In November we assigned our talented editorial resident Corrie Cutrer, a May 2000 graduate of Mississippi College, to cover Reinhard Bonnke's evangelistic crusade in Lagos, Nigeria. This event was expected to draw crowds in excess of one million people per night. Corrie is no slouch when it comes to overseas travel, having spent a summer in Gaza teaching English as a second language to mostly Muslim Palestinians in 1998. But among African nations, Nigeria is in a category by itself. With 124 million people, it has the continent's largest population. It has enormous crude-oil wealth and corruption to match. Religiously, Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians and the nation is a lethal hotbed of political and religious conflict.

Many times after a CT staff member returns from an overseas reporting trip, we eagerly listen to anecdotes that never make it into print. Corrie not only told us about lunching on pounded yams, washed down with Coke, but also of the passionate commitment of Christians to minister amid the hazards of rebuilding Nigeria after decades of military dictatorship. Corrie's experiences in the church and in journalism have equipped her well for her year-long appointment as editorial resident. Corrie has lived in Florida, Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. ...