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THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORYBY DARRIN J. RODGERS

Revivaltime, the Assemblies of God weekly broadcast heard on the ABC radio network from 1953 to 1995, was one of the Fellowship’s most successful national ministries. Its hosts, C. M. Ward (1953-1978) and Dan Betzer (1979-1995), became known to millions of listeners coast to coast and around the world. Ward established the 30-minute program’s format. Each program began with the song, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” sung by the Revivaltime choir. The reading of a biblical text and a sermon came next, followed by an invitation to kneel at the “radio altar” while the choir sang Ira Stanphill’s “There’s Room at the Cross for You.” The program saw quick success.

For decades, more than 10,000 letters from listeners poured into Revivaltime each month. By 1960, church officials estimated that Revivaltime’s U.S. radio audience was 12 million people. Add to that the numerous Revivaltime broadcasts in other countries, and the magnitude of the program’s influence is obvious. Ward and Betzer engaged audiences with sermons employing powerful illustrations and human-interest stories. They also modeled the charismatic gifts on the air. Countless thousands of people wrote in and credited Revivaltime for playing a role in a relative’s salvation, a healing, or other divine interventions. Read this issue of the 1960 Evangel online at s2.ag.org/dec111960.

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TEACHING ENGLISH IN AMARILLOPAGE 3

NEW BIBLE QUIZ EXPERIENCE IS HERE PAGE 5 • CHI ALPHA CAJUN PASSION PAGE 5 • RESTORING A COMMUNITY ONE LIFE AT A

TIME THROUGH CITYREACH NETWORK PAGE 7 • THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORY PAGE 8

ASSESSING STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSESPAGE 4

HAMMAR REVIEWS PROPOSED IRS RULE CHANGEPAGE 6

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A COLLECTION OF THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES FROM PENEWS.ORG

SUNDAY,DEC. 13, 2015

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When Bobby Bledsoe, CityReach Bangor’s (Maine) lead pastor, moved to Maine to attend Faith School of Theology, he felt a call to minister to the city’s hurting people — drug addicts sleeping on the streets and living in homeless shelters. He then pioneered the church plant in Bangor with the guidance of Pastor Brian Bolt of CityReach Network and the support of Church Multiplication Network and AGTrust. An essential component of CityReach Network is establishing a Hope Home in the community where each new church is planted, in order to reach and restore those truly in need. Ali Mclaughlin was one of the hurting. “By the time I was 15,” she says, “I was using street drugs like methamphetamine and ecstasy, getting high in my high school bathroom — just seeking out my next fix.” Then, Mclaughlin’s best friend, Jackie Cardoza, had a close call and nearly died. That night served as a turning point for both girls. Mclaughlin had already been attending services at CityReach Bangor. In the hospital, Cardoza had a dream that she attended a CityReach service. She knew that God was speaking to her and she told Mclaughlin she wanted to attend the church. The girls attended church together, and shortly thereafter entered the Women’s Hope Home. Mclaughlin now serves struggling women as a Hope Home director.

She had him at hola. Even though Tim Olson barely even knew what hola meant, he did know one thing: the tweenaged Nicaraguan girl, Maria, needed a sponsor. And he was it. Olson, 60, began traveling to Nicaragua every year with his church, First Assembly of Fargo, North Dakota, to work with the Assemblies of God ministry Latin America Childcare (LACC). He already had traveled to the country for several years, helping with construction projects and photographing children for their sponsorship photos, when he met Maria in 2008. She was one of the children Olson was slated to photograph, but because she was older, he knew she would have a more difficult time finding a sponsor. “I could tell just by looking at her that I liked her heart and her spirit,” he says. “She was kind and gentle. So I said I would sponsor her.” Every year, when Olson returned, he requested to stay an extra week to visit Maria and her family, as well as other

children he had sponsored. “He can’t talk worth beans in Spanish, but it doesn’t matter,” says Bonnie Hernandez, who, along with her husband, Levys, ministers with Assemblies of God World Missions as country coordinator for LACC’s Nicaraguan outreach. “He just hangs out with them. You don’t need to speak the language to communicate love — and that’s what Tim does.” When Maria’s father died a few years ago, and then more recently when her grandmother and mother died within days of each other, Maria’s older brother took Olson aside during a visit and informed him that Maria now considered Olson to be a father figure. “He wanted me to get how important this relationship was to her,” says Olson, taken aback by the news. It doesn’t surprise Hernandez, however. “Tim is just a quiet servant who really wants God to use him,” she says. “He wants to make sure Maria and her family are cared for. And he

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RESTORING A COMMUNITY ONE LIFE AT A TIME THROUGH CITYREACH NETWORKBY AMBER WEIGAND-BUCKLEY

SPONSOR OF THE BRIDEBY GINGER KOLBABA

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After nearly 30 years of serving as an Assemblies of God military chaplain and almost a decade overseeing eight Teen Challenge International, U.S.A., locations, Joseph S. Batluck Sr. has assumed command of U.S. Missions Teen Challenge International, U.S.A.As the new president, Batluck, 64, has a grand vision for reshaping the organization. “The strength of Teen Challenge is that it is a loosely organized ministry,” Batluck says. “The weakness of Teen Challenge is that it is a loosely organized ministry.” Batluck, based at the national office in Ozark, Missouri, notes that Teen Challenge USA is comprised of 248 centers operating under 83 independent corporations. Batluck hopes to get senior leaders among eight Teen Challenge regions talking more so they can share ideas and edify each other. He wants to do the same for the Teen Challenge board, which is a mixture of businesspeople and those experienced in addiction recovery ministry. Nationally, Teen Challenge is well

known throughout the Fellowship and has a solid reputation in treatment circles with an unparalleled success rate. “There is nothing like Teen Challenge in the drug and alcohol treatment world,” Batluck says. “There’s not even a runner-up. What makes Teen Challenge distinctive is that it is overtly, profoundly, and uncompromisingly Christ-centered.” Batluck wants to bring a fresh visibility and higher profile of the ministry to the AG, communities, and the judicial system. He notes that while Teen Challenge is renowned as an Assemblies of God ministry, 70 percent of the congregations that support it are from outside the fellowship. Another goal for Batluck is to make the name of the program a more accurate reflection of its recipients. The average age of those in residential care is 37. In March, the ministry anticipates applying for a new trademark name, Adult & Teen Challenge. “There are many more people who are in their 40s and 50s than in their teens and 20s,” Batluck says.

Eric Treuil, director of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, says he loves college students because they still think they can change the world. Soon after becoming a Christian in the 1980s, Treuil sensed the Holy Spirit calling him to pioneer a Chi Alpha Campus Ministries chapter. After receiving ministry training, within six months he did just that. In 1987, Treuil and his wife Anabelle repioneered Chi Alpha at what was known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Today, hundreds of students are actively involved in the UL Lafayette chapter of the national Assemblies of God college campus organization. It’s a fertile spiritual environment for the gospel, according to Treuil, 54.Because Chi Alpha carries no denominational connotation, all students feel welcome, he says. “Our goal isn’t getting kids into the Assemblies of God but getting kids into the God of the assemblies,” says Treuil, a U.S. missionary. “We don’t change what we teach: the fullness of the Pentecostal experience.” UL Lafayette has students from 90 countries that represent every region, especially Asia. Students from non-Christian faiths as well as several atheists attend Chi Alpha Bible studies.

Competing in Bible Quiz or Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ) has captured the excitement and passion of thousands of young people across America. However, as national Bible Quiz Coordinator Bernie Elliot has discovered, there are tens of thousands of additional young people who do not participate in BQ because of the quantity of Scriptures they have to learn, don’t have the time to dedicate to memorization, or they simply aren’t wired for the intensity of competition. Elliot believes these roadblocks have been overcome with the Bible Quiz Experience. According to Elliot, the new division is an “entry level” quizzing ministry that scales the memorization, time commitment, and competition of standard Bible quizzing back to an introductory level. “In addition to having to know fewer verses, the intensity of competition is lessened. During the quiz meet, the first 12 questions are divided between the two teams,” Elliot says. “No interruptions are necessary. This sets the youth up for success and allows everybody to score.” For the final eight questions, the buzzers are used. Once youth experience this introductory level, they often invite friends. Some even step up to the full Bible Quiz ministry.

ASSESSING STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSESBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

CHI ALPHA CAJUN PASSIONBY DEANN ALFORD

NEW BIBLE QUIZ EXPERIENCE IS HEREBY DAN VAN VEEN

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Though José López worked as a cook and custodian for a quarter-century in Amarillo, Texas, he’d never learned English. Then a flier about free classes through AG U.S. missionaries Steve and Sheri Woodward’s International Learning Center piqued his interest. While the Mexico native knew that English would help him better provide for his family, López also had a deep emotional need: his wife suffered from cancer. As her full-time caregiver, López needed respite somewhere outside his house. As López worked hard to improve his English, he came to faith in Christ. His wife’s condition has greatly improved. Nine years ago, the Woodwards

founded the learning center. Today, the center’s 10 volunteer teachers educate 120 students. High demand has led area churches to offer English as second language classes as well, he says. The community college often refers its overflow to the AG program. “We want to provide (students) with a good quality English class, but more than that, we want to share the gospel,” Woodward says. To that end, each two-hour class includes a 10-minute devotional. Woodward hopes churches will be planted as a result of the classes. “Ministry flows through relationships,” Woodward says. “There are people from around the world in our own backyards.”

wants to be kept up to date on what is happening in her life.” A bigger surprise came earlier this year when Olson received a call. Maria, now in her early 20s, was getting married in May and wanted to know if Olson would walk her down the aisle at her wedding. He was stunned and touched. “I thought she’d want her brother or some other family member to handle that honor,” he says. But he agreed and bought a suit and tie for the special occasion. In May, Olson, along with his daughter Katie, who speaks Spanish fluently, traveled to Maria’s village and took on the role of father of the bride.

The entire family welcomed him as their own and celebrated as he fulfilled his duties to escort her with a large procession through town on their way to the church and then to give her away to the groom. “I never saw this coming!” Olson says. “But it was an honor and a privilege to be asked to walk that wonderful young lady down the aisle.” He’s still amazed at how God took that young girl and changed both of their lives, simply because he agreed to sponsor her almost 10 years ago. “Even though I see her only once or twice a year, she’s still part of my family,” he says. “The distance doesn’t matter.”

TEACHING ENGLISH IN AMARILLO BY DEANN ALFORD

The national media have reported a proposed IRS regulation that will require churches to obtain the Social Security numbers of donors and provide them to the IRS. Should church leaders be concerned? In October, the IRS issued a proposed regulation for charitable contributions. Generally, proposed regulations are published for public comment, and then the IRS issues a final regulation based in part on public input. The public comment period for this regulation ends Dec. 16. Five things to note: First, under current law, any charitable contribution of $250 or more must be substantiated by a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity that lists the name and address of the charity and donor, the contribution amount, a statement of whether goods or services were provided by the charity in return for the contribution other than intangible religious benefits, and an estimate of the value of goods or services the charity provided. The proposed regulation would provide an alternate way to substantiate contributions of $250 or more. Instead of the charity issuing the donor a written acknowledgment, it would file a donee information return form with

the IRS by Feb. 28 of the following year, listing the same information as a written acknowledgment and disclosing the Social Security numbers of donors making one or more contributions of $250 or more. Second, the donee information return would be voluntary. Churches and charities that prefer not to disclose donors’ Social Security numbers could simply continue to provide written acknowledgments to donors. Third, the regulation has no effect on contributions of less than $250. Fourth, the regulation in question is proposed, not final. It may be amended or even rescinded by the IRS. Fifth, Congress can step in and overturn an IRS regulation. It is likely that Congress will call a halt to the proposed regulation. This will be fueled by the formidable opposition from all sectors of the nonprofit community, since every public charity will be adversely impacted by this regulation. Some church leaders suggest that the proposed regulation creates a “slippery slope” — voluntary today, mandatory tomorrow. But if the regulation becomes final, it will affect only donee information returns and not the contemporaneous written acknowledgements that churches and charities have used for years.

HAMMAR REVIEWS PROPOSED IRS RULE CHANGEBY RICHARD HAMMAR