COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS)—After disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard decided to start holding prayer meetings at his Colorado home, advisers and observers, perhaps not surprisingly, reacted with disappointment.

But the fact that he’s chosen to host the meetings within a few miles of the Colorado Springs megachurch that dismissed him three years ago—because of a sex and drug scandal involving a male escort—has drawn stronger reactions.

“When you think of the ethics of that, it, to me, just defies explanation,” said H.B. London, who chaired Haggard’s restoration committee and is vice president of church and clergy at Focus on the Family, also in Colorado Springs.

Joe Trull, editor of the journal Christian Ethics Today, said starting a religious gathering near one’s former church is “disrupting” and can lead to accusations of “sheep stealing” from a former flock.

“I don’t think he should ever start a church or a group in the same community as his former church,” said Trull, co-author of a book on ministerial ethics. “That’s just verboten.”

Ethicists say cases of fallen clergy run the gamut, as does the appropriateness of their return to ministry. While some succeed and turn to work beyond the pulpit—such as chaplaincies or writing opportunities—others never are able to minister again.

Haggard’s decision to start the prayer gatherings after the high-profile scandal has drawn support from the more than 100 attendees at his first prayer meeting on Nov. 12, as well as criticism from hundreds of responses to an online column by London that questioned his return. His former New Life Church said in a brief statement that it wished “him and his family only the best.”

Ironically, Haggard’s former church, which now attracts thousands of worshippers, was born out of small sessions he held in his basement nearly 25 years ago.

Both London and Michael Ware, who served on the board of overseers at New Life shortly after Haggard’s dismissal, recalled that Haggard assured them he would never start a new church in Colorado Springs.

“It was the decision of the … overseers that Ted relocate to a city of his choice for his future and for his restoration,” said Ware, senior pastor of Victory Church in Denver. “That was just what we recommended was the most healthy thing for him at that time.”

Haggard, who also resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in the wake of the scandal, did move away for a time and lived in Arizona. Last year, New Life announced that Haggard had ended a “spiritual restoration” process and had an “accountability relationship” with Pastor Tommy Barnett of Phoenix First Assembly, who had been on the restoration committee.

“It was pretty much of a mutual thing, because we saw that it wasn’t really going anywhere,” London said of the committee, which also included Jack Hayford, former president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. “We were concerned about his lack of submission to spiritual authority.”

Attempts to reach Haggard for comment were unsuccessful. His home voice-mail message included an announcement about the time of the prayer meeting.

The Gazette in Colorado Springs reported that Haggard says he now has a self-selected “accountability team” of five pastors from nondenominational evangelical churches, and he has met with them for the past several months.

Glen Stassen, a professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, said he believes forgiveness is a central aspect of recovery from a scandal like Haggard’s, but so is an appropriate process including discipline.

“I am not a perfect person myself,” said Stassen. “I’m really reluctant to be judgmental, but I really am in favor of restoration and disciplined processes and staying with them.”

It may be possible for people “who have done something far worse” than Haggard’s transgressions to be restored, Stassen said.

“Will the person be honest in the future and will the person be faithful to others?” are questions that must be asked in circumstances like Haggard’s, he said.

“‘Sometimes we can do that, we can be restored, but sometimes if people don’t go through the process, they may not.”

London has had personal experience with that process, having watched the “failure” of his father, a prominent pastor who had an extramarital affair with his secretary but who went on to become a seminary president after a five-year period of restoration.

After the Haggard scandal, the younger London’s ministry at Focus created a booklet on “Pastoral Restoration.” He estimates that about half of those who enter such a process succeed.

But London wishes any attempts at future success by the former pastor had happened later, and elsewhere.

“We know it’s a free country,” he said. “We’re just disappointed that it ended up this way.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Christian recording artists teamed up with talking vegetables to collect 8 million gift-filled shoeboxes for children in more than 100 countries.

Since its inception in 1993, Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, has sought to spread the love of Christ to impoverished children around the world through a shoebox full of small gifts at Christmas.

Singer/songwriter Matthew West traveled to Bogota, Colombia, with Operation Christmas Child

This year, several contemporary Christian musicians and the team from VeggieTales/Big Idea Productions promoted Operation Christmas Child in multiple venues.

Brandon Heath, Dove Award-winning male vocalist of the year used his website and public appearances to promote the efforts. And on a personal level, for every pair of shoes he purchased throughout the year, Heath committed to fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child.

“I ended up buying six pairs of shoes this year, and I saved and filled all the boxes for this project,” Heath said. “Not only does this project provide gifts for people who normally wouldn’t receive gifts this time of the year, but it is a tremendous opportunity to reach a lot of people and share the gospel, which is the ultimate goal of Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child. It’s a very active way of showing people who Jesus is— through loving the poor and having a heart for children.

“I love that it gives people an opportunity to share gifts outside of your own family. Selecting the items to put in the shoeboxes and putting the packages together gives families a wonderful opportunity to work together as they are taking the time to bless others. It can become a fun project and a tradition to teach children about the importance of giving and sharing Christ’s love with others around the world.”

Singer/songwriter Matthew West also shared about Operation Christmas Child while touring across the country. The VeggieTales movie, Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving, was shown before each concert on his “Give This Christmas Away” tour.

In a collaborative effort between VeggieTales and Operation Christmas Child, more than 65,000 churches across the country held shoebox collection activities along with DVD screenings of the movie.

“It’s a fantastic partnership that aligns perfectly with the message of the film,” said Mike Nawrocki, co-creator of VeggieTales—better known as the voice of Larry the Cucumber.

Christian recording artist Brandon Heath, Dove Award-winning male vocalist of the year, used his website and public appearances to promote Operation Christmas Child.

“Christmas has become so commercialized, and we really want for children to keep the focus on Christ. Operation Christmas Child is based on helping others and giving to the needy while sharing the gospel,” he said.

“Through this film, we wanted to share a story about giving joyfully and sharing with a community. It’s a story within a story, where the characters learn that God first gave and God first loved—so we can give and share love with others.”

West’s song, “Give This Christmas Away” was used in the movie’s credits and also selected as the theme song for this year’s Operation Christmas Child promotions. 

“What it means to me to ‘give this Christmas away’ is to be mindful of the world around us that is in need—being aware of the people you may ordinarily overlook and the causes that have greater needs each year,” West said. 

“It’s about stopping and pausing long enough to look at the world from the perspective of: ‘How can I help? How can I give? How can God use me to help meet the needs of somebody else this Christmas, instead of me just checking off the list of everything I want?’

“In a lot of ways, the song and the film really go against the flow of what everyone’s trying to sell this Christmas: ‘Have it your way. Get what you want. Happiness will be found in material possessions. You’ll feel fulfilled if you get a certain gift.’ Children can easily adopt this mentality at a young age because of consumer-driven influences.

“I think parents can use the film and the song as an opportunity to teach their children about the value of giving to organizations such as Operation Christmas Child. The main message is that true fulfillment and true joy is found when we give to others—when we look beyond our own needs and help meet the needs of others.”

West has traveled to Bogota, Colombia with Operation Christmas Child, and Nawrocki went to Panama. They witnessed firsthand how these simple efforts of giving are making a huge impact in the hearts and lives of children around the world.

“It was a life-changing experience,” West said. “Franklin Graham, who is the head of Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child, was there as well. We distributed over 1,000 shoeboxes that were filled with toys, school supplies and personal hygiene items.  When we handed the shoeboxes to the children, the looks on their faces were just priceless. They were overwhelmed with joy. For many of these children, they had never dreamed of receiving any gifts at Christmas.”

Nawrocki added: “It was an amazing experience to see the children opening up their shoeboxes, to see the joy in their faces and then for them to hear the gospel. My children packed two shoeboxes for children their age, so it was a personal connection.  It’s a great way for children to reach beyond themselves and see the impact it makes.”

AUBURN, Ala. (RNS)—Setting up on the grassy area outside their dorm, grilling burgers and passing out drinks, the young men known as “College Kids Tailgate” are like scores of other Auburn students on game day—full of good cheer, camaraderie, and cries of “War Eagle!”

Their unofficial uniforms—orange jumpsuits—makes them visible, but so does the beverage they serve, a non-alcoholic cherry-flavored soda.

“Two or three of us are under 21, so (serving alcohol is) illegal,” said Auburn junior Michael Nunnelly, one of the 15 organizers of the student-run group.

But age is hardly the only factor, he explained.

“As Christians we don’t need (alcohol) for a good time,” Nunnelly said. “There are people we know who would be uncomfortable around alcohol, so we decided not to have it. We expect our own lives to reflect our character. Being alcohol-free is only a small part of it.”

A larger part, Nunnelly explains, is fellowship provided by a welcoming—and intentionally nurturing—group. Nunnelly said the three years of sober tailgating has morphed into a “ministry opportunity.”

“We tried to get people to come who are churched, un-churched,” he said. “It’s not like we’re witnessing, doing street evangelism. But we’re hanging out, meeting people, having a good time.”

He hopes the good times “will spark into one-on-one relationships,” which might well give way to religious discussions afterwards.

“That’s the best way—getting to know somebody first,” he said.

Another one of the organizers, Kevin Johnson, knew Nunnelly from growing up in Birmingham.

“It has a lot to do with creating community,” said Johnson. “A lot of students don’t have anywhere to go on game day. We didn’t start out with a goal of things getting this big.”

Since the group formed with 15 students three years ago, it’s grown twenty-fold. The group now welcomes more than 300 revelers on game day, and that surge is no accident, said Johnson.

“It’s a lesson from God, how successful it’s been,” he said. “We made a decision from the beginning we didn’t want tailgate to be a place where we were preaching or passing things out. My whole view of evangelism is that it comes through relationships. If we were preaching on a Saturday, it would hit you in the face and bounce off.”

Students come from a variety of denominations, Johnson said, and all are welcome. And while hospitality and cherry soda never are in short supply, the tailgaters see the need for nothing stronger.

“My desire is to live my life in a way that glorifies God in every arena,” Johnson said. “It’s not going to involve alcohol. That’s a personal conviction that runs through the guys who run the tailgate.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—As a member of the Wilson Phillips pop group, Chynna Phillips achieved international fame with radio hits that sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

As a successful singer/songwriter in her own right, Vaughan Penn’s songs have been prominently featured in more than 100 films and television programs, including Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Boston Public, Numb3rs, The Hills and Laguna Beach.

Now, the two have teamed up to sing for God’s glory.

Within the last few years, they each recommitted their lives to Christ and discovered God’s plans for their lives were greater than they ever imagined.

Chynna Phillips and Vaughan Penn

“I accepted Christ when I was 14, and it seemed like God had imparted to me a gift to write songs,” Penn said. 

“In college, I was in a band that was sponsored by the Baptist Student Union. … We made a couple of records and went around raising money for missions and sang at churches. During this time, I really felt like I was ‘walking the walk.’ However, after college, I had some times where I didn’t really fall away, but I was a little confused about some things … so, I had some stretching and growing times and searching for some answers.” 

Then, five years ago, Penn experienced a life-threatening medical condition and spent almost two months in the hospital. Realizing God had spared her for a reason, she was inspired to write songs that specifically would encourage others to develop a relationship with Christ.

“During that time, I said: ‘God, when I get out of this hospital, I want to use my gifts for you as much as I can. I’d love to make a Christian record,’” she said.

Not long after making that commitment, Penn received an e-mail from Phillips’ stepfather that led to the two of them striking up a friendship, along with a singing and songwriting partnership.

Phillips had accepted Christ as her Savior through the influence of schoolmates when she was in the seventh grade. Previously, Phillips said, she believed God existed, but she had no idea what it meant to have a personal relationship with him.

“That was such a powerful experience for me because I wasn’t raised in a religious family,” said Phillips, whose parents, John and Michelle Phillips, were founding members of The Mamas & the Papas, a 1960s rock band.

“For me, this was a huge wake-up call—to acknowledge that God was ready to love me, heal me and be there for me whenever I needed him. That was a huge piece of the missing puzzle for me. But then as I got older, I didn’t have support at home, and I sort of fell off my ‘Jesus wagon.’” 

Phillips went on to achieve a successful musical career. About six years ago, she had an overwhelming sense God was tugging on her heart.

“I got down on my knees and started praying. I said to God: ‘I need you in my life again. I’m ready to fully commit my life to you. I want to live for you and worship you, but I need to know who you are. It needs to be crystal clear.’”

That experience marked the beginning of her renewed commitment to Christ, and Phillips desired to create music that would lead others to a relationship with him.

“I started working on songs with songwriters, but they weren’t really into using the word ‘Jesus’ in songs. I kept telling them: ‘You don’t understand. I want to make a Christian record. I have to tell people about Jesus.’ I couldn’t find the right people to work with who would write songs about Christ.”

That changed after Phillips and Penn wrote their first song together.

“There was one night where my husband was up really late and just couldn’t sleep,” Phillips said. “When I asked him what was wrong, he said, ‘I keep thinking that this Chynna Phillips and Vaughan Penn thing is way bigger and way more special than the Chynna Phillips thing. … I think the sound and energy that you guys have is really something special, and it’s something that I think you should explore.’

“I slept on it and prayed about it, and the next morning, I woke up and thought, ‘That’s what I need to do,’ and gave Vaughan a call.”

Their debut album, One Reason, conveys themes of redemption, forgiveness and hope with a musical canvas of harmony-rich arrangements.

“We named the record One Reason because we felt the Lord leading us together for one reason—to glorify him and help other people increase their faith,” Phillips said.

“The lyrics of (the title song) ‘One Reason’ ask us to put the Lord first, amid the craziness, and remember that he is our one reason for life.”

Even before the release of their debut album, their music already has started having an impact on lives.

“We were playing the song ‘One Reason’ for a friend, and she said: ‘Before I listen to your song, I want to remind you that I’m an atheist. I’m just telling you before you play your ‘God-song,’” Penn recalled.

“Well, I put the song on, and she started closing her eyes. By the time the second chorus came on, my friend was starting to cry. When the song ended, she said: ‘My mom has been trying to get me to go to church with her for a long time, and I think I’m going to go. I love this song, and I can’t wait to go to your concert.’

“That gave me cold chills—to see that the music is touching someone who isn’t yet a believer. I just think this is our calling, what we’re supposed to do.”

”

DAPHNE, Ala. (RNS)—On one of his healthiest days since being diagnosed in June 2008 with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, 9-year-old Tyler Trembley raced joyfully across a playground, his mother looking on.

After heavy bouts of chemotherapy and surgery to remove a tumor wrapped around his kidney—involving thousands of miles of air travel to specialty hospitals—the third-grader is getting better.

“I’m witness to how awe-inspiring this life is,” said his mother, Sherry Trembley, who praised the help of Pilots for Christ, an aviation ministry, and others including Angel Flight, which also aids patients with medical needs by providing free flights for medical care.

“Every day,” she said with gratitude, “my heart flutters.”

A single mom to Tyler and his twin sister, Hannah, Trembley admits she was overwhelmed last summer, and soon exhausted, trying to get Tyler to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Ala., and then to Sloane-Kettering Memorial Clinic in New York.

“I don’t know how I found out about Pilots for Christ,” she said, shaking her head. “God has placed people in my path who I’ve needed.”

Tyler was too sick to be driven by car or flown commercially, and chartering a plane was too cost-prohibitive. The Trembleys found themselves being borne aloft by pilot Tommy Lee, at no charge, in Lee’s Piper Cheyenne turbo-prop.

Lee, who owns a car dealership, helped found the local chapter of the national Pilots for Christ in 1994. Inside the hangar where he keeps his plane hangs a banner: “Whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Proverbs 14:31”

“Our service is our ministry,” said Lee, 55, who got his pilot’s license at age 18 and did additional training in the Army—preparation, he now realizes, for his call to this mission of the air.

This local chapter of Pilots for Christ takes patients to medical destinations within a 350-mile radius, the most frequent being M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and St. Jude Hospital in Memphis for children.

The organization has no nurses and is not an air ambulance, Lee said. “We can’t take anybody who needs medical assistance en route.”

Prospective patients for transport need to apply and have a doctor’s approval. The cost to charter a comparable private flight to Houston, Lee said, would probably be between $4,000 and $5,000.

Pilots for Christ depends on volunteer time given by pilots and the use of their planes, and from donations that pay for fuel and mission support, which can include anything from costs for ground transportation to lodging for patients. Other volunteers sometimes ride along to assist families and help soothe jangled nerves.

He hopes the ministry one day will be able to buy its own plane, a cost that he estimated could be as high as $1 million.

“I could not have done it without the help of Pilots for Christ,” said Trembley, who credits those first flights for Tyler—beginning with a prayer circle led by the pilot—as essential to strengthening her emotionally.

Recently, Bob Eubanks, a retired orthopedic surgeon who’s also a member of Pilots for Christ, flew the Trembleys to Atlanta, where they connected with an Angel Flight that carried them on to Sloane-Kettering.

“Each of these trips,” said Eubanks, who extolled the beauty of flying through the skies on these missions, “are bathed in prayer.”

Eubanks said air traffic controllers will pay heed to what he called “mercy flights” or “compassion flights,” often giving direct routes for landing.

He added: “Many times (someone) in air traffic control … says, ‘Thank you for what you do.’”

The stories are legion.

Mike Floyd, 62, a retired special education teacher, came down with cancer of the adrenal glands. He has been flown by Pilots for Christ numerous times to M.D. Anderson Cancer Clinic. “God has laid a mission on their hearts,” Floyd said.

Jimmy Crenshaw, a 47-year-old mill worker, was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He depended on Pilots for Christ for flights that involved trips to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, as well as to M.D. Anderson.

“I was desperately sick,” said Crenshaw, who still deals every night with excruciating pain in his bones.

Hazel Gentry, 85, needed help in a different way. Her sister-in-law had an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease, and Gentry wanted to move her back from Jacksonville, Fla., to be near family. Lee and other volunteers, using a stretcher, were able to make that happen.

Nine-year-old Tyler had a wish of a different sort.

“I wished for a rainbow,” he said, remembering his first flight with Lee on the way to medical treatment. “Then I looked out the window—and there was a rainbow!”

Roy Hoffman writes for The Press-Register in Mobile, Ala.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Under the bright stage lights Daniel Staddon, an 18-year-old home-schooler from Salem, W.Va., squeezed his eyes shut as he methodically recited verse after verse from the Bible at the inaugural National Bible Bee.

The concentration technique came in handy as he recited the first 20 verses of the fifth chapter of Ephesians and the 21 verses of Psalm 145 in the tie-breaker round on the stage of the JW Marriott Hotel ballroom.

His skills paid off big-time, earning Staddon first place and a $100,000 prize.

“Dad suggested closing my eyes,” said Staddon, adding that his seven siblings helped him study for months for the contest.

Competitions for spelling and math long have brought young people to national stages to test their vocabulary and prodigious memories. But now the “bee” concept has gone biblical.

Culled from more than 17,000 students ages 7-18, the National Bible Bee finals grilled 21 children on their knowledge of Scripture. The five-hour finals were preceded by regional competitions in 49 of the 50 states in September, oral contests and SAT-like tests for 300 contestants.

The Bible bee was created after the death of Shelby Kennedy, a 23-year-old Texas woman who died of a rare form of cancer in 2005. An anonymous benefactor was inspired when he learned of her commitment to Scripture memorization at her memorial service and donated money for the Shelby Kennedy Foundation to launch the bee.

“Kids are learning to spell words,” Mark Rasche, executive director of the bee, recalled the benefactor saying. “That’s great, but there’s no eternal value.”

Students and parents alike, chatting between breaks in the competition that required their mastery of books of the Bible, seemed to agree.

Jacob Manning, 14, a Minneapolis public high school student, said he considered his participation in the bee “really an investment in eternity” because he expected the words to remain with him forever.

“The Bible says, ‘My word shall never pass away,’” he said. “Jesus says that.”

Manning didn’t make the semi-finals, so instead he and his father toured museums, but they returned in time to watch contestants in the finals.

“I was just—and still am—enamored with how fluid they are with knowing God’s word and being able to tell it and proclaim it,” said Al Manning, Jacob’s dad. “My own nephew was in Scripps National Spelling Bee. That was cool, but this is cooler.”

Master of ceremonies Joel Belz said he thought the dead-heat atmosphere of the finals had more tension than baseball’s World Series that ended a couple of nights before.

“I just think it’s so remarkable how differently God makes those of you who are sitting right here,” Belz said.

“Because some of you just back up and then you go for it and you get all the way through and then we just watched Daniel think with his lips and he took every word one … by … one.”

The bee, attended predominantly by home-schoolers and members of a range of evangelical churches, marks a new juncture in Bible memorization. The tradition that remains active in some circles—such as Baptist children’s Bible drills and Scripture memory activities in weekly Awana clubs in evangelical churches across the country—has faded elsewhere.

Pamela Braithwaite, office manager of Scripture Memory Fellow-ship in St. Louis, recalled winning a trophy in a church Bible bee as a teen in 1971 but said such activities have dwindled over the years.

Despite the biblical emphasis—contestants’ T-shirts read “Building character … one Bible verse at a time”—some participants did admit that, at least at first, the thousands of dollars in prize money was a draw.

“My dad said if I won, I could buy a horse with the money,” said 10-year-old Rebecca Gross of Watts-burg, Pa.

Staddon, too, said the $100,000 prize was an attraction. He expects he’ll use it for housing and schooling but he will have to “ask the Lord” for guidance.

 
Sample Bible Bee questions:

1. Which of the Gospel writers was both a physician and a historian?

A. John

B. Mark

C. Matthew

D. Luke

2. In the parable of the wedding banquet found in Matthew 22, who was the bridegroom?

A. The poor man

B. The king’s servant

C. The king

D. The king’s son

3. What was the name of the Roman governor to whom Jesus was taken after his arrest?

A. Felix

B. Pilate

C. Festus

D. Caiaphas

Answers: 1:D, 2:D, 3:B

More than 40 leaders of major faith groups sent a letter to Congress urging the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, calling it “the symbol of our country’s violation of our deepest values.” President Obama signed an executive order last January to close the prison, which houses suspected terrorists and prisoners of war. His initial campaign promise was to close the facility within a year, but Congress has been raising impediments such as cutting the funds to move prisoners to U.S. soil, and asking Obama for a detailed plan before agreeing to move prisoners. The religious leaders’ letter was drafted by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

Court pulls over Christian plate. A federal district court has ruled a Christian license plate in South Carolina as unconstitutional. The license plate showed a cross, stained-glass window and the words “I Believe.” The ruling overturned the state law known as the “I Believe” Act which gave the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles authority to issue the license plate. U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie held that “such a law amounts to state endorsement not only of religion in general, but of a specific sect in particular.” The South Carolina DMV offers more than 100 specialty plates, including one that says “In God We Trust,” but the “I Believe” plate is different because it “authorizes a single plate with a uniquely Christian message” and was approved through government action, suggesting the government favors a specific religion, Currie said.

Holocaust survivors at risk for cancer. A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has found Holocaust survivors may have an increased risk of cancer. The report found a higher percentage of cancer in Jews who immigrated to Israel from Europe after World War II than Jews who came to the country before or during the war. Those who came to the country after the war—and therefore likely survived the Holocaust—had significantly higher rates of all-site, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. The authors, from the University of Haifa in Israel, suggest a correlation between severe stress and cancer, as well as exposure to various infections and cold temperatures. The survey of more than 300,000 Israelis found the largest difference in the cancer rates of those born between 1940 and 1945, suggesting those who experienced the stress of the Holocaust as young children received the greatest impact.

Ecumenical council installs new president. The National Council of Churches has installed a new president, Peg Chemberlin, and president-elect, Kathryn Lohre. They will assume their offices in January and serve two years. Chemberlin is the executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches and will be the first leader of a state church council to act as president of the NCC. Lohre is the assistant director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University and an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America representative to the World Council of Churches Central Committee.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Attention video gamers: The Bible is coming to an Xbox near you.

LifeWay Christian Resources recently announced plans to introduce an Xbox 360 application featuring the complete Holman Christian Standard Bible. Due out in December, "Bible Navigator X" is thought to be the first complete Bible on a video game.

Aaron Linne, executive producer of digital marketing for B&H Publishing Group, a division of the Southern Baptist Convention publishing house, said the project has been a dream of his since the Xbox 360 was launched in 2005 with an announcement that there would be downloadable games.

Linne managed to get someone on the phone at Microsoft, but at the time there was no way to make the idea work, because it wasn't a game. Nowadays, however, video gamers use their consoles for various entertainment options like downloading movies and television shows, streaming music and posting to Facebook and Twitter.

"The Bible is a message of hope that doesn't need to be confined to scrolls or books or PCs; the Good News can be read on iPhones, Kindles and the Xbox 360 too," Linne said in an e-mail interview.

A Nov. 10 press release introducing the Xbox Bible exploded onto tech websites all over the world. A Google search for "Bible Navigator X" Nov. 18 produced about 83,700 hits.

"We are very pleased with the initial response we have received regarding the application," Linne said. "It's exciting seeing people talk about the Bible and its impact on culture."

Linne, a graduate of Liberty University who first went to work for LifeWay as a digital-media producer, said his bosses were willing to take a financial risk even in this weak economy if it meant spreading the gospel.

Once he started working with a developer in the Xbox community on adapting the "HCSB Bible Navigator," a CD-ROM program for personal computers introduced in 2003, he said it fit the medium perfectly.

"It feels natural and nice," he wrote on his blog, "like the Xbox was made to host the Bible."

"Bible Navigator X" will sell for $5 or 400 Microsoft Points, an online currency that allows users to purchase products without using a credit card. It will be downloadable at Xbox.com through the "Xbox LIVE Indie Games" channel, which is devoted to original games made, reviewed and played by the online community.

Since other handheld devices don't offer a similar toolset, the application is available only for Xbox, Linne said, but he is interested in developing it for other platforms when the opportunities arise.

"I think the responses we've seen all show that the Bible is a life-changing text, and we're happy to be able to move it to a new platform and media that is ripe with potential," he said.

Writing for Collide Magazine in April, Linne said the "near future" of the Bible probably lies with electronic publishing. He pointed to Martin Luther's translation of the New Testament into a dialect of German in 1522, which opened the door not only for the Protestant Reformation but also for his chosen dialect to become the standard German language.

While the printed word has had a good run, he said, analysts predict 88 percent of revenue growth for publishing and advertising companies in the next few years will come from the digital medium.

Already there are online Bibles, mobile Bibles for handheld digital devices like the iPhone and community services that allow users to share sermons and other thoughts on social-networking sites.

"We must find ways to engage the life-changing Scriptures in a way that is meaningful to the culture that exists around it," Linne concluded. "This is the key for any future thinking about the Bible."

"Just as the Gutenberg press and the printed Bible created a print-based world, the digital revolution has created new opportunities for new relationships not only with each other but with (and between) sacred texts and secular media," he wrote. "The power of the Bible's words can do great things, so let's think about the future of delivering those words to people who so desperately need to read, hear, see, and interact with them."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

WASHINGTON (ABP) — New government numbers revealing that nearly one in six Americans lived in households that struggled to afford food at some point in 2008 ought to be a wake-up call for Christians, according to two Baptist ethicists.

An annual USDA report released Nov. 16 reported that 17 million households — 14.6 percent of all homes in the United States — were "food insecure" and had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year.

Suzii Paynter

That compares to 13 million households — 11.1 percent — who worried about their next meal in 2007 and represents the highest level recorded since the government started taking national food-security surveys in 1995.

"Thanksgiving is coming, and many Americans are struggling to meet their basic food needs," said Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics. "Being thankful is not enough this year. Christians need to say thanks and seek justice for those at risk of hunger."

The USDA found that one-third of food-insecure households had "very low" food security, meaning that some household members had reduced food intake and eating patterns interrupted at times during the year. That is 5.7 percent of all U.S. households, or about 6.7 million. The number is 2 million more households than the 4.1 percent of U.S. households with "very low" food security reported in 2007. That was also the highest on record.

"We're calling on the faith community to respond to these hunger needs," said Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Paynter's agency plans to bring 50 Baptist hunger advocates to a Nov. 19 summit at Baylor University to discuss ways to eradicate hunger in Texas by 2015. In all more than 240 representatives from advocacy groups, social-service providers and state and local governments are expected to attend the event. It is sponsored by the Texas Hunger Initiative, a network born as a result of the annual Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

Paynter said the idea is to coordinate efforts of the public and private sector to make existing programs more effective.

"We have all of these resources in place," she said. "They are not coordinated. They are not working together."

She said the summit would "the first time we've ever had all these people in a room."

"This is a perfect example of federal, state, faith-based, nonprofit, advocacy and a major university working together successfully for the good of the community and the less fortunate," said Bill Ludwig, regional administrator for the USDA. "No matter what the final outcome and results produced by the summit, this adventure has already been a huge success by bringing so many individuals from different walks of life to the table together."

Paynter said the No. 1 priority of the gathering will be to address the problem of children who qualify for free breakfast and lunch programs during the school year but have nowhere to turn in the summertime. In Texas, about 40 percent of families eligible for free food at school do not take part in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Paynter said the Texas CLC is asking churches and missions in low-income areas to fill the gap by offering breakfast and lunch feeding programs in their communities during the summer.

"We've had a very good response," she said. "Churches are willing to say, 'We could do that for June, July and August."

The day after releasing the USDA report, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked the Senate Agriculture Committee to reauthorize nutrition-assistance programs that provide a safety net to those with critical needs.

"The reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Programs presents us with an important opportunity to combat child hunger, improve the health and nutrition of children across the nation, and enhance program performance," Vilsack said. "The scale of these programs means that reforms can have a major impact on tens of millions of school children."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—When you’ve lived as the holiest of the holy, coming back to Earth can be an unpleasant re-entry—entering the ranks of the unsaved only to find you have much more in common with the godless than you might have thought.

Being part of an American religious subculture is much more complicated than conventional wisdom would suggest. In a memoir and a book of essays, women with deep religious roots mourn, celebrate and analyze their experiences.

The memoir—Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism and the American Girl by Susan Campbell—chronicles a journey from adolescence to reminiscences of the fallout inherent in leaving a childhood faith.

The book of essays, Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical, edited by Hannah Faith Notess, assesses barriers to women in evangelical circles, differences in spiritual experiences and wrestling with personal faith.

Notess edited her book after realizing the gap between her quiet conversion experience and the dramatic, blinded-by-the-light stories of so many Christian writers.

“How do you figure out your faith when you don’t have a road-to-Damascus experience?” she says. “I found that a lot of my friends had had similar experiences to mine. I wanted to find some middle ground on both sides.”

So, she gathered stories from people who stayed or left their childhood churches, who drifted away from the church, or re-evaluated attending services.

Essayist Andrea Palpant Dilley explores her happy, offbeat childhood as the daughter of two former hippies who became Christians.

“My struggle with my faith in my late teens and early 20s was enigmatic for many reasons, one of which was the fact that I had had a healthy childhood in a healthy church,” she writes.

In the essay, “Why Isn't God Like Eric Clapton?” writer Dilley recalls watching Eric Clapton in concert in a hi-fi technology store as a pivotal moment in her spiritual development.

She saw his audience swaying “with the unmistakable demeanor of worship that comes with the experience of good music.”

That epiphany prompted an ongoing search, the sort of spiritual journey Notess discovered many evangelical women make. She hopes the book broadens readers’ ideas about growing up female and evangelical.

“I think a lot of times evangelical women are pigeonholed as the beautiful Christian wife or a rebel. You either are a good church lady or you are kicked out. I hope that people come away from the book sort of listening to those different voices and aware of how much thoughtfulness and thinking is going on,” Notess said.

Multiple problems plagued the author of Dating Jesus. Describing her high school years, newspaper reporter Campbell writes: “I do not feel like drinking or smoking marijuana …, and to avoid the issue I simply do not go to the parties that burst like mushrooms … every Friday.”

Years later, her religious roots still mark her.

“Through almost 30 years in the business and despite the fact that I no longer attend church, I kept rotating back to topics that would concern a religious type,” Campbell writes.

“I write about hunger and homelessness, homosexuality and civil rights, the juncture between faith and politics that only rarely is explored in polite conversation.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—By some measures, religious institutions are waning in the United States. But private religious practices like prayer actually are increasing, a University of Chicago report reveals.

Weekly attenders of religious services dropped from 32 to 26 percent of the population between 1983 and 2006, but people praying daily rose from 54 to 59 percent in the same time period.

“There’s some weakening of traditional religious affiliation and practices such as attending religious services, but there’s a slight increase in belief in the afterlife and a slight increase in the frequency of … prayer,” said Tom Smith, author of Religious Change around the World. “It’s partly a transformation, or kind of a recalibration, of what it means to be religious in America, rather than a simple decline.”

In 1973, 69 percent of respondents said they believed in the afterlife. By 2006, 73 percent believed in life beyond the grave.

Belief in God remains strong, according to a range of surveys, said Smith, the director of the General Social Survey at the university’s National Opinion Research Center.

While some Americans continue to attend services and be involved in other spiritual practices, others have “redefined” what it means to be religious.

“They no longer think that means they need to go to Mass or services every week, but they still have some type of religious belief and practice, more often personal than organized,” Smith said.

The percentage of people who never have attended a religious service was 22 percent in 2006, a sharp increase from 9 percent in 1972.

Amid changes about how Americans view their own religious life, there has been growing tolerance of those who shun or question religion.

Asked if someone who is “against all churches and religion” should be permitted to speak in their community, 76 percent of respondents agreed in 2008. Just 37 percent agreed with allowing such a speaker in 1954. The percentage who thought such a person should be permitted to teach in a college increased even more dramatically, from 12 percent to 60 percent.

Smith attributes these changes to “the general growth of tolerance” in the country.

He also drew comparisons between the United States and other parts of the world, finding—overall—Americans differ with Western Europeans, who tended to have a declining sense of the importance of God.

“Americans aren’t there,” Smith said. “Americans are much more: ‘I feel close to God. God is important.’”

The report’s General Social Survey statistics include random samples of adults ranging from 1,500 to 4,500 with a margin of error ranging from plus or minus 2 percentage points to plus or minus 4 percentage points.

HICKORY, N.C. (RNS) –What kind of personal pain would cause a 42-year-old pastor to abandon his family, his calling and even life itself? Members of a Baptist church here are asking that question after their pastor committed suicide in his parked car in September.

Those who counsel pastors say Christian culture, especially Southern evangelicalism, creates the perfect environment for depression. Pastors suffer in silence, unwilling or unable to seek help or even talk about it. Sometimes, they leave the ministry. Occasionally, the result is the unthinkable.

Experts say clergy suicide is a rare outcome to a common problem. But Baptists in the Carolinas are soul searching after a spate of suicides and suicide attempts by pastors. In addition to the September suicide of David Treadway, two others in North Carolina attempted suicide, and three in South Carolina succeeded, all in the last four years.

Being a pastor—a high-profile, high-stress job with nearly impossible expectations for success—can send one down the road to depression, according to pastoral counselors.

“We set the bar so high that most pastors can’t achieve that,” said H.B. London, vice president for pastoral ministries at Focus on the Family , based in Colorado Springs, Colo. “And because most pastors are people-pleasers, they get frustrated and feel they can’t live up to that.”

When pastors fail to live up to demands imposed by themselves or others they often “turn their frustration back on themselves,” leading to self-doubt and to feelings of failure and hopelessness, said Fred Smoot, executive director of Emory Clergy Care in Duluth, Ga., which provides pastoral care to 1,200 United Methodist ministers in Georgia.

A pastor is like “a 24-hour ER” who is supposed to be available to any church member at any time, said Steve Scoggin, president of CareNet , a network of 21 pastoral counseling centers in North Carolina. “We create an environment that makes it hard to admit our humanity.”

It’s a job that breeds isolation and loneliness—the pastorate’s “greatest occupational hazards,” said Scoggin, who counsels many Baptist and other ministers. “These suicides are born out of a lack of those social supports that can intervene in times of personal crisis.”

No one knows for sure how many ministers suffer depression or attempt suicide. “It’s like nailing Jell-O to the wall,” said London.

But he estimated 18 percent to 25 percent of all ministers are depressed at any one time.

Many counselors and psychologists agree depression among clergy is at least as prevalent as in the general population. As many as 12 percent of men and 26 percent of women will experience major depression during their lifetime, according to the American Medical Association.

“The likelihood is that one out of every four pastors is depressed,” said Matthew Stanford, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University in Waco.

But anxiety and depression in the pulpit are “markedly higher” in the last five years, said Smoot. “The current economic crisis has caused many of our pastors to go into depression.”

Besides the recession’s strain on church budgets, depressed pastors increasingly report frustration over their congregations’ resistance to cultural change.

Most depression does not lead to suicide, but almost all suicides begin with depression. Depression causes two-thirds of the 30,000 suicides reported each year, the AMA says.

Nearly two out of three depressed people don’t seek treatment, according to studies by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.

Counselors say even fewer depressed ministers get treated because of career fears, social stigma and spiritual taboo.

“Clergy do not talk about it because it violates their understanding of their faith,” said Scoggin. “They believe they are not supposed to have those kinds of thoughts.”

Treadway, pastor of Sandy Ridge Baptist Church in Hickory, was the exception. He told his congregation he was in treatment several months before his suicide. Still, the shock was hard to absorb, coworkers said.

Rodney Powe, worship pastor at the church, said he only now understands depression is a mental illness. Christians who don’t experience depression often trivialize it, he said. “We just say: ‘Come on, get over it. We have the hope of Christ and the Holy Spirit.”‘

There apparently are no statistics suggesting ministers are more likely to commit suicide than other professionals. Studies purporting to measure the suicide risk of various occupations have produced wildly different results.

Stanford, who studies how the Christian community deals with mental illness, said depression in Christian culture carries “a double stigmatization.”

Society still places a stigma on mental illness, but Christians make it worse, he said, by “over-spiritualizing” depression and other disorders—dismissing them as a lack of faith or a sign of weakness.

Polite Southern culture adds its own taboo against “talking about something as personal as your mental health,” noted Scoggin.

The result is a culture of avoidance. “You can’t talk about it before it happens and you can’t talk about it after it happens,” said Monty Hale, director of pastoral ministries for the South Carolina Baptist Convention .

For pastors, treatment can come at a high price. “You are committing career suicide if you have to seek treatment,” said Stanford, “particularly if you have to take time off.”

In some settings, however, it is becoming a little more acceptable for clergy to get treatment, he said.

The good news, said Smoot, is “most pastors don’t stay depressed. They find a way out of that frustration.”

“Depression is part of the human condition,” Scoggin added. “Some people simply find ways to gracefully live with it. Like other chronic illnesses, you may not get over it.”