Why young people are setting time aside for faith

For those of us who came of age in the past decade, two forces have us racing to keep up: First, we are immersed in a 24-hour cycle of news and information with a constant flow of tweets and text messages, cellphones clutched tightly in our hands like Linus’s blanket. And second, we’re starting our adult lives in a world without enough decent-paying jobs, where we might become the first generation in memory to have less opportunity than our parents.

So it’s no wonder that many people our age struggle with the depression, anxiety and disconnection that come with living at a breakneck pace. As a 28-year-old Conservative rabbi and a 30-year-old Seventh-day Adventist minister, we’ve found that many are coping, at least in part, by turning to a rather old-fashioned prescription — religion and, in particular, observance of the Sabbath.

That may sound surprising. After all, sociologists and pollsters often find that, compared with previous generations, young people today are turning away from religious observance. Just this past week, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported that rates of religious affiliation in the United States are falling; among those of us under 30, nearly one-third answer “none” when asked about our religion.
As a Seventh-day Adventist and a Jew, we find that the Sabbath brings spiritual discipline to our lives. Each week is punctuated by a day of conscious abstaining from the distracting, the noisy and the ordinary. Instead, we carve out time to focus on family, community, relaxation and reflection. For at least one-seventh of our lives, we put away our wallets, park our cars, shut down our digital devices and try our best to live like we already have everything we need to be happy and fulfilled.
An insistence on creating sacred time and space is one of the key components of nearly all faiths. Traditional Jews and many Christian denominations observe one day a week of sanctified rest. Muslims around the world pause five times a day to bow in prayer. Many religions derived from Eastern traditions include a daily meditative practice. While many Americans feel distant from religion, establishing fixed times for personal renewal has universal appeal.

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Former NY Mafia Boss to Share Why He Accepted Christ

Michael Franzese, a former Colombo family mobster, will speak at a large church in New Jersey this month, sharing why he walked away from organized crime after generating more money than anyone since Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone and decided to follow Jesus.

Franzese, previously highlighted as number 18 on Fortune magazine's list of "The Fifty Biggest Mafia Bosses," will share his dramatic testimony with nearly 2,500 people at Liquid Church in Morristown, N.J., on Oct. 21.
"Michael's story is a powerful one putting on display what happens when you go from a 'Goodfella' to a 'God-fella' -- that's the message we're illustrating this Sunday," Tim Lucas, lead pastor of Liquid Church, says in a statement.
Franzese will speak as part of a three-week series called "Gangsta," based on the life of the apostle Paul – a murderer who called himself the "chief of sinners"... but whom God ended up using to write much of the New Testament, the church says on its website.
As the former "Prince of the Mafia," Franzese faced dozens of grand jury appearances, three major racketeering indictments, five criminal trials, seven years in prison and a Mafia death sentence. However, in 1987, while in prison, he made a decision to walk away from the Colombo family and organized crime.
"It's rare to meet someone who leaves the Mob and lives to tell about it. But Michael's story is living proof that no one is beyond hope. God specializes in using people with dark pasts to bring light to the world," says Lucas.

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'Unaffiliated' people may be churches' opportunity, local clergy says

Everyone chuckled when they thought the speaker had said something about "nuns on the rise."
But when they realized he had said "nones," instead of "nuns," the tone changed. "Nones" on the rise refers to the number of people in the United States who identify themselves as "religiously unaffiliated" or who check "none" on a survey about religion.
That number has risen significantly in the past five years, reaching a historic high of 1 in 5 adults. Even more telling, the "unaffiliated" group includes 1 in 3 adults under age 30.
Those are among the major findings of a new survey from the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, in conjunction with the PBS program, "Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly."
An embargoed copy of the survey was made available to reporters attending the annual conference of the Religion Newswriters Association on Oct. 4-6 in Bethesda, Md. The report was released nationally last week.
Before church leaders start to panic, the survey did contain some promising news. Of those "unaffiliated" responders, 68 percent expressed a belief in God and 37 percent say they are "spiritual but not religious."
And, institutional religion got high marks when it came to questions about the role of religious institutions in society. More than 75 percent agreed that religious organizations strengthen community bonds and play an important role in helping the needy.
A summary of the study explained that the large jump in the percentage of "unaffiliated" is "largely driven by generational replacement, the gradual supplanting of older generations by newer ones."
The study showed that although 32 percent of adults younger than 30 have no religious affiliation, only 9 percent of those 65 and older fall into the "unaffiliated" category.
The survey's results were not surprising to local people who interact daily with both the "affiliated" and the "unaffiliated."
As chaplain at Baptist-affiliated Hardin-Simmons University, Kelly Pigott said he has noticed similar trends among students over the years.
"They're uncomfortable with labels," he said. "Denominational loyalty is pretty much out the window."

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BREAKING NEWS: Iran Launching Massive Arrests Of Evangelicals

TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Massive arrests of evangelical Protestant Christians, including many former Muslims, are reported in Iran, with men and women being dragged to prisons across the Islamic nation.

"We have learned that at least 100, but perhaps as many as 400 people, have been detained over the last 10 days," said Firouz Khandjani, a council member of the 'Church of Iran' house church movement.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, he told BosNewsLife late Saturday, October 13, that forces of the feared intelligence service, who he called "Iran's Gestapo", broke up worship services in Esfehan, Shiraz and Tehran areas.

"They are of several movements. But it has become clear that Protestant Christians are now viewed as enemy number one of the state," Khandjani said. "We need urgent prayers," he added when asked what believers need most.

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Lara Logan 2012 BGA Annual Luncheon Keynote Speech

Book Release: Seducers Among Our Children, How to Protect Your Child From Sexual Predators A Police Investigator's Perspective

EUREKA, Mont., Oct. 12, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Lighthouse Trails Publishing is pleased to announce the release of Seducers Among Our Children written by New York Retired Investigative Police Sergeant Patrick Crough

Countless numbers of children will be sexually abused by the time they reach their 18th birthday. Sadly, most parents won't even see it coming. They don't realize that sexual predators of children are often friendly, helpful, and attentive, drawing in a child, not by force but rather through enticing seduction. Seducers Among Our Children is the personal perspective of an investigative police sergeant who knows first hand the inner workings and methods used by sexual predators. This book offers a practical, simple presentation of how child predators operate in today's society. It will educate concerned parents and guardians about how to recognize when a child predator is in their midst, how to protect children from that predator, how to recognize if their child has already been offended by a predator, and what to do if their child discloses he or she has been offended by a predator. For the adult reader who was sexually molested as a child, this book may assist you in making some sense out of what happened and help you understand it wasn't your fault.
From chapter 1: "On a warm spring night in May 1994, 5-year-old Kali begged her mom, Judy Gifford, to allow her to go outside to play on her Big Wheel tricycle. Judy was preparing magazines that she was to deliver that evening. The two would go together for the deliveries. The small amount of money that this single mother made from her second job was to pay for a family trip to Disney World the following summer. As Judy put the flyers together, Kali became more and more anxious to go outside. She was looking forward to going to McDonald's after the deliveries were completed. Finally, Judy relented and told Kali to stay right near the front door. Five minutes later, she went to check on Kali, and she was gone. It was the last time she would ever see her daughter alive."
For more information and excerpts of the book, visit www.lighthousetrails.com/saoc-release.htm.
Book Information:
ISBN: 978-0-9846366-5-5
272 Pages, Softbound
$14.95
Lighthouse Trails Publishing
www.lighthousetrails.com

Christian Newswire

The Will to Win: Marine Carrying an 11-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Across a Triathlon Finish Line After His Prosthetic Leg Broke

Image source: ABC News

Kim Baltz was wondering what happened when she didn’t see her 11-year-old son at the finish line of a children’s triathlon in Florida last weekend.

“It was only a mile, I knew he was tired, I was like, ‘Where is he, where is he, where is he,’” Baltz told CNN. “All of a sudden the announcer just said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to turn around and look at what’s happening on the course.’”

Ben told ABC News how it happened: “The screws came loose and it fell off and the Marine picked me up and he ran the rest of the way.”

He added, “It was pretty nice.”

The Marine who carried Ben was Pfc. Matt Morgan, part of a group of Marines volunteering at the triathlon.

“I’d seen him many times in the race. He was doing very well,” Morgan told ABC. “It came to the final leg of the race…as he approached the halfway point, his prosthetic failed and he fell.”

Ben told the News Herald that he and Morgan didn’t really talk while they were running, but when the other Marines joined in they sang a cadence. With the crowd cheering as they reached the end, Ben told the newspaper he felt grateful for the help, but said he was frustrated and embarrassed at not being able to finish on his own.

According to the Baltz family website, Ben was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 6 and had his right leg amputated at the knee. According to the Herald, up until the race, his only other prosthetic malfunction was during a soccer game. He fixed it up with some duct tape.

“He was going to finish the race no matter what, but I told him to jump on and we finished the race together,” Morgan told ABC.


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Laughing at the Issues

Pray Vote It Matters

CLEBURNE, Texas, Oct. 12, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Karen Spillman, America Coordinator for Lighthouse Intercessors and Cleburne Texas Coordinator for National Day of Prayer Task Force, submits the following and is available for comment:

I recently learned of a campaign asking Christians to not vote or to write Jesus in as the candidate. The government of a nation is a reflection of its culture. Like many, for much of my life I called myself a Christian but I allowed the culture to influence my decisions. Most of my priorities and the things I valued were not things valued by God. If I bothered to vote, my focus was a leaders personality, if I liked them or not, and what I thought they could do for me. I was more interested in doing what was politically correct than what my Lord said. There was a disconnect between what I said I believed and how I voted. I ignored and rationalized foundational beliefs of candidates, political parties, and organizations diametrically opposed to the Bible and my faith.

Unfortunately our nation is seeing the effects of Christians not voting or voting for candidates who do not represent the values our nation was founded upon. In every race one candidate will win. We have a choice regarding who wins. If we choose not to speak our voice will not be heard.

We are here to influence our culture. The church is to be the moral compass for a nation. Estimates say the US has 60 million committed Christians, but about 30 million of them vote in any given election. In the 2008 elections, the voting margin in Missouri between the 2 presidential candidates was 3,903 votes. In Missouri there are approximately 102, 522 Christians who did not register to vote. Every presidential election in the last 25 years has been won by less than 10 million votes. What would happen if 30 million newly registered Christians voted in this next election? It could impact this election and help turn our nation.

It is time for the church to stand. Christians must speak the truth in love and show love by our actions. Please vote for candidates that lead our Cities, States and nation toward Life, true justice and freedom for all. Please pray and vote. Please encourage others to vote. This election will be decided by the Christians. If we show up and vote for the candidates whose platforms most closely reflect Godly values then we will win. If we don't, we will get more of the same.

Contact: Karen Spillman, 817-514-4069, ndpcleburne@yahoo.com

Statistics are from www.voteundergod.com

Christian Newswire

Standard Lesson Commentary Ranks 1st on ECPA Best Sellers List

CINCINNATI, Oct. 11, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Standard Publishing's annual best-seller, the Standard Lesson Commentary, is once again capturing multiple spots at the top of the ECPA October 2012 Best Sellers list, including #1.

The "KJV Standard Lesson Commentary" sits atop the list at #1, placing it ahead of other very well-known titles such as "Jesus Calling" and "Heaven Is for Real." The "KJV Standard Lesson Commentary Large Print Edition" is just two spots below at #3 and the "NIV Standard Lesson Commentary" rounds out the top ten ranked at #10.

Two more editions are also ranked in the top 50, giving the Standard Lesson Commentary a full 10% of the top 50 best-selling books on the October list. The "NIV Standard Lesson Commentary Large Print" moved up from #23 to #13 while the hardback version of the "KJV Standard Lesson Commentary" appeared on the list for the first time in the 34th position.

"The Standard Lesson Commentary is the nation's top-selling annual Bible commentary because it goes beyond the trending topics of the day," explains senior editor Jonathan Underwood. "It digs into the entire truth of God as told throughout scripture and guides an entire year of weekly discussion making it a trusted favorite of many churches and Christians."

Each of the yearly editions released since the 1950's have followed the ISSL/Uniform Series, which creates a 6-year study plan for the entire Bible.

"The method we've perfected over the last 60 years provides a foundation on which all other discussions and learning can take place," adds Underwood.

Quality material, which includes verse-by-verse exposition of scripture, discussion questions, and adult-appropriate learning activities, has kept the Commentary solidly at the top in sales for the last 20 years. The line now includes 12 different editions from hardback and paperback to digital and audio versions. Plus, the Standard Lesson Resources have been added to support teachers with presentations, printable handouts, and charts that correlate with each week's lesson.

"Our team is dedicated to producing meaningful Bible lessons for adults for each Sunday of the year, and we spend a lot of time thinking about and praying for those who will study from the Commentary," Underwood said.

About Standard Publishing: Standard Publishing serves churches worldwide and is recognized as a leader in true-to-the-Bible resources that educate, encourage, and enrich adults, youth, and children. The company is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, visit www.standardpublishing.com or call 1-800-543-1353.

Christian Newswire