Lambuth students join Habitat House Blitz

 Lambuth University students are encouraged to get the most out of their education including an appreciation for the value of service work. One of the ways Lambuth helps prepare students for the world is to educate them about the need for community volunteerism. On Friday, September 27, Lambuth students had the opportunity to experience just that. 

Beginning at 8:00 AM, in conjunction with the Jackson Area Association of Realtors and Habitat for Humanity, Lambuth students, along with several faculty and staff members began a round-the-clock effort to complete a House Blitz Project. The foundation and flooring were already in place and the walls pre-fabricated, but finishing the remainder of the project in two days required dedicated and intensive physical labor. The goal was to have the house complete by Sunday morning, September 29.

Positions Available

Part time Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry: Paris First UMC, Paris, TN. Director will work with junior high/senior high youth and young adults, ages 18-30. Please send resume to: FUMC, P.O. Box 25, Paris, TN 38242 Attn: Elyse Bell, SPR Chairperson. Fax: 731-642-0802; E-mail:  pfumc@wk.net

Dr. Jim Fleming to offer seminars on religion and politics in Middle East

The Intentional Growth Center at Lake Junaluska, NC will offer two courses with Dr. Jim Fleming during November, 2002.  Dr. Fleming is Director of Biblical Resources Study Center in Jerusalem and has lived and worked in Israel since 1974. He taught at the School for Overseas Students, Hebrew University, and worked as a cartography consultant with the Israeli Ministry of Education. Fleming’s use of visual aids will guide participants through cultural and intellectual settings of the Biblical drama as he reveals new dimensions of historical and spiritual insight.  l On November 4 - 6, Fleming will lead Jesus And People Who Hate.This course will examine religion and politics in the Middle East today as they relate to the challenges all Christians face as they try to follow the example of Christ. Begin to understand the example of Jesus in being sensitive to and respectful of other faiths without compromising your Christian beliefs.
l On November 6 - 8, Fleming’s second seminar will be The Kingdom of God is NOW. He will explore the concept of Servant-Messiah with examples of how Jesus fulfilled the role of Servant-Messiah.

The cost to attend is $170.00 for two seminars or $100.00 for one. A workbook is included with both. One CEU will be offered for each seminar. For more information, call 800-482-1442.

Lottery no solution to Tennessee’s ills

The Rev. Glenn Elliott assembles anti-lottery yard signs in his office at Trinity United Methodist Church in Paris, Tenn.  A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

We are in a very difficult stretch of time in that on the one hand we are facing all the tragedies of war; and on the other hand, state-wide, we have the lottery.

I have learned that some congregations feel that the church should not be involved in politics. We must remember that the world should not be compartmentalized or divided between that which is secular and that which is sacred. The Psalmist reminds us of this when he writes: “The earth is the Lord’s, the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1)

Amos echoed the same challenge when he said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)

The Church has no choice but to be involved because God’s creation will be damaged and destroyed by the lottery!

As a Church our position on gambling is: “Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government. As an act of faith and concern, Christians should abstain from gambling and should strive to minister to those victimized by the practice. Where gambling has become addictive, the Church will encourage such individuals to receive therapeutic assistance so that the individual’s energies may be redirected into positive and constructive ends The Church should promote standards and personal lifestyles that would make unnecessary and undesirable the resort to commercial gambling–including public lotteries–as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government.” Paragraph 163.G 2000 Book of Discipline.

Report after report indicates that lotteries target the poor and the powerless. It is an addiction. Jesus was very clear that nothing should be done that would harm children. The lottery places them in harm’s way.

When Wesley spoke about social holiness, he was referring to the application of the Christian faith to the problems of the world.

As you approach the voting date, I encourage you to vote NO to the lottery. Let us find another way to deal with our spending problems.

 Yours in Christ,

 William W. Morris

Churches unite

against gambling

By Gwen Green

United Methodist News Service

The Rev. Skip Armistead believes Tennessee voters are facing their state’s most important ballot question in years, and he’s praying hard and working tirelessly to ensure they decide against a lottery.

Tennessee is one of just three states with no legalized gambling, and the United Methodist minister has teamed with all sorts of religious leaders – from Baptists to Muslims – to try to keep it that way. For months, the group has been preparing quietly for an aggressive campaign leading up to the Nov. 5 vote.

“Tennessee is looked upon as the place to stop the national expansion of gambling,” says Armistead, chairman of Religious Leaders for a Gambling Free Tennessee and a pastor in Madison, just north of Nashville. “To defeat this in Tennessee would be a major stake at turning back the expansion of gambling.”

Gambling unites religious leaders like few other issues. United Methodists across the country have joined with other opponents in what many view as a moral, not political, fight against something that fosters addiction and crime. They believe their efforts are especially important now, as budget deficits make the push for gambling even stronger in many states.

Besides Tennessee, voters in Arizona and Idaho will be asked in November whether they want to expand their state’s gambling activities or begin new ones. In Iowa, voters in 10 counties will be asked whether they want to keep riverboat gambling and racetrack casinos. In North Dakota, voters will be asked about joining a multi-state lottery.

In Nebraska, which has a lottery, United Methodists teamed with other religious leaders to successfully challenge in court the legality of a petition putting slot machines and video slot casinos on the November ballot. An appeal is pending.

Tennessee’s gambling vote will be among the most closely watched in November. Besides Tennessee, only Hawaii and Utah have no legalized gambling. Some fear if Tennessee voters agree to lift the state’s constitutional ban on lotteries, the game will quickly spread to North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

The Rev. Tom Grey, a United Methodist minister and spokesman for the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, says religious groups are a formidable force in the fight against legalized gambling, a struggle many view as a moral, not political, fight against something that only encourages addiction and crime.          

“Tennessee is sort of a bellwether,” says the Rev. Tom Grey, a United Methodist and spokesman for the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.

United Methodists in the state are working with the Southern Baptist Convention and other religious groups, as well as the secular Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance.

Gambling supporters are not worried. They are betting on the “tens of millions of Americans who recognize gambling for what it is: a form of entertainment that they enjoy responsibly,” says Dean Hestermann, a spokesman for Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., which operates 26 casinos nationwide.

Supporters say gambling creates jobs and generates tax revenue. The industry employs more than 1 million people nationwide, according to the American Gaming Association. The association notes that in Mississippi, where the industry employs 3 percent of the state’s work force, welfare payments have dropped in counties with casinos, while payments have risen in other counties.

In Tennessee, proponents argue the state’s residents have been gambling for years – in neighboring states. With a lottery, the state finally can capture that revenue and use it to fund scholarships, pre-kindergarten programs and school construction.

“I think it’s the only way we’re going to help education in this state, because we don’t have any new money,” says state Senator Steve Cohen, a lottery advocate.

Armistead believes that defeating a lottery in Tennessee will take more than teamwork. He is among those organizing a prayer vigil the night before voters cast their ballots.

“We believe prayer is the only solution,” he says. “It takes lots of prayer.”

Green is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tenn. She formerly covered religion for the Associated Press.

Lakeshore touches hearts, changes lives

By Gary Lawson

Lakeshore Administrator

Touching Hearts, Changing Lives”!  There’s something appropriate about the theme undergirding the new capital funds campaign being initiated by Lakeshore United Methodist Assembly which will be kicked off at the camp on November 2.

The theme is appropriate because that is exactly what God has been doing through the ministry of camps and retreats at Lakeshore for over 50 years.

Imagine the life Jessica has been living. When the angry young girl arrived at camp, bearing a multitude of scars up and down her arms where her father had  burned her with his cigarettes, she had no idea life could hold much hope of anything but pain. Then God’s love, through the care of new friends, began to change how she viewed the future of her world.

As the week reached just past its midweek point, Jessica asked her camp dean to pray with her. She wanted this Jesus, who had made such a difference in her counselors’ lives, to come into her heart. The first prayer didn’t take, she said, and she asked for someone else to pray with her. The director was called and another prayer was lifted up. The gentle mist, accompanying the sparkle in her eyes, told the story. God had brought her to a new place.

Afterward, she asked one more thing.  “Would you pray for my father?  He has a hard time and is mad all the time, but I still love him.” And we prayed, this time with tears saturating all our eyes.  “Touching Hearts, Changing Lives.”  It’s appropriate.

Then there was Julie. She had the normal childhood. Life was paper dolls, ice cream cones, and giggles until that tragic day when her grandfather began touching her in places grandfathers are not supposed to touch little girls. Now she’s 38 years old, she won’t laugh and she cannot cry. Her childhood had been changed into an adult life lived bitter and confused.

When Julie left to go on retreat with some friends, she figured it would be just another weekend on her journey into nothingness. Then something happened.  She began to cry. She hadn’t cried for 28 years, but now she was crying and just couldn’t stop. Four hours later, she revealed her story for the first time to her minister and friends. Grace had come and her face, drawn from bitterness, was brightened with the most incredible smile. “Touching Hearts, Changing Lives.”  Yes, it is appropriate.

The stories of God’s grace breaking through the toughest obstacles to touch  and change young lives are so much more than I could even begin to relate. Children, youth and adults continue to come to the ‘Shore in greater and greater numbers because they recognize it as a place where the presence of God comes alive for them.

Our campaign for Lakeshore promises to keep this sacred ground alive.  Aging facilities, new standards of safety, and responsible stewardship have led us to this first phase of a Master Plan which will make the Memphis Conference Camp and Retreat Center one of the most effective in all of Methodism.

We invite you to join us by attending one of our major events beginning November 2 at Lakeshore with “A Day At Camp.” At these events, we will share our plans and invite you to consider how you can be in ministry with us.

At “A Day At Camp”, beginning at 2:30 PM, we will sing songs and celebrate life through our choice of activities, everything from crafts to our new climbing tower. Following this day of camp fun, we will enjoy a good meal and listen in on the future of camping in the Memphis Conference. If for some reason, you cannot make our major event on Nov. 2,  from 2:30 PM to 6:30 PM, we hope you will drop in for one near your home.

•Nov. 7, Northside UMC, Jackson

•Nov. 12, Emmanuel UMC, Memphis

•Nov. 14, Lone Oak UMC, Paducah

Each cluster event will begin with dinner at 6:00 PM followed by a brief program of sharing. Pray for us.