Strang Report

Last week, news
stories about Randy White and Eddie Long had special meaning to me because
there is a Matthew 18 story, which I have not revealed until now, where it says
to go to your brother privately.

Bishop Eddie
Long announced last week that he settled with four young men who accused him of
having homosexual relations. Long had said he was innocent and would fight the
allegations, but he settled for an undisclosed amount so “his ministry
could go on.” You can read more here.

The other news
item was former Pastor Randy White who was picked up on driving under the
influence in Tampa, Fla. You can read a secular report with the sad
details.  Suffice it to say, at one
time, Randy was one of the brightest young pastors whose vision to reach Tampa
with innovative ministries brought him a lot of accolades from civic and
religious leaders. We once featured him and his ex-wife, Paula, on the cover of
Ministry Today. It’s so sad because, for reasons we’ll never know, White
let all that influence and potential go down the drain.

What wasn’t
known until now is that in the late 1990s, I called Randy and asked to meet
with him privately to share a concern. We both drove to the small Disney town
of Celebration, Fla., about halfway between where we each lived. Over lunch I
told him I was concerned that his success seemed to be promoting pride and he
should be careful lest he fall. He thanked me for caring enough to come to him.
He responded humbly and said he’d take the warning. I felt I had done what God
wanted me to do and forgot about it.

I enjoyed attending the 19th annual Expolit trade show in Miami,
Fla., last weekend. Miami is a world of its own—or, as the joke goes,
one of the few places in the United States where a passport is required.
Miami is certainly one of the most international cities in the country
and is perfect for distributors from around Latin America. It makes
sense, then, that the premier trade show for the Spanish Christian book
and music industry is held there.

Luis Fernández, an industry veteran of more than 20 years, described
Expolit to Dr. Don Colbert, our bestselling health author who spoke at
Expolit, as “partly like NRB
[National Religious Broadcasters], partly like the International
Christian Retail Show and part bazaar.” I know that to be true because
I’ve been attending Expolit for 18 years. I’ve seen the growth of the
Spanish publishing market, and I have come to appreciate Expolits’s
cultural aspects: the trade show closing for afternoon siesta, then
staying open until midnight; the crowded aisles in the exhibit hall; or
the music blasting from nearly every booth, each one louder than the one
next door. I especially enjoy drinking sweet Cuban coffee!

Think Reinhard Bonnke and his ministry are all about the numbers? You better believe it—and here’s why that’s a good…

Note from Steve Strang: Attending this meeting of leaders was a great honor. Please read my commentary on what I learned.  I took the opportunity to bring home “flip camera” interviews with about half of the participants representing churches and ministries around the world.  Each one is only 2-3 minutes but gives you more information about that ministry.  If you view several or all of them, you’ll begin to get a feel for what is happening around the world—and that is my goal.

What a global network of megachurch pastors can teach usFor more than three decades I’ve been reporting on the move…

It was early evening yesterday, April 28, when a cell-phone
call let me know the devastating news: David Wilkerson had been killed in a
tragic traffic accident. Dr. George Wood, general superintendent of the
Assemblies of God, had just learned the news and felt I would want to report
it. Knowing how important this was, we had a story online within 40 minutes
that included a statement from Dr. Wood until we could get more details. The
traffic on our website was so great the site temporarily crashed, and the article
had more forwards on Facebook than any in the history of Charisma
News.

That’s because David Wilkerson was one of the great
Christian leaders of our generation, and his passing is a loss to the global
church. He was the model of integrity, and he finished strong in a day when
some televangelists are photographed in foreign countries with women they
aren’t married to while others are exposed for secret gay activity while
publicly opposing the gay agenda. Wilkerson was the paragon of virtue and his
influence was tremendous.

February 1 is a significant day for our company. It’s the day we drop the name "Strang Communications" which we have been using for nearly 30 years and go by our new name: Charisma Media. We’ve sent out "news releases" so you may have heard about this. But I decided to send this to you because I felt you would be interested.

I shared "my heart" in a column in the February issue of Charisma and told why, as the founder of this company, I feel led to make this change. The easiest way for me is to let you read my actual column below. And then below that is the press release we sent out which has the "who, what, when, where and why" journalistic angle to the story for those of you who are interested.