01-03-2012 17:43 http://www.realzionistnews.com brothernathanaelfoundation.org

Read more:
The Church VS The Synagogue - Video

By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

A group of black ministers, led by Rev. Eugene Rivers, is planning a protest Sunday evening at the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church in Roxbury over OneUnited Banks effort to foreclose on the historic church and auction off its property.

Rivers and ministers from the Boston TenPoint Coalition said they would call for a national boycott of minority-owned OneUnited Bank if it does not back away from its threat to auction off Charles Street AME.

Were calling on black clergy across the United States to look into the practices of this bank and to stand in solidarity with Charles Street AME, who are in this case a victim of predatory lending by an anti-black bank, Rivers said in an interview.

The bank, which received a $12 million federal bailout from the government in 2008, has been struggling since the financial crisis and has not yet been able to repay the funds, nor has it paid interest or dividends, to taxpayers.

The bank said as part of a statement, We trust the community will not rush to judgment without full knowledge of all the facts. From its inception as an outgrowth of the civil rights movement, OneUnited always sides with the community to protect our communitys assets.

OneUnited sued Charles Street AME for repayment of a $3.7 million construction loan on a community center in 2010. Last month, the bank filed foreclosure and auction papers on the church building itself, because it wants to collect on a separate $1.1 million loan on which the church is collateral. Church officials and their lawyers say that Charles Street wanted to refinance these loans but that the bank, facing its own financial troubles, has been unwilling to negotiate.

Rev. Gregory G. Groover, the head of the church and chairman of the Boston School Committee, said the church continued to pay interest on the Charles Street loan but the bank sent it back in December. Ross Martin, a lawyer at Ropes & Gray who is representing the church pro bono, said he has been in touch with the banks lawyers but there has been no interest in sitting down to talk.

Weve been in contact with them on the pure litigation, but not on any substantive attempt to resolve it. Theyve said theyre not interested in having a discussion, Martin said.

The protest is planned for 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Roxbury church. Charles Street AME, with 1,000 members, was founded in 1818 and was an important center for abolitionists in Boston and was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Read more:
Ministers plan protest of bank’s effort to foreclose on historic Roxbury church

FORT MILL, S.C. The owners of an incomplete Fort Mill high-rise are threatening to sue York County if county leaders dont accept their proposal for fixing up the towers exterior and completing renovations.

MorningStar Ministries, which since 2007 has had plans to renovate the 21-story tower into a spiritual retirement community, will present the proposal to York County Council on Monday.

If the county rejects their offer, MorningStar Ministries will sue the county for financial damages related to the project, Rick Joyner, the ministrys CEO and spiritual leader, said Thursday at a news conference in Fort Mill.

But the ministry hopes a lawsuit is unnecessary, Joyner said, and that a new agreement will include a new timeline for completing renovations on the tower.

We have no intentions of ever giving up on this project, he said.

It will take about three years to complete the $35 million tower, including getting the deposits from prospective residents needed to secure a construction loan, and getting the lights on and people in there, Joyner said.

But the ministry thinks the countys demand to immediately fix the exterior to near completion is unreasonable. That would cost $6 million, he said, and the ministry would need to start over given that it lost financial backers.

Joyner blamed the county for spreading false information about the ministry regarding its agreement with the county on how and when the tower would be renovated. That information sabotaged the project, grinding it to a halt, he said.

Built by former televangelist and PTL founder Jim Bakker, the tower was part of Bakker's vision for the Christian vacation destination Heritage USA. The project fell apart and the tower was left incomplete in the late 1980s when Bakker left amid a scandal.

Since 2004 MorningStar has been restoring buildings on the property, including the nearby PTL hotel, where the ministry has been renovating some units. The group runs the MorningStar Fellowship Church, camps, a school and a conference center at the former Heritage USA site off U.S. 21 near the state line.

See original here:
Church spars with S.C. county about fixing up old PTL site

BY ROMAN J. USCHAK

Deliberations in the case of the proposed expansion of the St. Mary and St. Mercurius Coptic Church at 125 Academy St. will be extended for at least another month.

Thursday night's meeting of the Belleville Zoning Board of Adjustment was largely reserved for testimony from members of the audience regarding the expansion, which calls for the construction of a large domed parking structure with underground parking, along with a chapel, a Sunday school, and a multipurpose room. The project would also necessitate the demolition of three homes on Academy Street.

Board chairman A.J. Del Guercio said that April's meeting of the zoning board would entail cross-examination of the planners involved in the case.

"Hopefully we can conclude this next month," said Del Guercio of the case, which has been going on since last year.

Several residents of Academy Street and nearby Rutgers Court expressed their dismay with the application, officially labeled ZB-2011-03. They hoped that the board would eventually turn it down, as they believed it would severely impact their quality of life and also their property values.

"This project will result in irreparable harm to the community," said Rutgers Court resident James Jones.

There were also fears that the church congregation would swell in size if the church itself physically expanded, and further complicate perceived traffic and parking difficulties on Academy Street and nearby areas.

"The street doesn't have a parking problem," said Academy Street resident Alex Gasbarro. "The church does."

A youth leader for the church, Mark Tanfit, later said that the church definitely needed additional space.

View post:
Church expansion case to continue for zoning board

Beast feast, community festivals further church presence & Gospel in Morriston

We have to let the community know who we are, and that we love them and we want them to come hear about Jesus, Stewart said.

The church recently hosted its largest Beast Feast and Outdoorsmans

Extravaganza when more than 550 Levy County residents visited the church property. It is only one large event through which the church hopes to make its presence known in the community.

The outdoorsmans event featured an archery derby in which the targets were animal mannequins; hunting and fishing simulators; trophy animals with which to pose; and prizes of compound bows and a muzzle loader. Guests feasted on a myriad of wild game dishes and heard Robert Bradow of Cross Heir Outfitters. His message was well received in an area where horse and cattle ranching provide income, and hunting and fishing provide entertainment, Stewart said.

Out of more than 75 decisions made during the event, 23 were professions of faith. Morriston Baptist members are following up on each decision with letters and visits, their pastor said.

Along with the annual outdoorsman event, the church also hosts a fall

festival that about 600 area residents visit annually. The festival has people lining up down the road to get into. They come for the games and booths, cake walks and fish fry, but they also get to hear the Gospel, Steward said. Visitors enter the Fall Festival through the church sanctuary where there is singing and a short Gospel message.

The children may come for the inflatables and games, but the elderly come for the fish fry, he said. They all get to hear the Gospel.

Festival, the volunteers in the church booth hand out replacement batteries for smoke detectors. The batteries are fastened to a card with the plan of salvation and church information.

See the original post:
Beast feast, community festivals, further church presence & Gospel in Morriston

Published: 6:26PM Thursday March 01, 2012 Source: ONE News

Senior Tongan church ministers are calling for a freeze on big donations and new church buildings as concern grows over spending.

It follows news that a new church in Australia has folded, owing $27 million.

The Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Sydney was opened by King George Tupou V three years ago, but is reported to be in voluntary administration and receivership.

According to reports it owes money to Westpac Bank and an industrial paint company which gave the church a loan.

See the full story on TV One's Targata Pasifika tonight at 11.10pm.

The Tongan community raised funds for the building and treasurer Sione Pinomi hopes they will help again.

"Of course it comes with a cost but that's all beyond the point. The most important thing for us is to accomplish our mission here, which is to bring Tonga to Australia," Reverend Pinomi said.

"I'm pretty sure this debt will be finished in the near future with the help of God and help of the people."

However, Mohenoa Puloka, a senior figure who trains ministers, has suggested a freeze on big projects in the wake of the church's collapse.

Read the original:
Tongan church urges moderation in donations

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is offering to help Roxburys historic Charles Street AME Church avoid foreclosure and blasting the bank thats trying to seize the house of worship.

I get frustrated when the bank thinks (its) going to take over a church of this magnitude, the mayor told the Herald yesterday. How greedy can they be?

Menino yesterday called the Rev. Gregory Groover Sr. pastor of the church and chairman of the Boston School Committee to offer help in the congregations fight with Hub-based OneUnited Bank.

The nations largest black-owned bank, OneUnited is threatening to foreclose on the church even though the company itself received $12 million in federal bailout funds in 2008.

OneUnited has scheduled a March 22 foreclosure auction of the church, some nearby storefronts and a Milton parcel that once served as the congregations parsonage.

Charles Street AMEs $1.1 million balloon mortgage recently came due, and the church says OneUnited hasnt responded to an offer to keep making monthly payments while the congregation tries to refinance.

The two sides have long been locked in a bitter lawsuit over a separate $3.6 million construction loan that the church took out in 2006 to build an adjacent community center.

Construction stalled after OneUnited halted payment on the last $800,000 and sued to get funds it had already disbursed back.

Church lawyer Ross Martin claims OneUnited is threatening to foreclose on the church itself as a negotiating tacticin the lawsuit a charge OneUnited denies.

It is not the practice of this bank to take steps to foreclose on a mortgage in the absence of a borrowers default, bank lawyer Robert Cooper said, although he added that OneUnited is sensitive to and appreciates the important roles that (institutions like the church) play.

Link:
Mayor sides with church

28-02-2012 12:20 This is a SBS of my current 1/16 project based in Normandy 1944. The Germans are playing cat and mouse as they are pushed further back toward the fatherland. The scene will depict a Mid Tiger (321) waiting in a ruined church. This has so far taken 8 months to build and is part 1 of 2. The 2nd part will show the SBS of the church construction which is now complete. It is time to paint the Tiger and add the 6 120mm figures!! keep watching !

See the article here:
1/16 " TIGER IN WAIT" NORMANDY 1944 MY STEP BY STEP MOD - Video

29-02-2012 11:11

Here is the original post:
MBA Building Excellence Awards Winner Shadyside Presbyterian Church - Video

by Edward Gately - Feb. 29, 2012 10:10 AM The Republic | azcentral.com

The relocation of a church in Fountain Hills could lead to the approval of two more applications to locate a medical-marijuana dispensary in the town.

One medical-marijuana dispensary will be allowed in the town, in a commercial zoning district that includes the area along Colony Drive off Saguaro Boulevard. The town's medical-marijuana ordinance specifies that no licensed dispensary can be within 500 feet of a place of worship.

North Chapel Community Bible Church, which operates in an office building at 16929 E. Enterprise Drive, has been an obstacle for some previous zoning-verification applications.

Last year, Bob Rodgers, the town's senior planner, approved an application by restaurateur Josh Levine for a dispensary on a vacant lot at 16935 E. Colony Drive, at Panorama Drive, and one by Yvonne Wolf, co-owner of Wolf Brothers Construction Co., for a dispensary on a lot at 12008 N. Colony Drive.

Others applications have been rejected, mostly because Rodgers determined they were too close to the church.

Rodgers verified this week that the church will be relocating outside of the zoning district where a dispensary will be allowed.

"The church has pulled permits to do some internal renovations at another location," he said.

Dan Scruggs, pastor of North Chapel, couldn't be reached for comment. According to construction permits, it will be relocating to a commercial center at 17210 Amhurst Drive.

In the meantime, two new zoning-verification applications are pending, including one by the Healing Co. LLC for 17007 E. Colony Drive, and one by Vladimir Buer and Buer Revocable Trust for 16913 E. Enterprise Drive.

Visit link:
Church relocation to help Ftn. Hills marijuana applications