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45. Just in time for Easter Sunday, 100 volunteers from 12 states rebuilt in one week Saint Mark's Missionary Baptist Church, the meetinghouse of an African-American congregation that an arsonist had set on fire in 1995. The project was coordinated by Hosanna Industries, a Presbyterian housing ministry in Philadelphia.

46. The Portland Fellowship of Exodus International last year counseled 575 people seeking spiritual help to leave homosexual lifestyles. The fellowship also presented its views on sexuality on such television shows as Hard Copy, 60 Minutes, and ABC World News, as well as programs on Danish and Chilean television.

47. Project RISE—Refugees in Search of Employment, sponsored by five area agencies (Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Service, World Relief, Minnesota Council of Churches, and International Institute)—provides job-search assistance, training, counseling, and translation services for refugees and immigrants.

48. Zenas Ministries, in the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Fort Wayne, Indiana, provides congregations with legal services, financial planning, and bylaws review. Churches are billed only for expenses.

49. Mary Jane Ponten was born with cerebral palsy. John Nix has twin daughters with CP. Based in Pikes Peak, Colorado, Nix and Ponten run the Mephibosheth Ministry, named after a physically disabled grandson of King Saul (2 Sam. 9). Ponten writes and pub-lishes Bible-study materials for mentally retarded adults. Both Ponten and Nix have conducted seminars in more than 25 states and five countries to help churches incorporate the physically and mentally challenged into all aspects of congregational life.

50. Rob and Sandra Pattison, along with their son, Daniel, 12, and daughter, Emily, 10, operate Bread of Life Ministries, which sends a portable soup kitchen twice weekly into inner-city areas of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Aboard a bus called "The Street Connection," the Pattisons oversee distribution of free hot soup, hot dogs, sandwiches, and drinks to 200-300 people who live in government housing. Each week, the ministry also distributes 500 loaves of bread and hundreds of doughnuts.

51. With the support of his father's church in Phoenix, Matthew Barnett, 23, took an existing congregation of 48 Filipinos and expanded it into a massive ministry to inner-city residents. Known as the Los Angeles International Church, nicknamed "The Dream Center," the ministry is located in a high visibility high-rise: the former Queen of Angels Hospital. Thirteen ethnic congregations conduct 42 worship services weekly in the 15-story complex. The church provides free housing and meals in the building for 500 people—recovering drug addicts, runaway teenagers, former gang members who are in wheelchairs after suffering gunshots, and volunteers from other states and countries who minister and help refurbish the building. The church distributes clothes to 1,000 people weekly and 600,000 tons of food annually. Barnett led the church to develop a ministry in which teams of five members "adopt" an inner-city block and go door to door asking how they can help, such as running errands or assisting with housecleaning or yard work.

52. After testing HIV-positive, Kim Davison became involved with Love & Action, a ministry to AIDS patients based in Annapolis, Maryland, where she helped promote abstinence among student groups. She also initiated an annual drive to gather like-new stuffed animals for HIV-positive adults and children. Since Davison's death, Love & Action has renamed the project "Kim's Teddy Bear Campaign," which will likely gather more than 3,000 huggable animals this year.

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November 17 1997, Vol. 41, No. 13