwanawasa suspended Mumba from his leadership role in the National Executive Committee of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) Party.

In April, another opinion poll showed Mumba leading Mwanawasa by a large margin. Mumba hoped to be elected as presidential candidate for the MMD Party at the convention scheduled for May 4-8.

However, President Mwanawasa postponed the May convention and then expelled Mumba from MMD Party membership, erasing all possibility of Mumba running for president under that party. Mumba’s supports planned to form a new party that will give him a platform to run.

Despite the setbacks, Mumba is not deterred. “I’m convinced once we achieve our goal in Zambia, there will be a domino effect,” Mumba said. “Men of integrity and morality will rise up to take positions of political leadership in countries across … Africa. There is a wind of change, and the church is going to lead this new change that is coming on this continent.”
C. Hope Flinchbaugh

Ministers in the Emerald Isle say the ‘wind of Pentecost’ is starting to blow in the nation’s second largest city
Church leaders in the second-largest city in Ireland, which has a minute number of Christians, say “God is moving” in Cork City, with many accepting Christ and being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Located on the southwest coast of Ireland, Cork is home to 123,000 people, with a college student population of more than 25,000. However, local Protestant leaders estimate only about 2,000 people belong to an evangelical church. In addition, the area is plagued with alcoholism-among the highest rates in the world-as well as depression, suicide and domestic abuse.

“Cork is a very dark city,” said Nick Cassidy, pastor of Donnybrook Pentecostal Church, which is located in the heart of Cork. “It’s full of alcoholism and false religion. Less than one quarter of 1 percent of the Republic of Ireland claim to be born again. We have never seen Pentecost come to this country, not in its real form, but the wind is starting to blow.”

Cassidy, 38, has witnessed it firsthand. He pioneered the church more than 10 years ago with a handful of adults and three children. Today, Donnybrook (www.cork church.com) is a congregation of about 400 people, comprised of 20 nationalities due to Cork’s large influx of foreign workers.

Located in the middle of the city’s notorious “red light district,” the church is referred to by locals as the “Holy Ground” of Cork, Cassidy noted.

“But since the church has taken up residence here, it is truly becoming holy ground,” explained Cassidy, noting that 100 people received Christ this summer during one-on-one street evangelism. “Every week we see souls come to Christ and people filled with the Holy Spirit. We have seen prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics, suicidal people, people suffering from depression, and people who were sexually abused by clerics become born again and set free from their suffering.”

Keith Cullen, 29, accepted Christ this spring after he started attending Donnybrook. “Before that my life had been a bad one,” he told Charisma. “I started drinking when I was 13. At 17, I started getting into trouble because of my drinking. In the last five years, I have seen nine friends and two cousins die of suicide.

“Now that I have been saved, I no longer drink and have peace of mind and love towards people,” Cullen added.

Tony Kirby, 33, also became a Christian while attending Donnybrook earlier this year. Like Cullen, Kirby had an alcoholic background.

“When I came to church, I met some of the nicest people on earth,” Kirby said. “After attending the church for a few weeks, my life changed totally. I stopped drinking, cursing and my way of living got better. I gave myself to the Lord.”

An Assemblies of God (AG) minister in the United States for 15 years, John Bailey, 42, and his family moved to Cork earlier this year to become the only AG missionaries in this region of Ireland. Ironically, Bailey’s family immigrated to the United States from Ireland during the Potato Famine.

Today he works with Donnybrook and other area churches, and he said the spiritual landscape of Ireland has changed in the last few years, with many small churches springing up all over the nation.

“At Donnybrook, as well as in many churches across Ireland, there is a pure river of God flowing,” said Bailey, noting that on Monday nights, a group of about 70 adults pray for Cork as well as for revival in Ireland. “I truly believe that Ireland is one of those places that God has on His spiritual map. Darkness has prevailed here for many years, but there is a time of refreshing and spiritual life coming to the Emerald Isle.”
Eric Tiansay

Prominent charismatic leaders seek to raise awareness about the importance of the Ten Commandments
Fueled by the recent Supreme Court decision that barred the display of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses, a commission has been formed with a mission to bring the Decalogue back to the conscience of America.

The Ten Commandments Commission, formed the day after the June 27 ruling, was launched with a threefold purpose, said commission chairman Myles Munroe.

“We want to restore the values of the principles contained in these commandments back to our postmodern society; replace the Ten Commandments back to the consciousness of society; and challenge the powers that be to reconsider the decisions being made,” said Munroe, a best-selling author and pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, one of the largest churches in the Caribbean.

The commission was launched at the International Charismatic Bible Ministries convention in Tulsa, Okla., where Munroe urged fellow Christian leaders to join his efforts, and where Roni Wexler, commission president and CEO, unveiled the commission’s Ten Commandments pin (www.tencommandmentspin.com).

Munroe says the pin, which displays the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, was designed to make a statement: that “collectively, we can make a difference.”

“Democracy works on numbers, and we believe that there are a lot more people who are for the Ten Commandments than against them,” Munroe said. “We want to rally millions of people to not only take a stand but to do it in a unified way.”

“The slogan here is, ‘If we can’t wear it in public and on buildings, we can wear it on the building of God, which is our bodies,'” Wexler added.

The commission hopes to educate the charismatic community by “getting people to understand what we are standing against and identify themselves with a symbol,” Wexler said. That symbol is the Ten Commandments pin.

Washington, D.C-based motivational speaker Charles Phillips says the battle is not only against ignorance, but also darkness. “I think that this movement through the Supreme Court was not just to take away the Ten Commandments from … public places,” said Phillips, the commission’s spokesman. “I think it’s also a part of the devil’s strategy to remove God from the consciousness of people.”

Phillips said the group’s efforts are not politically motivated. “Right now we’re just trying to make a statement,” he said. “We’re simply emphasizing the fact that we can display the Word of God, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Mark J. Chironna, commission board member, hopes to see a renewed appreciation for the values embodied by the Ten Commandments. “Those values have to be once again appreciated and understood for a generation that has really been so numbed by situational ethics,” he said. “History proves that when nations do not embrace those kinds of values, they end up being destroyed. If we ignore God, we ignore Him to our own detriment.”

Chironna, pastor of The Master’s Touch International Church in Orlando, Fla., says his church plans to be a part of The Ten Commandments Day, which the commission has declared for Feb. 5.

“I feel that every pastor everywhere on that day should include in their sermon the message of the Ten Commandments, which is bringing the Word of God back to the nations,” Wexler said.

America cannot afford to ignore this discussion, explained Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that specializes in constitutional law. “I think the idea of getting the Ten Commandments out of the context of a painting on the wall, into the reality of what the Ten Commandments stand for is important,” said Sekulow, whose firm has defended more Ten Commandment cases than any other in the country.

“We need to come together on this,” Wexler stressed. “So it’s Jew and Gentile, black and white. It’s everybody coming together, holding hands and saying enough is enough.”
Suzy Richardson

Observers say Sight & Sound Theatre reaches people who might never step foot in a church
What started with a slide projector, screen, turntable and microphone has become the leading faith-based theater in the nation, attracting some 800,000 patrons a year.

Glenn Eshelman, founder of Sight & Sound Theatres in Lancaster County, Pa., said he and his wife, Shirley, stepped out in faith 30 years ago with their first production, The Wonder of It All.

Today he says that title has become a fitting way to describe the ministry’s growth and popularity. “What you see in the natural absolutely should not be,” said Eshelman, a former dairy farmer and Church of the Brethren minister. “It is a miracle.”

Sight & Sound’s Millennium Theatre, nestled in Lancaster County’s Amish farm country, is considered the largest faith-based live theatre in the U.S. Some even refer to it as “the Christian Broadway.” To Eshelman, it’s a way to reach people who might never sit through a traditional sermon.

Ruth was on stage at the Millennium through Oct. 22. Complete with a 68-member cast and more than 35 animals, the show carried the audience through Ruth and Naomi’s tumultuous journey of faith, love, loss and redemption. The gleaning fields of Boaz came to life on a 300-foot, wraparound stage illuminated by the largest moving light system on the East Coast.

“There is a strong need in the world today for this type of a ministry,” Eshelman said. “For too long, the world has looked at Christian drama as bathrobes and half-cut wigs. Why should it not be equal to that of Broadway, equal to that in Las Vegas.”

Sight & Sound Theatres, which includes the more intimate, 643-seat Living Waters Theatre also in Lancaster County, uses innovative production technology while remaining faithful to its mission. Patrons return year after year for more.

Lancaster County resident Beth Fisher said she has visited Millennium Theatre dozens of times. “The message is the draw,” she said. “I love how they represent the Bible so well. [The stories] are not stretched out of proportion.”

Though it isn’t a traveling theater, Sight & Sound has reached theatergoers outside the U.S. “Delegations from China have visited the Millennium Theatre in hopes of taking Noah the Musical to the Olympics to represent Christianity amongst the other religions,” Eshelman said. “Impossible logistics deterred it from taking place.”

The theater has also helped ministries from within the U.S. develop their drama departments. “Churches are doing [theatre] with excellence, not to compete with the world, but so that it would be intriguing for the world to come in and say, ‘Let me see,'” said producing director Earl Grove. “We’re just doing it in the culture in the way that the culture can understand it.”

Area ministers agree that Sight & Sound is an effective evangelism tool. “Many people that won’t come to a church will come to a theatre,” said Tommy Stoudt Jr., pastor of Victory Church in Lancaster. “They play a critical role in reaching people.”

“The Bible speaks that the body has many members,” Eshelman said. “I feel like we are an arm or member of the body of the church that presents the gospel in this fashion. [It is] all part of God’s final program here to bring in the final harvest.”
Psalms of David is on stage at the Living Waters Theater through December. Noah the Musical is to open in a Branson, Mo., Sight & Sound Theatre in June 2008.
Paula Hornberger in Lancaster County, Pa.

Illusionist Lawrence Khong says the real pulpits of the world are not found in churches but in the entertainment field
The art of illusion has opened new doors for Lawrence Khong, senior pastor of the 10,000-member Faith Community Baptist Church in Singapore and executive producer of the Magic of Love musical. Khong and his crew of 40 wrapped up their eight-city U.S. tour in June and will travel to Japan and China for performances this fall.

0
Although U.S. ticket sales were disappointing, the feedback has been encouraging. “It is an outstanding show by any standardóbut trying to make a dent in the commercial sector is very challenging,” said Khong, who has been performing magic since the age of 10.

Magic of Love has attracted more than 160,000 people throughout Asia since it made its debut in 2001.

Khong said his goal was to produce a show containing good Christian values that can compete with some of the best shows in the world. Magic of Love tells the story of a father and daughter who are bonded together by their love for magic and eventually are torn apart by their greed for fame and fortune. The show stars Khong and his daughter, Priscilla Khong, who also is a magician.

About five years ago, Khong said God showed him that “the real pulpits of the world are not found in churches.” His church launched an entertainment company called Gateway Entertainment that has produced several movies and TV serials, and has underwritten Khongís magic shows.

“God has called me to get into the entertainment world and take it back for the Lord,” he said. “I don’t think I can take it back for the Lord completely, but at least I contribute my share.”

Khong has long been criticized for using magicówhile attending Dallas Theological Seminary in the 1970s and in recent years as the pastor of a charismatic megachurch.

“Magic takes you into a fantasy world, where the audience tends to momentarily suspend their unbelief,” he said. “The danger is, you can tell them whatever you want, and they will believe you.”

Though not easily offended, Khong said he hasnít received any negative comments from U.S. believers who saw the show. “You canít get too upset when people donít understand you,” he said. “Otherwise, you’ll never get going.”

C. Peter Wagner, presiding apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA), of which Khong is a member, attended a Magic of Love performance in Dallas with his wife, Doris. Afterward, he sent an e-mail of his thoughts to ICA members.

“One of the things that Doris and I wanted to check out was the spiritual cleanliness of this show,” Wagner wrote. “When demonic forces are present, [Doris] usually discerns it. Magic of Love, much to our delight, reflected nothing of the occult. It was good, clean fun, with Lawrence and Priscilla demonstrating incredible skills that are fascinating to watch.”

These days, Khong is away from Faith Community nearly six months out of the year; however, the church continues to grow. “I’m teaching my people not to see what I do as two different things,” he said. “They are praying for this tour just as they would pray for an evangelistic outreach.”

Khong was awarded the Master Magician Award in Las Vegas in 2002. His wife, Nina Khong, serves as producer of Magic of Love. She is a medical doctor and deputy senior pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church.
Carol Chapman Stertzer in Dallas