From the Assemblies of God New Service

** BIBLE SCHOOL TRAINING BEGINS - Apr 30, 2004

   Sixty-three students attended the first two weeks of classes at
   Baghdad Bible School in Iraq's capital city in February. Most of
   them are university and post-university students eager to study
   God's Word in preparation for ministry.

   Three U.S. A/G missionaries and a Jordanian Assemblies of God
   pastor taught the classes. The landmark venture is believed to be
   the first Pentecostal Bible school to exist in Iraq.

   The nonresidential Bible school is a joint effort of the Middle
   East/North Africa area of U.S. A/G World Missions and Global
   University, which is providing the core curriculum. Initial
   courses taught in February focused on principles of Christian
   life, discipleship, university ministry and the Holy Spirit.

   Classes at Baghdad Bible School will be taught in modules rather
   than the traditional semester or quarter model. A one-week module
   has been taught each month. During the summer, a four- to six-week
   session will be offered.

   The school relocated to a permanent facility March 1.

   -- Today's Pentecostal Evangel
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** MAN IN WHEELCHAIR SAVES ELDERLY NEIGHBOR FROM BURNING APARTMENT
   - Apr 28, 2004

   John Phillips, a member of First Assembly of God in Princeton,
   Missouri, earned the title of "hero" Sunday, April 18, 2004, for
   averting what one local fire official said would have been certain
   tragedy at National Benevolent Association (NBA) Oakwood Terrace,
   a 35-unit apartment building in Princeton. Though multiple
   sclerosis forces him to rely on a wheelchair for mobility most of
   the time, quick reactions enabled the 52-year-old to save the life
   of his 96-year-old neighbor, Leta Hamilton.

   Events began as Phillips was moving toward the elevator shortly
   before 9 a.m. He was looking forward to morning services at First
   A/G (Everett Smith, pastor) in Princeton, a small farming
   community of 1,200 two hours east of Kansas City. His plans
   changed, however, when he heard the unmistakable, high-pitched
   sound of a smoke detector.

   Because many of his 28 neighbors are hearing impaired and some
   sleep late in the morning, he knew he had to act quickly to warn
   them of the emergency.

   Phillips tackled this emergency in much the same manner as he
   tackles the challenges of living with multiple sclerosis since
   1984. Methodically, first calling 911, then going door to door.

   "(There were) seven doors before I got to hers," he said,
   explaining that he put his ear up to each door along the way,
   listening for the sound of the activated smoke detector.

   When he reached the apartment door where the sound was the
   loudest, he stopped. When a knock on the door produced no
   response, Phillips turned the doorknob. Fortunately, the door was
   unlocked so he could enter the apartment.

   Upon opening the door, he was met by clouds of thick, rolling
   black smoke.

   "I couldn't see six inches in front of me," he said. Luckily, he
   had been inside this apartment before, helping the lady everyone
   calls "Grandma" replace a light bulb in her reading lamp. Memory
   of that visit enabled him to recall where her recliner was located
   and, therefore, where he was likely to find her.

   "I just ducked down as low as I could in my wheelchair and kind of
   laid my belly down on my legs and went over there to the chair,"
   he explained.

   Phillips said he found Hamilton asleep in the recliner and told
   her to wake up and get out because there was a fire.

   Though his arrival startled her a bit, she had the presence of
   mind to recognize the smoke, know something was very wrong and go
   with her rescuer.

   "We kind of stumbled around a little bit" at first, he said. "Once
   we got her out in the hall, we were all right."

   Neighbor Rosalie Wright, who was serving as hall monitor, ensured
   Hamilton made it to safety outside the building while Phillips
   continued his work inside.

   Wheeling door to door, Phillips did all he could to alert other
   residents and ensure all made it to safety. Only then did he exit
   the building.

   Within minutes, volunteers from the Mercer County Fire Protection
   District arrived to put out the fire and administer oxygen to
   Phillips.

   Though the cause of the fire remains under investigation,
   according to Chief Tom Delameter, prior planning on the part of
   CEO Judy Coffman, the staff and residents at NBA Oakwood Terrace
   played a big part in averting tragedy.

   "Judy's been good to work with us," the fire chief said. "We had
   floor plans of the building on hand, we've done tours of the
   building and pretty much know where everything is. Everything went
   well."

   Within hours of the fire, all except Hamilton were able to move
   back into their apartments.

   From her temporary residence at a nearby senior care facility,
   Hamilton expressed high praise for Phillips during a phone
   interview.

   "John woke us all up and got us out," she said. "We all think a
   lot of John. Everyone likes John."

   Hamilton's daughter, Annis Grooms, shared her mother's
   appreciation for Phillips.

   "We all went to thank him [Sunday], and he kind of tried to brush
   it off," she said.

   He will not, however, be able to brush off an advertisement the
   family is placing in the local newspaper, thanking Phillips for
   risking his own life to save their mother.

   -- Bob McCarty, National Benevolent Association
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** ASSEMBLIES OF GOD BIBLE SCHOOL OPENS IN FORMER COMMUNIST
STRONGHOLD - Apr 23, 2004

   Elvis Cenko and Adriana (Ana) Shala are among 19 students enrolled
   at Evangelical Theological College, the first Assemblies of God
   Bible school established in Albania. ETC started classes last fall
   in Tirana, the nation's capital.

   Cenko, 25, accepted Christ as Savior in 1992 after receiving a
   Bible and hearing the gospel through a local Pentecostal church.
   Cenko grew quickly in his faith and served as youth leader in an
   A/G church in Tirana.

   Acknowledging God's call on his life, he enrolled in Bible courses
   through Global University. After graduating from a university in
   Central Eurasia, he returned to Albania and became associate
   pastor at an A/G church in Fushe Kruja, a town outside Tirana. The
   church installed him as pastor in May 2003. "I want to study the
   Word of God at ETC so I can be better equipped to serve God and
   His church," Cenko says.

   Shala first learned about Jesus through a vision. Although she
   didn't know who He was, she began praying to Him. A short time
   later she heard the gospel preached, realized it was Jesus she had
   seen in the vision and accepted Him as Lord of her life. She
   joined a group of believers in her hometown and grew in her faith.
   Today she serves as director of the children's and worship
   ministries in an A/G church.

   "When we first mentioned the idea of starting a Bible school a few
   years ago," says Kurt Plagenhoef, U.S. A/G missionary to Albania,
   "Ana was the first one to say she wanted to attend."

   For more than four decades religion was outlawed in Albania. In
   1946, soon after communist dictator Enver Hoxha seized power, all
   missionaries were expelled. In 1967, Hoxha declared Albania the
   world's first officially atheistic state and ordered all mosques
   and churches either closed or destroyed. For many years Albania
   was isolated from the rest of the world.

   After the breakup of communism across Eastern Europe in 1991, the
   first A/G resident missionaries were allowed entrance into
   Albania. "At that time no evangelical church existed," Plagenhoef
   says. "It has been a process of literally laying the foundation
   and building a national church from ground zero." In 1998 Albanian
   voters passed a referendum on a new constitution that guarantees
   freedom to worship, evangelize and convert to other faiths.

   In conjunction with the Bible school's opening, the Albania
   Assemblies of God was officially formed and received registration
   last October. The Fellowship currently numbers 800 believers,
   seven churches and six pastors. Less than one-half of one percent
   of Albania's 3.5 million people are evangelical believers.

   "The Lord has given us a united vision for the church in Albania,
   and we are excited about what He will do through us together,"
   Plagenhoef says. "Many cities and hundreds of villages in Albania
   are still unreached. We believe ETC is a key to accelerating and
   multiplying the church here."

   ETC offers a two-year program with classes taught by an
   eight-member team of instructors from four nations. With little
   theological material available in Albanian, the new Fellowship is
   committed to translating a two-year curriculum, consisting mostly
   of Global University college-level courses. Land has been
   purchased and plans are in progress to build an educational
   building and dormitory within two years as funds are available.

   -- Janet Walker, Today's Pentecostal Evangel
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** LISTENING, BEING: A HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN'S MINISTRY - Apr 19, 2004

   The faint beeping of little, day-old Jane's* heart monitor was the
   only outward indication that she was fighting to live. Born two
   months premature, Jane suffered from multiple complications that
   developed in the womb, and was now sustained only by life-support.
   Jane had little in her favor, and she was losing her battle. The
   doctors in the neonatal unit of Riley Children's Hospital in
   Indianapolis gave Jane's parents the heart-breaking prognosis.

   Douglas Kizer, 39, chaplain for Riley hospital, and minister of
   pastoral care for Faith Assembly of God (Anderson, Indiana) was
   called in to be with Jane and her family. While visiting with
   them, he offered words of comfort and led in prayer.

   "We were able to pray together and to commit the coming minutes
   and hours and days ahead to God, and to invite Him into that
   [intensive care unit]," Kizer said. "To invite Him into that
   family's pain, and grief, and invite his wisdom to be with them in
   their understanding of what was going on and what was the best
   thing to do."

   The doctors recommended discontinuing life-support. Wracked with
   grief, the family consented. Kizer was asked to be present in the
   neonatal unit while life-support was removed. After it was over,
   he stood with the grieving parents, holding Jane.

   "I held [Jane] in my arms and we prayed, and just committed her
   soul unto God," Kizer said. "As David said of his child, 'He will
   not come back to me, but I will go to him.' We left the family
   with that hope, that through Jesus they will be able to be
   reunited with this little one again."

   Prior to becoming a chaplain, Kizer served for almost 17 years
   with the Delaware County Emergency Medical Service, the Sheriff's
   Department, and later, the Yorktown Police Department in Indiana.
   He felt a call to full-time ministry and began studying Berean
   School of the Bible courses through Global University. He
   completed the certified minister's courses while doing hospital
   ministry and policing concurrently.

   In 1997, Kizer became a certified minister and joined the staff of
   Faith Assembly. In May 2000, he finished the Berean courses. He
   quit policing and was ordained in October 2002. However, he stayed
   on with the Delaware County's police department as senior
   chaplain.

   Kizer spends one day a week at Riley. He goes from room to room,
   visiting patients and ministering where doors open. Many of
   Riley's patients are chronically ill and hospital stays are a fact
   of life. Kizer discovered that the most helpful and effective way
   to minister to the sick and injured can simply be to listen.

   "I find that sometimes, people are healed by the laying on of
   ears," Kizer said. "Sometimes there is healing in our listening to
   people, and being with people and holding a hand."

   According to Kizer, Berean courses and his subsequent
   credentialing have opened the doors for him to ministry in his
   church, the police department and the children's hospital. "I
   don't see that my credentialing would have ever happened had it
   not been for Berean," Kizer said.

   Go to their website for more information abou Global University and Berean School of
   the Bible.

   *Name changed.

   -- Dan Kersten
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** RIDERS FEEL AT HOME IN ORLANDO SANCTUARY - Apr 15, 2004

   Visit Faith Assembly of God in Orlando, Florida, any given Sunday
   and you could mistake the church for a biker's rally. Upon
   entering the parking lot, you'll probably see about a dozen
   Harleys and Hondas parked in motorcycle-only spaces.

   Inside the church, don't be surprised to see several dozen bikers
   dressed in blue jeans, boots, T-shirts and leather vests
   worshiping together in a balcony section of the sanctuary.

   These are just some of the ways Faith A/G makes welcome about 40
   bikers and motorcycle enthusiasts. The 3,500-strong congregation
   integrated "a bikers' church" a year ago.

   For seven years prior to that, Scott Bush and his wife, Sally,
   pastored the bikers' church from their home. The small, informal
   congregation is the result of Bush's evangelistic efforts at
   regional bikers' bars and biker events. Bush, 43, says he had been
   praying about integrating the church within a more traditional
   congregation. "At the same time, I had friends who heard Pastor
   Carl Stephens share in one of the services that he would like to
   have a motorcycle ministry at Faith," Bush says. "It was a perfect
   situation."

   Stephens, Faith's senior pastor for 17 years, agrees.

   "There was tremendous excitement on their part regarding the
   blending of their ministry," Stephens, 49, says. "Our church
   absolutely embraced them."

   Bush is now a part-time associate pastor at Faith and in charge of
   the motorcycle ministry, dubbed Wheels of Faith. "God is blessing
   the union because they were so open to welcoming the bikers no
   matter what they looked like," Bush says. "The bikers are not
   looked down upon."

   Enrique "T.K." Herrera, a 41-year-old biker who had a 10-year
   cocaine addiction that cost him a $400,000 construction business,
   $250,000 home, $25,000 Harley and his marriage, has known Bush
   for years.

   Herrera's addiction became so overwhelming last year that he
   contemplated suicide. But at the urging of his daughter, who
   attends Faith Assembly, he decided to hear Teen Challenge founder
   David Wilkerson in February at the church. Herrera went forward
   during the altar call.

   "I came out of there with such peace and tranquility," explains
   Herrera, who says God has delivered him from drugs. "I've been
   going every time there's a service. I can't get enough of it."

   Herrera says he's grateful for Bush's bikers' ministry. "The
   people they're reaching out to are the farthest from the Lord," he
   explains. "I was one of them. I wouldn't be where I'm at today if
   it wasn't for Scott and the bikers' ministry."

   -- Eric Tiansay, Today's Pentecostal Evangel

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** WOMEN ON SCREEN INCREASINGLY PORTRAYED AS VIOLENT - Apr 5, 2004

   Rough-talking, badge-wearing, gun-wielding women are hunting down
   bad guys on broadcast television with glee. Hard-as-nails women
   such as the eponymous federal marshal in Karen Sisco and Paige Van
   Doren, a vengeful FBI trainee in "Line of Fire," are giving a new
   gender twist to prime-time cop shows. Experts believe the influx
   of violent women on network television is an attempt to compete
   with violent fare on premium cable shows. But the fallout for
   children concerns family advocates.

   Such load-and-fire females contribute to a continuing increase in
   TV violence, according to the Parents Television Council, a media
   watchdog organization that recorded its highest levels of
   televised violence ever in November. "In both quantity and quality
   it's getting worse," says PTC founder Brent Bozell.

   Meanwhile, on the big screen, two recent films featured
   law-breaking angry women and buckets of fake blood. In "Kill Bill:
   Vol. 1," Uma Thurman played "the Bride," a woman who wreaks
   gruesome retribution after her fianc� is killed. The motion
   picture grossed more than $69 million domestically, and producers
   had already planned its sequel in anticipation of its success. In
   "Monster," actress Charlize Theron portrays Aileen Wuornos, a
   real-life victim of sexual abuse who worked as a prostitute before
   murdering seven men.

   Violent women have been a standard feature of popular
   entertainment for years, as 1940s films such as Samson and Delilah
   and Caesar and Cleopatra demonstrate. But the trend of depicting
   violent women seems to grow every decade, ranging from a spurned
   partner out for blood in 1987's "Fatal Attraction" to a pair of
   violent friends in 1991's "Thelma & Louise."

   The latest depictions of women vary from the established
   entertainment mold in that the characters lack a softer side
   usually associated with femininity. In some cases the women have
   no redeeming qualities. Are these images of violent women
   mirroring the new reality or are they an attempt to alter the
   perception of what is permissible behavior?

   Author and media expert Quentin Schultze of Grand Rapids,
   Michigan, sees today's violent female characters as a desperate
   but ultimately doomed attempt to achieve better ratings or a
   bigger box office. He believes the depiction of women both as evil
   themselves and as heroines who use violence to save themselves --
   and sometimes men -- is a new phenomenon.

   "There is little evidence that this recent development will be
   successful in the marketplace," Schultze says. "Entertainment
   writers are trying all kinds of new angles to compete in a market
   swamped by stories."

   Schultze's latest book, "Christianity and the Mass Media in
   America," argues that new portrayals of women may represent the
   media's attempts to develop new approaches to an old problem:
   wickedness.

   "Since Americans don't like stories that express evil as inherent
   in the human condition, the media tend to 'embody' evil in
   particular kinds of people," Schultze declares. "That way, evil
   can be more or less eliminated in stories as these evil persons
   are killed or imprisoned. The newer, female expressions of evil
   might suggest that the 'liberation' of women in society now sets
   them up for culpability, too."

   Police arrest and incarceration statistics indeed show that
   real-life American women are growing more violent. While overall
   U.S. crime rates decreased during the past decade, the number of
   women arrested rose 14.1 percent. In the same span, the number of
   men arrested dropped 5.9 percent. In addition, the number of women
   in state and federal prisons jumped 121 percent from 1990 to 2002,
   to 97,491 inmates.

   On screen, an increasing number of killers are being portrayed as
   sympathetic heroines. Wuornos, the subject of both the new film
   "Monster" and an earlier documentary, "Aileen: Life and Death of a
   Serial Killer," was executed in 2002. The new movie tells how an
   exploited prostitute turned into a raging killer.

   Joan Ridgely, director of the Healthy Family Center, a Christian
   counseling center in Springfield, Missouri, says contemporary
   media fictions may mirror real-life tragedies. Ridgely says the
   new image of women in media -- where female characters are
   increasingly saving themselves and the world from malevolent men
   instead of passively waiting on moral males to save them --
   reflects society's willingness to confront touchy topics such as
   domestic abuse.

   "In our society, it is now becoming less hidden and we are dealing
   with the consequences more openly," she says. "Unfortunately, our
   children are being taught in many different ways that violence is
   more acceptable. It is the expression of rage and anger. Our
   children are being fed a diet of violence in television and video
   games." Ridgely thinks the response to violent entertainment
   begins not with tirades against Hollywood but a greater emphasis
   on better parenting.

   "Parents are using the media as a way to entertain their children
   because dads and moms are stressed, tired, overworked or just
   don't care," she says. "And when children are allowed to follow
   the trends, listen to the lyrics of rock music and watch violent
   videos by artists like Eminem and Marilyn Manson, these things
   become almost addictive. If parents aren't teaching it or paying
   attention, it won't matter what the pastor or youth pastor says."

   Schultze agrees, but says all Christians can play a role in
   creating a less violent culture.

   "Evil and violence are part of the human condition in a fallen
   world, but we can't save ourselves by destroying others," he says.
   "Pulling women into the same violence-makes-progress attitude that
   engulfs males is hardly real progress. Our task is to be agents of
   peace who console and encourage others -- both male and female."

   -- Steve Rabey, Today's Pentecostal Evangel

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