Runny Nose Conversion

I went to the hospital today to meet a man that I had never known before. This man simply shared a room in hospice care with an uncle of one of our members. I went to the hospital last week and prayed for the uncle then after I left this gentleman asked our church member to call me. He wanted to meet so we could talk so this morning I headed into the city to meet him. While talking with him I found out that the doctors have told him that he will probably die before the New Year. I also learned that he has spent 20 years in prison and had been a gang-banger in Chicago. He began crying saying that he needed help! I felt God telling me to stop talking and just pray. As I prayed I felt the hopelessness begin to lift. This former gang-banger sat there crying with his nose running he confessed the Lord as his savior! After the prayer he cleaned his face up and I literally could see a brighter look on his face!

Who Can I Tell

Just got through reading the script of what is sure to be an incredible play.  One of our new ladies in the church is staring in this stage production of Who Can I Tell produced by SoulSavin productions.  This play is all about domestic violence when it comes from the opposite gender.  Whenever we think of domestic violence we assume that the female is the victim yet in this powerful stage production we will see what happens when the victim turns out to be the man.

After reading this play I highly recommend this as a night of fellowship and fun as one of our very own performs.  For tickets please call Shareeta Porter at 708-275-1929 .

Atheists Plan Anti-God Ad Campaign on Buses

Came across this article and thought I would share to let everyone how crazy our world really is!

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LONDON  —  London buses have God on their side — but not for long, if atheists have their way.

The sides of some of London’s red buses will soon carry ads asserting there is “probably no God,” as nonbelievers fight what they say is the preferential treatment given to religion in British society.

Organizers of a campaign to raise funds for the ads said Wednesday they received more than $113,000 in donations, almost seven times their target, in the hours since they launched the project on a charity Web site. Supporters include Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins, who donated $9,000.

The money will be used to place posters on 30 buses carrying the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” The plan was to run the ads for four weeks starting in January, but so much money has been raised that the project may be expanded.

“A lot of people say trying to organize atheists is like herding cats. The last couple of days shows that is not true,” said comedy writer Ariane Sherine, who started the campaign.

While most London buses carry posters for shops or Hollywood movies, Christian churches and Muslim groups have bought bus-side ad space in the past.

Sherine came up with the idea after seeing a series of Christian posters on London buses. She said she visited the Web site promoted on one ad and found it told nonbelievers they would spend eternity in torment in hell.

“I thought it would be a really positive thing to counter that by putting forward a much happier and more upbeat advert, saying ‘Don’t worry, you’re not going to hell,’” said Sherine, 28. “Atheists believe this is the only life we have, and we should enjoy it.”

The British Humanist Association, which is administering the fundraising drive, said it had been so successful the campaign might spread to other cities including Manchester and Edinburgh.

Most Britons identify themselves as Christians, but few attend church regularly, and public figures rarely talk about their beliefs. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was rare among politicians in speaking openly about his Christian faith.

Dawkins, author of the best-selling atheist manifesto “The God Delusion,” said that religion nonetheless held a privileged position in society.

“Religious organizations have an automatic tax-free charitable status,” he said. “Bishops sit in the House of Lords automatically. Religious leaders get preferential treatment on all sorts of commissions.

“This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think — and thinking is anathema to religion.”

Dawkins said that as an atheist he “wasn’t wild” about the ad’s assertion that there was “probably” no God.

Sherine said the word was included to ensure the posters didn’t breach transit advertising regulations, which stipulate ads should not offend religious people.

Few believers appeared offended by the campaign, although most doubted it would work.

“I think people will ask themselves, ‘On what basis can they make that statement?” said Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. “So it will get people thinking, so in that sense it can only be good.”

Ad agency CBS Outdoor, which manages advertising on many London buses, said it had approved the atheist campaign.

Sales and marketing director Tim Bleakley said “our decision to take an ad that promotes God, or one that promotes no God, is based on commercial terms, as long as the advertising copy itself does not breach U.K. advertising standards.”

The Rev. Jenny Ellis, spirituality and discipleship officer for the Methodist Church, welcomed the ads.

“This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life,” she said.

The religious think tank Theos said it had donated $82 to the campaign, on the grounds that the ads were so bad they would probably attract people to religion.

“It tells people to ‘stop worrying,’ which is hardly going to be a great comfort for those who are concerned about losing jobs or homes in the recession,” said Theos director Paul Woolley.

“Stunts like this demonstrate how militant atheists are often great adverts for Christianity.”

The Spirit of the Lord

Service yesterday was simply incredible!  Our altar was filled before we could even begin to present a word from the Lord!  Since I am always in the front I often don’t know what is happening with everyone behind me and while I was feeling really broken yesterday I thought it was just me.  That feeling was soon gone when Dexter got up to pray and he could not open his mouth as tears were streaming down his face.  I then realized that God was moving on the entire church.  Before I knew what was happening one woman approached the altar and then I heard the voice of God saying “Now is the time”.  I knew that God was ready to do His thing!  There was not any pulling or pumping as God was simply moving on the hearts.  Our altar are was filled as men and women, young and old alike began making their way so that they could join with someone in prayer.  God is getting ready to bust out in a major way and I think Sunday we felt a little tremble in the Spirit letting us know that He is getting ready!

This was the most amazing service we have had!

Overwhelmed

I have to tell you we are just finishing the first session at the youth convention and it is already off the hook! Overwhelmed is about all we can say!

My 2 cents worth

I have to say that I am really tired of this election cycle.  No one is saying what really needs to be said and no one is saying what I want to hear.  You see I am ready for a leader that will admit that they don’t have the answers.  I am looking for a leader that will acknowledge the fact that without God leading and guiding that we are all in a world of trouble.  For some reason we have become a society that depends on the wisdom of man.  Is this the nation that our founding fathers envisioned?  I am certain that the leaders who gave their life for this great nation had a vision of a country that would continue to make the tough decisions and one that would always place God at the center of their thoughts.  My whole hearted belief is that we have become a pagan nation that relies on the wisdom of man rather than the infinite wisdom of God.  We are in a desperate place as a nation and a world and we have need for the wisdom of God!  God has a solution for all that we need. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT).  We need this verse and a realization of everything it means if we are going to get through this tough area that we find ourselves in.  It seems that the only solution we can find to the ills of the world are to throw money at every problem.  The bible clearly lets us know that this is not the answer, For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10).

So in light of all this we need to get our focus off the economy and begin focusing back on God!  We will avoid many griefs!!

This is my 2 cents worth!

The Benefits of Fellowship

This is a really neat story about the benefits of a church family:

One of our new members is a young man that works at the nearby Target.  Last night while at the church that young man called his friend that was at the church to see if I knew that a senior in our church might of lost her cell phone.  It appears that someone at Target found a phone and while trying to find a home number this guy saw a picture of a senior from our church.  A few minutes later I called another woman in our church to get the details about her daughters upcoming surgery and made arrangements to meet her at the hospital.  I then told her that I would call her cell phone so I could connect with her at the hospital.  She let me know that she had just lost her cell phone a few hours earlier while out running errands.

Amazingly I was able to help reconnect her with her cell phone just before her daughters surgery!  The benefits of a growing and loving church family continue to blow my mind.  God uses us in many ways to help each other and so that we can see the benefit of fellowship.  God really is an awesome God!