Apostolic Minister Succumbs, Saw Daughter Compete in 2004 Olympics

Rev. David Williams, a minister at the Apostolic House of Faith Church in Columbiana, Ohio, died this week at the age of 55.  Rev. Williams struggled for 20 years with leukemia.

In 2004, residents of Western Pennsylvania raised money to send Williams to Athens, Greece to see his daughter, Lauryn, compete in the Olympics, where she achieved a silver metal for sprinting.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Williams was himself an athletic competitor before coming to the United States in 1969.

Click here to read the full story.

Funerals for Hudson Family Murders to Be Held at Apostolic Church of God

Funeral services for family members of Jennifer Hudson, Oscar award-winning actress and singer, will be held at Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God, led by Dr. Byron Brazier. 

Hudson’s mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew were all killed last week.  The main suspect is William Balfour, estranged husband of Hudson’s sister and father of the slain boy. 

Click here to read the full story.

Californian Christians Rally to Defeat Gay Marriage

TheCall, a 24/7 prayer and fasting ministry led by Evangelist Lou Engle, is calling together Christians from around California to gather on 1 November at the Qualcom Stadium in San Diego, California to pray for the passage of Proposition 8, which, if passed, would amend the state’s consitution to ban gay marriage.

The rally in San Diego will last from 10 am to 10 pm and will involve corporate prayer and fasting for the protection of traditional marriage.  People from around the nation have registered, and attendance is expected to near 10,000.

With the slogan, “As California goes, so goes the nation,” TheCall is appealing to Christians throughout the United States to engage in the state-level defeat of gay marriage initiatives.

Click here to visit the website of TheCall.

Charisma Editor, Steven Strang, Makes Strong Anti-Obama Statement

Steven Strang, founder of Charisma Magazine, a periodical with a wide Pentecostal/Charismatic readership, recently posted a message to his ‘blog and circulated an email entitled “Life As We Know It Will End if Obama is Elected.”

Strang blasts presidential hopeful Barack Obama for his support of abortion and gay rights.  Strang also predicts that, under Obama’s administration, “people who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms.” 

Strang also lists several liberal organizations who have offered support and endorsement to Obama’s campaign and concludes that “every one of them hates serious Christians and Zionist Jews.”

He encourages Christians to “pray and work” for the defeat of Sen. Obama in next week’s election.

Click here to read Mr. Strang’s comments.

Stafford gets a real life

Driven by a deep-rooted faith in his religion, Joshua Glick, along with his wife, Leah Glick, recently opened the doors of Real Life Church in Stafford County.

Glick, a minister of the United Pentecostal Church International for the past 10 years, came to Stafford in April 2008 and opened the doors of his church two months later. The inaugural services were with the support of Pastor Bert Ray II from the Abundant Life United Pentecostal Church and Pastor Robert Eaby from Cornerstone Chapel. Currently, they have four regular attendees.

The couple moved to Stafford from California, after being offered the chance to establish a ministry in the county, especially after hearing about the county’s rapid growth in size and the shrinking percentage of people who attended a church.

Glick wrote: “People want an experience. They want something that’s real, and that’s why we have founded Real Life Church in Stafford. Our motto is “Real Life Church is a Real Church designed for Real People”. Glick then went on to mention the effort he and his wife put into the Real Life Church.

“My wife is a very gifted Web and graphic designer… These gifted talents have enabled us to work together as a team to produce a ministry that’s designed for today.” Glick then went on to cite lack of advertising capability as a major obstacle to tackle in helping the church grow, but he also remains optimistic that he and his wife will find a way around that.

Real Life Church’s Web site, reallifeofstafford.com, welcomes curious readers with a simple mission statement, “The Real Life Church mission statement has been designed based off the Purpose Driven Life principles to create an atmosphere of healthy church growth in all purposes of ministry. We don’t want to grow out of proportion.”

Glick said: “I want to create a church that folks can really get acquainted with… I really want to give the community something that’s real.”

Read the full article here.

Tech Tip: Church Metrics

If you’ve ever been involved in church administration on any level, you understand the headache it is to keep track of data and report on that information.  From attendance to baptisms to giving reports, ChurchMetrics.com gives you all the tools you need to analyze your data. You can track numbers for multiple campuses from one location on the web.  CM also allows you to add users to view or add input data.

This web app is revolutionary for small, medium and large churches in that it will allow them to see the trends within their local congregation.  Trend charts bring a deeper understanding of the routines of the church, the behavioral aspect of the congregants, and exposes areas of need in the local body of Christ.

The best part is that it is a free service!  You can access it on your mobile device as well for convenient data entry.  Here are a few ideas to use this web app within your church leadership.  During your monthly meeting provide charts to your leaders to show past progress compared to current successes.   Use giving charts to help with your financial projections.  Keep good attendance/giving records each month and year, file them away for the time your church needs to apply for a loan.  This is solid data banks and lenders want to see.

When you sign up for CM you will be assigned a subdomain with your church name.  Thousands of churches will be signing up this week.  Make sure you get your church name before it is taken.   Head on over to ChurchMetrics.com to sign up for your free account.  Thanks to LifeChurch.tv for providing this great service to other churches at no cost.

Via MisterNifty.com

Christian college to allow students to carry guns?

Students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., have successfully petitioned the college  to consider lifting a ban on carrying guns on campus.

Members of Liberty’s Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, or SCCC, brought the matter before the school’s chancellor, Jerry Falwell, Jr.

“We just have a group on campus that’s been promoting that idea, and I really don’t have a good feel for whether our community would support it or not,” Falwell told The Lynchburg News & Advance. “So I just decided to take it to the board.”

Full Story Here

Copper ruins in Jordan bolster biblical record of King Solomon

  A massive copper smelting plant in the biblical land of Edom is at least three centuries older than researchers previously believed, placing it firmly in the traditional timeline of King Solomon, considered the greatest ruler of Israel, researchers reported Monday.

The existence of Solomon 3,000 years ago has been questioned by some scholars over the last two decades because of the paucity of archaeological evidence supporting the biblical record and the belief that there were no complex societies in Israel or Edom capable of building fortresses, monuments and other sophisticated public works, such as large mines, in the 10th century BC.

Full Story

Americans Praying for Financial Relief

More evidence that grave financial concerns are foremost in American’s lives today is revealed in the results from a new poll conducted by Guideposts.com. When asked, “What are you praying for these days?” 32% answered: “Financial Relief” making it the top response…significantly outpacing the #2 response “United States and Our Leaders” sited by 20% of respondents. Additionally, 15% of respondents said they were praying for a “New Job” making the combined “Financial Relief” and “New Job” nearly 50% of all respondents’ prayers. The survey was conducted between 10/13 and 10/19 among 2522 online respondents.

“The level of concern that people have for their finances, jobs, retirement accounts, and relief from money problems is starkly evident by how prominent it is in their prayers,” according to Anne Simpkinson, Online Managing Editor at Guideposts. “We have a strong library of inspirational content and experts who are providing faith-filled messages and helpful to-dos to aid people in these tough times.”

Full Story

How Church Attendance Affects Religious Voting Patterns

The latest report from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows that, as in previous elections, differences in voting patterns by religion are amplified when church attendance is taken into account. For example, Barack Obama has made no headway among white evangelical Protestants who attend church at least once a week; just 17% of this group supports him. By contrast, 37% of white evangelicals who attend services less frequently support Obama.

Similarly, while Obama has made gains among Catholics overall, he runs even with John McCain among observant white Catholics (45% to 45%). He now has a clear lead among white Catholics who attend Mass less frequently (53% to 38%).

Report

Churches Offer Alternative To Traditional Halloween

The Morning News

Many churches will offer an alternative to door-to-door trick-or-treating with a variety of activities this week.

Many will hold trunk or treat events, dispensing goodies from the trunks of churchgoers’ cars. Others will host indoor festivities. Some include costume contests, games and refreshments. Almost all feature costumes and candy, standbys for Oct. 31.

Children and families from surrounding neighborhoods are invited to join in the fun. The primary purpose is safety, church leaders agree.

“It’s a good, safe opportunity for families,” said Traci Fennell, coordinator of the trunk or treat event at First Baptist Church in Lowell, Arkansas. “Going door-to-door trick-or-treating is just not safe anymore.”

Norman Hamby, senior pastor of First United Pentecostal Church in Rogers, said the events allow children to have fun surrounded by caring adults.

Cornerstone United Pentecostal Church in Lufkin, Texas, will be hosting a Trunk-O-Treat on Oct. 31. Their annual Trunk-O-Treat presents “Bible Stories Come Alive.”  They will offer free sausage-on-stick, drinks, popcorn and cotton candy. Bible themed booths for the kids and adults.

What about your church? What events are you having as an alternative to Halloween? Or do you just avoid it altogether? Leave a comment below.

Obama seeks delay in voter fraud investigation

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is pressuring the Department of Justice to put off a probe of voter registration fraud allegations leveled against the now infamous liberal group ACORN.

Lawyers for the Obama campaign have written U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, asking him to delay any investigations of voter fraud until after the election. The Obama campaign’s general counsel, Robert Bauer, says the FBI should instead be investigating those who have lodged complaints of voter registration fraud against groups like ACORN.  Bauer contends that concerns about voter registration fraud are “manufactured allegations” being used to intimidate and disenfranchise low-income voters. (See earlier article on ACORN)

Former Oklahoma Republican Congressman Ernest Istook is a distinguished fellow for government relations at the Heritage Foundation. He says the Obama campaign is encouraging ACORN to continue its “nefarious” conduct.

Full Story Here

Palin says election result rests in God’s hands

DENVER (AP) – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin describes herself as a “hard-core pro-lifer” and expresses confidence that in spite of disheartening polls, “putting this in God’s hands, that the right thing for America will be done at the end of the day on Nov. 4.”

In an interview with evangelical leader James Dobson that aired Wednesday, Palin said she thought Republican presidential candidate John McCain would implement the GOP platform if elected—”I do, from the bottom of my heart”—but McCain doesn’t support the platform on three issues important to evangelicals: abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research.

The platform calls for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, an issue McCain says should be left to individual states. Similarly, the platform seeks a constitutional ban on all abortions; again, McCain supports allowing states to decide the question. McCain supports research using embryonic stem cells, which the platform opposes.

Palin called it a “strong platform” and told Dobson, “They are there, they are solid, we stand on them and, again, I believe that it is the right agenda for the country at this time.”

Full Story Here

Survey: Christian Voters in Dead-Heat

A Barna survey released Thursday found that John McCain and Barack Obama are neck and neck among born-again Christian voters.

A Barna Group survey released Thursday found a statistical dead heat among born-again voters, with 45 percent planning to vote for John McCain and 43 percent supporting Barack Obama. Unless the statistics change within the next two weeks, the researchers say Obama is likely to win the presidential election by a significant margin.

“Anything can happen, but the election is clearly Obama’s to lose,” said Barna Group President David Kinnaman, who conducted the survey. “If Obama goes on to win, one of the significant stories will be the profile of the faith vote. People will wonder whether he won because of effective outreach by Democrats to the Christian community, ineffective efforts of Republicans, or shifts in the voting priorities of Christians, especially younger believers. Whatever the case, compared to when the names Kerry and Bush were on the ballot, the Democrats are poised to make up significant ground among born again and evangelical voters.”

Full Story Here

84th UPCI General Conference Round Up

Want to know what you missed at General Conference? Not hard to find out in today’s Internet society. Below we present a list of everything you might possibly want to know about the conference that just concluded. Special thanks to Collideoscope, LookupSocial, UPCI, and others for blogging about the conference. We will update this post with more content as find it.

• General Conference Elections and Apointments
• Thursday Business Meeting Notes
• Friday Business Meeting Notes

   Miracle in the Foreign Missions Service

• Sunday School Service
• Media Missions Service
• Superintendent’s Service

   Rumors, Restaurants & Revival

• Blog – PMA Songfest
• Blog – Thursday at Conference
• Blog – Friday at Conference
• Blog – Friday at Conference

   Blog – Conference Wrap Up

• Free video archive of services (Low quality windows media)
• Free video archive of services (Low quality flash video)
• Paid video archive of services (higher quality)

   Official Conference Photo Galleries

Oh, and in case you missed it, here is a video of some the UPCI FMD brethren hamming it up.