Gospel Artists Unite to Raise Money for African Famine

Sales of a special recording and a video will help fund hunger relief efforts.

During an all-night recording session, 65 Christian recording artists produced a record that will be sold to help combat hunger in Africa through Compassion International.

Dubbed The CAUSE (Christian Artists United to Save the Earth), the singers represented musical styles from southern gospel to rock. They were invited to perform “Do Something Now,” a song written by Christian songwriters Steve Camp, Phil Madeira, and Rob and Carol Frazier.

The recording features brief solos by Sandi Patti, Amy Grant, The Second Chapter of Acts, Jessy Dixon, Evie Tornquist-Karlsson, Russ Taff, Steve Camp, and others. Camp organized the project.

Fund-raising musical aggregations are popular in the recording industry, spawned by a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary on hunger in Africa. First came an English rock endeavor called Band Aid, which recorded a song called “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Later, a group of American pop singers, calling themselves USA for Africa, recorded the hit “We Are the World.” That recording so far has raised $6.5 million for famine relief, with an eventual total of $40 million expected.

Camp admitted a degree of disappointment that Christian musicians had not been the first to rally in such a major way to fight world hunger.

“As I watched the Band Aid video and heard the … song, I was deeply touched that so many artists would put aside inconvenience, time, and egos to collectively join together for the purpose of helping their neighbor,” Camp said. “However, one question kept popping into my mind: ‘Where is the Christian community in all of this?’ I realized that once again we had found ourselves in the dust of those secular musicians who have taken leadership in an area where Christians should have been in the forefront all along.”

The recent Christian recording is not the first gospel music venture to benefit hunger relief. In 1979, Barry McGuire’s “Inside Out” album and video were recorded live at a “Concert for Hungry Children.” Last year, Light Records released a sampler album to raise funds for famine relief through World Vision. In February, John Michael Talbot’s “Song for the Poor (Send Us Out)” was performed by more than a dozen contemporary Christian recording artists as a finale to a “Have-A-Heart” concert in California. Proceeds from that concert and the resulting recording go to Mercy Corps International. Individually, several Christian recording artists have appeared in magazine ads, recordings, and television shows to issue pleas for famine-relief donations.

Only a few hours before the “Do Something Now” taping session, most of the singers and musicians had been a few miles away at the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards presentation, gospel music’s equivalent of the Grammys. All but a few of the Dove Award winners participated in the recording session.

The singers signed agreements that waived their performance royalties, and everyone else involved in The CAUSE donated their facilities and services. However, the cost of pressing the records, printing the record jackets, and duplicating the video will amount to 5 to 10 percent of the sales price. Organizers say they hope to raise at least $500,000 for famine relief.

The “Do Something Now” recording was scheduled for a May 31 release. It will be sold as a 7-inch single recording, a 12-inch recording, and a video mini-documentary. Sparrow Records will distribute The CAUSE’s records and video through Christian book stores. MCA Distributing Corporation will market the product through secular retail outlets.

North American Scene

Four prolife activists have been convicted on charges related to the December bombings of three Florida abortion facilities. The activists attend First Assembly of God Church in Pensacola. Kaye Wiggins and Kathren Simmons face up to five years in prison and $ 10,000 in fines, while Matthew Goldsby and James Simmons face a maximum of 65 years and $70,000 in fines. A U.S. district attorney said that if the defendants committed illegal acts in the name of religion, they were no different than terrorists in Northern Ireland or the Middle East.

Seventh-day Adventist leaders have accepted a study commission’s recommendation calling for no definitive action on the ordination of women. The commission recommended further studies to determine a theological position on the issue. Findings of the study are to be reported no later than the denomination’s 1988 spring meeting, and, eventually, to the 1989 annual council.

The Proctor & Gamble Company has dropped the moon-and-stars trademark from its product packages as a result of rumors tying the symbol to Satan worship. In 1982, the company filed libel suits against six people accused of spreading the rumors. The lawsuits were settled out of court. A Proctor & Gamble spokesman denied that a $60 million decline in profits led to the dropping of the moon-and-stars symbol. The trademark will remain on the company’s letterhead and on its corporate headquarters.

In September, evangelist Billy Graham plans to visit the Soviet-bloc nation of Rumania for the first time. Graham said he has been told to expect “by far the largest audiences ever” compared to his earlier trips to Eastern Europe. Rumanian church officials expect crowds of 25,000 to 40,000 to gather outside churches to hear Graham’s messages over loudspeakers. A trip to Hungary may follow Graham’s two-week Rumanian visit.

A former Wall Street lawyer has founded Fundamentalists Anonymous to assist people who leave fundamentalist groups. Founder Richard Yao said ex-fundamentalists often exhibit the same psychological symptoms as ex-cultists. He said he started the support group to help people work through the guilt and stress that often is associated with leaving a fundamentalist background. Yao said his group is not anti-Christian or antireligious. He said he considers himself “a very religious person,” although he is not active in a “conventional religious institution.”

The U.S. Supreme Court again will consider what limits a state may place on abortion. The dispute, appealed to the high court by the state of Pennsylvania, involves a state law that required minors to obtain parental permission or a court order before obtaining an abortion; required physicians to use abortion procedures designed to preserve the life of a viable fetus; and insured that patients were advised of abortion alternatives. The law was struck down by an appeals court. Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a similar ordinance passed in Akron, Ohio.

A federal grand jury has returned a 23-count indictment against a New York City dial-a-porn telephone service. Carlin Communications and four individuals were charged with interstate transportation of obscene matter. The indictment said that in 1983, Utah children from 10 to 16 years of age heard a recorded phone message describing “explicit sexual conduct.”

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that a viable fetus is a person. The court said viability occurs when the fetus is capable of “independent, extra-uterine life,” to be determined in the courts on a case-by-case basis. The court said parents of a viable fetus could sue doctors under the state’s wrongful death law.

The Mission Society for United Methodists last month commissioned its first five missionary couples. The society is an unofficial alternative to the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, which is thought by society members to overemphasize social outreach and liberation theology. At least one minister commissioned by the society faces possible loss of his clergy credentials for accepting an assignment from the society without the approval of his bishop.

Evangelicals Give Out 1.2 Million Evangelistic Papers During Pope’s Visit To Belgium

Just days before Pope John Paul II arrived in Belgium last month, every Catholic bishop in the country received a copy of an eight-page newspaper. The paper addressed issues that often divide Protestants and Catholics.

Produced by the Belgian Evangelical Mission (BEM), the newspaper dealt with such questions as “Who is Jesus’ representative on earth?” and “Which church is the true church of Christ?” The newspaper’s center pages contained a presentation of steps to salvation.

A letter to the Catholic bishops from BEM director Johan Lukasse accompanied the newspapers. “We want to inform you that we have printed 1.2 million gospel papers to be distributed during the visit of Pope John Paul II,” Lukasse wrote. “… You can see that it’s not our purpose to bring discredit or attack against the Pope nor the Roman Catholics.”

One Catholic official said he regarded the effort as insignificant. “There’s nothing pejorative in this, but its impact will be insignificant,” said Canon Wilfred Brieven, private secretary to the Brussels archbishop. “Out of 10 million people there are only 100,000 Protestants, and they are mainly foreigners.”

Indeed, the number of Belgian evangelicals is small, totaling 60,000—about ½ of 1 percent of the population. However, participation in the newspaper distribution effort was significant. Christians from 164 churches, representing 14 denominations, were joined by hundreds of volunteers from Switzerland, Holland, and Germany. The newspapers were placed in nearly half of Belgium’s mailboxes, and were distributed at several of the Pope’s appearances.

However, when a small leftist minority emerged in Ghent, the city’s mayor refused permission for any literature distribution on the day a mass meeting was held on an airfield. The distribution teams instead placed the newspapers in mailboxes throughout the city the day before the Pope’s appearance.

Before John Paul II began his visit, Lukasse explained the reason for the newspaper blitz. “We’re concerned that the masses in Belgium will be talked to as though they were real believers,” he said. “However, the great majority have no personal and living relationship with Jesus Christ.

“We decided that while everyone would be speaking pro and con about his visit, this was the time to do something.… We were not interested in attacking the [Roman Catholic] Church as an institution. We’re interested in individual people who are lost and don’t know Jesus.”

Not all Protestant groups, including the United Protestant Church, Belgium’s oldest and largest Protestant denomination, participated in the project. “We feared confusion,” said M.J. Beuken-horst, chairman of the United Protestant Church general council. “There are many who don’t know the difference between Reformed, Presbyterian, and evangelical. We would [all be labeled] Protestants. Many might feel that we agree with the paper.”

The newspaper offered free gospel literature and follow-up information. World Literature Crusade, known as Every Home Crusade in Belgium, handled the literature follow-up, while individual churches made personal contacts with people.

Most Belgians requesting free literature asked for a brochure titled “A Discussion with Peter, the First Pope,” followed by requests for a Bible.

Lukasse said he believes Pope John Paul II is restoring a unified identity to the Roman Catholic Church after the confusion following the Second Vatican Council (1962–65).

“I feel it’s very clear that he’s trying to go back to the old-fashioned kind of Catholicism,” Lukasse said. “He is reinforcing the teaching of transubstantiation … and calling people back to the adoration of Mary.… We may have another five or ten years of real opportunity to win Catholics to salvation in Christ.”

LORRY LUTZ

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