People want the Benefits of Church without the Responsibility

I found this post about people not wanting to Join Church, but no where in the article does it state the pressure on the church to provide these services. This is the time to dig deep and be part of the body not just a visitor!!!
The Post

Joining a church doesn’t make sense for Jonathan Busarow right now. He’s a graduate student at Ohio State University who doesn’t know where he’ll live in a couple of years. He doesn’t have extra money to donate or a lot of time.
But he still wants to worship, so he regularly attends Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in German Village.

“Zion does a wonderful job of making you feel welcome and part of the church community without pressuring you to become a member,” said Busarow, 23, of Bexley.

Busarow isn’t the only one there to worship but not to join. Pastors say it’s a sign of the times: Official church membership is becoming less attractive to churchgoers.

For some, such as Busarow, it’s because they’re in a transitory period. Others don’t want to be bothered to participate more than they’d like. Many just never get around to it.

Clergy members prefer people to become church members who are accountable for contributing their time and money. Churches need predictable income, and that usually comes in the form of annual pledges and weekly donations.

Still, pastors are happy for bodies in the pews and won’t pressure people much.

People tend not to worship in the same congregation as loyally as they did in past generations, said David Roozen of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. The baby-boomer generation balked at joining institutions of any sort, and the tendency has become more pronounced among their children, he said.

Fifty years ago, adults felt a duty to their neighborhood churches.

“Now it’s, ‘I’m going to go if it fits my needs, but this is not necessarily a long-term commitment,’ ” Roozen said.

Nonmembers can participate in almost every aspect of many churches, said the Rev. Paul Ulring, pastor of the nearly 6,000-member Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. At his church, nonmembers can worship, get married, send their children to Sunday school and participate in ministries. Some donate money regularly.

They can’t vote in congregational matters, but a lot of them don’t want to anyway, he said.

“The officialdom of membership is a harder and harder thing to sell,” he said. “It’s hard to convince a younger generation that it has any value.”

At St. Brigid of Kildare Cath-olic Church in Dublin, a lot of nonmembers end up joining when they want to marry or have a baby baptized, said Monsignor Joseph Hendricks, the pastor.

Generally, in the Catholic Church, a person must belong to a parish to receive the sacraments of baptism and marriage, said Deacon Tom Berg Jr., vice chancellor of the Columbus Diocese. Catholics who are not members of a parish can receive those sacraments with the permission of the parish priest.

St. Brigid allows funerals for nonmembers, Hendricks said. He estimates that about 200 people worship regularly without joining. The church is home to 3,100 families.

“For those who don’t get around to it, you certainly don’t deny them,” he said. “You try and work with them.”

At Busarow’s church, the church directory includes a listing of “Friends of Zion.” The list is at about 50.

The Rev. Larry Kudart encourages nonmembers to join Zion, but he doesn’t push.

“I don’t press them too hard. I say, ‘We love you whether you join or not.’ ”

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

Charities Facing Budget Cuts!!!

Faith-based charities, which provide an enormous array of private social services to the nation’s sick, elderly and poor, are facing unprecedented cutbacks from one of their biggest funders: the government.
The nation’s economic woes have led local and state government agencies across the country to reduce contracts and grants or delay payments to the groups, which have been forced to eliminate programs, lay off staff or try to borrow money in a tight lending market. In the Washington region, where the Maryland, Virginia and District budgets are being developed, faith-based charities from Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington to the Salvation Army’s National Capital Area Command are freezing job vacancies, postponing initiatives and rallying their religious congregations to dig deeper into their pockets.

Government leaders are also urging the organizations to increase their fundraising, but political leaders and the groups say that the economy is causing deep cuts in private giving. Ken Kozloff, chief executive of the Jewish Social Service Agency, with offices in Montgomery and Fairfax counties, has seen its private donations fall almost 10 percent, but its client roster has grown 35 percent. It gets half of its revenue from federal, state and local governments.

Without government funding, “where are the resources going to come from?” asked Kozloff. “How do we serve people? How do we keep people’s lives whole?”

Faith groups elsewhere in the country are feeling the strain. California is soon expected to make its payments to faith groups, and other organizations, as IOUs instead of cash. In Illinois, a local Lutheran social services agency is owed $4 million. A Lutheran social services agency in Minnesota closed four residential facilities for troubled adolescents after the state slashed its funding. And in Newark, New Jersey cut a $1 million contract to the local Catholic Charities, which provided job training and other assistance to 400 mentally ill welfare recipients, forcing it to shut down the program and lay off about a dozen people.

“It’s only going to continue to get worse,” warned Larry Snyder, chief executive of Catholic Charities USA, one of the country’s largest nonprofit organizations, which gets about 65 percent of its revenue from government contracts. “Our folks out in the field are feeling a little overwhelmed because they can’t see the end, and all they see are more and more people coming and fewer resources coming their way. And yet we don’t have the luxury to say, ‘You know what? We’re going to close our doors for a while.’ ”

Faith-based charities’ services run the gamut of social programs: They own hospitals and nursing homes, run substance-abuse and foster-care programs, operate homeless shelters and mental health clinics, build affordable housing and distribute food to the needy.

Researchers say it is impossible to calculate what percentage of total social service assistance comes from faith-based organizations, although they agree it is large. One San Jose State University study estimates the value of the social services provided by faith-based charities and other religious organizations across the country at $50 billion a year.

In the Washington area, at least one-third of faith-based charities and congregations get government money, according to a survey by Scott W. Allard, a professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Allard said that estimate is probably low because it misses many smaller congregations and social service organizations that also receive contracts.

But across the country, caring for the poor is growing more and more difficult, faith organization leaders said. The passage of the economic stimulus package is expected to do little to reverse the trend. In Virginia, for example, even with the funds expected from the stimulus package, the budget shortfall is anticipated to be at least $2.7 billion, with cuts for faith-based services all but certain.

In a survey of 50 Catholic Charities affiliates nationwide, about half have experienced cutbacks or unpaid state contracts. The problem appears slightly better locally, but not by much, because state and local governments are finalizing budgets. A survey by the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations found that at least one-third of its members experienced a reduction in state funding or anticipate a reduction.

Not long ago, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) met with local nonprofit social service agencies, including a number of faith-based organizations, to warn them to expect significant cuts. “Government’s ability and the ability of nonprofits [to respond] becomes more challenging when there is a greater need,” Leggett said. “And that’s the real irony of what we face.”

In normal times, nonprofits can tap into bank credit lines to cover lags in payment. But faced with swelling late payments, many organizations have hit their maximum or struggling banks have cut their lines of credit.

Independent Sector, a coalition of charitable groups that represents nonprofits, estimates that at least $15 billion — 18 percent of all government funding to nonprofit human service providers — is delayed or will be delayed if the problem is not addressed.

Nonprofits unsuccessfully lobbied for a $15 billion bridge loan package for human services nonprofits, administered by the federal government, to be included in the fiscal stimulus package.

The charities say the cutbacks will only boomerang on the states. When California slashed more than $300,000 from a contract with Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, it had to cut 70 slots from a program that kept poor elderly people out of nursing homes by providing them with services in their homes.

“Unless their families had some alternative,” said Chief Executive Paul Castro, “they undoubtedly ended up in a nursing home,” potentially costing California taxpayers even more money.

Source: Washington Post

40.7 Million Black According to The US Census

As part of its celebration of Black History Month, the U.S. Census Bureau has released a data profile of Black America. The profile is part of the Bureau’s “Facts for Features” series.
The facts released by the Census Bureau show there are currently an estimated 40.7 million Blacks in America and that number is expected to rise to 65.7 million by 2050.

There are 18 states with populations of at least 1 million African Americans.

New York has the largest number of Blacks with 3.5 million. However, the state with the highest percentage of Blacks is Mississippi where Blacks constitute 38 percent of the population.

Meanwhile, 82 percent of Blacks 25 years old or older have a high school diploma and 19 percent have college degrees. The annual median income for Black households stands at $33,916. But the percentage of African Americans living in poverty stands at 24.5 percent.

Finally, there are 8.5 million Black family households in America and 45 percent of those households are headed by married couples. And 18 percent of all Blacks are 18 years old or younger.

Source: Taylor Media

Beaten By Your Teacher- Chicago Students Speak Out!!!

Some people still believe in corporal punishement at home. However we have passed laws to end that in public education or have we?

Hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools. 2 Investigator Dave Savini continues his ongoing investigation involving the illegal use corporal punishment.
Treveon Martin, 10, is afraid of a teacher at his school.

“I’ve seen him hit five of them in the classroom,” Martin said.

Martin says he and others have been hit, grabbed and even struck with a belt.

“He’s threatened almost all the kids in his classroom,” Martin said.

He says it happened at Robert Emmet Academy in November but a Chicago Public School investigator didn’t talk to him until last week – 70 days after the case was reported, and not until after we started asking questions.

“He holded my arms and he picked my body up, and then he just slammed me on the desk,” Martin said.

An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach, security guard, or even a principal. In most of those cases – 568 of them – Chicago Public School investigators determined the children were telling the truth.

“I’m thinking that I don’t really feel safe,” Martin said.

The 2 Investigators found reports of students beaten with broomsticks, whipped with belts, yard sticks, struck with staplers, choked, stomped on and pushed down stairs. One substitute teacher even fractured a student’s neck.

But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.

“If someone hits a student, they are going to be fired. It’s very, very simple,” Duncan said.

Before heading to Washington, he vowed to take action.

“Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student – they’re going to be gone,” Duncan said.

But that’s not what happened under Duncan’s watch. Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote “battered students for several years” was simply given a “warning” by the Board of Education.

And another student was given “100 licks with a belt.” The abuse was substantiated, but the records show the teacher was not terminated.

Alderman Pat O’Connor is on the City Council Education Committee. He wants all these cases re-examined including the way Treveon Martin’s was handled.

“I’ll tell you what it is – it’s deplorable,” O’Connor said. “I really believe that the Board has dropped the ball in this instance.”

He says this information was never brought to the committee’s attention until now.

“You rely on them to follow the law, and clearly here, it doesn’t appear that they have,” O’Connor said.

There is a state law that bans corporal punishment. But as our 2 Investigators first exposed in September – students are being hit by coaches too. Paddles were confiscated, and CBS 2 exposed gym security tape at Simeon Career Academy showing a coach paddling volleyball players reportedly for missing serves.

Martin says the teacher injured him after he got into a scuffle with a classmate over an eraser.

“My back really hurted, and then at the end of the day, I had to go the hospital,” Martin said.

His mother, Courtney Smith, says he was taken by ambulance and treated for a contusion on his back. It is children around his age who appear to be most at risk. The 2 Investigators found the students with the most complaints are in kindergarten through 8th grade.

“He doesn’t have very much faith in anyone at his school,” Smith said.

“He hurt my feelings,” Martin said.

So why did it take over two months to look into Martin’s case? School officials say it’s because they have many cases to investigate. But just a few hours ago, an investigator determined the allegations against the teacher were unfounded. We are also told only two students were interviewed.

Incoming Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman is troubled by all these cases, including the case of Treveon Martin and promises to further review them, and that includes the process by which they are examined and investigated.

Alderman O’Connor is drafting a resolution and will bring our findings to the attention of the entire City Council this week.

Source: CBS2Chicago

Young Black Man for Gov of Alabama?

According to the Reports U.S. Rep. Artur Davis on Friday will declare his intention to seek the governorship of Alabama, sources close to the congressman confirm.
The much-anticipated announcement marks the most serious bid ever launched by a black candidate to win the top office in a state that still observes Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis’ birthdays but that also gave rise to the civil rights movement that ended Jim Crow.

Sources close to the campaign said Davis, 41, will announce his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for governor at a midday event Friday in Birmingham, which he represents in Congress, followed by a late-afternoon event in his native Montgomery. He’ll kick off his campaign outside the state’s Archives, within sight of the first White House of the Confederacy and the Alabama Capitol, where that Confederacy was born 148 years ago Wednesday.

Davis is the first Democrat to formally announce his candidacy for governor. Ron Sparks, Alabama’s commissioner of agriculture and industry, has said he is considering a run for governor in 2010. Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, a former governor and son of a former governor, has said he also is considering the race.

Among what is expected to be a crowded Republican slate of candidates to succeed Gov. Bob Riley, only Tim James of Greenville, son of former Gov. Fob James, has formally announced he is running.

But it has been a Davis run that has generated the most interest, especially in the wake of the country’s electing Barack Obama its first black president. He’ll be the second black person to run for governor — following Wayne Sowell’s bid a decade ago — but the first to be considered a serious contender.

The question now: Is Alabama ready to elect its first black governor?

Davis’ answer has been yes. Others are not so sure, although Obama’s win is causing some longtime pols to rethink their assumptions.

“I and a lot of other people felt Obama could not win the presidency when he began, but he did. Now, I’ve come to believe that almost anything is possible politically, including Davis winning the governor’s office,” said Paul Hubbert, vice chairman of the state’s Democratic Party and leader of the 100,000he 100,000
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

-member-plus Alabama Education Association, whose financial support and endorsement have long been critical for Democratic candidates.

Joe Turnham, chairman of the state’s Democratic Party, said he’s convinced Davis can win the nomination and a general election.

“Artur is an immensely talented and bright person who has a number of gifts,” Turnham said. “That said, he will have a lot of work to do, a lot of money to raise, and he has to introduce himself to a lot of people who don’t live in his congressional district and he will have to battle some talented Democrats to win the nomination.”

Rising star

Turnham said Davis is taking a risk in leaving Congress, where he is a rising star. His friendship with Obama — a Harvard Law School classmate who invited Davis to his White House Super Bowl party today — is likely to boost his reputation in Washington.

“Artur is taking a chance, but you can’t redefine history if you don’t try and that’s what he’s trying to do,” Turnham said.

GOP state chair Mike Hubbard calls Davis a “smart, articulate and likable guy” but a flawed candidate in a state like Alabama.

“I don’t think Artur Davis is electable in Alabama and it’s not because he’s black,” Hubbard said. “It’s because of his voting record — his liberal leanings and policies, his support for Barack Obama.”

William H. Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, said recent polls show a majority of Alabamians say they’re ready to vote for a black for governor. But Stewart points out that five of the last six races for governor were won by Republicans.

“Alabama is a conservative state, and the Republican Party is the conservative party, so any Democrat will have an uphill battle. But if that Democrat is black in a state with our racial history, well, you have to believe that battle is a little harder,” said Stewart.

Sources close to Davis said he well knows the state’s history, but he also knows that most of the recent gubernatorial races won by Republicans have been relatively close, and the dominant issue in the campaign will not be race, but the worsening condition of the state’s economy, the growing anxiety of voters and which candidate can best address those concerns.

Source: Alabama.com

How A Bucket of Chicken Saved A Life!!!

So tonight I decided to go to the city council meeting with Ronny Johnson from the Kids Can Campaign. On the way he stops at KFC and I’m thinking why this Kentucky Fried Chicken…They are also running out of you guessed it CHICKEN! How Can a KFC run out of Chicken? So Ronny orders his food and we sit down. About 10 minutes pass and a guy walks out of the bathroom and asks me if I work there. Of Course I give him a crazy look because I don’t have on a uniform. The next words out of his mouth is call 911, I’m having a heart-attack. So Ronny grabs his phone and I walk up to the counter and tell the girl to get a manager. The fire-truck pulled up, followed by the ambulance and they saved the man. The whole situation got me thinking what if I had not been there!

I guess Church is a lot like KFC, you can’t give up on it simply because some members sometimes run out of kindness or compassion. And just like me you might not have on a uniform but you can help save somebody’s life by you just being there!!!

Matthew 16:18Matthew 16:18
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Peter: this name signifies a rock  

– And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

By Kermit Williams

Pray for Our Youth- 10 year old hanging!!!

Young Black and Saved. Com is Asking that everyone prays for the family of Aquan Lewis, the 10 year old found hanging at school!!!

A 10-year-old boy found hanging in an Evanston school restroom had threatened to take his life, sources said today, underscoring experts’ warnings to take cries for help seriously even from the very young.
Scolded by a teacher, Aquan Lewis responded with a threat to kill himself the same day his body was discovered, said sources familiar with the investigation.

The 5th grader hanged himself Tuesday afternoon by his shirt collar on a hook in an Oakton Elementary School restroom stall where a footprint was found on a toilet, a source said.
Aquan of the 8600 block of Trumbull Avenue in Skokie died early Wednesday, hours after he was found unresponsive in the boys restroom. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled the death a suicide by hanging.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating, spokesman Kendall Marlowe said, adding the department had no prior contact with the family or the school.

Relatives, coaches and family friends struggled to make sense of the child’s death even as some questioned whether Aquan — a boy with a ready smile and a love for football — would take his life.

“My baby did not kill himself,” his mother, Angel Marshall, said as she left the school in tears Wednesday afternoon. “You all need to get in that school and look at that stall.”

The family hired an attorney to help obtain more information from authorities about how the death occurred.

Evanston police Cmdr. Tom Guenther described the matter as an ongoing “death investigation.”

It was unclear whether the teacher relayed the boy’s reported suicide threat to other school personnel. Evanston-Skokie School District 65 spokeswoman Pat Markham declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. All teachers and staff are trained annually in suicide, neglect and abuse prevention, she said.

Child advocates and mental health experts said Aquan’s death reaffirmed the need for school personnel to learn how to spot warning signs in children who may be contemplating suicide.

“This underscores the need for teachers and school administrators and anyone who works with kids to pay attention to what children tell them,” said Ronald Davidson, a faculty member in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s department of psychiatry.

Child suicides are “very rare” and do not usually occur in a public place like a school, said Dr. Paula Clayton of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Nationally, three dozen children between ages 9 and 11 committed suicide in 2005, the most recent data available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. None of those was in Illinois.

Oakton parent Tasha Oliver, 27, said she cannot understand how a 10-year-old could commit suicide without any warning signs.

“That’s actually scary, that he’s 10 and that would happen,” Oliver said as she waited outside the school for her three children.

Aquan had completed his first season of tackle football. At a little more than 80 pounds, he was assigned to the flyweights squad of Evanston Junior Wildkit Football. Coach Tracey Wallace put him on offense after Aquan kept asking to run the football.

He got his chance during the final home game against a Northbrook squad in October. He caught a pass and ran about 50 yards before he was tackled near the end zone. “He laid there for a minute. It wasn’t that he was injured, but he was so sad he didn’t score a touchdown,” Wallace said. “He had the potential . . . not only as a citizen, but as an athlete, he had the potential.”

Source: Chicago Breaking News

Jet And Ebony Hit by Ad Lose!!!

The time is now to support black businesses now more then ever. According to NBC Jet and Ebony are making tough choices!!!

The ranks of Ebony and Jet magazines have been shaken up, with cuts that include the elimination of the publications’ editorial director.
According to a report published Monday on the Web site for the Maynard Institute, an organization dedicated to diversity training in the news media, employees who were cut may be able to apply for new positions.

The company is “executing a multi-phase reorganization,” according to a statement, of which employees were notified last week.

The company, Johnson Publishing, ranked No. 1 on Crain’s 2008 list of Chicago’s largest minority-owned companies. With $453.3 million in revenue in 2007, the company beat out Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Inc.

But Ebony and Jet, which target the African-American community, have struggled amid a turbulent economy and declining print advertising sales throughout the media industry. Ebony’s ad sales dropped almost 19% to $14.9 million in 2008, according to Magazine Publishers of America data. Advertising revenue for Jet sank 41% to $5.7 million in 2008.

Source: NBC Chicago/Business

Jesus Lil Brother – Michael Jr

Everybody forgets the Jesus had a little brother? Comedian Michael Jr gives us the answer!!!

For More info:
http://www.youtube.com/user/THEMICHAELJRSHOW

Blacks Most Religious In the U.S.

African-Americans are the most religiously devout racial group in the nation when it comes to attending services, praying and believing that God exists, according to a recent profile.
Compared to the rest of the U.S. population, which is generally considered highly religious, African-Americans engage in religious activities more frequently and express higher levels of religious belief, Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life highlighted in a report released in time for Black History Month.

The center’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted in 2007 on more than 35,000 people, found that 79 percent of African-Americans say religion is very important in their lives while 56 percent of all U.S. adults said the same. Even among African-Americans who are unaffiliated with any particular faith, 45 percent of them say religion is very important compared to 16 percent of the religiously unaffiliated population overall.

Among the various racial and ethnic groups, African-Americans are the most likely to say they belong to a formal religious affiliation. An overwhelming 87 percent of African-Americans identify with a religious group, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Following close behind are Latinos, with 85 percent of its population associating with a religion. In comparison, 83 percent of the overall U.S. population report affiliation with a religion.

Nearly six out of ten African-Americans (59 percent) say they belong to a historically black Protestant church, according to the study. The next most popular affiliation is Evangelical Protestant churches (15 percent).

Slightly more than one out of ten (12 percent) say they are unaffiliated to a religious group.

In other noteworthy findings, African-Americans express greater comfort with religion’s role in politics than other racial and ethnic groups. The black community most closely resembles white evangelical Protestants, with about six in ten saying that churches should express their views on social and political issues.

But both African-Americans and white evangelicals say churches and other houses of worship should not endorse political candidates and there should be some restrictions on mixing politics and religious institutions.

When it comes to social issues, the African-American community is nearly split on abortion, with 49 percent favoring to keep abortion legal in most or all cases, and 44 percent wanting abortion to be illegal in most or all cases.

The African-American ratio is similar to that of the general public (51 percent vs. 42 percent).

On the issue of homosexuality, 41 percent of the black community thinks it should be accepted by society, while 46 percent say that homosexuality should be discouraged.

In comparison, the overall public is more open to accepting homosexuality (50 percent vs. 40 percent).

African-Americans belonging to evangelical churches are the most likely to say homosexuality should be discouraged by society (58 percent), while religiously unaffiliated African-Americans are least likely to discourage homosexuality (32 percent).

The Landscape survey shows that across all religious groups, at least two-thirds of African-Americans voice support for the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, less than half (47 percent) of the general U.S. population describes themselves as Democrats or leaning towards the Democratic Party. Slightly more than a third (35 percent) of the total population identify with the Republican Party.

Religious affiliation did not make a major impact on political party affiliation among African-Americans, the Pew Forum analysis shows.

Source: Christian Post

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