July 19, 2006
Filed under: News — admin @ 3:33 am
Junior Stowers raised his hands and exclaimed, “Thank you, Jesus!” in court last month when he was acquitted by a jury of abusing his son. But his joy was short-lived when Circuit Judge Patrick Border held him in contempt of court for the “outburst” and threw him in jail.
Stowers, 47, sat in the courtroom and a cellblock for about six hours until the judge granted him a hearing on the contempt charge and released him. The judge at a July 7 hearing dropped the contempt charge, a petty misdemeanor that carries up to 30 days in jail.
Stowers couldn’t be reached for comment. But his attorney in the contempt case, Deputy Public Defender Susan Arnett, said he wasn’t treated fairly. “I don’t think there’s anything about saying ‘Thank you, Jesus’ that rises to the level of contemptuous behavior in this case,” she told The Honolulu Advertiser.
Stowers is a devoutly religious man active in his church who spontaneously expressed his thanks to the higher power in which he believed, she said.
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July 18, 2006
July 17, 2006
July 14, 2006
Filed under: News — admin @ 2:08 am
When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast last year, Texas churches wanted to help, but didn’t know how. So they did what they normally do, have food and shelter ready for whoever needed it.
Now many religious leaders acknowledge their response wasn’t well-organized. This time, they’ll be ready.
Katrina hit the Gulf coast on Aug. 29, sending hundreds of thousands of Louisiana evacuees to Texas. Hurricane Rita slammed southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana just weeks later.
“I really sense that right now we are more adequately prepared than we would have been last year,” said Milfred Minatrea, disaster response coordinator for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. “We have systems in place that are more effective in allowing our churches to respond than we did a year ago.”
The 2.5 million-member denomination has assigned field people to coordinate with all 254 county judges in Texas, and has set up designated shelters along potential evacuation routes.
About 3 million people fled Rita when it appeared the storm would slam into Galveston and swamp Houston. The storm turned east, sparing the most populated areas, but more than 100 people died in the evacuation, many succumbing to heat exhaustion along traffic-choked and gas-deprived highways.
In the last 15 months, $5.9 million was collected in Texas Baptist churches to assist the denomination’s disaster response, Minatrea said. He and other religious leaders don’t expect their congregations to hold back giving, even if this season brings another devastating hurricane.
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July 13, 2006
Filed under: News — admin @ 2:08 am
Every Sunday from Memorial Day to Labor Day, an ensemble of docked boats, sun-roofed cars, golf carts and lawn chairs gather to worship under the trees of a secluded lakeshore. Put up a big screen and it could almost be the religious equivalent of a drive-in movie.
“It’s a wonderful way to start my morning,” said John Mathis, an agent with Turbeville Insurance, who has gone through three boats since first attending the church in 1998. “It’s so connected to nature and the lake. You can see eagles land on trees during the service.”
With boats come coolers of food and drink, and this morning is no exception. After generously passing around brownies and pigs in a blanket – the cornerstone to any nutritious church breakfast – the service begins with the usual prayers and hymns of praise, followed by an offering collected by passing a cut-off gallon milk carton from boat to boat.
The Reverend Dr. Reginald Thackston does his duty from atop a small white platform, with a fan whirring to his left and keyboardist Ginny Griffin to his right.
For his July 2nd sermon, Thackston chose a subject to which the lake crowd can certainly relate, golf:
“Happiness is not when you’re in the fairway. It’s when you’re in the rough and you make a great recovery,” Thackston explains, his broadcast amplified through strategically placed microphones along the shoreline. “Some of you practice driving but you don’t practice getting out of the sand traps. No matter what rough place you find yourself in, make it out and you become stronger.”
Originally begun in the 1960s as (more…)
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July 12, 2006
July 11, 2006
Filed under: News — admin @ 2:08 am
Below are 25 facts about the Dead Sea Scrolls summed up in a list.
1.The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in eleven caves along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea between the years 1947 and 1956. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem and is 1300 feet below sea level. The mostly fragmented texts, are numbered according to the cave that they came out of. They have been called the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times. See a Dead Sea Scroll Jar.
Cave 1 2. Only Caves 1 and 11 have produced relatively intact manuscripts. Discovered in 1952, Cave 4 produced the largest find. About 15,000 fragments from more than 500 manuscripts were found.
3. In all, scholars have identified the remains of about 825 to 870 separate scrolls.
4. The Scrolls can be divided into two categories—biblical and non-biblical. Fragments of every book of the Hebrew canon (Old Testament) have been discovered except for the book of Esther.
5. There are now identified among the scrolls, 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms .
6. Prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel not found in the Bible are written in the Scrolls.
7. The Isaiah Scroll, found relatively intact, is 1000 years older than any previously known copy of Isaiah. In fact, the scrolls are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found.
8. In the Scrolls are found never before seen psalms attributed to King David and Joshua.
Torah 9.There are nonbiblical writings along the order of commentaries on the OT, paraphrases that expand on the Law, rule books of the community, war conduct, thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions, liturgical texts, and sapiential (wisdom) writings.
10. The Scrolls are for the most part, written in Hebrew, but there are many written in Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language of the Jews of Palestine for the last two centuries B.C. and of the first two centuries A.D. The discovery of the Scrolls has greatly enhanced our knowledge of these two languages. In addition, there are a few texts written in Greek.
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July 10, 2006
Filed under: News — admin @ 2:15 am
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), specializing in constitutional law, announced today it has filed a federal lawsuit against Fairfax County, Virginia on behalf of the McLean Bible Church - a non-denominational church in Fairfax County, Virginia – a suburb of Washington, D.C. The suit challenges the county’s determination that Bible study and religious ministry classes at the church were not included as part of the church’s use permit issued in 1999. The county also concluded that if the church wanted to conduct classes it had to qualify as a college or university.
“Like any other house of worship in the country, an integral part of the church’s ministry is a study of the Bible, and the writings and beliefs sacred to its religion,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. “When Fairfax County approved the church’s use permit there was no issue that religious education, which had already taken place at the church since the 1980’s, was a central aspect of its mission.”
The suit – filed July 3rd in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia – asserts Fairfax County’s actions violated the church’s constitutional rights to religious free exercise, freedom of speech and association, and equal protection, and its statutory rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).
In 2001, the church entered into an agreement with Capitol Bible Seminary (CBS) to administer some aspects of its Bible study and religious ministry classes. This involvement has not changed the church’s educational program or purpose. The scope, nature and relative size of the classes have not changed.
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July 7, 2006
Filed under: News — josh @ 4:17 pm
So two weeks ago, me, my brother and a friend of mine had the privelage of attending The Triptych tour here in my home state of Arizona! And what’s even better, they choose here out of all places to have their first in-store signing at Zia Records!
So obviously the day before the concert I was really excited and nervous knowing that I’d actually be getting to meet the band in person! I ended up not being able to get the tickets until the day before the show! Luckily though, the place we called (Zia Records, the chain that was hosting Demon Hunter) had exactly THREE tickets left! Everywhere else we tried was sold out! So we raced down there and were able to snag the last three tickets! Talk about God moving already. 
So the day of the show we get down to Zia Records right around 5pm. Which was the time it was supposed to start. They were giving out free pizza so I grabbed a big slice and had my fill before going in. At first it didn’t look like many people were there. It was all very low key, and I think that was purposefully done so that fans (who could find out about the signing via www.demonhunter.net or myspace.com/demonhunter) would be the people who got to enjoy it. But once we got into the back of the store there was a sizable line already in place, and it would only grow longer the more we waited.
Zao was also there in person to do a signing of their own (seated at a table right next to Demon Hunter), but I didn’t really know them beforehand. I had heard of the band, but never listened to their music. I was there to see Demon Hunter!
In my hand I held all three Demon Hunter CD’s (self-titled, Summer of Darkness and The Triptych) and then all three CD’s burned, which I had done for a friend a few days before. I decided I’d take them as well and get the burned CD’s signed for her. While standing in line everyone was handed a Zao poster for their brand new album, The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here.
While standing in line I tried to make sure my brother Zach, who came along for the ride and decided to come in after eating pizza, had his cell phone cam ready to take pics (he’s not a fan of metal in the least and thus could care less about Demon Hunter. The poor soul). Eventually we got up to the signing table, and after having Zao sign my poster I got up to Ryan Clark! 
I was really nervous but it desippated a bit as I actually stood before them. I said hello and asked if he could sign my CDs, both the disc and the booklet, and then if he could make the burned CDs out to Jasmine. He said sure and was very nice about it. He started signing and passing the CD’s down to the other three members. It was, from right to left, Ryan Clark, Yogi, John and Ethan. Don Clark wasn’t there for the signing sadly.
So once I was in front of them, I just had to say something! I had been thinking about it before. So I told them that I had read their Q&A’s (mainly speaking to Ryan, though I was looking at Yogi too since Ryan was busy signing), which they have been doing the past few months via their myspace, and found it really interesting and fun to read. And so I asked if he remembered a question someone had asked about Demon Hunter taking old hymns or worship songs and remixing them for an upcoming album. He said ” I think I remember something like that”. So I told them that I hope they will keep it in mind and I just wanted to lend my support to that idea and I think it’s really cool and something they should consider. They seemed very open to it and Ryan mentioned how he loves old Hymns and Yogi said something about how it’s a cool idea. So I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Afterward I shook all their hands and told them thanks. And walked away with a huge smile on my face!
Ryan was really cool. Very nice and they were all polite and seemed thankful/grateful for all the fan support. I wasn’t done yet though! I realized we hadn’t gotten a pic taken, I asked my bros. if they had remembered to take a snapshot and Mike said he forgot!!!!!!!!! >_< Grrr! So I went to take a few pics, and then decided I'd wait until the crowd dissipated to see if could get a good clear shot of them.
Eventually the line got through and people started to take pictures. I knew this might be my only chance to actually get a photo of them, so instead of relying on my brothers grainy camera phone to do the job, I bravely (shy I am) asked the cute girl in front of me, with the nice digital camera, if she could perhaps do me a favor by taking a pic of me with the band. She said yes! So before the band was getting ready to leave, I was able to ask Ryan Clark myself (by the way, I went back and got my Zao poster signed by Demon Hunter as well. Sadly I had them sign the back cause I saw them doing it for someone else, instead of the front! D'oh!) if I could take a picture with the band. He told me sure and said he'd go grab the guys since they had already begun to wander around the store or perhaps leave.
So the picture was coming up and I was bound and determined to get mine! I ran outside to ask if anyone else wanted to join for the pic. Like insane people (or perhaps they simply aren't diehard fans, eh) they said no. >_< So I ran back inside and all the guys had gotten together and were ready! So there I stood . . . surrouned by the four Demon Hunter members on all sides. I was SOO excited and really, really nervous. I was so nervous I wasn't even sure how it was going to turn out and I was kind of scared to look at them, lol. I knew I definitely did not look like metal material. I pondered doing something "cool" but I quickly forgot about it and just posed as my normal self. With a huge smile on my face of course. Actually the first pic that took was too soon and I wasn't smiling! Had I not asked she wouldn't have taken another, but knowing this (and that it may be the only time ever) I asked if she could take another one! "Did you get my smile?" I asked. Thankfully obliged and did snap another photo. And thus the picture below was taken! Thank you Lena!
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