When Pastor Mark Strong's church

was torched by an arsonist, he and his congregation

could have reacted with anger.

Instead, they chose to respond in love.

And, as a result, their community was transformed.

Take a look.

NARRATOR: In 1996, Mark Strong's predominantly black church

was set on fire with a string of arsons across the country.

That crime was intended to create unrest

in the Portland, Oregon community.

But instead, it sparked unity.

MARK STRONG (ON TV): Whoever had set this fire off,

in their minds, felt it would be a thing

to devastate us and bring us down.

We decided to change into a celebration.

NARRATOR: Since then, Mark has become

a bridge builder between black and white communities.

He recently coauthored "The Freedom Factor,"

revealing the link between unforgiveness and suffering.

Please welcome to the 700 Club, the pastor

of Emmanuel Free Baptist Church in Portland, Mark E. Strong.

It's great to have you here.

It's great to be here.

This is the church you grew up in.

Yes.

Tell us a little bit about what happened in '96.

Well, in 1996, the church at the time

was called the Emmanuel Free Methodist Church,

so we're Life Change Church now.

And what happened was we were having a prayer meeting,

and one of the young men prayed.

And he said, "Lord, drop a firebomb in the church."

So we were thinking about revival, spiritual.

Well, that night, we actually-- someone actually

threw two Molotov cocktails into the church

and burned the church.

And it happened at a time when there

was a lot of church burnings going across the nation that

were racially motivated.

So we had to deal with all of that.

So what was your initial reaction, Mark?

Three o'clock in the morning, when I first

arrived at the church, a person, a reporter put a microphone

in my face, and they said, "How do you

feel about this racially motivated fire?"

My response was whether a person was red, yellow, black, white,

or brown, I didn't see the color of the hand of the person

that through the firebomb at the church.

But I do know that as a believer,

our struggle is against the enemy.

So we decided to take a posture to try to bring reconciliation

opposed to polarizing the situation

to bring more tension and strife and division and so forth.

So what message did you and your congregation

then send to the community?

Because most people would say, why

are they reacting like that?

Well, I think, the heart of our church and our mission

is Jesus.

And so whether good things happen, or bad things happen,

the responsibly and mission we have as a church

is to proclaim Christ.

And so we decided that we were going to use this opportunity

to speak the gospel, preach the gospel,

and allow the gospel message to bring healing and forgiveness

to our community and to our neighborhood.

You know, you're saying basically we

kept the main message-- the main message.

Exactly.

And the main message is Jesus.

And one of his main messages was forgiveness.

Talk a little bit about the power of forgiveness

because it can change the world.

Yes.

So I had that opportunity to write

the book with Dr. Wilkinson.

And so when I was asked about writing this book with him,

I was overjoyed to do it.

Because I understand, being a pastor for 28 years,

seeing all different type of things

happen in church from broken marriages,

to business partners going array,

to people experiencing adversity from strangers, to their kids,

or something else, and so I've seen people struggle

with for forgiveness.

And so the beauty about the book is that-- or the uniqueness

about the book-- is that it addresses areas of forgiveness

that many times are overlooked.

So in the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew

18, Jesus tells us, first of all, to forgive not 7 times

but 70 times 7.

And there was a unique reason why he said that.

Because there is a revelation, or, I should say,

an insight that we look over all the time.

And that is that we don't understand

that when we don't forgive, what that causes God to do

is to remove the protective barrier from around our lives.

And that makes us susceptible to all kinds of suffering

and distress and pain.

And we don't make that connection--

that hidden connection-- between unforgiveness

and suffering that we experience many times in our lives.

It sets us free.

It sets us free.

And there are layers to that.

It's not just simply saying it.

There are actual layers to experiencing that forgiveness

and being set free.

Yes.

And so one of the words that's unique in that chapter

is the word [INAUDIBLE], which represents suffering,

but the word defined means that when a person experiences

distress or suffering.

And so we can experience suffering from unforgiveness

on a number of levels.

So whether it's physical, whether it's emotional.

Sometimes people experience depression, deep anxiety,

physical issues in their body.

It also refers to just spiritual things

that people go through when they don't forgive.

And so the beauty of forgiveness is

it helps people to find the freedom that they're

longing for, but they don't know how to get it.

And so in the book, Dr. Wilkinson and I,

we just kind of discuss how a person

can find that forgiveness, and how

they can escape the torture or the distress

that comes from forgiveness.

And so it's a wonderful thing.

It can be hard to embark on that journey,

but the freedom that comes from choosing to forgive

is beyond measure.

And I want to say "The Freedom Factor," Mark's book written

with Bruce Wilkinson, is available nationwide.

You can also see a web exclusive interview with Mark

on our Facebook page.

Just log on to facebook.com/700club.

Plus, Mark's going to be our featured speaker

in today's Noon Chapel.

And we stream that live, so you can join us.

All you have to do is log on to cbn.com.

But "The Freedom Factor," you want to get a hold of this.

Get set free.

It's your inheritance.

Yes.

Thank you, Mark.

Very welcome.

It's great to have you here today.

It's great to be here.

Thank you.