pages 11-15
Northwest Edition Vol. 21, No. 11
November 2011
Christian Higher Education Guide www.christianexaminer.com
Chuck Colson
Book Review
Young adults struggle with what to believe in a post-modern world
Freedom, Schmeedom: Religious liberty on trial
Author wants to help readers gain a transformed prayer life
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FREE
Our Faith
Reconciling differences Shoeboxes change lives through Seattle Pacific University’s John Perkins Center offers support
Operation Christmas Child
By Jennifer Ferrero
By Elizabeth Griffin
SEATTLE — We have heard the call to love one another from the Bible and in our Sunday school classes. But in practice, through a division in politics and cultures in the U.S., we are a divided nation. The John Perkins Center (Center) at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) aims to create reconciliation between people through partnerships, community engagement and communication. Reconciliation can be tough to grasp, although throughout Christian universities in America, the concept is becoming mainstream, according to Center Director Tali Hairston. In the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.” By definition, reconciliation means to settle differences and to become friendly with someone af-
TACOMA — Two little boys of the same age were lying side by side in hospital beds in the Philippines, recuperating from cancer treatment. One had lost his left leg and the other his right leg, and in the hospital they had become friends. One day, two shoeboxes arrived from Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a division of Samaritan’s Purse that delivers shoeboxes filled with presents, along with the gospel message, to needy children in more than 120 countries around the world each Christmas. The person who gave the boxes to the boys explained that the boxes were gifts from people who loved them and wanted them to know that God cares. As the boys opened their boxes, the first one cried out in delight as he saw a pair of shoes. He was so excited because he thought he would never have new shoes in his entire life. Then he realized that he couldn’t use both of them. The second boy opened his box and pulled out a pair of socks. Looking at each other with big grins, they traded one sock for one shoe. Both boys were beside themselves with excitement because they now each had a sock and a shoe for the one foot they had. “We rarely see shoes in the boxes, so the fact that this happened is really a big deal,” said
Dr. John Perkins, 80, visits Seattle Pacific University for a week each year for lectures, sermons and interaction with the Seattle community.
ter an estrangement or altercation. At the Center, the idea of reconciliation is more a practice of “living in the Kingdom of God,” Hairston said. He noted they are very proud of their efforts to create a university See PERKINS, page 3
Nearly 500 pastors challenge IRS with Pulpit Freedom sermons By Lori Arnold PHOENIX, Ariz. — Nine Washington state churches participated in the national Pulpit Freedom Sunday campaign challenging IRS restrictions on what pastors can say from the pulpit. In all, more than 475 churches nationwide registered for the event, held Oct. 2. The showing was nearly a five-fold increase from the previous year. The pastors represented 46 states and Puerto Rico.
Jim Garlow, chairman of the national Renewing American Leadership and one of the supporters of the event, said pastors “were really pumped up” on a post-event conference call. “The response of the congregations was really encouraging,” he said. “Pastors reported being interrupted with applause and in some cases they had standing ovations. We just didn’t anticipate that.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
See SHOEBOXES, page 19
A little girl in the Solomon Islands receives a shoebox full of presents through Operation Christmas Child.
See IRS CHALLENGE, page 2
Missionary son recounts story of death—and new life By Gail Wood ENUMCLAW — Matt McCully put his arm around the man who had killed his father and smiled for the picture. It’s a photo of forgiveness and mercy. Over 50 years ago, McCully’s father and four other missionaries were brutally killed by the Waodani Indians in a remote Ecuadorian jungle. McCully has returned to the very beach where the massacre occurred and listened to Mincaye, the man who drove the fatal spear into Ed McCully’s body, tell what happened that tragic day. “My whole life I felt this need to know exactly what happened that day,” said McCully, who now lives in
a small logging town in southwest Washington. “To hear him tell what happened was overwhelming.” McCully’s mother was eight months pregnant with him in 1956 when five American missionaries made camp along the Curaray River, a few miles from the Waodanis, at the time a warring and primitive tribe. “I call it a wonderful, terrible place,” McCully said about the site where his father was killed. Terrible because of the tragic deaths. Wonderful because of the lives that were changed. The death of the five missionaries—Ed McCully, Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming and Roger Youderian—drew national attenSee ECUADOR, page 9
Matt McCully, whose father was martyred in Ecuador more than 50 years ago, visits the Waodani village where his father and four other missionaries were killed by natives who have since become Christians.
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