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Dave Elmore, 43-year-old Friends Church pastor in Fairfield since 1999, says, "God has shown us that the only way anything is going to happen is if we pray and rely on God's power. We have failed to call on God's power to be active in us. Compared to God's power, they are very small. It's going to take all of us, not just two or three churches, to have an impact on the city."

"Fairfield, Iowa, is just a taste of where we're headed in the U.S. if Christians don't evangelize in the next 30 years," Freeman says. "People need spiritual nourishment. If it's not from Christianity, it will be from some other source."

Be sure to read Christianity Today's related stories "Mere Transcendental Meditation | The basic concepts of neo-Vedanta philosophy" and "Sometimes It Takes a Miracle | Jim Sieber found Christ more sufficient than self-realization."

Maharishi University of Management's claim to "develop the total potential of the brain, the cosmic creativity latent within every student" is reminiscent of Scientology rhetoric about actualizing personal potential.

Read the school's statement from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment teaches "Consciousness-Based education" to children from preschool to 12th grade in Fairfield.

Visit the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce homepage to learn more about the town.

Read about the history of Fairfield in a research project compiled by students of Fairfield High School. The project includes the history of local churches, the college, and town government.

Previous Christianity Today stories about transcendental meditation include:

From Cult Site to Teen Camp | Anything that can go right will, Young Life discovers. (Nov. 22, 1999)

Spiritual Mapping Gains Credibility Among Leaders | (Jan. 2, 1998)

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January 8 2001, Vol. 45, No. 1