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.

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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.

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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.

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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 !

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1/16 " TIGER IN WAIT" NORMANDY 1944 MY STEP BY STEP MOD - Video

29-02-2012 11:11

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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.

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Church relocation to help Ftn. Hills marijuana applications

by Christian Brown, Staff Writer The Downey Patriot

After 10 years of stop-and-go construction, the 4,000-member Spanish congregation led by Pastor Otto R. Azurdia, at last completed renovations to a multi-million dollar church facility, which includes everything from a new 3,000-seat sanctuary to a 24,000-sq.-ft. radio and television production studio.

As enthusiastic church members gathered outside for the ceremony, one-by-one church leaders and government officials praised the new state-of-the-art facility and the congregation, which spent 10 years hosting fundraisers in order to collect the money necessary to finally complete the building.

Split into three main sections, the expansive church facility includes multi-level administrative offices, a smaller secondary sanctuary, the radio and television studio, and the 75,000-sq.-ft. main sanctuary, which can house a maximum of 4,600 people.

Church leaders boast the house of worship is 100 percent digital, complete with pristine sound and lighting capabilities, multiple video cameras, and a large white backdrop behind the stage that can be used to project graphics and scriptures. Church leaders say Ministerios Llamada Final is one of the first churches to own the innovative multimedia system.

The church has also embraced several green technologies on the property including a water-recycling feature that reuses all rainwater and redirects it into the irrigation of the plants and grass near the church.

During Mondays ribbon-cutting ceremony, Congresswoman Lucille Royal-Allard presented the church with a resolution of recognition and thanked the congregation for its dedication to see the building project through until the end.

"The fact that it took 10 years to build this is a testimony of your faith," she declared in Spanish, drawing cheers from the audience. "You never gave up until the dream of your church became a reality. Now this state-of-the-art facility in Downey is finally your home."

However, Azurdias vision of a large Christian temple came 24 years prior when the then-young immigrant from Guatemala was just starting his ministry.

In 1988, Azurdia moved to Huntington Park and founded a small church, which started with just 70 or 80 people. After less than two years, the congregation had grown to more than 800 people.

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Church cuts ribbon on new Downey campus

28-02-2012 07:47 Sunday, February 26, 2012 Sermon Highlights: "Faith Under Construction" Scriptures: Judges 16:21-31 and Jude 1:20 God has given every man a measure of faith. Now you must build upon that measure of faith intentionally, not by accident. You must build strategically so that you won't forget any area. Faith is not built only by coming to church. Faith comes by hearing the Word of GOD and also by fellowship. Hebrews 10:23-25 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Faith is built through your challenges. It is the bridge between where you've been and where you're going. We have to activate our faith and trust that GOD is bigger than our circumstances. Hebrews 11:1 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. God's grace is painted on the canvas of dispair, heartache, disappointment, and hopelessness. Psalm 34:19 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. Please join us on Sundays for Sunday School at 8:30 AM and for Worship Service at 9:30 AM and on Wednesdays for Bible Study at 7:00 PM. Pastor Walter Gillespie Pastors Walter and Sandra Gillespie CHOSEN TABERNACLE MINISTRIES 4310 South Champlain Avenue Chicago, IL 60653

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Faith Under Construction Sermon by Pastor Walter Gillespie - Video

By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

More than a year into a legal battle with a famous black Boston church,OneUnited Bank is taking steps to foreclose on the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, its customer of several years.

OneUnited last week ran a notice in a Boston newspaper announcing that it plans to auction off the historic Roxbury church. That was how the church learned of the bank’s intentions, said the Rev. Gregory G. Groover Sr., in an interview.

“It’s unfortunate that they had to resort to that,’’ Groover said today. “This is clearly a result of their anger around the litigation. Or maybe it was simply to humiliate and embarrass us.”

Rev. Dr. Gregory G. Groover. Globe file photo.

Groover vowed that the church would find an answer and would not allow the foreclosure to go forward. The battle between OneUnited -- a minority-owned bank that built its business lending to churches and other community institutions – and the Charles Street AME erupted in public in 2010, when the bank sued the church for failing to repay a $4 million construction loan. The church was building a nearby Roxbury Renaissance Center, to host community events, and fell behind on its payments during the recession.

As bad timing would have it, OneUnited ran into trouble at the same time. The bank lost millions of dollars on investments in 2008 amid the financial crisis and sought a $12 million government bailout, which it has yet to repay. The bank has been coming down hard on commercial customers like the Charles Street AME as it’s tried to shore up its balance sheet.

OneUnited, in a statement, said, “We applaud the important role that Charles Street A.M.E. Church plays in our community. As a Community Development Financial Institution focused on serving low-to-moderate income neighborhoods of greater Boston, OneUnited Bank recognizes the impact the economy is having on our small businesses and not-for-profits.” Bank spokespeople did not comment specifically on the foreclosure proceedings. The statement also said, “We are flexible in our efforts to assist borrowers, while remaining consistent with the safe and sound banking practices. We continue to be hopeful that our efforts will result in a stronger community.”

Groover said the bank has refused to take calls from church officials or their lawyer for months. Meanwhile, the church has continued to make monthly payments on the commercial loan (which is separate from the Renaissance Center construction loan) he said.

“This church, without fail, never missed a payment,’’ Groover said. But in December, the bank returned a payment to the church, in yet another sign of the unraveling relationship. “It’s senseless. It really is.”

Groover said he was confident the church would not lose it’s property. “We’re confident,’’ he said.

Beth Healy can be reached at bhealy@globe.com.

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One United Bank takes steps to foreclose on Roxbury church

Photo by Zachary Kaufman

Reazo Redinger, Old Apostolic Lutheran Church trustee and building project manager, gives a tour of the Woodland church site expected to be complete in March. Redinger, a water well driller, is one of nearly 1,000 church members who volunteered their skills and labor to construct the nearly 41,000-square-foot building.

What is the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church?

The Old Apostolic Lutheran Church has a small but visible presence in Southwest Washington, thanks to the region’s influx of Nordic immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Along with Minnesota and Michigan, the region is recognized as one of three concentrated areas of Old Apostolic Lutheranism in the United States, according to Lutheran scholars.

Church leaders estimate there are more than 5,000 in the Clark County congregation, which has churches in Battle Ground, Brush Prairie and now Woodland. There is no way to ascertain the exact number; the church doesn’t keep a roster of membership, said co-pastor Dale Schlecht.

Old Apostolic Lutheranism is a “sub-sect of a sub-sect” of Lutheranism known as Laestadianism, said K. Marianne Wargelin, a scholar of the Finnish-American experience and history doctoral student at the University of Tampere in Finland. Wargelin lives in Minneapolis, Minn., where there is a concentration of Laestadian sects, and has visited the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church in Battle Ground as part of her research on that branch of Lutheranism.

The sect is named for founder Lars Levi Laestadius, a pastor in Northern Sweden. He founded the sect in the 1840s, merging tenets of Lutheranism with cultural aspects of the Sami people, Wargelin said. The sect spread throughout Sweden, Finland and Norway. After Laestadius’s death, the sect splintered into several sub-sects, one of which was the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. Nordic immigrants brought those beliefs to North America.

Old Apostolic Lutherans are distinct in their layman approach to the ministry, Wargelin said. Unlike in standard Lutheranism, pastors are not ordained, and no one pastor preaches every Sunday. Instead, the church has a council of pastors, she said. Schlecht said he and other pastors at the Clark County church take turns preaching.

Another distinction is the amount of conversion to Old Apostolic Lutheranism, Wargelin said. Other sub-sects of Laestadianism typically gain converts only through marriage, while many members of the Old Apostolic Lutheran congregation are not of Nordic descent, she said.

The group believes that confession should be made to another member of the congregation, she said. Standard Lutherans may ask God for forgiveness, but they are not expected to confess their sins to another.

Old Apostolic Lutherans’ lifestyle tends to shun secularism and activities such as watching television, she said. For example, the church doesn’t have a website, though church members use technology for other aspects of their life.

“They have huge churches,” Wargelin said. Members frequently have large families, believing that children are gifts from God.

They also have a strong sense of social responsibility.

“They’re kind of insular, but they take care of community,” Wargelin said. “They take care of everybody.”

— Paris Achen

In the 400-some years following the Protestant Reformation in 1517, Lutheran congregations around the world built their own churches. While the custom has faded with the demands of modernity and forces of individualism that drive American life, it lives on in Clark County’s Old Apostolic Lutheran Church.

Using nearly all donated labor and money, nearly 1,000 volunteers from the church recently erected a new church at 1500 Dike Access Road in Woodland just off of Interstate 5.

“Across the country, it’s been a long-standing practice that buildings are funded with donations,” said Dave Halme, chairman of the church’s board of trustees. “Not all of the congregations have all of the experience and skills. We were fortunate here that we had all the architectural, engineering and trade skills to build it ourselves.”

The church building, at nearly 41,000 square feet, will serve as the third location for a congregation that exceeds 5,000. The church already has locations in Brush Prairie and Battle Ground.

Construction took less than a year and 55,000 volunteer hours, Halme said. It’s expected to be completed in March. The church plans to hold an open house at the new site in May.

All of the design, engineering and construction was performed by members of the congregation with the exception of acoustical engineering in the sanctuary. That had to be contracted out, Halme said.

The volunteer hours saved the church about $6.5 million, he said. The total cost of the project with volunteer hours was $4.5 million, he said.

Volunteers organized the project and scheduling by dividing the group up by trade, said Reazo Redinger, project manager and member of the church’s board of trustees. Each trade was assigned a project manager, Redinger said.

Many volunteers came to work on the church after their day jobs or on weekends, he said.

“It’s been a fun project,” he said. “It hasn’t felt like work.”

Volunteer painter Jeff Muonio of Battle Ground said he’s enjoyed getting to know church members he doesn’t usually see because they attend a different church service.

“It’s been fun,” Muonio said. “It’s been interesting to see it going up.”

Muonio and volunteer painter William Tanninen of Battle Ground helped build the church’s second location in Battle Ground when they were both about 17.

“It’s kind of a satisfied feeling (to see the Woodland church go up),” Tanninen said.

Workers kept track of their hours in order to qualify for workers compensation from the state Department of Labor & In

dustries. The department offers workers compensation at a low rate of 5 cents per project-hour when a project is by a nonprofit group such as a church, Halme said.

The two-story church includes two lobbies, to cut down on congestion as members enter and exit the building; a sanctuary; two multipurpose rooms; an extensive nursery; Sunday school classrooms; and a massive dining hall. The high-ceiling sanctuary offers lower-level and balcony seating for a total of 1,000.

Two multipurpose rooms on each side can be opened to increase capacity by another 160. Two infant rooms in the nursery feature one-way glass so that parents can watch the sermon while calming or nursing babies. Those rooms connect into two toddler rooms with a small kitchen area and bathroom. The dining hall with four serving lines is large enough to accommodate everyone attending a sermon. Once a month, each church hosts a meal cooked by members.

The site was planned about 10 years ago. It took time to launch the project as church members decided where they wanted their third location, a toss-up between Ridgefield and Woodland. A church member donated the property in Woodland. Before construction could start, property had to be added to Woodland’s urban growth boundary in order to connect with water and sewer.

Halme said it’s bittersweet to see the project nearly completed.

“We have so enjoyed it, we hate to see the project come to an end the camaraderie and things,” Halme said. “When it’s an all-volunteer project, it’s a labor of love.”

Paris Achen: 360-735-4551; http://twitter.com/Col_Trends; http://facebook.com/ColTrends; paris.achen@columbian.com.

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Raising a Church