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A ’Who’s Who’ of Christianity Enters Its Final Season

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ASSIST News Service (ANS) –
PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net — E-mail: assistnews@aol.com

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A ’Who’s Who’ of Christianity Enters Its Final Season

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

UNITED KINGDOM (ANS) – At the age of 20, Jackie Pullinger was told that she couldn’t be a missionary because she was too young and she felt God’s continued leading to be on the mission field.

Lifelong career missionary Jackie Pullinger

Pullinger booked a ticket on a ship that was going to many worldwide locations. At Hong Kong, she felt God’s leading to get off the boat and she has been ministering there ever since — for more than 40 years — to the drug addicts, prostitutes, the homeless and the “down and out.”

After Fiona Castle’s husband died of lung cancer from passive smoking (inhaling the smoke of others) she felt that her world was gone. Roy Castle was a popular British comedian, musician and TV personality loved by millions.

As a way of coping with her grief Fiona wrote her testimony in

Fiona Castle, widow of British comedian Roy Castle

book form. Since then she has authored a number of books including “Rainbow through the Rain”, “Living Simply,” “The Light in Our Darkness,” “In the Palm of God’s Hand,” “Give Us This Day,” “No Flowers Just Lots of Joy,” “Cancers A Word Not a Sentence,” “Still Dews,” “Celebrate the Word,” and “Self Esteem.” They are mostly books to help people cope with various difficulties in life.

Now, an unusual television series — “Principles of Leadership” — that is starting to film the final 13 episodes of its final season, will include these two women’s stories.

The producers have begun to reflect on many of their extraordinary guests.

Producer David Sullivan (left) with Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad

David Sullivan, Director of Harvest Fields Commissioning International, explained: “One is called ‘The Vicar of Baghdad’ and lives in Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian Territories and with his family and at home in England. Another guest, a Chinese House Church leader, had to be ‘smuggled’ out of his home country because he is one of their ‘most wanted’ criminal. Still another guest had to admit to the church that he pastors that, according to medical science, he was struggling with hepatitis.”

Harvest Fields Commissioning International and its media production arm, OLI Productions have been filming a TV / DVD series that shares with Christian leaders worldwide the principles that are used by some of Christianity’s most well known and loved leaders and authors — from “God’s Smuggler” Brother Andrew to NY Times best-selling author Joyce Meyer, from Hong King’s Jackie Pullinger MBE, to British comedian Roy Castle’s widow author Fiona Castle MBE.

The series was actually started by, what some would call, “an accident.”

Sullivan told ASSIST News: “We were producing a film about Sweden and contacted that country’s first non-denominational church — Livets Ord — to get comments about their beginnings.

“Although in Israel at the time, Ulf Ekman, the founding Pastor and author of several books, Ulf Ekman, intercepted the e-mail and asked if we would like to interview him,” Sullivan said.

“We were excited to include some comments from this well-known Christian. However, when we looked at the material we realized that we had almost 30 minutes of what could only be described as ‘Principles of leadership.’

“After that we realized that there were so many Christian leaders who have influenced millions of lives and overseen thousands of other leaders that have used Biblical principles. They would, surely, like to pass these principles on to other new or young leaders.”

Sullivan said that when completed there will be a total of 52 program interviews which include authors and politicians, preachers and evangelists.

What is in the works for any future series?

HFC International and OLI Productions have already begun a “spin off” series called “Principles of Praise” which features a number of well-known singers and songwriters who have influenced church music in many ways.

From British Christian praise and worship songwriter Graham Kendrick to opera singer Liliana Oliveri, to Country Western singer George Hamilton IV, the list is growing each month.

“As another series of church resources and training materials they are invaluable,” David Sullivan commented.

HFC International’s leadership series are currently being broadcast on 15 Christian and independent television networks around the world including SAT 7 (the Middle East), CNL (Russia and worldwide), Gospel Channel (Scandinavia), The Australian Christian Channel, the Alfa and Omega Network (Romania and worldwide), Premier TV (U.K.), Shine TV (New Zealand), U Channel (Indonesia), the Family 7 Network (Holland) and IFBN (Israel).

Harvest Fields Commissioning International is a U. K. Registered Charity with the purpose of assisting in raising up and encouraging churches and leaders in over 45 countries and on all 5 continents for work in churches, charities and other humanitarian assistance groups. Its websites are at: www.agapelive.net and www.hfci.net .

For further information or high-res photos, contact Press Department at: info@agapelive.net

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel,and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael’s volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department — Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) — of A.C.T. International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International.