The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-03/12/1999 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Global missions vision drives thriving Costa Rican church by Mary E. Speidel Date: March 12, 1999 - Friday SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (BP)--Suely Sirazawa Patricio switches on an overhead projector. At El Bosque Christian Community in San Jose, Costa Rica, it's time for the weekly prayer focus on the "10/40 Window." That's the area sweeping from North Africa through the Middle East and much of Asia, where people have had little or no opportunity to hear the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Tonight's prayer focus: an unreached Muslim people group in India. Patricio's listeners include about 100 Christians -- many of them new converts -- from nearly 10 nations. Together they form a Baptist church that's barely a year old. But this new congregation already has developed a mature vision for reaching the world for Christ.
Patricio and her husband, Calixto -- Brazilian Baptist missionaries -- have something to do with that. So do the four other members of El Bosque's pastoral team -- IMB missionaries Roy and Dirce Cooper and Barbara Carter and Costa Rican Baptist Rolando Vargas. While leading this congregation from its birth, they've emphasized the church's responsibility in the Great Commission.
"A church without a world missions vision is a church that doesn't have a complete vision of its task," notes Calixto Patricio, who serves with Cooper as co-pastor. "At El Bosque our vision isn't that of the 'Dead Sea' -- just receiving, receiving, receiving. Our vision is to be like the 'Sea of Galilee,' a body that receives the water of the Jordan River and then sends it on out. We want to be a church that wins souls in Costa Rica but also sends missionaries to other parts of the world."
It didn't take long for both to start happening at El Bosque. In fact, after the first few services, the congregation outgrew its meeting place because new converts invited so many friends.
"We had prayed from the beginning that this church would be a church that would draw non-Christians to salvation," Dirce Cooper says. "God truly is answering our prayers."
At the same time, God is answering prayers that the congregation become an example of missions praying, giving and sending.
From the outset, each service has included a prayer focus on the "10/40 Window." While leading these prayer times each week, one church member began to sense God's call to the Middle East. Although El Bosque then was just seven months old, church members affirmed her call by sending her out as a missionary tentmaker. Soon the church also "adopted" a Costa Rican Baptist missionary couple in Honduras and voted to help support Costa Rican Baptist musician Noemy Roldan, now a missionary to Guyana.
"It's been very exciting to see what God -- and only God -- is doing [through El Bosque]. It's wonderful to be part of his miracles," Dirce Cooper says.
About three years ago, the Coopers and two other IMB missionary couples began meeting weekly to pray about starting work among San Jose's professionals, a largely unevangelized group. Later several Latin American Baptists in Costa Rica joined the prayer time. Together they studied about professionals and devised a strategy for reaching them.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Baptist World Mission Board transferred Cooper's sister and brother-in-law, the Patricios, to Costa Rica. After they arrived, the Brazilian couple joined the prayer team.
The Lord guided the prayer group to an IMB-owned house used previously by another congregation, now defunct. The team began meeting there weekly for prayer. They set their focus on excellent church music and meaningful worship as the means of attracting professionals and starting a church.
A week after holding an outdoor concert featuring a Baptist choir, nearly 80 people attended the first worship service, held in the house where they'd been praying. Soon the new congregation was praying about finding a bigger place for worship. They located a former supermarket on a visible corner in the neighborhood. Nearly 150 now worship there every Sunday.
Looking back on the church's brief history, El Bosque's leaders marvel how God answered prayer every step of the way. "We believe only God could do this. ... Everyone wants to give their best to God, but, in the end, only God can give the increase," says Cooper.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 10-year quest to meet God culminates in a father’s love, confession, by Connie Cavanaugh Date: March 12, 1999 - Friday COCHRANE, Alberta, Canada (BP)--At 19, Hermann Brandt had his final conversation with God. Or so he thought. "God, I've tried Christianity and it doesn't work. If you want me, you come to me," he prayed.
Brandt, now 33, grew up in a minister's home in South Africa. He tried to live the Christian life but knew he was a hypocrite. "I felt like a liar. I finally got brave enough to say, ‘I'm going to stop trying.’ I felt enormously relieved! I no longer needed to perform and pretend."
That was the beginning of a 10-year quest during which Brandt threw himself with unbridled passion into everything the world had to offer. He still dropped in at church occasionally, but by the time he was 24, church and everything that goes with it were no longer part of his life. "I let my fleshly desires rule. It was easy and exciting and momentarily fulfilling," Brandt said. "I was suddenly one of the guys for the first time in my life and I spent time drinking and socializing."
Brandt eventually found this life was just as empty as the one he had rejected.
"I had a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach after spending the night in the pub with my drinking buddies," he said. "I knew this was not where it's at either, but I kept on for years."
Meanwhile, Brandt’s wife, Wilmien, quietly pursued her relationship with God, remaining faithful in prayer, submitting to her husband and never retaliating no matter how bad things got.
"I quit church altogether but Wilmien stayed faithful to the Lord -- stayed rock-solid. I wanted to corrupt Wilmien, to pull her down to my level. Deep down I knew there IS a God. I knew Wilmien knew him. I had an incredible desire in my heart to really know him too ... but everything she did ticked me off! She loved Christian radio. I hated it. She went to church and took our son, Carl, against my wishes."
For 10 years, through many moves and the loss of more than one of her husband's businesses, Wilmien remained faithful. Finally, the Brandts emigrated to Camden, Ala. Wilmien, an occupational therapist, was under contract and had a work visa. Brandt was Mr. Mom, caring for the house and 6-year-old Carl.
"Carl was the brightest spot in my life," Brandt said. "I was overwhelmed by him. There was a tremendous link between us from the very beginning."
God used fatherhood to keep the marriage together. Several times over the years, Brandt threatened to leave. "But the Lord would cause Carl to walk right into the middle of my situation. I felt the desperation of a little boy growing up without a dad. Then I could not leave."
Both Brandts were dissatisfied with the marriage. "We didn't meet each other at the same level on all fronts. Wilmien had God to meet her needs. I did not. I sought elsewhere for fulfillment."
Brandt, a wildlife artist and graphic designer, was also a professional hunter. He began to look for American clients to take on safari in South Africa as a new business venture. His wife, fearing abandonment in a foreign country, was desperate.
Then her husband stayed in bed for five full days, refusing to speak, and she feared the worst. But late on the fifth night he asked her to sit down for a talk. His words could not have been more shocking to a woman who thought her husband might be contemplating divorce.
"Wilmien," he began, "the other day the Lord came to me and he changed my life. He told me I must commit myself to you 100 percent. And that's what I'm doing now."
They embraced, weeping, both sensing God's powerful presence. Then Brandt told his wife this incredible story:
While listening to a business presentation in a nearby city, Brandt heard an inner voice: "Hermann, I love you just like you love your little boy. This much I love you but so much more!" He knew it was the voice of God. It continued: "Everything you are looking for -- joy, peace, fulfillment -- you'll find in me. But I want one thing. You must be righteous."
He instantly responded, "Lord, if that's what you're giving, that's what I want."
At that moment, it was as though the heavy stone doors of a dungeon were flung open, flooding the interior with the light of day, Brandt said.
"In my mind's eye, I saw a face, smiling at me." Brandt left the meeting and drove home. He said he'd felt as if Jesus was sitting beside him in the car, bringing up his sins. As each sin was revealed, Brandt said, "I confess it." For three hours, he confessed and was forgiven. When he arrived home, although completely drained, he was a new man. He went to bed and stayed there for five days, afraid to speak, wondering if he would ever recover.
Satan tormented him day and night, trying to convince him he had only imagined it, that it never happened, that God was a lie. He prayed one prayer a thousand times: "Lord, give me peace!"
On the fifth day, Brandt found his wife's Bible and opened it randomly to Luke 19:41 and began to read: "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes ... because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God."
Jumping to his feet, he shouted, "So it was you!" At that moment Satan left him, Brandt said. He continued to read the Bible as God spoke to his spirit.
Suddenly Brandt remembered telling God 10 years earlier that if he wanted him, he would have to come after him. And so he had.
"When I look at God, I understand grace," Brandt said. "I don't deserve anything. God is God and I am nothing and I just love him to death. I would die for him. Today."
As a first-year seminary student at the Canadian Baptist Seminary in Cochrane, Alberta, Brandt reflected on his marriage now. "I never imagined marriage could be so good. I never saw Wilmien for who she was -- she's precious!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Mom, Dad & God nudged star back into basketball after losing an eye by Carolyn Chapman Date: March 12, 1999 - Friday LIBERTY, Mo. (BP)--A few weeks ago, every kid's dream came true for Larry Hall: He picked up Sports Illustrated and read an article about himself.
The publicity isn't new for Hall, the heart of the men’s basketball team at William Jewell College. An article in Slam magazine is due out in early April, and Dick Vitale's “Inside College Basketball” featured Hall last season.
In this season's edition, Vitale identified Hall as the "one 2 watch" in the entire National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. In both Vitale publications, Hall was selected as a preseason All-American.
Last season, he became Jewell's fourth first team NAIA Division II All-American. Hall, a 6'3" center from Keatchie, La., joined the Jewell team in 1997 as a transfer student from Louisiana State University-Shreveport, an NAIA Division I school. After his sophomore year, when he led the nation in scoring -- at 29.2 points per game -- and was third in rebounding -- 13.1 per game -- the college dropped men's and women's basketball.
That left Hall, the most dominant player in the NAIA, with a whole lot of talent and nowhere to play. Hall had played against Jewell at a holiday tournament in Kansas City in 1996. After talking with Jewell coach Larry Holley, he decided to transfer in the off-season to the Baptist-affiliated college in Liberty, Mo.
Although it may have been hard for the homesick youngster to adjust to life away from his family for the first time, he looked right at home on the court.
Liberty sportswriter Kevin Goodwin summed up Hall's talent this way: "He is an unrelenting force in the paint, outhustling players four to five inches taller each night. He bangs, pokes and prods for every morsel of room he can get -- without consideration for his own welfare."
When the game's fate hangs in the balance, Hall is the go-to guy. Sometimes he has been the hero, like the time he sank a shot at the buzzer to defeat Concordia College. Or like the time he scored 42 points in one game. Or like the game when he reached the 1,000-point mark in less than two seasons of play -- the fastest player to reach that mark in Jewell history.
Hall's attitude remains remarkably consistent. "I don't build myself up," he said. He credits his success to three forces -- his teammates, his parents and God.
"I couldn't ask for better parents," he said. "My mom sits by the phone after every game. It doesn't matter if I have a 42-point game or a 3-point game, she always knows what to say."
But, ultimately, Hall said God sees him through the ups and downs of being a star athlete. "God gets all the credit. He gave me my athletic ability, and I know my success is possible only through him."
Lots of athletes thank Mom and God. The difference with Hall is that he means it in a way few athletes do.
When Missouri Baptist Convention President Gary Taylor spoke at Jewell during a chapel service in February, he explained the three facets of dreaming: The dream begins; it dies; then it is resurrected, stronger than before. He could have been talking about Hall's life.
In Louisiana, Hall was a star at North DeSoto High School, scoring 41 points per game his senior year. As the state’s Class 2A Player of the Year, he had many NCAA Division I programs clamoring for his signature on their dotted line.
He was dreaming of playing for a college powerhouse when life took an awful turn. While working at a local Kmart, he was pushing a line of shopping carts connected by a bungee cord. The cord snapped and hit him in the right eye. He would never see out of the eye again.
The colleges backed off, and Hall's dream died. "I wanted to give up on everything," he recalled. "I never thought I would play ball again." When he was at his lowest point, his parents, Larry Sr. and Rose, with some help from God, rescued him.
"My parents really encouraged me to pick up the ball again. When I wanted to stay in bed, they made me get up and try."
His road back to the top took a long time. "I doubted my ability," he said. "Playing was really hard at first; I kept bricking shots and I couldn't tell where my defenders were."
But with time and a lot of practice, Hall's natural ability came through, and he started to dream again. He enrolled at LSU-Shreveport, and the rest is history.
He believes he's a better player now because of the injury. "I practice all the time, before and after team practice," he said.
The practice paid off. Hall finished the season 12th in NAIA rankings in scoring, with a 23.19 points-per-game average, and sixth in rebounding, with a 10.56 average, on a team that tallied a 24-11 record. He was selected as the Heart of America Athletic Conference player of the week three times this season.
Now, Hall is hoping for a career in professional basketball overseas after graduation. Eventually, he'd like to work as a youth counselor.
"I feel like I've been tremendously blessed. And with some of the things I've overcome, I can inspire kids to never give up, no matter how bad the situation seems."
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Rely on Bible, try new things, he advises struggling churches by Ken Walker Date: March 12, 1999 - Friday LEXINGTON, Ky. (BP)--When Jeff McCain leads a workshop on "Creative Growth in the Smaller Church," he speaks from experience.
McCain became pastor of New Harmony Baptist Church, Wheatcroft, Ky., in May 1993 -- when only six members were attending. The youngest was 65.
Today membership has climbed to 103, with average Sunday morning attendance of 75. The church also has added a 3,600-square-foot educational building.
McCain credits the turnaround to a reliance on the Bible and a willingness to try new things.
A former coal miner, McCain said he gradually learned what worked and what didn't, arriving at an acronym for his conclusions. Noting the church is called the bride of Christ, he uses "wife" -- standing for worship, instruction, fellowship and evangelism.
However, he began with biblically based preaching, McCain said in telling of the church’s growth during a workshop at Kentucky Baptists’ evangelism conference in February.
"I didn't know how to change anything, so I went in and preached the Word of God," he said.
His other emphasis was on discipleship training. He started with a series of animated Christian videos that soon drew several dozen people on Sunday nights.
That led into covering such material as the "Survival Kit for New Christians" and "How to Study Your Bible." Today the church offers 45 class options during the year, including "Experiencing God" and "The Mind of Christ."
Laying a scriptural groundwork was a key part of growth, McCain said. "It amazes me that people can be in church for 40 years and a Christian for 35, but they're a 1-year-old Christian for 35 years," he said. "They haven't grown. A pastor is called to prepare people. I may not be brilliant but I can work harder than anyone else."
The church also needed to revive its worship, he said, recounting that New Harmony had had a reputation for lousy music.
To change that, he bought new hymnals with more praise songs in them. After noticing people sang more when they weren't holding a hymnal, he transferred songs to transparencies and projected the words onto a screen.
The pastor also experimented with new forms of music. While some weren't always accepted, the church now has a praise team to lead worship. Some members clap their hands, too, although McCain admitted he has a hard time doing that because of his lack of rhythm.
"We have to keep trying and working," he said. "Real worship is not just singing. It's praising the Lord and people testifying. There ought to be times where the preacher doesn't get to preach. It's exciting when that happens."
Fellowship and evangelism have occurred as the church has increased its emphasis on missions. That has included starting an active Women on Mission group and Brotherhood for men.
Both go out in the Webster County area to help residents clean up yards, paint homes and fix roofs. They also take regular trips to eastern Kentucky to hand out supplies and witness to residents in mountain areas.
This vision extends overseas, too. Last year the congregation paid his way for a trip to the Philippines. In the city where he preached, 3,000 accepted Jesus as their Savior, McCain said.
Evangelism includes a regular visitation program led by a team of women. When he reads the days of visitation are over, he shakes his head.
"It may not work in (a large city), but if you live in Mayberry USA where I do, it works," he said. "Look for what works in your area. We can't take evangelism and try to make it like somebody else's."