Faith Organizations to Apply for Permit to Set Up 'Live Nativity Display' in Santa Monica's Palisades Park

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 28, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Recently Santa Monica and the U. S. District Federal Court banned Nativity Scenes and all "unattended displays" in Palisades Park.

However, there are no prohibitions on "Live Nativity Displays."

Photo: The Live Nativity Display in front of the Supreme Court from a past project

The group plans to hold a news conference to discuss their plans on Thursday, November 29 at 2:00 P.M.

The news conference will be in front of Santa Monica City Hall which is located at 1685 Main Street.

The goal of the organizations is to ensure that a Nativity Scene continues to be displayed in Palisades Park after nearly 60 continuous years as well as embracing religious freedom, the First Amendment and the message of Christmas.

The "Live Nativity Display" campaign is being led by the Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action which are both based in Washington, D.C. along with local Southern California Christians and pastors.

The effort is being sponsored by "The Nativity Project" which encourages the faith community to display Nativity Scenes in public places across America.

They will be conducting a "Live Nativity Display" in front of the United States Capitol Building and Supreme Court next as well is in New York City in front of the FOX News Studios.

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states;

"Sadly, we are seeing an erosion of expressions of faith in the public square. This is especially true during the Christmas Season. We must be constantly reminded that the Constitution promises freedom 'of' religion not freedom 'from' religion.

"After nearly 60 continuous years, it is critical that a Nativity Scene remain in Palisades Park. We must continue to fight for religious freedom and the First Amendment as well as embracing the powerful message of Christmas which is; 'Peace on Earth. Goodwill toward man.'

"We believe that this 'Live Nativity Display' meets all the requirements of the Santa Monica City Council and the Federal Court."

Jeff White, Youth Pastor of Lake Gregory Community Church, adds;

"As a youth pastor, I often teach the importance of religious freedom and the need to see those freedoms are protected.

"By setting up this 'Live Nativity Display' in Palisades Park, we ensure for future generations the right for everyone to express their faith traditions in the public square free from government intimidation or harassment."

For more information or interviews call: Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741

Christian Newswire

CEO Goes to the Extreme to Rescue Children

ATLANTA, Nov. 28, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Extreme Rescuer, the first ever docu-reality series capturing the rescue of children, will premiere December 2 on television media outlets nationwide. Legacy Worldwide, the creative agency behind the project, made the highly anticipated announcement today.

The news arrives in the wake of a life changing business trip for the company's CEO and recognized leader in marketing and development for a number of the globe's most prominent non-profits, Damon Davis. He said that the vision for Extreme Rescuer was first sparked while filming a documentary with Dikembe Mutombo featuring his hand in building the first modern hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital.

"I went with the mindset that I was going to film the documentary, get in and get out," said Davis. "Instead, I found myself rolling up my sleeves and getting involved in a real life rescue." During filming, the Legacy Team encountered Jean Simone, an orphan at a local home for abandoned children who had been badly burned and crippled. His wounds were still open and he had been making brooms to make money to eat. Davis recognized the extreme situation and said that Mutombo plainly stated, "This is why we are here."

"There we were, filming a documentary on a hospital, spending all this money on production and we were surrounded by children who couldn't afford medical care," Davis says. "If you want surgery, you have to bring your own medicine, your own scalpel and by the way, your own doctor," he says describing the standard medical offering for the region. "Oftentimes if they can't afford to pay the bill, families are left with no resolve and the child dies."

Davis and his crew extended their stay and worked with Mutombo to identify a doctor and funded the child's surgery. Jean Simone is now walking and living a normal life.

Following what the team now calls their first rescue was a pivotal meeting between Davis and Carlos Vargas, founder of Hope of Life in Guatemala, an organization that rescues more than 1,000 babies every year. Vargas explained that the cause is too great a feat and the government is doing everything they can but there are some extreme locations and situations that the Vargas can't get to alone and would require help. Davis and his team felt called to the effort.

Davis assembled a team for the mission, calling them Extreme Rescuers and began a dual effort to deliver a force on the ground in Guatemala and develop a team back at home to drive it.

"We knew that Extreme Rescuer would be our first major campaign but needed a parent company for future projects with the same end goals," says the initiative's Marketing Coordinator, Brittani O'Donoghue. "This is when Love Universal was born. The company functions as an umbrella for continued humanitarian efforts."

"No one is doing this," says Davis. "I am the child of four generations of pastors but I am not called to preach. I am called to serve those who do -- to help them expand and reach their goals, but every man must find his own purpose. I am fortunate enough to have time to allocate to my own passion. To get out into the field and fight for the babies who are unable to fight for themselves."

Davis says he has discovered that there are many organizations doing great work around the globe. However, for many reasons these groups aren't able to get to extreme locations and conditions. "My goal is to assemble more teams like the one in Guatemala to join these organizations with the same vision," he said.

The team touched ground September 23.

"We had no script. We really didn't have much planning. We didn't know what we were going to experience and the very night of our arrival, we received the first call," said Davis.

In the following days the Extreme Rescuers would successfully rescue nine children. The team says that the success was bittersweet, leaving them with an eye-opening experience followed by the onset of sleepless nights.

"I had never been that close to death and actually be in a position to do something about it," said Davis, describing the rescue of a twenty-pound 3-year-old. "She was so passed the point of starvation, that life as we know it had left her body. Her arms were hanging by her side. She was skin and bone and I could see her heart beating in her chest. She could barely lift her head and was in so much pain, she could barely even cry."

Briana Thomas, one of the volunteers that joined Davis in Guatemala said that the experience was haunting. "When we lost one of the babies during the rescue, all I could think of was the possibilities if we had been there sooner," she said. "Mothers are forced to pick who gets to eat each day. These babies were in so much agony. I kept wondering how long they had been gasping for air."

The entire Extreme Rescuer team agreed that the trip was just the beginning. Cody Scoggins, a 37-year-old former SWAT and law enforcement officer said, "While flying home, I couldn't stop thinking about all the kids we didn't save. We have to go back. The need is so great."

Davis said before the team returned home, plans and coordination for the docu-reality series began taking shape. He said the entire company was moved by the testimonies and supportive of the initiative that appeared to actualize over night.

When the raw footage reached the corporate offices, O'Donoghue said she was immediately taken with the mission.

"I've watched my own son die in my arms. I gave him CPR in my home and had medicine and an ambulance that reached us within minutes," she said. "I had access to an ER and medical bills that I could pay. I had the right food, the right medicine, vitamins and clothing. I had the help of caregivers and it was still a mess. These people don't have any of that."

Extreme Rescuer focuses on a three-part mission: Save a Life. Sustain a Life. Transform a Life. Once the show premieres, viewers will have the opportunity to call in, text or visit www.extremerescuer.com to donate or learn more about becoming a Rescuer. There is a range of different levels of donation from monthly pledges to opportunities to join an actual rescue.

The 30-member Legacy team brings 40 years of experience to the table within the advertising, marketing and broadcasting services sector. The team says the project came naturally and married with their passion for humanitarianism, birthed a mission dedicated to help give a voice to those in need through the power of media.

"Our team was visibly impacted to the core," said O'Donoghue. "We know the marketing business. We have the resources the get the word into homes. We passionately believe that if we build awareness and give people the opportunity to help, they will."

The Extreme Rescuer team says the future of the show and project will hinge on developing partnerships with major humanitarian organizations, corporate sponsors and public donations.

When asked why a white-collar CEO would want to halt business to begin such a huge endeavor, Davis said, "I have fed children. I have been involved in the programs that provided clothing and medical care. I have sat in the soup lines, but nothing drove deeper or affected me more than a baby that is hanging onto the last breath of life."

About Extreme Rescuer:
Extreme Rescuer is a humanitarian movement, dedicated to rescuing impoverished and oppressed children. The docu-reality broadcast follows a team to remote locations and captures the efforts and stories. As a subsidiary campaign under its parent company, Love Universal, the project seeks to join hands with humanitarian communities and organizations to help rescue and improve the lives of children and families in extreme locations and circumstances.

About Love Universal:
Love Universal is a non-profit humanitarian organization dedicated to providing assistance and aid to children and their families worldwide. Established in 2012, the organization's boundless mission includes a global reach into communities seeking support regardless of location, race, faith or economic status. Love Universal focuses on partnerships in both the private and public sector as well as with other humanitarian efforts to ensure the safety and future lives of children.

About Legacy Worldwide, LLC.:
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Legacy Worldwide offers high quality advertising and media buying services to ministries and non-profit organizations whose mission is to reach the world with a message of hope and to bring about change in the lives of people, globally, through the power of a vast array of multi-media vehicles. Legacy Worldwide continues a 34-year commitment to aiding in the growth and productivity of ministries and non-profit organizations. For more information, visit www.legacyworldwide.com.

Christian Newswire

FREE Christmas Songs from Integrity!

The free tracks are:
"Light Has Come" by Matt Maher and Charlie Hall
"Joy Has Dawned" by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty
"Light Of The World (O Jesus Son Of God)" by Matt Redman
"The Angels Knew" by Nick and Becky Drake
"Joyful Joyful" by Brenton Brown.

To get the songs, all you need to do is register or login to www.kingswayworship.co.uk/christmas-songs

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus

Freedom From Religion Foundation Mocks the Nativity Scene in WI State Capitol

Atheists, clearly agitated that Christians purportedly “stole” various holiday traditions from pagans, have come up with a solution: A potentially-offensive “natural nativity scene” that removes baby Jesus and replaces traditional Bible characters with some eyebrow-raising alternatives. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is behind the spectacle, which emerged this week as part of a diorama inside the Wisconsin state capitol.
The angel that typically graces the nativity is replaced with an astronaut. And the wise-men – prominent figures in the Biblical account of Jesus’ birth — are replaced with evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, scientist Albert Einstein, anarchist Emma Goldman and author Mark Twain. The Statue of Liberty is also placed in the alternative nativity to purportedly symbolize freedom.

Photo Credit: Freedom From Religion Foundation

Rather than including Mary, whom the FFRF dismisses as “a mythical fertility figure,” the display includes Venus, the Roman goddess of love. And forget about Joseph — this depiction has Thomas Jefferson, a figure atheist groups enjoy touting for his purported church versus state views. According to the FFRF, Jefferson “would have disavowed Christian devotional scenes on state property.”

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College students to help Sandy survivors

EDISON, N.J. (BP) -- College students will have their second opportunity in as many years to use their holiday breaks to minister to disaster survivors in the Northeast as the North American Mission Board is coordinating their deployment to respond in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey.

"The opportunities for short-term mobilization will be ongoing because the need is so great," said Susan Peugh, a NAMB staff member who coordinates volunteer opportunities and helped pull the initiative together.

"It is great to see this partnership come together to assist the people affected by Sandy. We know students want to help and [we] have seen the excellent ministry they have provided in the past. The opportunities to serve here will be life-changing," Peugh said.

The first wave of students, expected Dec. 7, will lodge at Staten Island's Arlington Warehouse and will pay for the privilege. A $15 registration fee and a $15 per-night fee will help reduce logistical expenses, such as insurance, identification badges and lodging.

The students will work with trained Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers, primarily assisting residents affected by Sandy to clean up their properties.

Students will be required to view a SBDR training video prior to traveling to New York. They will receive additional onsite training specific to their assignments. More than 350 students assisted in SBDR clean up ministry last year in response to Hurricane Irene.

Campus student directors and college students interested in ministry opportunities in the area may register at regonline.com/collegiatedr (use code "collegiatedr"). A mobilization coordinator will contact those expressing interest to connect them with ministry opportunities.

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WEEK OF PRAYER: South African youth turn from despair

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (BP) -- It's hard not to be happy around 12-year-old Olwetu. She greets visitors with an infectious smile and sparkling eyes. Usually surrounded by friends, the outgoing South African seventh-grader is constantly smiling, laughing and talking.

But this is not typical behavior among Olwetu's peers -- hopeless is the best word to describe youth from the nation's Xhosa minority in the slums of Cape Town.

Most young people here must deal with a myriad of issues -- abuse, violence, drugs, gangs, rape, loss of one or both parents, poor education, HIV/AIDS, poverty. These problems have far-reaching tentacles affecting every family in the township.

"We began to see students that were asking ... 'What do I do when I've been raped by my uncle?' 'What do I do when my father and mother are abusing me?' 'I don't have any food at home.' 'My mom and dad don't have work.' 'My mom and dad are dead and I live with my aunt,'" said Bruce Erickson, a Southern Baptist missionary in Cape Town.

San Francisco bans public nudity, but with exceptions for LGBT events

SAN FRANCISCO — After Feb. 1, San Franciscans will have to get dressed before leaving home.
On Nov. 20, in a 6-to-5 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a ban on public nudity, The New York Times reported, but some wonder if it’s enough.
Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, said the ordinance is a start but that it still allows open nudity, demonstrations of sadomasochism, and other such practices at city events such as the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride parade and the Folsom Street Fair. The ban also doesn’t include women who choose to go topless.
“Female public nudity is dangerous to women and girls because it portrays them as sex objects and stimulates potential rapists,” said Thomasson. As for male nudists in San Francisco, Thomasson said they behave “like animals, dehumanizing themselves.  They see themselves only as flesh, not spirit.”

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ANGUS JONES's Testimony: 'Two And A Half Men' 'Filth,' Urges Viewers To Stop Watching

Judge: School Can't Expel Student over RFID Badge