A Masai warrior, or moran, herds cattle near Esupetai, Kenya, where nearly 100 villagers saw the JESUS film recently. Possession of land means little to the Masai, who measure wealth by head of cattle.

In East Africa, the Ilaiser clan of the Purko Masai tell an interesting version of life in the beginning. When the world began, God—called Ngai in their tongue—gave cows to the Masai, telling them to love their cattle as he loved them. According to the folklore, man and beast spoke the same language at that time, for creation had not yet been bewitched by its people.

Today, the Masai believe that animals still do not speak man's language because the earth is "bewitched." But Jesus speaks the language of man—and He is speaking Masai. Because of the JESUS film, this nomadic tribe in Kenya is coming to know the one true God.

"I love the JESUS film," says David Chenge, Campus Crusade's film-team leader in Nakuru. "It is a very important and powerful tool." Recently, more than 600 people received Christ after viewing the film in Migori, Kenya.

"The Masai are very happy to see Jesus talking in their own language," says Kenyan evangelist Justus Okoth. "They are willing to accept Christ, but [before now] they have not been told how."

The earth is bewitched indeed, but JESUS is helping break the spell. —Rebecca Valentine

"Being used by God as a vessel to reach the lost is awesome," says Ron Swain (above, in front of his pawnshop). Praying for his customers is his way of life.

When the shabbily dressed, middle-aged man marched into Ron Swain's pawnshop in Bellevue, Neb., Ron immediately saw the signs of drug abuse. The man's hyper behavior frightened the customers, so much so that they immediately left. Ron quickly asked God what he could do for this man, and God impressed him to pray, but not just pray. Ron sensed that he should touch him while he prayed.

When the man came close enough, Ron says, "I just grabbed him by the ears and pulled him to me and prayed." God quickly calmed the man, just as He did the demon-possessed man of Gadera. "I don't remember what I prayed," says Ron, "but the man walked calmly to the door, turned and said, ‘I want to thank you. No one has ever done that for me before.'" Ron is often a witness to God's power to change lives as a result of prayer.

Ron was prepared to pray for this man, as he has prayed for hundreds of customers before him, because Ron's pawnshop is a Lighthouse. As part of the Lighthouse movement, Ron joined with more than 70 denominations, 350 ministries (including Campus Crusade for Christ) and 180,000 local churches with a goal of reaching out to every man, woman and young person in America. Each Lighthouse shines its light through the lens of God's love onto the populace in America, and anyone, regardless of age, position, experience or training, can be a Lighthouse.

Lighthouses are shining in individual homes, businesses and schools all over this country, but one of the most active places is Omaha, Neb. A coalition of churches there formed a cooperative outreach called Embrace Omaha. When this multifaceted ministry adopted the Lighthouse strategy as one of their primary implements for reaching their community with the gospel, they had no idea how diverse and far-reaching it would become.

Most Lighthouses are centered in neighborhoods where individuals and families pledge to pray for their closest neighbors, ministering to them as God provides the opportunity.

For example, Jon Christensen's home is a Lighthouse. This former two-term U.S. Congressman, and now president of Quantum Trust Company in Omaha, meets each week with two neighbors from his subdivision to pray for the neighborhood children as they walk to school, praying for their protection and salvation. They also pray for their neighbors, that their marriages would be strong, that God would work in their lives and that they would know Jesus.

Jon also hosts a Lighthouse at his company. He says, "We have three of our largest competitors in the same building, and every week, people from two of those firms come to our floor to pray, break bread and study God's Word. We even pray for each other's success in the marketplace." Jon is called the unofficial chaplain of the fourth floor of the Valmont Building. A Paine Webber executive has that title for the third floor, and Jon hopes to expand this vision to the executives working across the street and down the block.

Pastor Rod Whitlock of the Bellevue Christian Center, in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue, coordinates prayer for Embrace Omaha and says, "I tell people that they are pastoring their neighborhoods, [businesses and schools]. This is not just a program. These are their sheep." And anyone can be the shepherd. —Howard Hardegree

To register as a Lighthouse or get more information, call Mission America toll free at 1-888-323-1210 or visit www.lighthousemovement.com.

Yuttasak "Nok" Sirikul and his wife, Kanlaya, lead Campus Crusade for Christ in Thailand.

When young men in Thailand graduate from college, they become Buddhist monks for a few months to pray for their parents. This honors the parents, and is believed to ensure a better standing for them in the next life.

When Yuttasak (Nok) Sirikul entered college, his mom began counting the days until he would graduate and become a monk for her. The visionary young man gladly shouldered the expectations. He'd already been a monk four times, in order to pray for family members who had died, and he knew what to do.

But after entering law school, Nok got involved in the Communist movement. When the government killed fellow students, he hid in the library. The quietest department, and the last place Nok figured they would look for him, was the philosophy department. There he passed the time reading books on different religions.

Christianity seemed strange to Nok. "I knew Christians believed Jesus was God and was raised from the dead," he says. "I wondered why so many people believed this, and influenced so much of the world."

During Nok's senior year, Campus Crusade for Christ staff member Charlie Culbertson gave the young man some Christian books to read.

At a retreat, Nok went out one afternoon to observe while students told others about Christ. "We met a student on the beach, and my partner said, ‘Nok, you just learned to use [the Four Spiritual Laws] booklet; why don't you share it?'" Nok chuckles as he remembers. "I don't know why I said yes, but as I read I began to understand. Every time I asked the student a question, I asked it of myself. When I asked him to receive Christ, I, too, opened my heart and received Christ."

Nok didn't tell anybody what he had done. Only uneducated people became Christians, he knew, and Christians were considered the lowest class in society. And how could he tell his mom? But after months of thought, Nok concluded that come what may, he could not give up his faith. In fact, he decided to join the staff of Campus Crusade.

Three months later he visited his family.

"Son, I'm so proud you have graduated," said his mom. "When are you going to become a monk for me?"

Nok swallowed hard. "Mother, I have become a ‘Christian monk,' he explained. "I've stopped drinking, smoking and doing bad things, and I will be a good son and pray for you my whole life." His mom didn't understand. She told a daughter that Nok had become a Christian, and the two went away and wept.

In time, Nok's parents came to realize their son had done a good thing. They compared his life to that of his friends, many of whom died of drug overdoses or AIDS. His mother eventually committed her life to Christ, while his father died saying, "I'm proud of you, son."

Recently the leaders of Campus Crusade in Southeast Asia asked Nok and his wife, Kanlaya, to direct Campus Crusade in Thailand. After 20 years in campus ministry, they gladly accepted the challenge.

"Nok is a man of vision," declares Oi Klaipaksee, a 12-year Campus Crusade staff member. "For example, we had a mass-media campaign called Power to Change. A million people heard the gospel; now he wants to do it again." And he probably will, especially if he remembers the best advice he ever received. Nok once asked Charlie for advice, and he simply responded, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit."

"I was expecting something deep," says Nok. "But I realized that if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you can do anything." —Bill Sundstrom and Jennifer Abegg

Sanjik Kukeev (at left in photo) has come far in his spiritual journey. The native of Kalmykia, in southwestern Russia, was recruited as an apprentice to a Buddhist lama. Last year, however, Sanjik solidified his apprenticeship under Jesus—and became a true spiritual leader—when he graduated from Campus Crusade's New Life Bible College in Moscow.
Through a two-year training program in theology and evangelism, New Life Bible College equips nationals to become pastors, missionaries, church leaders and church planters. This ministry of Campus Crusade's International Leadership Academy includes two other colleges located in Belarus and Nicaragua.
"I shared my faith with friends and family," Sanjik says. "My brother, my mother-in-law and one friend have prayed [and received] Jesus."
Sanjik's journey is just beginning—he wants to evangelize the other 13 districts of Kalmykia, which borders the Caspian Sea. Meanwhile, Sanjik planted a church in Tsagan-Ama, his hometown. Using his Campus Crusade training, Sanjik now instructs others in evangelism and church leadership. —Darcy Larson


Priority Associates
Indianapolis

Annie Bennett (at right in photo) knew God wanted her to share her faith. Scripture commands it, and now a book she'd just read offered practical advice about how to do it. Full of passion and willing to surrender everything in obedience, Annie left her architectural job of 15 years solely to meet new people and present the gospel to them.
She took a part-time job at a women's clothing store, where she met co-worker Linda Millsap. Annie invited Linda to movies, dinner and other activities, sowing seeds of truth in Linda's life. Months later, Linda was ready, and Annie introduced her to Jesus.
Annie looked for more ways to share her faith. Then a friend suggested she volunteer with Priority Associates, Campus Crusade's ministry to business professionals. "I felt like [PA] was a platform I could use to reach working people," says Annie. "I'm so impressed by it."
While volunteering in Indianapolis, Annie sensed God's leading to serve full time with PA. Today she passes along her passion for evangelism to other professional women. —Jennifer Abegg


C.L.M.
Oklahoma

"Body Piercing Saved My Life." So read the ad in The Daily O'Collegian, the school paper at Oklahoma State University. Surprisingly, the ad did not refer to pierced tongues or noses. Posted by Christian professors, it cleverly pointed out that Jesus was "pierced for our transgressions," and that He died so we wouldn't have to. It included an e-mail address and Web page where a curious reader could easily investigate those claims.
The ad is just one of a series of projects designed to allow Christian professors at Oklahoma State to publicly express their faith in Christ, explains Gary Hellman of Christian Leadership Ministries, Campus Crusade's ministry to college faculty.
On the same campus, CLM sponsored "Jesus Week," highlighted by a hamburger giveaway. "We gave away burgers to anyone who wanted one," says Gary. "We even gave 25 cents to the American Cancer Society for every hamburger given out."
When a student asked how much it cost, the professors explained that it was free—just like salvation. —Howard Hardegree


JESUS Film
Croatia

When Jim and Lynn Kessler and their Campus Crusade team entered a Gypsy camp in Zagreb, Croatia, they found something very different from picturesque Hollywood creations. Instead of colorful wagons, they found hovels and mounds of garbage. Instead of music and dancing around the campfire, there was burning trash; and no singing, just hopelessness.
A toothless, elderly looking woman invited them into her crude shack, where they learned that instead of 70, as they'd assumed, she was a 37-year-old mother of ten. She was overjoyed that the team would visit her and treat her like a person.
With their welcome secured, the team showed the JESUS film to about 50 in the camp. Several responded, but because of cultural idiosyncrasies and the illiteracy of the Gypsies, it is hard to interpret their response.
However, several now occasionally come to church—where they beg—and doors opened in a new community and culture simply because someone cared. The Gypsies knew it. —Howard Hardegree