ETERNAL FLAME NEWS: Jul 30, 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

Former Supermodel Kathy Ireland: Jesus Loves Women and Honors Them

Supermodel-turned-business-mogul Kathy Ireland would be the first to tell you that the beginning of her modeling career in Paris is more glamorous sounding than it actually was. But out of that lonely, uncomfortable time, her life changed forever because she found a new best friend: Jesus Christ.

Inhabiting what her housemates referred to as "the dungeon" – the room at the end of a long, dark hallway – the then 18-year-old Ireland discovered that her newly Christian mother had secretly planted a Bible in her suitcase. Overcome by jet lag, loneliness and boredom during her first days in Paris, Ireland read the Bible her mother packed in her bag.
"I picked it up and randomly opened up to the Gospel of Matthew. And as I read, my life was forever changed," recalled Ireland in a new "I Am Second" video. "I was a rebellious teenager. I was questioning authority – who really knows the truth? Who really knows what is right and what is wrong, who's to say? And I knew that what I was holding in my hands was the truth."

U.S. archer: God has used struggles to 'deepen my trust'

EDITOR'S NOTE: Tim Ellsworth, editor of BP Sports and director of news and media relations at Union University, is in London to cover the 2012 Olympics in tandem with Baptist Press' London bureau. Baptist Press will publish features about Christian athletes in the Olympics, recap results of their competition and cover Baptist initiatives to share the Gospel during the Summer Games and among Londoners' rich cultural milieu.

LONDON (BP) -- Jennifer Nichols admits that the road to this year's Olympics has been one of the most trying times of her life.

"My faith has been challenged more than ever before in the last few years," the U.S. archer said. "I really can see how the Lord has used the struggles and hardships I've had to deal with to deepen my relationship with Him and my trust in Him."

The trials, however, have proven to strengthen Nichols' faith in the Lord and to help her rest on Him in the midst of uncertainty and confusion.

"All I had was Him to run to," she said. "It has been hard and painful but so sweet at the same time. I can see how He has brought me back to really grounding myself in my identity in Christ, knowing that I am called to come and die and follow Christ to the cross for the sake of love.

"This is a firm foundation that cannot be shaken."

One of the challenges Nichols went through was the changing nature of the relationship with her sister, who got married in December. Nichols' sister was her traveling and training partner; the two had been practically inseparable for years. And while Nichols' knows that her sister's marriage was a good thing, it also meant that the one person who had been her closest companion now had someone else who was a higher priority.

She also faced some other family struggles as well as setbacks in her performance (failing to make the 2011 Pan American team) that took a toll on her confidence.

Through all of the difficulty, Nichols said she started questioning her faith. Was she really a Christian? Was she really walking in the favor and grace of God? She also realized that she had been living more legalistically, focusing on what she could do on her own to gain righteousness before God.

But Nichols said God ultimately brought her to repentance and a fresh understanding of His grace in her life.

"In all of it, the Lord just proved Himself so faithful," she said. "He showed me that I had placed so much of my identity and my priority in my family, rather than in Christ."

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Teen missionaries have ‘unexpected journey’ in Montana

The Faith Baptist Montana Summer Mission Trip was packed full with Divine Appointments that no one in the group was really prepared for.
The two vans left the church building early on July 14, with a trailer of luggage and tents in tow.
Upon arrival in Hot Springs, (population 500, on the Flathead Reservation), the group was greeted by the host church. After the customary welcome, the road-weary troupe soon found out there was a major miscommunication – they had arrived a week earlier than was expected.
What the mission trip organizers had envisioned was having the teens staff the local church’s regional “PathWalkers Camp;” a native Teepee Bible camp for grade school kids.
“So rather than staff the camp, we prayed that God would direct us to needs within the church, and the community to which our student ministry could serve, believing that it was no heavenly mistake that we had arrived a week early,” wrote Pastor Phil Campbell. “It was evident that by the time we departed Hot Springs, our early schedule was right on schedule to when and where God wanted us.”
In the end, the mission group encouraged the local church by helping with building projects, assisting in extensive prep for “PathWalkers Camp”, visiting street-by-street and prayer-walking through town, helping an elderly lady with her garage sale, visiting the nursing home, organizing car washes with the proceeds going towards the Senior Center, assisting at the local food bank and many other projects big and small.
“By the time we left Hot Springs, we were exhausted from all of the ministry that God had led us through,” continued Pastor Phil. “At the conclusion of our week, we were asked to lead the Sunday Service at Hot Springs Bible Church. The mutual [belief] was that God had orchestrated our early arrival, and we were all eagerly waiting to see how God would provide counselors for the “PathWalkers Camp,” since our group would not be there to staff it.”

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Bible Museum Closes $50 Million Deal for D.C. Location

(RNS) Planners of a Bible museum in Washington closed a $50 million deal Thursday on a building two blocks from the National Mall.
The Museum of the Bible, a nonprofit group planning the still-to-be-named museum, announced it will be housed at 300 D Street SW in what is now the Washington Design Center, a series of showrooms of luxury home furnishings.
“Our intent is for this museum to showcase both the Old and New Testaments, arguably the world’s most significant pieces of literature, through a non-sectarian, scholarly approach that makes the history, scholarship and impact of the Bible on virtually every facet of society accessible to everyone,” said Mark DeMoss, a member of the Bible museum's board.
The museum, which will likely open in 2016, will highlight the collection of the billionaire Green family of Oklahoma. That collection features more than 55,000 items including biblical artifacts ranging from Dead Sea Scrolls to Torah scrolls that survived the Holocaust. Museum officials expect to also showcase other prominent collections from across the globe.

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