Briefs: North America - Christianity Today

Rousas John Rushdoony, founder of the Chalcedon Institute and a key figure in the Christian Reconstructionist movement, died on February 8 at the age of 84. Rushdoony is regarded as a founder of the Christian homeschooling movement and an intellectual catalyst of the Christian Right. His most influential book is The Institutes of Biblical Law.

James Crawford, 49, has pleaded guilty to burning crosses on the grounds of Goodwill Presbyterian Church in Sumter, South Carolina, on April 1, 2000. Two coconspirators admitted to related charges in U.S. District Court in Columbia. Crawford, a resident of Sumter and member of the Ku Klux Klan, was indicted under the federal hate-crimes statute.

After an investigation, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) has concluded that Ferdinand Mahfood, founder of Food for the Poor (FFTP), improperly redirected donor money. The board of FFTP, based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and an ECFA member since October 1998, has cooperated with the investigation.

Bill Waldrop, 71, a senior adviser and consultant for Mission America, died December 11 in Colorado Springs of a pulmonary embolism. Waldrop served as president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment for seven years. He flew more than 200 combat missions in Vietnam and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and eight Air Medals.

Lilly Endowment Inc. has given the Duke University Divinity School a $10 million grant to develop pastoral leadership. The Learned Clergy Initiative will provide 60 three-year fellowships in the next five years; sponsor a series of forums involving lay leaders, clergy, faculty, and students; and focus on “developing the moral and theological imagination required for strong congregational leadership,” according to the divinity school.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) has named Alexander D. Hill to succeed Stephen A. Hayner as president, starting on July 1. Hill, 47, has been dean of Seattle Pacific University’s School of Business and Economics since 1995. Hayner, 52, IVCF’s eighth president, served for 13 years.

Bethany Fellowship International in Bloomington, Minnesota, has named David Hicks as president and CEO. Hicks was North American area coordinator for Operation Mobilization.

Kenneth Lee Pike, 88, president emeritus of Dallas-based SIL International, died December 31 in Dallas. Pike, an internationally renowned linguist and Bible translator, died of septicemia, a toxic blood condition. Pike, president of SIL from 1942 until 1979, received ten honorary doctorates and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 15 times because of his work with tribal groups.

Smart Money magazine has named Samaritan’s Purse the nation’s most efficient religious charity. The international relief agency—based in Boone, North Carolina, and headed by Franklin Graham—had revenues of $109.7 million in 1999. Samaritan’s Purse allocates 88.8 percent of its budget to program activities.