Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 67

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC I I It if i. SATURDW-NOVEMBER 30, Editor, Doug Carroll, 271-819(1. 0 King event RELIGION BRIEFS 0 umr: V.y r- i ''V' a i J. i L. Victona BucKnerStaff photographer "(George) Barna's great gift is trying to get us to think like the people we are trying to reach," says the Rev.

Dan Yeary (above), senior pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church. Yeary's church is brainstorming ways to better meet the needs of the community. osins faith win serve all faiths i.r.i Sikh, Buddhist, others to speak at breakfast By Ben Winton Staff writer When Soul Singh Khalsa goes out in public, he expects to be stared at, sometimes criticized," for being different. The bearded, American-bom Sikh minister" wears a white turban and loose-fitting clothing from India that flutters in the wind. Khalsa' helped establish.

an ashram, a Sikh religious" community, near downtown Phoenix, It is the spiritual path of Sikhs, Khalsa to face the world as you are, and to expect that'1 the positives and negatives from doing so will balance. Out of such courage, a Sikh believes there will be acceptance, equality and love in'1 the world. Khalsa said he draws his inspiration not jusj" from the Sikh religion, but from the Re Martin Luther King the late African American civil-rights activist. In King's day, people stood up for what they believed, often at great risk, Khalsa said. On Thursday, Khalsa will be among thg' guest speakers at the Martin Luther King J'.

Prayer Breakfast, an event that launches sbc" weeks of celebrations Valleywide leading up to i the observance of King's birthday Jan. 15. Khalsa will be part of a multi faith group of i religious leaders at the breakfast who say that King's message of hope, love and equality is I thread running through most religious beliefs. i "In the Sikh tradition, life is about sacrifice! Your spiritual path should give you enough' inner energy that you should be willing and desirous to sacrifice," Khalsa said. "I think it's the essence of every spiritual path.

What is the Crucifixion about, then?" Gene Blue, a co-organizer of the prayer breakfast, said the multifaith theme of the breakfast underscores King's vision of a unified I world. "We trust that this will send a message to tlie rest of state that you can be a Christian, Jew, Muslim or any other faith and yet you can work together for tlie common good," said Blue, executive director of the Phoenix Opportunities Industrialization Centers. The Rev. Paul Eppinger, executive director of the Arizona Ecumenical Council, also is a co-organizer of the breakfast. This year's theme is "Pray for Peace." "The fact is, we have a holiday, but we do not have total civil rights or human rights," Eppinger said.

"We're -still trying to change symbolism into substance." Featured speakers include Phoenix Suns player A.C. Green and San Diego Councilman George Stevens, who has been a major advocate for civil rights in Southern The Rev. Lee Rosenthal, a priest at the' Arizona Buddhist Church in Phoenix, also will speak. Buddhists are introspective, said Rosen-tlial, who was reared an Orthodox Jew. "As a Buddhist, in one sense I would see King no differently than myself a human -being straggling for goodness," Rosenthal said- But King stood out, and he has become a symbol on which people of all faiths can rely.

"Someone has to carry this hope of love and peace. There's always been this minority qf people of faith and conscience and dignity who carry society into the future." i IF YOU GO 'Pray for Peace' WHAT: The Martin Luther King Jr. annual prayer breakfast, kicking off six weeks of observances leading up to the birthday celebration of the late civil-rights leader. WHEN: 7 a.m. Thursday.

WHERE: North Phoenix Baptist Church, Fellowship Hall, 5757 N. Central Ave. TICKETS: $15. Reservations deadline Is Tuesday. A few tickets may be available at the door.

Call 254-5081. iii.iiiiii researcher says QUIZ Is your church growing? According to researcher George Barna, Christian churches that are growing spiritually share these characteristics: God's vision as the centerpiece of ministry. Prayer as a foundation of the church. A sense of urgency and passion about ministry. Risk-taking.

Ministry that is first about people, not about programs. Strong, effective pastoral leadership. Highly involved, enthusiastic laypeople. High standards for ministry and accountability to them. Several "non-negotiable" activities, such as youth programs.

way," Yeary said. "But everybody in the congregation, their greatest desire on Earth is to see their children and grandchildren loving God and loving their church. How do we do that? "To lose our effectiveness is to literally discount our reason for being." Bama said churches need leaders who are visionary, not simply pastors who excel at teaching and preaching. However, only 6 percent of pastors say they have the gift of leadership. Successful church structures often trample on tradition, and not everyone likes that.

But institutions aren't the future home churches, cyberchurch on tlie Internet and interfaith groups are. God's vision must be explained in "an absolutely compelling way," Barna said, in order to reach a maximum number of people. "The reason why humans exist is to have a relationship with God, to know him, to love him, to serve him," he said. "The role of the church is that of equipping people to find meaning in life, to find out what success means and to be able to achieve that success on God's terms." iillliiil in Quiz helps you brush up On Hanukkah How much do you know about The Jewish holiday begins, at sundown Thursday and is celebrated for eight 1. Hanukkah is also known as: 1 A) Festival of the Harvest.

B) Feast of the" 'New Year. C) Festival of Renewal. I) Feast of Dedication. 2. The holiday commemorates: A) The birthday of creation and features the blowing of the shofar.

B) The Jewish victory over Syrian-Greek oppressors in 165 B.C. C) The rescue of Jews of ancient Persia and includes the reading of titer Megillah or Scroll of Esther. D)The destruction of the first, and second temples in Jerusalem. most striking ceremony of Hanukkah is: 'A) Lighting the eight candles. B) Hiding the matzo.

C) Dipping greens in 1 saltwater. D) Setting a wine cup at table for the return of the prophet Elijah. "4. A popular food eaten during Hanukkah is: A) Charoset, a mixture of chopped apples or raisins, and wine. B) Ma-ror or bitter herbs.

C)Latkes or potato pancakes. D) Matzo or unleavened bread. 5. Which ancient writings recount the story of Hanukkah? AJ Baruch and Ezekiel. B) Judith and Zechariah.

C) I Kings and II Chronicles. D) Land II Maccabees. Answers: 1) D. 2) B. 3) A.

4) C. 5) D. Interfaith Evensong service launches Advent celebrations Leaders of three major Christian denominations in Arizona plan to mark the start, of Advent this week with an eCUtrjenical service. The Lutheran, Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches will participate in a joint service at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at AH' Saints Episcopal Church, 6300 N.

Ceptral Phoenix. Participants in the Evensong service include: Bishop Howard Wennes of the Grand Canyon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix and Bishop-Robert Shahan of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona. Investor yanks donation, leaves Bible school in lurch The state's only non-denominational Bible college is facing possible financial woes after a major investor pulled out of a project to relocate the school. The Arizona College of the Bible lost a significant investor who was planning to put up about $540,000 of the money needed to the former Jewish Community Center.

The pullout may delay the fall 1997 start of classes. at the new campus, at 1718 Maryland Phoenix. There is a need for new investors; call 864-8492. Youth build patriotic float for Electric Light Parade U.B.U., the youth group of Mountain Valley Community Church in north Phoenix, spent a month of Sundays and then some to complete its entry in the Phoenix Electric Light Parade. The 30 junior- and senior-high students provided manpower for the float, which re-creates the Washington Monument.

The float is on display near Sam's Cafe at Arizona Center, 455 N. Third Phoenix, and will travel to Target stores in the Valley on Saturdays in December. The Electric Light Parade will be at 7 p.m. next Saturday. Floats will travel south on Central Avenue from Missouri Avenue to Thomas Road.

Mystic Vassula Ryden to speak at Celebrity Theatre Vassula Ryden, a mystic and seer, will be in Phoenix on Tuesday as part of an 1 8-city American tour. Ryden will speak at 7 p.m. at the Celebrity, Theatre, 440 N. 32nd Phoenix. Tickets, $7.75, are available at the Celebrity box office, 267-9373, or through Dillard's, 678-2222.

Rebel leader's widow to speak on Central American violence Jennifer Harbury, the American widow of a Guatemalan rebel leader killed at the hands of a CIA-paid agent, will be in the Valley next week at the invitation of a faith-based human-rights group. Harbury will speak about the 1992 death of her husband, Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, at 7 p.m. Friday at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4027 E. Lincoln Drive, Paradise Valley. The Valley Religious Task Force on a i L.enirai America is sponsoring ner visu.

-Information: 265-9800. Compiled by Ben Winton and Kelly Ettenborough of The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette. touch with America, understand that." Churches today must appeal to a culture that has little denominational loyalty, Bama said. They must adapt their styles, offer options in worship forms and schedules, and be relevant. It's no longer one-size-fits-all.

Americans like to pick and choose from major world religions yet still call themselves Christians, Bama said. But Christians need to have a biblical not secular world view and act accordingly, he said. It is up to churches to impart that view. Many churches still use tlie King James version of the Bible, which requires a 12th-grade reading level. Most Americans don't understand it, Barna said, and they also don't understand the sermons being preached to them.

Fifty-year-old North Phoenix Baptist Church wants to be part of a spiritual revival, which is why Bama was invited to speak, said the Rev. Dan Yeary, the church's senior pastor. Much of North Phoenix's vision statement for the next three years sounds as if Bama wrote it. It's not a coincidence: Yeary said he has been strongly influenced by Bama through the years. "I think the guy is a velvet-covered brick," Yeary, 57, said.

"He speaks the truth with love. I felt like I was being hit in the face with one hand, and he had the ice pack in the other hand, soothing my face. Barna's great gift is trying to get us to think like tlie people we are trying to reach." North Phoenix's plan would train more lay leaders and seek to reach the community with the Gospel. Another goal is to do a better job of meeting community needs. The plan was announced in October and has received a mixed reaction from the congregation of about 4,000.

"My challenge is how do you take a church that has had a very successful ministry in the past and say to them maybe what we did in the past was fantastic but maybe it doesn't work anymore?" said Yeary, who came to North Phoenix in 1993 and has been a pastor for more than 22 years. The Southern Baptist denomination is aging, and the church of the future needs to appeal to younger generations, he said. "Most of the folks who are paying the bills at the churches are 55 years or older and not necessarily inclined to think this Churches out of By Kelly Ettenborough Staff writer "ere's something to ponder amid the joyousness of tlie Christmas season: Chnstian church in Amenca is in trouble. In the next five to seven years, the country will experience spiritual revival or moral anarchy, says George Bama, a prominent religion researcher and consultant. Unless more churches change their ways of reaching the culture, Barna would bet on moral anarchy, and that's what he told a group of church leaders and laypeople recently at North Phoenix Baptist Church.

The traditional church as an institution will still exist, but it will have lost its impact as a "life-transforming" place. This has happened in the churches of Europe, Barna said, and in some ways it is already happening here. Barna's surveys indicate that 82 percent of Americans believe the quotation "God helps those who help themselves" is straight from the Bible (it's not). George Barna The religious researcher and former pastor says Christian churches are failing to reach Americans." Twelve percent believe Noah's wife was Joan of Arc, and Billy Graham is catching up with Jesus as the giver of the Sermon on the Mount. Even more significant to Barna is that 71 percent of adults do not believe in absolute moral truth.

"It's a totally different ballgame when you don't believe in absolute moral truth," said Bama, 42, a former megachurch pastor who is the president of Barna Research Group, a marketing research company based in Ox-nard, Calif. "It means the very way we communicate has to change." Bama is sounding.a wake-up call to Christian churches. "You can't be effective if you don't understand your context," he said, "and I believe that most church pastors don't fully understand the context in which they are trying to minister. All we're trying to do is help them Q96 adding By Ben Winton Staff writer Dennis Rodman talking about family values? You know, the psychedelic-haired, trash-talking Chicago Bulls forward who has dated Madonna? That's just the kind of thing radio host Tim Kimmel would like to try for a new Christian drive-time talk show. "Life is not G-rated," says Kimmel, of KPXQ-AM (960), adding that it doesn't have to be X-rated, either.

What radio listeners want is the hard-hitting truth, but they want to be uplifted by it, Kimmel says. They want to be inspired. But Rodman? True, he'd get callers. Lots of 'em. "I think he'd be great," Kimmel says.

"This is a big sports town. And professional and college sports these days deal with a lot of role modeling. There are a lot of spoiled brats running around in uniforms, frankly, and maybe we should make people start thinking about that. "After all, this is talk radio with a point." In late October, KPXQ joined the half- iri mouth, muscle to Christian talk dozen or so Valley-based Christian radio stations when it went on the air as Q96. But sometime after the first of the year, Q96 hopes to distinguish itself from other Christian talk stations by going live, with local hosts, during afternoon drive time.

Q96 also will be targeting a younger listening audience, the 25- to 54-year-olds, and taking off the gloves on topics normally discussed only on the secular radio shows. Other Christian talk-radio shows are taking' notice. KHEP (1280 AM) plans one of the biggest advertising campaigns in its history after the first of the year in an attempt to maintain its lead as one of the strongest live Christian talk-radio stations in the Valley. KHEP will buy advertising on 50 city buses as well as on billboards throughout the Ironically, Salem Communications, the parent company of Q96 and the largest Christian news network in the country, is offering its news programming exclusively to KHEP. The practice is fairly common in broadcasting" See CHRISTIAN, page D8 Sx liw ill hXhT J- nil mi I I v.

L-rf 1 Kl.J James GarciaStaff photographerl "Life is not G-rated," Q96 talk-show host Tim Kimmel says of the Christian radio statioa'ar" hard-hitting approach to issues important to younger listeners..