Wednesday, October 24, 2012
More Christians imprisoned in Iran
The condition of an imprisoned pastor in Iran has worsened since he was given a five-year prison term for converting from Islam to Christianity -- which Iranian authorities claim to be a crime against national security.
When Behnam Irani was examined about a month ago, doctors advised surgery. Jason DeMars of Present Truth Ministries tells OneNewsNow the pastor's health has continued to get worse.
"The last I've heard from our sources is that he's lost another ten pounds in about the last three months, and his skin is like a yellowish color," DeMars reports. "He's not healthy, and he's still being denied medical attention from the authorities there in the Ghezal Hezar prison there in Karaj, Iran."
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Make Way for the Metro-Evangelical
Downtown Seattle's Daniels Recital Hall, with its soaring Beaux Arts
dome, intricate woodwork and stained glass, is about to become a church
again. The developer who saved it from the wrecking ball has signed a
long-term lease with Mars Hill Downtown Seattle, a resolutely
evangelical congregation that has been worshiping in a former nightclub
since its founding in 2008. With 1,500 members, the congregation outgrew
its old, less-than-ideal quarters, where for a time the congregants
used exotic dancers' cages as coat racks.
Christians in Seattle aren't alone in wanting to reclaim the heart of their city as a place for worship. Though the American evangelical movement is often stereotyped as rural and provincial, it has actually had its greatest success in the suburbs and exurbs, where entrepreneurial pastors found cheap land and plentiful parking to build the "megachurches" of the past generation—think Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., seating capacity over 7,000.
But a new generation of church founders believes that city centers will be the beachhead of a new evangelization. While U.S. cities aren't growing as fast as overseas metropolises like Lagos or Shanghai, their renaissance since the crime-ridden 1970s is one of the cultural headlines of the last generation, and it has been accompanied by burgeoning urban congregations. On a Sunday morning in any American city the signs of change come in literal form: placards on sidewalks and corners announcing church meetings.
The growth in city-center churches is in tune with the times, summed up by Harvard economist Edward Glaeser's book "The Triumph of the City." News outlets like National Public Radio have aired numerous stories on the boom in urban studies. And my own employer, the evangelical magazine Christianity Today, has embarked on a two-year series of cover stories and documentary films about the urban Christian revival called "This Is Our City."
New York City pastor and best-selling author Timothy J. Keller helped spearhead the movement more than two decades ago. In 1989, he moved from rural Virginia to Manhattan and founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church. With several thousand in worship every week, Redeemer Presbyterian is perhaps the most celebrated city-center church story of recent years.
"You go to the city to reach the culture," Mr. Keller tells his congregation. This, he explains, is as old as religion itself, and points to what New Testament scholar Wayne Meeks called "the first urban Christians"—the first-century churches founded in provincial cities all over the Roman world, and very quickly in Rome itself.
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Christians in Seattle aren't alone in wanting to reclaim the heart of their city as a place for worship. Though the American evangelical movement is often stereotyped as rural and provincial, it has actually had its greatest success in the suburbs and exurbs, where entrepreneurial pastors found cheap land and plentiful parking to build the "megachurches" of the past generation—think Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., seating capacity over 7,000.
But a new generation of church founders believes that city centers will be the beachhead of a new evangelization. While U.S. cities aren't growing as fast as overseas metropolises like Lagos or Shanghai, their renaissance since the crime-ridden 1970s is one of the cultural headlines of the last generation, and it has been accompanied by burgeoning urban congregations. On a Sunday morning in any American city the signs of change come in literal form: placards on sidewalks and corners announcing church meetings.
The growth in city-center churches is in tune with the times, summed up by Harvard economist Edward Glaeser's book "The Triumph of the City." News outlets like National Public Radio have aired numerous stories on the boom in urban studies. And my own employer, the evangelical magazine Christianity Today, has embarked on a two-year series of cover stories and documentary films about the urban Christian revival called "This Is Our City."
New York City pastor and best-selling author Timothy J. Keller helped spearhead the movement more than two decades ago. In 1989, he moved from rural Virginia to Manhattan and founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church. With several thousand in worship every week, Redeemer Presbyterian is perhaps the most celebrated city-center church story of recent years.
"You go to the city to reach the culture," Mr. Keller tells his congregation. This, he explains, is as old as religion itself, and points to what New Testament scholar Wayne Meeks called "the first urban Christians"—the first-century churches founded in provincial cities all over the Roman world, and very quickly in Rome itself.
READ MORE
Teen Girls Get Truth on Purity at The Pink Lid
With fashion magazine covers depicting Photoshopped imagery of girls with near perfect skin, hair—and everything else—Alyssa Shull is working to help teen girls see themselves through God’s eyes.
An Oral Roberts University graduate, Shull launched a conference in 2006 aimed at girls aged 12 to 18 who need a revelation on what true beauty is all about. Dubbed The Pink Lid, the two-day events include a fashion show, make-up seminar, speakers, a live band, food, giveaways, and Q&As about sex, love and dating.
“My sister was away from the Lord for a while, but then she attended a church event where 20-something girls shared their testimonies and it completely changed her life,” says Shull, co-founder of Shull Ministries International, the producer of Skunks TV. “She got on fire for God and she is still serving Him to this day. I wanted to give other young girls that experience.”
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An Oral Roberts University graduate, Shull launched a conference in 2006 aimed at girls aged 12 to 18 who need a revelation on what true beauty is all about. Dubbed The Pink Lid, the two-day events include a fashion show, make-up seminar, speakers, a live band, food, giveaways, and Q&As about sex, love and dating.
“My sister was away from the Lord for a while, but then she attended a church event where 20-something girls shared their testimonies and it completely changed her life,” says Shull, co-founder of Shull Ministries International, the producer of Skunks TV. “She got on fire for God and she is still serving Him to this day. I wanted to give other young girls that experience.”
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Facing Adversity God's Way
WOOSTER, Ohio, Oct. 24, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- To be a fiction writer means to create difficult situations and have the characters overcome them. Ohio Christian fiction author, Lillian Duncan, hasn't needed to create a difficult situation, she's living it.
She developed Bell's Palsy on April 1 of this year. Her doctor insisted on an MRI and bilateral brain tumors were discovered. Though schwannomas are almost always benign, they can not be left untreated and require long-term monitoring and treatment.
"I was faced with a decision. Feel sorry for myself or live out my faith. I chose to honor God, but it's not easy. Every morning I have to make that choice again."
In spite of her medical condition, Ms. Duncan continues to be active in her writing career. Along with her fiction writing, she is currently using her own medical experiences as the foundation for her devotional blog Power Up With God powerupwithgod.com.
Power Up With God has been featuring a series of devotions relating to Facing Adversity God's Way, including the 10 Steps For Facing Tough Times:
- Read, Study, and Understand the Bible.
- Believe in God's love for you.
- Accept God's sovereignty.
- Expect trouble.
- Pray.
- Don't get stuck in the valley.
- Praise God.
- Guard your thoughts, words, and actions.
- Keep an attitude of gratitude.
- Focus on others.
In November, Power Up With God will feature GOD ENCOUNTERS from readers and writers about their personal encounters with God.
She will be releasing a Christmas-themed suspense novella, THE CHRISTMAS STALKING, this holiday season. Along with that, the second in her Sisters By Choice series will be released next year. Her website www.lillianduncan.net offers more information about both of these projects.
Ms. Duncan is available for interviews to discuss writing in general, her books, but especially wants to focus on helping others to Face Adversity God's Way.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION OR TO SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW, PLEASE CONTACT LILLIAN AT 330-464-0388 OR EMAIL: LDUNCAN512@AOL.COM
Christian Newswire
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