In order to see national revival, author Peter Marshall says the church must rediscover “why America is worth saving”
Peter Marshall is looking for a great awakening–the Third Great Awakening, to be exact; the kind of nation-shaking revival that would change America’s social and cultural fabric.

Well known for his books and lectures on America’s Christian heritage, Marshall says corporate prayer movements such as this month’s National Day of Prayer May 5 and the Global Day of Prayer May 15 are steps in the right direction.

But the son of former U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall and author Catherine Marshall says winning the culture war also requires that Christians remember why they’re fighting. “People don’t realize why America is worth saving,” Marshall told Charisma. We must rediscover our Christian roots, he added, “for without a vision the people perish.”

Marshall hopes to help cast that vision this month as he speaks at Maryland-area events commemorating the National Day of Prayer. But educating Christians about the nation’s spiritual foundation shouldn’t be limited to one day in the year, he said. Marshall believes U.S. churches should hold regular American heritage classes.

“This nation’s future is very much in doubt,” said Marshall, a Presbyterian minister who leads Restoring America Ministries (www.restoringamerica.com) based in Orleans, Mass. “While abortion has been the major quarrel God has had with this nation, homosexual ‘marriage’ has become the galvanizing moral issue, for it’s the most blatant example of the rejection of God’s laws and intentions for humans. The continual onslaught of attacks aimed at the destruction of the family is unraveling our society.”

Last year, Mission Connecticut invited Marshall to speak at West Point and its first Greater Waterbury Civic Leader Prayer Breakfast. “He gave people the vision this country was founded on,” said the group’s president, Peter Scalzo. “He also stimulated them to a great deal of wonder–and anxiety–about where our country is and where it’s going.”

John Tomicki of the League of American Families in New Jersey uses Marshall’s books in his group’s seminars and church presentations. “His books show people the biblical foundations of our culture and our government,” Tomicki said.

With a clear understanding of America’s Christian roots, Marshall said, churches can begin to assess their own role in the nation’s downturn. “God is trying to get our attention, to turn us back to Him,” Marshall said. “We must come to a deeper repentance and let God change us.”

He said the church also must understand the concept of true Christian community. “We need to be involved in each other’s lives, so we grow in Christ,” he said. “In turn, we will find that ministry comes out of that shared life in Jesus Christ. Then we Christians will become more deeply involved as salt and light in our society.”

Marshall is co-author of The Light and the Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea and Sounding Forth the Trumpet, which describe the faith of the early architects of the United States. He said he plans to release a collection of his father’s famous World War II sermons, and is co-writing a series of historical fiction for youth.

But his passion is to see revival. “I believe the Lord is serious about bringing this nation alive in Him,” he said. “The situation is serious, but God still rules.”
Catherine J. Barrier

Organizers say the upcoming event in New York may mark the start of a new era in evangelism
Organizers of what may be Billy Graham’s final crusade believe the June 23-26 event carries prophetic significance and could mark the beginning of a new era in evangelism.

“The crusade symbolizes the end of one evangelistic period and the beginning of a new period,” said A.R. Bernard, chairman of the Greater New York Billy Graham Crusade executive committee and senior pastor of Christian Cultural Center (CCC) in Brooklyn. “We saw a greater significance than just a crusade. It’s the passing of the anointing to a new generation of leaders.”

He said this will begin to jell when Graham addresses key ministry leaders and pastors from around the world in a special service during the crusade. The result could launch a new global wave of evangelism, organizers say.

In addition to other evangelical denominations, the executive committee has a heavy concentration of Pentecostals, including Carlton Brown of Bethel Gospel Assembly in Harlem; Joseph Mattera of Resurrection Church in Brooklyn; and several Assemblies of God (AG) pastors.

“Pentecostal churches are having a tremendous impact on New York City,” Mattera said.

The AG in New York is gearing up to train volunteers, said Mark T. Gregori, pastor of Crossway Christian Center in the Bronx and AG presbyter for the Bronx and Manhattan counties.

The 2005 event signals Graham’s fourth crusade in New York. His most recent crusade, in 1991, attracted 250,000 people. Crusade director Art Bailey said the schedule is still evolving. Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan will be the main site, but he is trying to line up outdoor venues such as Central Park.

Bailey, a veteran of 34 crusades, leads a full-time staff of 25, evenly divided between members of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association team and local hires. Their plates are full, running 43 church-involvement seminars, 34 outreach seminars and 17 leaders meetings.

The crusade is recruiting 15,000 to 25,000 volunteers, including personal workers and counselors, ushers and a 5,000-voice choir. Discipleship responsibility will be passed on to participating churches. The Youth Outreach Committee, co-chaired by Jeremy Del Rio, pastor of Abounding Grace Ministries, and Dimas Salaberrios of Youth for Christ, is mobilizing teenagers and 20-somethings to invite friends to the special crusade service aimed at young people. The committee also proposes prayer walks around the city and “random acts of kindness.”

“We recognize that evangelism doesn’t stop with the proclamation of the gospel,” Del Rio said. “It’s as much about the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.” Other special outreaches are aimed at the arts; police, fire and rescue personnel; and the business community.

Bailey paints the crusade as a walk of faith. Plans were delayed when Graham broke his hip in January 2004, and some still question whether the 86-year-old will be healthy enough to make it. “It is by faith that it happens,” Bailey said. “God will deliver us and give us victory. Like David, I’m standing in the stream picking up stones.”

He said thousands of e-mails offering prayers for Graham’s health and the crusade have flooded his computer. “The crusade site is the most prayed for spot in the world,” Bailey said.

The crusade has corralled an unusual mix of denominations. “Billy brings them to the cross,” Bailey said. “There is always more to agree on than separates us.”

The Council of Churches of the City of New York (CCCNY), representing 29 denominations and church agencies, endorses the crusade. Council members include diverse theological persuasions such as Baptist, Reformed, Episcopal, United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Moravian, Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, and Russian, Greek and Armenian Orthodox churches.

“Our board of directors took a special vote to endorse the Billy Graham crusade,” said John Hiemstra, CCCNY executive director. “We have some people who are very excited about the crusade. We applaud the commitment to Jesus Christ.”

Bailey anticipates the crusade could thrust world evangelism into the spotlight for the future. “Not necessarily for Billy Graham, but for the body of Christ,” he said. “It could be the spark that ignites something bigger.”

The crusade will be a milestone in Graham’s illustrious career as the world’s most famous evangelist. But the question remains. Will this be his final bow on the evangelistic circuit? “We’ve been doing the last crusade for 10 years,” Bailey said. “God will make that call.”
Peter K. Johnson .in New York City

Ministry leaders say confrontation over this issue will continue, but Christians must respond with love and kindness
Gay-rights activists converged on a historic downtown Chicago church in February, decrying it as a house of hate and protesting the pastor’s opposition to same-sex marriage. Christian observers say such confrontation will likely continue as believers become more vocal in opposition to homosexual unions.

Erwin Lutzer, pastor of The Moody Church, was one of two ministers targeted by the Gay Liberation Network (GLN) during a series of demonstrations Feb. 12, a date recognized as Freedom to Marry Day in the homosexual community.

Some 35 participants carried rainbow flags and held signs that read “Christians for Equal Rights” and “Marriage is a Human Right,” while chanting slogans such as “Separate church and state; Moody is a house of hate.”

“We’re at Moody because of Lutzer’s book titled The Truth About Same-Sex Marriage,” said Andy Thayer, protest organizer and a member of GLN, which was formed in 1998 as the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network in response to three violent attacks in Chicago against gays.

Protesters decried Lutzer’s view that same-sex marriage “is arguably the most damaging social experiment to ever be attempted in this country.” A proponent of gay-rights legislation, Thayer said GLN wants to protect homosexuals against violence. Comparing the experience of homosexuals to that of African-Americans during the civil rights era, he said violence against blacks was at its highest when legal discrimination reached its peak.

Other gay activists agree. In a message on GLN’s Web site, member Bob Schwartz said he believed “hate from the pulpit” could foster “an environment that gives rise to the violence.”

After staging a demonstration at Moody, activists including Deborah Mell, daughter of Alderman Dick Mell and sister-in-law of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich marched a few blocks east to the home of Cardinal Francis George, the highest-ranking Catholic clergy in Chicago, and shouted: “Shame on you! Shame on you!” George made headlines in January after the Chicago Sun-Times reported on a Vatican statement opposing legal recognition of same-sex unions.

Gay-rights organizations have been regrouping since November when voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. GLN member Craig Teichen said he hopes to tear down institutions opposing same-sex marriage vocally, if not physically. “We have resources and passion they don’t have,” he told the crowd, “and our relationships are stronger than their corporate ties.”

While the demonstrations were not as provocative as they might have been had they been held on a Sunday, observers say Christians should expect more confrontation over gay marriage. “If they call Moody a house of hate, any church in America that believes the Bible could be called a house of hate,” said Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute.

He said gay activists are targeting mainstream congregations that have been less vocal politically as part of an intimidation tactic. “The gay community is coming out of the closet, and they’re trying to push Christians into the closet,” he said.

He said Christians must not opt out of the culture war; if they do extreme groups will be the only ones offering a religious point of view. He said Lutzer’s book, released in July by Moody Publishers, and The Homosexual Agenda by the Alliance Defense Fund, can help believers understand the issue and craft a response.

Chad Thompson, founder of Loving Homosexuals.com, says that response must include a strategy for ministering to those in the gay lifestyle. “It’s true that as churches become more vocal on this issue, they will see more and more opposition from the gay and lesbian community,” said Thompson, author of Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would (Brazos Press). “We must prepare for this by making sure our churches are a safe place for gay and lesbian people.”

“If God’s people are not equipped to give homosexuals the special kind of love they need in order to heal the wounds of their past and move into heterosexuality, then we have no right to oppose them politically,” he added. “No one has any business reading a single book about how to oppose homosexuals politically until they’ve read a book on how to love them personally.”

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, an ex-gay ministry based in Orlando, Fla., said Christians must not be intimidated by the gay-rights movement, but should respond in truth, love and grace. “Imbalance on either side is damaging to the cause of Christ, and fails to represent His heart accurately,” he said, noting that judgmental attitudes can cause a homosexual to reject Christ, while total acceptance can cause the person to avoid repentance.
Karen Tom in Chicago

Jeremy Reynalds believes God will protect him from radical Islamists looking to make good on recent death threats
A Christian journalist has been .targeted for murder because of his role in tracking and dismantling a terrorist site that was taken off line just hours before the Iraqi elections.

Jeremy Reynalds, a contributor to Charisma magazine, is known for his work as the founder of Joy Junction (www.joyjunction.org), New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter. But when he’s not ministering to the homeless, Reynalds says he “relaxes” by hunting Islamic terrorist Web sites.

Terrorist groups use these sites the bulk of which are hosted by American companies to issue messages, recruit followers and display the killing of hostages.

Reynalds began tracking such sites in 2002, when a friend told him about a terrorist site hosted by Everyone’s Internet, an American Internet service provider. “It was really sort of horrifying to me,” he said. “What grabbed me was that it was hosted in Houston.”

Reynalds said he contacts the service provider when he finds a terrorist site hosted by a U.S. company. If the host refuses to dismantle the site, he contacts the FBI.

His efforts led to the dismantling of the Al-Ansar Web site, which contained the death threat issued against Reynalds in February. A thread on the site blames him for the demise of another terrorist site, mawsuat.com.

The threat against Reynalds was made after he confronted the owner of the Al-Ansar site and wrote an article describing his role in shutting it down. Posts divulged Reynalds’ home address so that he might be “visited,” cell phone number and a request for further information on him.

A follow-up discussion included Reynalds’ picture and prayers to Allah that he should deliver Reynalds’ “fatty neck” reference to decapitation. Despite three calls from Charisma, Everyone’s Internet could not be reached for comment.

The site eventually moved to Host for Web, a Chicago-based provider that currently hosts more than 50,000 domains. “We don’t monitor our clients’ Web sites because it is technologically not possible,” said Host for Web President Alex Korneyev in an e-mail statement. “In our experience, outside parties were always quick to point out an illegal Web site. Of course, when we ourselves find something illegal hosted on our servers we immediately take it off line and notify the appropriate authorities.”

Korneyev said his company no longer hosts the Al-Ansar site.

American hosting of terrorist sites is “the rule, not the exception,” said Aaron Weisburd, owner of Internet Haganah (www.haganah.org), a Web site that describes itself as a “global open-source intelligence network dedicated to confronting Internet use by Islamist terrorist organizations, their supporters, enablers and apologists.”

“Of the close to 300 jihadist sites that we track, all but one or two are online thanks to the services of one American company or another,” Weisburd said in an e-mail interview.

“The Web sites of the global jihad are like the glue that holds the community of jihadists together,” Weisburd added. “That is why it is important to fight them, and that is why they respond with so much hostility when one does so. These are not just Web sites. They are a window into the dark souls of these people.”

After an undisclosed warning from the FBI, Reynalds said he is taking adequate precautions. “But I will not be intimidated by radical jihadi thugs,” he said.

FBI Special Agent Jeff Lanza said the government is monitoring terrorist sites, but he would not elaborate. “As part of our effort to prevent additional terrorist acts in this country, we do a broad range of things,” Lanza said. “It’s something that is certainly monitored, but at this point [we] are unwilling to talk on record about anything that [we’re] doing in that regard.”

Americans need to be aware, and they need to be involved, Reynalds said. “I really believe that unless all of us make some attempt to get more integrally involved in fighting the radical Islamic terrorists, it is ultimately going to overtake us.”

And by involvement, Reynalds means education, prayer and the monitoring of terrorist sites. What began as a simple hobby has become a passionate ministry, he said.

“I have hopefully given some comfort to those [terrorist victims’] families, hopefully at least drawn some attention to this,” Reynalds said. “The ultimate essence of what I’ve done will probably only be shown in heaven. If I thought the Lord was specifically directing me to not do it, I wouldn’t do it. All I can trust is…He will take care of me.”
Suzy Richardson

The Rev. K.K. Devaraj has found his mission field among Mumbai’s orphaned children, drug addicts and prostitutes
Despite its Eastern mystique and pockets of great wealth and opulence, thousands in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, live in abject poverty. They know only homelessness, hunger, prostitution, drug addiction and a growing AIDS epidemic.

Yet India’s abandoned have become one man’s mission field. Since 1990, the Rev. K.K. Devaraj has combed the streets of Mumbai’s notorious red-light district offering refuge to abandoned children, addicts and women sold into prostitution.

Devaraj, or “Uncle,” as he is called, is described by locals as a gentle man with a big heart. Though the city’s name has changed, the ministry Devaraj leads is still known as Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC). The outreach operates six safe houses for women rescued from sex work, as well as health clinics and homes for street children and AIDS orphans.

“Uncle saved my life, and gave me hope and a home,” said Vanita, who was rescued in 1999 at the age of 11.

“I met Jesus and His love through [the ministry],” said another teen known as Neelam. “They helped me study and gave me medicine when I was sick. I want to share Jesus with others and hope to be a minister myself.”

BTC sends medical vans daily into the heart of the city to offer food, health care and the chance of a new life. It also operates a drug-detoxification program and offers former addicts education, job training and employment opportunities.

“When [Devaraj] walks through the streets, he’s like an apostle, an apostle to the people God has called him to,” said Mike Zello, who oversees 590 ministries in 86 countries as director of Global Teen Challenge. “And he has a tremendous amount of respect.”

Just blocks from the hub of Mumbai’s sex trade, where more than 10,000 prostitutes work and live under abysmal conditions, BTC operates a clinic for HIV-positive prostitutes. “I’ve been offered many jobs where I could earn considerably more money and enjoy great prestige, yet God has called me here,” said a volunteer doctor. “I cannot imagine leaving this remarkable place.”

After visiting Mumbai in 1998 and touring the city’s brothels with Devaraj, former Rep. Linda Smith launched Shared Hope International, through which she funds safe houses for women who had been sold into prostitution. She helped Devaraj build six such homes in India, and has also lobbied to end the trafficking of women worldwide, including in the United States.

“The thing I always liked about Devaraj was that he always looked at these women as beautiful and not as prostitutes, but as recoverable,”.Smith said. “He never just wrote them off like most societies.”

In Mumbai, the women’s stories are both heartrending and inspirational. One woman was drugged by her uncle and woke up in a cage. Another known simply as Sunita was sold by her father and forced into prostitution to repay her “debt.” She later became a brothel operator.

“Devaraj never judged me, never gave up on me,” she said. “He told me every day that Jesus loved me and would always welcome me in His family. When I finally responded to God’s call, I could not leave [the eight girls working in the brothel] behind. So when I left, I took all of them with me, and we all serve the Lord today.”

Many women are lured to Mumbai under false pretenses, only to find themselves forced into a life of brutality and shame. BTC maintains a constant presence among the brothels, operating a Spirit-filled church in the area and offering prayer, acceptance and hope. “Whenever you are ready, your Father’s house is waiting,” Devaraj tells them.

Hundreds have responded to his invitation, and Devaraj has no plans to slow down. The ministry operates a night shelter for children whose mothers work in the red-light district, and for those who have been abandoned or orphaned by AIDS. Devaraj also is building a hospice for HIV-positive children.

“It’s not easy, all you see,” Devaraj said. “It takes courage. Silver and gold we do not have. And food and medicine is not enough. But what we have is the bread of life. We have fruit that lasts and life everlasting. It is this we freely give.”
Michele L. Lombardo in Mumbai, India

Anti-Conversion Bill to Be Considered in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government may adopt legislation in April that would make it illegal for someone to convert to Christianity. The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka reported that if the bill which was introduced last year by Rathnasiri Wickramanayake, the Minister of Buddhist Affairs were to become law, relief groups may face increased scrutiny, as some might think the humanitarian work was merely a ploy to entice conversion. Violating the proposed law, which is wider in scope than another anti-conversion bill declared unconstitutional last year, could lead to as many as seven years in prison.

Christian Students Arrested in Eritrea

In a continuing crackdown of Christians, a group of Sunday school teachers and students were recently arrested in the capital of Asmara. On Feb. 19, 131 children between the ages of 2 and 18 were attending classes at Medhane Alem Orthodox Church when they were apprehended by police, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide. At press time, most of the students remained jailed with their teachers, Compass Direct reported. The Medhane Alem congregation has normally been exempted from the government’s harsh crackdown against Protestant churches. But recently the entire ministry was ordered closed down by government officials without explanation. At press time, 214 Eritrean Christians had been arrested in two months, Compass reported.

Turkish Pastor .Reconverts to Islam

A former Turkish pastor announced on several national TV stations that he converted back to Islam after being a Christian since 1987, Assist News Service reported. He also told viewers they should guard against Christian workers in the nation. The man claimed the missionaries wanted only to help the United States undermine the Turkish government. The report of the man’s claim was distributed by Turkish World Outreach (TWO), which noted that a call was to be issued March 11 for all Muslims to unite and stand firm in Islam, Assist reported. TWO expressed concern that the call would trigger violence against Christian workers in the area.

The group’s 78-year-old leader says she wants “to love and to rock and to hold” the children as only a grandmother can
Miriam Machovec said her heart broke last year as she watched a 12-year-old HIV-positive child in South Africa playing both mother and father to her nine younger siblings after their parents died of AIDS.

The 78-year-old grandmother said she returned to her Fort Lauderdale, Fla., home with a heavy prayer burden. During intercession for the children, she said God told her to organize a Granny Brigade to take grandmotherly love and care to the orphans infected with HIV and living in African refugee camps.

“I had to look in the dictionary to see what the word “brigade” meant,” Machovec said. “I knew it had a military meaning. I changed the definition a bit. The Granny Brigade is a group of grannies with a purpose to accomplish much.”

The widowed mother of three, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of three is leading a group of 11 women, whose average age is 60, back to South Africa from April 29 to May 9 to minister to thousands of kids.

Book of Hope, a Pompano Beach, Fla.-based international ministry focused on reaching children with the gospel, is sending the Granny Brigade under its umbrella, but the women are paying their own way.

The grannies will visit an orphanage, a refugee camp and a small village to bring the love of God to hurting people. The brigade will also visit public schools to distribute Book of Hope’s Scripture books to schoolchildren at the request of the local government. Book of Hope books contain all four Gospels.

“We can’t cure AIDS, but we can hold and rock and love the children of the world that have AIDS, as only a grandmother can do. And we will,” said Machovec, a longtime member of Christian Life Center, an Assemblies of God congregation in Fort Lauderdale. “We are going to hold them and love them and tell them grandma stories.”

While the Iowa native enjoys rollerblading with her grandkids, Machovec is not content to live a leisurely life in the warm South Florida climate when so many children are suffering in remote South African villages. Even while she is on the home front, Machovec has the work of the ministry on her mind.

This out-of-the-ordinary near octogenarian has been a full-time volunteer with Book of Hope since 1988. Before taking the gospel to South Africa last year, Machovec made two trips to Siberia, two trips to Russia, and individual trips to Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and the Dominican Republic. But God has put South Africa’s children on her heart.

“How easy it is for me to hold my own healthy grandchildren and so many other children in my lifeÑand give them the love they need,” Machovec said. “But how much more do these dying children need the human touch and genuine love in their lives, which will be cut short by AIDS?”

Book of Hope executive director Rob Hoskins said he immediately embraced what he believed was an inspired initiative and set out to help the can-do granny make the vision a reality.

“The love that the grandmas are going to provide to those desperately needy kids will be powerful,” Hoskins said. “Miriam is my hero. I wish every grandma in America had her spirit and vision. She always says to me time after time that a vision without action is just a dream.”

Hoskins still remembers overhearing Machovec making calls to other grannies across the country in what he calls her “no-nonsense Iowa way” and telling them, “YouÕve got to come with me to South Africa!”

One of the women she called was Arlene Allen, national director of Women’s Ministries for the Assemblies of God. Allen rallied behind her, helping her recruit willing women.

“The Granny Brigade is right up my alley,” Allen said. “I am 60 years old and have two wonderful grandkids. I am excited about the work we will be doing to train older siblings how to take care of their little brothers and sisters whose parents died of AIDS.”

Machovec believes the Granny Brigade will make additional trips to South Africa. She says the Lord knows how old she is, and she’s depending on Him to help her carry out this mandate.

“If He tells me to train someone else, then I would be happy to do that,” she said. “So far no one has shown up to lead the Granny Brigade into South Africa.”
Jennifer LeClaire

City Council Orders Removal of Cross

The San Diego City Council ordered the removal of a 50-year-old cross that has stood on government land since 1954, the San Diego Union Tribune reported. After a 16-year battle, the council voted 5-3 on March 8 to remove the Mount Soledad cross, arguing that its display was a violation of the separation of church and state. The fight over the cross began in 1989 when two atheists filed suit against the city. The case led to a 2002 appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that it would be unconstitutional both to display the cross or sell the land on which it sits to a private buyer. City officials have yet to determine where or when the cross will be moved.

Senator Vows to Protect Boy Scouts’ Support

Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., promised to pass legislation that would shield the Boy Scouts of America from lawsuits challenging its federal support because the organization issues a religious oath to members, the Washington Times reported. FristÕs bill, which has bipartisan support, says “no federal law, directive, rule, instruction or order should limit any federal agency from providing support to the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts,” the Times reported. The legislation is in response to an ongoing lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argues that federal support for the Scouts violates the separation of church and state.

Tennessee Passes Marriage Amendment

On March 17, Tennessee’s legislature passed a constitutional amendment that would prohibit same-sex marriage, Baptist Press (BP).reported. The decision means the issue will be put before voters in November 2006. Tennessee is the fourth state legislature this year to send a marriage amendment to voters, following Alabama, Kansas and South Dakota. Currently, 16 states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage; Hawaii has an amendment allowing the state legislature to prohibit the practice. Fifteen other states are considering marriage amendments. Though constitutional amendments are often said to be the only way to protect traditional marriage, state amendments can be challenged in federal court, BP said.

The New York Bible study offers practical tools for Christian living in a fast-paced environment
A charismatic minister has put his own spin on the rules for successful relationships and is creating a buzz among New York City singles.

Christopher L. Burge, 38, a former Wall Street whiz kid, has turned a Manhattan Bible study into a reality check for Christian singles facing sexual temptation, loneliness, unemployment, difficulty in finding a godly mate, and a competitive marketplace that could sap anyone’s strength.

“There are people in the city starving for the things of God,” said Burge, co-author of His Rules: God’s Practical Road Map for Becoming and Attracting Mr. or Mrs. Right (WaterBrook Press). “They just donÕt know where they can go and fellowship with their peers.”

Through the Bible study and book, which he co-wrote with Pamela Toussaint, Burge offers a practical, biblical take on the bestselling 1996 relationship guidebook The Rules. And the message is striking a chord.

I’ve grown so much spiritually since I’ve been attending this ministry,” said DuJuan Newsome, a 26-year-old accountant. “As a young Christian single, especially in a high-pace work environment, there are a lot of temptations out there. As it relates to relationships, women and lust, the Lord has really washed me over the last couple of years.”

Vivienne LaBorde, an attorney, toils 60, 80 or even 100 hours a week in her mergers and acquisitions legal practice. In such a high-stress job she needs Jesus to overcome fear, worry and anxiety. “When I come here I get practical tools in order to defeat strongholds,” she said. “It really challenges you, showing you how to be a warrior for Christ.”

About 100 men and women mostly in their 20s and 30s, gather for two weekly Bible workshops conducted by Burge. They represent a spectrum of ethnic backgrounds, occupations and evangelical denominations from Pentecostal to Baptist to Presbyterian to Episcopal.

The workshops take place in a midtown Manhattan apartment and at St. George’s Episcopal Church on East 16th Street. In addition Burge recently launched a 12-week course based on His Rules. Burge teaches for 50 minutes and then leads a frank Q&A session. No subject is off limits.

Dressed casually or in business attire directly from work, participants juggle open Bibles while taking serious notes, sipping water or coffee, or wolfing a sandwich. Burge’s delivery is informal but precise and sprinkled with computer-speak. “All of us are a work in progress,” he said.

The teaching covers practical subjects such as relating to non-Christians at work, communication between the sexes, relationships, fighting materialism and finding God’s purpose.

“Church is cool, but sometimes you need something intimate broken down into a smaller group that talks about issues I’m going through,” said Corey Darnell, a marketing executive. “This ministry helped me realize that I’m human. I will make mistakes. I will fall on my butt. That’s all in the journey God is taking me through.”

Darnell, like other members of the group, said he feels more comfortable sharing with peers in an informal setting rather than a structured church environment.

Seeds of the ministry were planted 13 years ago when Burge led a Bible study with four men in his one-room apartment. It eventually grew to 20 people.

A graduate of Brown University, Burge was a rising star at Solomon Brothers, a prestigious Wall Street investment firm. He made vice president of fixed income and institutional sales at the age of 25, but in 1999 he quit to study at Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Okla.

“The Holy Spirit was tugging on me strongly,” he said. “I loved my job to death and then in a very short window my enthusiasm started to wane. I just recognized that I could not turn my back on this calling. Money didn’t matter because I always wanted to be in God’s perfect will.”

While at Rhema he caught the vision to establish a teaching center where people from different denominations would receive practical Bible teaching. After graduating in 2002 he returned to New York to apply what he had learned. Attendance at the Bible study blossomed and requires two locations now.

The ministry’s next step is a permanent location in Manhattan. Burge said he wants to keep helping people live out biblical Christianity in the 21st century. “We want to keep teaching lay people how to apply biblical principles in their respective spheres of influence,” he said.
Peter K. Johnson in Manhattan

HOSTAGE SAYS “GOD BROUGHT” ATLANTA FUGITIVE TO HER
In the days after an Atlanta fugitive’s capture March 12, few could stop talking about Ashley Smith, the 26-year-old widow whose 9-1-1 call effectively ended the two-day manhunt. Authorities say Smith’s gentleness contributed to Brian Nichols’ peaceful surrender after he held her for more than seven hours in her suburban Atlanta apartment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. On March 11, Nichols, 33, a jailed defendant in a rape trial in Atlanta, overpowered a deputy and fatally shot a superior court judge, court reporter, sheriff’s deputy and off-duty customs agent before taking Smith hostage. Smith reportedly talked to Nichols about faith, read from The Purpose-Driven Life and told him that he must be held accountable for what he did, but his life still has a purpose. By ministering to other inmates, “you can go to jail and save many more people than you killed,” Smith told him. When Nichols let her go so she could visit her 5-year-old daughter, Smith called the police. While some observers say Smith was too kind to Nichols, others say she exemplified Christian principles, showing him that though he was wounded and messed up, he was not beyond redemption, the New York Times reported.

CALIFORNIA JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled March 14 that withholding marriage licenses from homosexuals would constitute discrimination, the Associated Press reported. “Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before,” Kramer wrote in his decision in a pair of lawsuits seeking to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage. The decision was automatically stayed for 60 days, allowing time for both sides to appeal. Both opponents and supporters are expecting a long fight. “The decision will be gasoline on the fire of the pro-marriage movement in California as well as the rest of the country,” said Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, which is representing the Campaign for California Families, one of two groups defending the ban.

CARDINAL TELLS CATHOLICS TO SHUN DAVINCI CODE
One of the Roman Catholic Church’s top theologians condemned Dan Brown’s best-selling novel March 16, telling the faithful to avoid The DaVinci Code “because this is rotten food,” Reuters reported. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said Brown’s book, which asserts that Christ married Mary Magdalene and fathered children, is “a sack full of lies” that insults the Christian faith. The highest-ranking Catholic leader to oppose the book, Bertone urged Catholic booksellers to remove it from their shelves because the novel sows doubt and confusion. “I am happy that a lot of people have been put on the alert and that I have sounded the alarm of vigilance against the spread of this book,” he told Reuters. “I have arrived too late. Millions of copies have been sold. I can’t hope to slow down sales, but at least to prompt a critical response.” Brown declined to comment, but his publisher, Doubleday, issued a statement saying the book merely examined centuries-old ideas “in an accessible work of fiction,” Reuters reported.

United Pentecostal Leader Nathaniel Urshan Dies

The Rev. Nathaniel Urshan, former leader of United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI), died March 11 at the age of 84. A former minor league baseball player, Urshan went into the ministry after surviving a near-fatal bout with tuberculosis. In 1949 the Pentecostal preacher’s kid became pastor of Calvary Tabernacle in Indianapolis and served the ministry for 30 years. He went on to become general superintendent of the UPCI, a Oneness Pentecostal denomination that grew from 400,000 members to more than 4 million during his tenure from 1978 to 2002. Funeral services were held March 17 at Calvary Tabernacle. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jean; a daughter; two sons; 13 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

Pat Robertson Turns 75

More than 1,000 people gathered in San Antonio March 11-13 to celebrate Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat RobertsonÕs 75th birthday. Also a fund-raiser for the Robertson Endowed Honors Scholarship, the weekend included a Black-Tie-and-Boots gala, golf tournament and barbeque..Participants included Sen. Sam Brownback, Foursquare President Jack Hayford, former Rep. Dick Armey, author Max Lucado, Curves founder Gary Heavin and former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who is to serve as a distinguished professor of law and government at Regent University beginning July 1. The Oak Ridge Boys and Randy Travis provided special music.

200 Million to Convene For Global Prayer Day

As many as 200 million Christians are expected to unite in prayer May 15 for what is being considered the world’s largest prayer gathering ever. Spawned from continentwide prayer gatherings that began in South Africa in 2001, the Global Day of Prayer (www.glob aldayofprayer.com) is expected to be broadcast on television, radio and the Internet, Assist News Service reported. Stadium events are planned in Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Egypt, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Argentina, Dallas, and Alberta, Canada.