Faithful Five: Weekend Events
Here’s my “faithful five” — five events going on in the faith community this weekend, Nov. 1-2. If what you read below intrigues you, go check it out for yourself:
1. Hottest show in town. First Baptist Church of Edmond and First Baptist Church of Moore will each offer the “Fireproof Simulcast,” with practical training for marital couples. The simulcast will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the churches, 1300 SE 33rd Street in Edmond and 301 NE 27 in Moore. For more information, call the churches at 341-0253 or 793-2600.
2. Prayer for the nation. Arise Ministries of Edmond is hosting a time of prayer from 4 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Chitwood Park, First and Story in Edmond. People are asked to come and pray for the country and Tuesday’s election. Bring a lawn chair.
3. Methodist ministers to gather. The Methodist Ministers Alliance is hosting its annual Fall Community Prayer Service at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Avery Chapel AME Church, 1425 Kelham Ave.
4. It’s festival time. Zion Lutheran Church will host Octoberfest beginning at noon Sunday at 7701 W Britton Road. Cost – for adults $7.50 and $5.50 for children — includes drinks and dessert. The event also includes a crafts and bake sale.
5. Evening of music. The Kemp Concert Series at First Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City presents “An Evening of Chamber Music” at 7 p.m. Sunday at the church, 1001 NW 25. The concert is free and open to the public.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Faith and the election
If you aren’t overwhelmed by all the election commentary, campaigning, rumors and more rumors, here are some interesting insights from Steven Waldman, editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com and author of the book “Founding Faith: The Birth of Religious Freedom in America.
Here are Waldman’s Top Ten Faith Factors to be watching for on Tuesday.
For those of you who may be interested in what else he has to say, he will be blogging the election live at www.Beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman.
Ten Faith Factors for Election Night1.How Many Obamagelicals Are There? – It might seem farfetched that a socialist-terror-lovin’-pro-abortion candidate like Obama could win any evangelical Christians but he’s been courting them fervently since he began his presidential run. The key the 40% of evangelicals who call themselves “moderate” or “liberal.” Point of reference: John Kerry won 21% of white evangelicals, Gore 18%. Bill Clinton in 1996 won 26%.
2. Will Palin Turn Out the “Religious Right”? — By picking Sarah Palin, John McCain gambled that she’d be able to rev up the evangelical “base.” Even as her popularity has fallen generally, evangelicals still love her (some even believing she was sent to battle the anti-Christ.) Assuming most conservative evangelicals vote for McCain, the second question is: how many will show up? Point of reference: white evangelicals accounted for 23% of the electorate in 2004.
3. Do Midwestern Evangelicals Split With Their Brethren? — Recent polls have showed Obama trailing badly among evangelicals in
5. Can Obama Finally Bowl a Strike With Skeptical White Catholics? – During the primaries, Obama did poorly with white Catholics, often working class ethnics or their offspring. Remember his feeble attempt to curry favor through bowling? They tend to be culturally conservative and haven’t voted for a Democrat since 1996. On the other hand, they’re especially concerned about the economy this year, and Joe Biden has been trying to bond with them as a fellow “cultural Catholics.” Point of reference: In 2004, Bush won 56% of white Catholics, Kerry 43%.
6. Will Whitebread Protestants Back the Black Guy? – Recent polls show Democrats gaining with a group that had leaned Republican for most of the past few decades – Mainline Protestants. It appears that while Sarah Palin energized evangelicals, she may have alienated some Mainliners. In 2004, they went for President George W. Bush 54%-46%.
7. Will Latino Protestants Vote Their Values or the Pocketbook? – One positive trend for Obama will likely be the shift of Latinos from the Republican side, where they resided in 2004, to the Democrats. The hidden religious story: most of the shift is driven by Latino Protestants. Many are evangelical and liked Bush’s Christian faith and his conservative positions on social issues (gay marriage, abortion) but have shifted to Obama because of the economy and concerns about immigration.
8. How Will the Kinda-Sorta Religious Vote? – In recent elections, the most religious you were, the more likely you were to vote Republican. This is known as the God Gap, which will still certainly exist. But watch for two things: among weekly churchoers how big is McCain’s margin? Bush won that group 61%-39% Second, Kerry last time beat Bush among more occasional churchgoers 53%-47%. Will Obama increase that margin?
9. Will Jews Schlep to Republican Side? – This only really matters in
Will that go up or down? If it becomes an even more dominant force within the party, how will that shape either the way McCain governs if he wins or, if he loses, how the Republicans re-invent themselves.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Prayers for Jennifer Hudson
Numerous prayers and message of encouragement for Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson are being posted on Guideposts.com.The reason: Hudson is the subject of Guidepost’s November cover story.
“The tragic news of the past weekend is particularly saddening to us at Guideposts,” Editor-in-Chief Edward Grinnan said in a recent news release.
“Jennifer was wonderful to work with on her story — positive, inspiring, spiritually focused and remarkably even-keeled for someone to whom success and fame had come so young. All of us at Guideposts send our prayers and condolences to Jennifer.”
In the cover story, the singer and actress Jennifer Hudson spoke of her extraordinarily close relationship with her family. She told the story of growing up in a deeply spiritual home and a nurturing church, where she first found her voice.
”The story has received overwhelming response. In the past few days, there has been an unprecedented outpouring of prayers and support for Jennifer and her family posted at Guideposts.com,” Grinnan said.
Guideposts, publisher of inspirational books and magazines, is a non-profit organization headquartered in Carmel, N.Y., co-founded in 1945 by the husband and wife team of Norman Vincent Peale and Ruth Stafford Peale.
Read the story on Hudson and the prayer/message postings to her at www.Guideposts.com.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Mormon calendar creator faces music
A Brigham Young University student has been excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and recently he learned that he won’t be getting the diploma he earned from the university.
The Religion News Service reports that Chad Hardy created a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries, resulting in his excommunication and his diploma being taken away.
After finishing his degree online in June, Chad Hardy walked in graduation ceremonies in August, and while waiting for his diploma to come in the mail, found out he would not be getting one.
Officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Hardy was excommunicated in July for creating the calendar they believed to be in poor taste.
Recently, Hardy told the RNS that he was told by a Brigham Young counselor that his diploma had been placed on nonacademic hold.
RNS reported that Hardy then received a letter from the school’s executive director of student academic and advisement services, Norm Finlinson, saying his name had been deleted and he would not be granted a degree.
“They were aware I had been excommunicated,” Hardy said, “and that was not a good honor. If I had been accused of adultery or apostasy, I’d be in the same situation.”
Carrie Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the university, had this to say: “You do not have to be a member of the church to go to BYU. Every student signs a principled-based honor code and on a yearly basis, students renew the agreement to uphold the code.”
Hardy said the matter isn’t over.
“The church censored me, and because of that BYU can dig their heels in,” Hardy told the RNS. “The issue I have is that I’m already finished and they allowed me to walk at graduation. They are backpedaling to make an example of me.”
Hardy said he plans to file a civil liberties lawsuit against Brigham Young University.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
U.S. a force for good …
The majority of Americans believe the United States has a moral obligation to be engaged on the international stage.
So says a new survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc. for Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and the United Nations Foundation.
Results from the September 2008 survey were recently released and found that nearly a quarter of Americans (24 percent) say the United States should be very actively engaged in world affairs and 70 percent believe America should be at least moderately involved.
Most believe the nation should be actively involved in world affairs because of an explicit responsibility or moral obligation to take a leadership role in the world.
At the same time, 79 percent of Americans agree that sometimes U.S. involvement in world affairs causes more harm than good.
Allen Hertzke is a University of Oklahoma professor who is now a visiting scholar at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. I’ve spoken to professor Hertzke several times for various stories.
Here’s what he had to say about the study:
“Americans remain very interventionist in their views about America’s role in the world and want the U.S. to take an activist role on the world stage, but they want us to be smart about it,” Hertzke said.
The findings are based on a national survey of 1,400 adults, including an oversample of 400 young evangelicals ages 18-29. The survey was conducted Sept. 14-21, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.
Here are more findings:
– 68 percent of people who attend religious services at least once a week say America has a moral obligation to be involved in world affairs, compared to 54 percent of people who attend less frequently.
– 55 percent of people who attend religious services every week say America’s influence in the world has been positive, compared with 44 percent of people who attend less frequently.
– 61 percent believe that God has uniquely blessed America.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Oct. 26: Faith Bookshelf
Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is the subject of a new book highlighted in today’s “Faith Bookshelf.”
“Sara Palin: A New Kind of Leader” is a biography by Joe Hilley (Zondervan).
The book explores themes from her career in politics, her life as a hockey mom and her strongly held Christian faith, explaining how they influence her new style of leadership.
Other books on tap today are:
“The Mission Minded Family: Releasing Your Family to God’s Destiny” by Ann Dunagan (Authentic).
Author, teacher and missionary Ann Dunagan shows parents how to combat the influences of the “Me Generation” by giving readers the tools to revolutionize their families into ones dedicated to fulfilling God’s will and potential, instead of their own.
And:
“Searching for a Better God” by Wade Bradshaw (Paternoster).
In his new book, author and pastor Wade Bradshaw explains and examines the repercussions of the “common sense theology” which has condemned the God of the Bible as vindictive, angry, distant — and worse.
“People cannot flourish without hope,” Bradshaw said. “Yet this growing suspicion that God exists but is not worthy of our affection or devotion is subtly robbing the world of its one true hope.”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
On TV: Mark Schultz
Contemporary Christian recording artist Mark Schultz is scheduled to appear on the ABC show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Sunday night.
The show airs at 7 p.m. on ABC.
Schultz will perform his song “He’s My Son.”
A news release promoting the episode said that a portion of the show will be filmed at a children’s hospital in Little Rock, Ark.
Schultz is a Dove award winner and platinum-selling artist.
(Photo provided by Greg Lucid: Pictured are designers Eduardo Xol, Tracy Hutson, Mark Schultz, Paige Hemmis and Paul DeMeo.)
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Sign me “Tickled Pink”
With October designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there are any number of activities, products and specialty items featured with the breast cancer awareness color of pink.
Now comes the “Tickled Pink: Prayer Devotion (Group Publishing, $7.99),” designed as a personal way for women to connect with God and refresh their heart and mind.
“Tickled Pink” comes in a small box that includes several items: a spinning top, a fan, feather, mini-umbrella and a piece of clay.
I talked to Amy Nappa, senior women’s editor at Group Publishing which created the prayer devotion. She said each item serves to inspire women in various circumstances.
For example, the pink clay calls women to meditate and create art of their own that reflects how God is forming and shaping them.
Nappa said “Tickled Pink” was created after the success of a similar product, “Chocolate Prayer Devotion.”
She said “Tickled Pink” is “the perfect inspiration for women who need to reflect and be uplifted by spending quiet time alone with God or in prayer.
“What’s unique about ‘Tickled Pink’ is that we created it specifically in recognition of women affected by breast cancer — everything inside the box is pink!”
In a news release, Joani Schultz, author, speaker and CCO at Group Publishing, said the prayer devotion is for all women, not just breast cancer survivors, who need to take a moment of pause.
She called it a “mini-retreat.”
Religion Editor
Stick figures and pillowcases
Ministry leader Pam Kanaly is known for her whimsical stick figure drawings that she has used to embellish and illustrate many things over the years.
Those stick figures, along with scriptures, have adorned pillowcases that Kanaly has presented at Arise Ministries’ annual Survive ‘n’ Thrive Single Mothers Retreat.
Well, Arise Ministries of Edmond will have a booth today through Sunday at the Oklahoma Affair of the Heart at the State Fairgrounds.
Kanaly, (pictured below) who is co-founder 
of Arise, said the pillowcases will be for sale and she and Arise co-founder Shelley Pulliam will be on hand to introduce visitors to the ministry.
(Photo by Nate Billings/The Oklahoman: Antiffany McDaniel-Fears, of Oklahoma City, and her daughter Arianna Fears, posed for this 2006 photo holding an Arise Ministries pillowcase featuring a stick figure cartoon and Bible verse.)
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Money woes top prayer lists
Many people are praying for relief from their money problems, according to a new poll conducted by Guideposts.com.
When asked “What are you praying for these days?” 32 percent of poll respondents answered “financial relief.”
That was the top response, outpacing the second highest response “United States and our leaders,” from 20 percent of respondents.
In addition, about 15 percent said they were praying for a “new job.”
The folks at Guideposts said the combination of the two responses “new job” and “financial relief” represented nearly 50 percent of all respondents’ prayers.
“The level of concern that people have for their finances, jobs, retirement accounts and relief from money problems is starkly evident by how prominent it is in their prayers,” Anne Simpkinson, Guideposts’ online managing editor, said in a news release.
The survey was conducted between Oct. 13 and 19 among 2,522 online respondents.
Simpkinson said Guideposts has a library of inspirational content and experts who are providing faith messages and helpful suggestions to aid people in these tough times.
In fact the site just launched a new six-part series “How to Handle Tough Times” that can be accessed at www.guideposts.com/toughtimes.
Many may remember that Guideposts was founded in 1945 by Norman Vincent Peale, author of the book “The Power of Positive Thinking.”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
