Passion for Christ

Gage & the Gospel Evangelist Rick Gage sets forth points to ponder during a crusade in Swainsboro, Ga., population 6,943. Photo by Robin Nelson

SWAINSBORO, Ga. (BP)--Evangelist Rick Gage has been filling football stadiums for more than a decade in small towns across America. At the same time, his ministry has been reaching into remote regions of Russia.
      In Swainsboro, Ga., with a population of only 6,943, Emanuel County citizens were astonished when thousands flocked to Tiger Stadium at Swainsboro High School for a four-night crusade -- and 878 spiritual decisions were made, including 524 first-time professions of faith.

Patricia Schoenrade

LIBERTY, Mo. (BP)--When Dr. Patricia Schoenrade interviewed for a teaching position at William Jewell College, she remembers giving a very dispassionate answer to an important question: “What does it mean to be a Christian?”
      “I remember saying something about Christ as the Savior of the world and the ultimate example for living.” As of that day in 1989, she confesses, Christ was a matter of the head and not the heart.
      Schoenrade was hired as professor of psychology at William Jewell, her clinical response to the question notwithstanding, and she continues to teach at the Liberty, Mo., campus.

Flying for faith A flying motorcycle may get teens’ attention at first, but then Brad Bennett’s message follows. “When I got saved, it was real,” he says. “God changed my life. That’s how it is supposed to be.”

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (BP)--How do you reach them?
      They may be teens who haven’t had a religious upbringing. Teens who think churchgoers lead boring lives. Teens bombarded by the secular “gospel” that there are many paths to God and, for now, it’s OK to do whatever you want.
      How do you get them to hear an explanation of sin and why it’s destructive? Or how do you talk about salvation and why they need it?

Motorcyclist with a message Having dismounted from his motorcycle after an X-Games style exhibition, Brad Bennett points teens toward faith during a Real Encounter Youth Crusade.

      And how do you describe how a perfect man died and yet lives, and how He can make a difference in their lives?
      Former professional motocross racer Brad Bennett knows what it’s like to be a teenager who didn’t grow up in church.
      “I was in a good family, but I wasn’t exposed to the Gospel growing up,” Bennett said. “My passion, more than anything since I was 12, was racing motocross.” He spent hours practicing every day, forgoing many of the extracurricular activities of his peers.
      Bennett’s family recognized his potential and supported him in his dream by taking him to competitions. He graduated early from high school to get his professional racing license. Yamaha sponsored him, and he began racing across the United States.

Prayer drive Rita Juan and Gary Ramer, two participants in a recent prayer drive across Arizona’s Tohono O’odham nation, pause with three children they visited with along the road from Cockleburr to Kowatk – (from left) Jessica, Jesse and Zach.

SELLS, Ariz. (BP)--Fifty-plus drivers and passengers left various staging areas near Arizona’s Tohono O'odham nation one Saturday last November, following assigned routes through some 200 miles of a challenging landscape speckled with cactus, sagebrush and wild stallions south of Phoenix and west of Tucson.
      Far from sightseers or surveyors venturing through a region where the desert sun can seem a curse rather than a blessing, where daily water is a life-or-death issue, these were Southern Baptists in prayer.