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.