c. 1997 Religion News Service
Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman evangelizes at students’ funeral
(RNS) Contemporary Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman, a 1981 graduate of Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky., took on the role of an evangelist and encouraged Christian conversions at the end of emotional funeral services Friday (Dec. 5) for victims of a shooting at the high school.
Chapman returned home earlier in the week to attend prayer services on Monday, the day on which three students were killed as they ended their informal prayer meeting in the crowded school lobby.
He spoke and performed two songs at the joint funeral service Friday for the three victims _ Kayce Steger, 15, Jessica James, 17, and Nicole Hadley, 14.
Chapman performed the songs “Not Home Yet” and “Friends” at Bible Baptist Church, one of the area’s largest Baptist churches, which was filled with flowers, students and three caskets covered with written remembrances of the three girls.
After singing the second song near the close of the service, Chapman gave an invitation to the Christian faith and urged people at the service and watching on television to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus.
“If you’ve never acknowledged your need for God, if you’re still trying to be God of your life, maybe God will use this time, this shock wave of reality that this life on earth is not forever,” Chapman said.
Earlier in the service, Chapman spoke of his belief that the victims were in heaven.
“I never had the opportunity of meeting Kayce or Jessica or Nicole, but I got to tell you … I cannot wait to meet them. I cannot wait to celebrate their home with them,” he said.
Ben Strong, the prayer group leader, opened the service with similar sentiments.
“They’re in heaven,” he said. “I can imagine them sitting up thereâÂ?¦ asking us, `Don’t cry because I’m in a better place.’ They just got there a little bit sooner than the rest of us.”
Strong added, “We can’t let them die in vain. In a sense, they died for what they believe in.”
Michael Carneal, 14, has been charged with murder, attempted murder and burglary in the case and authorities are continuing their investigation, the Associated Press reported.
In a related matter, a national organization that works with churches to foster Christian student activity on school campuses, is seeking students who will write letters of encouragement to the families of those who were slain and other members of their prayer group.
“They need to know these students did not die in vain, but their sacrifice may fuel the fire of revival on campuses all across America,” wrote Benny Proffitt, founder and president of First Priority of America, based in Franklin Tenn.
Linda Cates, Proffitt’s administrative assistant, said First Priority sought the letters in response to a request from a youth minister in Paducah.
(Eds.: First Priority’s address is First Priority of America, P.O. Box 681119, Franklin, Tenn. 37068-1119).
Revisions made in controversial NIV Bible adaptation
(RNS) The International Bible Society, the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based evangelical agency, has announced it has completed revisions to a Bible for children addressing recent concerns about biblical language relating to gender.
The New International Reader’s Version (NIrV) is an adaptation of the society’s popular New International Version (NIV) Bible designed for children and people for whom English is a second language. The updated adaptation, scheduled for commercial release in August 1998, uses gender language in the same way that the NIV does.
For example, Genesis 1:27 reads in the original version: “So God created human beings in his own likeness. He created them in the likeness of God.” The revised version reads: “So God created man in his own likeness. He created him in the likeness of God.”
The Bible society agreed to make the changes earlier this year after a controversy erupted over the proposed use of gender-accurate language in the NIV. The society’s plan to substitute gender-neutral words, such as people, for gender-specific words, such as mankind were canceled after it received intense pressure from conservative evangelical Christians.
The gender-related revisions were overseen by a team that included professors from seminaries of the Assemblies of God and the Southern Baptist Convention, two of the denominations who expressed concern about the original NIrV, the society said in a statement.
Abortion rate down, Catholic bishops see opposition as a reason
(RNS) The Atlanta-based federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday (Dec. 4) the rate at which American women received abortions dropped again in 1995, putting the abortion rate at its lowest level in two decades.
While experts disagreed on the reasons for the drop, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops said continuing opposition to legal abortion is one of the reasons.
“We can’t help but conclude that a substantial part of this trend is related to a more complete understanding and rejection of abortion, and the increasing number of abortion alternatives being offered by the pro-life movement,” Helen Alvare of the bishops’ Pro-Life Secretariat said in a statement in response to the new report.
Alvare said the drop may also reflect “Americans’ taking more seriously the problems associated with premarital sex.”
According to the CDC report, there were 1,210,883 abortions in 1995 _ the most recent year for which complete figures are available _ down 4.5 percent from 1994 and a 15 percent drop from 1990.
The abortion rate _ the number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 _ was 20 in 1995, down from 21 in 1994 and 25 in 1980.
And, despite the bishops’ suggestion that opposition to abortion and the presence of alternatives leading women to continue with an unwanted pregnancy, the report suggested more effective use of contraceptives by teenagers may be a major part of the drop in the abortion rate.
Other factors pointed to by the report were the aging of the baby boom generation, a decrease in access to abortion and _ in support of the bishops _ a likely change in attitudes toward abortion.
Billy Graham condition improving, hospital states
(RNS) The Rev. Billy Graham is continuing to improve from a case of pneumonia and has been listed in good condition at a Jacksonville, Fla., hospital.
Doctors at St. Luke’s Hospital say the longtime evangelist’s condition is improving and the inflammation of his lower right lung is clearing.
According to a statement released midday Friday (Dec. 5), Graham is continuing to receive antibiotics intravenously, but is feeling better and is in good spirits.
“He is resting well and has been up and walking,” the statement reads. “Doctors continue to monitor his progress and do not expect his stay at St. Luke’s to be longer than the three to four days originally predicted.”
Graham, 79, entered the hospital Wednesday after experiencing fever and chills during a Caribbean vacation.
”Chaplain Ray” Hoekstra dead at 84
(RNS) Chaplain Raymond Hoekstra, founder of International Prison Ministry in Garland, Texas, died Nov. 20.
Hoekstra, known to many as simply “Chaplain Ray,” was 84.
“He’s probably one of the fathers of modern prison evangelism,” said Janna Hughes, a spokeswoman for the ministry.
International Prison Ministry brings speakers and distributes Bibles to prisons across the country and in Russia, India and Italy.
Hoekstra, who resided in Dallas, was featured on a radio broadcast that aired on 130 radio stations in North America. He also published more than 50 paperback books about prisoners’ Christian experiences through his publishing company, Acclaimed Books.
Hoekstra also was named Chaplain of the Year by the Salvation Army in 1988, Hughes said.
His wife, Leola, plans to continue the work of the ministry.
Quote of the Day: Tulsa, Okla., youth minister Scott Watkins
(RNS) “Some of the kids in the schools in our area are saying the W.W.J.D. stands for `Why Waste Jack Daniels?’ You never know what people are going to think the initials mean.”
Youth minister Scott Watkins of Calvary Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla., explained in Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, why he encourages students from his church to evangelize students who are wearing the trendy W.W.J.D. bracelets and may not realize they really stand for “What Would Jesus Do?”
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