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Dwight Gibson, 37
North American director, World Evangelical Fellowship

"I always wondered about the places around the world these stamps were coming from," recalls Dwight Gibson about his first-grade stamp collection. Now, as North American director for World Evangelical Fellowship, an international association of evangelical associations, Gibson is the one licking foreign stamps in his effort to foster communication among international believers. Especially concerned with issues of religious freedom, Gibson was the force behind WEF's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, which many North American churches participated in this September. Before coming to WEF he worked for the Slavic Gospel Association, where he was struck by the impact and unity of the local churches in the Soviet Union. What he saw drives his vision today to "create a local church that is international." Observes Gibson, "We're missing a connectedness of the body of Christ. We need to understand what it means that when one rejoices, we all rejoice, and when one suffers, we all suffer."

A. C. Green, Jr., Reginald "Reggie" White, 33, 34
Green, Jr. - Forward, Phoenix Suns
White - Defensive end, Green Bay Packers

Ferocious competitors on the court and gridiron, these professional athletes have leveraged their success and wealth into vibrant Christian ministries. A. C. Green, the Phoenix Suns' scrappy 6' 9", 11-year veteran of the nba, heads the A. C. Green Youth Foundation and the Athletes for Abstinence program. His video, book, and personal lifestyle—a single, traveling professional athlete who refuses to live promiscuously—challenge young people and other athletes to a life of purity and integrity.

At 6' 6" and 300 pounds, Reggie White of the Green Bay Packers holds the career record for quarterback sacks. When he was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Year for last season, the press played up his moniker of "minister of defense" in reference to his position as associate pastor of his home congregation, Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. There he runs a summer sports camp for inner-city children and supports a variety of programs, including one that funds inner-city community-development banks. This past January, when his church fell prey to the rash of black-church burnings that swept the South, Reggie emerged as a national spokesperson calling the nation and church to face racism where it exists and raising money to rebuild destroyed churches. "The only thing that overcomes racism," he says, "is the love of God and the unity amongst the 'brethren.' "

Michael Horton, 32
President, Christians United for Reformation

Michael Horton believes evangelicals need a second Reformation. At age 13, Horton experienced a spiritual crisis while reading the Book of Romans, wondering, "How can I be right before God if I continue to be a sinner? How do I know I'm in a state of grace?" To find answers, Horton began devouring books on Reformation theology, and it wasn't long before his reading turned into writing. To date, he has authored eight books, having completed a draft for his first book when he was only 15. "Evangelicalism as a movement," he has persistently warned in his books, "is rushing headlong toward theological ambiguity, which is another way of saying apostasy." As a sophomore at Biola University, Horton formed Christians United for Reformation (CURE) and eventually began a radio show, "The White Horse Inn," now broadcast nationwide on 30 stations, as well as a magazine, Modern Reformation. Horton is also copastor of Christ Reformed Church of Placentia, California, and vice chair of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals-another organization decrying the loss of evangelicalism's Reformation roots. Despite the multiplicity of his titles, his goal remains singular: the recommitment of evangelicals to the solas of what he hopes was only the first Reformation.

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November 11 1996, Vol. 40, No. 13