Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Seven Preaching Women Present Seven Last Words

Seven preaching women will present the Seven Last Words of Christ on Good Friday, March 29th, 7:00 PM, at Shawnee Christian Church. Preaching the 7 Last Words: Rev. Cassandra Harris-Gray, Co-Pastor, New Mt. Zion Church, Shelbyville, KY; Rev. Syvoskia Bray Pope, St. Peter United Church of Christ; Rev. Mary Frances Stiner, First Gethsemane Baptist Church; Rev. Brenda Burney, Chaplain, Veterans Administration Hospital; Rev. Amariah McIntosh, Pastor, Phillips Memorial CME, Lexington, KY; Min. Angela Lee Price, St. Stephen Church; Rev. Yvonne McCoy, Chaplain, Norton Hospital. Come out on Good Friday for this time-honored Holy Week worship service and let the word of the Lord minister to you through these seven dynamic preaching women and the Mime Ministry of Speechless For Christ.    Presented by DIVAS for Christ in partnership with Shawnee Christian Church. Shawnee Christian Church is located at 1520 Gagel Avenue, Louisville, KY, Rev. Altonnette Hawkins, Host Pastor.

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Friday, March 22, 2013

Silly Easter Rabbits! Tricks Are for Kids!

By: Min. Angela Lee Price
I'm having a bad hare day. I thought I'd pull a few rabbits out of a hat by surprising some church members with chocolate bunnies, but my hares wouldn't cooperate. It's as if they didn't want to be seen in Jesus saves hats, next to Jesus Saves t-shirts or even in close proximity to items lifting up Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. Then I asked myself, what do rabbits have to do with Easter anyway?I did a little investigating. Here is a short answer from answers.com:

When Christianity began to spread, one way of getting pagans to accept the newest religion was to overlap Christian values and ideas with current and much loved pagan customs, to attract the locals to the church and pull them away from their long practised ways of honoring and living with nature. The Easter Bunny and Egg hunts are two such carryovers that, in the beginning, had nothing to do with the Christian faith or belief in Jesus' resurrection. But these pagan ideas helped those wandering priests to get the attention of the pagans they sought to convert. Pagans around Europe loved their goddesses and symbols of life that they understood much more clearly than the Bible, which was not readily available to the common people anyway. Incorporating these pagan practices was discovered to be a key ingredient to bring more people under the church, and it made Christianity itself more acceptable. After all, the most successful missionaries are those who seek to understand the people they wish to convert by living their life without compromising anyone's beliefs. Because the Christian church celebrates the Resurrection of Christ in the spring, it made sense to them to "borrow" from Pagan Spring rites in order to make the attraction to the newer religion plausible.

The short answer is: Rabbits (and eggs) have come to be seen as symbols of new life and rebirth, and the Christian celebration of Easter is all about new life, because of Christ's resurrection, and the new life He bought for us.  

Remember, it is not Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, nor Easter Rabbits that save. Jesus saves!


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Deacons Discover Gifts at School of Reglion

At the invitation of Deacon's Ministry Class facilitator, Rev. Samuel Bland, Greater St. Mark Baptist Church, Louisville, I gave a brief overiew on Spiritual Gifts on Tuesday at the J.L. Roberts School of Religion held at First Virginia Avenue Baptist Church, Rev. Charles Duncan host pastor.
First, let me say it was a blessing to see so many churches from across Kentucky in attendance on Tuesday night worshipping and breaking bread through the study of the Word of God, in a spirit of unity in accordance with Ephesians 4, one of my favorite passages on spiritual gifts. My pastor, Rev. Kevin Cosby and the St. Stephen Church Legacy Choir lead us in worship.
Secondly, I enjoyed speaking, although ever so briefly, to the deacon's class on this subject about which I am passionate. I have the uptmost respect for the office of the Deacon and the men and women who tirelessly give of their time, talent, and treasures in service to God, their pastors, and church congregations. It is extremely important for deacons to know and effectively use their spiritual gifts if the church is to connect, grow, serve, and go all around the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It warmed my heart that the group of approximately 20 deacons and deacons in training enthusiastically asked questions and wanted to know more about their gifts.
Finally, I want to encourage everyone on this network to attend a spiritual gifts class or workshop and take a spiritual gifts assessment, especially if you are a believer who has never attended a Spiritual Gifts class and taken assessment, or if it has been a few years since you have done so.
I have embedded a Gifts of the Holy Spirit PowerPoint Presentation as an introduction to the subject of Spiritual Gifts.   After reviewing it, click here to take a short Spiritual Gifts test online. This 35-question online test measures 7 the spirtual gifts found in Romans 12:6-8. I have used MinTools.com as a resource in the past.  MinTools a wealth of information as well as a great Q&A page.
Ask God in prayer to continue to show you what gifts He has given you and how He wants to use you in ministry. Talk to people in your church. Then, step out on faith and stir up your gifts. Christians were not saved to sit, but saved to serve!
I want to thank Rev. Bland for extending an invitation tfor me to share one night of his four-night course. Tonight is the last night for the J.L. Roberts School of Religion. Make your way there if you can. You will be glad you did!

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Monday, March 04, 2013

Is Kentucky (And Your State) Where Misery Loves Company?

Are you miserable? It may be that the person or  situation that has been a thorn in your flesh is getting too much credit for all your troubles. If you reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, or my state, Kentucky, you are not a happy camper.   A recent Gallup study suggests  you are miserable, and you do have a lot of company. Sorry to give you the bad news, but the findings of the new Happiest and Most Miserable U.S. States survey was just published, and Kentucky rank 49th, dead last, on the misery index surpassed only by West Virginia, the most miserable state in the nation. The survey looked at several indicators to determine rankings including well being, life expectancy, obesity, median income, and adult population with high school diploma or higher.

Below is an excerpt from the article, 10 Happiest U.S. States;  247 Wall St. posted on the Huffington Post's Healthy Living page:

According to a Gallup poll released today (February 28th, updated March 1st), the United States has shown almost no improvement in well-being in the past five years, increasing slightly from 2011 when Americans reported the most miserable scores since the survey began. The top and bottom states have also remained nearly the same. West Virginia, which received the lowest well-being score in 2012, has routinely been in the bottom two, and Hawaii ranked highest for the fourth year in a row.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which has surveyed 1.7 million Americans since the survey was first conducted in 2008, reflects the physical and emotional health of residents in each of the 50 states. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the scores of each state in the six categories that comprise Gallup’s index to identify objective measures that impact well-being.

Click Here To See The Happiest States
Click Here To See The Most Miserable States


Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport explained to 24/7 Wall St. that well-being is important because happier, healthier citizens tend to have positive social and economic impacts on the places they live. “Well-being is important because of the hypothesis that it leads to good outcomes,” Newport said. “If your citizens have high well-being, they’re more likely to be better citizens and engage in better behaviors and make things better all the way around. It’s a positive goal for those that look at what we ought to emphasize in society.”

America's Happiest (And Most Miserable) States:
49. Kentucky
Well-being index score: 62.7 %
Life expectancy: 76.2 years (7th lowest);
Obesity: 29.7% (6th highest);
Median household income: $41,141 (4th lowest);
Adult population with high school diploma or higher: 83.1% (6th lowest)

Kentucky has one of the lowest proportions of adults with a high school degree, as well as the fourth-lowest median income in the country. Kentucky also ranked dead-last in terms of healthy behaviors. A mere 60.7% of respondents said they ate healthily the day before, by far the lowest of any state. Not surprisingly, Kentucky also ranked second from the bottom in terms of physical health. As many as 29% of people indicated they had health problems that prevented them from doing age-appropriate activities, a higher percentage than any state other than West Virginia. Kentucky also ranked second from the bottom in the life evaluation and emotional health categories.


Among the Most Miserble States:
50:  West Virginia
49:  Kentucky
48:  Mississippi
47:  Tennessee
46:  Arkansas
45:  Alabama
Other states among the most miserable include Oklahome (41), Indiana (42), Louisana (43), and Ohio (44).
Do you agree with this findings?  Do you consider yourself to be happy or miserable and why?

Read more: America’s Happiest (and Most Miserable) States - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2013/02/28/americas-happiest-and-most-miserable-states/#ixzz2MbmyjbOj

If you're depressed, discouraged, or dismayed about life circumstances, you don't need to move.  We believe the answer to your troubles can be found in Jesus Christ.  We'd like to pray for you and offer words of encouragement from the Word of God.  Check back often our join the Jesus Saves Social Network.  It is free to become a member, a social network for "the Least of These."

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