Vol. 34, No. 8
August 2012
www.christianexaminer.com
John Piper
Culture
Crossroads Chapel continues ministry at the State Fair
Proven weapons in the fight for holiness
Dobson and son team up to update 1978 parenting film series
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40 Days for Life campaign gearing up for September launch
FREE
State Fair
On a Mission
Pro-life movement has spread across country and overseas By Scott Noble SAINT PAUL — For the past five years, pro-life supporters and activists across the country—and now around the world—have spent two coordinated time periods each year in fasting and prayer against abortion. The campaign 40 Days for Life has spread from one small community in Texas to more than 400 cities across the U.S. and Canada and cities in more than a dozen countries. According to the 40 Days for Life website, in 2004 a small pro-life group was discouraged about the number of abortions in the Bryan/College Station, Texas area. After praying about
what God would have them do, the group believes He gave them the 40 Days for Life campaign. The idea soon gained life, and the initiative began to grow slowly. After a few years, however, it caught on as others around the country heard about the effort—and it went national in 2007. The several-weeks long campaign takes place twice a year: in the spring during Lent and during the fall. More than 15,000 church congregations have since participated, and a reported 5,928 lives have been spared as a result of the campaign. The peaceful effort has three See 40 DAYS, page 10
The heart and soul of Bethany—missions work—is never far from the hearts and minds of students on campus.
Bethany Fellowship’s nearly 70-year legacy helps fulfill the Great Commission By Delores Topliff
PRO-LIFE ACTION MINISTRIES
40 Days for LIfe program director Brian Walker speaks at a recent 40 Days for Life event. INDEX
BLOOMINGTON — At the end of World War II, five Minnesota families, members of Bethany Chapel (now Bethany Church), committed themselves to listen to God and do what He said. Their subsequent steps included patterns seldom seen since the early church that continue producing great results today. Seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus, the original families founded Bethany Fellowship in 1945, giving all they had to embrace Christian life and support the unfinished task of world missions. To reduce individual family expenses, they pooled resources
to buy a common residence, where they could live, worship and pursue their goals together. They sold individual homes and combined belongings to support the organization. Community involvement decreased the work and expenses required to maintain separate households so that more time and money went directly into missions. The Fellowship’s first headquarters was the large Minneapolis residence called “Bethany House.” They quickly expanded and in 1946 purchased the 62.5 acre farm in Bloomington, Minn., that is still their base of operations. Six leaders have headed the
Christian Examiner staff report
Calendar .......................... 17 Community Briefs......... 18-19
Professional Service Directory .......................... 19 Classifieds ....................... 20
Book Review ..................... 22
See BETHANY, page 2
Polls continue to show strong support for marriage amendment
Editor’s Note ...................... 6 Commentary.................... 6-7
Fellowship since 1945. Their first Pastor-leader, Ted Hegre, initiated a challenge to prepare and send 100 missionaries throughout the world from their gathering of 22 people. To meet that challenge, Bethany established their College of Missions (BCOM) in 1948. Graduates of what was then Bethany Fellowship Missionary Training Center partnered with various sending agencies. In 1963, Bethany Fellowship Missions (now Bethany International Ministries) initially began in Brazil establishing a Bible school, church planting work, publishing house and
TWIN CITIES — A new SurveyUSA/ KSTP poll released in mid-July shows 52 percent of likely Minnesota voters in support of the state’s marriage amendment, which would define marriage as between one man and one woman. Thirty-seven percent of those polled do not support the amendment, while six percent were unsure and five percent would not vote. John Helmberger, chairman of Minnesota for Marriage, a group supporting the constitutional amendment, said the poll demonstrates “consistent, solid support” for the amendment. “This shows what we’ve always believed: our opponents have the cultural elite, wealthy contributors and editorial writers, but we have voters on our side,” he said, via a media release. “We are particularly
pleased with the lead the amendment enjoys among Independent voters and the large percentage of Democratic voters who support the amendment.” While the latest poll shows strong support for the amendment, other polls over the past six months have demonstrated varied results.
“While we are very encouraged that our hard work over the past year to explain the amendment to Minnesotans has resulted in a 15-point lead, we have a lot of work to do,” Helmberger continued. “We look forward to continuing to work with Minnesotans all the way to the November election and making Minnesota the 32nd state to pass a
marriage protection amendment.” In addition, Minnesota for Marriage released its latest finance report in mid-July, which showed that the group raised more than $620,000 from Jan. 1 through July 10. More than 68,000 people have contributed to the effort. “We are pleased with our fundraising efforts so far, especially with the increase in the number of new small- to mid-sized donors,” said Helmberger. “We have always said that we expect to be outspent in this campaign, but we are in a very good position to raise the funds we need to get the job done.” For more information on the SurveyUSA/KSTP poll, visit www. surveyusa.com. For more information about Minnesota for Marriage, visit www.minnesotaformarriage.com.