World AIDS Day

December 4, 2008
By Steve Strang

To celebrate World AIDS Day Monday Rick Warren honored President George W. Bush in Washington as the one who has done more to eradicate AIDS than any other world leader. Along with my son Cameron and daughter-in-law Maya, I was privileged to attend an invitation-only Saddleback Civil Forum at which the best-selling author presented the outgoing president with the International Medal of Peace for his contribution to the fight against AIDS, including his establishing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The forum gave me an interesting view of the world of HIV/AIDS relief, but even more, it let me see how Warren and his wife, Kay, are not only bringing the light of the gospel to those working to solve what's been called a pandemic but are touching lives in a way I wouldn't have expected.

We have covered the AIDS problem many times in Charisma. (To read an article that appeared in print, click here; to see an online article, click here.) And as a board member of World Relief for several years I was familiar with that organization’s efforts in helping HIV/AIDS victims and orphans in Africa. With my younger son, Chandler, I visited World Relief's work in Africa in 2003--a trip that allowed me to see up close and personal the terrible tragedy and suffering on that continent.

At the time PEPFAR was just getting started. Only 50,000 HIV/AIDS patients were receiving treatment to fight the virus, but a goal was set to help 2 million HIV patients in five years. PEPFAR has exceeded its mission, the president told the group in Washington.

Our Charisma News Bulletin reported on World AIDS Day. You can read that report by clicking here.

At the forum I ran into a few old friends who have a concern about helping the poor. It was good to network with them. I was proud to see my son Cameron move so easily in those circles and to observe the obvious respect he has from many.

But the most interesting part of the trip was to meet David Miller from New York at a luncheon Warren held for a few leaders.

David sat next to me, and before I had an opportunity to ask, he began telling me his story. He was infected with the AIDS virus 18 years ago and became an activist. He has been involved in the radical AIDS group ACT UP and bragged that he’s been arrested 219 times. He ranted at the stigma AIDS had in the 1980s in the larger society and among church people in particular. And he seemed genuinely pleased with what Bush and Warren have done to help provide medicine for those suffering with AIDS.

But that’s not what impressed me. Miller is totally secular and by his own admission is a radical who not only resented but almost hated Christians. He was single-minded in his focus on AIDS, and he saw no concern from the Christian community.

I took no notes as we ate lunch in Washington. But what Miller said made a deep impression on me. He told how he had confronted Warren at an AIDS meeting and demanded to know what Warren or other Christians had done to help people struggling with AIDS. Instead of retaliating or just making a quick exit, Warren asked him if they could talk.

Their exchange led to a two-hour conversation in which Warren listened to what Miller had to say. It also resulted in the development of a relationship that has become a friendship. But here’s the most incredible thing to me—Warren later led Miller to Christ and baptized him in water.

That was two years ago. Miller used a few words in his conversation I won’t repeat here. In other words, he’s still a little rough around the edges as far as church-folk are concerned. But I could sense in him a genuineness that came from having actually met the Savior.

He talked about how important “faith-based” ministries are now in fighting AIDS. It’s part of what Warren calls a three-legged stool. The first leg is government and non-governmental charitable organizations; the second leg is business; and the third leg is the faith-based community working with the other two.

I’m sure Rick Warren regularly reaches out to people. I know he has led many people to salvation. So his reaching out to Miller probably isn’t that unusual.

But it struck me that more of us should be doing what Warren is doing--trying to use what influence we have to change the world and remembering that there are people around us who need Jesus. If we will just show them love—and share the truth of the gospel with them--many will come to believe.

Below is the news article about World AIDS Day. You can learn more about Warren’s fight against AIDS by clicking here.

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World AIDS Day Marked Worldwide

From governments to church leaders, officials worldwide pledged to continue combating the spread of HIV/AIDS.

[12.01.08] Across the globe on Monday leaders of churches and nations promised to help fight the spread of HIV while observing World AIDS Day—an international campaign launched in 1988 to improve HIV/AIDS awareness and education.

“Today is World AIDS Day, a day we reaffirm our commitment to fight HIV/AIDS at home and abroad,” President Bush said.

Before heading to the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health on Monday, where he would discuss the global AIDS epidemic with Rick Warren and other evangelical leaders, Bush announced that his President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was succeeding.

“[It was] one of the most important initiatives of my administration,” he said. “PEPFAR is the largest international health initiative dedicated to a single disease … and it is bringing hope and healing to people around the world.”

Launched in 2003 with the goal of helping to treat 2 million HIV patients in five years, PEPFAR had exceeded its mission, Bush said. “The American people, through PEPFAR, are supporting lifesaving treatment [worldwide],” he said. “We've also supported care for more than 10 million people affected by HIV, including more than 4 million orphans and vulnerable children.”

With an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide infected with the HIV virus, including 2.5 million children, the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reports that about half of the millions infected last year are 25 years old or younger.

In addition to measures that Chinese and South African officials took on Monday to reduce the stigma attached to people who are HIV-positive, one major U.S. denomination announced its own plan to help dispel negative stereotypes.

To encourage support for World AIDS Day, the head bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will be voluntarily tested for HIV/AIDS at an upcoming convention.

Conceived by the ELCA committee on Ministry Among People in Poverty (MAPP), the bishops’ actions will be presented as an opportunity for the church to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS “prevention, testing, treatment, care, stigma and discrimination.”

The committee also encouraged bishops “to be supportive and involved with local events on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.”

“By personally engaging in and supporting actions on World AIDS Day … ELCA bishops can help encourage all people to ‘know their status’ by being tested and help break down the stigma surrounding the disease,” ELCA leaders said in a statement.

Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, Switzerland, said the willingness of African religious leaders to publicly declare that they’ve been tested is helping to lessen stigma associated with the disease.

“I believe ELCA bishops being tested will be a similar act of accompaniment and encouragement for ELCA members and global companions,” Hanson said. “This decision by ELCA bishops is one more sign of this church's commitment to respond to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”
—Paul Steven Ghiringhelli


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Steve Strang