I would like you to consider helping me get this inter-denominational Letter to the Editor of the Virginian-Pilot signed by Catholic priests in the Hampton Roads area. We have about 20 signatures from a wide variety of protestant pastors so far.
Here is an opportunity for protestant and catholic leaders to stand together on the right side of an issue: anti-semitism and the debt we Christians owe to Jewish people.
I have included a link to a form to help record the title and name of each signing leader: Click here to sign
Here is the proposed letter to the Editor of the Virginian-Pilot:
Jewish Lives Matter
This Christmas, Christians everywhere celebrate the birth of a Jewish man named Jesus born in Israel. Christians believe Jesus to be the Jewish Messiah, promised in the Old Testament.
While it is always appropriate to honor Jewish people for their many contributions to mankind, it is even more important for Americans to honor them now, in the aftermath of the recent massacre at an American synagogue.
As Christian leaders in Hampton Roads, we wish to publicly express our gratitude, respect and love for our Jewish neighbors. Christianity would not exist without the Jews.
The Old Testament—the Scriptures Jesus followed— was obviously written by Jews. The New Testament was entirely written by Jews, with the possible exception of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus was a Jew. All of his apostles were Jewish. Most of the early church were Jews. Jesus said He came initially only to serve Jews. Jesus said, “Salvation is from the Jews.”
This Christmas season we encourage the people of Hampton Roads to honor your Jewish neighbors. We encourage you to thank them for their courage, their incredible wisdom and for their generous forgiveness for all that non-Jews have done to them for over 2000 years.
Dinner: 6pm ($6, pay at door) Large Group: 6:30pm Sessions begin: 6:50pm Deadline to Register: Tuesday, October 2
This Conference is open to everyone. You do not have to be a partnering church to attend this Conference
If you had signed up for the Conference on its original date, please contact the office (admin@thebridgenet.org or 757-938-9793) to confirm you will be attending the October 4 Conference.
Thank you!
Session Topics: (choose two)
How to Lead Change When Change is Hard; led by Lynn Hardaway
Building a Multi-cultural Church; led by Charlie Brown
Getting People in the Door; led by David Foote
Owning Your Gospel Story; led by Ken Pruitt
Small Group Leadership (2nd session only); led by Nate Hogan Family Systems; led by William Colvin
Spiritual Health of the Church and Its Men; led by LeRoy Hill, Jr.
Creating a Ministry for those with Special Needs; led by Jason Hutcheson
Discipline with Special Needs Students; led by Vince Kornegay
Crucial Conversa9ons (1st session only); led by Kim Jessie
Ryan McAdams is a great candidate for congressman from Virginia! I have known him for over 20 years. he was my son;s youth pastor when he attended William and Mary. I have spoken at his church in Williamsburg a couple of times and worked with him on a few things related to native Americans and prayer. I am consistently impressed with his intellect, godliness and integrity.
I also know he has strong credentials working with legislators as head of the Virgina Prayer Caucus. He understands the issues of regular people after being a social worker for about 10 years. I think he is a man whom God could use to bring God’s Presence and principles back into our federal government. He is a man of much prayer who could bring God’s wisdom into many issues that only God can solve in DC and in VA! His website is here.
I encourage you to vote for him in November in the primary elections.
This map shows where convicted sex offenders live, work and go to school in parts of South Hampton Roads.
I know this is a sensitive subject.
Two things need to be said: These folks need our compassion. Most were probably molested and so they became molesters. They all need to be born again, almost certainly need deliverance from evil spirits, be baptized and filled with the Spirit to help overcome their backgrounds. Jesus died for them and jesus can give them a fresh start.
But our kids also need protection from being molested by those who are still addicted to sexual crimes. Go to this website to find out where these folks live, work so you can be aware of those locations to protect your loved ones and to protect the sex offenders from unnecessary temptations if possible.
May God help churches to bring salvation, healing and deliverance to these folks. There is a ministry devoted to helping sex offenders get back into life after prison. It is a confidential ministry I can put you in touch with if you contact me.
A girl who feels her only value is her sexual appeal (not her intelligence, quick wit, or artistic talent, for example) and views herself as merely a thing to be used for other’s gratification can experience low self-esteem, depression, and eating disorders. (Ogutier/Pixabay/Public Domain)
Walmart has announced this week that Cosmopolitan magazine will no longer be flaunted to kids and adolescents in its checkout lines across the country.
This is welcome news for Victoria Hearst, founder of Cosmo Hurts Kids and the granddaughter of Cosmopolitan owner William Randolph Hearst.
It all began with a bad relationship.
In December 1995, Victoria Hearst was reeling from one when she said the sinner’s prayer and gave her life to Jesus.
Not only did Victoria let go of the relationship, she surrendered all of the plans she had for her life.
“God, I don’t know what I am doing anymore,” Victoria says on her website, recalling her prayer to the Lord. “You take the wheel. You drive. I’ll go wherever You lead.”
Fast forward to 2018.
The Lord has done a fruitful work in her life: Victoria is the founder and head of Praise Him Ministries, a non-denominational ministry that includes Praise Productions Christian Store and Ridgway Christian Center.
And, in her spare time and at her own expense, Victoria is on a crusade to get the word out about how Cosmopolitan‘s pornographic images and content are damaging to kids.
How Cosmo Lost Its Way
Victoria Hearst’s grandfather W.R. Hearst was the founder and head of the Hearst publishing empire until his death in 1951.
From humble beginnings with one newspaper—The San Francisco Examiner—in 1887, Hearst Communications has grown into a multifaceted corporation with 360 plus businesses.
One of its many media offerings is Cosmopolitan magazine.
In 1905, Victoria’s grandfather bought Cosmopolitan, then a family magazine devoted to women’s issues.
Victoria’s grandfather hired authors and journalists such as George Bernard Shaw to contribute to the magazine. A British playwright, Shaw wrote 62 plays over his lifetime and was the 1925 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
However, revenue started to slide at the magazine after W.R. Hearst’s death.
Victoria recalls, “As a child, I heard my father, Randolph Hearst, discussing the situation with Hearst executives. Should they discontinue publication or try to keep it alive?”
In 1965, they hired Helen Gurley Brown, author of a popular 1962 novel encouraging women to be liberated sexually and financially to be chief editor … and it was all downhill from there.
“That is when a ‘first-class family magazine’ turned into a sex rag,” concludes Victoria.
Victoria’s father passed away in 2000 but became a born-again Christian prior to his death.
Meanwhile, Cosmo stayed on its course of sexually explicit content.
Protecting Kids and Her Grandfather’s Legacy
Seeing the total stripping of moral fabric from the once-revered magazine has spurred Victoria into action.
As she states on her website, “William Randolph Hearst was not a perfect man, but I am sure that he would NEVER have allowed Cosmopolitan to become the PORNOGRAPHIC magazine that it is today.”
What Victoria is after is not to destroy the magazine. Rather, she would like it labeled as “adult material” so that it cannot be sold to anyone under 18.
Targeting Young Girls
The content described is bad enough on its own. But consider the target market: “Cosmo seduces underage girls into reading the magazine by putting teen and ‘tween’ idols on the cover and by printing articles listing the best colleges to attend to have sex,” says Victoria.
Does all of this sound like something you’d want you middle-school aged daughter to read?
We thought not!
The covers of Cosmopolitan magazine are on visible display at checkout lines and news stand aisles at your local drug store, and grocery store, where adults and children can readily see them … over and over again.
The October 2017 issue proudly proclaimed to offer “76 Sex Secrets” and other questionable content, for example.
Part of a Broader Issue
It’s not just Cosmo. Virtually all media monitored in multiple studies gave “ample evidence of the sexualization of women,” according to a 2007 American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualiztion of Girls report.
It’s everywhere you turn—from TV shows to the Internet, to movies and music, and of course, in advertising. And it’s in video games and media that are popular with kids.
Women are objectified and sexualized, and a narrow view of physical beauty is endlessly paraded in front of all of us.
What does this do to girls?
When girls are constantly exposed to media images sexualizing women, it leads them to view themselves (and all women) as sexual objects. Their value becomes centered on physical appearance rather than on achievement or character.
A girl who feels her only value is her sexual appeal (not her intelligence, quick wit or artistic talent, for example) and views herself as merely a thing to be used for other’s gratification can experience low self-esteem, depression and eating disorders.
The APA report suggests that it may even affect their career choices. How many of these women will pursue an engineering career or aim to be a cancer researcher or the next great IT company founder rather than a supermodel?
What does this do to all of us?
Girls aren’t the only ones who suffer from this inescapable, near-constant exposure to a very narrow ideal of female attractiveness. It can also make it hard for men to both find a partner who meets this standard and to experience true intimacy with their spouse.
More far-reaching effects can include a rise in sexual aggression, sexism and even the demand for child pornography.
Enough Is Enough!
Now more than ever, our nation is desperate for weapons to combat the onslaught of pornography in our society.
Offering a total renewal of the mind that leads to a life of peace and freedom, the Conquer Series is a powerful cinematic series that is helping thousands of men overcome pornography.
“This series has helped change my life. The healing it has caused has revolutionized my relationship with my wife, kids, and people at church. I thank the Lord every day for this,” said Matthew Cook in his review of the Conquer Series. “The only thing I regret is not having this info 15 years ago.”
Teenagers aren’t too young, with parental guidance, to deal with this issue. Sandra Barnes says, “Thank you, guys, for making this program. My teenage sons have watched it and we have all learned so much!”
Tammy Miller from Canton, Ohio, agrees:
“I absolutely love this disc series!!! This is how good it is: our 19- and 17-yr. old sons exist in their phones-texting, listening to music. Not 15 minutes in, we saw them put down their phones, take the earbuds out of their ears and watch intensely. Each time we put in the DVDs, the phones went down and they watched and took in all what was being said…EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT series!”
The enemy wishes to destroy society through attacking us from all angles in the area of our sexuality. The Conquer Series will help you armor yourself and those you love for God in this increasing worldly battlefield we live in.
EW Jackson is one of two pastor friends of mine I highly recommend to you. The other is Pastor Ryan McAdams whom I will write about in a different post.
Our country is falling apart morally and otherwise. America desperately needs Christians in office to return us to the Christian principles upon which America was started. Only another Great Awakening will save America, but “righteous exalts a nation” and good political leaders can help restore and protect America’s righteous standing before God. Unless God blesses and protects America, we are sunk. (Ps. 127:1)
1. His character. I have had breakfast with him a couple of times in a small pastors’ group. EW is very genuine, passionate, smart, wise, experienced, highly educated, gody and courageous. He is a powerful speaker and a courageous leader who is not afraid to tackle the hard issues. I cannot imagine him doing anything for self-serving purposes. American needs men like him in leadership!
2. His platform: Click the link here to see a summary of the issues he wants to address as a senator.
3. His competency and credentials to lead from experience and by training. Click here to read his impressive bio. Great-grandson of a slave, raised in poverty in foster care in the ghetto and then a Marine Corps veteran, Harvard Law grad, 2013 Republican nominee for Lt. Governor of Virginia, and pastor of The Called Church in Chesapeake, VA.
Given the huge diversity within the American Church now, I assume some Christians will not support EW, but I hope they will check him out and pray for God to give us the leaders we need to restore the righteousness of America before God so God can make America great again! Only God can!
I highly recommend joining this free, phone conference call. Few subjects need more attention in American today than this. Sexual exploitation is destroying lives of young and old alike–the victims and the perpetrators are both being damaged for many years, if not for life, by this hideous, evil and sinful practice
Let’s pray and work to protect our communities–especially our girls!
_______________________
Winning the War on Sex Trafficking (against High Tech Opposition)
Join us in a conversation with Patrick Trueman, president of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, as we discuss a major legislative victory in Congress.
Something unthinkable just a year or two ago — something miraculous — has happened in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly last Wednesday, 97-2, to overturn a series of U.S. court cases that sheltered online sex traffickers like websites Backpage and craigslist. In the most tortured reasoning, courts have ruled that those websites, and dozens more like them, had the right to promote sex trafficking and the federal and state governments could do little about it.
But the bill’s supporters, despite heavily funded opposition from Google and other top tech companies, prevailed, and the bill is going to the president’s desk, where he is expected to sign it.
Patrick Trueman is a former Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Criminal Division at the U. S. Department of Justice from 1988 to 1993.
While at DOJ, Mr. Trueman supervised the prosecution of child sex crimes, child pornography, and obscenity. He managed an office of twenty of prosecutors and support staff, and worked with the nation’s 93 United States Attorneys to initiate and coordinate federal prosecutions.
During his 41 years as a lawyer, he litigated cases at all levels of the federal system, including at the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been an advisor to many municipalities on First Amendment law and has helped draft ordinances to end or curb the impact of sexually oriented businesses such as pornography shops, strip clubs, and related establishments. A recognized international expert, Mr. Trueman has traveled to Europe, South America, the Middle East, and other areas to speak about human trafficking or the effects of television sex and violence on the family.
As president of NCOSE, Patrick Trueman spearheads efforts to change corporate policies by publicizing a Dirty Dozen List. This aggressive project educates company executives, galvanizes public attention and spurs popular actions to defend human dignity. Under his leadership, NCOSE has produced policy improvements at a wide range of notable institutions, including Google, Wal-Mart, the Department of Justice, Verizon, the Federal Communications Commission and more.
In 2015, Mr. Trueman established the NCOSE Law Center, which serves as a resource for legal efforts to combat illegal pornography, sexually oriented businesses, and to bring innovative lawsuits against public institutions facilitating sexual exploitation. In 2010, he founded PornHarmsResearch.com to provide peer-reviewed research and talking points on the harms of pornography.
On a global level, Mr. Trueman leads NCOSE’s Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation, an international coalition that boasts nearly 300 organizations and academic experts who are committed to sharing strategies and resources for combating public & private harms caused by pornography.
Mr. Trueman served as chief of staff to a Member of the U.S. Congress. From 1976 to 1982, he was Executive Director and General Counsel to Americans United for Life, a national public interest law firm in Chicago.
He lives just outside Washington, D.C., and is married to Laura Clay Trueman. Laura and Pat Trueman have three children: Patrick, Claire and Elizabeth.
Please join us for this encouraging and informative discussion.
( All taken from the email newsletter of stand@standamerica.us)
Now in our 38th year, we are excited to invite you to very special meeting with an experienced city mobilizer, Dr. McKenzie “Mac” Pier. Mac has decades of experience mobilizing city leaders under the leadership of God and he consults with city leaders on an ongoing basis to build transformative strategies.
With lessons from more than 15 city-wide movements in the U.S. and many international cities and networks, Mac is uniquely positioned to help us envision and implement a God-sized vision for our region. We have asked Mac to share best practices from around the world and give us new ideas for forming teams to impact our area.
Throughout the world, cities have become local and regional catalysts for everything that happens, good or bad. If you love your city, you will not want to miss this unique opportunity and possibly the beginnings of some “next level” steps for our area.
Join us in uniting leaders from the
entire region for a time of envisioning, fellowship,
and asking God for His wisdom and blessing on our great city.
MEET OUR SPEAKER
Dr. McKenzie “Mac” Pier
Dr. McKenzie “Mac” Pier is known worldwide as an expert networker, strategic thinker, and impactful leader who activates Christian leaders to unite in prayer and make local impact. After witnessing the power of intercession doing mission work in India, Mac founded Concerts of Prayer Greater New York (COPGNY). This prayer movement connected pastors and churches and spread across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to become one of the most developed urban prayer and pastoral networks in the world. Today, he shapes New York City’s spiritual and social landscape as the founder and CEO of New York City Leadership Center (NYCLC). NYCLC trains ministry and marketplace leaders from around the world to transform urban centers and advance the Gospel in cities and continues to expand global networks by providing a space for collaboration on world evangelism .
Mac also serves as a volunteer senior associate with The Lausanne Movement and he has written and co-authored several books including The Power of a City at Prayer, Spiritual Leadership in the Global City, Consequential Leadership, A Disruptive Gospel, and newly released A Disruptive Generosity.
Mac earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, a Master of Arts degree in religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a doctorate from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mac and his wife, Marya, have been married for over 30 years, and have three adult children and two grandchildren.
Congressional Prayer Caucus member Rep. Rob Wittman, Virginia Prayer Caucus co-chair Delegate Brenda Pogge, and State Director, Pastor Ryan McAdams, on right
Hello and Happy New Year!
God is wanting to do great things in 2018. We have an opportunity to be part of a national movement called “Keep Faith In America,” and I am inviting you to participate in the KICK OFF EVENT on January 16th which will be held at the Richmond Capitol beginning at 10:30 am at the Bell Tower on the Capitol grounds.
January 16th is the National Religious Freedom Day, commemorating the day of the passage of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom in 1786. Thomas Jefferson drafted the legislation and considered it one of his greatest achievements. The law protected the civil rights of citizens to express their religious beliefs without discrimination. James Madison and those who drafted the U.S. Constitution gleaned heavily from Jefferson’s statute in establishing the First Amendment’s sacred guarantee of religious freedom.
At this event we will be part of a first-of-its-kind national broadcast on Facebook Live hosted by federal and state elected leaders. Legislators in congress and in over 20 states will be participating in “Keep Faith in America” events at their capitols.
This is just the beginning of a strategy created by a unique coalition of faith leaders who will continue to focus on impacting other key spheres of society including churches, universities, local government and school boards.
So please join us for this significant and meaningful event on January 16th! Invite your pastor and congregation and join us at the Bell Tower. Feel free to forward this email and get the word out.
The Bridge Network of Churches invites you and your leaders to this FREE event
