A/G NEWS #860: July 11, 2003
Posted by: news <[email protected] (A/G News and Info) (by way of Douglas Anderson <rxdca@...>
AG-NEWS: Friday, July 11, 2003
Please send story leads to [email protected] for consideration
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** Hundreds of churches participate in SOM Worldwide Prayer
Meeting
Annual A/G World Missions School of Missions (SOM) Worldwide
Prayer Meeting sees nearly 600 A/G churches conduct prayer
meetings as over 450 missionaries and missionary candidates
gather at Evangel University, Springfield, Missouri. World
Missions area directors call in from all six regions to give
reports. They also had submitted over 250 prayer requests. A
number of churches also participate in meeting through live Web
cast. Directors report an increasing need for more missionaries.
For list of prayer requests or more information about AGWM, see
<worldmissions.ag.org>.
** Fight for the flag moves to nation's schools
United States flag and Pledge of Allegiance come under attack,
with battles taking place in the court system--Bush
administration wants lower court's ruling overturned. Examines
importance of the Flag and Pledge to Christians as well. Royal
Rangers, Missionettes (A/G children's programs) say "yes," they
are both important and link children to nation's godly heritage
while honoring the country. Christians encouraged to keep
patriotism in balance by having priorities in order.
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Revivaltime Reenactment is a Pre-General Council Event
Do you miss Revivaltime radio ministry? Now you can enjoy a
pre-council Revivaltime Reenactment, bringing together former
staff members: Speaker Dan Betzer; a hundred choir members; Choir
Director Cyril McLellan; and Narrator Lee Shultz. Don't miss this
recorded reunion at Arlington Assembly of God, 4501 N. Pershing
Dr., Arlington, VA, Wednesday, July 30 at 7:30 p. m. Phone
703-524-1667. Admission is free. An offering will be received.
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** HUNDREDS OF CHURCHES PARTICIPATE IN SOM WORLDWIDE PRAYER MEETING
Nearly 600 Assemblies of God churches joined with 471 missionaries
and missionary candidates for the WorldWide Prayer Meeting held
Wednesday night on the campus of Evangel University, in
Springfield, Missouri, during the annual Assemblies of God World
Missions School of Missions (SOM). For the first time, 40
additional churches participated in the service live via Internet
connection.
SOM is an annual gathering of missionaries who have returned to
the United States for deputation. These missionaries meet for two
weeks in July, along with the candidate missionaries. The annual
prayer meeting included communion and a time of memorial honoring
those missionaries who passed away since the last SOM.
Six hundred churches used video footage provided by AGWM and
prayer requests e-mailed or downloaded from the World Missions Web
site to conduct prayer gatherings for their Wednesday evening
services. Area directors from the six AGWM regions submitted more
than 250 prayer requests.
Those participating in the live Web feed were also able to hear
reports via telephone as six missionaries from the AGWM regions
called to share testimonies and prayer needs. Participants heard
live reports from Siberia, Jamaica, Scotland, Indonesia, Africa
and Northern Asia, some sharing reports at 2 a.m. in their
time zone.
"There has been an extreme move of God here," Heather Chowning
reported from Siberia. "We are seeing incredible numbers of
salvations." Chowning and her husband Mike requested prayer that
God would help raise up more trained pastors to reach the massive
amounts of unreached people in Siberia.
Praying for the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers was a common
theme throughout the prayer meeting. Most area directors asked
that God would send missionaries, as well as raise up workers
among the nationals of their countries.
"We are praying for God to raise up young pastors, because right
now there are not very many young people studying to be pastors.
There are only a few waiting in the wings to take over as the
older ones retire," said Ken Morris, missionary to Glasgow,
Scotland, where Morris reports that heroine addiction is becoming
a problem of epic proportions.
Morris and his wife Jeanie have been involved in several powerful
outreaches in Scotland in the last few months, including the first
Convoy of Hope outreach ever held in the U.K. "We ministered to
6,400 people that day, and 205 made first-time commitments to the
Lord," says Morris. Combined outreaches with Book of Hope and Teen
Challenge distributed 15,000 Bibles to schools and colleges in the
Glasgow area.
Steve and Kim Puffpaff reported from Jamaica, letting people know
about City of Refuge, a new home for homeless children. "We have
27 children right now; the oldest is nine," says Steve Puffpaff.
"These are children who have been abandoned by parents; some have
been picked up off the street. One little girl was picked up by
police when she was crawling near an intersection."
Prayers requested for Africa included God's intervention in the
AIDS crisis invading the continent and for peace among warring
tribes and countries.
According to John Bueno, executive director of World Missions, the
WorldWide Prayer meetings have been part of School of Missions for
the past 25 years. "Not only does it acquaint our missionary
family and our new candidate missionaries with what God is doing
in various parts of the world, it gives us a glimpse of the
needs," Bueno says. "It also helps connect the churches here in
the United States to what is happening in missions and is a good
opportunity to bring awareness to prayer needs in the various
areas where we are ministering."
Those who missed the opportunity this year to participate in the
service online can still use the video footage to hold a prayer
meeting. In addition, churches will have the opportunity to
participate online again next year. For more information about
World Missions, or to obtain a copy of the prayer requests, logon
to <worldmissions.ag.org/>.
-- Judi Murphy
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** FIGHT FOR THE FLAG MOVES TO NATION'S SCHOOLS
What is it about reciting a pledge to an American flag that causes
one person to cry, another to turn her back and yet another to
file a lawsuit to try to stop its use in public schools? It is
what the flag represents.
To Manhattanville College women's basketball player Toni Smith,
the flag reminds her of the inequities in this country, especially
between rich and poor, and of a war she does not support. She has
turned her back on the flag during the playing of the national
anthem at games of the school in Purchase, New York.
To Michael Newdow, an atheist who sued the Elk Grove Unified
School District in California on behalf of his daughter, reciting
the Pledge of Allegiance is a government endorsement of religion,
a violation of the First Amendment. A California district court
dismissed the suit, but last year the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 in Newdow's favor, stating the words
"under God" in the Pledge are unconstitutional because they take a
"position with respect to the purely religious question of the
existence and identity of God."
Newdow says that, even though his daughter is not required to say
the voluntary pledge, just listening to the words is a "daily
indoctrination" of his child with "religious dogma."
To the Bush administration, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
ruling was a legal error that must be rectified. After a huge
outcry from politicians and the public, the court stayed its
ruling in March, pending appeals. Solicitor General Theodore B.
Olson filed a 30-page petition in May on behalf of the
administration, asking the Supreme Court to overturn the lower
court's ruling. Olson stated that the Ninth Circuit Court ignored
the fact the Supreme Court has long accepted the words of the
Pledge, and that the Constitution "does not forbid the government
from officially acknowledging the religious heritage, foundation
and character of this nation. This is what the reference to God in
the Pledge of Allegiance does."
However, should the Pledge controversy concern Christians, whose
allegiance is to a King and Kingdom not of this world? Does it
matter if Christian children can say the Pledge? Are mottoes such
as "In God We Trust" important if many Americans don't trust
in God?
Assemblies of God officials and ministry leaders say a Christian's
primary allegiance must be to God and His Son, Jesus Christ. They
also say mottoes and pledges are necessary and important because
they remind Americans of the nation's godly heritage. Missionettes
and Royal Rangers, Assemblies of God ministries to girls and boys,
recite pledges of allegiance to the American flag, the Christian
flag and the Bible.
"The Pledge of Allegiance represents honor for our country," says
Arlene Allen of the A/G national Women's Ministries Department.
Allen says teaching patriotism is essential. "Many of our
educational environments do not provide for a view of history that
includes the faith and values of our founding leaders," Allen
says. "The family and church must provide this education."
Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or using other national mottoes
or pledges invoking the name of God doesn't violate the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, according to Jay
Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice.
"Nothing in the 'God Bless America' or 'In God We Trust' sign or
the voluntary recitation of our nation's Pledge of Allegiance
accomplishes such an establishment of religion," Sekulow says.
"All are patriotic in essence."
Lawyer Dennis Brewer Sr. of Irving, Texas, is amazed at the
animosity God's name can arouse in some Americans. He says a juror
approached him after a trial to tell him she resented his
"references to spiritual things" and that she did "not believe God
had any business in the courtroom."
Brewer, an Assemblies of God layman responded, "Then who did you
raise your hand to and swear that you would a true verdict
render?"
But can, as some non-Christians protest, tying Christianity with
patriotism lead to discrimination against nonbelievers, whose
dissent will be regarded as unpatriotic? Rutherford Institute
President John W. Whitehead notes that the words "under God" were
added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 out of fear that
communism had infiltrated society.
"Who could save us?" Whitehead says. "The answer for many was
'God.'" Could the surge in patriotism in this country that
resulted from the 2001 terrorist attacks cause another Red Scare?
Al Worthley, head of chaplaincy ministries for the Assemblies of
God, says "blind patriotism" can be problematic. "As Christians,
we believe that governments, as servants of God, are to bring
order and we are to look to God--not government--as the source of
all we need." He says Christians need to have their priorities in
order.
"Belief in God, good doctrine and an understanding of providence
will help citizens keep patriotism in balance," he says. "God
judges nations just as He judges individuals."
Worthley says the founding fathers had their priorities straight.
"They believed and had confidence in God," he says. "The salute to
the flag or pride in country was based on what God had done and
was doing."
--Tim Callahan, "Today's Pentecostal Evangel"
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For a regularly updated list of upcoming significant Assemblies
of God days and events--many linked to informational, registration
or ordering pages--see the following address:
<http://www.ag.org/top/calendar_long.cfm>.
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