mission

---

CHURCH OF GOD

Evangel MARCH 2016

“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light” (Matt. 4:16 NKJV).

The Church’s

MISSION

“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 NASB).

Time to Shine encountering jesus Loving Loudly Pure Pentecost

Contents

march 2016

volume 106 n issue 3

The most important question of the Christian faith is, Who is Jesus? The foundation of our faith rests on a complete understanding of who He is. Jesus is fully God and fully man. In John 8:58, He made this incredible statement of His divinity: “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (NIV). Jesus said, “I Am . . .” • The Messiah (4:26) • The Bread of Life (6:35) • The Light of the World (8:12) • The Good Shepherd (10:11) • The Son of God (10:36) • The Resurrection and the Life (11:25) • The Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6) • The True Vine (15:1). When Jesus came into the world, the world finally knew what God looked like.—David C. Cooper (The Amazing Statements of Jesus)

encountering jesus 10 When Jesus Says, “Good Morning” by Grant McClung No more “good nights” 12 Finding Grace Behind Bars by Roscoe Barnes III Christ came to save everyone.



14 Pastoring a Community by Lance Colkmire Interview with Joe Edwards



21 Ex-Muslim by Naeem Fazal Jesus appeared to Mahmood in a dream.



2 Silent No More by Cathy Burrows 2 Confessing to abortion



24 Tanner’s Journey columns by Mark McGuire From death’s door back to Lee 5 In Covenant, Mark L. Williams features

7 On My Mind, Lance Colkmire 34 Where Are They Now? David G. Roebuck

26 In Paris, Under the departments Almighty’s Shadow 4 Ministry Snapshot by Lance Colkmire 6 By the Numbers Interview with Yves Bazile 8 Currents

28 “Oh, Romania!” 17 GlobalConnect by Kashif Graham 30 Viewpoints 32 People and Events An account of John Tipei EVANGEL • mar 2016

3

PUBLICATIONS MINISTRIES DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR M. Thomas Propes DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS Terry Hart

MINISTRY SNAPSHOT The South Decatur Church of God (Decatur, Alabama) presented a mystery dinner to raise funds for world missions.

MANAGING EDITOR Lance Colkmire CENTRAL DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Robert McCall CFO Wayne Walston PRINTING DIRECTOR Mike Burnett

EVANGEL STAFF EDITOR Lance Colkmire EXECUTIVE SECRETARY Elaine McDavid COPY EDITOR Esther Metaxas GRAPHIC DESIGNER Bob Fisher

EDITORIAL AND PUBLICATIONS BOARD Tony D. Cooper, Les Higgins, Ray E. Hurt, David W. Jarvis, Cheryl Johns, Antonio Richardson, T. Dwight Spivey

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Mark L. Williams, David M. Griffis, J. David Stephens, Wallace J. Sibley, M. Thomas Propes

CHURCH OF GOD congregations meet throughout the United States and in more than 180 other countries. To find a church and times of services near you, access the church website, www.churchofgod.org, or fax your request to 423-478-7616. Publication of material in the Evangel does not necessarily imply endorsement of the Church of God. The Church of God Evangel (ISSN 0745-6778) is edited and published monthly. n Church of God Publish­ing House, 1080 Montgomery Ave., P.O. Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250 n Subscription rates: Single subscription per year $17, Canada $24, Bundle of 15 per month $17, Canada $28, Bundle of 5 per month $7.50, Canada $11.25 n Single copy $1.50 n Periodical postage paid at Cleveland, TN 37311 and at additional mailing offices n ©2016 Church of God Publications n All rights reserved n POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Evangel, P.O. Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250. (USPS 112-240)

4

MEMBER OF THE EVANGELICAL PRESS ASSOCIATION AND THE INTERNATIONAL PENTECOSTAL PRESS ASSOCIATION

EVANGEL • mar 2016

If you have a ministry photo to be considered for this page, send it to [email protected].

Church of God DECLARATION OF FAITH WE BELIEVE: 1. In the verbal inspiration of the Bible. 2. In one God eternally existing in three persons; namely, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 3. That Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father, conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. That Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. That He ascended to heaven and is today at the right hand of the Father as the Intercessor. 4. That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that repentance is commanded of God for all and necessary for forgiveness of sins. 5. That justification, regeneration, and the new birth are wrought by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. 6. In sanctification subsequent to the new birth, through faith in the blood of Christ; through the Word, and by the Holy Ghost. 7. Holiness to be God’s standard of living for His people. 8. In the baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent to a clean heart. 9. In speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and that it is the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost. 10. In water baptism by immersion, and all who repent should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 11. Divine healing is provided for all in the Atonement. 12. In the Lord’s Supper and washing of the saints’ feet. 13. In the premillennial second coming of Jesus. First, to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living saints to Him in the air. Second, to reign on the earth a thousand years. 14. In the bodily resurrection; eternal life for the righteous, and eternal punishment for the wicked.

IN COVENANT mark l. williams general overseer

encountering the living christ

J

ESUS LOVED meeting people. The four Gospels tell of 40 different individuals with whom He interacted. We cannot know how many others He met whose stories were not captured. Nine of the conversations were initiated by Jesus himself; in 25 instances, the other person was the one who started the interaction; and in a few cases, the interviews were begun by third parties. Regardless of how an exchange started, it moved inevitably to a question or issue of life that was particularly important to the one with whom Jesus was talking. Significantly, it always seemed to result in a compelling change of life or outlook—often a weighty or momentous shift of life direction. Two fishermen were engaged in fishing near the shore of the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus passed by and invited them to follow Him. Farther down the beach, two more were busy mending the holes in their nets when Jesus gave them the same invitation. These four—Peter, Andrew, James, and John—were so impacted by what they knew of Christ through the witness of John the Baptist and by the force of Jesus’ personality that they literally walked away from their old livelihood and took up a new way of life (Mark 1:1620). Not only were they doing something different; they were also being someone different. The brothers James and John had been identified so forcibly with their tempestuous natures that they were nicknamed “Sons of Thunder.” Tempers conquered, one of them came to be called the “apostle of love.” Matthew, also known by his Jewish name, Levi, had turned his back on his custom and culture to engage with the hated Roman overlords as a tax collector. Men who performed this task were typically thought to add a bit to the tax bill to

enrich themselves, earning the condemnation of their fellow citizens. Seated at his tax booth one day, Matthew heard what Peter and Andrew had heard from their fishing boat, “Follow Me” (Matt. 9:9). There was no hint of hesitation; immediately he arose and followed Jesus. Again, for Matthew it meant a complete change of life and livelihood. Nathanael heard the testimony of Philip about Jesus being the Messiah, but he was slow to believe. When Jesus exercised supernatural knowledge— revealing that He had viewed Nathanael seated under a fig tree prior to their first meeting—the newest disciple declared his belief (John 1:43-50). What was his significant change? It was a willingness to move away from doubt and skepticism to faith. In our day of unbelief, an encounter with Christ can make possible this same kind of daring assurance. Paul may be exhibit 1 for a life totally changed by a meeting with the living Christ (Acts 9:1-20). His passionate persecution had likely impelled the firstcentury Christians to pray, “Strike him dead, Lord!” but instead, God struck him alive! This hater was transformed into a lover. This tormentor became a defender. Church-enemy number one became the chief apostle. An encounter with Christ will do that. I have great news for you as we move toward the dawn of a new springtime: The One who makes all things new is doing the same today. I recommend an encounter with Christ. Whether you make the approach by yourself or someone else introduces Him to you, welcome the meeting. Recognize that a serious faceto-face experience with Jesus will make a terrific difference. Your life can change in the direction it needs, and—like those 40 whose stories are told by the Gospel writers—it will never be the same.

One-on-one experiences with God’s Son transform lives.

EVANGEL • mar 2016

5

BY THE NUMBERS

PARENTS AND CHILDREN Discipline Parents employ many methods to discipline their children, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey among U.S. parents with children younger than 18. The most popular discipline method is explaining why a child’s behavior is inappropriate: three-quarters say they do this often. About 4 in 10 (43%) say they frequently take away privileges, such as time with friends or use of TV or other electronic devices, and a roughly equal share say they give a “timeout” (41% of parents with children younger than 6) as a form of discipline, while about 22% say they often resort to raising their voice or yelling. Spanking is the least commonly used method of discipline—just 4% of parents say they do it often. But 1 in 6 parents say they spank their children at least some of the time as a way to discipline them. Black parents (32%) are more likely than white (14%) and Hispanic (19%) parents to say they sometimes spank their children and are far less likely to say they never resort to spanking (31% vs. 55% and 58%, respectively). Child Care • 62% of parents with infants or preschool-age children say it’s hard to find child care in their community that is both affordable

6

EVANGEL • mar 2016

and high quality, and this is true across income groups. Most working parents with annual family incomes of $75,000 or higher (66%) say their young children are cared for in daycare centers or preschools, while those earning less than $30,000 rely more heavily on care by family members (57%). Recreation • On average, parents say children should be at least 10 years old before they should be allowed to play in front of their house unsupervised while an adult is inside. Parents say children should be even older before they are allowed to stay home alone for about an hour (12 years old) or to spend time at a public park unsupervised (14 years old). • Roughly a third of parents (31%) with children ages 6 to 17 say they have helped coach their child in a sport or athletic activity in the past year. Fathers (37%) are more likely than mothers (27%) to say they have done this. • Nine in 10 parents with children ages 6 to 17 say their kids watch TV, movies, or videos on a typical day, and 79% say they play video games. Parents whose children get daily screen time are split about whether their children spend too much time on these activities (47%) or about the right amount of time (50%). • 81% of parents with children younger than 6 say their young children watch videos or play games on an electronic device on a daily basis. Roughly a third (32%) of these parents say their kids spend too much time on these activities; 65% say the amount of time is about right.

ON MY MIND lance colkmire editor

ASKING WHY

O

N DECEMBER 26, 2004, people were eating breakfast . . . sleeping . . . taking walks . . . when a tsunami with the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs hit coastlines of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, and Thailand. More than 230,000 boys and girls, men and women were swept to their death. Ten years later—on March 8, 2014— Malaysian Airlines flight 370 mysteriously disappeared in the Indian Ocean . . . and none of the 239 passengers has yet to be found. When scores of people die in sudden tragedies like those, never to be seen again, I struggle with the cold, impersonal nature of their passing. Why would our Almighty, all-loving God allow hundreds or thousands of individuals to be wiped out without their loved ones having the chance to see them once more and at least bury them? Meanwhile, 219 of the “Chibok girls”— Nigerian secondary-school students taken captive by Boko Haram terrorists on April 14, 2014—are still missing. They are likely living as sexual slaves to Islamic militants across western Africa, leaving their parents to grieve their daughters’ “living deaths” and pray, wondering if an answer will come. Asking why has plenty of Biblical precedent. Gideon asked an angel, “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” (Judg. 6:13 NIV). Job pled, “Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice” (Job 19:7 NIV). David cried, “Wake up, my God, and bring justice!” (Ps. 7:6 NLT). Isaiah declared, “Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself” (Isa. 45:15 NIV). Jeremiah asked God, “Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save?” (Jer. 14:9 NIV).

Jesus himself asked the most painful question, crying out in the midst of His suffering on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me”? (Matt. 27:46 NKJV). Jesus knew the Father loved Him . . . He knew He would rise again . . . He knew He would be reunited with His Father in heaven . . . He knew He was securing salvation for lost humanity . . . yet His inmost being cried out, Why?

Jesus himself asked the most painful question God’s Son was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8), and there I find solace. Before the first natural disaster or act of terrorism struck our planet, God planned for the greatest injustice in history—the death of His sinless Son—to take place in the most horrific manner . . . so we might be redeemed. Philip Yancey said: God has chosen to respond to the human predicament not by waving a magic wand to make evil and suffering disappear, but by absorbing it in a person. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” wrote John in the prologue to his Gospel. In the face of suffering, words do not suffice. We need something more: the Word made flesh, absolute living proof that God has not abandoned us. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, “Only a suffering God can help” (The Question That Never Goes Away).

Jesus Christ suffered for every captive Nigerian schoolgirl, their grieving families, and even their tormentors. He knows the name of every victim of flight 370 and the 2004 tsunami, and He suffered for them. Raudhatul Jannah was 4 years old when she and her 7-year-old brother were swept away from their Indonesian home by the terrible tsunami. They were last seen clinging to a plank of wood. After a month of searching, their parents gave up hope of their survival. They did not know a fisherman 80 miles away had found Raudhatul and taken her to live with his mother. Ten years later, in June 2014, Raudhatul’s uncle spotted and recognized his now 14-year-old niece. She was soon reunited with her parents, who called her return a “miracle.” Raudhatul’s reunion story is a picture of the final redemption that will take place when God makes “all things new” (Rev. 21:5). Every grieving parent, missing person, victimized child, and everyone else whose name is recorded in “the Lamb’s book of life” (v. 27) will see their Redeemer’s “face, and His name shall be on their foreheads” (22:4 NKJV). Every why will be answered in Him.

Four ways to contact the editor: • [email protected] • 423-478-7592 • Church of God Evangel on Facebook • Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250

EVANGEL • mar 2016

7

CURRENTS The purpose of CURRENTS is to inform readers of trends and events influencing the culture.

court overrules catholic school’s sexual-orientation policy n A MASSACHUSETTS STATE court ruled in mid-December that a Catholic school may not deny employment to a homosexual—a decision that activists hail as the first of its kind in the country. Fontbonne Academy, an all-girls college preparatory school in Milton, offered Matthew Barrett a job as a food-service director in summer 2013. But when Barrett filled out a new employee form and listed his “husband” as an emergency contact, school administrators rescinded the offer, citing Catholic belief that marriage is between a man and woman. They said they required employees to model Catholic values. In December, Superior Court Associate Justice Douglas H. Wilkins ruled the school discriminated against Barrett in violation of Massachusetts law, which prohibits denying employment on the basis of “sexual orientation.” In a 21-page ruling, the judge wrote that the facts of the case made it clear Barrett had “suffered denial of employment, that the reason for denial was his sexual orientation, and that he suffered harm as a result.” Wilkins said Barrett also suffered “gender discrimination” because he was denied a job “for marrying a person whom a female could have married without suffering the same consequences.” According to The Boston Globe, Barrett’s lawyer, Ben Klein from Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, said the court’s decision was the first time a judge had ruled against a religious organization seeking to deny employment to a person in a same-sex marriage. Although a Massachusetts nondiscrimination law offers an exemption to religious organizations, the exemption only applies to organizations that limit enrollment to members of their own religion. Fontbonne Academy accepts students of all faiths, so the exemption does not apply, Wilkins wrote. 8

EVANGEL • mar 2016

In addition, the justice wrote the socalled ministerial exception that normally gives religious organizations broad discretion in hiring and firing employees did not apply in the case because Barrett, as a cook, would not be involved in the teaching of religious matters: “To apply the ‘ministerial’ exception here would allow all religious schools to exempt all of their employees from employment discrimination laws simply by calling their employees ‘ministers.’” In a similar case in Georgia, a Catholic prep school settled out of court with a music teacher who claimed he was fired because he married his gay partner. In that case, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreed the music teacher likely had been fired because of his sexual orientation.—WNS

Christian Refugee Population Soaring n NEVER HAVE SO MANY Christians been on the move as a result of war and persecution. Syria is the “largest displacement crisis globally,” according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. More than half the pre-war Syrian population of 22 million have left their homes; 7.6 million are internally

displaced within the country, and 4 million are refugees outside it. It is impossible to know how many of the 1.8 million Christians that were in Syria at the start of the civil war are among this group, but estimates are that between 600,000 and 900,000 remain in the country. Looking at one example, the city of Aleppo contained one of the largest populations of Christians—about 250,000—in any of Syria’s cities at the beginning of the war, but in 2015 this number dwindled to fewer than 40,000. Most of them are simply fleeing because the war has made it impossible to stay. Most of Syria’s refugees have ended up in Turkey (more than 2 million), Lebanon (1.4 million), and Jordan (623,000). Often, refugees are kept in desert camps away from the cities, and sometimes in poor conditions. In 2015, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s promise of a welcome for Syria’s refugees, immigration into Europe surged, with more than a million refugees registering in Germany alone, most of them thought to be Syrian. But the vast majority of these refugees are Muslim, and Christians may be underrepresented in Europe, since many of them fear to go into the camps in Jordan, Turkey, and elsewhere in the first place— because of intimidation, harassment, and more. They often lodge with family, friends, or church contacts. This means they might be under-represented in the formal registration and asylum-seeking processes. In the words of a Christian father from Syria, “We are still a vulnerable minority in a very dangerous place.” In Africa, Eritrea is seeing 5,000 people leave every month, according to the U.N. Human Rights Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights. Nicknamed the “North Korea of Africa” due to its high levels of “dictatorial paranoia,” Eritrea is the biggest source of asylum seekers in Europe relative to its population, at 2.13 percent. The percentage of Christians in this number is hard to estimate, but

to visit camps in, for example, Calais in France, it is clear that the Christian proportion is high. Moreover, 131,660 Eritreans have taken refuge in Ethiopia and 117,320 more in Sudan, according to the UNHRC. Meanwhile, residents of Ethiopia are leaving their country in significant numbers, as are those from Sudan. It is a hazardous journey they make, as they cross desert and war-torn regions. In Asia, 10,000 Christians from Pakistan have fled to Thailand, most of them in the past year. They are refused refugee status by the government, so they are not allowed to work; they are subject to police intimidation and forced to rely mostly on handouts. Unfortunately, even Thai churches are wearying of the burden of supporting them. In Myanmar, the military government continues its war against Christian minority groups such as the Kachin and the Chin. There are thought to be 100,000 Christian refugees sitting uneasily across the border in China, and even more are internally displaced. Their camps are cruel places, where young girls particularly are exploited and married off. Abuse is rampant and drugs remain a major problem. Christians become refugees in such large numbers often because they are the victims of ethnic cleansing, which is defined as “the expulsion of an ‘undesirable’ population from a given territory due to religious or ethnic discrimination; political, strategic, or ideological considerations; or a combination of these.” This discrimination is made up of more than killings. In the Middle Belt of Nigeria, for example, Hausa-Fulani Muslim herdsmen target Christian farms, burning their fields and shops and houses, forcing them off the land. In Latin America too, conflict has displaced millions. Colombia comes second only to Syria in the numbers of people internally displaced—over six million. In Mexico, there are just over 281,000 displaced. Much of this number is due

to antagonism from indigenous tribes in Mexico. These tribes resent individuals who convert to Christianity and then reject the sometimes brutal tribal traditions. Hear a man from Iraq, living in a refugee camp after being one of 120,000 Christians who fled the march of ISIS over the Nineveh plain in 2014: “The hardest thing I find is to keep hope alive that we will ever return—if you feel despair about the future, then it is very hard to find the motivation to survive.”—World Watch Monitor

graham leading decision america tour this spring n ON JANUARY 5, more than 2,500 people gathered on the steps of the state Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa, as Franklin Graham kicked off the Decision America Tour—a series of noon prayer rallies in each state. On January 12, an even larger crowd turned out for the second stop of the tour in Tallahassee, Florida. The next day, more than 4,000 Louisianans showed up at their state Capitol building in Baton Rouge to pray for America. “I believe we are perilously close to the moral tipping point for the survival of the United States of America,” said Franklin, who is president of the Billy Graham Association and Samaritan’s Purse. “I refuse to be silent and watch the future of our children and grandchildren be offered up on pagan altars of personal pleasure and immorality.” As people gather to intercede for America, Franklin is also preaching the Gospel, calling the nation to repentance and encouraging believers to vote for godly leaders and prayerfully consider running for local office. On the heels of several defining moments for the nation—including the Supreme Court marriage decision, recent terrorist attacks, and small-business owners getting fined for standing by their moral and religious convictions—Franklin

believes there has never been a more crucial time for Christians to stand and be heard. “There now exists deep-seated antagonism and hostility toward Christianity in every seat of power in this nation—government, media, courts, and education. It has become open season on Christians,” he wrote. “Sin is openly celebrated and flaunted by the highest office in our land, and men and women of deep and sincere faith are publicly scorned.” He added: “I’m not going to endorse any candidates. The goal is to get Christians to vote. There are Christians who don’t vote. They think that their vote doesn’t count. It does count . . . every vote counts. “I want people to vote and look at things like school boards. Could you imagine if Evangelicals were able to get on the school boards of America—the impact that would have on our nation over the next 20 years?” Decision America tour stops scheduled for March and April are as follows: • Denver, Colorado—March 15 • Santa Fe, New Mexico—March 16 • Phoenix, Arizona—March 18 • Salt Lake City, Utah—March 29 • Carson City, Nevada—March 30 • Sacramento, California—March 31 • Little Rock, Arkansas—April 12 • Jackson, Mississippi—April 13 • Montgomery, Alabama—April 14 • Austin, Texas—April 26 • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—April 27 • Topeka, Kansas—April 28 Learn more at decisionamericatour.com.

EVANGEL • mar 2016

9

by Grant McClung

WHEN JESUS SAYS

“GOOD MORNING”

G

OOD MORNING.” Chances are, you started your day by giving someone this universal greeting. Most researchers of the English language agree the term good derived from “God.” They tell us the daily greeting some 400 years ago would have been “God morning,” meaning, “May you have a God-filled morning and may God be the center of your day.” Undoubtedly, the morning of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a “God morning.” At dawn, Mary Magdalene and another disciple named Mary went to Jesus’ tomb. They were met with an empty tomb and the glorious Gospel message from an angel of the Lord: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples (Matt. 28:5-8 NIV).

The next verse reports Jesus met them and said something powerful and lifetransforming to them. This is illustrated in the language of various translations: 10

EVANGEL • mar 2016

A New Day Has Come–An Eternal “God Day”

• “Behold, Jesus also met them, saying, ‘God save you’” (GNV). • “Suddenly Yeshua met them and said, ‘Shalom!’” (CJB). • “Jesus met them and said, ‘Peace be with you’” (GNT). • “Jesus met them, saying, ‘Receive joy’” (JUB). • “Just then Jesus met them and said, ‘Good morning!’” (HCSB). The composite message is, when Jesus greets me with His commanding presence and wonderful revelation that He is alive—and alive forevermore—inherent in that greeting is salvation and resulting peace. The results are redemptive and lifechanging! There is joy, filled with the assurance that there will not only be a “good morning,” but a God-filled eternal day. A Cry of His Conquest The context and background of this story is filled with defeat and despair. The women were weeping and the men were in hiding behind closed doors. Their hopes were dashed and their future was unsure. They were numb with fear and insecurity. Max Lucado writes: If ever there was a day of shadows in Christian history—it was a not so Good Friday. It was a day when all light—all hope—seemed to be extinguished. . . . Before the dawn—there is dark.

At dawn on Sunday, “the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy” (Matt. 28:8 NIV). What a mixture of powerful emotions! Then, “suddenly Jesus met them” (v. 9)—some versions say, “Jesus was in their path.” On the path of life, we may sometimes be perplexed, yet we remain hopeful; there may be times when we are fearful, yet still filled with joy. We may get discouraged, but we stay on the path. In the midst of every challenge, let us be obedient, knowing Jesus is with us. Along their path, the words of the angel stayed with the women. The “good morning” from Jesus meant their long night was over, and a new day had come—an eternal “God day.” He was in their path with the comforting cry of His conquest, and He walks with us today. A Call to His Commission This incident at the outset of Resurrection morning sets the context and tone for the Great Commission, which comes at the close of Matthew 28. In the Resurrection story, one cannot escape the centrality and frequency of “going and telling”: “Come and see . . . go quickly and tell” (vv. 6-7 NIV). “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers” (v. 10 NIV).

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (vv. 18-19 NIV). Think of a typical Monday morning in the factory or the office. As the workers arrive, there are the halfhearted, yawned expressions of “Good morning.” It is different, however, when the boss enters and says, “Good morning.” At the presence of authority, everybody is suddenly alert, active, on duty, and ready for orders. The risen Christ is the Lord of the harvest—the Boss. When Jesus shows up, His marching orders come with Him. Over 2,000 years, the good news that ends the night and brings a redemptive “good morning” of purposeful living has spread around the world. In my years of international missionary service, I have had the privilege of making numerous visits to South Korea, one of the amazing success stories in world evangelization. Christian churches by the thousands dot the Korean landscape. On my most recent trip to the capital city of Seoul, I noted once again the omnipresence of Christian crosses filling the night skyline. Not only has the Christian message filled that country; faithful Korean missionaries have spread the Gospel around the world, following their countrymen everywhere. There are an estimated 10,000 Korean churches in 180 countries of our world. In addition, their missionaries are taking the light of Jesus to hard places among previously unreached peoples. The Korean context of missional presence and proclamation was not always so bright. Before the entrance of the Gospel light, their land was gripped by darkness, bondage, and poverty. This came home to me as I visited a monument erected to honor the first American missionaries. It stands next to a large Presbyterian church near the place where the missionaries first set foot on an unevangelized land. A statement on the memorial plaque quotes from the diary of missionary Horace Underwood, written on Easter Sunday 1885: We came here on Easter. May He who this day burst the bars of the tomb, break the bands that bind this people, and bring them to the light and liberty of God’s children.

Jesus continues to arrest, convict, and call the Church today with His “good morning.” His resurrection presence is an evangelistic reminder that even though He burst the bars of the tomb 2,000 years ago, there remain many unbroken bands in our world today. There is yet more to do—more places and peoples to reach and disciple. When Jesus says, “Good morning,” it is a call to His commission. A Commitment to Our Care Because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8 NIV), the accompanying promises of His resurrection are not left in the past but are also valid for today, tomorrow, and forever. He is eternally present with a caring commitment to our welfare.

In God’s kingdom terms, there is no more final

“GOOD NIGHT.” There is an active, ongoing future tense to Jesus’ saying, “Good morning.” There is the initiation of an eternal forward motion, in which we are blessed with the promise of eternity in His care: • Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3 NKJV). • “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2 NKJV). • David said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps. 23:6 NKJV).

Normally, when we are greeted with a “good morning,” it conveys hopefulness that the new day will be filled with goodness, possibilities, and blessings. Unfortunately, in human terms, “good morning” lasts but for a few hours. Then we have to switch to “good day,” “good evening,” and finally, “good night.” As young lovers will affirm, it is so hard to say “good night” when it means separation and goodbye. Shakespeare provided the heartfelt lines from Juliet to her Romeo, “Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say ‘good night’ till it be morrow.” Juliet’s pain of a temporary separation of a few hours was eased with the hope of tomorrow. Many have had the deeper heartache of saying a final, earthly, “good night” to a parent, spouse, or child. Sooner or later, all of us experience the separation and passing of loved ones and the pathos of pain that comes with the end of life. However, in God’s kingdom terms, as taught and lived out by our Lord Jesus, there is no more final “good evening” or “good night,” but an eternal “good morning” for every child of God. Because of His resurrection, we are living in the benefits of the Lord’s “day of salvation”—God’s chosen day for His people. This life will end, but the promise of the same “good morning” that has carried us through this life continues into our eternal future. This promise is captured in the words of Revelation 21:4: “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (NIV). In the midst of the trials of life, let us be encouraged with the promises to the women on Resurrection morning. Let us remember what we have heard and seen (our testimony). Let us move forward with the admonitions of the angel: 1. Don’t be afraid. 2. Keep looking for Jesus. 3. He was crucified, but He is no longer dead; He is alive. 4. “Come and see,” then “go and tell” other disciples. 5. Jesus is alive and He is going before us, preparing the way. 6. We will meet Him. Dr. Grant McClung is president of Missions Resource Group (MissionsResourceGroup .org) and international missionary educator with Church of God World Missions. EVANGEL • mar 2016

11

B

RUNO (not his real name) remembers exactly what he was doing when his life swerved off course in 2002 and exploded in ways he never imagined. After many years of hard work, Bruno had finally reached the pinnacle of success. A confident entrepreneur, he owned his own business and a nice home near Baltimore, Maryland. He had a beautiful wife and drove a BMW. But problems began to surface. Among other things, his marriage fell apart. Before long, he would do something he would live to regret.  I met Bruno in April 2002 at the medical unit of a Maryland detention center, where I served as chaplain. Bruno was a hulking figure with sad eyes—an expression that told you something was wrong. He was quiet and spoke in a deep baritone.

“I’ve been trying to reach you for a long time,” Bruno said, rising from a chair near his bed. He greeted me with a handshake and then offered me a seat. The 30-year-old man rarely smiled and was often ignored by those around him. He felt that people shunned him because of his crime. Bruno sat on his bed, and without any prompting from me, he began to tell me his story. As he did, his eyes became misty. “I can’t believe I’ve ended up this way,” he said. “I’d never been in trouble with the law. I can’t believe this is happening.” “Will God Forgive Me?” He paused as he tried to fight back the tears. His lips trembled. He told me he was at the end of his rope, and all he could see was despair. He said he thought about taking his own life.

As he sat in front of me, with his elbows resting on his knees, he said he’d done the most horrible thing imaginable —he had killed another human being and was being held on a charge of first-degree murder. “I’ve taken a man’s life . . . and I deserve whatever happens to me,” he said. He wiped his face and paused. Then he looked me in the eyes and asked, “But do you think God can forgive me?” That question hit me with a wave of emotion as I thought about the good news of Jesus Christ and how He can forgive anything. I eagerly shared the message of God’s grace with Bruno. He listened intently as I told how Christ came to save us from our sins. I shared a number of scriptures, including Isaiah 1:18: “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet,

by ROSCOE

BARNES III

Finding GRACE Behind Bars 12

EVANGEL • mar 2016

they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool’” (NKJV). Bruno nodded as I spoke. “Christ came to save people just like you and me,” I said. “He died for your sins and the sins of the world. It doesn’t matter how far you’ve fallen or what you have done. His grace is available to save you and to bring you into the family of God.” After quoting John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (NKJV)—I asked Bruno a simple question: “Have you trusted Christ as your Savior?” Shaking his head, he said, “No,” and started sobbing profusely. When I asked if he would like to, he immediately said, “Yes.” He then bowed his head. As I led Bruno in prayer, he acknowledged his sins and asked God to forgive him and to give him the gift of eternal life. When he lifted his head, he was beaming with a bright smile, and the sad eyes were no longer there. A New Life Bruno’s life changed so drastically that he made an incredible impression on other inmates, correctional officers, and the entire medical staff. He led more than 30 people to Christ within a couple of months, and played a vital role in the religious programs at the facility. A correctional officer once stopped me in the hallway. “Chaplain,” he said. “I have something I wanna tell you.” “What is it?” I asked.  “It’s about Bruno—he’s the real deal. I’ve been in this business almost 20 years. I know about inmates who get so-called ‘jailhouse religion.’ I’ve seen ’em come and go. But Bruno? He’s the real deal.” I smiled and thanked him. Later that day, the head of the nursing staff called me and gave a similar report. “Bruno’s been such a blessing to everyone here,” she said. Having been a businessman for many years, Bruno liked having projects and keeping busy. Whenever he’d finish one

task, be it sweeping a floor or cleaning a toilet, he looked for something else to do. He seemed to enjoy helping people. Whenever I’d go to visit him, I often found him sitting on his bed reading his Bible or sharing the Gospel with another inmate. Although many staff members believed his experience was genuine, there were a few who remained skeptical. Tough Questions During the early months of his conversion, Bruno was ecstatic about his faith. He bore a bright smile, and he saw answers to his prayers. One day he asked me about prayer and his prison sentence.

“I’ve taken a man’s life, and I DESERVE WHATEVER HAPPENS TO ME,” Bruno said. “But do you think God can forgive me?” “I’ve been wondering,” he said. “The Lord has been using me to do His will here. Since I’ve been faithful in serving Him these few months, and have led people to Christ, I want to continue serving Him right here at this facility.” He said he also had been asking God to shorten his sentence so he could go out and serve Him in the free world. While I encouraged him to pray about all things, I also cautioned him about getting out of his prison sentence. I advised him to pray, “If it be Your will.” At the same time, I said he must be willing to accept the punishment for his crime, as there are consequences for our actions. “God will give you the grace and strength to do your time,” I said. “He can help you bloom wherever you are planted.” Bruno later asked about the family and friends of the man he had killed. He

wanted to know if God would “fix it so they would forgive” him. “It’s possible,” I said. “But some things take time. Whether they forgive you or not, you must remain faithful.” Running Out of Time When I left him that day, he seemed a bit sad. I wondered if he would fall into depression and push his faith aside. When a few days passed without hearing from him, I became concerned, thinking something was wrong. Then, unexpectedly, I received an urgent call from the medical section where he was staying. The medical staff asked me to hurry. I ran to the unit, praying along the way. When I reached the area where he was housed, I saw him weeping and holding the hand of someone lying on a stretcher and partially covered in a white blanket. “What’s going on?” I asked a nurse. “Go on in,” she said. “Bruno wants to see you.” I stepped inside the room and saw a male inmate on the stretcher; he appeared to be a rack of bones. He was pale and unshaven, and his eyes were half shut. He was barely breathing, and he coughed between breaths. “Chaplain,” said Bruno. “He’s dying of AIDS. He don’t have much time. Help me pray for him. He needs to be saved . . . and we’re running out of time.” Together, Bruno and I prayed for that man. We shared the Gospel with him and led him in the sinner’s prayer, pleading with him to trust in Christ as his Lord and Savior. The man made a profession of faith, and Bruno and I began rejoicing. The nurse came and wheeled the man to another room. Bruno walked over to me and shook my hand. “Chaplain,” he said. “I would love to have a short sentence, but if I can keep doing this with the Lord’s help, I don’t care how long I serve.” I looked at him with a big smile and said, “Amen, my brother. Amen.” Roscoe Barnes III is a minister and writer who lives in Centreville, Mississippi. roscoe [email protected]

EVANGEL • mar 2016

13

evangel interview

by lance colkmire

joe edwards:

pastoring a community In honor of Joe Edwards’ 28 years of pastoral service to Bartow County, Georgia, business and government leaders held an appreciation luncheon last December 1. Several men and women spoke about Edwards’ community impact, including these three: • Parnick Jennings, funeral home director, said, “Joe is not my pastor, but he prayed for me in his office when I was not living close to the Lord. It changed my life.” • A fellow pastor, Keith Willard, told about his wife going on a group tour to the Holy Land led by Pastor Edwards. Because of a physical disability, she was unable to go into the Jordan River to be baptized. Edwards saw this, so he baptized her with a cup of water from the river. • Steve Taylor, the Bartow County commissioner, said that after his 2012 election, Joe invited him to dinner and asked, “How can our church help you?” At the close of the luncheon, Edwards urged political and business leaders to continue reaching out to pastors of the community—to “give them a place at the table.” Joe Edwards is now pastor emeritus of the Church at Liberty Square, while Jacob King is the lead pastor. When you came to Cartersville in 1987, did you envision all that would happen here? Yes and no. I had been a long-term pastor, and then I was in administrative work in Ohio. My leaders counseled me not to come; they felt there was a greater future in administrative work. It really was a God thing for me to come here. I asked the people, “Why do we have a church when there are so many churches in town?” We appointed committees to discover what we really wanted to do. Eventually we had 70 people serving on different committees to answer the question, “What are we supposed to do as a church?” 14

EVANGEL • mar 2016

Out of that came the idea that we wanted to get out of the church—most churches do—to where the people are. We felt like we had to reach into the community. Where I had pastored before, we had a day care, and we fed people. But we wanted to do it on a scale that would make a difference. That’s where we started.

Joe and Becky Edwards

We had 22 acres, but we did not feel that would fit the dream that bubbled up in the hearts and minds of the people. So we began to look for property. There was a lady in Cartersville who had a great tract of land but would not sell to developers. A Baptist layman was sitting in his office and got the idea he would go talk to her again. She said to him, “I told you I wasn’t going to sell my property. Who wants it this time?” He said, “Well, a church.” She said, “Is that the church that has the school?” By this time we had started a school, and he said, “Yes.” She said, “I have an interest.” She only owned one tract; she had relatives who owned the others. There were five tracts of land. To make a long

story short, at the signing I asked one of the nephews, “What made you decide to sell?” He said, “We didn’t have a choice. She told us we were going to sell.” So out of that we acquired the 186 acres. We then began to dream. What year did you acquire the acreage? 1995. We decided we wanted to minister from the cradle to the grave. Our property is a mile in length. When we were coming out here to pray and seek the Lord, we lined up our people and they joined hands, stretching the entire mile. We had a helicopter fly over and take photographs. We wanted it to be known we prayed. When you first come onto the property, you see 61 units for retirees. We don’t want to forget those who kept the country free, or ministers who started churches. Then we have 52 townhouses for young couples, but then they have children, so we built 115 homes on the property. Hard times can come, so we have Harvest House, where we feed between 3,500 to 4,000 people every month. The Bible says people perish for lack of knowledge, so we have a state-licensed child care—one of the premier child cares in Georgia. We have a SACS-accredited school, Excel Christian Academy. The idea is having all these givingback ministries to the community in the shadow of the Cross, so the highest building in the complex is the church. We have developed some 70 ministries. We do everything from world missions to writing prisoners all across the United States to taking care of children, and then we have a cemetery mausoleum. We virtually can start with a child at 6 weeks of age, take them through life, and when they go to meet the Lord, the church is there. God chose to let the community see what He could do.

Discuss your connection with community leaders. One day I went to the county commissioner—we have a one-man commission—slid a yellow pad to him, and said, “Why don’t you write down what you need and we’ll see what we can do.” He sat back in his chair and said, “Well, I’ve never heard that from a preacher. Every time you people come in, you’re wanting something.” I said, “We want to help you.” Out of that developed a relationship with the government. The day before the new Bartow County Courthouse was dedicated, he asked us to come. I got some preachers together, and the commissioner said, “I want you to pray in every room of this courthouse,” and we did. When we finished, he said, “Would you come into my office?” Two or three of us went into the office. He knelt down. He said, “Will you lay hands on me and ask that I, as the sole commissioner, can serve the people?” That is the kind of relationship we have built over the years. We knew we had to bring the preachers together, so we started the local observance of the National Day of Prayer (NDOP), which has become the largest one in Georgia. We are now involved with the NDOP committee. We wanted to break down things that keep preachers and pastors from getting together, so we began to meet. We believe too much alike to allow our differences to hinder us and what God has called us to do. When we had weather disasters here, the church body rallied until a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency who was here helping said, “This has to be a model for us to consider out of Washington.” Our local government officials met and said, “In going forward, the church will have a seat at the table.” We now have a minister that sits on the Disaster Relief committee. We do a program for teenagers called SPLASH (Show People Love and Share Him). Last summer we had over 450 participants—it is a turn-away program. Business leaders give their time and funding, and we say to the county and the city, “Who do you have that needs help? What

do they need?” The teens repair houses, fix lawns. It is Baptist, Methodist, Church of God, whatever. The kids at night have church. We do that in our building. We sleep either the boys or the girls, and the largest Baptist church takes the others. It’s a beautiful thing to see all these people come together. We do a commissioner/mayor prayer luncheon. It is a huge success. We do a “celebration of excellence” out of our Excel Academy, bringing in noted people to say we believe in the community. I’ve been chaplain of the State Senate, chaplain of the State House. We want to be part of what’s happening, because what’s happening affects the church. For years, the church was prominent in everything that happened. The clergy were respected. We’re losing that; we’re being pictured wrongly, as takers, or being seen as existing for only whatever our particular belief or doctrine may be. At the same time, you are still a traditional Pentecostal church in your worship. Yes, with no apologies. We are unashamedly believers filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, experiencing the manifestations of the Spirit. That’s what made us. In the different community groups like the Kiwanis Club, we are there not because

we are odd but because we have something to give. We have the presence of God. People today in government realize the capitalist system needs morals and values. Who can do that better than the church? The church has got to get involved, not by becoming politicians or trying to get a particular person elected, but by making our presence felt and to say we care. Talk about the church’s impact on individual lives. Ginger Thacker heads up our jail ministry. She goes every week. We have a relationship with the sheriff, and they allow her to bring these inmates here—she’ll have 70 to 75 women. We are unabashedly Pentecostal, and she teaches and speaks that way. She’s not a preacher, yet the number of people whose lives have been changed over the years is incredible. We must remember Jesus came and largely preached to the poor. I think the Church of God needs to remember that redemption lifts. If you reach people who are down and out, God will lift them up. When that happens, they will give back. That’s what has happened to us. I think of two young men who grew up in this church, went to Lee University, and are now a prominent attorney and doctor here. Sometimes we pastors, because we’re so desperate to have enough funding,

Church at Liberty Square

EVANGEL • mar 2016

15

try to reach the people with the money. There’s nothing wrong with that. They need the Gospel as much as the down-andout. But historically, the Church of God has done quite well with people who have nowhere else to turn. They can’t employ an attorney, go to the best surgeon, or afford counseling. That’s what we ought to be doing. There is no better counselor than the Holy Spirit. We have a young man here paralyzed from his waist down because of a motorcycle accident. He is so turned on by what God has done in his life that he’s out witnessing every day. He has a lift attached to his pickup truck that enables him to get out of his truck with his wheelchair, and then back in the truck. I see him at business meetings. I see him out witnessing. He goes to people’s homes who have had similar accidents. Michael Mayes is an incredible young man who doesn’t look back. One year, an atheist couple inquired about their daughter attending Excel

16

EVANGEL • mar 2016

Christian Academy. They were told if she came, she would be taught the Bible. The couple said, “It’s the best school in town, so we will enroll her.” One night at dinner, the girl insisted on saying a blessing prayer. Her parents looked at each other and said, “We don’t do that.” Their daughter answered, “But my teacher said we have to pray.” So they relented, and she began to loudly pray, “God is great, God is good. . . . ” What advice do you have for young pastors? I believe we’ve got to get passionate again. Become God’s person. Reach a place

where we truly believe, I have a destiny— I have a calling on my life. I don’t think we take that as seriously as the Bible indicates we should. Pastors do need education—I’ve gone to every kind of seminar you can go to— but most of all, you must dare to believe. You dare to believe the commissioner will receive you into his office. You dare to believe you can raise millions of dollars, believing God will provide it. If God gives you a dream, why will you not believe He will fund it? There is never a shortage of money. Never. You have not because you ask not. I think few of us today are asking, while some of us are asking for the wrong reason: How will it benefit me? How will my name look? That won’t get it. If you believe God has called you to do a work, start asking people, “Why would you not want to be part of this?” Without a vision, the people perish. You’ve got to be able to draw the word picture so people will join with you.

R

IGHT OFF THE BAT, Mahmood’s friends told him about Jesus. Not long after he’d left Kuwait for the United States, these same friends invited him to a hayride at their church. Mahmood, my older brother, had no clue what a hayride was. As Mahmood tells it, it was a surreal experience, bumping along in a wagon bed

“Jesus Christ knows all about your sin—past, present, and future. He died to take that sin away—all of it—for all time,” he declared as he put his wallet back into his pocket. Mahmood was incredulous. Could what Phillip said really be true? The thought burrowed into his mind like a dormant seed, gathering nutrients for the

EX-MUSLIM Jesus appeared to Mahmood in a dream. by Naeem Fazal

that was covered with a thin layer of itchy hay. Several Cambodian refugees went along, too, looking just as bewildered as Mahmood was. Then they stopped, hopped off the wagon, and gathered in a field for hot chocolate. A man named Phillip, whom Mahmood had met and liked, got everyone’s attention. He pulled a fat wallet from his back pocket and held it high in the air so everyone could see it. “This wallet represents your life—a life that is filled with sin.” Mahmood had no problem making the connection with his own life and that wallet full of sin. What good Muslim wasn’t aware that he or she sinned regularly and often? But what Phillip said next sounded inconceivable to my brother.

day it would finally sprout and grow. Mahmood would tell you that his salvation experience, unlike mine, was a process. He would say it started that night, but it didn’t mature and grow until months later. But that doesn’t make what happened in his heart any less extraordinary than what happened to me just a few years later. That’s because grace itself is supernatural. It is astonishing as any unearthly experience we might have, as miraculous as the appearance of demons or angels in a dark bedroom. Mahmood was overtaken by grace. During this time of intense questioning, Mahmood had a dream. Jesus appeared to him, clear as day, and said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Because he had been thinking about Jesus and this very claim so often, he didn’t give the dream much thought until later. Mahmood began to gather and collate all the information he’d heard about this new and dangerous faith. He prayed, “Jesus, if this is real, would You show me?” He worried about what would happen to his brothers and sisters if he plunged into Christianity. He knew he wouldn’t be physically harmed by us or excommunicated, but he wasn’t so sure people outside our family would be as accepting. He had grown up in a religious culture that taught him, in no uncertain terms, that if he left it, there would be consequences. Months later, Mahmood went to another event held by the same church. This time a group of bodybuilders gave a demonstration and talked about God, about the devil, and about life. When the leader said, “Do you think we’re cool because we’re big? The only thing cool about us is Jesus,” Mahmood wondered if maybe there was some truth to this claim. Toward the end of the presentation, the bodybuilders preached the Gospel clearly and simply. For once, Mahmood didn’t think about it. He’d already done that in great detail, and he realized it was time to take the ultimate risk. The bodybuilders held an altar call, and Mahmood went forward. He had all the information he needed, and he realized he truly believed it. It was decision time. Mahmood asked to be baptized at the next church service, Easter Sunday. Yeah, it was all Mahmood’s fault. And our family is forever grateful to him. Excerpted from Ex-Muslim, by Naeem Fazal (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2014). Used by permission. Raised as a Muslim in Kuwait, Fazal is pastor of Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. EVANGEL • mar 2016

21

C

LOSE YOUR EYES and imagine yourself getting on a plane with your mom. Your heart is breaking into 10,000 pieces. You are being flown to Buffalo, New York. In 1970, abortion was legal there, but not in South Carolina. My parents loved me enough to make sure this was done by a certified clinic. It was located beside Niagara Falls. I loved my baby with all my mind, body, heart, and soul. The reasons I was given for having this abortion included: (1) My daddy was a deacon in the church; (2) Mom was a big worker in the church; (3) I had three sisters to whom I was to set an example.

The nurse called me back while my mom stayed in the waiting area. The nurse told me to take off my clothes and slip on a gown. I was sobbing with everything I had in me. She told me to calm down, that this procedure was “nothing”; that they did “a thousand or more abortions a day” at this clinic. She told me it would be simple and I would be out in 15 minutes. There would be no harm and I could get on with my life. After she left the room, I put on the gown and sat on a cold table with no paper, no pillow. The nurse came back and told me to put my feet in the stirrups and that the doctor would be in shortly.

have given me that day would have killed the pain. The doctor said he would take about 15 minutes. Suddenly, I heard this suction machine. I was crying much harder by then. My world was coming to an end. I wondered how my parents could get rid of their grandchild. As the doctor began the machine, which sounded like a very loud vacuum cleaner, I wondered, Which arm was that— the right or the left? Which leg was that— the right or the left? Was that my baby’s head, his brains, his ears? The whole time the procedure was going on, the nurse told me to relax, to be

After my abortion, I was told to keep it a secret to my grave. I remained silent for 36 years.

Silent No More by CATHY BURROWS

I was given no time to think, process, or talk to the baby’s father . . . just get on an airplane. My parents told everyone I was going to New York for a job interview. Then imagine your mom seated beside you on the plane. You know she loves you, but you cannot understand why she is asking you to do this. Why me, Lord? Why do I have to give up the most important reality in my life? You are now at the abortion clinic. You are scared to death. You don’t know what to expect—how the procedure will go— and you have many other questions.

22

EVANGEL • mar 2016

I lay on that table crying, scared, and thinking I was going to die on this table doing something I did not want to do. But I felt I had no choice because of my parents. As I lay there, I felt death and hell all around me. The doctor came in and told me to slide down a little bit further. He also told me it was one of the simplest procedures a person could have. I told him I didn’t look at it that way and my choice was made for me; it was not mine. I had one shot of Novocain, which did not numb the pain; but nothing they could

calm. “You are all right. There is nothing to this.” She lied. The procedure was very painful. When it was over, I told them I had let them pull my baby apart piece by piece, just to throw him in a trash can. I was left in a state of shock—numb, shaking, crying, and wondering what my life would be like from this day forward. I lay there in mourning, feeling like I had given my life up for my three sisters and my parents. I felt like I understood now what the Bible says about the sacrificial lamb.

After the abortion, I was cleaned up and put my clothes back on. I was then led to a small room and given orange juice and cookies. It took me about an hour to drink the juice, then I was returned to my mom. She wrapped my coat around me and gave me a hug. She said everything would be fine now and things would be back to normal. But my life would never be normal; they had no idea what they had done to me. Don’t get me wrong. I should have made better decisions. Young people, abstinence is your best choice in avoiding what I have been through. Please wait until you are married to have a sexual relationship. One day, I saw a church sign that read, “Abortion: 15 minutes to get a lifetime of regret.” No truer words have ever been spoken. Abortion is not a quick fix. It does not solve any problems, but will only make a woman’s life worse. After my abortion, I was told to keep it a secret to my grave. I kept my secret for 36 years—until January 2006—when I was watching the pro-life rally being held on the Capitol steps in Washington, DC. I was alone, and I heard God say to me, You have carried the secret around long enough. Be set free and work for Me. I saw the banners on the TV screen that read, “Silent No More.” In addition, this was the name of one of the first books I had read on the subject, also done in secret. Until this point, only four people outside the clinic knew about the abortion: my parents, the father of the baby, and my husband (and he did not know until 17 years into our marriage). During all these years, I felt like I had to carry my burden by myself. I felt lifeless and empty inside. I am thankful God gave me a very understanding husband. I feared he would leave me when he learned such devastating information, but he did not. Instead, he has supported me through the years. We were blessed with two children. With the birth of each of them, I felt both joy and sadness because I wondered what that first child would have looked like and how he would have reacted to the births

of a younger brother and sister. I could not let anyone know I was having these thoughts and feelings. This emotional turmoil led me to having two “nervous breakdowns.” My children grew to adulthood and into wonderful people who love God and their parents. God has also blessed me with five beautiful grandchildren whom I love with all my heart. Even through all these blessings, I still felt as though I was a walking dead person. Today, four decades after the most traumatic and heart-wrenching day in my life, I am still under the care of doctors for emotional and physical ramifications. Though I take medicine, my faith is growing every day in the One who has provided me incomparable forgiveness and who sent me out to tell my story.

During all these years, I felt like I had to carry my burden by myself. I felt lifeless and empty inside. On my quest to healing, I visited the National Memorial for the Unborn in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on January 20, 2007. I had learned of this special place from a magazine I found in 1998. I held on to it with hopes and intentions of visiting this place. One day, while looking for a book, it was as though God placed the magazine right on top of things in my desk drawer where I would find it again, nine years later. At that special place I had a memorial service for my unborn child on the day before Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. I had prepared a shadow box with a little blue bear inside. The background was a clear night with a sky full of stars, with the brightest one above the others.

When I laid the box down, I looked at my abortion in a different way—I now could see my unborn child, whom I felt was a son, as a joy. A dear friend of mine, Margie Tanner, led the service for my baby as I was consoled by another friend, Patty, her daughter Brandy, and another close family friend, Tim. Margie read a poem she wrote for me as though my baby was sending me a note from heaven. During the service, I placed an angel on a tree that stands in the memorial building with the name I would have given my son. Margie used the following scriptures: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4 NIV). “One thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” (Phil. 3:13 NIV). At the end of the service, I placed a red rose on my baby’s shadow box. Even after all of this, I felt an incredible release on one hand and an even more incredible loss on the other. However, in April 2008, I completely relinquished my impossible burden to the only hands capable of carrying it. I accepted Jesus’ full forgiveness, and He continues to help me give up the guilt, shame, and hurt I have carried for 40 years. A woman never gets over having an abortion. However, God will forgive you, washing you white as snow and removing your sin as far as the east is from the west. The hardest part is learning how to forgive yourself, because taking the life of your unborn child makes you feel unworthy of forgiveness. However, that is not what God wants. Every day I want God to turn my ashes into beauty, using me as He sees fit to bring honor to His holy name in this ministry. Cathy Burrows lives in Hemingway, South Carolina.

EVANGEL • mar 2016

23

by MARK McGUIRE

TANNER’S JOURNEY Doctors compared his head injury to shaken baby syndrome.

IT

WAS A SUNNY AFTERNOON, and my wife, Patrice, and I were having a dinner date in Cleveland, Tennessee. This was August 4, 2015—the day cell-phone companies lost signal on the eastern side of the U.S. After eating we had walked around the mall, just enjoying our time together. As we were leaving the mall, cell service returned, and my phone rang—it was the call all parents hope to never receive. We were told that our oldest son, 19-yearold Tanner, was being taken to Erlanger Trauma Center in Chattanooga due to an accident. Upon arrival at Erlanger, we were greeted by the chaplain on call, so we knew it was serious. We were not allowed to see Tanner at that moment because they were still working on him. When the staff came out and escorted us into a side room, I was not ready to hear what I was about to be told. I was sitting with Patrice, my father (Rev. Dennis McGuire), and Pastor Chris Moody. When the medical staff entered the room, they explained the extent of Tanner’s injuries. He had a cervical fracture (C1), fractured skull, a broken fibula and tibia, and a broken ankle. They compared his head injury to shaken baby syndrome. We were told it did not look good; Tanner was not responding to any stimuli, but he did have brain activity. When we were allowed to see him, we saw our oldest son lying on a bed motionless, with tubes and wires running everywhere. He seemed lifeless. The only way I can explain my feelings is like being 24

EVANGEL • mar 2016

Tanner in physical therapy

Medical specialists do not understand how Tanner has made such a recovery. in a dark room where you can’t see, hear, or feel anything, combined with being in suspended animation. All I could think to do was go back to the basics I had been taught as a child and had lived around my entire life—to pray to God.

Over the next few days, Tanner was hanging between life and death. It was as if Patrice, Jocelyn (our teenage daughter), and I had front-row seats to a literal fight between life and death. Jocelyn was staying with friends at one house, our

youngest son was staying with my parents, and Patrice and I stayed with Tanner at the hospital. With our family scattered and facing the unknown, we found ourselves faced with decisions we had never dreamed we would have to make. I asked the nurses if they thought Tanner was going to make it, and their response was not one I wanted to hear. They explained when it comes to a brain injury, there are no guarantees. They could not undo what had happened, but only prevent further damage from happening. An initial surgery removed the skull on Tanner’s right side to give the brain room to swell. After this did not work, we were confused because of all of the prayers that were being prayed. We were receiving calls from around the world of people believing God for Tanner’s healing. Then came a second surgery—removing a section of his brain to give space in his cranium for his brain to swell. Again, this surgery did not produce the desired results, so Tanner faced another surgery —the last one they could do. That night as the surgery was happening, I sat with my pastor and said, “This is it; there is nothing else they can do.” Pastor Moody looked at me and simply said, “That is when God is at His best.” We were called back to the TICU after Tanner had come out of surgery, and we were sitting in the hallway waiting to see him. It hit me that God had called me to be the head of the house. That doesn’t mean being chauvinistic, but being the spiritual leader; so I accepted the challenge that day and stood up. Have you ever had one of those moments when God’s presence comes all over you and nothing else matters? I found myself singing hymns, praying, and shouting—really having a time with God. When we were allowed to see Tanner, we prayed while hanging on to that last thread of hope and faith. That was when I heard Patrice say, “55,” and then, “50.” Wow—the pressure in his brain was going down! Josh Lane (our youth pastor) and I thought the evening was going to end

well as we left the room, but then Patrice called and told me Tanner’s pressure was going back up. I felt my heart sink and a lump swell in my throat. They took Tanner back for yet another CT scan, thinking he was having a brain bleed, but God intervened; there was not a brain bleed, but rather a reaction to the meds. That night was the turning point in the acute stage of this miracle unfolding before us. Over the following days, the pressure in his brain kept decreasing; we were starting to see real progress.

McGuire family

Tanner had now been in an induced coma for five weeks. Over the next couple of days, he began to open his eyes. This was the first time we felt we had passed the acute stage of this accident and therefore the first time we had been able to take a deep breath in five weeks. When one physician passed by the room, he asked who the new patient was. The nurse responded, “This is the one many people thought would not make it.” It was amazing to see how God was working with my son and how fast he was recovering. This was a young man who was not supposed to live. Now he was talking with the help of a speech valve, sitting up in bed, saying full sentences, and even giving a smile. Tanner was sent to Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehabilitation. We were told he would probably be there three to six months due to the damage done to

his brain. However, God had not brought us across an ocean to drop us in a mud puddle. Once again, the medical staff could not explain how Tanner was recovering as fast as he was, and after only 28 days, he was released. We are now home and have seen specialist after specialist, and they all make the same point—they don’t understand how Tanner could have made such a recovery. When we went for a follow-up visit for his hearing at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, it was concluded that Tanner had lost the hearing in his left ear. The doctor asked for Tanner to spin around several times and stop. Tanner did, and the doctor was speechless. The doctor asked him to make various facial expressions; he did, and once again the doctor was speechless. We asked what the doctor was thinking, and he said according to the CT scan, Tanner should not have balance due to the hearing loss. And with the removal of the muscles around his skull, he should have a frozen face. As I am writing this in January 2016, I am reminded of the power of prayer and how God is with us each step of the way. From the beginning, He was with Tanner —providing a first responder at the place of the accident to placing him in the hands of the specific medical team that he needed. There was the Lee University family, who had someone visit us every day; our family and friends who stood with us day in and day out; the people who followed our journey via our blog on Caring Bridge; and the people we work with, all praying for the same cause. I can’t end my thanks without including the nurses at Erlanger along with those at Shepherd Center. Then there was the South Cleveland Church of God; they will never know what they mean to our family. They supported us in every way you can imagine, and it showed my family the importance of having a church family. Tanner has now graduated from physical therapy and occupational therapy, and has resumed his studies at Lee University. . . . God did not bring him across an ocean to drop him in a puddle. EVANGEL • mar 2016

25

evangel interview

by lance colkmire

in paris, under the almighty’s shadow

Yves Bazile is a Church of God missionarypastor serving in Argenteuil, France—seven miles from the center of Paris.

How was your congregation affected by the ISIS attack in November? We have been having wonderful times of worship and more fervent prayer lately because, more than ever, people need to know who is in charge. I tell my congregation that God’s deliverance is the provision, but our perseverance and fidelity are the conditions (the requirements). This is the time we need to remember and recognize the sovereignty of God—in the face of turmoil and great adversities, as emphasized in the Book of Daniel. Our allegiance can be to no one or anything else, only to the God Most High. The leadership of our nation may not be able to assure us our safety, but “he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps. 91:1 NKJV). So the ISIS attacks in Paris intended to leave people terror-stricken and give rise to war endeavors. But the Holy Spirit is using this to remind us we have already been at war and Christ Jesus is our Commander. He will keep us safe and lead us to victory. How did you become a missionary to France? I felt a burden for the French-speaking world, and I was searching and expecting leading from the Holy Spirit when I came in contact with Guglielmi Emmanuel, the overseer of France at that time. With the leadership of Dr. Grant McClung, I was ushered into the realm of Church of God World Missions. I received my missions appointment over a year after my graduation from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary (Cleveland, TN). During that year, I did occasional preaching and teaching upon 26

EVANGEL • mar 2016

Yves and Micheline Bazile family

invitation while working at Hiwassee Mental Health to support myself and pay on my student loan. I arrived in France on April 2, 2002. My experience at the seminary was not just scholarly. It was life-building, character-shaping, spiritually empowering, and purpose-focusing. East Coast Bible College and the seminary are where the Holy Spirit led me in order to prepare me for where I am today. Describe your calling into ministry. I was born and raised between Leogane and Port-au-Prince in Haiti, where I learned the French language in school. I am a fruit of pioneer missionary work in Haiti. When I first came to Cleveland, Tennessee, names like [missionaries] Herbert Walker, James Beaty, and Odine Morse were already familiar to me. I heard about them and saw their pictures while growing up. The lot upon which the church in Leogane was built was partially granted by my grandfather, who recently passed

away at the age 101. That is where I went to summer Bible school and first learned about Christ. I did not experience new birth until I was 15, when the Gideons were distributing New Testaments to the schools and I received my first personal Bible. Upon reading the Gospel of Matthew that same night, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes and then my heart to Christ. I fell on my knees, and He wiped out my tears, saved my soul from despair, and gave me hope to live fully. This was a time of major transformation—a critical phase when Christ came and met my need. Describe your ministry in France. On Sunday I am a preacher. During the week, I am a counselor and teacher, a disciple-maker, a facilitator, a helper, a servant wherever there is a need. Feeding the church for its growth through preaching is very challenging. I strive to find other suitable models of feeding the congregation in addition to preaching. A word from the Lord takes

different forms and shapes. Sometimes while meeting someone’s need, the person—who might be discouraged or even backslidden—finds a reason to come back to church. People mostly from the African and French islands attend my church, and some of them are second-generation Europeans. We have very few historically French and Europeans, and they are often there by affiliation or as a result of friendship discipleship. In France, it takes a long time to build friendships. Our church is known for its sense of fellowship, openness, and warmth. Someone said in a testimony: “I am still here because I felt love the first time I came to this church. Although I could not quite follow the preaching, I decided to stay. Now I think it was probably the Holy Spirit at work in life leading me here.” You were single when you came to France, but now you have a family. Micheline came into my life at a critical point of the ministry here. The church was growing and demanding a married

couple in leadership. The Lord answered my prayers. Micheline had served her local church in several areas of ministry—Christian education, music ministry, and youth and kids ministry. For several years, she translated most of the material from English to French for Campus Crusade Ministry in Paris. She has coordinated several youth camps over the years, both for her local church and at a national level for the LLB (Ligue pour la Lecture de la Bible), a ministry born in England and now expanded throughout the world. Now she has found her place in my life and our church in Argenteuil. She has been a much needed support and companion, forming with me a family and a team pursuing the purpose of God. What significant breakthroughs has your church experienced? Each time members of the church are discipled and trained under our ministry, and then raised up to leadership positions to organize or take charge of an area of ministry, I feel it is a breakthrough. These are times that I consider not just an

accomplishment but a victory. These are breakthroughs, for it is always a challenge and struggle getting people right where they need to be with the Lord. Your church experienced a destructive fire last year. The fire destroyed almost our entire facility. Knowing how difficult it is to get a church building in Paris, I felt as though our 10 years of ministry went up with the flames. It had been so hard to get to where we were; I did not think I would have the strength to start over again. Then, the Lord changed my perception of this fire. He led me to see it as a fire of purification in order to get us to the next level. This is how we have been able to strive through—with the expectation of a better situation, a season of greater consecration, and the trust of a greater opportunity for the enhancement of the Kingdom through our local church. Visit cogwm.org/projects/yves-andmicheline-bazile to learn more about the Baziles’ ministry. Argenteuil congregation

EVANGEL • mar 2016

27

by Kashif Graham

John and Rodica Tipei

“Oh, Romania!” An Account of John Tipei J OHN TIPEI’S first encounter with the Securitate (secret police) of Romania happened in 1974, during his first year of college. “They attacked us [the Evangelicals], sometimes nominally, to shame us publicly. I started to write articles back to them about whatever they said about us. I told them that what they were writing was not true. They started to track me then.” He was only two weeks into his studies when he was invited to speak with the Communist authorities at the university. The head of the Securitate at the university asked him to “inform” on the activities of the Evangelical students. He declined, saying, “I am not betraying my brethren.” Tipei was later invited to a particular gathering at the university, not realizing it was another meeting of the Communist party. In the assembly, it was noted, “We 28

EVANGEL • mar 2016

regret that there are some among us who have a different religion than our ‘Communist religion.’” Tipei stood up and identified himself, and then left the meeting. Later, the secretary of the Student Government Association informed him that he had just lost his chance at becoming a member of the Communist party. Becoming a party member was lucrative, the way to gain an easy life, John and his wife, Rodica, explained to me. In communist Romania, people waited for hours to get low-quality food. Yet, party members received high-quality food from special shops, delivered to their homes. They also got better jobs, leadership positions, and the like. John and Rodica were married in 1978. Two months later, they applied for a visa to the United States. Visas were

often suspended in bureaucracy, since the government wanted to discourage immigration. And because John was already on the Securitate’s radar, the approval of his family’s visa seemed all the more insurmountable. The four-year wait became a test of faith. Church life under the Communist regime was particularly difficult, the couple explained. Many people were employed by the government to spy on believers. In fact, after the fall of communism, many church leaders were exposed as Communist agents. “Everybody knew who the agents were,” Rodica remarked with a chuckle. In an effort to gain a visa, Tipei wrote about 40 letters of appeal to Nicolae Ceauşescu (Romania’s president), U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the United Nations High Commissioner, the Helsinki

Commission for Human Rights, and other offices of authority. He had to ask visiting friends and students to mail the letters from outside of Romania. During this season of waiting, John attempted to flee the country with a few colleagues. He planned to go to Chicago, since a man from their town in Romania was pastoring a small congregation there. He was caught and kept in jail for eight days. Rodica expressed her anxiety: “I didn’t know if he was dead.” Upon his release, John was condemned to 16 months of forced labor. He was required to work on a construction site in the hot sun for 10 to 12 hours per day. Yet, God was still working. After six weeks, all those with sentences of three years or less were given presidential amnesty. When John’s former place of employment refused to give him back his position, the Tipeis resorted to making and selling noodles in order to survive. Because the necessary ingredients were rationed, the Tipeis relied on donations from family and friends. John made the noodles and his wife sold them in the marketplace, even though they lacked proper licensure. By God’s grace they survived that season, managing to get by without detection. After many appeals, the Tipeis finally got the news that their visas were approved. They were warned not to tell a soul. The Securitate threatened to pull them from the stairs of the plane if they did not obey. They were also given a persona non grata status, meaning they were undesirable persons in their own country and would not be allowed to come back. “I was so afraid,” Rodica recalled. “Only when the plane was heading toward Italy and the people were like ants on the ground did I say, ‘Whew! Yes, we are out!’” They went from Romania to Rome on their way to the U.S. They underwent lab tests and scrutiny from the American government. Finally, after 10 days in Italy, they headed to Arizona in September 1982. For many years, John’s heart had been set on going to seminary. In August 1983, he became a student at what is now the Pentecostal Theological Seminary in Cleveland, Tennessee. His wife was completely supportive. He enrolled in the

Master of Divinity program with a concentration in Biblical studies. In 1986, the Tipei family moved to Chicago. He worked with Romanian Missionary Society, translating Christian books, devotionals, and theological materials from English to Romanian. The society’s president prophesied the Tipeis would see the fall of communism, and the translated materials would go back to Romania for training purposes. They found it hard to believe him; yet, 1989 brought unbelievable news to them. Through Radio Free Europe, they listened as Eastern European countries, including Romania, broke out of communist oppression. In summer 1991, the Tipeis chose God over material possessions when they moved back to Timişoara, Romania, to teach. Rodica left behind her job as a medical assistant, and the family left behind their new townhouse and vehicle.

“Everyone knew who the Communist agents were.” Post-communist Romania was poverty-stricken. Nonetheless, things slowly progressed, and John began traveling eight hours from Timişoara to Bucharest every two weeks by train for various teaching responsibilities. In 1992, the Tipeis moved to Bucharest, since the work at the Pentecostal Theological Institute (PTI) had increased greatly. He taught there for the next few years before moving to Sheffield, England, for doctoral studies. In 1997, John was appointed president of PTI. With the financial assistance of Youth World Evangelism Action and Church of God World Missions—providing approximately $1.4 million—the school’s construction was completed in 1999. The next year, John Tipei finished his doctorate. During his PTI presidency, Dr. Tipei began expanding the institute’s library. At the same time, Barbara McCullough was director of the William G. Squires Library at Lee University, where John had worked when he was a student in Cleveland. Under McCullough’s direction, Squires donated a wealth of materials to the

budding institution. Barbara then went to Romania, where she spent an entire month cataloging books and training their library workers. In 2010, Tipei resigned as president of the institute. Two years later, he was appointed senior pastor of the Bethel Romanian Church in Gallatin, Tennessee. Recently, I was privileged to spend a weekend in Gallatin, and saw firsthand their church’s youth ministry—growing blades of grass. The Sunday service tossed me gently like a starfish into the sea of old Romania, filled with traditional customs and powerful prayer. The Tipeis calculate they have moved 22 times over the years, quite remarkable for a family of seven. Their children are Ramona, Rebecca, Ruth, Raymond, and Ronella. I look upon John and Rodica with a sense of reverence. “You’re travelers,” I told them. They agreed.

* * * * *

In my spirit, I am taken to Bucharest. Words from the national anthem echo on every beige brick wall in the market square: “Awaken thee, Romania, from that deathly sleep!” I see a few good men standing in a semicircle, holding a pearl of great price: a flag of blue, yellow, and red. With deepest respect, they hold the banner and sing, “Now or never, let us give proof to the world that in these hands of ours, Roman blood still flows!” I raise my vintage Polaroid for a final shot. Through the viewfinder, I see a grizzly hand covering my lens. I lower the camera, revealing a smiling face framed with glossy black hair. He makes room for me in the inner circle of celebrants. I am greeted with brotherly hugs and nods from others. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the Tipeis. I turn, and they wave. Through some supernatural means, I know this joyous song, and the words gush out from deep within my spirit: “We’d rather die in battle, in elevated glory, than be slaves once more on our ancestral land!” Kashif Graham is a native New Yorker who is studying at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary. EVANGEL • mar 2016

29

VIEWPOINTS Explain how a particular aspect of Christ’s death and resurrection is especially meaningful to you. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? BEVERLY COKER, LCSW, Ph.D., is director of Care Ministries for the Church of God in Southern New England.



AS WE REFLECT on Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, I ask, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Your response might be an emphatic “no,” as this incident occurred more than 2,000 years ago. However, I submit that you and I were there, and the light of the Cross exposed our character, fears, and sinfulness. We were there when the disciples deserted Jesus. In our self-righteousness we regard them as having no backbone. But before we begin to point fingers, remember they fled because they realized loyalty to Jesus meant being rejected by those in the seat of power. Loyalty to Jesus would have meant being thrown in jail or even death. What cost are you and I willing to pay to follow Him? You and I were there when Judas sold out Jesus for just 30 pieces of silver. How much like Judas are we, even selling ourselves for personal gain? If the truth were told, you and I likely would have done the same as Peter . . . and perhaps as Judas. It is not unusual to hear people talk of being present at prestigious historical events. But who wanted to acknowledge they were present at Christ’s crucifixion? Few were willing to take responsibility for their association with Christ. We applaud the women who stood at the foot of the cross and remained faithful to the end, not hiding or denying their connection with the crucified Lord. Interestingly, God’s grace was poured out equally on all who witnessed this event. All were subject to pardon and forgiveness, including the thief on the cross and Peter. Thomas watched Jesus die; that’s hard evidence to refute. Yet after the resurrection, he only believed what he could see, touch, and feel. When your faith has been shaken, you are inclined to cling to things that are readily believable and tangible. You become skeptical, like Thomas, who exhibited faith, though misguided faith. The disciples of Jesus were men who left their livelihood to follow Christ. Matthew had a good job as a tax collector when he was called, but when following Jesus became unsafe, he and the rest of the disciples backed away and ran. In a sense, we all watched them flee. I saw you hiding behind a spectator because you did not want to be recognized. I, too, hid because I was a coward and lacked boldness. Don’t think that we are more spiritual than His disciples who walked with Him daily. Although they pledged to follow Him to

30

EVANGEL • mar 2016

the end, when faced with the prospect of persecution and death, they became silent. Peter is often condemned for denying his Lord. Jesus knew Peter would not hold up when the going got tough. When our safety is threatened, will we pretend we do not know Christ? As we celebrate Easter, let us reexamine our relationship with God. We too are prone to similar bad judgment, like the disciples, because human nature has not changed. Our lives reflect the same characteristics as those early followers of Christ. I was there; you were there. But thank God for the forgiving power of the Cross; it still symbolizes forgiveness, and Easter offers hope. Reference: Christian Doctrine, by Shirley C. Guthrie (Westminster Press)

the christ of the empty tomb DIANE MANN is pastor of the Fourth Avenue Church of God in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

THE RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ is more than a mere historical event to be celebrated at Easter by the Christian community of faith. The events described in Matthew 28 are a spectacular display of supernatural power that no mortal man could have accomplished on his own. Here’s how Matthew penned the opening verses: Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here. He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying” (vv. 1-6 NLT).

Two days before, Canaan’s King and Calvary’s Lamb hung suspended—for all to see in apparent defeat—on a rugged wooden beam between two notorious criminals. The blood flowing down His body—from His brow, His back, His hands, His feet, and His side—cried out silently as it hit the ground, “Grace . . . grace.” To the world, there was nothing beautiful about this scene. For some, justice seemed to have been served as this supposed insurrectionist was silenced. His followers were overwhelmed by grief and sorrow as their Beloved was brutally killed by those who thought they were doing God’s bidding. Fearful, they went into hiding and solitude, trying to find solace in the memories of their time spent with Jesus. They had believed in Him as their Messiah.

He had told them He would be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead. He had clearly told them no one could take His life, but He would willingly lay it down; and on the third day He would take it up again. Could it be? They had seen Him work miracle after miracle in the three years they had followed Him. Would this be the miracle of all miracles? Would He who was dead live again? For me, as a believer in Jesus Christ, the message of Easter is this: The final enemy—death—has been conquered. Life pierced the icy tentacles of death, taking away its sting. Whether spiritually, emotionally, physically, or financially, the message of hope, healing, and help resonates with clarity, “He is not here. He is risen.” The hymn writer penned, “I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today.” Think about the implications. Other religious leaders and self-proclaimed messiahs have died, been buried, and returned to the earth from which they came. Mere dust. Their proclamations of divinity and offers to save and transform lost humanity ring hollow as you stand at their tombstones that mark the dates of their birth and death. The message of the empty tomb is that Jesus, the Messiah, is exactly who He says He is—“the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). He declared it and then had the power to demonstrate it. The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out. The “Rock of ages” could have simply walked through it, had He chosen to do so. Rather, it was rolled away to let others in. The Christ of the empty tomb is the King of kings on an occupied throne. He’s alive. Of that, I am sure.

“it is finished!” JOHN ALEXANDER, Ph.D., is lead pastor of the Sanctuary Church of God in Orlando, Florida.

“HE SAID, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30 NASB). “It is finished” sums up the life, ministry, and mission of Jesus Christ, opening the door for us to have relationship and fellowship with God the Father. Prophets foretold Jesus would be born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem . . . be a Nazarene and have a Galilean ministry . . . heal the brokenhearted and free the captive . . . be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver. Jesus would be spat upon, mocked, and rejected by His own people; His hands and feet would be pierced through; and He would be buried with the rich. All of these prophecies and many more were fulfilled when Jesus cried aloud, “It is finished!” Through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, the offering of sacrificial animals was finished. God provided “a lamb unblemished and spotless” as the eternal sacrifice for those who would come to the throne of grace to be “redeemed” (1 Peter 1:18-19 NASB). The redeemed understand the power of those words: “It is finished.”

“It is finished” means the door has been opened. In Eph. 2:13-14, Paul gives an analogy concerning the death of Jesus Christ and the veil of the Temple being rent in two. Because of humanity’s sins, we were kept out of the holy presence of God. The veil illustrates the price paid for our access to God—Christ’s body was torn apart (Heb. 10:19-22). Through His precious blood, by faith we can come into God’s presence to find grace and help in time of need (Heb. 4:15-16; 9:11-12). “It is finished” means sin has been conquered. The penalty for sin was death, and Adam’s descendants inherited sin’s penalty as sin passed onto us (Rom. 5:12; 6:23). But praise God for His unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus, who paid the price for sin as our Passover Lamb (Heb. 9:13-14). Concerning Christ’s character, Pilate summed it up best, saying, “I find no fault in Him” (John 19:6 NKJV). Second Corinthians 5:21 states, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NASB). “It is finished” means the victory has been won. The Cross was the finished work of redemption, and the Resurrection was the fulfilled promise of the Savior. The Cross is where Jesus reversed the curse at Calvary; for by one selfish act man was deceived and by one selfless act man was delivered. On the Cross, Jesus defeated the devil (Gen. 3:15); on the Cross, God was both just and justified (1 Peter 1:18-19); on the Cross, Jesus became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18); on the Cross sin has been conquered (Rom. 6:9-14); on the Cross redemption’s price was paid in full (Col. 1:20). In Bible times, sometimes a certificate of debt was created and nailed to the door until the offender paid the debt in full. On the cross, Christ canceled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14-15 ESV). Jesus’ final words, “It is finished,” come from the Greek word tetelestai, which literally means “paid in full.” In Rome, when a debt was paid off, the receipt was stamped with that phrase. The weight of the Law required death to sin, and Jesus fulfilled this obligation. The Bible says God paid our debt with His own blood (Acts 20:28), enduring the suffering on our behalf (Heb. 12:2). He did not shield Himself, but suffered until the final words, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46 ESV). God always finishes what He begins (Phil. 1:6), and the Easter message of “It is finished” lets every believer know that the Law is fulfilled through His obedience to death; He has satisfied the demands of sin. The messianic prophecy was fulfilled, and redemption is complete. He has reconciled us to God, opened the Holy of Holies, and torn down the scaffolding of the old economy while ushering in the new and better way of the kingdom of God. Sin has been conquered and His victory has become our victory through the finished work of Calvary’s cross (1 Cor. 15:51-58).

EVANGEL • mar 2016

31

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

a shared encounter Marietta, GA―Many years ago, my husband and I were youth worship leaders and training for full-time ministry. The altar services of this youth ministry were at times very powerful. Adults from the church sometimes would slip into the back of the gymnasium, where the youth services were being held, to witness how God was moving. One night after the youth pastor had preached and moved to the altar invitation, the Holy Spirit’s presence could be felt in a powerful way. My husband and I went to the stage and began to play and sing. Many teens and adult workers filled the altars and began seeking the Lord. Before long, it seemed everyone in the building was lost in His presence. Desperate cries could be heard as the wounded and needy sent forth their heartfelt petitions to heaven, knowing that God hears every one. Joyful praises also rang through the altar as a testimony of souls being saved and set free. Tears streaming down faces and happy smiles both told stories of what God was doing that night. At times, the prayers and praise of individuals would join together, 32

EVANGEL • mar 2016

becoming a low rumble, increasingly building until they all seemed to become one sound. I left the stage to pray at the altar. After I finished praying, I slowly walked over to the front row of chairs and sat down, basking in the sweet presence of the Lord. I soon found myself drawn to a teenage girl who was praying almost directly in front of me. I could not see her face as she was kneeling at the altar, and I did not recognize the beautiful, long, wavy red hair. Since I knew all the teens in the youth group, I thought this must be a guest. Several people were praying for this girl, but after a while they backed away as if they sensed the Holy Spirit no longer required their hands to rest upon her. I watched her more intently. Her head was raised toward heaven and she was crying out to God with all that was within her. Her shoulders shook as she wept, sobbing almost uncontrollably. I somehow began to understand what was happening. This lovely girl had offered up all that was within her to Jesus Christ. The Lord responded to her repentant heart by reaching into her inner-

most being and pulling out all of the sorrow, pain, shame, sin, and regret. Out of desperation, she had cried out to Him, and He answered her cry by bringing her to the place of emptiness. Then, as if gears had been shifted, her sobbing ceased and the sorrow was gone as God began to fill the vessel He had cleansed. Once everything that was not of Him had been removed, He had begun to pour into her all that comes from Him. Only God knows each and everything He poured into her that night, but I do know for sure when joy came. At that moment, an amazing transformation occurred. She raised her hands high above her head, and I did not have to see

her face to know she was smiling. Her beautiful red hair swayed back and forth as her shoulders began to shake again, but this time, it was from joyous laughter. I found myself quietly laughing with her as the joy of the Lord became her strength. I felt like I had witnessed the miracle of a new birth. Once the altar service ended, the youth pastor asked for volunteers to testify about what God had done in their lives that night. The girl I had been watching turned around and began to haltingly tell of what God had done. When I saw her face, I was dumbfounded. She was not a visitor, but someone I knew well. I had not recognized her because she had dyed her hair red and was

call to prayer

Orlando, FL―“The Response: Prayer Force” is a Joel 2 call to prepare a people of God to host a move of God across America. “There is hope for America. It lies in heaven, and we will find it on our knees,” is the movement’s mission statement. The Response’s most recent event took place in Florida, where over 4,000 people gathered in the Orange County Convention Center for a day of fasting and prayer. Over 300 pastors and civic leaders, including Governor Rick Scott, took part. The Reverend Keith Ivester, administrative bishop for the Church of God in Florida, was one of the prayer leaders. Learn more about this call to prayer at theresponseusa.com.

For daily news updates about what’s happening in the Church of God and Evangelical world, visit FAITH NEWS NETWORK, at www.faithnews.cc.

wearing hair extensions. This teenage girl had entered into a very sinful lifestyle and gotten involved in many destructive situations. As she shared her story of how God touched her that night, I was in awe of the amazing grace, mercy, and power of our God. This event had such a profound impact upon my life that I will never forget it. Her encounter with God became my encounter. My faith was strengthened as I witnessed how deeply God is willing to work in those who allow Him. My understanding was deepened as I realized that when God removes sinful and harmful things from our lives, He will not leave us empty. If we will trust and follow Him, we will overflow with the good things only He can bring. Incredibly, I could understand all of this without being able to see this girl’s face and before hearing her testimony. I believe this was a divine appointment for me, just as it was for her. Our situations were different: she was lost and bound by sin; I was saved and training for ministry. Yet, that night, we shared a dramatic encounter. ―Pamela Gross

DECEASED MINISTERS BLAYLOCK, Ralph H.; 88; ordained bishop; Mississippi; Christene Blaylock (wife)

HUMES, John Nathaniel; 64; ordained bishop; Bahamas; Jennie Mae Humes (wife)

ROLLINS, J. Frank; 82; ordained bishop; South Carolina; Grace Rollins (wife)

BOHANNON, Bobby Eugene; 84; ordained bishop; Texas; Joyce Bohannon (wife)

LOVE, Jerry David; 60; ordained bishop; South Carolina; Leola Love (wife)

SMITH, Anthony Quinnion; 55; exhorter; Florida; Donna Smith (wife)

CONNER, Roy Lee; 76; ordained minister; Georgia; Edith Conner (wife)

O’DELL, Carl Eugene; 74; ordained bishop; Missouri; Dorothy O’Dell (wife)

TAYLOR, Allen; 55; ordained bishop; North Carolina; Ellen Taylor (wife)

CUEVAS, Doris; 78; ordained minister; Florida; Ismael Rodriguez (husband)

PYOS, Mary B.; 91; exhorter; Alabama; Octavia Wormely (friend/caregiver)

WARREN, Ralph C.; 86; ordained minister; Alabama; Sarah Warren (wife)

FIELDS, Jacqueline S.; 73; ordained minister; South Carolina; Philip Fields (son)

QUILLIAMS, Jake C.; 90; ordained minister; Georgia; Randall Quilliams (son)

WEAVER, Lawrence; 84; ordained bishop; Georgia; Ruby Weaver (wife)

HAMPTON, Mary; 89; ordained minister; Georgia; JoAnn Hatcher (daughter)

RIFFE, Junior “J. L.”; 84; ordained bishop; West Virginia; Janet Parsons (daughter)

WILLIAMS, Doyle Lawton; 77; ordained bishop; Florida; Alice Faye Williams (wife)

HOWELL, Sherrod Bill; 81; ordained bishop; Alabama; Geneva Howell (wife)

ROBINSON, Leetha Mae; 91; ordained minister; Alabama; David Robinson (son)

WOODS, Jessie Rolin; 70; ordained minister; Missouri; Linda Woods (wife)

EVANGEL • mar 2016

33

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? by david g. roebuck

dave wilburn

still “pickin’” the gospel

I

’M JUST A PICKER GRINNER,” Dave Wilburn said to me near the end of our recent interview. The 94-year-old singer, songwriter, and Church of God minister was barely into a 19-stop journey from Virginia to Arizona with his son Ron, who is also a musician. Each fall the duo takes a cross-country tour of churches and other venues singing gospel songs in their favorite styles of traditional country, bluegrass, and folk music. On the day we talked, they were on their way to sing at the famous Bell Buckle Café and Music Parlor in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. Born into the Rosman, North Carolina, home of a carpenter in 1921, Dave Wilburn was singing on the radio in Greenville, South Carolina, by 1933. His father’s search for work took the family to several cities during Dave’s youth. Along the way, Dave and his brothers found performance opportunities on radio programs, at school auditorium events, between movies at theaters, and for dances. They even traveled with a carnival sideshow for a short while. Soon Dave had learned to play the harmonica, guitar, mandolin, and bass. Although music was a central part of his life, Dave also felt the call to preach from an early age. “I always wanted to be a preacher,” he testified. The first preacher he remembers hearing was Church of God evangelist Nettie Hanvey. He recalls “ole-time Pentecostal” evening services when Sister Hanvey preached and the altars filled with people who sometimes prayed until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. He joined the Church of God under Pastor Wade H. Horton in Washington, 34

EVANGEL • MAR 2016

D.C., and was set forth as an evangelist in a tent revival that Newton Ward and his brother Henry preached in 1944. Along the way, he came into contact with a black Baptist church that he says influenced his style. Dave is a faithful member of the Montclair Tabernacle Church of God in Dumfries, Virginia, and still accepts preaching opportunities.

Since 1944, Dave’s ministry has included pastoring 10 congregations, new-field evangelism, and state youth and discipleship work. The first church he pastored was located in a storefront building in Hopewell, Virginia. Having learned carpentry from his dad, he was often a bi-vocational pastor including driving an owner-operator truck. Yet, whatever ministry or secular work he was doing, the musical legacy from both his mother’s

and father’s families constantly shaped his life. Dave usually sings whenever he preaches; and he has written and recorded numerous songs, including “The Day They Drove the Nails,” “Show Me the Way,” and “Bloom Where You Are Planted.” Dave is a Hall of Fame inductee of the North American Country Music Associations International (NACMAI), which hosts a convention each spring in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. They named Dave their Traditional Country Songwriter of the Year in 2006. He has also been a guest performer for three years at the National Traditional Country Music Association’s annual meeting in Le Mars, Iowa. This group honored him with induction in their Hall of Fame in 2012, presented him with their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, and designated his Dave Wilburn—With the Kirk Brothers as their Traditional Gospel CD of the Year in 2014. “God is keeping me alive,” Dave said at the end of our interview. “He is keeping me doing what I’ve always loved to do. I thank Him every day. . . . I’ve asked Him to keep me for 100 years and keep me where I can still play and sing. There are some things I still want to accomplish.” Dave offered with confidence, “He will let me know when it is time to quit.” Dave Wilburn can be reached at 703-4995724 or 2902 Alliance Lane, Woodbridge VA 22193. David G. Roebuck, Ph.D., is the Church of God historian and director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center in Cleveland, Tennessee. [email protected]