GEORGE BEVERLY SHEA VOICE , BILLYGRAHAM'S SINGER STILL BOOMING AT 100

MONTREAT, —George Beverly Shea is skipping from memory to memory of his globe-trotting career as evangelist Billy Graham's crusade crooner. When words can't explain, he bellows out a song.
"Oh, can it be, upon a tree, the Savior died for me?" Shea sings from a John Newton hymn, his raw and rumbling voice describing how music fits into ministry. "My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled, to think He died for me."
Shea planned to celebrate his 100th birthday Sunday, and the songs that defined his career still burst out in a signature bass-baritone that can quiet a room in an instant. Shea worked with Graham for more than half a century, making him one of the world's most recognized voices: He's sung live in front of an estimated 200 million people. And he's still making special appearances without his longtime partner.
"When they ask me to sing these days, they're just being kind, you know?" Shea said, an idea his wife rejects.
"When everybody else sings, it's a personality singing," Karlene Shea said. "When he sings, something else comes over you—the words, the message, and you forget he's standing there."
Though he's about a decade older than Graham, Shea is in far better health. Aside from a heart attack earlier this decade, Shea's only ailment is a painful back. He walks—mostly with the aid of a walker—and still visits all the restaurants near his mountainside home.
While Shea hasn't driven a vehicle since he was 95, he noticed a year ago that his driver's license had expired. Wanting to keep an updated form of identification, he went down to the local office, passed the vision test and won a new license.
"I don't feel 100," Shea said during a recent interview at his home in Montreat, about 15 miles east of Asheville.
Shea's life is mostly quiet these days, spent in Montreat with Karlene. He often watches reruns of Graham sermons that he says still move him. Though he lives just a mile away from his famous partner, he and Graham mostly speak by phone. Graham's health has been slipping for years and he has been hospitalized several times in recent years for various ailments.
Though Shea's career is largely behind him—his last major production was a country-and-western album in 1997—he still sings at senior celebrations and other events connected to Graham's ministry.
Born in Winchester, Ontario, on Feb. 1, 1909, Shea grew up singing in the choir of his father's Wesleyan church. After moving to New York City, the budding virtuoso had several chances to perform on secular radio programs but shied away after auditioners wanted him to sing songs such as "To Hell With Burgundy."
So Shea left for Chicago and started work at the Moody Bible Institute as a singer on gospel radio. It was there that Graham, just 21 years old at the time, first met Shea after hearing his voice on the airwaves.
Four years later, in 1947, Shea joined Graham's young crusade team, singing at an event in Charlotte and beginning a decades-long ministry that would reach to every state and every corner of the earth—from North Carolina to North Korea.
Writing "The Wonder of It All" and reviving songs such as "How Great Thou Art," Shea was at times given the moniker of "America's beloved gospel singer," riffing off Graham's role as "America's pastor." He recorded more than 70 albums of gospel music and won a Grammy along with 10 Grammy nominations.
But with a personality that strays from humble to bashful, Shea deemed his role in the ministry as "very insignificant"—especially compared with his contemporaries.
"What I do is old-fashioned," Shea said. "It's the guitar these days. When they sing at Mr. Graham's meetings, it's pretty exciting. People clap, you know? So they look for me to come up before the message and sort of quiet them down."

TELEVANGELISM IN CHAOS OVER A FAMILY SPLIT

GARDEN GROVE, — Once one of the nation's most popular televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is watching his life's work crumble.
His son and recent successor, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, has abruptly resigned as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. The shimmering, glass-walled megachurch is home to the "Hour of Power" broadcast, an evangelism staple that's been on the air for more than three decades.
The church is in financial turmoil: It plans to sell more than $65 million worth of its Orange County property to pay off debt. Revenue dropped by nearly $5 million last year, according to a recent letter from the elder Schuller to elite donors. In the letter, Schuller Sr. implored the Eagle's Club members — who supply 30 percent of the church's revenue — for donations and hinted that the show might go off the air without their support.
"The final months of 2008 were devastating for our ministry," the 82-year-old pastor wrote.
The Crystal Cathedral blames the recession for its woes. But it's clear that the elder Schuller's carefully orchestrated leadership transition, planned over a decade, has stumbled badly.
It's a problem common to personality driven ministries. Most have collapsed or been greatly diminished after their founders left the pulpit or died.
Members often tie their donations to the pastor, not the institution, said Nancy Ammerman, a sociologist of religion at Boston University. Schuller, with a style that blends pop psychology and theology, has a particularly devoted following, she said.
"Viewers are probably much less likely to give when it's not their preacher they're giving to," she said. "There's something about these televised programs where people develop a certain loyalty."
Today's increasingly fragmented media landscape is also to blame, said Quentin Schultze, a Calvin College professor who specializes in Christian media.
Church-based televangelism led by powerful personalities filled TV in the 1980s, but now only a handful of shows remain, he said. Among the struggling ministries are those of Oral Roberts and the late D. James Kennedy of "The Coral Ridge Hour" TV show.
"I don't see a scenario for maintaining a TV-based megachurch anymore. The days of doing that in the models of Schuller and Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts are over," Schultze said. "It's amazing to me that the 'Hour of Power' was able to keep going as long as it did."
Through a spokesman, Schuller Sr., his family members and other cathedral officials declined to comment. The younger Schuller, 54, did not respond to an e-mail requesting an interview.
The elder Schuller, who called his weekly show "America's Television Church," founded his ministry in a drive-in theater after moving to Southern California in 1955.
He studied marketing strategies to attract worshippers and preached a feel-good Christianity, describing himself as a "possibility thinker" and spinning his upbeat style into a 10,000-member church and a broadcast watched by millions worldwide.
The church's main sanctuary, the Crystal Cathedral, is a landmark designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, with a spire visible from afar amid Orange County's suburban sprawl. Thousands make the pilgrimage to see where the broadcast is filmed before a live congregation.
The Schullers consider the church a family business and the younger Schuller's 2006 appointment was sanctioned by the Crystal Cathedral's parent denomination, the Reformed Church in America.
But the church announced on Nov. 29 that Schuller Jr. had resigned as senior pastor, just a month after he was removed from the church's syndicated broadcasts. In a news release, Schuller Sr. said: "Robert and I have been struggling as we each have different ideas as to the direction and the vision for this ministry."
The church has since instituted a rotating roster of high-profile guest preachers, including Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, the Chicago-area megachurch, and evangelist Luis Palau.
Schuller Sr.'s daughters and sons-in-law remain involved in the church, some in key roles. But Juan Carlos Ortiz, the interim senior pastor, hopes to appoint a senior pastor with no ties to the Schuller family within two years.
On the church Web site, concerned members and TV fans have posted hundreds of comments protesting the upheaval, with some indicating they have stopped giving or will leave altogether.
Several angry viewers have launched petitions to get the younger Schuller back.
Melody Mook, a 58-year-old medical transcriptionist from El Paso, Texas, said she stopped her $25 monthly donation and is looking elsewhere for her spiritual needs. She said she dislikes the guest pastors.
"I feel hurt and confused and I'm not sure that I want to sit and watch when I know there's problems beneath the surface," she said. "You feel like you're in somebody else's church every Sunday."
Others said they felt betrayed that the Schullers couldn't put God before their family spat.
"They have not been forthcoming at all," said John Dewart, an insurance agent from New Jersey who's watched for 30 years. "Why can't a father and son work together for the glory of God? That's my big question."

SRILANKA TO PASS THEIR FIRST ANTI-CONVERSION BILL: PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE....

CARROLLTON, Texas, -- Sri Lanka's Parliament is expected to pass the country's first anti-conversion law next month. The proposed legislation, titled "Bill for Prohibition of Forcible Conversions," was presented a second time to members of Parliament in January. It is expected to easily pass when it is presented for a vote in February.Gospel for Asia missionaries work throughout Sri Lanka. They minister to people whose lives have been battered by a 26-year-old civil war and numerous natural catastrophes, including floods and a tsunami. In addition to the individual missionaries, GFA has a Bible college, Bridge of Hope centers and radio broadcasts in two languages in Sri Lanka. The GFA Bible college was targeted by protestors last year, but the protest ended peacefully. "Our missionaries only want to share the love of Christ with the people of Sri Lanka," said K.P. Yohannan, Gospel for Asia president. "They are not forcing anyone to change their faith. The reality is that those who choose to follow Christ know that they are opening themselves up to persecution and ridicule. It is not a decision these people make lightly."The proposed anti-conversion law, originally submitted in 2004, calls for penalties including fines up 500,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($4,425) and/or seven years in prison for anyone who tries to convert a Sri Lankan citizen from one religion to another by using force, fraud or allurement. The harshest punishments are reserved for those convicted of converting women or children.

The bill was drafted by the Jathika Hela Urumaya political party, whose leadership is comprised of Buddhist monks. A leader of that party has been quoted as saying that U.S.- funded Christian missionaries are one of the greatest threats facing Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's constitution guarantees freedom of thought, consciences and religion. However, it also calls for Buddhism to hold the "foremost place."Sri Lanka is a tiny island off the southeast coast of India. Of the country's 18.8 million residents, 71 percent are Buddhists. Another 12 percent are Hindu, and 8 percent are Muslim. Evangelical Christians comprise only about 1 percent of the population. A number of observers and commentators are saying the legislation is in reaction to the decline in the number of Sri Lankans choosing to follow the Buddhist teaching. Buddhist leaders have expressed concern about the growth of Christianity, especially in the country's rural areas. These Buddhist activists accuse Christians of offering jobs or money in order to get people to convert to Christianity. They were also harshly critical of many Christian aid organizations that worked in the country just after the 2004 tsunami.Christians in Sri Lanka say elements of the bill allow vast leeway in interpretation and could result in the criminalization of most Christian activity aimed at helping the poor.

"Our Lord commands us to take the Gospel to all people, both the wealthy and the poor," Yohannan said. "We need prayer that God will grant us the ability to continue ministering to the spiritual needs of all Sri Lankans, and when it is appropriate, the ability to continue providing for the physical needs of the country's poorest residents."

After the bill was read in Parliament the first time, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court received 22 petitions challenging its validity. The court ruled that two of the clauses--the first requiring those who participated in a religious conversion ceremony to report it to a government official and the second prescribing punishment for such conversions--were ruled unconstitutional. The bill was amended and no longer contains those two clauses.

JUDGE TELLS A CHRISTIAN WOMAN: ' I WILL KILL YOU ' WHO CHOOSES TO WORSHIP JESUS

A woman arrested at the Cairo airport because her identity card described her as a Christian has been threatened for her faith by the judge in her case, according to a new report.
Authorities in Egypt deprived the woman's two children, ages 2 and 4, of food to try to coerce her to abandon Christianity and return to Islam.
According to the Assyrian International News Agency, a woman identified as Martha Samuel Makkar was arrested Dec. 13 as she, her husband, Fadl Thabet, and two sons were trying to leave Cairo for Russia.
Makkar, formerly known as Zainab Said Abdel-Aziz, was accused of carrying forged government documents, because she identified herself as a Christian. Islamic law forbids Muslims from abandoning the faith.

Now, according to Compass Direct News, she has been granted bail, and released to rejoin her husband and sons at home pending her forgery trial.
However, the release was not without complications.
Makkar's lawyer, Nadia Tawfiq, reported that Judge Abdelaa Hashem questioned Makkar closely about her Christian faith during a courtroom hearing.
The decision to grant her bail came Saturday in the hearing before Hashem after Makkar told the judge about her new Christian faith and her abandonment of Islam.
Tawfiq told Compass Direct "the judge then said, 'I want to talk with Martha alone,' so we all left the room, and he said to her, 'Nobody changes from Muslim to Christian – you are a Muslim.'
"And she said, 'No, I am a Christian.' He told her, 'If I had a knife now, I would kill you,'" the lawyer said.
Makkar, 24, has said she's been enduring death threats from police and members of her extended family for the five years since she converted.
There is no established legal precedent in Egypt for allowing people to leave Islam. And national law doesn't provide a channel through which to change the religious designation on an identity card.
The Compass report said George Abyad, 67, and Masood Guirges, 55, employees of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria, also were arrested on suspicion they aided Makkar with her papers.
Egypt formally recognizes Islamic Shariah law as the source of justice, and Christians have faced persecution there for generations.
The American Center for Law and Justice has participated in a fight to keep a man who fled Egypt from being deported from the U.S. A recent decision from the 3rd U.S. District Court of Appeals gave Sameh Khouzam the right to challenge Egypt's "diplomatic assurances" that he would not be tortured on his return to the Middle East nation.
Egypt has been demanding his extradition in a homicide case he alleges is trumped-up. The case has been highlighted by spokesman Sam Grace of Coptic News.He praised U.S. District Judge Thomas Vanaskie's earlier ruling that Khouzam "most assuredly has a right not to be tortured."
Grace earlier told Christians in Egypt are hostages
"We live in a time that is really as bad if not worse than the time of the martyrs," he said.
Multitudes of Christians have been attacked, and many killed, yet not one Muslim ever has been convicted in the attacks, he said.
"The why is very simple, because Shariah law says the blood of the Muslim should not be shed for the blood of an unbeliever," he said.
Grace said since Egypt's constitution concludes laws derive from the Quran, persecution of Christians is not only allowed but endorsed by the government.
"In the last 10 years, more than 5,000 Christians have been massacred in Egypt,"Hundreds of businesses and homes first have been looted, then burned and destroyed. Churches have been burned and destroyed."
Grace told that attacks, lootings and burnings are common in Egypt on Fridays, after the local imam preaches violence against Christians at his mosque.
"The life of a Christian in Egypt is now worth zero. Every Muslim now knows killing a Christian [is not prosecuted]," he said.
A report from the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights concluded Coptic Christians in Egypt have been harassed, tortured and killed by Muslims for 1,400 years.
"They have been subjected to all kinds of hate crimes including, the abduction of young Coptic girls, the killing of Coptic women and children and the destruction of their places of worship," the report said.

10 MEN CHARGED FOR RAPING A CATHOLIC NUN IN ORISSA;INDIA

BHUBNESHWAR, India — Police in eastern India have charged 10 men with gang raping a Catholic nun during weeks of anti-Christian violence last year, an official said Thursday.
The violence between Hindus and Christians in Orissa state followed the killing of a Hindu religious leader in August. Police blamed Maoist rebels, but conservative Hindu groups blamed Christian residents and set fire to a Christian orphanage.
The state government said 32 people died in the clashes that followed. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India said at least 40 Christians were killed.
The nun, her face hidden behind a scarf, had told reporters in October that she was raped on Aug. 25 when a mob attacked a prayer hall where she worked in the state's Kandhamal district.
She said a group of about 50 men tore off her clothes and raped her. Later, she said, she was paraded naked, together with a priest, past several policeman who she says did not help her.
On Thursday, investigating officer Dilip Mohanty said that 10 men, including two the nun had identified from a lineup on Jan. 5, were charged with gang rape — a specific charge under Indian law. If convicted, the men face up to 10 years in prison.
Twenty others have also been brought up on charges related to their alleged rioting during the attack on the prayer house where the nun worked, police official Jitendra Koel said.
Mohanty said the investigation into the attack would continue and police was looking for other attackers and members of the mob.
Relations are usually peaceful between Christians, who make up 2.5 percent of India's 1.1 billion people, and Hindus, who account for more than 80 percent.
However, Orissa has a history of anti-Christian violence, with hard-line Hindu groups claiming Christian missionary groups are forcing or bribing people to convert, charges denied by Christian leaders.