FEATURES

• "How Holy Is Excellence?" by Alan Nelson and Stan Toler. The rise of corporate excellence has subtly, but strongly, raised the expectations of parishioners. Now more than ever, churches must provide excellence in communications, services, and programs.

• "A Large Plow - An Awesome Harvest," by Bob Huffaker. God can use harvest workers in churches of all sizes. What is the unique role of the large church?

• "What Would You Do with Five Ex-Cons?" by James D. Johnson. In a deliberate decision to let God design the harvest in the South Pacific, the Church of the Nazarene in Fiji is seeing phenomenal results through some unlikely candidates.

• "Weaving a Harvest Tapestry," by John Whitsett. How does a largely white congregation from suburbia birth a daughter work in the primarily African-American heart of the city? The result was a harvest tapestry.

• "Hasten the Harvest: A Call to Urgency," by A. Brent Cobb. Our day of opportunity to harvest human souls is marked with urgency. For untold millions of people waiting to hear about Jesus, it's a day of opportunity.

• "The Spiritual Harvesting Team: An Evangelist's Perspective," by Nelson Perdue. The ministry of the evangelist is a partnership with God himself, those who minister in His name, and those who hear and receive the gospel.

• "Imagine It!" by Peter Ken Walker. A harvest beyond imagination is occurring in Mozambique. During the past three years, a new Church of the Nazarene or preaching point has been established every four days.

COLUMNS

• Commission: "How Contagious Are We?" by Jerry D. Porter. The harvest field is often secular, ungodly, and even antagonistic to the Christ-centered worldview that we embrace. Often it is easier to "attack them" rather than "befriend them."

• Heartbeat: "They Cared Too Much to Give Up," by W. Talmadge Johnson. To this day - and it's been 30 years - Bill says his Sunday School teacher George prays for him every day. What a heritage and investment by a teacher who cared too much to see Bill as just another name on the Sunday School list.

• Editor's Forum: This month's panel of experts answers a question on how to lead someone into the experience of entire sanctification.

• Worldview: "Taking Giant Steps," by Donald D. Owens. While we think with nostalgia about the days of infancy and childhood, in reality none of us wants our children to be frozen at any stage of their development before reaching maturity. And so it is with the indigenous church.

• Family Tree: "Good Grief!" by Rick and Bonnie Ryding. Moments must be captured and stored in the deep places of the heart where they will remain for as long as we live. Learn to live a life of good grief, for all people, and moments, have come to pass.

• The Deeper Way: "Owner's Manuals, Paychecks, and Clunkers," by Jonathan Salgado. It is hard to behave as a Christian without the fullness of Christ. It is impossible to live a holy life without the life of the Holy One in us.

• Touching: "How Undiplomatic," by Hermann L. Gschwandtner. God is using businessmen, doctors, educators, scientists, computer specialists, development workers, and many others to spread His Word. They believe, "Work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you're really serving God."

• Portraits: "Pablo Salazar: A Race for Peace," by Debbie Salter Goodwin. To the descendants of the Mayans, Pablo Salazar focuses his work as a Christian, a lawyer, a senator, and now a candidate for governor.

• Foot Soldiers: "Holding On and Letting Go," by Kaaren Witte. Chloe Schweitzer, a petite dynamo of a foot soldier whom friends affectionately call "the amazing believer who could," lights the track and tunnels for every person who needs to hang on to hope.

• Essay: "Something to Grow Into," by Karen Dean Fry. I came to understand that growing up in Jesus really is the business of a lifetime. The people who seemed to be the most holy were still asking and seeking and knocking.