AR Special Report: Best of 2008

 

As 2008 comes to an end and a new year begins, it’s time to reminisce about some of our favorite stories and posts from 2008. Out of the hundreds of stories that our contributors posted this year,  we’ve chosen a few of our favorites.  We’ve also included the most popular stories from our readers. As always, be sure to click on our “Featured” page to see all of our featured stories, interviews, polls, and more.

We also have a new podcast that we encourage you to subscribe to. We plan on more interviews and features for our podcasts in the upcoming year. Click here for more information.

 

The Best of the Apostolic Report for 2008

 

Most Popular Story

Our most read story from 2008 recieved over 12,000 hits from the website alone, not to mention the e-mails and rss feeds. In May of 2008,  former President Bill Clinton visited a North Carolina United Pentecostal Church. Click here and here for the original stories.

Runner-Up for Most Popular Story

Our second most read story from 2008 (8,200 hits) is the news that popular social networking site, everyonesconnected, would be re-launched as Ubuti. In May, the website promised an improved version of EC with a completely new look and feel. EveryonesConnected had been very popular among Pentecostals.

The new look was not popular among it’s users, and proved to be a mistake, as the website has now completly shut down. Original Story

Most Popular New Website

The collapse of everyonesconnected helped lead to the rise of a new social networking website just for Apostolics. Everyonesapostolic now has over 36,000 members. Read our interview with the creator of the website here. You can join our group here:
http://everyonesapostolic.com/group/theapostolicreport 

Runner-Up for Most Popular New Website

Apostolic Live is a new video sharing site that was launched in March of 2008. Apostolic Live seeks to offer a Godly Apostolic venue for the sharing of Apostolic audio & video files. Their goal is to keep the site clean and wholesome and available to all Apostolics who wish to participate.  Click here and here to read the original stories.

Most Talked About Post

A political cartoon on the website of the Washington Post that made fun of speaking in tongues surfaced in September. E-mails began circulating among Pentecostals encouraging each other to contact the editor at the Washington Post and voice their displeasure with the cartoon. See our story here.

Most Popular Category

With the election of 2008, it’s no surprise that our most posted in category of 2008 (besides General), was the Politics category. The Politics category had 148 posts filed under in 2008.  Click here to read several different ministers (from different apostolic organizations) respond to the 2008 election.

Most Commented-On Post

Our story on whether or not Sarah Palin had been baptized in Jesus’ name received 65 comments from our readers. Click here to read the story.

Most Popular Poll

Our poll question, “Should Apostolic Pastors Endorse Political Candidates?” was the question that received the most feedback from our readers. Click here for the original post. You can also click here to see many of our other polls.

Top Referrers from 2008

Special thanks to these websites for helping us spread the word about our website. People clicked on the most links from these pages to get to our blog.

1. http://www.everyonesapostolic.com 820
2. http://www.apostoliclive.com  800
3. http://ljoyetree.blogspot.com 658

Top Contributors from 2008

Special thanks to the hard work of these contributors. Without their dedication, this site would not be possible.

1. Jeremy Lynch – 288 posts
2. Michael Roach – 188 posts
3. Matthew Shaw  – 130 posts

Atheists sue to remove ‘God’ from inaugural

Carol Cratty – CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A number of atheists and non-religious organizations want Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony to leave out all references to God and religion.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, the plaintiffs demand that the words “so help me God” not be added to the end of the president’s oath of office.

In addition, the lawsuit objects to plans for ministers to deliver an invocation and a benediction in which they may discuss God and religion.

An advance copy of the lawsuit was posted online by Michael Newdow, a California doctor and lawyer who has filed similar and unsuccessful suits over inauguration ceremonies in 2001 and 2005.

The new lawsuit says in part, “There can be no purpose for placing ’so help me God’ in an oath or sponsoring prayers to God, other than promoting the particular point of view that God exists.”

Newdow said references to God during inauguration ceremonies violate the Constitution’s ban on the establishment of religion.

Newdow and other plaintiffs say they want to watch the inaugural either in person or on television. As atheists, they contend, having to watch a ceremony with religious components will make them feel excluded and stigmatized.

Read the full article HERE.

Biblical theme park gets makeover

A 15-acre theme park that recreates Jerusalem at the time of Christ has received a facelift and a change in ownership.  

“The Holy Land Experience” was recently purchased by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The biblical theme park and museum, located in Orlando, features a number of exhibits that depict the Holy Land during the life of Jesus.

Theme park spokesman Mike Everett says there have been many additions since TBN took over. “We’ve put in an entirely new children’s area with Noah’s Ark theater, as well as Smile of a Child theater,” explains Everett. “The venues have remained the same, but we’ve created some new looks in decorating and painting.”

Everett says TBN will be able to promote the park through its worldwide television ministry. “We have a tremendous vehicle. Trinity Broadcasting is seen in over 90 percent of households in the U.S. …we’re on 67 satellites around the world,” he continues. “So we’re reaching homes everywhere…that’s a perfect vehicle to advertise the Holy Land Experience.”

About 300,000 people visited the Holy Land Experience last year.

OneNewsNow

Terrorists promise ’surprises’ for Israel

WorldNetDaily

TEL AVIV – Speaking during exclusive WND interviews today, leaders of Hamas and an allied terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip claimed they have “surprises” in store for Israel as the Jewish state continues its aerial bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza.

The threats come as information from Israeli defense officials indicates Gaza-based terrorists have long-range rockets capable of reaching just outside Tel Aviv if launched from the northern Gaza Strip.

“This war is a war for elections and therefore we promise to send them (Israelis) surprises,” stated Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas’ so-called military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades.

Click here to read the full story

Poll: No evidence that recession pulls people into pews

The economic recession has not led to an increase in attendance at U.S. houses of worship, according to Gallup pollsters.

Despite anecdotal evidence cited in high-profile media outlets, Americans’ worship patterns have held steady in 2008, the Gallup Poll reports. Since mid-February, Gallup said, it has asked 1,000 adults a day how often they attend church, synagogue or mosque.

About 42 percent have said they go weekly or almost weekly, with no increase in September through December, when the recession tightened its hold on the U.S. economy.

Gallup also said there have been no significant change in the percentage of Americans who say they attend church about once a month, seldom, or never.

“The available data on self-reported church attendance among American adults do not appear — as of mid-December — to support the hypothesis that on a society-wide basis, the current bad economic times have resulted in an increase in Americans’ churchgoing behavior,” Gallup’s Dec. 17 report said.

The pollsters said they conduct about 30,000 interviews per month on church attendance, which results in a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point for the surveys.

Original Story

UK 2050: Church attendance ‘to fall by 90%’

In one of the most holy weeks in the Christian calendar, a report says that in just over a generation the number of people attending Church of England Sunday services will fall to less than a tenth of what they are now.

Christian Research, the statistical arm of the Bible Society, claimed that by 2050 Sunday attendance will fall below 88,000, compared with just under a million now.

The controversial forecast, based on a “snapshot” census of church attendances, has been seized upon by secular groups as proof that the established church is in decline. But the Church of England has rejected the figures, saying they were incomplete and ignored new ways of worshipping outside the church network.

According to Dr Peter Brierley, former executive director of Christian Research, by 2030 just under 419,000 people will attend an Anglican Sunday service. By 2040 the number will be down to 217,200, falling to 153,800 five years later. By 2050, if the trend prediction is correct, only 87,800 will be attending.

Full Story

Religion’s Big and Unprecedented Role in ‘08 Politics

From the Presidential Election to the Debate on Gay Marriage, Faith-Based Issues Dominated

Barack Obama chose Joe Biden, and John McCain turned to Sarah Palin, but in the end the most sought-after running mate in the 2008 campaign never appeared on a single ballot.

God, it seems, couldn’t be entirely wooed by either party.

The unprecedented and extraordinary prominence of religion in the 2008 election was easily the year’s top religion story. Both parties battled hard for religious voters, and both were forced to distance themselves from outspoken clergy whose fiery rhetoric threatened to become a political liability.

In the end, the top prize went to Obama, the son of a Muslim-born father and an atheist mother, who spent much of the campaign fighting off persistent — and untrue — rumors that he was a closet Muslim. His party, after years of consistently losing churchgoers to Republicans, decisively won Catholics, Jews and black Protestants, and made small but significant inroads among some evangelicals.

Full Story Here

Churches More Diverse, Informal Than 8 Years Ago

U.S. congregations have changed significantly in the last eight years, according to a new study, with them becoming more ethnically diverse, more technologically savvy and more informal in worship.

Predominantly white congregations reported greater racial and ethnic diversity between the first and second surveys of U.S. houses of worship by the National Congregations Study.

When the study was first conducted in 1998, 20 percent of churchgoers reported attending a church that was all white and non-Hispanic. In the second round, conducted in 2006-07, that figure had dipped to 14 percent.

The study also found that the percentage of congregations with no Asian members decreased in the same period from 59 percent to 50 percent, and the percentage of congregations with no Latino members dropped from 43 percent to 36 percent.

“We’re far from a color-blind society, in religion or anything else, but there is some movement in churches as well as elsewhere,” said Mark Chaves, professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke University and lead researcher on the project.

Other findings include:

– The number of churches with Web sites increased from 17 percent in 1998 to 44 percent in 2006-07, and use of e-mail rose from 21 percent to 59 percent.

– Drum use rose from 20 percent to 34 percent, while people raising their hands in praise during worship services increased from 45 percent to 57 percent.

– The average age of the senior clergy person in a church rose from 48 to 53. In 1998, 25 percent of the people in the average congregation were at least 60 years old; in 2006-07, 30 percent were.  Full Story Here

Keeping the faith through a crisis

Churches also struggling with financial woes during downturn

By KRISTINA HERRNDOBLER and JEMIMAH NOONOO
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

The Rev. Ken Gurley of First Church of Pearland says his congregation has helped to pay mortgages for three other Pentecostal churches.

“The combined effects of Katrina, Rita and then Ike have really stretched church resources to the max,” Gurley said. “In all of these crises, churches literally emptied their pockets.”

Full Story Here

Modern ‘David’ defeats New York ‘Goliath’

Empire State ordered to leave Christian man’s Bible message alone

By Alyssa Farah
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A New York man has won a battle with the New York Department of Transportation over a trailer he parked on his private property along a public highway that was targeted because of its Christian message.

Daniel Burritt installed a tractor-trailer for his company, Acts II Construction Inc., on private business property along U.S. Route 11 in 2007.

In May he got a letter from the New York State Department of Transportation stating that his trailer violated a state law and constituted a “public nuisance.” The NYDOT said a permit had to be obtained or the trailer would be forcibly removed and legal action would follow, even though the agency does not require permits for commercial messages being displayed.

Burritt’s legal counsel objected to the NYDOT’s requirement for a permit, saying it penalized him because of his faith.

Full Story Here

Obama chooses Lincoln’s Bible for inauguration

President-elect Barack Obama will use the same Bible at his inauguration that Abraham Lincoln used for his swearing in.

Obama will be the first president since Lincoln to use that Bible, part of the collection of the Library of Congress.

“President-elect Obama is deeply honored that the Library of Congress has made the Lincoln Bible available for use during his swearing-in,” Presidential Inaugural Committee Executive Director Emmett Beliveau said in a statement Tuesday.

Obama is also tracing the train route that Lincoln took and holding a welcome event at the Lincoln Memorial ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.

The burgundy velvet Bible with gilded edges was purchased and inscribed by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court.

It will be on display at the Library of Congress February 12 to May 9 as part of an exhibition titled “With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition.” The exhibit will then travel to five other American cities in commemoration of the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth on Feb. 12, 1809.

Full Story Here

Merry Christmas

During this special season, our thoughts turn to those of you who have made the Apostolic Report what it is today. During the last nine months we have been blessed by over 161,000 hits on our home page, 264,557 total views, 791 posts, 873 comments, and nine contributors.

May God bless each of you in a special way this Christmas. It is our prayer that the Apostolic message would burn brighter than ever before, and may 2009 be a year of unprecedented revival for every church proclaiming this beautiful message.

New Bible to be Penned by 31,000 Americans

Zondervan is asking for thousands of citizens across the nation to each handwrite one verse for its new NIV Bible.

Thousands of Americans will have a hand in publishing the latest New International Version (NIV) Bible, which will debut next year.

Zondervan, the world’s leading Bible publisher, is more than halfway through its Bible Across America Tour—a 90-city, cross-country excursion that set out aboard a 42-foot motor home in September to enlist thousands of everyday Americans to each handwrite a verse for its latest “America’s NIV” Bible.

The campaign commemorates the NIV translation’s 30-year anniversary.

“The Bible is America’s favorite book of all time,” said Moe Girkins, president and CEO of Zondervan. “We believe that a completely handwritten version of the NIV Bible by people from all across our country will help America rediscover the Bible in a fresh, new way.”

Full Story Here

Jesus’ Birth Place is a Danger Zone for Christians

Controlled by militant Muslims, the place of Jesus’ birth is a danager zone for Christians today. But Arab believers say the gospel continues to be preached there.

[12.24.08] Rami Ayyad was closing up at the Bible Society in Gaza where he worked when armed men whisked him into a car and sped away. For hours, Ayyad’s whereabouts were unknown. Pauline, his wife and the mother of their three children-the last still in utero-finally got through to him on his cell phone.

He wasn’t able to say much, and she could tell something was wrong. It turned out to be the couple’s last conversation.

The next day, October 7, 2007, Ayyad’s body was found marred by signs of torture and riddled with the gunshot wounds that killed him.

Hanna Massad, pastor of the Gaza Baptist Church-the only evangelical church in the Gaza Strip-said Ayyad was the first known martyr in Gaza and most likely was killed for refusing to convert to Islam.

Full Story Here

Most Americans Say ‘Merry Christmas’

ChristianNewsWire.com

A Fox News poll reveals most Americans say “Merry Christmas.” The poll taken December 9-10 shows 77% of Americans prefer “Merry Christmas” as opposed to saying something with less meaning.

The poll found that larger numbers of Republicans (87%) say “Merry Christmas”, but Christmas numbers were lower with Democrats at 72%.

Many have stopped doing business with companies who are “scrooge-like” and only want to make money on Christmas but don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, these companies are likely to offend the large majority of Americans as 85% of Americans say they are Christians. After all, what day does America and the world open presents on? Christmas!

Read the full article HERE.