Tribute to Leah Moshier

Today I received a newsletter from Katie Guthrie, a student from MCC who is doing a missionary internship at Kulpuhar Children's Home in India. One of the leaders of that Home is Leah Moshier. Leah Moshier and Dolly Chitwood set up this home in the 1950s to meet the need of caring for orphans in India. I met Leah at a summer family camp at New Castle, Colorado. It was a great week with Seth Wilson leading the Bible teaching, Erskine Scates doing the preaching, and Leah Moshier leading the sessions on missions. What is significant about that event in 1957 is that is where I determined to enter the ministry. Leah Moshier, unknowingly, had a part in my decision. She will never know what happened to that 18 year old scrawny boy who gave up a career in engineering and a scholarship to the Colorado School of Mines to attend a tiny Bible College. So I want to salute Leah Moshier, a pioneer in missions who has not yet retired.

World's Largest Churches

While in the Czech Republic I was asked about the world's largest churches. Following is a very interesting article about this very subject.

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DAWN Fridayfax 2004 #36News from around the world
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In this issue: Special report: The World's largest churches

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WorldThe World's largest churchesEven though influence is more important than size today, taking a look at the attendance numbers of the world's largest churches gives an impression of the developments in recent years. Much is changing: churches which had an attendance of 300,000 a decade ago, such as 'Ondas del Luz y Amor' in Buenos Aires, now have 'only' 70,000. Completely new models are popping up, such as the Indian University which became a church, regularly seeing 80,000 people attending. The membership of mega churches fluctuates strongly, so the numbers here are the attendance, not members. Yonggi Cho's church in Seoul claims a membership of 773,000, but an attendance of 'only' 253,000 in the main church and most important satellites. What is church?The church is starting to see itself completely differently ? that is one trend which is growing stronger. It is no longer understood as a single organised fellowship (with a pastor, a building, a programme and a more or less creative name), but as an organic community of Christians in towns and regions, the sum of the members of related house churches, cells, groups and fellowships. This gives the church, as in the times of Acts, a regional instead of denominational identity. "The church in Corinth", Ephesus, Antioch or Jerusalem corresponds today to "The church in Berlin", Boulder, Beijing or Brasilia. Regional house church networks are replacing mega churchesSuch regional churches are not led by a 'Senior Pastor', but by regional teams, generally formed by the coalescing of the fivefold ministry. It is very noticeable that the traditional pastoral ministry tends not to play the key role, but rather people with an apostolic or prophetic gifting, as hinted at in 1. Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 2:20. Christian community and unity is formed by belonging to the same region or town; unity is lived out in networked house churches and large celebrations, or at least in leaders' meetings in places where Christians are heavily persecuted. One of the smaller(!) house church networks in southern China has an attendance of 400,000, larger networks number several million. The twenty largest regional (not national) house church networks in China, Vietnam and northern India would completely change the list below. For security reasons, we cannot publish any names or other details, with the exception of V. Choudhrie in India, because most if not all such large regional house church networks exist in nations which persecute or repress Christians. They generally belong to the group which missiologist Prof. David Barrett calls 'Crypto-Christians' -- underground Christianity. We believe that there are around twenty regional house church networks around the globe with an attendance of over 250,000. Hence, the list below starts with the world's previously largest known church, the Yoido Full Gospel Church, ranked 21st. Which are today's trend-setting nations?These developments started outside the West (North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand), so many Western pastors and Christian leaders find it difficult to take seriously. Many still understand the West to be the centre of Christianity, as in 1700, from which missionaries are sent out to complete the Great Commission. Traditionally, the USA, Britain or Germany have been the trend-setting nations in the church. That is where the influential publishing houses have their headquarters; the overwhelming majority of Christian conference speakers, authors, seminars and concepts for pastor training originate there, but is seems that many are asking "What good thing can come out of Vietnam, Northern India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Honduras, Trinidad or Argentina?" And yet exactly these -- and other non-Western nations -- are home to the most important trends in missionary Christianity. Are we listening? What about the USA?Up until now, megachurches were a typically American phenomenon. It is striking, then, that not one of the world's forty largest churches is in the USA or another Western nation. The really significant church growth is taking place basically outside the West. The Washington Post recently published a study by church researcher John N. Vaughn revealing 840 mega churches in the USA, with a weekly attendance of over 2,000 (figures of 13th May 2004). The top 5 are:

Leader Church Average attendance J. Osteen Lakewood Church, Houston, Texas 25,060
Creflo Dollar World Changers, College Park, GA. 23,093
Rick Warren Saddleback Community Church, Lake Forrest, CA 20,100
T.D. Jakes The Potters House, Dallas 18,500
Ed Young Fellowship Church, Grapevine, Texas 18,129

The world's largest churchesRank Leader Church Average attendance

21. Yonggi Cho Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea 253,000
22. Dijon Roberts Works and Mission Baptists Church, Abidjan, Ivory Coast 150,000
23. Javier Vasquez Yotabeche Methodist P. Church, Santiago, Chile 150,000
24. C. Castellanos Mision Carismatica Internacional, Bogotá, Colombia 150,000
25. William Kumuyi Deeper Life Bible Church, Lagos, Nigeria 120,000
26. Mario Vega Elim Church, San Salvador, El Salvador 117,000
27. Nambu Full Gospel, Seoul, Korea 110,000
28. Yong Mok Cho AOG Grace and Truth, Kyanggi-do, Korea 105,000
29. Hong do Kim Kum Ran Methodist, Seoul, Korea 80,000
30. Omar Cabrera Vision de Futuro, Santa Fe, Argentina 70,000
31. Hector Gimenez Ondas del Luz, Buenos Aires, Argentina 70,000
32. Pastor Oh Young Nak Presbyterian Church, S. Korea 60,000
33. David Oyedepa Winners Chapel, Ota, Nigeria 50,000
34. R.B. Lal Yesu Darbar, Allahabad Agricultural Institute, India 40,000-80,000
35. Yi Hoon-Moon Soong Eui Methodist, Inchon, Korea 47,000
36. Misael Argenal Ministeria La Cosecha, San Pedro Sula, Honduras 35,000
37. V. Choudhrie Chattisgarh/Madhya Pradesh House Church Network, India 30,000
Source: Wolfgang Simson

This Web version of the DAWN Fridayfax is maintained by the Jesus Fellowship Church (Jesus Army) as a service to the Christian church. Please visit our web pages which feature the e-zine Streetpaper and its special Revival section.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Text © DAWN Europe. Redistribution is explicitly allowed as long as the copyright remains intact with the text. Editor: Wolfgang Simson. The Fridayfax is also available by email. These web pages are copyright © 2004 Jesus Fellowship Church (Jesus Army) in this form. Webmaster: John Campbell

Paddocks in Omaha

Arletta and I during spring break of 2007 on a visit to Omaha Nebraska. The picture is in front of an old castle in Omaha. Our bed and breakfast was next door.

First Sunday back home

Yesterday we enjoyed another rainstorm. We have had so much rain this year that it has seldom been necessary to water the lawn. The rain ought to be good for the crops. The dogs were not excited about going out in the rain.

Church attendance was very low. We are still in the recovery mode of the departure of our associate minister. Nevertheless, we had a great service in spite of the low attendance. Melissa Boutz had invited Alice Guzman and Cassidy Delmonicho from Youth For Christ to present their work. Both young ladies did a fine job of telling about this important ministry to youth in the Manhattan area. Alice told about being a teen mom who was kicked out by her parents and eventually marrying the child's father. She spoke of the large number of teens in this situation and their desperate search for someone to help them, especially after the child is born. So the Teen MOPS program was started to help these girls.

Disheartening in Cassidy's report was the varieties of evil that young people are involved in—cutting, illicit sex, drugs, etc. Many of these things are acts of desperation to try to find either satisfaction in life or acceptance by their peers. YFC is trying to reach out to these young people and show them an alternative lifestyle.

Earlier this year I purchased one of the pews out of the old Joliffe Hall chapel. John May helped me get it home. Arletta and I packed it into my office and then the question was raised, "Where do we put this thing?" I have always wanted a church pew in my home, so now I have one. The pew sat in an awkward place for about a month because right after I got it, I left for the Czech Republic. Arletta came up with an excellent plan to incorporate the pew into my office. We spent Sunday afternoon reorganizing the office. I think it looks great.

Church Humor

In the July/August copy of Today's Christian, p. 13, the following bits of humor appeared.

EXTREME WORSHIP
My husband is the pastor at our church, and he often calls on different members to lead the congregation in prayer. One man, being asked to pray, was nervously trying to thank God for our ability to come together for corporate worship. Instead, getting tongue tied, he prayed, "Thank you for this time of corporal punishment."

CALL THE EPA
My church held a baptism service at a local lake, and I decided it would be a great opportunity to publicly declare my faith in Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the lake was crowded. As the pastor led me into the water, I jokingly whispered to him that my impurities would rise to the top and pollute the lake. He laughed and shook his head as he lowered me into the water. One week later, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when a headline in the local newspaper announced: "Lake closed because of pollutants!"

We would want to play at this point Randy Travis' song, "Pray for the Fish." If you haven't heard it, then you need to do so.

Archaeology proves Bible to be true again

Compiled by Ted Olsen posted 7/12/2007 03:23PM
1. Nebuchadnezzar official mentioned on newly deciphered cuneiform tablet"The British Museum [Wednesday] hailed a discovery within a modest clay tablet in its collection as a breakthrough for biblical archaeology—dramatic proof of the accuracy of the Old Testament," says the London Times.
The Telegraph likewise reports: "Michael Jursa … made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact."
What Jursa found was this inscription, on one of the 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets housed in the British Museum:
(Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
In other words, chief eunuch Nebo-Sarsekim gave gold to the Temple of Esangila. Not impressed? Here's Jeremiah 39:3 (NIV):
Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon.
The British Museum's Irving Finkel told the Times, "A mundane commercial transaction takes its place as a primary witness to one of the turning points in Old Testament history. This is a tablet that deserves to be famous."
Likewise, he told The Telegraph: "This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find. If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."
Bible scholar and blogger Jim West isn't so sure. "I'm not really sure why a cylinder naming Nebo-Sarsekim is big news at all. No one has ever argued that there was no Babylonian of that name," he wrote on his blog. "The artifact demonstrates the use by the biblical authors of archival materials gleaned from contacts with those archives. But even this is not 'proof' of the biblical narrative."
Peter Kirk gloats over at TNIV Truth, noting that Nebo-Sarsekim is named only in NIV, TNIV and NLT translations of Jeremiah 39:3. "For once we have clear and new archaeological evidence that TNIV is more accurate than ESV," he writes.