A “disaster of Biblical proportions” was a common description of the December 2004 tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 14 nations on the Indian Ocean. Thousands of churches and Christian ministries and churches responded by participating in a huge relief response.

Now, a little more than five years later, “Biblical proportions” is again spoken in news reports, but this time for a disaster much closer to American shores. The catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the island nation of Haiti Jan. 12 has wrought unimaginable destruction, killed an estimated 200,000, and injured or displaced hundreds of thousands.“The damage is so severe that it is difficult to say where to begin, I honestly do not know how they will be able to do it; I believe that the nations need to develop a Marshall Plan as they did in Europe after World War II; if not there will be a chaotic civil war,” wrote Joaquin Vargas, a field partner in Haiti for Vancouver, Wash.-based DELTA Ministries, in an e-mail to the ministry.

Despite the indescribable challenges, Christian ministries and churches — including a countless number right here in the Northwest — are participating in a worldwide relief response so massive that it has almost overwhelmed the tiny nation and its besieged capital, Port-au-Prince. Locally, it was rare for a church not to take a special offerings for Haiti relief the weekend following the quake. Christian relief or mission agencies such as Tigard-based Medical Teams International, Seattle-based World Vision, and Vancouver, Wash.-based Forward Edge International and DELTA Ministries have been quick to either send personnel to the quake scene or arrange for long-range assistance teams there.

So widespread was the response that one week after the quake, the pace of generous donations was amazing relief experts at World Vision. Despite a crippling recession and high unemployment, donations to World Vision’s Haiti fund were far ahead of the pace set by donors after the 2004 tsunami. “Even in tough economic times, Americans continue to give. That kind of generosity continues to amaze us,” said Randy Strash, World Vision’s strategy director for emergency response.

Northwest media reported a wide range of local links to the disaster story:

•Ten days after the quake, Medical Teams International reported that it had more than 30 volunteer doctors and nurses from the Northwest in place in Haiti, performing surgeries and treating hundreds of people daily at the 350-bed Kings Hospital, just outside Port-au-Prince. A shipment of $1.1 million worth of medicines and medical supplies also arrived in Port-au-Prince.

•Dave Thompson, president of Portland-based TEC Equipment, made the company’s nine-seat jet available free of charge to Medical Teams International to deliver seven volunteer doctors, nurses and health professionals to Port-au-Prince Jan. 20. Thompson was then able to transport two U.S. citizens and four Haitian children to Florida before returning home.

•Salem-based evangelist Reid Saunders and his team are partnering with On the Go Ministries to supply water filters directly to Haitian churches that will allow them to dispense clean water directly to the earthquake victims. It also will allow victims to be connected directly to area churches instead of foreigners. One Haitian pastor reported 100 people came to Christ in three days as a result of their efforts.

•The Tualatin-based Voices of Hope Choir, directed by Don Hofer, and Grammy Award-winning guitarist Mark Hanson will hold a Hope for Haiti benefit concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at Living Savior Lutheran Church, 8740 S.W. Sagert St. in Tualatin. Admission is free, but donations will be received for Medical Teams International and the Lutheran World Relief Fund.

•Local media told how Joel Hoffman and his wife, Rachel Coulbourne-Hoffman of Oregon, narrowly survived the earthquake. The two, who had met at George Fox University, were working in Haiti for Mennonite Central Committee and lived on the top floor of a five-story apartment building. They were in the apartment when the building collapsed but found themselves in a tiny pocket that was the only space left in the rubble. They were able to crawl to safety, but then witnessed the horror of the many bloodied or dismembered earthquake victims who surrounded them. They made it home to Oregon on Jan. 17.

•”The scariest thing I’ve ever experienced and probably ever will.” is how Jan Lefebvre of Beaverton described in an interview with KPAM radio morning host Bob Miller what it was like to survive the quake. Lefebvre, who works at George Fox University, was one of 10 women from Beaverton Christian Church who had been in Haiti since Jan. 7 doing outreach to women and children through Lifeline Christian Mission there. She was on an outside stairway at the mission when the shaking started. She said aftershocks continued throughout a very long night. She and the other women eventually made their way back to America in a U.S. military plane.

Lefebvre told Miller that their concerns and prayers are with the people there who face such overwhelming circumstances now. “God will take care of these people,” she said. “That’s all we can pray for.”

Also in the group was Freedom Gassoway, wife of Beaverton Christian Pastor Scott Gassoway. He told The Oregonian that for a time, he wasn’t sure if she had survived the quake.

•Also in Haiti at the time of the quake were nine members of Salem Evangelical Church. Working with the missions agency OMS International, the group was in an area that was not as hard hit.

•Forward Edge sent a team of experienced aid workers to Haiti Jan. 27. January 27-Feb. 2. The team consists of three registered nurses who together have years of experience in responding to disaster and trauma situations as well as ministry personnel who will work to identify key partnerships with Haitian church leaders.

I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this breakfast, Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers. I’d also like to thank Tony Blair for coming today, as well as our Vice President, Joe Biden, members of my Cabinet, members of Congress, clergy, friends, and dignitaries from across the world. Michelle and I are honored to join you in prayer this morning. I know this breakfast has a long history in Washington, and faith has always been a guiding force in our family’s life, so we feel very much at home and look forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time here.

It’s a tradition that I’m told actually began many years ago in the city of Seattle. It was the height of the Great Depression, and most people found themselves out of work. Many fell into poverty. Some lost everything.

The leaders of the community did all that they could for those who were suffering in their midst. And then they decided to do something more: they prayed. It didn’t matter what party or religious affiliation to which they belonged. They simply gathered one morning as brothers and sisters to share a meal and talk with God.

These breakfasts soon sprouted up throughout Seattle, and quickly spread to cities and towns across America, eventually making their way to Washington. A short time after President Eisenhower asked a group of Senators if he could join their prayer breakfast, it became a national event. And today, as I see presidents and dignitaries here from every corner of the globe, it strikes me that this is one of the rare occasions that still brings much of the world together in a moment of peace and goodwill.

I raise this history because far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another – as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance. Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness.

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all.

But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” The Torah commands, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” In Islam, there is a hadith that reads “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging. For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve ancient hatreds. And that requires a living, breathing, active faith. It requires us not only to believe, but to do – to give something of ourselves for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world.

In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us. Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I’m announcing later today.

The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another – or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state. This work is important, because whether it’s a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what’s happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations. People trust them. Communities rely on them. And we will help them.

We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the world to foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith. I don’t expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish. But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding.

This is my hope. This is my prayer.

I believe this good is possible because my faith teaches me that all is possible, but I also believe because of what I have seen and what I have lived.

I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose.

In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit and sense of purpose that drew friends and neighbors to that first prayer breakfast in Seattle all those years ago, during another trying time for our nation. It is what led friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here today. We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all humanity. As St. Augustine once said, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

So let us pray together on this February morning, but let us also work together in all the days and months ahead. For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest purpose as beloved children of God. I ask you to join me in that effort, and I also ask that you pray for me, for my family, and for the continued perfection of our union. Thank you.

From Paris With Love—A Paris-based American diplomat and low-level CIA agent (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) yearns to be a real spy but finds himself bewildered when assigned to partner a trigger-happy visiting operative (John Travolta) whose wild pursuit of drug dealers and terrorists sees the pair cutting a bloody swath through the French capital’s criminal underworld while the novice’s prolonged absence from home causes friction with his live-in Gallic girlfriend (Kasia Smutniak). As directed by Pierre Morel, the proceedings are occasionally amusing but far more often gleefully violent, with Adi Hasak’s F-word heavy script glamorizing the mayhem and winking at the Travolta character’s tawdry encounter with a streetwalker. Constant, sometimes bloody action violence, offscreen sexual activity with a prostitute, cohabitation, drug use, a couple of profanities, pervasive rough and much crude language. O — morally offensive. (R) 2010
Full Review

Dear John—This frequently sentimental drama, set in South Carolina, charts the love-at-first-sight romance between a Special Forces sergeant (Channing Tatum) home on leave to visit his mildly autistic father (Richard Jenkins) and an affluent college student (Amanda Seyfried), their prolonged separation due to his reenlistment following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and their efforts to maintain their bond by long-distance letter writing. Though the portrayal of the conflicted filial relationship is moving, director Lasse Hallstrom’s adaptation of Catholic writer Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling 2006 novel focuses mostly on the emotionally unrealistic evolution of the lovers’ attachment, and endorses its premature consummation along the way. Nongraphic premarital sexual activity with partial nudity, a few uses of profanity, at least four instances of the S-word. A-III — adults. (PG-13) 2010
Full Review

Rejected Doritos ad

A gay dating service ad was rejected, and also an Electronic Arts video ad for the game called Dante’s Inferno. What makes this add worth noting is that it was banned for the words “Go to Hell” at the end.

With the unbelievable publicity surrounded rejected ads, everyone can expect more companies to try next year just to get rejected.

Adolescents who took abstinence-only sex education classes were more likely to delay having sex, a new study shows.  In the study, some 662 black 6th- and 7th-grade students, ranging in age from 10 to 15 with an average age of 12, participated in classes held on Saturdays at four Philadelphia public schools that draw from primarily lower-income neighborhoods.

Students either took eight hours of abstinence-only classes; eight hours of safe sex-only classes that included information about sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of using condoms if sexually active; or an eight- or 12-hour comprehensive course that covered both abstinence and safer sex.

Another group of students were enrolled in eight hours of a general health class that did not discuss matters related to sexual behavior. That group served as a control for comparison.

Two years after the courses began, with 84.4 percent of the students still enrolled in the program, students in the abstinence-only class were 33 percent less likely to have had sexual intercourse than the controls.

About one-third of students in the abstinence-only class reported they’d ever had sexual intercourse, compared with nearly half of the control group, the study authors noted.

Students who took the abstinence-only classes were also less likely to report having had sex recently, the researchers found. Of those who’d reported ever having had sex, about 21 percent of those in the abstinence group reported having sexual intercourse during the past three months compared to 29 percent in the control group.

The other intervention groups did not show statistically significant differences from the control group, according to the study.

“This study shows an abstinence-only intervention can delay sexual intercourse among young, inner-city African-American adolescents,” said study author John B. Jemmott III, a professor of communication in psychiatry and of communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and Annenberg School for Communication. “This is a population at very high risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and unintended pregnancy.”

The study is published in the February issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The researchers said they could not be certain if a similar abstinence-only message would work among older teens.

The authors also stressed their study should not be read as an endorsement of all abstinence-only education. While facilitators encouraged delaying sex until some point in the future, they did not take a moralistic tone, portray sex negatively, use stereotypical depictions of men and women, or specifically tell students to wait until marriage, Jemmott said.

Nor did facilitators call into question the effectiveness of condoms, a common complaint lodged against some abstinence-only courses, Jemmott said. Facilitators in the abstinence-only classes were told not to bring up contraceptive use at all, unless a student broached the topic.

“If condoms came up, facilitators were taught they should correct any misconceptions and not allow arguments that disparage condoms to stand,” Jemmott said. “We knew this was an issue regarding abstinence-only education.”

In the abstinence classes, students role-played and did other small group activities designed to teach them that abstinence is the best way to eliminate the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and to help the students develop the confidence to negotiate abstinence and resist pressure to have sex.

One of the fears about abstinence-only education is that teens would be less likely to use condoms once they started having sex. Researchers found no such connection in this study. Students in the abstinence group and students in the control group who went on to have sex were equally likely to have used condoms.

The study is sure to add fuel to the fire of sex education debates, a controversial topic for decades, said Bill Albert, chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

“This is really game-changing science,” Albert said. “For the first time, we have strong evidence that an abstinence-only intervention delayed sex and reduced recent sexual activity among young teens.”

The new information about what might work couldn’t come at a better time, Albert said: After more than a decade of decline, both the teen pregnancy rate and the teen birth rate have started rising again.

The U.S. teen pregnancy rate increased 3 percent in 2006, while the teen birth rate rose by 4 percent, according to a study released last week by the Guttmacher Institute.

Both the teen pregnancy rate and the birth rate had been falling since 1990 and 1991, respectively. Between 1990 and 2005, pregnancies among 15- to 19-year-olds dropped by 41 percent.

January 25, 2010—Near-death experiences have long been a fascinating phenomenon, prompting more questions than answers. According to a Gallup poll, between 8 to 12 million Americans—around five percent—say they have had a near-death experience. Despite these substantial numbers, most scientists are at a loss to explain these events. Dr. Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist, has spent the last twelve years studying over a thousand cases of near-death experience. In his groundbreaking new book, EVIDENCE OF THE AFTERLIFE: The Science of Near-Death Experiences (HarperOne, January 2010, $25.99), Dr. Long provides scientific evidence that powerfully supports what many have long suspected: near-death experiences provide proof that life continues after we die.

A nationally recognized expert who has been quoted in Newsweek, ABC News, and The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Long presents the largest scientific study of near-death experiences ever reported. Through his work at the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF), Dr. Long has gathered over 1,300 accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) from all over the world—the largest database of its kind. The people whose stories are captured in the this database span all age groups, races, and religious affiliations and come from all over the world, yet the similarities in their accounts are as awe-inspiring as they are revealing. Dr. Long chronicles these firsthand stories in his book, and draws compelling evidence for life beyond death from them.

Many skeptics have argued that near death experiences are hallucinations brought on by illness, strong medications, or the stress of a dying brain. Others have pointed out that near-death experiences could be the result of cultural conditioning: by now, they argue, everyone has heard of the key familiar elements (out of body sensation, a bright light, a tunnel, etc). But Dr. Long says the evidence from his study refutes all of these arguments. He details nine lines of evidence, extensively corroborated by prior scholarly NDE research, that send “a consistent message of the afterlife,” including:

1) Children’s experiences. The near-death experiences of children, including very young children who are too young to have developed concepts of death, religion, or near-death experiences, are essentially identical to those of older children and adults. This refutes the possibility that these near-death experiences are shaped by preexisting beliefs or cultural conditioning.

2) Worldwide consistency. Near death experiences appear remarkably consistent around the world, and across many different religions and cultures. NDEs from non-western countries are incredibly similar to those that occur in people in Western countries, again disproving that religious beliefs and cultural norms are responsible for creating these experiences.

3) Realistic—and accurate—out-of-body experiences Out-of-body experiences are one of the most common elements of near-death experiences. Remarkably, what NDErs report seeing and hearing during these experiences of earthly events while they are unconscious or clinically dead is almost always realistic. Over 60 people who had a near-death experience in Dr. Long’s study later sought to confirm the accuracy of their out-of-body observations following their experience. All of them confirmed the complete accuracy of their observations, including observations far from their physical body and beyond any possible sensory awareness.

4) Consciousness During Anesthesia—Many near-death experiences occur while under general anesthesia—a time when any conscious experience should be impossible. The content of near-death experiences that occur under general anesthesia is essentially indistinguishable from near-death experiences that did not occur under anesthesia. Dr. Long asserts this is strong evidence that near-death experiences are occurring completely independently from the functioning of the physical brain.

Further consistent elements of near-death experiences include crystal-clear recollections, heightened senses, reunions with deceased family members and long-lasting positive effects after the person is brought back to life. “No physiological or psychological explanation of NDEs can account for what is observed in NDEs,” Dr. Long points out. Dr. Long’s conclusions are consistent with what NDErs themselves almost always believe about their own near-death experiences: that they have glimpsed an afterlife.

Belief in life after death is quite common—a recent poll revealed that 82% of Americans believe in some form of afterlife—but until now, scientific evidence was rare. With his new book, Dr. Long provides strong, science-based proof to support those beliefs.

Jeffrey Long, M.D. is a physician practicing the specialty of radiation oncology in Houma, Louisiana. Dr. Long has served on the Board of Directors of IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies), and is actively involved in NDE research.

Working with Enlace, TBN’s Hispanic network, and the Luis Palau Association’s Hispanic broadcasting friends, LPA will produce six nights of continent-wide, one-hour long interactive TV broadcasts during Easter week (March 28-April 2, 2010). The Q-and-A program will take calls from more than 23 nations, allowing individuals to connect with Luis or another live counselor. The programs will also go out on radio and via the Internet.

Culminating this week-long, continent-wide evangelistic media campaign will be a mini-festival on Easter Sunday (April 4, 2010). It will feature:

* Top musical guests from around the region, including Grammy Award-winner Marcos Witt
* Dozens of other Latin leaders
* Testimonies of changed lives
* A message of hope from Luis Palau

With thousands of individuals expected to pack the Lakewood Church arena in Houston, Texas, for this Easter celebration, and with Enlace Television broadcasting the event internationally, the potential for impact is tremendous!

Please be praying for this far-reaching outreach. Continente 2010 represents an exciting opportunity to bring encouragement, hope, training, and salvation to the entire Spanish-speaking world. Consider joining with us. Your financial commitment to Continente 2010, as God leads, would be a tremendous investment for the Lord.
Outreach Highlights include:

* 7,000 partnering Latin American churches
* 1,500 radio partners
* 200 simultaneous broadcasts
* Hundreds of television stations
* Live Internet streaming
* Tens of thousands of believers trained to follow up with each decision-maker
* Follow-up material for each caller (including LPA’s new believer booklet, a Bible, a follow-up phone call from a local pastor, and access to further counseling from ministry partners)
* An online church evangelism kit that will include training tools, curriculum, and LPA’s “Bible Institute” videos
* A Luis Palau training blog to inspire and communicate with emerging leaders who in turn can encourage and network with one another continent-wide
* An anticipated 1,000 local evangelistic church events on Easter Sunday

History

Continente 2010 builds on a solid foundation of innovative evangelism in Latin America.

Nearly 35 years ago, during a three-week campaign in Managua, Nicaragua, the Palau team launched Continente ’75, a media blitz aimed at blanketing all of Latin America with the claims of Christ.

The Good News was proclaimed on 56 radio stations and more than 100 television stations. Two million pieces of literature were distributed. All told, 80 million people in 23 countries were given an opportunity to hear the Gospel clearly proclaimed.

Ten years later during Easter week, a similar media strategy saturated the Spanish-speaking world with the Gospel message. Special couriers hand-carried the taped Continente ’85 radio and television programs into more than 22 countries for broadcast. Millions of people in Latin America, the United States, and Spain heard Luis Palau’s messages on more than 330 radio stations and 480 television stations.

Oregon Business magazine ranked Multnomah University #22 of 33 large nonprofits in its list of 100 top nonprofit organizations. The article, “The 100 Best Nonprofits to Work for in Oregon 2009,” reported the results of an employee survey and an independent assessment of employers’ workplace practices. Oregon Business magazine based the study on their “100 Best Companies” series.

The list of best large nonprofits included the Oregon Research Institute, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. Multnomah ranked above well-known nonprofits such as the Girl Scouts, the Oregon Humane Society and OHSU Foundation.

Ranking Specifications

Organizations were ranked according to qualities such as benefits and compensation, work environment, decision-making and trust, and career development and learning. Companies were placed into small, medium, and large categories according to employee number. More than 200 Oregon nonprofit organizations participated in the survey.

Quotes

“Multnomah has been a terrific place to work for a long time,” said President Daniel Lockwood. “In fact, Christianity Today conducted a similar survey a few years ago with comparable results. Still, I’m always gratified to know that our employees are pleased with the quality of our workplace. So much of what makes Multnomah a special place to serve must be attributed to these high-quality men and women who sincerely endeavor to reflect Christ-likeness to one another in the workplace.”

“It is good for us to periodically take the opportunity to reflect on how we’re doing as an employer,” Director of Human Resources, Tracy Moreschi, said. “I’m pleased that the results revealed not only that Multnomah is a great non-profit to work for, but also that our employees value Multnomah and are satisfied working here.”

When in Rome—Perky romantic comedy about a work-obsessed New York museum curator (Kristen Bell) who travels to Rome for her sister’s (Alexis Dziena) wedding and falls for the best man (Josh Duhamel), but their path to bliss takes a detour when she defies local custom by removing several coins from the “Fountain of Love,” causing the quartet of eccentric strangers who deposited the change (Danny DeVito, Will Arnett, Jon Heder and Dax Shepard) to become hopelessly infatuated with her. While the youthful, slightly pixilated priest (Keir O’Donnell) who performs the nuptials comes in for some gentle ribbing, director Mark Steven Johnson’s pleasantly diverting, blithely illogical ensemble piece is mostly worry-free with only a fleeting scene of newlywed friskiness barring endorsement for teens. Brief nongraphic marital lovemaking with implied nudity, mildly irreverent portrayal of a clergyman and a few crass expressions.  A-III — adults. (PG-13) 2010 — Full Review

Legion—Theologically skewed apocalyptic horror outing in which a despairing God unleashes hordes of demonic angels to destroy human civilization but, rebelling against the plan, the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) battles to defend a remote roadside cafe (owned by Dennis Quaid and Charles S. Dutton) long enough for its pregnant waitress (Adrianne Palicki) to give birth to humanity’s future savior. Director and co-writer Scott Stewart’s feature debut intersperses relentless violence with metaphysical mush to create a long, grim slog that leaves viewers feeling as besieged as the characters (also including Lucas Black and Tyrese Gibson) trapped in the lonesome eatery. Convoluted religious themes; constant, though mostly nongraphic, violence; an out-of-wedlock pregnancy; a couple of uses of profanity; much rough language (including at least 25 uses of the F-word); and some crude and crass terms. O — morally offensive. (R) 2010
Full Review

LOVELAND, Colo., - Pastors take note: Americans believe they make more new friends in sports bars and restaurants rather than your churches, and watch out, you also have competition from online social media. A survey of nearly 800 respondents, of whom more than three-quarters identified themselves as Christians, reveals that only 16 percent believe their church is “their favorite place to meet new friends.”

“Our churches are losing ground to other venues for people-to-people connections,” says Jon Vaughan, corporate marketing director of Group Publishing, the Colorado-based firm specializing in church resources, which commissioned the poll. “Since the Internet has become an integral element of our daily lives, pastors and church leaders must be more creative in facilitating social networking — both face-to-face and through the web.”

Vaughan also believes there may be an underlying economic factor in the survey results.

“Many people are struggling to make ends meet financially,” says Vaughan. “If I’m working two jobs just to pay the bills, I want to maximize what little free time I have, and connect with people I can have fun with.”

Vaughan notes the survey found several key factors that constitute friendly — or unfriendly — social settings:

- Making me feel like I belong (21 percent);

- Making me feel comfortable (16 percent);

- Making me feel at ease (15 percent);

- Conversation (14 percent);

- Smiles (11 percent); and

- Non-judgmental (6 percent)

Vaughan recognizes that some religious leaders will contend the church’s primary purpose is to serve as a house of worship. However, he believes that to attract new members, churches must create “an inviting atmosphere with pastors and members welcoming newcomers.”

With more than 300,000 Christian churches in the United States, people are able to “church shop” in their communities more than ever, Vaughan says.

“I meet frequently with pastors who wonder why visitors are reluctant to become members of their congregations,” he says. “It may simply have to do with the perceived friendliness of the congregation.”

Or the pastor.

Respondents ranked ministers below several others as the friendliest people, including: close friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers.

“While these rankings are not surprising, it is interesting to note that the ‘friendly index’ of pastors was not much higher than hairstylists and store clerks,” says Vaughan. “This survey clearly indicates the church in America must look for new and innovative ways to engage with its congregations.”

Vaughan notes the survey found some good news for pastors: Respondents said churches were the second friendliest places in their communities behind their homes - 17 percent to 35 percent, respectively. Sports bars and restaurants placed third with 9 percent, followed by the grocery store (7 percent) and a coffee shop (5 percent). So while people may meet more new friends in a sports bar, the church is still seen as the friendlier place in general.

“We are committed to helping churches grow and become salt and light in their communities,” says Vaughan, noting that Group Publishing has created a free six-week web-based series on “Becoming the Friendliest Place in Town.” In addition, Group Publishing recently introduced Lifetree Café, “a weekly, hour-long online exchange of stories and conversations to feed the soul.”

The online survey, conducted by Authentic Response, has a plus or minus error rate of 4 percentage points.

For the complete survey results, and for more information on Group Publishing’s services and products, please visit www.group.com/church2010.

WASHINGTON – An anti-religion group is urging its members to write complaint letters to the U.S. Postal Service over the upcoming issuance of a stamp to honor the late Mother Teresa.

In a press release, the Freedom From Religion Foundation asserts that Mother Teresa, a nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize and international acclaim for her decades of relief work among the impoverished of Calcutta, India, should not be honored because she is a religious figure. While Mother Teresa was Catholic, Hindu leaders have applauded the stamp decision. Rajan Zed, head of the Universal Society for Hinduism, called it an honor to all of India. Mother Teresa was born in Albania and spent most of her life in India but was given honorary U.S. citizenship in 1996, a year before she died.

Pacific Justice Institute has clashed with the FFRF before. In the last year, the FFRF has sent numerous letters to local governments in California and elsewhere threatening to sue over public invocations, and PJI has countered with legal opinion letters supporting prayer and free speech.  Last October, the FFRF filed suit challenging federal and state tax laws that provide tax exemptions for ministers’ housing allowances. PJI represents ministers who would be affected by that suit.

PJI President Brad Dacus commented, “Just when you think the atheists and anti-religionists have run out of things to complain about, they attack Mother Teresa, one of the great role models of the last century. We are encouraging anyone who has been inspired by Mother Teresa to join us in writing letters of appreciation to the U.S. Postal Service to counter the ridiculous complaints they are receiving from the FFRF.”

Pacific Justice Institute will be sending a letter to the USPS offering legal support for  the Mother Teresa stamp. Comments may be sent to the Postal Service via its website, www.usps.com.  Citizens may also write to the USPS at either or both of the following addresses:

Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee
Stamp Department, USPS
1735 N. Lynn Street, Suite 5013
Arlington, VA 22209-6432

Consumer Advocate
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You can learn a lot about the relation of American religion and sports from journalist Tom Krattenmaker. You can also learn a lot about Tom Krattenmaker from his personal story with American religion and sports.

So, who is Tom Krattenmaker? Tom serves as a member of USA TODAY’s editorial Board of Contributors and writes regularly for the paper’s “On Religion” commentary page. In addition to authoring the controversial book on American Evangelicalism and sports, Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010), his article, “The Evangelicals You Don’t Know” (USA Today, Opinion, June 2, 2008), received critical acclaim as one of the top three pieces of religion commentary in the American Academy of Religion’s 2009 Journalism Awards program.

Dr. Metzger asked Tom for an interview to discuss his journey into the realm of American religion and sports as well as his own faith journey. What makes Tom especially interesting is that he is a reporter who positions himself as a member of the religious and cultural left (attending a Unitarian Universalist Church and serving as Vice-President for Public Affairs and Communications at Lewis and Clark College), who engages American Evangelicalism fairly, openly, and insightfully. Here’s what Evangelical leader Kevin Palau, Executive Vice President of the Luis Palau Association, has to say about Tom and his work. “Tom Krattenmaker—in my opinion—is one of the most informed and relevant writers on the Evangelical movement today. His critique is fair and his knowledge is impressive.” No doubt, some of his insights and expertise in this area derive from Tom experiencing numerous courtships with Evangelicalism over the years, including flings with Young Life and Campus Crusade for Christ. None of these flings with Evangelical Christianity stuck, but his fascination with the movement has not diminished.

Check out this audio clip from the interview. Stay tuned for the whole interview, appearing in Cultural Encounters Volume 6, Number 1.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — A passion for skateboards has coursed through Jason Brown’s veins for 25 years. While some might see the allure of the ride as a passing interest for teenagers, Brown’s commitment to skateboarding has never dimmed since he first picked up the sport in his native South Carolina.  Brown now owns and operates a shop for skateboards and supplies in his adopted hometown of Springfield, Ore., where he provides a positive environment for the skateboarders who come seeking equipment and conversation for their own passion. “We attract at-risk teenage boys here,” Brown said. “It is really sad because they come from broken homes that overwhelm our area, which is in a very poor part of town that suffers from a lot of drug use.”

While Brown was raised in a much different environment, he connects with his customers because of early choices he made in life. “I grew up going to church and said I wanted to accept Jesus when I was in the eighth grade, but the next day I was back out smoking pot,” Brown said.

“I ‘gave’ my life to Christ several times, but it was because my brother, who I looked up to, came out of a lifestyle of partying, drinking and drugs that made me sit up and notice. I looked up to him and thought he was cool. But even though I dabbled in that stuff, I was always more interested in skateboarding.”

Brown finalized his commitment to follow Christ wholeheartedly after a girlfriend cheated on him and his brother talked to him about his relationship with Jesus.

“I was still a little kid looking for direction when I went to college, and only lasted a year and a half,” Brown said. “I joined the military and did my time there, but I always wanted to be a professional skateboarder, though I realized along the way that I was never good enough, even though I was able to get some sponsors along the way.”

Following his military service Brown went to Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz., to obtain a degree in psychology. He met his wife, Melanie, who is from Springfield, and the two were married in 2000.

“I was mentored by a man in Phoenix and I am the man I am today because he poured into me,” Brown noted.

The pair made the choice to travel and teach English during a two-year stint in South Korea following graduation, where they fell in love with the people and culture there. The respect and kindness they encountered while there made a lasting impact on the couple, as did the food they enjoyed.
“We went to South Korea with the philosophy of lifestyle missions,” Brown said. “This is how I live — some days are really wonderful and others are bad.”

Brown has adopted that same philosophy when he and Melanie returned from South Korea with the goal of opening a skateboard shop. Cactus Skateboards, (??) in her hometown, which was named with a nod to the influence on Brown of his years in Phoenix.

“My mentor told me that if I started a skate shop it needed to be a legitimate business, to do things without an ulterior motive,” Brown said. “So I started my business four years ago, and it is a core skateboard shop completely devoted to skateboards, skateboard tee-shirts, pants, shoes, videos — anything to do with skating. We do not carry snowboards, surf boards or anything else not related to skateboards.

“I get to live out my life as a man should in front of the customers who come in my shop,” Brown said. “Approximately 98 percent of them don’t have a dad and the area is really poor. I hire kids from time to time to work in the shop and right now I have a 19-year-old working for me who comes from a difficult situation where he moves back and forth between parents. I don’t force my views or religion on him, but it has led to good conversations, because even though he had heard of Jesus, he was completely unaware of who he really is.”

Many of the young people attracted to Cactus struggle in life, and find their way to the shop when they shouldn’t be there.

“I’ll kick kids out if it’s in the day when they should be in school,” Brown said. “I’ll play ‘skate’— a variation on the basketball game horse —and get their respect. I joke and cut up with them, but I have threatened to call the school and they bolt out. While they were upset they still came back.”

His love of skateboards has taken Brown to over 150 skateboard parks across the United States and other countries, and helped the Browns find Harvest Community Church in Eugene, Ore., as it was just across the street from a local skate park.

“I first started at work at Harvest as a janitor a few hours a week, because the shop isn’t able to fully support us,” Brown said. “It was an awesome quiet time where I could of several hours where I could put my headphones on and just worship.”

Brown was eventually offered the position of youth minister at Harvest, which he accomplishes in a part-time role while also running his business. He tries to put in 20 hours a week at the church and dedicates two afternoons a week to those duties.

“Formal ministry was not an aspiration of mine,” Brown said. “I wanted to go to seminary for personal growth in the past, but thought a para-church organization would fit my lifestyle more. Honestly, I wasn’t prepared for the stress this job brought, but I am a people-person and relate to most of the parents well.

While there is potential for Cactus Skateboard customers to join the ministry of the church, the distance of several miles deters them because most of them do not drive.
“They are already in the lifestyle of not going to church,” Brown noted. “But some of the kids in the youth ministry now skate. This church was comfortable for us from the beginning because people were friendly and interested in us. It has been a great place for us as a family,” Brown said , which now includes two small children. “What I do is just me being me,” Brown said. “God really backed me in a corner with this ministry, but I love Jesus and I love kids, and it has worked.”

Georgene Rice shares the account of a survivor of the Haiti quake, Dan Woolley, as interviewed on the Today Show. Woolley was in Haiti working with the group Compassion International when the earthquake struck. Trapped for 65 hours under tons of wreckage from the Hotel Montana, not at all certain he was going to survive he wrote notes to his two young boys and wife.

Opening the notebook, pages punctuated with smears of blood, fighting his emotion he read an entry to his six and three-year-old sons, “I was in a big accident. Don’t be upset at God. He always provides for His children even in hard times. I’m still praying that God will get me out, but He may not. But, He will always take care of you.”

With the incredible use of technology Dan was able to help himself survive.

He is nearsighted and lost his glasses but by using the focusing light on his digital camera he knew where he was and where he needed to go. Woolley took refuge in an elevator shaft. Using the IPhone first aid app he’d downloaded earlier, he was able to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and stop the bleeding from his head wound. The app also warned him not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his cell phone alarm to go off every 20 minutes. Then for 65 hours he waited for whatever fate was in store for him.

One other person on his team was also rescued. A group of Florida’s Lynn University students were also staying at the hotel. Four of those remain missing along with faculty advisors who were on a Food for the Poor trip.

Woolley attributed his survival and rescue by a French rescue team to divine providence. He says, “A lot of prayers go out for the work we do and our safety on the trip, so I believe God was present with me. He decided He wanted me to survive and helped me in those moments.”

Dan’s wife, Christina, struggled to cling to hope, not always successfully. “I went through moments of despair,” she says. But like her husband she says her faith sustained her with a certain knowledge that wherever Dan was God was holding Dan in the palm of his hand. “I just didn’t know if it was in Haiti or in heaven.”

ABC News has reported that most of the churches in Port-Au-Prince have been destroyed, but they reported that thousands of Haitians made it to whatever open spaces they could find and were worshiping openly. They were praising God and thanking Him for sparing them and trusting that God was going to provide.

Authorities are now estimating over 200,000 feared dead in the earthquake of Haiti. Six days after the quake struck search workers still pulled survivors from the rubble. Food For The Poor website gives updates from a Christian ministry in Haiti on what is happening on the ground in Haiti.

Tooth Fairy—Feeble fable in which a disillusioned minor-league hockey player (Dwayne Johnson) who discourages children from dreaming big and denies the existence of the titular sprite is sentenced by the matriarch of Fairyland (Julie Andrews) to spend two weeks as a winged tooth fairy, a secret mission that complicates his relationship with his girlfriend (Ashley Judd) and threatens his macho standing among his teammates (including skateboarding star Ryan Sheckler). Director Michael Lembeck’s mostly family-friendly comedy, which also features Stephen Merchant as Johnson’s officious but good-hearted pixie mentor, never really takes flight, while scenes of unnecessary roughness on the ice and an out-of-place exchange about the onset of puberty preclude endorsement for all. Moderate hockey violence, some mild sexual references and brief scatological humor.  A-II — adults and adolescents. (PG) 2010.  Full Review of Tooth Fairy

He spoke of holding the kind of “faith that breaks the silence of an earthquake’s wake with the sound of prayer and hymns sung by the Haitian community,” as the congregation applauded in agreement.

King visited the church in 1956, Obama noted, “as a 27-year-old preacher to speak on what he called the challenge of a new age.”

At the time of King’s visit the Supreme Court had ruled that the desegregated bus system in Montgomery, Ala., he opposed was unconstitutional. The high court had also ruled in Brown v. Board of Education against school segregation but schools and states had “ignored it with impunity,” Obama recalled.

“Here we are more than half a century later, once again facing the challenges of a new age,” he said. Even with “fits and starts,” he said there has been progress over bigotry and prejudice.

“It’s that progress that made it possible for me to be here today, for the good people of this country to elect an African-American the 44th president of the United States of America.”

He said the civil rights movement in particular and the country in general have been successful when all Americans are responsible and work hard.

“In this country, there’s no substitute for hard work,” Obama said. “No substitute for a job well done, no substitute for being responsible stewards of God’s blessings.”

Obama, who attended with first lady Michelle Obama and his daughters Malia and Sasha, sat up front with the pastor, singing along when the congregation broke out in “We Shall Overcome” and joking with the pastor about how he might permit his new nephew to meet the pastor’s new granddaughter in about 30 years.

It was obvious that this was not a typical service at Vermont Avenue, with the pastor, Rev. Cornelius Wheeler, offering warnings to worshippers before it began about not leaving the area of their seats for exuberant worship or photos.

In the last year, Obama has visited three other Washington churches: the Washington National Cathedral for his inaugural prayer service; St. John’s Episcopal Church across Lafayette Square from the White House on the day of his inauguration and on Easter; and Nineteenth Street Baptist Church the Sunday before his inauguration. Last July he said he may attend “a number of different churches” and enjoys “powerful” sermons from the chaplain who leads services at the chapel at Camp David, the presidential retreat.

As he introduced Obama, Wheeler said he was “peacock-proud and tickled pink” to present him and assured the president his congregation was proud of his inauguration and “got your back.”

Acknowledging it might not be politically correct to say so, Wheeler added: “It took them eight years to mess it all up. I can’t see why they don’t have a little bit of patience while you’re fixing it.”

Recently retired usher John S. Harrison said at age 87 he made a special effort to be there.

“I got out of my bed to come down here and see this because this is history,” said Harrison, who was part of the church when King spoke there.