Editing Maranatha Campus Ministries (section)

==Beginnings==
Maranatha began in 1971 in [[Paducah, Kentucky]] as a youth center led by Bob Weiner,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.youthnow.org/home.php |title=Weiner Ministries International |access-date=2006-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209001408/http://www.youthnow.org/home.php |archive-date=2007-02-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> a former [[Assemblies of God]] youth pastor.  It was an outreach of a [[California]]-based ministry called "Global Missions."  Weiner and his wife, Rose, had helped lead a large revival in Paducah earlier that year.  Many disenfranchised "60's" teens found a new expression of Christianity in the center located near [[Paducah Tilghman High School]]. Large numbers of students from the surrounding area also began attending.

In 1972, Weiner founded a campus ministry called the "Maranatha House" at [[Murray State University]], a few miles from Paducah. The word "Maranatha" means "Our Lord, come" or "Our Lord is come" in [[Aramaic]], and was a popular Christian phrase around that time. Later in 1972, Weiner struck out on his own and changed Maranatha House's name to "Maranatha Christian Church."    During the mid-1970s and early 1980s, other Maranatha chapters were established across the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], as well as in [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], [[Indonesia]], [[France]], [[Germany]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and the [[Philippines]].  The ministry moved its headquarters from Paducah to [[Gainesville, Florida]] in 1979.

Weiner and his wife, Rose drew from a wide variety of leaders and influences all across the mainstream of the Charismatic movement including [[Kenneth Copeland]] and the [[Word of Faith]] movement, The [[Latter Rain (post-World War II movement)|Latter Rain Movement]], Dennis Peacoke, [[Derek Prince]], [[Ern Baxter]] and the [[Shepherding Movement]], [[Paul Cain (minister)|Paul Cain]] and the [[Apostolic-Prophetic Movement|prophetic movement]], Paul Jehle, [[Gary North (economist)|Gary North]], and other non-Charismatics who had [[Christian Reconstructionism|Reconstructionist]] or [[Theonomic]] ideas.

Early members were discipled through weekly meetings and periodic weekend conferences which hosted top national speakers.  Maranatha conference speakers included many of the big names in the Charismatic movement of the time, including ministers such as [[Oral Roberts]] and [[Larry Tomczak]].  A 1987 conference included [[Rosey Grier]], Rich Wilkerson, and [[Larry Tomczak]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forerunner.com/forerunner/X0333_Youth_Evangelism.html |title=Father Mike is Reaching Youth with Evangelism Teams |access-date=2006-10-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007061552/http://forerunner.com/forerunner/X0333_Youth_Evangelism.html |archive-date=2007-10-07 }}</ref>

Maranatha's members were told to work hard, get the best grades, and look as good as possible in order to rise in the economic and political ladders of success to be next to influence decision-makers.  The organization was one of the major players in the [[Christian right]] during the 1980s.  It first got involved in [[anti-abortion]] activism in the 1970s, and this soon spread to other [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] causes.  It also had an outreach to athletes, [[Champions for Christ]].  The group often referred to itself as "God's [[Green Berets]]."<ref name=Tactics>Fialka, John. Maranatha Christians, Backing Rightist Ideas, Draw Fire Over Tactics. Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1985</ref>

Unlike most campus ministries, Maranatha functioned as a denomination.  Its campus chapters were called "churches," and its leaders "pastors."  At a local level, decisions were made by the pastors and elders of the university churches in their movement as well as by the traveling ministry teams.

In 1988 Maranatha established a church in South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. This church changed its name to His People in about 1990.