KIGALI, Rwanda — From the small window of the Kenya Airways jet, I looked down on the beautiful green mountains of Rwanda as we slowly made our descent to the Kigali airport, where 17 years ago an airplane carrying Rwanda’s president was shot down, sparking one of the most evil acts of humanity in my lifetime.

I was a junior in high school in 1994 and vaguely remember seeing reports on newscasts about violence in an African country I am not sure I had even heard of. Years later I watched a film, “Hotel Rwanda,” which told a story of love and sacrifice during the chaos of the Rwandan genocide, during which at least 800,000 people were murdered by their countrymen. This was when God first stirred my heart to learn more about this violent war.

Two days into the trip, I visited the Nyamata Genocide Memorial in the Bugasera district, just a half-hour drive from Kigali. The memorial is a former Catholic church where people once came for mass. The building is comparable to the size of a rural church in America’s Bible Belt.

Mardelaine Mukandoli survived the genocide, but her Hutu neighbors killed her husband and all 8 children in front of her. She moved to Kigali to get away from the killers, but she has since forgiven them and even provides them and their children a place to sleep when they need it.

In April 1994 around 10,000 Tutsis sought refuge at the church, praying to escape the fate of hundreds of thousands of others. Unfortunately they, too, were hacked to death by machetes, the weapons of choice for most of the Hutu killers roaming Rwanda with one goal: to wipe from the face of the earth their countrymen, the ones they called “cockroaches.”

Inside the Nyamata church now are thousands of dirty, blood-stained clothes and accessories, all piled together in neat rows -- each piece belonging to an individual who was mercilessly killed in the genocide.

The tour guide, Elisabeth, with her soft voice and gleaming smile, led my friends and me through the church, sharing the story of the massacre of 10,000 people. I walked through row after row of piles of clothing, taking note of every piece I could: jewelry, a shoe, a belt still woven through the loops on a pair of trousers, a leg brace, a child’s sweatshirt. I tried to imagine whom each of these items belonged to.

The altar in the front of the church is still covered with the white sheet that was there the day Nyamata was attacked. Faded blood stains are still visible and a machete left behind by one of the killers lies across the altar next to rosary beads removed from bodies. Directly above the altar, on the metal ceiling, are blood stains turned black, a picture of how violently people were slaughtered that blood could splash so high to the ceiling. Sunlight radiated through bullet holes dotting the ceiling and tears in the metal from grenade blasts.

As we moved to the back of the church, Elisabeth told us the killers reserved this area to execute children. A sick feeling in the pit of my stomach grew as she explained how the killers would take children under five years old, hold them upside down, then smash their little heads into the brick wall, over and over, until they were dead. Elisabeth pointed to a certain brick on the wall, a brick still stained with the blood of helpless children.

We carried on to a new addition to the memorial, a downstairs area where we saw the first of hundreds of human skulls. Some bore no visible signs of trauma, while others had large cracks streaking across the top or sides, evidence of machete attacks.

Below the skulls display was the coffin of a lady who was killed in the church. She was of no particular importance in society, but Elisabeth explained her death represented the death of most women in the genocide. This lady had been raped by more than 20 men and then brutally stabbed with two sharp sticks through her genitals to kill her. If a woman was holding a baby she was stabbed in the front, through her body and into the baby on her back. Who thinks of such torture?

Throughout the week my friends and I visited with several Rwandans who survived the genocide. Their stories are powerful and during much of the visits I was hanging on their every word.

Jean Baptiste Tuyishimire had a mission to accomplish: to reconnect his pastor with his wife and children. Tuyishimire walked for miles and miles and saw the unthinkable devastation from the genocide, but God watched over him and helped him to complete the task. He left Rwanda for many years, angry at what happened. Over the years, God healed his heart and now he helps pastors plant churches in Rwanda.

Eugene Ntaganda was a member of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, or RPF, who helped liberate the Tutsis. Through his efforts he met his wife, Georgina, at a refugee camp after her family was murdered and she narrowly escaped death. Every April, when the country mourns and remembers the past, Georgina struggles through the emotional wounds, but forgiveness, she says, releases those emotions and gives her peace.

Some of the most touching and heartbreaking stories came at the end of the week, just a few hours before we boarded the airplane to leave. We visited widows who receive counseling and encouragement from Solace Ministries, an organization started in 1995 to help genocide survivors.

These resilient women who have placed their hope and lives in Jesus Christ lost their families in 1994. One lady and her family were thrown into a pit latrine (a long-drop African toilet), where they were stoned by their neighbors, then set on fire. She managed to crawl out of the pit but most of her family was dead, and for awhile she was committed to a mental institution. Her faith has brought her through the tragic events of her life, eventually allowing her to forgive her neighbors, whom she lives near again.

Another lady watched her neighbors murder her husband and all eight of her children. She was attacked with a machete on her leg and hip but managed to escape and flee to Kigali. Today she has forgiven her former neighbors and, remarkably, offers them and their children a place to stay when they need it.

Each of these stories speaks volumes about God’s faithfulness in times of tragedy and how faith in Christ equips us to forgive and heal. It is through forgiveness Rwanda is healing. As our plane lifted off the runway in Kigali, I looked down once more at the beautiful green mountains of Rwanda, truly amazed at God’s stories of forgiveness and grace.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Based in Africa, Alexander is a writer for IMB’s Global Communication Team.)

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Rwanda's survivors choose to forgive

RICHMOND, Va. — Throughout their long history, the Japanese people have opened themselves to the Christian gospel three times.

Each time they eventually rejected it or decided to hold it at arm’s length. Today, Christians comprise barely 1 percent of Japan’s population of 127 million people, despite decades of religious freedom — and powerful Christian movements in neighboring China and South Korea.

Could the national soul-searching resulting from the March earthquake/tsunami and its devastating aftermath — called Japan’s worst crisis since World War II by the nation’s leaders — become a time for the Japanese to reconsider the new life offered by Jesus Christ?

Yes, says Atsuyoshi Fujiwara, a Japanese Christian scholar who has carefully examined the history of the gospel in his native land. But it will happen, he cautions, only if Christians work together “humbly and lovingly, nationally and internationally” to serve the Japanese during their time of suffering and recovery.

“The disaster has been terrible,” says Fujiwara, professor of theology at Japan’s Seigakuin University and founding pastor of Covenant of Grace Church in Tokyo. “We are talking about more than 25,000 people killed in Japan. Every day we are hearing new, heartbreaking stories of suffering people.

“Yet I deeply believe that God can bring good even from a painful experience like this. I think that this post-disaster recovery has a chance to become the fourth encounter of Japan with Christianity.”

The first three “encounters,” according to Fujiwara, were the introduction of Christianity to Japan by Roman Catholic missionaries in the 1500s, the opening of Japan to Western powers in the 1850s and the nation’s defeat and rebuilding at the end of World War II. Each time, Japan faced wrenching social and political change: civil war in the 16th century, the end of the shogun era in the 19th, near destruction and despair in the 20th.

“On these three occasions, Japanese people were very open to Christianity in the beginning, yet eventually they rejected it, particularly in the first two periods,” Fujiwara notes.

“Postwar Japan accepted full religious freedom and did not clearly say ‘no’ to Christianity. It appeared to be a promising solution to their problems. It also came with Western wealth and civilization, which were attractive to many people.”

As a faith personally embraced by large numbers of people, however, the gospel of Christ has failed to spread widely in Japan, despite generations of prayers and ministry by missionaries and Japanese believers. Why? Church and mission leaders have been trying to find answers to that question for a long time.

The Japanese are religious people, Fujiwara stresses. They have a millennium-long tradition of Shintoism, Buddhism and Confucianism as their “spiritual backbone.” Christianity initially appealed to many Japanese, but they eventually decided it didn’t fit their psyche or tradition. The pattern of “initial acceptance and gradual rejection” was repeated several times.

“I think that rejection largely came as a nationalistic reaction to the West,” Fujiwara observes. “There was a slogan in the 19th century: ‘Japanese soul and Western technology.’ While accepting Western civilization, they wanted to keep the Japanese soul untouched. They certainly did not want to accept the Western soul — i.e., Christianity.”

People crowded into churches again as Japan boomed after World War II. “But they left like an ocean tide, saying, ‘We graduated Christianity,’ or ‘Christianity was good, but we are done with it,’” says Fujiwara. “They have to be touched by God. Their hearts must be penetrated by the gospel so that they may start living as disciples.”

Christian institutions are still respected in modern Japan, particularly the many schools and colleges begun by missionaries. But the number of believers remains low as modern Japan has become increasingly secular.

“They really believe that in themselves they have what they need, which makes it very difficult to share the gospel,” says International Mission Board missionary Gary Fujino. “What we need is for people to be shaken and realize that you need something outside of yourself — God.”

The triple trauma of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis may have accomplished that, according to Fujiwara:

“The foundation of the earth was shaken; the houses we lived in were washed out by the tsunami. The atomic power stations that we were told were safe exploded. Something we trusted was broken down. People are asking, ‘Why has this happened?’ ‘Can we still go on?’ If this could not open people’s hearts, what else could?”

Some cracks in the façade already were appearing before the quake. Japan, an aging society, has struggled for years with economic and social stagnation.

Books and periodicals about Christ have been hot sellers since last year, according to Japanese publishers. One of the top bookstores in Tokyo’s business district dedicated a special section to the topic. Two issues of a national magazine with cover stories headlined “What is Christianity?” and “What is Christianity II” sold out within weeks.

In the quake zone, meanwhile, more than 170,000 displaced people remain in shelters.

Thousands more are living in their cars or in damaged homes with no electricity or water. As more of the neediest areas become accessible, Southern Baptist disaster relief teams are working with Japanese Baptist partners and IMB missionaries to provide such services as food and water distribution, blankets and warm clothing for the elderly and grief counseling.

As they join hands with other Christians to serve the hurting, Fujiwara prays their ministry will change Japan forever.

“My father, who died 20 years ago, was baptized by a Southern Baptist missionary in the postwar period,” he said. “I am deeply and forever grateful for that. I want you to imagine with me that our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will hear stories like this: ‘The 2011 disaster was terrible, yet God brought good even through that. I remember your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents sacrificed, loved and cared for us at that time. The gospel was brought to my family then.’”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Bridges is IMB global correspondent. Visit “WorldView Conversation,” the blog related to this column. Listen to an audio version. Susie Rain, an IMB writer/editor based in Southeast Asia, contributed to this column.)

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 I have a confession to make. I love to pray ... for strangers.

I don’t know when my praying for strangers started. Perhaps it was when an ambulance left our neighborhood and I realized that some hapless soul trapped in a failing body needed medical assistance that I was incapable of offering. So I offered what I could: a prayer.

During visits to Disneyland, I’ve seen families erupt into anger and frustration and I’ve prayed for relief from whatever pressures they brought into the happiest place on earth.

On a flight, I spotted another passenger just ahead of me wiping a tear from an eye, and I’ve asked God to help them remember that some day “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

I’ve watched the news and seen a fiancé whose partner was washed away in a tsunami, or a mother whose child is waiting for a kidney transplant, or an elderly person about to lose their home. I’ve prayed for them as if they are my own family.

Catharine Doherty said in her classic book Poustinia, “If I touch God I must touch man.” Shouldn’t a deeper connection with God inevitably lead to a richer connection with our fellow humans?”

I’ve prayed for authors I interviewed on my old radio show because I’ve sensed their fictional work is the product of some inner, festering wound that was being lanced, their eloquent words coated in personal pain.

Once, during an advertising break, a National Book Award winner started weeping.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but last week I tried to take my own life.” A prayer was said and cell phone numbers were exchanged as my anonymous practice became more personal.

People often feel alone in this world, as if God is absent or silent or both. Maybe it’s because we are failing to love as we should by being with people and praying for them. “Human beings,” Rabbi Menachem Mendel said centuries ago, “are God’s language.”

A few weeks ago I discovered a soul mate in novelist River Jordan, whose new book, Praying for Strangers, warmly and humorously tells how she fulfilled a New Year’s resolution to pray for one stranger each day for a full year.

The idea was born of a mother’s heart when her two sons were being deployed to war zones and she felt compelled to pray selflessly instead of just for her boys.

Cocktail parties, bus stops, book signings, newspaper articles and kitchens soon became the scene of her walk-by prayers.

Frequently, as she told a stranger she had prayed for them, it became clear she was a timely emissary from God. One women said, “I was just praying this morning and praying for other people, but I stopped and asked the Lord, ‘God, is there anybody in this whole wide world who is praying for me?’”

Jordan came to understand what evangelist F.B. Meyer meant when he said, “The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.”

The idea of “paying it forward” has become practically a cliché, but in a world so filled with suffering and pain, there still seems to be more than enough room for the idea of “praying it forward.”

Prayer, of course, should never replace hands-on help and assistance for friends or stranger in need. But think about it: what would happen if every person on our planet said one heartfelt prayer for one stranger they encountered each day?

I can’t know for sure if praying for strangers is good for them, but I can tell you that it’s been good for me. Once you take seriously Jesus’ commandment to love one another, you find yourself connected to the whole of humanity. And when I do something to relieve someone else’s suffering, I relieve some of my own.   

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Staub is author of the just-released “About You: Fully Human and Fully Alive” and the host of The Kindlings Muse.)

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The most recent 40 Days for Life prayer vigil was a display of concerted, sacrificial prayer across North Carolina and nine countries: a time when Christians gathered quietly and peaceably outside abortion clinics in their communities to pray for women considering and having abortions. Christ-followers — many North Carolina Baptists in Raleigh, Charlotte, Chapel Hill, etc. — also prayed for the men and families involved. They prayed for the abortionists and their staff.

Despite a concerted effort to be non-confrontational, at times confrontation happened:
“You are just wasting your time. There is no God!”  
“You hypocrites, what about the millions of starving children around the world?”
“Why aren’t you praying for the back-street abortions that take place in Pakistan?”
(from www.40daysforlife.com)

It should not be a surprise to us as Christians that when we take on biblical issues that are also socially and politically charged, we may draw criticism. The Bible tells us again and again to expect to be persecuted, yet many Christians never experience opposition.

Instead, we choose to concentrate only on the more palatable message of God’s love, forgetting an important biblical principle that it is the law that shows us our need and points us to Christ’s goodness. Instead, when we speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15, NIV) we often feel guilty for offending someone’s politically correct sensibilities.

Let me propose a different perspective. People, including us, often drift through life with a philosophy not thoroughly examined. What a privilege, that we as Christians can gently challenge people to think again. Think again on who God is. Think again on misconceptions held about Jesus and Christ-followers. Think again on issues that are dear to the heart of our God.

One such issue is in the North Carolina legislature at this moment. It is called Woman’s Right to Know. When you first hear the details, you will likely question why anyone would oppose such a law. Who could possibly be against a law that ensures women get more information before they receive an abortion? Information such as:

• The name of the physician who will perform the abortion
• Medical risks associated with the abortion, including psychological risks
• Probable gestational age of the unborn child
• Medical risks associated with carrying the child to term
• The opportunity to view an ultrasound and hear the heartbeat of her child whether in the abortion facility or in another facility free of charge.
• Whether the abortionist has malpractice liability insurance
• The location of the hospital within 30 miles that offers obstetrical or gynecological care and where the abortionist “has clinical privileges”

The Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is challenging you to take a grace-filled and prayerful stance on this issue and speak the truth in love to your state representatives. Urge them to pass this law that will give women the information they need to choose NOT to have an abortion. If you feel led, take a step further. Communicate to your community through your local newspapers and email lists. And, of course, pray.

Pray for a peaceful exchange of ideas but recognize that there will likely be criticism, perhaps from those who also say they are believers. If Christians who stand and quietly pray outside abortion clinics are heckled and verbally assailed, it should not be a surprise that this legislation will draw severe opposition. However, those who prayed outside the abortion clinics and stayed were often treated to sweet confirmation that they were doing the right thing. Abortion-prone women changed their minds. With joy and relief, at least 483 young women changed their minds!

As the group prayed, they watched as a young woman walked out of the facility and headed towards the cars. But then she went back inside – then came out again. The group took note, but just kept praying. She went back inside once more — and then came out a third time. This time, however, she got in her car and drove up alongside the people praying. In her left hand, she held a stack of money. In her right hand, she held an ultrasound image. She leaned out the window and announced, “I didn’t do it!”

“You could feel the peace and joy of God surrounding that young mother,” said Sally in South Bend. “We were all so moved. God is good!”

That is the hope of this legislation. This bill demonstrates hope that women and their loved ones will envision the possibility of their life without abortion.

They will see their unborn child for the blessing that it is. That they will have the information and time to make a choice that they will not regret for the rest of their lives.

For information on the bill and how to contact your representatives, go to www.clpablog.org.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Griggs is liaison to the Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. She wrote this on behalf of the committee.)

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RICHMOND, Va. — Back in the “olden days” — my son’s term for the ancient era when I was his age — a new book hit my high school campus like a meteor.

I was a brand-new Christian — and an ignorant one. Like other young believers at our school, I knew Jesus Christ had come into my heart and transformed my life. I wanted to share that exciting news with others. But I knew little about the Bible, its authenticity and authority, or the powerful historical evidence for its most revolutionary claim: the resurrection of Christ.

Evidence that Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, one of the most dynamic Christian speakers and writers of the last generation, gave us the basic tools we needed to contend for our faith in a sometimes-hostile environment. It was a short course in Christian apologetics and we ran with it. We didn’t win every debate with skeptics and scoffers at school, but we improved our track record.

My favorite chapter in McDowell’s book is “The Resurrection — Hoax or History?” It presents in detail the case for and against Christ’s physical resurrection from biblical, historical, legal and eyewitness perspectives. The verdict: Jesus rose from the dead and is alive today.

Beyond the many biblical prophecies Christ fulfilled, the reliability of the Gospel accounts, the compelling events surrounding His death and burial and the witness of the empty tomb, there is the evidence of changed lives — from that first Easter until today — beginning with the disciples themselves.

“Perhaps the transformation of the disciples of Jesus is the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection,” John R.W. Stott observed.

McDowell quotes a portrayal of those early Christ-followers after the ignominious death of their leader at the hands of the Romans:

“On the day of the crucifixion they were filled with sadness; on the first day of the week with gladness. At the crucifixion they were hopeless; on the first day of the week their hearts glowed with certainty and hope. When the message of the resurrection first came they were incredulous and hard to be convinced, but once they became assured they never doubted again.

“What could account for the astonishing change in these men in so short a time? The mere removal of the body from the grave could never have transformed their spirits, and characters. … Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence. …”

Absurd indeed, unless the living Christ appeared to them and filled them with His Spirit. They went on to turn the world upside down with their message. Most of them gladly died as martyrs. They and their successors established the Christian church, the most indestructible institution on earth. The more it is persecuted, the faster it grows.

“It was the conviction of the resurrection of Jesus which lifted His followers out of the despair into which His death had cast them and which led to the perpetuation of the movement begun by Him,” wrote Kenneth Scott Latourette, the great historian of Christianity. “But for their profound belief that the crucified had risen from the dead and that they had seen Him and talked with Him, the death of Jesus and even Jesus Himself would probably have been all but forgotten.”

Such is the power of lives changed and redeemed by the risen Christ. Your own life may be the most subjective evidence you can offer for the resurrection of Christ. But if you live in His Spirit and express His love toward others, that evidence cannot be refuted. Rejected, yes, but not refuted.

“The Lord is at work here,” a young missionary in an animist area of West Africa wrote. “He has healed many people in our village after we have prayed with them in the name of Jesus, and now our neighbors thank us for our prayers. Recently when we offered our ‘village father’ and our family chief the monthly payment for our hut in the village, our ‘father’ replied, ‘Your presence here and your prayers for the village are a gift to us.’ They would take nothing (in payment).

“Then we asked permission to celebrate Easter in the village. A large smile came upon our village father’s face as we explained that they were now our family and we wanted to celebrate this important day with them. On Easter morning when we met with the village chief and elders, we were given a goat! A feast was prepared and people from our entire village came to our compound and shared it with us. Later we worshipped under the village ‘meeting tree’ and prayed boldly in the name of Jesus for the villagers.

“Our presence and prayers are unworthy of being called a ‘gift.’ The only real gift we desire for our village is the gift that the Lord offers to them. Pray their eyes will be unveiled to the gift of life that the Lord extends to them with open arms.”

Yet the missionary’s presence is a gift, however imperfect it might be. God chooses to use it to offer His love and mercy to the village. It is one more evidence for the resurrection — nearly 2,000 years after the event.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Bridges is International Mission Board global correspondent. Visit “WorldView Conversation,” the blog related to this column. Listen to an audio version.)

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BARRE, Vt. — After Jesus rose from the dead, He made numerous appearances to individuals, to various small groups of disciples and at one point to 500 of His followers at one time.

Jesus spent a total of 40 days on earth after His resurrection in order to make it clear to everyone who saw Him during that time that He indeed had risen from the dead. After 40 days Jesus and His disciples gathered on the Mount of Olives where He taught them a final lesson. He then ascended up into the clouds. The disciples were understandably perplexed and just stood there, presumably waiting for Him to come back down out of the clouds. An angel appeared to explain that Jesus would indeed come back, when the time was right. In the meantime, Christians were to share their faith with anyone who would listen and urge them also to become followers of Christ. For 2,000 years Christians have awaited the return of Christ and we have shared our faith with others while we watched and waited.

This final event of Christ’s first sojourn on earth is referred to as the Ascension of Christ. It is an important but often overlooked event in the Gospel narratives. While visiting Israel in January, my wife and I went to the Mount of Olives to see where this event took place.

Like so many biblical sites in the Holy Land, there are two different places where tradition says the ascension happened. One is a small cave at the bottom of the Mount of Olives. In the early days of Christianity, this is where most Christians thought the ascension took place.

The other location, which became the preferred location as the Christian church developed — and which is the more popular site for modern Christian pilgrims to visit — is a small church near the top of the Mount of Olives. Called the Church of the Ascension, the tiny church can only hold a handful of people at a time and has no altar or stained glass windows and, unlike most sites in the Holy Land, is quite plain in its appearance. What it does have is a rock in the floor of the church that has the imprint of a foot in it. Tradition says this is Jesus’ footprint and the last place Jesus touched on earth as He began His ascent into heaven.

In a somewhat ironic twist of history, the church is also used as a mosque, since the site is also revered by Muslims. There are few places in the Holy Land where Christians and Muslims both gather to worship, but this is one of them.

Though both theologians and historians debate which of the two spots was actually where Jesus was standing when He ascended into heaven, the rock in the floor of the Church of the Ascension has been recognized as the “official” place of ascension since 384 A.D. It may well be the actual spot. But as I knelt beside that spot and touched the footprint in the rock I could not help but think that the more important issue was not the LAST place Jesus touched before He ascended into heaven, but the NEXT place Jesus will touch on the earth. The Bible says that the next time Jesus comes, a trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise and those who remain will be caught up with Him in the air. I am guessing we will not be arguing about which rock Jesus last touched when He comes again!

As one stands on the Mount of Olives, the Old City of Jerusalem can be seen off in the distance. If one knows where to look, the Eastern Gate can be seen. There are numerous stories in the Bible of Jesus passing through this gate while he was in Jerusalem. Ezekiel 44:1-3 teaches that the Messiah will one day enter Jerusalem through the Eastern gate. The Eastern Gate was sealed up in 1517 by the Muslim ruler Suleiman. He wanted to keep the Messiah from entering Jerusalem through the gate in fulfillment of the Ezekiel prophecy. But when Jesus comes again, there is no stone wall that will hold Him back! He will enter through the Eastern Gate and fulfill the age old prophecy. It will be a glorious day for those who love Him. Come, Lord Jesus!

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Dorsett is director of the Green Mountain Baptist Association. For information, visit VermontBaptist.org. Visit his blog at TerryDorsett.com.)     

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Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp are the Florida pastors who held a mock trial condemning the Koran, the holy book of Islam, to be burned. This burning of the Koran was used as an excuse for the killing of 24 people in Afghanistan.

As Americans Jones and Sapp have the right to express themselves as they see fit. Regardless of this right, they are at least culpable in the deaths of these people. It should have been obvious to them that their reckless actions would insight violence among Muslims and this violence would be directed toward Americans, Christians and other Westerners.

Their actions were wrongheaded on many different levels. Besides putting Americans and Westerners in danger, they put the mission of our armed forces at peril in the Muslim world. They painted a picture of Americans as people who hate and disrespect different cultures and religions. They may portray our nation as the home of the free, but not the home of the brave. What courage does it take to burn a book in a free nation? While our government cannot and should not try to silence these pastors through legal means, they should with strong and loud voices condemn such speech. Media organizations, foreign governments and Christian denominations are right to call on these men and their followers to cease from these thoughtless acts. What bothers me more than the picture Jones and Sapp have painted of our nation is the picture they have painted of Christ and His church.

Are these men of the opinion their burning of the Koran and planned mock trial of Mohammed will advance the gospel of Jesus?

If this was their aim, I cannot fathom the logic behind their plan.

If anything, their actions have and will hurt the cause of Christ. Even within our own nation, they have portrayed Christianity as ignorant and hateful. Within the Muslim world their actions seem to prove Christianity is set on control and oppression and not forgiveness and relationship with God.

Islam is criticized as a religion that expands through conquest and violence. If this is true, do Christians fight against it with the same tools? This would be a misguided approach. Already under constant fear and oppression, indigenous Christians in Muslim nations are now exposed to more danger. Hearing of the burning of the Koran, Muslims will think, “See, the Christians hate us. They don’t care about us. They just want to destroy our way of life.” What opportunities for sharing and showing the love of Christ have these two pastors squelched?

Christian workers and missionaries are also placed in danger by actions such as this. Being a martyr is something people committed to Christ in Muslim cultures accept. But the exploits of these two pastors have created an even more dangerous environment for these Christians who are trying to convey the message of Christ taking the punishment for the sins of all kinds of people, including those who are Muslim. If Christianity is true, it does not need to burn the sacred books of other religions to prove its truth. Its fruits will prove it to be so.

Pastors Jones and Sapp are guilty of disobedience to a direct command of Jesus, the head of the Christian church. Christians are commanded by Jesus’ own words to love their enemies. Sometimes loving your enemies requires actions not easily accepted by your enemies. But destroying their holy book and attacking their holy man does not show love. It only separates.

Shamefully, I often see this same mindset in myself toward my real or perceived enemies. It’s natural to hate your enemies. I’m sure (we have all) wanted to put someone who believed, looked or acted different from (us) in his place. Today I saw a group of people from another religion eating beside me at a local restaurant. My first thought was what I could say to them to make them feel stupid to shame them for leading people astray.

Jesus taught Christians how to show love to their enemies. Give them water when they are thirsty. Give them food when they are hungry. Give them clothes when they are naked. These acts of kindness create an environment favorable to sharing the message of forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ.

When Jesus’ disciples, James and John, wanted to call down fire on a village of the Jews’ enemies, the Samaritans, Jesus turned to them and rebuked them. His point was to encourage James and John toward mercy. This rebuke would apply to these Florida pastors also.

Pastor Jones, Pastor Sapp and their congregation should publicly repent and ask forgiveness from the Muslim world. They should replace these actions with acts of mercy and kindness toward Muslims as well as sharing with them the love of Christ. I too need to repent of the same mindset and adjust my attitude to be more inline with that of Jesus.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Clayton is the publisher of The Courier-Times in Roxboro and a member of Westwood Baptist Church in Roxboro. This piece was published in a recent issue of that newspaper and reprinted here with permission. Contact Clayton at ctbrinn@roxboro-courier.com.)

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ISHINOMAKI, Japan — The stench is terrible — mud, organic decomposition, mold, death and destruction. The roads are muddy, sickly and smelly. I will never forget the sights and smells of Ishinomaki and the tsunami that has left its horrible mark.

In the manner of the Japanese, debris that has already been picked is neatly stacked along the narrow streets, waiting for proper disposal. This alone is a monumental task. Most of the block-long stacks stand 10 feet high and are at least four feet wide.

As we walk along the narrow, debris-lined streets, we see mile after mile of twisted metal, shredded wood, broken glass and crushed plastic. The sights don’t change the farther we go. It seems like reruns of nightmares with little hope of waking up. Wrecked cars are stacked in piles, with mud acting as mortar to create walls — hiding the broken remains of hurting lives.

Naomi Paget, a Southern Baptist disaster response specialist, helps the team from Tokyo Baptist Church prepare miso soup in Ishinomaki, Japan.

We watch a small woman carry a two-gallon bucket of mud and debris from her home. During the last four weeks, she managed to clear her little yard. It’s neat and tidy, even without the landscape of shrubbery and trees that certainly were a part of this traditional little home before the tsunami.

In the Japanese way, she carries her little bucket about 20 feet down the street to dump the contents in an “appropriate place” — maintaining the integrity of the wall of debris. I don’t think she would ever have considered dumping it anywhere else. Convenience would never have dictated where she deposited the bucket of mud. Japanese would only dispose of it in the “right” way.

We stop to visit with her, inquiring of her well-being and needs. She says she is managing and doesn’t need help. She bows to thank us for inquiring of her situation. That’s when we notice her little flower bed with pansies and petunias gaily dancing in the breeze. The contrast is so great, we comment on their beauty.

“My world is so ugly when I look at my neighborhood. I could not bear to see it anymore. The flowers give me pleasure,” she says. “There is still beauty in the world — somewhere.”

This is a strong woman in Ishinomaki — a woman who waits patiently for her world to change.

How do I help her see the beauty that is Jesus? How do I help her be strong and take heart, waiting patiently for something truly worthwhile? Jesus could be the dancing face of pansies in the middle of the mud and wreckage that is Ishinomaki.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Paget is a Southern Baptist disaster relief specialist and a member of First Baptist Church in Bellville, Texas, who is helping train Japanese Baptists to respond to the crisis in their country. Paget reflects on her first walk through the tsunami disaster zone. She is a fellow with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.)

(SPECIAL NOTE — Thank you for your continued support of the Biblical Recorder site. During this interim period while we are searching for a new Editor/President the comments section will be temporarily discontinued. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this. If you do have comments or issues with items we run, please contact dianna@biblicalrecorder.org or call 919-847-2127.) 

The beautiful teenage girl floats across the surface of a crystal-blue ocean like a dream, her sun-bleached blonde tresses flowing behind her, unpolluted joy painted across her face.

She’s running late, lost in the reverie of surfing her native Hawaii’s epic waves. On the white-sand beach in the distance, her brother calls to her to come ashore.

As the new film “Soul Surfer” opens, the angelic surfer, Bethany Hamilton (played by AnnaSophia Robb), rushes ashore, grabs a white sundress and hustles up the beach to a large white tent where a crowd is gathered in chairs.

The scene looks like it could be a wedding, but it’s actually a regular Sunday morning worship service at Calvary Chapel in Kauai. Bethany, her hair a wet tangle around her shoulders, joins her family for worship.

Churchgoing is a rare event in cinema. Usually, it’s the backdrop for a wedding, funeral or christening. More commonly, a church scene is used to show some kind of inherent pathology in the characters’ psyche or impending evil. (See: “The Apostle” or “The Exorcist.”)

Even more commonly, religious life is depicted as a last resort in times of trauma — a kind of Hail Mary prayer, a deathbed confession, a futile search for answers to impossible questions about loss, tragedy and pain.

RNS photo courtesy Lovell-Fairchild Communications Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a 2003 shark attack at age 14, is the subject of a new Christian film, “Soul Surfer.”

“Soul Surfer,” based on the real-life story of the world-class surfer who lost her arm in a 2003 shark attack at age 14, has plenty of trauma and the ensuing grappling with loss. But the religious life of the Hamilton family is portrayed as a normal part of their everyday lives.

And that is part of what makes the “Soul Surfer” story ring so wonderfully authentic.

After Hamilton loses her arm, she awakens in the hospital with her father Tom (Dennis Quaid) quietly reading the Bible at her bedside. When she asks her father if she’ll ever surf again, he knows she will. She can do all things ... “through him who gives me strength,” she says, finishing the quote from Philippians.

To be sure, “Soul Surfer” is not without moments of defeat. When Hamilton enters her first post-accident surfing contest, she fails and gives up. She even gives her surfboards away.

(In real life, Hamilton says that didn’t happen. Instead, she says, she never gave up and relied on her Christian faith to carry her through. Perhaps filmmakers believed the truth was simply too far-fetched for audiences to accept.)

In the film, a despondent Hamilton turns to her youth group leader, Sarah Hill (played by country music star Carrie Underwood) at the seaside church pavilion and asks that most difficult of questions: Why would God let this happen?

“I don’t know,” Hill answers. This is usually where people, in films and in real life, try to give a well-intentioned answer that nonetheless always falls short of providing any real solace.

The youth director consoles her young disciple, saying that she’s sure something good will come of the girl’s unfathomable loss. She quotes from Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

When Hamilton asks her father a similar question in the film — now what is she going to do? — he answers, “Whatever comes next.”

What actually came next, before her triumphant return to competitive surfing, was a trip to tsunami-stricken Thailand where Hamilton volunteered with the international relief group World Vision. Out of her own pain, she reached out to help others, even teaching a young orphaned boy how to surf.

By transcending her own grief, digging deep in the well of her soul to find the strength to help others, the film shows Hamilton finding the courage to conquer her own fears, doubts and frustrations.     

“Soul Surfer” succeeds where many other Christian-themed films fail. It strikes a satisfying balance between powerful storytelling and overreaching message-giving. The Hamilton clan’s faith comes across as authentic and, in another uncommon feat, appealing. While some have criticized the film for not being explicitly “Christian” enough, its just-shy-of-understated approach to portraying real religious life on film allows “Soul Surfer” to speak the language of faith without beating the audience over the head with a Bible.

Hamilton’s real-life story is beyond inspirational; today, at 21, she’s one of the top women surfers in the world. And on film, her story doesn’t lose any of its power — or faith.

The real-life Hamilton did all of the one-armed surfing scenes in the film herself. In the film’s final scene, after an astounding performance at a surf contest, reporters ask whether, if she had to do it all over again, she would choose again to go surfing the day the shark took her arm.

Her faithful answer is breathtaking.

“I’ve had the chance to embrace more people with one arm than I ever could with two,” she says. It’s an answer the real-life Bethany has offered many times. Sometimes the truth is harder to believe than fiction.

(SPECIAL NOTE — Thank you for your continued support of the Biblical Recorder site. During this interim period while we are searching for a new Editor/President the comments section will be temporarily discontinued. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this. If you do have comments or issues with items we run, please contact dianna@biblicalrecorder.org or call 919-847-2127.) 

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ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Hopefully by now, you know I have a heart for church planters and I want to see the SBC start more Southern Baptist churches. We’ve done several things in my first few months at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) to help give church planting a boost. Budget cuts and staff downsizing are allowing us to put $9 million extra on the field for church planting this year. Next year, I hope it will be $15 million.

In one of my first trips as NAMB president, I visited some of our church planting missionaries in New England. These guys have such a passion and dedication for reaching that part of our nation for Christ. The problem is, just when they start making some progress with their church start, NAMB’s funding runs out.

So one change we are making right away is to give our church planting missionaries a longer “on ramp” as they are starting their church — especially in parts of North America where starting a church is so difficult. That means in some areas we’ll be extending our funding from two years to four years.

In addition, we’re looking at the amount of monthly funding we provide planters. Under our current funding structure, NAMB provides some planters with as little as $200 a month. Obviously, that means planters have to look to other (or many other) sources in order to survive financially. We need to provide more and we are working now to determine a new funding structure that will include higher “minimum” monthly support NAMB will provide.

In developing our new “Send North America” strategy, we want to partner state conventions and churches with regions, cities and individual church plants with whom they want to have a relationship. That means church planters won’t have to spend so much time seeking out and developing supportive relationships with churches and state conventions. We want to do more of that for them.

Those are a few things we have already done. We want to do more to help SBC church planters have maximum impact. I know it’s not all about money. We also just need to make the process of becoming a church planter easier. Right now, we put up too many hoops for planters to jump through. Yes, we need to be sure candidates are solid on doctrinal issues, but we don’t need to make them fill out three different applications with three different entities before they can even be considered as a planter.

We will be working to encourage our existing churches to enlist greater numbers of members to pray for church planters. We also have a dream of seeing many, many more SBC church members serving alongside church planters in short-term and long-term missions settings. Even brief visits or phone calls can be so encouraging to planters who are serving in difficult places.

What else should we be doing? If you are planting a church — or have in the recent past — what would be most helpful to you? I really would value your thoughts and opinions as we try to make NAMB more responsive to and supportive of our church planting missionaries.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Ezell is president of the North American Mission Board. To respond to Ezell’s column, go to http://bit.ly/gF4yKV.)


(SPECIAL NOTE — Thank you for your continued support of the Biblical Recorder site. During this interim period while we are searching for a new Editor/President the comments section will be temporarily discontinued. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this. If you do have comments or issues with items we run, please contact dianna@biblicalrecorder.org or call 919-847-2127.)