Verbal Bean’s crash site remembered

April 2nd, 2009, will mark the 32nd anniversery of the accident that claimed the death of Reverend Verbal Bean.  Brother Bean was a man of God who’s ministry touched many lives and the apostolic movement as a whole was saddened by his sudden departure from this life.

His life was claimed in a car accident in Starks, Louisiana.  Two men under the influence of alcohol were running from the police in Texas and had just crossed the state line when they lost control of their vehicle.  Both men were also killed in the accident.

Pastor Jeremy Shields, of Starks, had numerous requests over the past 15 years to see the place of the crash.  Because of this he began to inquire and found a man who was one of the first at the scene.  This man was able to help him locate where the accident happened.

A man in Brother Shields church, Wayne Linscomb, built a steel cross as a memorial to place on the site.  The memorial is located around 4 miles east of Starks, between Starks and Dequincey, Louisiana.

Mobile Technology too much for even Young People

Almost 40 percent of the American adult population has embraced mobile technologies into their lives to keep up on social networking, twitter, sharing photos, and working while on-the-go. But not everyone in this group thinks being so connected is a good thing, and it’s not the most likely of demographics, either.

Young people have done a good job of integrating technology into their lives, but they are also the ones who are most concerned about being overconnected. This finding is part a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, The Mobile Difference, which discusses how different groups of American adults treat the latest trend in connectivity.

While 61 percent of the adult population is perfectly fine accessing the Internet through a stationary PC, the remaining 39 percent is active in adopting mobile connectivity. Pew breaks the latter chunk into five groups: Digital Collaborators, Ambivalent Networkers, Media Movers, Roving Nodes, and Mobile Newbies. There’s little variation in the percentage breakdown of these groups—Roving Nodes makes up the largest at nine percent of the adult population—though their favorite ways of using technology while on-the-go vary.

For example, Digital Collaborators have the most tech assets (PDAs, cell phones, laptops, MP3 players, etc.) out of the five groups, and use those assets to both work and share their creations with others. Media Movers are more likely to create “information nuggets,” like digital photos, and pass them on right away. Roving Nodes get the most out of basic applications, like e-mail and texting, and “find them great for arranging the logistics of their lives.”

Ambivalent Networkers, however, are distinct in that Pew says they have folded mobile devices into every aspect of their social lives. Texting, social networking, entertainment—you name it and this group is doing it with mobile devices of some sort. They’re significantly less likely to watch traditional TV on a daily basis than the rest of the adult population (24 percent, versus 79 of all adults), though they do watch TV shows on on non-TV devices more than any other group. Additionally, 66 percent of this group performs at least one non-voice activity on their cell phones per day, the highest of all the groups, and 91 percent of this group relies on their cell phones for all of their calls.

Despite this heavy reliance on technology, Ambivalent Networkers—primarily 20-somethings, and 60 percent male—didn’t actually “like” this level of availability as much as everyone else. Only 31 percent strongly agreed that they liked being so accessible, compared to the sample’s average of 47 percent and near the bottom for all groups. More than half of Ambivalent Networkers agreed that taking a break is definitely a good idea, which was (surprisingly) ten percentage points above the average from other groups.

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Famous Pastor Arrested for Gun at Airport

Here is another story that belongs in the bizarre category. John Maxwell was recently arested for trying to take a gun through airport security. The author and speaker is famous for his advice on leadership. He has spoke in churches all over the nation including a few Apostolic churches.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — For those who know Dr. John Maxwell, his mug shot is both a shock and a contradiction to his character.

 “He has been a tremendous national leader, adding value throughout the world whether it’s Africa or right here in Palm Beach County,” said Bill Hobbs from Urban Youth Impact.

The author and speaker is famous for his advice on leadership. He’s a teaching pastor at Christ Fellowship Church… The man with a long resume of being a stand up guy was arrested, fingerprinted and photographed for taking a concealed handgun through security at Palm Beach International Airport.

Maxwell blogged about the incident. “What I did was wrong, and it was my fault.  I certainly didn’t intend to break the law, but I will face up to the consequences,” Maxwell wrote.

Maxwell explained that is was a mistake.  The gun had been given to him as a gift after a speaking engagement out of state, to which he traveled on a private plane.  He said he forgot to take the gun out of his bag before traveling through PBIA days later.

“If you’re not paying attention and you do something stupid, it’s going to hurt you.  In the end, I just hope my mistake isn’t going to hurt anybody but me,” wrote Maxwell.

His supporters say Maxwell’s reaction and admittance to his error is what makes him the “real deal.”

“That’s rare in today’s culture with leadership.  People want to side step it.  They want to blame someone else and John faced the issue head on, took responsibility and he learned from it,” said Hobbs.

Maxwell bonded out of jail for three thousand dollars.  He does not have a court date scheduled.  He continues to travel and speak on leadership throughout the country. 

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Small Town Terror

A New Hampshire pastor’s decision to invite a convicted child killer to live with him and his family has created outrage within his small community.

March 26, 2009 — Every week, David Pinckney preaches to his congregation about being like Jesus. Now the small-town New Hampshire pastor is discovering not everyone wants to follow through with that challenge-especially when it comes to forgiveness.

Last week Pinckney did the unthinkable for many of the 2,000-plus residents of Chichester, N.H., by inviting a convicted child killer to live with him and his family for at least two months. After officials couldn’t find anyone else willing to take in 60-year-old Raymond Guay, who spent the last 35 years behind bars on charges of abducting and murdering a 12-year-old boy in 1973, Pinckney opened up his home-where his wife and four teenage children also live. Unfortunately, most of his neighbors believe his kindness is now making a once tranquil town unsafe for everyone.

Pinckney, who leads River of Grace Church in nearby Concord, has received several angry phone calls, endured a protest outside his home and even heard someone threaten to burn his house down. In a recent town meeting, more than 200 people gathered to appeal Guay’s relocation to Chichester, and local police have publicly stated they understand people’s fear because of their meager numbers (the town employs only four full-time officers).

Full Story Here

John 3:16 not welcome at NCAA tournament

Security guard snatches away sign with famous Bible quote

Has the Bible verse John 3:16 become too controversial to be displayed at sporting events?
Some might be asking that question after a basketball fan at the NCAA Tournament had his sign featuring the famous New Testament quote snatched away from him by a security guard.
The incident took place last week during Round One of the annual contest, as Siena College, a Catholic school, was taking on Ohio State at the UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
CBS Sports coverage posted on YouTube shows the sign being confiscated by a security guard, who then folds it up several times so it can’t be seen.

"Well, there goes the First Amendment," wrote one commenter online.
While the action may seem harsh, NCAA guidelines actually ban sports fans from displaying large signs, though the rule is not always enforced at some venues.

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A study Bible wins ‘Christian Book of the Year’ award

The ESV Study Bible has been named the "Christian Book of the Year" by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, marking the first time the honor has been given to a study Bible.

The Bible, which is in the English Standard Version, includes study notes from evangelical Christian scholars and other reference materials. Published by Crossway, it also won in the best Bible category.

The honoring of the study Bible follows two previous first-time wins of other products. In 2008, the Word of Promise New Testament Audio Bible became the first audio product to win; in 2007, Karen Kingsbury became the first woman and the first novelist to win, for her book, Ever After.

The award was announced March 19 at the kick-off for the 2009 Christian Book Expo in Dallas. The Christian Book Awards, which previously were known as the Gold Medallion Book Awards, were established in 1978 to recognize Christian books for excellent content, design and literary quality.

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President to pioneer chat on late-night TV

President Obama hasn’t been practicing one-liners, but he is going Thursday night where no sitting president has gone before: to a late-night comedy show.

Obama plans to be a guest on NBC’s The Tonight Show With Jay Leno at 11:35 p.m. ET. His press secretary says not to look for a comedy routine.

“I anticipate that a large amount of the discussion will center around the president’s economic plans, and the president’s economic ideas,” spokesman Robert Gibbs says. “And I think the president believes it’s a unique audience with which to explain those challenges and the decisions that he’s made.”

Presidential candidates have a history of appearing on TV comedy and talk shows. Bill Clinton donned dark glasses and played his saxophone on Arsenio Hall’s show; Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy appeared on TheTonight Show when they were running for office.

In announcing Obama would be the first president to sit in the guest chair, Leno called it “the greatest honor I’ve had since I’ve gotten this show.”

Obama’s appearance comes during a media blitz. On Wednesday, he appeared on ESPN, in an interview about the men’s college basketball championship tournament. He picked North Carolina for the second year in a row. On Sunday, Obama will appear on CBS’ 60 Minutes, and he will hold his second prime-time news conference Tuesday night.

Presidential historian Stephen Hess calls it all “a continuation of the permanent campaign” — going to the venues where many people get their news and information these days.

“This is clearly a president who is not camera-shy,” Thompson says. He doesn’t see any risk for Obama in going late-night.

U.S. births break record

More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation’s history, topping the peak during the baby boom 50 years earlier, federal researchers reported Wednesday. There is both good and bad news from the more than 4.3 million births: The U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend. However, the teen birth rate was up for the second year in a row.

The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent, continuing a trend begun years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older. For a variety of reasons, it’s become more acceptable for women to have babies without a husband, said Duke University’s S. Philip Morgan, a leading fertility researcher. Even happy couples may be living together without getting married, experts say. And more women — especially those in their 30s and 40s — are choosing to have children despite their single status.

The new numbers indicate the nation is experiencing a baby boomlet with fertility rates higher in every racial group. On average, a U.S. woman has 2.1 babies in her lifetime. The highest fertility rates were among Hispanics. But it’s not clear the boomlet will last long. Some experts think birth rates are already declining because of the economic recession that began in late 2007. “I expect they’ll go back down. The lowest birth rates recorded in the United States occurred during the Great Depression — and that was before modern contraception,” said Dr. Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health.

The 2007 statistical snapshot reflected a relatively good economy coupled with cultural trends that promoted childbirth, she and others noted.

Continue reading the Full Story (OneNewsNow)

Boom-years borrowing hits churches

Add houses of worship to the list of casualties of the mortgage crisis.

Foreclosures and delinquencies for congregations are rising, according to companies that specialize in church mortgages. With credit scarce, church construction sites have gone quiet, holding shells of sanctuaries that were meant to be completed months ago.

Congregants have less money to give, and pastors who stretched to buy property in the boom are struggling to hold onto their churches.

“The economy has dramatically changed over the last year to 18 months in a way that very few, if any, had expected,” said John Stoffel, administrative pastor at Seabreeze Church in Huntington, Calif.

It’s hard to quantify just how many churches are at risk. Foreclosure records are scattered throughout county offices nationwide. Completing a foreclosure takes months or longer, so it’s too soon for many failures to show up on a company’s books. In financially stressed churches, clergy are often reluctant to discuss their plight. They don’t want to alarm their congregants, and they fear that any complaints about their dealings with banks will backfire.

“Right now, when you’re at the mercy of the lenders, you don’t want to look like you’re coming out against them,” said Bishop Eugene Reeves of New Life Anointed Ministries International in Woodbridge, Va.

Across the country, congregations large and small are struggling to pay off debt:

Reliance Trust, an Atlanta company that is trustee for nearly three-quarters of the church bonds in the U.S., has seen “some increases in delinquencies,” said spokesman Tony Greene, though he would not elaborate.

Among its clients is Temple Beth Haverim in Agoura Hills, Calif., which sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last July and owes the company more than $7 million, Reliance said in court documents. The property is estimated to be worth less than what the synagogue owes.

The Evangelical Christian Credit Union, a major church lender with more than $700 million in loans last year, moved to foreclose on seven of its 1,100 loans in 2008, said Mark Johnson, the company’s executive vice president. The company has had “a noticeable increase” in late payments, and two more foreclosures are expected this year, he said. By contrast, the Brea, Calif., company said it had no other foreclosures until 2007, when there were two.

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Apostolic Sanctuary reaches promised land with new church dedication

SILVIS, IL – An exodus awaits enterers to the new Apostolic Sanctuary in Silvis.

”And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them,” from Exodus 25:8 appears on the wall of the church’s lobby area.

”That Scripture fits what we did,” church pastor the Rev. Gary Randol said.

The formerly known Jesus Church didn’t have to move from its earlier Silvis site, ”but we felt this is what God wanted us to do,” Rev. Randol said. ”This church is His mission and we are glad to be a part of it.”

Public dedication services for the sanctuary, at 1501 John Deere Parkway, Silvis, will be held March 20-22.

The Rev. Kenneth Haney, general superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International, will speak at the main dedication service at 7 p.m. Friday. An open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 21. It will include guided tours and refreshments. The Rev. Scott Graham, pastor of The Sanctuary in Hazelwood, Mo., will lead a 6 p.m. serviceMarch 21.

The celebration will continue March 22 with a bilingual service at 9:30 a.m., led by the Rev. G. Alan Browning, Kentucky district secretary/treasurer and pastor of Greater Life Apostolic Church, Louisville, Ky., followed by a 3 p.m. “Honoring the Past as we Celebrate the Future” presentation, led by the Rev. Doyle Randol, Cape Girardeau, Mo., Rev. Gary Randol’s father.

The new sanctuary ”is a God thing,” Rev. Gary Randol said. ”This building is not ours, we have built His Sanctuary,” Rev. Randol said. ”God”s blessings have been upon us throughout this transition. Anybody who has ever been through a building program knows how difficult that can be on a church. But we have seen tremendous growth throughout this transition, and we want everyone to come and check us out and see what God is doing here.”

Its construction began in September 2007 and was completed at the start of this year. Services were held for the first time Jan. 7.

The church”s main level houses worship space that seats 800 people. It also has a chapel that seats 125 people, a dedicated prayer room, choir practice room, office facilities, book store, nursery, guest reception area and restrooms.

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Survey Shows U.S. Growing Less Religious, Less ‘Christian’

The nation has grown less religious in the last two decades, a new study shows, with a 10 percent drop in the number of people who call themselves Christians and increases in all 50 states among those who are not aligned with any faith.

Between 1990 and 2008, the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Christian dropped from 86 percent to 76 percent, reports the new American Religious Identification Survey, a wide-ranging survey released Monday (March 9). The group that researchers call the “Nones” — atheists, agnostics, and other secularists — have almost doubled in that time period, from 8.2 percent to 15 percent.

And, in a further indication of growing secularism, more than a quarter of Americans — 27 percent — said they do not expect to have a religious funeral when they die. “Traditionally, historically, people are interested in their immortal soul, salvation, heaven and hell,” said Barry Kosmin, the co-author of the survey and director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Connecticut. “If you don’t have a religious funeral, you’re probably not interested in heaven and hell.”

The survey of more than 54,000 respondents followed similar large studies in 2001 and in 1990. Though the largest increase in “Nones” occurred between 1990 and 2001 (from 8.2 percent to 14.1 percent), Kosmin said more people have been willing to identify themselves as atheist or agnostic in the last seven years. “There’s the anti-religious group among what we call the `Nones,’” he said, “but then the kind of nonreligious, the irreligious … have also increased

Full Story at Crosswalk.com

Apostolic Fellowship Hall

Connecting Apostolics

With the advent of social media networks (SMN), online meeting places are the new forums of the early part of this decade.  It started with the popularity of such sites as My Space and Yahoo 360.  Now we find our conversations sprinkled with terms such as tweeting and check your PM…

The latest rage in Social networking is Facebook and Twitter.  These sites are great for reconnecting with long lost high school buddies, or from people you knew from a church attended long ago.  Their limitations, as far as Apostolics are concerned, is their intimate connection with worldliness.

In this vein, several social networking sites have sprung up for Apostolic Pentecostals including the wildly popular Everyone’s Apostolic SMN.  Just recently, as reported on The Apostolic Report, EA has decided to charge a fee for all but the most basic of features.  Because of this, several alternatives to EA have recently arisen.  Several sites have sprung up using Ning, the software which powers EA.  Another alternative is Apostolic Fellowship Hall.

Apostolic Fellowship Hall has been created with the purpose of providing a free, safe alternative to Facebook and EA.  Features of AFH at the present time include the ability of users to create Blogs, add posts to Groups as well as create their own groups,  add photo albums, and videos to their home page. Advertise in the classified section, create pages,  post to the wire (a twitter like feature), add and share bookmarks (similar to sites such as stumble upon, digg and reddit), And post questions which other users may then answer.

There is also a new website using Ning which calls itself “Unashamedly Conservative Apostolics,” and only allows conservative Apostolics to join. Your Pastor (or someone he trusts) must also join this network. This new “conservative” network requires an invitation to join it.

Other new ones include “Apostolics Online” and “My Apostolic Network.”

Social networking seems to be gaining strength, and for right now at least is the ‘in’ thing on the WWW.  Who knows what the next big craze will be, but when it rolls along, The Apostolic Report will be there to cover it.

Is there another Apostolic social network that you use? Leave a comment below…

The Apostolic Report Celebrates One Year

This week “The Apostolic Report” is celebrating its one-year anniversary. This website launched one year ago on March 6, 2008; and, thanks to our readers, the website has grown beyond what we ever dreamed possible in only our first year.

For those of you who are faithful readers of AR, you may have noticed our post frequency has decreased over the past few months; this is mainly due to ministry obligations upon the part of our key contributors (new pastor, new position, etc.). There is just not enough time in the day for everything; and we’ve always felt that our local church and family obligations must come first. We apologize for the slowdown and hope to continue posting with more frequency in the future.  Thanks for your understanding.

And, as always, we are looking for more good contributors to AR. If anyone is interested, please contact us.

Below are some statistics from our first year of existence. We wish to thank all of our readers for your support during our initial endeavor!

•  868 Posts
• 1,097 comments
• 808 average page views per day
• 233.092 Visits
• 353,983 Page Views
• 483 Email and RSS subscribers

Obama overturns Bush policy on stem cells

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday cleared the way for a significant increase in federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research and promised no scientific data will be “distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda.”

Obama signed the executive order on the divisive stem cell issue and a memo addressing what he called scientific integrity before an East Room audience packed with scientists. He laced his remarks with several jabs at the way science was handled by former President George W. Bush.

“Promoting science isn’t just about providing resources, it is also about protecting free and open inquiry,” Obama said. “It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient especially when it’s inconvenient. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology.”

He said his memorandum is meant to restore “scientific integrity to government decision-making.” He called it the beginning of a process of ensuring his administration bases its decision on sound science; appoints scientific advisers based on their credentials, not their politics; and is honest about the science behind its decisions.

Fulfilling a campaign promise, Obama signed the order that on stem cell research that supporters believe could uncover cures for serious ailments from diabetes to paralysis. Proponents from former first lady Nancy Reagan to the late actor Christopher Reeve had pushed for ending the restrictions on research.

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Calvary Tabernacle UPC welcomes new pastor

ROCKLAND (March 8): The Calvary Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church in Rockland has a new pastor who would like to see his congregation grow.

The Rev. David and Becki DeVall moved here from Tennessee in January along with their 21-year-old daughter Amanda. Their son Jonathan, 19, is attending seminary in St. Paul, Minn.

The DeValls are not strangers to New England, however, having lived in New Hampshire while their children grew up and attended school.

The Rev. DeVall said one of the challenges of being a minister is having to move around a lot. “But we’re tired of moving,” he said. “We’re going to stay in Rockland for the long term.”

DeVall knew the church was going to have an opening so he and his wife came in October and he preached at the church. “We fell in love with Rockland,” he said. “It’s a beautiful city.”

Rick Gamage of Rockland, a deacon at the church, said the church’s goals and DeVall’s goals are the same. “David is focused on teaching and church growth,” said Gamage.

DeVall said he teaches an Apostolic doctrine, meaning he follows the teachings of the original 12 apostles. “We are practical in our thinking and our mode of worship,” he said.

“People are looking for the truth,” said DeVall. “Religion is man made. I preach about people’s relationship and experience with God. It’s about people’s experience, not religion.”

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