DAWN Fridayfax 2002 #28

USA

Prayer prepares for prayer

The pastor of a Christian church in Phoenix, Arizona, asked the members of his church to randomly choose 80 people from the telephone book. He then asked them to pray for each of the 80 names every day for 90 days. At the same time, he asked them to choose another 80 names from the telephone book - but this second list was simply laid aside, and nobody prayed for the people on the list. After 90 days, church members called all 160 people on the lists, asking them whether they would allow Christians to visit them to pray for them. "The amazing result," says Alvin VanderGriend, speaker of the American Lighthouse movement, "was this: only one person on the list of people who did not receive prayer was prepared to allow Christians to visit, whereas 69 of the 80 people for whom the church members prayed were prepared to allow Christians to visit, and 45 even invited them into their house, offered coffee and named special prayer requests. Prayer was clearly the decisive factor causing these people to open their houses for personal prayer," he says.
Source: Mission America, Alvin VanderGriend, fax (+1) 616-2477871, www.lighthousemovement.com

Australia

Pentecostal pastor becomes Member of Parliament

Totally unexpected by Australia's political analysts, a Christian political party formed only a few months ago - on Father's Day in September 2001 - has won a Parliamentary seat in South Australia. The Family First Party, based on Christian values, wants to improve the welfare, health and unity of South Australian families. "It is an absolute miracle," says Andrew Evans, the party's leader. "I was never involved in politics, and am now a half-retired 66-year-old pastor who has a seat in Parliament." Evans, formerly a Superintendent in the Assemblies of God, realised that "God wanted me to enter politics". After a number of sleepless nights, his son Ashley told him that he too sensed God saying that they should both enter politics for the next 10 years, countering trends in Australian politics such as the legalisation of euthanasia, prostitution and Marihuana. The father and son team called a team of legal, political and media advisors together, who explained the political system. 31 candidates represented the Party in the elections, some of whom received up to 7.5% of the vote. "We dealt with themes which the big Parties ignored, such as literacy and medical care in rural areas. Combined with the public's general discontentment with the programmes of Labour and the liberal Parties, the Family First Party's chances grew rapidly. Peter Stokes, leader of "Salt Shakers", a movement for Christian ethics, comments: "I think it is high time that more Christians enter the political arena."
Source: Adrian Brookes, Australia, in Charisma Magazine

USA

When storms prevent church services

In January 2002, something unexpected happened in Larry Lewis' house in Lilburn, Georgia: following a winter storm, icy roads and downed power lines forced many churches to cancel their services on 23 January. "Seven years ago, we had a similar experience, when snow and ice made regular services impossible. We organised a house church, together with neighbours," says Betty Jo, Lewis' wife. "Since then, we often reminisced with our neighbours about our pleasant memories of those four days, wondering when we would do something like that again. That stormy winter Sunday in January, the Lighthouse prayer group which meets in our house called all the neighbours we could reach, inviting them to a home service at 11am. 34 people from 13 families came, many of whom never attend church. At the end, everyone was astonished how well it had gone, despite the lack of planning - it appeared that we had spent hours preparing. God did something, and our hearts were on fire. We then joked about holding another home service, particularly when someone mentioned the poor weather forecast for the next weekend. Nobody took it particularly seriously, but we all prepared a little for the following Sunday, just in case. And then the ice storm came! We called our neighbours together, and 31 came, including some new families!"
Source: Betty Jo Lewis in Light-House Newsletter, PO Box 141312, Grand Rapids, MI 49514, USA

Character before image

"Pay more attention to your character than your image. Your character shows who you really are, your image only what others think you are."
John Wooden, basketball trainer

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