The Oregon Faith Report - Faith News from Oregon

Weekend National News Note:

Purpose Driven News — Dr. Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Connection (PDC), a comprehensive bundled suite of personal growth tools, resources and experiences, launches this week with the release of the premier issue of the “Purpose Driven Connection” quarterly magazine. Included inside each issue is a small group discussion guide with a DVD offering Warren’s teaching on spiritual growth, and is the first of a dozen multimedia resources to be introduced in 2009 designed to provide personal spiritual development and support.

“With the collapse of our economy, the tools, resources and experiences we’ve bundled into the Purpose Driven Connection are arriving at the exact moment when Americans need them most,” Warren said. “The hollow hope of materialism has left us disappointed, empty and worried, and the economic collapse has created a hunger for a deeper spiritual connection to God and to each other.

By Archdiocese of Portland,

A workshop will be held on the topic of “Ministering to youth in a multicultural Church” on Saturday, February 21, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. The workshop will be held at St. Luke Church in Woodburn. The in-service will be presented by Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, Assistant Director of the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Georgene Rice of KPDQ-FM 93.9FM, Thursday Jan 22nd, Interview with Randy Alcorn, founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries on the Anniversary of Roe v Wade decision.   Here is an excerpt from that interview:

Georgene: At the march in Washington, D.C. there was the largest turnout to date of 200,000 and over 80% were young people.

Alcorn: A poll came out that indicated the number of adults who did not approve of abortion under any circumstances was 18%. The number of teenagers was 32%. This was the generation that was growing up on nothing but pro-abortion propaganda. But, at the same time in our post-modern era our youth have become more sensitive to people’s needs.  There is a sense in which this little vulnerable child being taken just for the convenience of the adults…

Rajan Zed, aH indu and Indo-American statesman , is traveling across America to recite invocation prayers at State Legislatures.  Zed has been reading from the Hindu sacred texts of *Rig-Veda* *Upanishads *and *Bhagavad-Gita*  In addition to reaching the Oregon State Legislature (both House and Senate) he has also given an invocation in the Colorado General Assembly and the Indiana State Senate. More infor here.

By Melody Carson
Faith Author from Sisters, Oregon

Just Another Girl releases this month.  It’s a stand-alone teen novel inspired from a true story that’s near and dear to my heart. Seventeen year old Aster Flynn is the second-born of three girls. She’s the middle sister and it feels like she’ll be stuck in the middle forever. Her older sister Rose is self-centered and running wild. Meanwhile her younger sister Lily has special needs and Aster gets stuck caring for her.  Yet all Aster wants is a life and to just be an ordinary teenage girl before it’s too late.

To read an excerpt from Just Another Girl, go to http://www.melodycarlson.com/teens.shtml

This month’s contest giveaway. I will send a signed copy of Just Another Girl to the first four readers who can tell me what Aster’s dad would have named her if she had been a boy. Contest entry

Multnomah University,

Multnomah University will host a stop for the promotional tour Bible Across America, a celebration of the New International Version’s (NIV) thirtieth anniversary. The event, sponsored by 93.9 KPDQ fm radio, Zondervan Bible Publishers, and Multnomah University, will take place on January 30, 2009 from 10am – 4pm.

Bible Across America is piloted by a four-person street team in a customized RV, making stops in 90 cities across the United States. At each stop, people are invited to hand-write a verse until the entire Bible is completed and compiled to create what Zondervan has dubbed as “America’s NIV.” Once completed, the handwritten version will be re-printed and sold online and in retail stores, and the original copy will be donated to the Smithsonian Institute. Over 31,000 Americans will have contributed to the project, all of whom will be referenced in the published copies of America’s NIV.

WEEKEND NATIONAL RELIGION NEWS REPORT:

FamilyChristianMovies.com Announces DVD Release of Fireproof

TULSA, Ok., Jan. 21 /Christian Newswire/ — Fireproof, one of the most significant Christian films ever, will be available at FamilyChristianMovies.com for purchase on Jan 27! Fireproof is not just another Christian movie. Fireproof has proven itself in theaters as a groundbreaking hit, posting box office numbers generally unheard of for independent films, let alone Christ-Centered films.

The Story behind Fireproof is amazing. A pastor at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany Georgia started Sherwood Pictures in 2002 with $20,000 in donations and has produced 3 films to date. Much of the work on Sherwood Pictures’ films is performed by volunteers, allowing them to produce Hollywood-caliber films at a fraction of the price. Sherwood Pictures is a ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church and uses profits generated from their films for the ongoing construction of a sports outreach facility used by their church and the community. Their prior films Flywheel and Facing the Giants enjoyed success in the Christian DVD market and in the wider marketplace.

By Portland Archdiocese,

The 2009 Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal has found its theme in the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (11:1) “Imitate Christ.” The Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal provides immediate support for many ministries and programs that meet the everyday needs of the people of the Archdiocese of Portland. The Appeal helps support such ministries as seminary education for future priests, tuition support for Catholic Schools, and health and care for retired priests.

By Randy Alcorn,
Eternal Perspectives Minsitries
Sandy, Oregon

Nanci is more football-crazy than I am, but we both really enjoy football season, and sort of hate to see it winding down as the Superbowl approaches.

The national college championship game was played a week ago. Congratulations to the Florida Gators and quarterback Tim Tebow, named Most Valuable Player.

If you would have told us three years ago that Nanci and I would become Gators fans we’d have said “no way.” Nothing against the Gators, but Florida and Oregon, land of Beavers and Ducks, are geographical opposites, and in the past we haven’t followed closely what happens in Florida at the college level.

By Paul Coughlin,
Oregon author of No More Christian Nice Guy

In the months after 9/11, Senator John McCain, Vietnam veteran and perhaps America’s most well-known prisoner of war, was asked to explain to the nation why courage matters as part of America’s response to our worst domestic terrorist attack on American soil.

Courage is a subject few know more intimately than McCain (at least among those who have lived to tell their story).  In 1967, McCain’s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by an antiaircraft missile, landing in Truc Bach Lake.  He’d broken both arms and a leg after ejecting, and after he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around him and tore his clothing off.  He was tortured by Vietnamese soldiers, who bayoneted his left foot and groin and crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt.  He was transported to the Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton.

By Dan Merchant,
NW Filmmaker, Lord Save Us From Your Followers
Dan Merchant’s Blog

Last Monday, January 12th, my favorite USA Today columnist Tom Krattenmaker presented a terrific column on what he described as a new wrinkle in the Evangelical Pro Life movement.  Krattenmaker proposed that by carrying the Sanctity of Life argument beyond the womb to include on-going efforts to thwart slavery and human trafficking, Christians engaged in this effort were in fact expanding the Pro Life agenda.  I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to hear the conversation expanding into to such a forward thinking space.

Pastor Rick Warren has long expounded on adding to the agenda by including extreme poverty and AIDS hospice work to the traditional Pro Life (read anti-abortion) platform.  And while eliminating (reducing) unwanted pregnancies and abortions is obviously still a primary concern and focus, the inclusion of these other long neglected facets of need actually lend credibility to the Pro Life platform. 

By Tom Fuller,
author of Oregon at Work: 1859-2009
and Images of America: Salem

Jason Lee was probably pretty disappointed with himself after his mission to the Oregon Country failed. Jason answered the call to bring Christianity to Oregon after some members of the Flathead (Nez Perce) tribe came east asking about the white man’s “book of heaven.” Lee came to an area north of the present day city of Salem probably because the native Kalapuya had somewhat flattened heads, but they were not the Nez Perce. Lee set up his mission in 1834 but it closed in 1844 after accusations that Lee was focusing more on “colonization” than missionary work. Not many Kalapuya had converted, but that may have been more due to disease wiping out the tribe than the efforts of the missionaries. Lee was exhonerated but left the mission for a trip east and died in 1845.

USA Today featured Oregonian Mike Mercer of Compassion First and hs efforts to stop global human trafficking and prostitution.  Mike recently finished a midnight New Year’s fundraiser run to raise awareness and funds for his project.  Here is the USA Today story except:

“Now that he knows the name of a young enslaved prostitute in Indonesia — it’s Eka, pronounced “Ecka” — Mike Mercer is all in. The human-trafficking resister from Oregon is committed not just to the reclamation of Eka’s freedom and her pre-slavery lot in life, but also to her enjoying life prospects far brighter than if she had never been trafficked and had never crossed his path.”

By Kathryn Hickok, Portland

Richard John Neuhaus, admired for decades as one of the leading Christian intellectuals in the U.S., died January 8 at the age of 72. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for him in New York City on Tuesday.

Father Neuhaus spent over thirty years as a Lutheran pastor before becoming a Roman Catholic. Esteemed as a leader among mainline Christians, Evangelicals, and Catholics, Father Neuhaus marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. and collaborated with Charles Colson. He was a formidable voice for Christian unity, a defender of human dignity, and an advocate for the place of the Judeo-Christian voice in the public square.

Georgene Rice of KPDQ-FM interviewed Nicole Hoplin who is co-author of *Funding Fathers: The Unsung Heroes of the Conservative Movement*.  Here is an excerpt of that interview:

Georgene: You know, this is a very unusual book in that it covers an element of the history of conservatism as a movement that is oftentimes overlooked in other surveys of that history.

Nicole: That’s right. This really is the missing history, the secret gifts behind the conservative movement. We know that gifts have had great impact on the conservative movement. They have made possible some of our best organizations, our most important ideas, and our best leaders, and yet we still don’t know the stories of the individuals who made those financial sacrifices. So that’s what we intended to do with the book: to tell their stories in a meaningful way and encourage other people to make similar sacrifices to advance their principles.

By Jeannie St. John Taylor
Oregon Author of Culture-Proof Kids

I expect you were as shocked and saddened as I at the recent bank bombing in Woodburn; I felt deep sorrow for the victims and their families. But my horror and shock grew when I learned that the family of the perpetrators not only called themselves Christians but founded Salem Christian Academy, an outstanding school. How could that be?

I immediately contacted a friend whose three sons graduated from there. She told me, “I have known the family all of my life. Bruce is my age; his grandfather . . . was a saint. The family was full of outstanding Christians and missionaries; I feel so sorry for his mother . . . she is a dear women.”

By Maxine Marsolini
Blended Families.Net

When I married the second time, our stepfamily began as strangers unsure of one another. For trust to be felt between me and my stepchildren, and between my children and their stepfather, would take time to build.

Children are voiceless when it comes to divorce but feel the safest knowing it is still okay to love both parents as before. There is an immediate need to drop defensive posturing with an ex. Parents who choose to co-parent well bless their children with behaviors that exhibit teamwork. Every boy and girl growing up in dual households deserves the assurance that Mom and Dad will make every effort to keep their lives as conflict free as possible.

From Corban College, Salem

Corban College and Graduate School announces the hire of Darrel White as its Director of Development. The position has been vacant since March 2008 while administrators sought a candidate with significant fundraising experience and a background in Christian education. Joining the Office of Advancement, White assumes his role this month.

Holt International,
Eugene, Oregon

One day in Seoul, Korea, a newborn baby boy was found in the garbage and taken to Holt in the hopes that his life could be saved. He was soon adopted and raised in Michigan by his parents along with his sister, who is also adopted from Korea. Over 40 years later, this same boy, now a grown man, lives a healthy and happy life of service to others.

Kim Deardorff has a profound adoption story and exceptional talent for music. He is a self-taught pianist, composer and recording artist. His musical skills have afforded him the opportunity to travel the world, working for Fortune 500 companies such as Walt Disney, The Discovery Channel, The Kennedy Space Center, Universal Studios and many others. But Kim considers his most recent opportunity to be the most meaningful.

By Randy Alcorn,
Eternal Perspectives Ministries
Sandy, Oregon

A year ago July, I blogged about the days of filming I did for a new DVD about Heaven.  That small group DVD, which is a seven-week discussion guide designed for the book Heaven, is now available as a bonus product in the back of the book.  It’s fun to see the project come together, and fun too to see the little clips with our daughters, grandsons and even our dog Moses. In various sessions, we’re in my office, at our house, in our yard and even our neighbor’s yard. I like the footage filmed in front of waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge, which is in the excerpt below. Every beautiful place we went they asked me questions about Heaven and the New Earth, and my responses have been edited into this DVD.