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Text File | 1992-11-21 | 35KB | 639 lines

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Last Updated:  November 21 - 12:00 Noon

Some Of This Week's Stories:

       ■ Main Article: Clinton Says He'll End Military's Ban On Gays.
         (See "Main Story" Bulletin)

       ■ Televangelist Fundraising Drops
       ■ Clinton Victory Called "Challenge."
       ■ Bush Not Supported by Religious Broadcasters
       ■ Church of England Votes to Ordain Female Priests
       ■ Christian Radio Broadcaster Killed in Manila
       ■ Dr. J. Oswald Sander Dies
       ■ Pat Robertson on Newsweek's List of "Cultural Elite"
       ■ National News Shorts
       ■ World News Shorts
       ■ And Much More...


■ NAE'S BILLY MELVIN CALLS CLINTON VICTORY A 'CHALLENGE'
  WHEATON, Ill. (EP) -- The election of Bill Clinton and Al Gore
  in the recent presidential race poses new and bigger challenges for
  the evangelical community, according to Billy Melvin, executive
  director of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

  Melvin says if Clinton holds to his pre-election positions on key
  moral and ethical issues such as abortion and homosexuality,
  evangelicals will have no option but to speak back to the
  administration. "We have to be prepared to speak up and challenge the
  government," says Melvin.

  The challenge will be even more intense, Melvin says, because many
  pro-abortion groups, radical feminists, and homosexual advocacy
  organizations see Clinton as a sympathetic president, and will use the
  next four years to push their agenda.

  Religious liberty will be another area of change, as Christian groups
  who speak out against the government risk losing their tax-exempt
  status, says Melvin. "The government can use its agencies to harass
  groups and individuals for their religious convictions," says Melvin.

  Noting that the U.S. culture has moved away from religion in recent
  years, Melvin says the church has failed to change its outreach
  methods to suit the new environment. "We are failing to communicate
  the gospel to a post-Christian culture," he says.

  But Melvin also emphasizes that the evangelical community need not be
  hostile to the Clinton-Gore Administration. "We are willing to be
  supportive of the new President whenever we can," he says, noting that
  evangelical leaders are seeking a meeting with Gore to discuss their
  concerns.


■ COURT CLOSES BOOKS ON PTL, CREDITORS GET $49 MILLION
  COLUMBIA, S.C. (EP) -- More than $49 million was paid to
  creditors of the now defunct PTL televangelism empire, but the
  ministry's "lifetime partners" received nothing, according to the
  final report in the PTL bankruptcy case, which was filed Nov. 11 with
  the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbia, South Carolina.

  When the scandal-plagued PTL ministry collapsed in 1987, it owed $130
  million to creditors. It also had obligations to 116,000 "lifetime
  partners" who had contributed some $158 million to the ministry in
  return for a lifetime of free lodging at the PTL theme park, Heritage
  USA.

  Representatives of the partners argued that they were entitled to
  reimbursements, but the court ruled that they were not creditors, and
  should not expect to have their contributions refunded. Had the
  partners been considered creditors, they would have been "unsecured
  priority creditors," and would have divided the $1.3 million that went
  instead to the IRS and State of South Carolina. Each partner would
  have received no more than $5, according to Joseph Allman, the last of
  four court-appointed trustees to handle the case.

  After liquidating PTL, the bankruptcy court gave $43 million to
  secured creditors, mostly mortgage holders.

  In a related story, PTL founder Jim Bakker has asked U.S. District
  Judge Graham Mullen to release him from prison early. Bakker, who is
  serving an 18-year prison sentence for fraud, wrote, "I beg for your
  forgiveness and mercy." Bakker is eligible for parole in August of
  1995; prosecutors oppose early release.


■ STUDY: TELEVANGELIST FUNDRAISING DROPS TO PRE-PTL SCANDAL LEVELS
  DES MOINES, Iowa (EP) -- On-air fundraising and promotional
  activities by television preachers returned to pre-PTL scandal levels,
  according to the latest monitoring survey conducted by Grand View
  College professor Stephen Winzenburg.

  Following the PTL scandal, the amount of airtime devoted to
  fundraising and promotion peaked at 27 percent in 1988, then declined
  to 25 percent in 1990. This year's numbers dropped to the pre-PTL
  scandal average of 22 percent.

  "Most ministers use less than 10 percent of their airtime to ask for
  money and even less in promotional announcements," according to
  Winzenburg. "The averages skew high due to the unusually large amount
  of fundraising and promotion time used by Larry Jones and Robert
  Tilton."

  Jones, host of the weekly "Feed the Children" telecast, devoted 97
  percent to the fundraising and promotion, while Tilton's "Success-N-
  Life" show averaged 84 percent. Others, such as Billy Graham, Mother
  Angelica and Charles Stanley, "use almost no time asking for money and
  spend little time in promotion," said Winzenburg. "Religious
  broadcasters get stereotyped as big beggars when in truth these
  broadcasts run the gamut from weekly telethons to no appeals ever made
  for money."

  Of the 19 ministries studied in October, "most spend less time asking
  for money than commercial television devotes to advertisements," said
  Winzenburg. The 22 percent spent by television ministers on fundraising
  and promotion matches the average of 22 percent devoted to commercials
  and promotional announcements on network prime time television.

  "Due to the methods used, the public wrongly perceives that they see
  more financial appeals on religious broadcasts than they see
  commercials on network television," commented Winzenburg. "The
  misconception is due to the times when a television minister talks
  straight into the camera and, with a quiver in his voice, tell viewers
  that he needs financial support to stay on the air. Even though this
  accounts for only a few minutes of the average hour-long telecast,
  viewers still think of it as begging. The message is overpowered by
  the method."

  Winzenburg defines the commercial activities of religious broadcasters
  as either "fundraising," which includes specific requests for money,
  or "promotion," which includes items or services offered without
  payment. Other categories include "political" and "spiritual."

  The religious broadcasters featured a number of celebrities: retired
  country singer Naomi Judd made her first public testimony of Christian
  faith on Schuller's telecast; Mother Angelica talked with Bob Hope's
  wife Delores about her Catholic faith; Paul Crouch's broadcast
  featured a healing service with testimony from Dyan Cannon, actress
  and ex-wife of the late Cary Grant; and Larry Jones hosted a myriad of
  country stars, with weekly appeals for money from superstar Garth
  Brooks.

  Winzenburg, who began monitoring television preachers in 1981 with a
  University of Minnesota master's thesis on Jim Bakker and Pat
  Robertson, said, "The latest study is the most encouraging of all that
  I have conducted. Many ministries have learned to be self-disciplined
  in not overpowering viewers with requests for money." As a result of
  the PTL scandal, "The spiritual segments of the programs seem more
  practical than ever before." Winzenburg concluded, "These preachers
  have suffered hardships the last few years and can now relate better
  to the typical viewer who is looking for encouragement."


■ BUSH FAILS TO GET SUPPORT FROM RELIGIOUS BROADCASTS
  DES MOINES, Iowa (EP) -- Major television ministers failed to
  voice support for George Bush in the 1992 presidential election,
  according to the latest monitoring survey conducted by Grand View
  College communication professor Stephen Winzenburg.

  Of the 19 broadcast ministries included in the study, Winzenburg said,
  "Most either ignored the presidential election or sent mixed signals
  as to how they thought Christians should vote. Such ambivalence was a
  striking contrast to the active role religious broadcasters took at
  the Republican Convention."

  Winzenburg added, "It may be surprising that no conservative broadcast
  minister was willing to support George Bush on the air. But even more
  incredible is the fact that a large number of TV preachers went out of
  their way to refuse to voice support for conservative political
  ideology."

  For example, top-rated TV minister Robert Schuller preached a series
  of sermons on the subject of "change," a popular buzzword among
  Democrats. Schuller told viewers, "The series is not to be considered
  an implied endorsement of any political party." He mentioned he had
  spoken recently to Bush by phone, but Schuller failed to endorse any
  candidate, concluding: "I'll tell you how to vote -- prayerfully,
  carefully."

  Mother Angelica, founder of the nation's largest religious cable
  network, told viewers "I personally couldn't vote for somebody who is
  pro-choice. I have a problem with that. And I have a hard time
  wondering why our president, who is pro-life, allowed our Croatian
  brothers to be so mutilated and brutalized." She finally admitted that
  she would not support any of the major candidates, saying "I know who
  I'm voting for but I'm gonna write it in."

  Paul Crouch, who heads the large Trinity Broadcasting Network,
  responded to the question of who he would be voting for by telling
  viewers, "Before God Almighty, I don't know." He was unhappy with all
  the major candidates and assured the television audience that he would
  not use his show for a "partisan political campaign."

  Winzenburg says, "Four years ago Christians were rallying behind
  George Bush. But religious broadcasters today seem to reflect the
  disappointment felt by the rest of the country with the Bush
  administration."

  Winzenburg added, "TV ministers are being careful to not cross
  government boundaries, which prohibit non-profit organizations from
  endorsing political candidates."

  However, some broadcast ministries did tackle political topics shortly
  before the election. Highly rated D. James Kennedy included comments
  on his telecast from former candidate Pat Buchanan regarding the need
  for Christians to vote; Schuller hosted General Norman Schwarzkopf,
  who said regarding the presidential campaign "I'd choose on the basis
  of character"; Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist in Atlanta,
  told viewers "As important as electing a president...is the choice of
  the men who make up the Supreme Court"; John Ankerberg aired an entire
  broadcast dealing with the failing economy, interviewing members of
  Congress about what he calls "the coming economic earthquake"; and the
  Worldwide Church of God used one "World Tomorrow" telecast to discuss
  the continued threat of nuclear war.

  "The key theme that ran through most shows that mentioned the
  presidential election was that Christians have a duty to pray and then
  vote," said Winzenburg. He cited a number of examples: Kenneth
  Copeland said that believers "don't vote Democrat or Republican. We
  vote Holy Ghost"; Mother Angelica said "Everybody has to vote in the
  name of God"; Kennedy said failing to vote "is violating a commandment
  of God"; Jerry Falwell reminded followers of the influence of his now-
  defunct Moral Majority, asking them to still "stand up and be counted
  ... march into the public square"; Pat Robertson called on viewers to
  "fast and pray until at least noon on Monday," the day before the
  election; and Paul Crouch hosted a number of major ministry leaders in
  a two-hour "National Call to Prayer" just days before the election.

  Over half of the ministers studied failed to even mention the
  election, including Jimmy Swaggart, Billy Graham and Oral Roberts.
  "Many ministers refused to use their airwaves to promote the
  conservative cause," concluded Winzenburg.


■ CHURCH OF ENGLAND VOTES TO ORDAIN FEMALE PRIESTS
  LONDON, England (EP) -- The Church of England voted on November
  11 to ordain women as priests.

  A two-thirds majority in each of the three houses of the church's
  General Synod was required to approve the motion. It was approved by
  75 percent of the church's bishops, and by 70 percent of the clergy,
  but won the support of only 67 percent of the laity -- a switch in the
  vote of two delegates would have blocked the measure.

  In the weeks leading up to the decision, hundreds of Anglican
  clergymen in Britain have announced plans to resign if the church
  begins to ordain women. After the vote, the synod agreed to pay
  severance to full-time priests who resign over the issue.

  A spokesman for the Vatican spoke against the change, noting that the
  vote represents a "grave obstacle" to proposed unification of the
  Anglican and Catholic traditions.

  If, as anticipated, the measure is approved by both Parliament and
  Queen Elizabeth II, it could lead to the state-sanctioned church's
  ordination of the first woman priest by 1994. This would make the
  Church of England the 13th of the Anglican Communion's 28 fellowships
  to ordain women.

  George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of
  England, spoke in favor of ordaining women. "We must draw on all our
  available talents if we are to be a credible church engaged in a
  mission to an increasingly confused and lost world," he said.

  The slim victory concludes many debates and a disparity between the
  church and its American counterpart, the Episcopal Church, which began
  ordaining women in 1976.


■ RADIO BROADCASTER KILLED IN MANILA
  MANILA, Philippines (EP) -- A Lutheran radio broadcaster was shot
  dead by an unidentified gunman on November 6, in front of his office in
  Manila.

  Romeo Celiz, age 64, director of the Philippine Lutheran Hour, which
  produces Christian radio and television programs throughout the
  Philippines, was shot in the chest at point blank range. He died
  shortly after arriving at a nearby hospital.

  The gunman's motive is not known. Leaders from the Lutheran church and
  regional agencies have called for the assistance of Philippine
  authorities to solve the violent crime.

  The Rev. Victorio Saquilayan, president of the 25,000 member Lutheran
  Church in the Philippines (LCP), said in a statement November 7, "We
  are very saddened that this uncommendable, abhorrable [sic] and
  condemnable act has tainted our church by the spilling of blood within
  our church property." He urged the authorities to "bring justice over   the death" of Celiz.

  Celiz had been director of the Lutheran Hour since 1990 and before
  that served for 10 years as its comptroller and office manager. His
  funeral was held in Manila on November 11. He is survived by his wife
  and four grown children.


■ BROKEN U.S. DIPLOMATIC TIES THREATEN BURKINA FASO AGENCIES
  OUGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (EP) -- The break in diplomatic ties
  between the United States and the West African state of Burkina Faso
  has left mission and relief agencies uncertain about their future
  operations in that country.

  The United States recalled Ambassador Edward P. Brynn from Burkina
  Faso on November 5, accusing Burkina leader Blaise Campaore of fueling
  the rebel war in Liberia through covert military support for rebel
  leader Charles Taylor.

  "The situation in Liberia has deteriorated rapidly since October 15,
  and Burkina Faso has helped exacerbate the situation," said U.S. State
  Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher. The U.S. has also asked
  Campaore not to send a Burkina ambassador to Washington.

  U.S. anger against Charles Taylor has grown in the aftermath of the
  murder of five Catholic sisters in a Taylor-controlled part of the
  Liberian capital of Monrovia. Taylor's "foreign minister," Momulo V.
  Sacker Sirleaf, has denied that the sisters were killed by Taylor's
  men and has called for a United Nations investigation.

  The effect  of the U.S. decision on missions agencies is yet unknown.
  "We do not expect any problems. We are not politically involved," said
  Don Tucker, West Africa director for the Assemblies of God Division of
  Foreign Missions. Tucker's organization has been in Burkina Faso since
  1921, and currently has six missionaries and a national body of more
  than 1,200 churches.

  Relief organizations that receive government funding are more
  concerned about the change. World Relief Corporation (WRC), the relief
  arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, receives matching
  funds from the government Agency for International Development
  (USAID).

  "If the U.S. mission pulls out, or the U.S. government decides to cut
  back its aid to that country, our program will be severely impacted,"
  says Stephen Loudon, WRC West Africa Director.

  WRC had been planning to start a lending program through which local
  people can borrow small amounts of money for small businesses. USAID
  was expected to match WRC funds. Loudon says the withdrawal of funds
  by USAID could cripple the whole program.


■ MISSIONARY BRIEFLY ABDUCTED BUT IS RELEASED WITHOUT HARM
  CALI, Colombia (EP) -- An unidentified Colombian man briefly
  kidnapped and threatened a Southern Baptist missionary October 28,
  according to reports from strife-torn Colombia.

  The missionary, now on a regularly scheduled furlough with his family
  in the United States, was abducted by a man who forced his way into
  the missionary's vehicle at gunpoint at a traffic light in Cali.

  The man ordered the missionary to drive and then issued general
  threats about "gringos" and said they should leave Colombia, according
  to an official of the Southern Baptist Foreign Missions Board. After
  about 30 minutes, the man ordered the missionary to stop the car and
  left without harming him. Foreign Mission Board officials declined to
  release the missionary's name for security reasons. Missionaries in
  Colombia have increased security measures.

  A state of emergency was recently declared recently by Colombian
  President Cesar Gaviria to combat a new wave of guerrilla and drug
  violence. According to news reports, Gaviria's declaration came a day
  after 200 Marxist guerrillas attacked a jungle oil installation, about
  eight hours south of Cali, and killed 26 police. Rebels also set off a
  series of bombs at locations across the country.


■ WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES FUNDS ANTI-RACISM EFFORTS
  GENEVA, Switzerland -- The World Council of Churches has
  announced a total of $205,000 dollars in grants to 21 organizations of
  racially oppressed groups and to eight anti-racism support groups from
  its Special Fund to Combat Racism. Money from the fund comes from
  designated contributions by WCC members, congregations, ecumenical
  councils, church agencies, anti-racism groups, and governments.

  The annual grants, the first of which were disbursed in 1970, are
  given to organizations whose purpose "must not be in conflict with the
  general purpose of the WCC and its program units, and the grants are
  to be used for "humanitarian activities."

  In past years, about half of all grants went to the African National
  Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress, the two leading movements in
  the fight against apartheid or separate development in South Africa.

  Last year, the WCC announced that the 1991 allocation marked the
  beginning of a shift of emphasis from groups struggling for the
  elimination of apartheid. "New emphases are now the struggle of the
  indigenous peoples for land rights, self-determination and cultural
  identity, and women in situations of racist oppression" as identified
  by the WCC.


■ AUSTRALIAN CHURCHES INVITED TO JOIN NATIONAL ORGANIZATION
  SYDNEY, Australia (EP) -- In a move that indicates further
  progress toward Christian unity, Australia's churches have been asked
  to approve plans for a national organization that will encompass the
  country's major denominations.

  The proposal came from a working party set up in 1989, after the
  Australian Council of Churches (ACC) invited non-member churches to
  join to discuss a more comprehensive ecumenical structure. The
  Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Lutheran Church of
  Australia attended.

  Bishops Bede Heather and Bishop Richard Appleby, co-conveners of the
  working party, sent details of their proposal in late October to the
  heads of the thirteen ACC member churches as well as to the President
  of the Lutheran Church and the Cardinal.

  "Our efforts have now reached the point at which, we believe, it is
  appropriate to invite each potential member church to make its
  decision about membership in the proposed National Council of Churches
  in Australia," they wrote.

  Answers are expected during the course of 1993. If the churches'
  responses are positive, the ACC will make way for the new organization
  in the first half of 1994.

  Writing in the latest issue of the ACC's publication In Unity, Bishop
  Heather tells of his hopes for the National Council of Churches in
  Australia. It should be, he says, "a holy space where we can pray,
  hear God's word and reflect together in preparation for addressing in
  the name of Jesus Christ the questions, old and new, that people are
  asking."

  More formally, the new Council's constitution defines it as "gathering
  together in pilgrimage those churches and Christian communities which
  confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the
  Scriptures and commit themselves 1) to deepen their relationship with
  each other in order to express more visibly the unity willed by Christ
  for His Church, and 2) to work together towards the fulfillment of
  their mission of common witness, proclamation and service, to the
  glory of the One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

  The Australian Council of Churches was formed in 1946. It comprises
  four Protestant and eight Orthodox churches, as well as the Anglican
  Church. Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Seventh-Day
  Adventists have observer status in the Council.


■ UNITED STATES "CORN DRIVE" WILL FEED 83,000 IN MOZAMBIQUE
  AKRON, Ohio (EP) -- Deft hands flip open sack after sack,
  passing each on to be quickly filled and sewn shut. The six-member
  crew works wordlessly under the thunder of cascading grain, the
  pinging of stray corn kernels against machinery, the whir of conveyor
  belts and thumps of 100-pound grain sacks plopping down a chute. The
  1992 Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) corn drive is in full swing.

  Downstairs, near the loading ramp, about a dozen young men from
  Lancaster, Pennsylvania churches hoist the sacks off the conveyor belt
  and onto dollies. They wheel the hand carts out to a waiting
  container parked on a truck chassis. Some two-and-a-half hours and 880
  bags of corn later, the group has filled their promised quota for that
  evening.

  This scene is being repeated in 23 bagging sites in Eastern and Great
  Lakes states this month. Hundreds of volunteers are pitching in to
  ready 22,000 bags -- 1,000 metric tons -- of yellow corn for shipment
  to Mozambique. Concerned people west of the Mississippi are raising
  funds to transport the grain. Ten percent of the corn collected is
  being sold, with the revenue funding peace and conciliation efforts in
  Africa.

  Officially called the "Africa Peace Harvest," the drive invites North
  American farmers to share their harvests with African partners in
  drought-stricken areas. The Christian Council of Mozambique will
  distribute the corn after arrival at the Mozambique port of Beira
  sometime in early January. The shipment is sufficient to feed about
  83,000 people for one month.



■ WORLD NEWS SHORTS
  AUCKLAND, New Zealand (EP) -- Dr. J.Oswald Sanders, a prominent
  evangelical Christian leader, died Oct. 24 after being diagnosed with
  cancer. An international preacher, missionary statesman, author, and
  administrator, Dr. Sanders was also a key figure in changes to the
  China Inland Mission after its missionaries were forced to withdraw
  from China. From 1954-69, he served as that organization's general
  director.

  SEOUL, South Korea (EP) -- A two-day Reformation Festival at Luther
  Seminary in South Korea and two evenings of Reformation Services
  celebrated the 475th anniversary of Martin Luther's Reformation in
  Germany with hymns and songs, a specially written drama, a banner
  contest, lectures, and worship.

  NICOSIA, Cyprus (EP) --Nancy Moyer, former assistant to the vice
  president for communications for World Vision International, has
  accepted the position of executive vice president with the Cyprus-
  based Christian humanitarian relief and development agency Venture
  Middle East. She will be responsible for promotion and fund-raising
  for the organization in the United States and Canada. Moyer has served
  as a Venture Middle East board member since its beginning in 1986.

  NAIROBI, Kenya (EP) -- The Sixth Assembly of the All-Africa Conference
  of Churches re-elected South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu
  to a second term as president of the Nairobi-based ecumenical body.
  Elected unanimously, Tutu will head the 25 member AACC general
  committee until the next assembly in five years.

  MMABATHO, South Africa (EP) -- A "walk" through the main streets of
  Mmabatho, the capital city of the South African homeland of
  Bophuthatswana by local priests, deans, bishops, archbishops and other
  church leaders, is planned for Nov. 26, according to a press release
  from the South African Council of Churches. The release said the walk
  has no political links. J. Tselapedi, head of the Bophuthatswana Human
  Rights Conference Planning Committee said, "We are not going to submit
  any memorandum, we are not making any demands from anybody, we are
  just making a public statement disputing what the Mangope government
  is saying about human rights in Bophuthatswana and we will just be
  asking God to deliver us from this suffering."

  SUTOMORE, Yugoslavia (EP) -- For four centuries, the Church of Sveta
  Tekla has housed both Roman Catholic and Serbian Orthodox worshippers.
  The religious divisions elsewhere in the war-torn country have been a
  "fault line," according to USA Today, but in Sutomore, these two
  churches co-exist in harmony. Not only do the two churches worship in
  the same building, but they also bury their dead in the same cemetery,
  another rarity. "Each respects and honors the other," said Father
  Pavle, the Orthodox priest who has been here for 20 years. "That is
  very nice. If it were everywhere like this, then this evil will not
  happen."

  BELGRADE, Serbia (EP) -- A Baptist pastor and his family have escaped
  from Sarajevo after hiding out for months from the fierce fighting
  that has devastated the Bosnian capital. Boris Karaceravic and his
  wife, Senka, crossed the Bosnian border into Croatia with the
  assistance of a Croatian pastor. The Karceravics arrived November 15
  with their four children in Vodica on the Croatian coast. The
  Karceravics went to Sarajevo to work in outreach to Muslims.

  CALCUTTA, India (EP) -- Some 300 Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
  friends and staff paused in St. Paul's Cathedral in Calcutta on Nov. 1
  to give thanks for 50 years of MCC ministry in India. Songs were sung
  in Hindi and English and prayers and litanies celebrated God's
  faithfulness. Mother Teresa, who operates an orphanage and the Home
  for the Destitute and Dying in Calcutta, was the chief guest of the
  two-day celebration. She urged the audience to "resolve to love one
  another as God loves us...The fruit of love is service," she said,
  "And the fruit of service is peace."


■ BITS AND PIECES ABOUT FAMOUS FOLKS
  NEW YORK, N.Y. (EP) -- Pat Robertson is part of the cultural
  elite. So is Dan Quayle. And so are Pat Buchanan and William Bennett.
  Their names joined the more predictable names of rockers and rappers,
  actors and directors on Newsweek magazine's list of the cultural
  elite, "The Newsweek 100." The magazine defined the "cultural elite"
  as those who are "currently shaping American culture." Robertson was
  the only minister to make the list; he was identified as the
  "apocalyptic voice of the religious right."

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (EP) -- Jimmy Bowen, who as head of Liberty Records
  helped country artists like Garth Brooks develop mainstream appeal, is
  now the new co-chairman of Sparrow Records, and plans to bring
  contemporary Christian music into the mainstream. But despite fears by
  some in the Christian music industry, Bowen says he has no plans to
  change the message of gospel music. "I have no intention of going to
  any Christian artist and saying, 'Change the lyrics,'" he told Music
  Row magazine. "I'm not in this for cross-over to pop radio. I believe
  it is its own genre. The worst thing I could do is to interfere with
  the ministries. It is different than secular music."

  VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (EP) -- The Family Channel, the cable network
  founded by Pat Robertson, will televise the Dove Awards next April 1
  for two hours in prime time, according to CCM Update.

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (EP) -- Gospel artist Michael W. Smith's cross-over
  success continues. His song "I Will Be There For You" hit number one
  on the adult contemporary charts of Billboard and R&R.

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (EP) -- Country music sensation Garth Brooks says he
  may retire to become a full-time father. Brooks, who's sold more than
  21 million records in the past four years, told Billboard magazine, "I
  feel God put me down here to play music, but it's very evident to see,
  because of the baby, God put me down here to be a father also ... I
  think parents work to provide for their children because they have to,
  and if I don't have to, is it my duty to stay home? And that's a war
  that's going on right now."

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (EP) -- Grammy Award-winning Christian rock group
  Petra performed before thousands on their 16-city European tour,
  selling out venues in London, Oslo, and Holland. More than 11,500 fans
  cheered for Petra at The Globe Arena in Stockholm. Based on total
  ticket sales, Petra promoter Lasse Olsson says the band's tour was the
  "most successful Christian music tour ever in Europe."

■ AND FINALLY
  UMTATA, South Africa (EP) -- A South African robber got more
  than he bargained for when he preyed on a recent tent revival service:
  church members, including women brandishing pews, beat him before
  hauling him to the police station. According to Baptist Press, many in
  the large crowd attracted by the excitement got more than they
  bargained for, too, when they stayed for the evangelistic service
  under the large tent and wound up becoming Christians.

  The original crowd was sparse for the service in Ngongalizwe, a
  heavily populated inner-city neighborhood of Umtata in the South
  African "homeland" of Transkei. Every night local gang members had
  harassed the group, disrupting, stealing and destroying.

  Just as the guest speaker stood to preach this night someone on the
  fringe of the crowd heard a scraping noise and saw a knife ripping
  through the side of the tent. Several church members rushed outside to
  investigate.

  Using a brick, benches and chairs, they subdued the knife-wielding man
  after a struggle. Cries of "We must not kill him!" mixed with the
  blows -- a touch of Christian compassion in a country where suspected
  thieves are usually beaten to death before the police are called.

  The bruised, but still breathing, young man was marched to jail by
  several church leaders. When they returned, they found the tent
  overflowing with people attracted by the excitement who had stayed for
  the service. At the close, according to pastor Charles Mngonyama, many
  made public decisions to become Christians. On subsequent nights, so
  did several gang members.


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