Peter Illyn says a four-month trek through the Cascade Mountains led him to refocus his ministry on ‘creation care’
Waging a nationwide crusade to bring environmental awareness to Christian communities, self-proclaimed environmental evangelist Peter Illyn is dedicated to helping Christians reclaim the biblical mandate to love, serve and protect God’s creation.

Illyn is a former Foursquare pastor and the executive director of Restoring Eden (www.restoringeden.org), a ministry rooted in La Center, Wash., whose goal is to make environmental stewardship a core Christian value. “Our message is simple,” Illyn said. “God is a good God, God made a good earth, and God calls us to be good stewards.”

In 1990, Illyn traveled 1,000 miles on a four-month sabbatical through the Cascade Mountains. With Bible in hand and two llamas by his side, Illyn said there he discovered his calling to preach a message of environmental stewardship. He describes the experience as being born again, again. “God had become small in my heart in ministry,” he said. “It was in the midst of the wild that God became real to me again.”

Restoring Eden stemmed from Christians for Environmental Stewardship, a group Illyn founded in 1996 to support the Endangered Species Act. In 2001, the group became an independent, nonprofit organization and was renamed Restoring Eden to reflect its mission to protect endangered species, ecosystems and indigenous cultures.

The organization strives to connect with younger Christians–typically the college crowd–through outreach programs, campus chapters and literature. Recent college graduate Andrew Hoeksema became involved with Restoring Eden when Illyn spoke to a crowd of his peers at Dordt College. In February 2004, Hoeksema attended Rescuing God’s Creation, a campaign Illyn spearheaded to mobilize college students to unite with the Gwich’in people–a group of tribal Christians in Alaska who number about 8,000–and lobby to protect the Arctic Refuge from oil drilling.

“It’s not about liberal or conservatism; its not about Republicans or Democrats,” Hoeksema said. “It’s about preserving our environment for future generations.”

“If we want to really define Christianity in the sense that it’s supposed to be defined … we have to decide what’s right and what’s wrong,” said Gwich’in tribe member Peter Solomon. “In our case, there’s no recovery. Our way of life will go away and that’s it.”

Increasingly, Christians are talking about the environment, with the National Association of Evangelicals stating in October that caring for creation is part of every Christian’s duty and that government should protect its citizens from the impact of “environmental degradation.”

“Peter [Illyn] is helping people understand … that you may not think this is related to yourself as a Christian, but the Bible says that it is,” said the Rev. Jim Ball, executive director of the Evangelical Environmental Network, which has 23 partner organizations, including Restoring Eden. “If Christ’s blood reconciles all things, how can we be harming and extinguishing what Christ died to reconcile?”

Some Christians, such as Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, worry that believers may take “creation care” too far by elevating environmental concerns over human needs. “We are stewards of all of God’s creation. And the supreme act of His creation is human beings,” Colson wrote in his BreakPoint newsletter. “It will do us little good to keep the Arctic Circle pristine if it’s at the cost of America being driven to her knees by Middle-Eastern oil traders. It does little good to preserve the Brazilian rain forest if the cost is millions of Brazilians living in shacks on sub-standard wages.”

But Illyn says it’s a mistake for Christians to assume God made the earth for people. “Psalm 24:1 says, ‘The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it,'” Illyn said. “It’s not like a credit card I give my daughter and say spend it as you please.”

Illyn noted that loving the environment does not mean worshiping it. “We get accused of putting nature before people and that is not true and not fair,” he said. “I think the church today is scared to love nature; that somehow loving nature is the beginning of a slippery slope to worshiping the earth.”

Illyn, who was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer two years ago, likens his health battle to the one between man and the environment. “Cancer is when part of my body says I will not live within the boundaries that God intended me to live within,” he said. “It’s the ultimate of corruption. What we’re saying is that uncontrolled human development is similar.”
Suzy Richardson

Once committed to gaining fortune and fame, Barry DuFae Myers now wants to help others find freedom in Jesus
During Barry DuFae Myers’ successful career in the movie and music industry, his best friend was “Gloria”–his pseudonym for cocaine. Today the Orlando, Fla., resident calls Jesus his best friend, and he is passionate about setting people free from the bondage of their past.

This fall, Myers and his wife, Krystal, will lead a Cleansing Stream class at Wekiva Assembly of God, a multi-ethnic congregation in Longwood, Fla. Cleansing Stream is a deliverance ministry started by Jack Hayford, founding pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif.

“Cleansing Stream totally changed my whole Christian perspective,” Myers, 50, told Charisma. “I truly feel God’s presence in my life, and I’m totally dedicated to the kingdom of God.”

Myers, however, was once dedicated to attaining fortune and fame. For 15 years, he worked in various capacities in more than 30 movies, including Boomerang, New Jack City, Passenger 57, and Lethal Weapon 2 and Lethal Weapon 3.

Myers also got involved in the production and promotion of hip-hop and pop artists, including R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, MC Hammer, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Prince, Snoop Dog and Tupac Shakur.

In April 1993, Myers co-founded Rip-It Records, which went on to generate more than $30 million in record sales. In 1995, bolstered by hits from rap groups 199 Quad and 69 Boyz, Rip-It was named top independent record company by Urban Network magazine.

In only three years, Myers seemed to be on top of the world as his company sold more than 8 million records worldwide. But he had also developed a cocaine addiction. “Gloria seemed to be the only friend that I could trust, so a major part of my life was with her for about 18 years,” Myers recalled.

But then he said “God started to get” his attention. After a bad divorce in March 1997, Myers, who was raised a Muslim and whose second cousin was Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, hit bottom. “I suddenly found out that fame, money, drugs and women were not making me happy,” said Myers, who also studied Buddhism. “I was very confused. The religion nonsense was not helping me.”

Meanwhile, Louis Bell Jr., who co-founded Rip-It Records with Myers, accepted Christ in August 1997. “When I returned to my office the next morning from a
church service, Barry knew I had a touch from Jesus,” said Bell, 38, who is an Orlando-based financial consultant.

Bell then invited his partner to church. Myers went, and he said God “spoke into” his life as he watched a Myles Munroe video. Then in October 1997 Myers received Jesus. “Three women came to my studio casting out demons, speaking in tongues and led me to Christ,” Myers said. “They were my mother, sister and a family friend.”

After he accepted Christ, Myers said he was instantly delivered from cocaine. Myers and Bell also pulled the plug on Rip-It in March 1998 because they felt convicted about the type of music they produced. But it would take another encounter with God before Myers completely surrendered his life to Christ.

In 2001, he met Greg Freeman, pastor of Wekiva Assembly, who invited him to church. “I wanted to get married to a lady I was living with at the time, and pastor Greg advised me to take Cleansing Stream at Wekiva,” Myers recalled.

He was so impacted by Cleansing Stream that Myers took the course again, and eventually broke up with his live-in girlfriend. Nearly three years ago, he married Krystal after meeting her in an online Christian chat room.

“He has become very focused in his relationship with Jesus,” said Freeman, 51, who has pastored Wekiva for 17 years. “His word is now his bond. He has also become very successful in corporate America and has accomplished much by making Jesus his CEO and manager.”

About the time Myers took the Cleansing Stream course, he began working for Toshiba, selling copiers, printers, software and other products. For the last three years, Myers has been named Toshiba’s top salesperson in its north Florida region.

Myers is starting a faith-based foundation that aims to mentor at-risk teenagers. And he and Bell are launching a Christian media company called One Source Media.

“God’s hand is on Barry’s life, and he will be a vital part of our ministry,” Freeman said. “I approached Barry about leading Cleansing Stream for two reasons. First, I believe he has grown to a place of leadership. Secondly, he is a genuine product of Cleansing Stream and a total believer in this ministry. When he tells people about it, they believe it.”

Eric Tiansay

Comunidad Cristiana de Londres claims 4,000 members, making it one of England’s largest Spanish-speaking churches
Long after the salsa dancers have vacated The Coronet–a popular nightspot in London’s Elephant and Castle district–another massive wave of Latin revelers sweeps into the art deco building. Party time starts all over again.

The feel-good factor still runs high. But this group dances to a different beat from the Saturday night crowd. They raise the roof with the sound of triumphant Christian praise and worship–as only the Hispanic community can.

Through Sunday services and cell groups, Comunidad Cristiana de Londres (CCL) claims to attract about 4,000 Spanish speakers. They come from not only London but also as far away as Leeds in the north and Brighton in the south.

Now in its 20th year, the church has a lively worship team comprised mainly of professional musicians–some have played sessions in Bolivian recording studios–as well as intercessors and speakers with deep passion and conviction.

Before anything else has been said, a number of women take to the stage and pray loud, long prayers. That might be to the accompaniment of a lone trumpet, being played sensitively in the background.

But when a line of dancers joins them, the drums kick in and the noise level hits the decorative ceiling. “Fill this place up with your presence,” cries one of the women. “Santo, Santo … Cristo vive!”

What follows is a packed program of intense worship tinged with Latin rhythms and an epic-length sermon on holiness. The talk is turbo-charged with deep emotion by Doris Mendoza, a member of the leadership team.

She speaks boldly of “the power to bring the multitudes” and spurs her audience on with statements such as, “Every person who has had an encounter with God will never be the same!” When it’s all over, still the people ask for more.

Visitors are drawn into the energy and excitement of the three-hour-long service. At least a dozen of them respond to Mendoza’s gospel appeal. This is Billy Graham-style reaping–served amid the richness of Hispanic culture.

It was in August 1979 that CCL’s pastor Edmundo Ravelo arrived in London with his family from their homeland Peru. They had meant to stop over en route to Spain, where they intended to be missionaries.

But it wasn’t to be. “All the doors closed to us in Spain,” said Ravelo’s son Marcos, now CCL’s youth pastor. Realizing that there was a growing Spanish-speaking community in London, they decided to set up a church there instead.

As a result, CCL started at the Ravelos’ home in England’s capital. “I never imagined myself living in London and leading a church here,” the 58-year-old Edmundo Ravelo recalled, sharing his memories on the church’s Web site.

Their congregation remained a modest size for many years. Then in the 1990s, Ravelo explored different cell-church models–from pioneers such as Ralph Neighbour to Korean-style small groups.

As a result, CCL grew to 200. But the Ravelos were hungry for more. Another pastor from Latin America introduced them to the “G12” concept, which was popularized by Colombian pastor César Castellanos and encourages churches to mentor believers in groups of 12.

They saw rapid growth and dramatic changes in people’s lives and among the leaders of the church. Within a year, their number exploded to 1,000. “It was everything that Dad was looking for in a cell model,” said Marcos Ravelo, who is 26.

The church has been growing ever since. Now they meet at two venues in London, and run cell groups, youth events and family gatherings.

In its early days, The Coronet used to host shows by local boy Charlie Chaplin, one of the great kings of comedy. Now it hosts services for the King of kings. And while there’s still plenty of fun, there is a serious intent.

“Our church [aim] is to win people–and make them into disciples,” Marcos Ravelo explained.

Edmundo Ravelo’s initial vision has also been realized. They have planted a church in the Spanish capital, Madrid. In addition, some former church members have returned to South America and started churches and cell groups there.
Clive Price in London

Though Sarah Lui has been released, hundreds from the South China Church, including its pastor, remain in prison
A Christian woman imprisoned for years in China has exposed some of the abuses that occur in labor camps, describing her arrest and torture at a February press conference in Washington, D.C.

A Christian since 1989 and a leader in the South China Church, one of the largest unregistered churches in China, Sarah Liu was arrested May 27, 2001, on her 30th birthday, when Chinese military police broke up a worship service being held in a local Christian’s home.

The church’s pastor, Gong Shengliang, escaped, but Lui faced her third arrest. Previously she had been tortured and eventually released, but this time was different.

“I was interrogated in a bedroom,” she said. “Seven male policemen surrounded me. They started laughing at me and cursing me, then started touching my body and asked me what did I do. I said ‘I’m just a Christian believer.’ And one said sarcastically, ‘Why don’t you believe in the Communist Party [instead of] this foreign god?'”

As the night wore on, it became clear that the police wanted Lui to testify that Gong had raped her. She refused.

The police then shackled her feet and began beating her legs and back, she recalled. One officer whipped her toes with a metal coat hanger. When she fell, they bashed her head into the wall until she passed out.

“The pain was so great that I could hardly breathe,” she said. “They said I was only pretending to be dead. The shackles bit into my feet and ankles such that wherever I walked was covered with blood.”

Again they asked her to make a false confession against Gong, and again she refused.

Using an electric prod, the police shocked every part of her body. When she cried out, they shoved the prod in her mouth.

“Then they tried to take off my clothes, but I resisted,” she recalled. “They kicked me and shoved me into a corner and pulled off my clothes.”

In the end, two officers forced a weakened Lui to fingerprint some documents, one of which she said was otherwise blank. As a result of several similarly coerced accusations by women in the South China Church, pastor Gong and three church leaders were sentenced to death. The women, including Lui, were put in prison.

Wracked with guilt for playing a role in pastor Gong’s conviction, Lui said she wanted to die. “But in my heart there was a deep cry,” she said. “And in my heart I said, ‘No, I will not reject Jesus. I want to live. I want to live and tell the truth about what is really happening to the South China Church.'”

Due to an overwhelming international outcry coordinated by China Aid and other international organizations that work to assist persecuted Christians, the Chinese believers received a second trial. Pastor Gong and those condemned to death were instead given life sentences. Lui and four other women were declared innocent and released.

Though cleared of any crime, Lui was sentenced to three years of “re-education through labor.” She was sent to a labor camp, where she was forced to assemble electronics and work in the fields. Christians were forbidden from praying or reading the Bible. Lui said they were treated like members of an evil cult and assigned onerous tasks. Lui said she passed out from exhaustion twice.

Released in February 2004, Lui said her freedom came with the warning that she would be rearrested if she were ever to resume practicing Christianity. She said she lived in constant fear. Eventually, with the help of China Aid and other organizations, she received refugee status in the United States in January.

In the last 10 years more than 8,900 members of the South China Church have been arrested, and many are still in prison. According to the latest reports from China Aid, Gong continues to serve his life sentence and is dying in his prison cell.

Lui hopes to one day return to a China that honors religious freedom as government leaders have promised in multiple international covenants and its own constitution. In the meantime, she wants to draw attention to religious persecution in China and the suffering of Gong and others affiliated with the South China Church.
David Mundy in Washington, D.C.

Despite having a 4 percent chance of recovery, Casey Treat says his blood work shows no sign of the liver disease
After a public battle with hepatitis C, Seattle pastor Casey Treat says he has been healed of the viral liver disease.

Though doctors gave Treat only a 4 percent chance of complete recovery, the pastor of 7,000-member Christian Faith Center said blood tests in March showed no trace of the disease he had been battling since late 2003.

Doctors, nutritionists and physical therapists each claimed credit. Treat, 50, attributed it to all of them working in tandem with God’s healing touch. “My approach has always been to use prayer and doctors,” Treat said. “We should use every endeavor God has given us for healing.”

In 2003, before Treat learned he had the disorder, much had been going his way. He was launching a huge building project and broadening his media ministry. But a simple medical exam to qualify for a life insurance policy threatened to upend it all.

“I was shocked and dismayed,” he said. “This was not good. God got my attention.”

Now a husband and father of three, Treat believes he contracted hepatitis C as a teen. Before he accepted Christ at age 19, he had been a drug user and was part of the hippie subculture of the day. He said it was during a time of drug rehabilitation that he first heard the gospel.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with hepatitis C often experience no symptoms for years–and Treat had not seen any signs. Nonetheless, 70 percent of infected persons might eventually develop chronic liver disease. The worst cases need liver transplants. A few die.

Because hepatitis C cannot be transmitted to others through casual contact, Treat continued his ministry activities, but he also began chemotherapy. He chose to
keep his condition private until he started losing hair and weight.

When the news was public, Treat used himself as a living illustration. He preached a series titled “How to Be Your Best When You Feel Your Worst,” and reminded teens that dangerous behaviors such as drug abuse and premarital sex can have latent consequences.

As Treat battled for his health, Christian Faith Center continued to expand. What started with 30 people when Treat was 24 has matured into one of the largest churches in the Pacific Northwest and now meets in two locations. More than 150 people work on staff for the church and its affiliated grade school and Bible college. Treat also hosts international radio and TV broadcasts.

After fighting a lengthy zoning battle, Christian Faith Center plans to move into a $40 million headquarters next year that will house a 5,000-seat sanctuary. The facility will be located in Federal Way, Wash., between Seattle and Tacoma.

Today Treat preaches regularly at both Christian Faith Center campuses, taking a helicopter between the two. And he still has big plans. Within 25 years, he wants to double the number of campuses and grow the congregations to at least 100,000 people throughout the Pacific Northwest.

In his early years, Treat was influenced by such charismatic leaders as pastor Frederick K.C. Price in Los Angeles. Now, he mentors others.

“Casey has a major influence on pastors, both nationally and internationally,” said Jim Reeve, senior pastor of Faith Community Church in West Covina, Calif. “But he has gone beyond just being an influential leader or a model to becoming a father for other pastors of independent and charismatic churches.”

Reeve often invites Treat to preach at Faith Community Church and has hosted Treat’s Vision conference. “Behind the scenes, Casey lives what he teaches,” Reeve said. “Of all the people I know, he is one who truly walks what he talks.”

Bill Wolfson, senior pastor of Church for All Nations in Tacoma, agreed. “Casey walks it,” Wolfson said. “He is a man of faith. But more than that, he is a man whose faith works by love.”

Treat said his approach is simple. “I keep trying to be a better Christian every day,” he said. “This is the key to staying on course and reaching your destiny.”
Steven Lawson

Ministers say the Navajo Nation is experiencing a move of God that is marked by dozens of salvations and healings
Some communities in the largest American Indian reservation in the U.S. are experiencing a move of God that ministry leaders claim is comparable to the miracles recorded in the book of Acts.

They say that in parts of the Navajo Nation, entire families have come to Christ, crack houses have been turned into houses of worship as drug dealers have been converted, many have been delivered from alcohol and drugs, and a well that was dry for years is now filled with water that brings healing.

“The only big name involved in this revival is God, and it is sweeping the Navajo Nation,” said Ray Saragosa, missions pastor of New Song Fellowship, a 300-member charismatic church in Denver.

Saragosa has taken ministry teams seven times to the Arizona communities that are located in the Navajo Nation, which extends through a large portion of the Grand Canyon state and into New Mexico and Utah.

The Navajo Nation is the largest of the 275 reservations and 500 federally recognized tribal governments in the U.S. Roughly the size of West Virginia, the territory covers 25,351 square miles and has a population of 180,000, according to census reports.

Since May 2003, Saragosa, 51, has taken truckloads of clothing, toys, bikes and furniture to Ganado and Whippoorwill, Ariz., located approximately two hours northeast of Flagstaff, Ariz.

He said the Navajo people live in poverty-stricken circumstances, and most of the church buildings are “very rough,” but that has not stopped them from attending revival services.

“Many of the meetings are held in tents, which are simply put up somewhere and the people flock in by the hundreds, hungry for God,” said Saragosa, who is Mexican-American.

A Navajo native who was raised on the reservation, Daniel “Larry” Furcap, senior pastor of Whippoorwill Fellowship Church, said a “full explosion of revival” is happening in Whippoorwill and Ganado, which are about an hour apart.

“It seems like the Lord started doing the outpouring beginning in December 2003,” said Furcap, 42, who is ordained in the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.).

Furcap and Sammie Begay, senior pastor of Ganado Glory Temple, held what was supposed to be a weeklong revival.

“During the revival meeting, we preached about the grace of God,” said Furcap, who has seen the church grow from eight members to 135 since he became pastor in 2000. “Through that the people accepted that they were accepted and redeemed. That’s when they opened up and when the outpouring started taking place. The week of revival kept going on and it continued for weeks.”

Furcap said nearly 200 people have accepted Christ in Whippoorwill, Ganado and the community of Hard Rock, which have several thousand residents.

“Two couples in Whippoorwill who were the main drug dealers of the town got saved,” he said. “Their houses had bullet holes and no windows. Everything was trashed. The people from our church came out to clean their houses, remodeled and painted their houses, got their power turned back on, and gave them food. They’re now holding jobs and are part of the church.”

Shirley Baker said she and several of her siblings got saved last year after one of her brothers and a nephew, who were both Christians, died. “We went through a lot before we knew God,” said Baker, 42, who attends Whippoorwill Fellowship. “I would drink three or four nights each week, and I didn’t think about anything except to get drunk again because there was no one to turn to for love or forgiveness. But now He has set us free from sins.”

Besides deliverance and salvations, Furcap said he has seen supernatural signs and wonders. He said a well close to the Lord’s Church near Piñon, Ariz., which was dry for years, was suddenly filled with water in April 2004, attracting people from outside the reservation. “People who drank or bathed from the spring experienced healing in their body,” Furcap said.

He added that members of the Lord’s Church reported seeing an oil-like substance on the walls during services, as well as the appearance of gold-colored dust and nuggets.

“I believe God is really moving in the Navajo Nation,” he said. “The reason is that people have opened up to God and said, ‘We’re willing for You to do great and mighty things.’ They have laid down their religious things. They want Him to be in control. The Word of God says where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty.”
Eric Tiansay

Sammy Mah’s appointment is part of a corporate restructuring designed to boost the organization’s ability to respond to disaster
As part of a major reorganizing campaign aimed at positioning World Relief to be a leading advocate for the world’s poor and needy, the Christian humanitarian organization recently appointed a former General Motors executive as its president.

Sammy Mah was to be installed as head of World Relief April 18, ending a leadership search that began last year after the resignation of former president Clive Calver. Previously Calver had been general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance of Great Britain, the United Kingdom’s equivalent of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

Now senior pastor of Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, Conn., Calver is credited with having raised the visibility of World Relief and crystallizing its vision of “helping churches help churches help the poor” during his seven-year tenure.

“We all credit Clive with polishing off the vision we were founded [on],” said acting president Tim Ziemer, who was to step down April 18. “We understood that the church’s role is to reach out and do compassion ministry. When you do that compassionate work and you evangelize, you see light. One without the other doesn’t necessarily get you where you want to go. It’s not the whole gospel. Clive came to this organization and made sure we all knew that.”

Both Ziemer’s and Calver’s resignations came as part of a massive restructuring aimed at transitioning World Relief from a traditional style of ministry leadership, in which an organization is led by a visionary president and operations are carried out by an executive director, to a CEO model.

“We really believed we had some of the finest technical people in World Relief,” said board chairman Gordon MacDonald. “What we needed was leadership at the top in this new era who would bring the best out of the competence we have. … We were not looking for a leader who was going to give us a new mission or take us in new directions. We were looking for someone who would take this mission and run with it.”

MacDonald said the new structure was needed to enable World Relief to realize a series of resolutions the board adopted last year. Among them is a desire to make World Relief, which is the humanitarian-assistance arm of the NAE, a leader in addressing such issues as refugee resettlement, the AIDS epidemic, micro-enterprise and food development, and child mortality.

“We don’t have any sense of urgency to be the biggest; we would never come into World Vision’s league,” MacDonald said. “But quality-wise, we would like to be among the best.”

He added that World Relief wants to sound “a prophetic voice” to the U.S. church to remember the poor. “The average Christian in America doesn’t see his or her commitment to the issue of the poor as an evidence of conversion,” MacDonald said. “And we would like to be a leader organization in the 21st century of making sure that the Christian community gets that message. That this is not an option; it’s a given.”

Other humanitarian organizations, such as Compassion International and World Vision, which operates a budget close to $1 billion, have been using a CEO model for several years. Describing Mah as “a very godly man with very vigorous and deep faith in Jesus and a great sensitivity to God’s calling and leading,” MacDonald said the board believed Mah was “capable of running a finely tuned organization and bringing out the best in individuals.”

The son of Chinese immigrants, Mah earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and spent 27 years as an executive at General Motors. He and his wife, Lorelei, and their three children have been active in youth ministry at their church, Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brighton, Mich., and have participated in missions trips to various parts of the world.

Mah’s arrival comes as World Relief continues to recover from a challenging 2001 move to Baltimore. The relocation consolidated offices in Illinois, New York and Georgia and largely is viewed as a positive change. But it also resulted in a significant loss in domestic staff, as some key personnel chose not to transfer. The organization, which operates a $40 million budget, later cut additional staff due to a decline in giving after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

MacDonald said World Relief has braved the worst of the transition, and he is optimistic about the organization’s future. Despite the changes, Ziemer said, World Relief has been able to respond to recent natural disasters, with teams going to work in Indonesia after the tsunami, Grenada after Hurricane Jeanne and Iran after an earthquake struck in December.
Adrienne S. Gaines

Frank Meyer recently launched Evangelism for Cowards to teach Christians how to boldly share their faith
New York City minister Frank Meyer isn’t afraid to go public with his faith, and the city’s subway system is his pulpit.

Preaching and staging evangelistic skits on crowded, noisy subway trains, Meyer said he’s used to facing rejection, weird stares and insults. “The Holy Spirit gives me courage,” he said.

The 42-year-old usually opens with a song such as “Amazing Grace” or “Blessed Assurance” before jumping into a mini-sermon or leading a team in an attention-grabbing skit. “I just sing quietly and very mellow,” he said.

He earned his evangelistic spurs in 1990 serving a one-year internship at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan while attending Dallas Theological Seminary. Searching for a strategy to share the gospel with city dwellers, he took a leap of faith into the subway. He began by singing hymns while commuters waited for trains. “I stood there and just was scared, scared, scared,” he said.

Feeling crushed from a barrage of negative jibes, he recovered his confidence when a man urged, “Don’t ever stop what you’re doing.”

Meyer became a born-again Christian through Campus Crusade for Christ at Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. After working in the industry for two years he heeded God’s call to ministry. Following seminary he worked for a homeless program in Dallas and then the Bowery Mission in Manhattan before transitioning into subway evangelism.

Every skit presentation is an adventure. “The Matrix Man” skit begins when the team casually enters a subway car. A man conspicuously bothers a woman team member who rebuffs him. Meyer, dressed in black and wearing sunglasses, stands up shouting, “Sir, would you mind leaving the woman alone!” After more banter the man pretends to start a fight with Meyer who yells, “I can whip you with my pinky.”

The man collapses on the floor when Meyer points a finger at him, then another team member challenges the crowd about death and eternity and commands the man on the floor to arise. The skit ends with a short gospel message, tract distribution and talks with willing passengers. The team then boards another train.

“Evangelizing on the subway has helped me to be more public with my faith in my neighborhood, in my apartment building and in my work,” said team member Kate Gleason, a college professor who describes herself as a quiet person.

Some passengers respond favorably and gladly accept tracts while others show hostility. “I think it’s disgusting,” a sneering woman told Charisma after refusing a tract.

New York City Transit spokesman James Anyansi said Christian groups are allowed to hand out free information to passengers as long as they don’t disrupt the flow of traffic. Unless a passenger is being harassed, he said, the transit doesn’t respond to complaints about not wanting to receive information.

Besides weekly subway runs, Meyer trains church groups in evangelism under the umbrella of Mission NYC (www.mis sionnyc.org), an evangelical ministry that sponsors short-term missions programs.

Mission NYC will train 60 to 100 teams totaling 2,000 to 3,000 people this year, reported Executive Director Rick Camacho. He endorses Meyer’s style of initiative evangelism. “There is not a single cookie-cutter approach to evangelism,” he said. “Frank offers a vehicle that is unique and breaks through the noise.”

Meyer recently launched Evangelism for Cowards, a ministry aimed at helping Christians share their faith one-on-one. He conducts seminars in churches and provides eye-catching literature. “It’s focused on helping people who never share their faith learn simple ways of getting involved,” he said.

One of his favorite ploys is asking a stranger, “Could you give me a really difficult question about God?” He claims that people respond favorably 80 percent to 90 percent of the time.

“Christians live their lives so afraid of evangelism,” he said. “Christ said the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. It’s scary at first, but it’s so rewarding.”
Peter K. Johnson in New York City

Gwen Edland describes book of Acts-style miracles when recounting her ministry travels to more than 40 nations
Instead of relaxing in retirement, a 70-year-old Nebraska grandmother has become a globetrotting evangelist, willing to share the gospel even in the world’s more dangerous places.

Sometimes teaming up with the Omaha Rapid Response Team to offer food and supplies, other times going off on her own, Gwen Edland has prayed with thousands to receive Christ in more than 40 nations, including Iraq, China and Russia. A registered nurse, certified teacher and licensed pastor, Edland has given away countless copies of the Jesus video and the evangelistic Step Up to Life (SUTL) booklet, which has been translated into 28 languages.

Despite the danger she sometimes faces, Edland believes she is serving out her life’s purpose. A widowed mother of four and grandmother of 12, the Canadian native once prayed that God would send her to places where people have not heard about Jesus. It seems her request was granted, though her first missions trip wasn’t exactly to reach a remote people group deep within the 10/40 Window.

Instead, in 1991 she traveled to Sweden, where she said God miraculously taught her to speak Swedish and she preached the gospel to everyone who would listen. “All people have a right–it’s their birthright–to know their Creator,” Edland said.

A member of Trinity Interdenominational Church in Omaha, Neb., Edland accompanied a Baptist medical team to Hinche, Haiti, in 2000, 2003 and 2004. They assisted a Haitian dentist and doctor and distributed Creole Bibles, eyeglasses and medicines. She reported that 200 people made decisions for Christ each trip. Among them was a voodoo priest who accepted Christ in 2000 and subsequently brought 25 of his warlock friends to hear about Jesus. In 2003 Edland saw him again, cleaned up and studying the Bible with other former warlocks.

“[Edland] is constantly encouraging people to reach out to the poorest of the poor in the world,” said Trinity missions pastor Connie Bissen. “This woman will travel anywhere in the world in order to share the love of Jesus. What a beautiful example she has been to many in our congregation as well as our city.”

Edland accompanied a Tennessee medical team to Recife, Brazil, in 2003. The group visited men sentenced to life in prison for murder and their involvement in gang violence. That year, she said, 480 inmates came to Christ; the following year she reported 850 converts.

In Rio de Janeiro, Edland and her translator went into the darkest ghetto, where the police wouldn’t go. “You need this. Jesus loves you,” she told the drug lords as she handed out SUTL. “They started reading it on the spot,” she said.

Edland has taught English in Chinese universities nearly every summer since 1994. She said the Bible is her textbook, and she shares Jesus with everyone she meets. One year a university president affiliated with the Communist Party accepted Christ after he and Edland read SUTL together during lunch.

“Being with Gwen is like walking with a modern-day Moses because it seems like the sea just parts and we walk right through,” said Dave Collins, who heads Trinity’s pastoral care ministry and has accompanied Edland on trips to China. “It’s an astounding experience. She’s so dedicated and so focused in her devotion to the Lord and the Chinese people.”

And the testimonies keep coming. From her Omaha home, where she hosts parties and Bible studies for international students, Edland describes one adventure after another, many ending with dramatic accounts of miracles or salvation experiences.

On their first trip to Iraq, Edland said, one of the intercessors began praying intently as she handed out SUTL booklets on Iraqi streets. The police came to arrest her, but then stopped suddenly and left.

In Brazil, a missions team prayed for a deaf and mute teenager who came to their medical clinic. Edland anointed his tongue, and his ears popped and he began to speak.

When Edland accompanied an international disaster team to Iraq in 2004, thieves shot a hole in their car door as they traveled between the Jordanian airport and Baghdad. “God kept us safe,” Edland said. On their return trip she said there was a dense fog around their car until they passed through the area where the shooting occurred.

This year Edland journeyed with the Omaha Rapid Response Team to southern Asia after a tsunami devastated the region. She helped build shelters until pain in her hip sent her to the hospital. While there, she said she led the head of the orthopedic department to salvation.

“I remember Jesus said, ‘If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me,'” she said. “If people don’t hear about Jesus, they will go to Hell, and that is unthinkable.”

Audrey Hebbert in Omaha, Neb.

Diane Knippers Dies
Diane Knippers, president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, a conservative think-tank in Washington, D.C., died April 18 of complications from colon cancer. She was 53. Named by Time magazine as one of the nation’s most influential evangelicals, Knippers was an outspoken critic of liberal moves within mainline Protestant churches, especially the Episcopal Church, and was an advocate of persecuted Christians around the world. She is survived by her husband, parents and brother.

Florida Pastor Clint Brown Faces Legal Battle
Dennis Leonard, pastor of Heritage Christian Center in Denver, has filed suit against Florida minister Clint Brown, saying Brown has refused to repay a $100,000 loan he sought to help buy a building for his church, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Leonard’s attorney, Howard Marks, said the pastors made a verbal agreement that FaithWorld would repay the loan. The suit claims that Leonard has not received the money and seeks compensatory damage and interest, the Sentinel said. At press time, neither attorneys for FaithWorld or Brown had commented on the suit. Brown also has been sued by a former member who claims he owes her $200,000. Brown says the money was a gift.

Gospel Artists Recognized At Dove Awards Show
A cross section of Christian music artists were recognized April 13 at the Gospel Music Association’s 36th annual awards show in Nashville, Tenn. Among the Dove Award recipients was Casting Crowns, which was honored with seven awards, including Group of the Year and song and songwriter of the year awards for lead singer Mark Hall. Switchfoot received four awards, including Artist of the Year. Jeremy Camp and Nicole C. Mullen were awarded male and female vocalist of the year awards respectively. The Crabb Family received four awards, including recorded song of the year honors in the Southern Gospel, country and traditional gospel categories. Awards show co-host Israel Houghton received Doves for best contemporary gospel song and album.

‘PREACHER BUSH’ SHARES FAITH WITH REPORTERS
President Bush talked to the seven reporters traveling with him on Air Force One about Jesus after attending the pope’s funeral in Rome April 8. For 47 minutes, Bush and the journalists had an intimate, friendly chat largely about the pope, his legacy and Bush’s own “walk with Christ,” The Washington Post reported. Bush said attending Pope John Paul II’s funeral strengthened his faith, his belief in a living God and in how religious faith is a lifelong journey. “I think a walk in faith constantly confronts doubt, as faith becomes more mature,” Bush said. “And you constantly confront, you know, questions. My faith is strong. The Bible [says] … you’ve got to constantly stay in touch with the Word of God in order to help you on the walk.” Bush told the pool of reporters who travel with the president that it is necessary to find ways to strengthen one’s faith. “It’s called a ‘walk,'” he said “It’s not called a moment or a respite. It’s a ‘walk.'”

PASTOR SPEARHEADS CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUGE GAY EVENT IN JERUSALEM

Joining forces with ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel and rabbis from the U.S., a charismatic pastor has launched an international campaign against the 10-day WorldPride Parade scheduled to take place in Jerusalem this summer. Leo Giovinetti, who leads 2,500-strong Mission Valley Christian Fellowship in San Diego, is seeking 1 million signatures for a petition (www.israelblessgod.com/protest.asp) against the mid-August gay-pride festival, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish mayor, Uri Lupolianski, opposes the event but said he is powerless to interfere because the police, not city hall, license public events. Giovinetti planned to hand-deliver the petition to each member of the Knesset. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Prayer Team (www.jerusalemprayerteam.org) has also started a petition against WorldPride.

OREGON SUPREME COURT NULLIFIES GAY MARRIAGE LICENSES
In a unanimous ruling the Oregon Supreme Court nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples by Multnomah County in Portland last year, the Associated Press (AP) reported. In its April 14 decision, the Court said a county cannot defy state matrimonial law, which bans gay marriage, and noted that voters approved a constitutional amendment that prohibits same-sex unions even more explicitly. Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski said April 13 that he will push to allow same-sex couples to form civil unions, giving them many of the legal rights of marriage. The Oregon Court’s ruling came a day after Connecticut became the second state to offer civil unions to same-sex couples. Massachusetts is the only state that permits gay marriage.

AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION ENDS PROCTOR & GAMBLE BOYCOTT
The American Family Association (AFA ) has suspended a four-month boycott of Proctor & Gamble (P&G) products, claiming the company has backed off efforts that were supportive of homosexual lifestyle. The AFA reported that 400,000 people signed pledges to boycott P&G after the campaign was launched in November and endorsed by Focus on the Family. “Insofar as we can tell by our monitoring, P&G has stopped their sponsorship of TV programs promoting the homosexual lifestyle, such as Will and Grace, and they have stopped their sponsorship of homosexual Internet sites,” AFA chairman Donald Wildmon said. His organization claims P&G has sponsored gay pride parades and gay workshops, and has required its employees to participate in sensitivity training that promotes acceptance of homosexuality.