Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Private Screening

You are invited to a FREE PRIVATE SCREENING of Ben Stein’s upcoming, history-making film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Opening in theaters April 2008).

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed follows Ben Stein on his journey around the globe where he discovers that scientists, educators and philosophers are being persecuted in a modern day witch hunt because they dare to go against the theory of evolution. These pillars of education are being fired, ridiculed and ostracized for merely challenging Darwin’s theory; proposing that life on this planet could be a part of some intelligent design and not random chance.

This movie provides a rare opportunity to educate everyone on issues that deeply affect our families, schools, churches, courts and the progress of science and medicine. This film truly has the potential to have a positive impact on our society.

The private screening details are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Time: 7:00PM

Location: AMC Lowes Streets of Woodfield 20, 601 N. Martingale Rd., Suite 185, Schaumburg, IL 60173

RSVP: http://rsvp.getexpelled.com/events/special/expelled

Please let us know if you are able to attend. You can RSVP now and provide us with how many guests you’d like to bring with you to this screening.

Questions, please contact Jessica at: jessica@motivemarketing.biz / 310-721-7293Below I have included information about the film and some endorsements the film has already received. You can also learn more about the movie by visiting our EXPELLED Movie Resource site at: www.GetEXPELLED.com.

Thanks, and I hope you will be able to make it! This is a very important project!

Paul Lauer
CEO, Motive Entertainment

About the Movie
EXPELLED, starring Ben Stein, follows Ben’s heroic and shocking journey in which he discovers that students, educators and scientists are being ridiculed, and even fired – for the “crime” of merely believing that there is Evidence of “Design” in Creation (God), and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance.

EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, is already receiving National News Coverage
(Click to view articles – ABC News, New York Times, O’Reilly Factor, Christian Post, Variety, Access Research Network).

EXPELLED exposes Darwin elitists who suppress all who disagree with them – even scientists (yes, SCIENTISTS) whose new EVIDENCE erodes Darwin’s claims. This film will allow you to:

Learn about new scientific evidence that invalidates some of Darwin’s claims
Hear from scientists who are being SILENCED for those discoveries
Learn how to DEFEND your belief in God based on SCIENTIFIC evidence
Learn what can and cannot be taught in schools and how that is CHANGING nationwide

For more information about the movie and to see the movie trailer, visit: www.GetEXPELLED.com

What People Are Saying

See all endorsements by visiting: www.GetExpelled.com/quotes.php

“I recommend the film enthusiastically! Ben Stein’s film exposes an entrenched and aggressive Darwinist establishment in academia that suffocates all competing points of view. What Ben Stein discovers in this riveting documentary is incredibly enlightening.” - James C. Dobson, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board, Focus on the Family

“What Ben Stein is doing in this film is extremely important by opening up an honest debate in the public square where people can hear reasoned arguments on both sides and make their own conclusions. I love Ben Stein” - Chuck Colson, Radio Commentator, Founder of Prison Fellowship

“We highly recommend the movie to anybody. It is not only informative and challenging—it is fun to watch. Ben Stein’s interviews with avowed atheists, is well done as he elicits responses that leave grave doubt regarding their position of absolute disbelief in a creator and/or God”. - Ken Smitherman, President, Association of Christian Schools International

“EXPELLED is an engaging film. Ben Stein has given us a powerful documentary about the widespread repression of faith-friendly scientific scholarship. Along the way, he also makes a strong case for a return to civil discourse in a time when political correctness often overshadows the search for truth”. - Ronald D. Ellis, Ph.D., President, California Baptist University

“We are seeing the consequences of locking matters of faith out of our classrooms. We applaud Ben Stein for casting light on today's challenges to academic freedom.”- Luis Palau, President, Luis Palau Association

“Propaganda molds minds in a very direct way and that is the logjam in this situation, which the Ben Stein movie, EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, seeks to break through. I wish it well – I hope under God it will have a great effect just at that point.”. -Dr J.I. Packer, theologian

If you seek intellectual integrity, see EXPELLED. If you enjoy thought-provoking conversation, bring a friend. If you value free speech, tell everyone you know to meet you at the movies and spend an alarming evening with Ben Stein. EXPELLED could easily be one of the most important movies of the year." - Denny Rydberg, President, Young Life

“The movie is powerful...shocking....intense....humorous at times....well worth seeing. This message must be given to the next generation or else....” - Jack Brown, CEO, Capitol Prayer

“If the Ben Stein movie is asking these questions and if somebody is keeping us from finding out the great answers to the great questions - then maybe they are more than just questions. Maybe they are questions with eternal consequences.” - Peter Furler, lead singer, The Newsboys

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Friday, March 07, 2008

Prayer Hits Chicagoland Offices

Ministry offers prayers on the go

Christian group sees house of worship in a company's office and on the street

By Denise Linke |Special to the Tribune

March 7, 2008

The basement meeting room at Park National Bank in downtown Geneva looks nothing like a church, and the eight people gathered there were dressed in business casual, not their Sunday best.

But when they got down to the work of praying for the "tri-cities" of St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia on a recent Tuesday, the room rang with religious fervor.

Half clergy, half secular businesspeople, a group called Tri-Cities Pray has met at the bank every second and fourth Tuesday since Jan. 15 asking God to guide residents' thoughts and actions as they work, educate and raise their families. On alternate weeks, Tri-Cities Pray hits the road, cruising through the communities and asking God's blessing for every home, school, bridge and business they pass.

"I've seen marketplace ministries in Argentina, Florida and Minnesota, and I know they can have a wonderful effect on the communities they serve. We want to bring that blessing to the Tri-Cities," said Tri-Cities Pray founder Bob Troendly, a retired Batavia factory owner who now lives in Geneva.

The group is the latest example of a new paradigm for Christian worship called "marketplace ministry," which uses prayer to spread Christian principles from the church into public institutions such as businesses, schools and local governments.

On this day, members prayed for the general health and safety of the communities, for the Batavia Police Department, which has had two officers commit suicide in the last year and for victims of the Northern Illinois University shootings. They also gave thanks that the Geneva High School choir had returned safely after performing at Disney World.

"There's so much to pray for here, it could be hard to keep up," Troendly said.

Occasionally business owners invite the group onto the premises, as did Joseph Slawek, chief executive officer of Flavors of North American.

"I'm very grateful these people took the time and effort to invite God into my company and pray for our success," he said. "I personally believe church has to be more than a Sunday-morning sermon, so I think it's great that they want to help people bring God into their workdays. A lot of life happens during the week. Why not ask God for help with it?"

Other local business owners' reactions to the concept ranged from enthusiastic to politely skeptical.

"I don't see how it would help, but it can't hurt," said Sharon Harwick, owner of Fabric Boutique in Batavia.

Tri-Cities Pray members hope more community leaders will get involved, especially school and civic officials.

"We're certainly not going to force ourselves on schools. We're not going to walk into a school and pray there during the school day," said group member Tony Danhelka, president of Riverwoods Christian Center in St. Charles.

"But we hope leaders in Districts 101, 303 and 304 will join us in prayer, tell us what issues they'd like us to pray for and invite us to hold community prayer meetings in their school buildings after classes," he said.

Any community group can meet in Batavia's public schools after school hours as long as space is available and the school principal consents, said District 101 Board of Education member Kristin Behmer. But board members and administrators are unlikely to join them, except as private individuals.

"We have a responsibility to the district and its students to not favor any religion over any other," Behmer said. "You can teach students about religion to a certain degree, but you can't follow any particular religion as a representative of the district."

At least one city official is applauding the group's goals.

"The idea of community members coming together to pray for the community sounds fine to me," said Batavia Ald. Victor Dietz (2nd). "I think the Tri-Cities could use some prayers. ... We open all our City Council meetings with an invocation, and we have prayed as a public body in times of grief or crisis. As long as no one forces people to participate, I don't see a problem with it."

Rabbi Jonathan Cohn of Temple Kneseth Israel in Elgin said that although praying for all residents to be guided by a Christian God is somewhat presumptuous, he has nothing against Tri-Cities Pray's efforts.

"Every religion is presumptuous in one respect or another, and evangelism is not alien to mainstream Christianity," said Cohn. "What they're doing is within their own covenant, so it will be effective only within their covenant. God bless them; I hope it works out for them."

In Elgin and Aurora, a similar initiative encourages priests and pastors of local churches to work together on charitable projects and prayer groups to benefit their communities. The Loving Our Communities to Christ program is sponsored by the evangelical group Mission America Coalition.

"We're trying to bring about a catalytic culture change in churches and communities, helping leaders who don't normally work together to focus on loving God by loving their neighbors," said program coordinator Phil Miglioratti of Palatine.

"Civic leaders are coming to realize that prayer groups have something to offer their communities," he said, "and that's going to happen in the Tri-Cities."

Danhelka said it's possible Tri-Cities Pray would become part of that initiative in the future. "The beauty of this group is that we've given God a blank piece of paper and said, 'Tell us what you want us to do,'" he said.

For now, Tri-Cities Pray is focusing on bringing more lay Christians into the group.

"When I was looking for someplace for us to meet, I purposely picked this spot because it's not a church," Troendly said. "Since so many people no longer go to church, we're trying to bring God to them where they work."
----------
For more on Tri-Cities Pray, contact Troendly atrtroendly@aol.com or Danhelka at tony@riverwoodschristiancenter.org.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Chicago Prays for Hollywood

There is a call for prayer and intercession. As you know Christian Artists Network is the Illinois Chapter for Hollywood Prayer Network. HPN is going to be praying for Hollywood every first Friday of the month beginning Friday, March 7Th. They are asking for Intercessors to commit to 30minutes to an hour of prayer every first Friday of the month. Attached you'll find specific prayer requests for each month. However, you may also include other requests as they come to mind. In addition, we would also like to hear praise reports and/or impressions received afterwards.

Please email with your name and a chosen time slot between 12:00AM and 11:30PM , Friday March 7Th ASAP. Also please indicate whether you would like to retain this time slot for the following months. You will then only receive the monthly prayer requests. I apologize for the late notice. This is a global project and we want to make sure that every minute is covered in prayer for 24hours.

Christian Artists Network was founded on prayer and that will always be our foundation.

Thank you so much for your faithfulness.

Yours in Service,

Allen D. Edge, Board Chairman

Christian Artists Network, HPN-Illinois Chapter

From: Hollywood Prayer Network

Thank you so much for joining us in praying for Hollywood the FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH. Know that while you’re praying, we’re having Studio Prayer Walks here and setting the day aside for prayer and fasting right here in Hollywood. Joining us means SOOOO much and we look forward to what the Lord has in store.

Here are TEN you can start praying for our mission field:

• Please pray for the professionals in Hollywood who don’t know the Lord. Ask that God would fill them up with His love, peace, sense of identity, value and joy. They are only one miracle away from having a vital faith in Jesus.

• Pray that the Hollywood professionals are protected from growing tired or discouraged as they face negative challenges in this industry.

• Pray for the Christians in Hollywood to be solid in their faith, to be salt and light to those co-workers around them and for them to see their workplace as a mission field – the world’s most influential mission field.

• Pray that the Christians get along with the other Christians. We need to love one another FIRST and then that love for each other will be contagious to the non-believers as they see our commitment to our community.

• Pray that the Lord would provide a building for the Christian ministries here in Hollywood where there can be a place for people to come get connected, and receive prayer and encouragement.

• Pray that the Christians will ask for wisdom and for depth of insight so they can pray with discernment for the decision-makers in the entertainment industry. Let the Christians get to know their co-workers and friends so well that they can pray with depth and wisdom for them.

• Please pray that God will protect the Christians and non-Christians from envy and selfish ambition. Pray for the affluent ones from becoming arrogant and that they will be generous and want to help others who are struggling.

• Pray for the celebrities who are struggling to survive and have lost their foundation – especially Britney and Jamie Spears. They need the Lord to give them stability and balance in their live, which are now out of control.

• Pray that the Christians on the outside of Hollywood will not hate the professionals here, that they won’t boycott us and our products, but they would pray for the people, the projects and the decisions being made. Prayers are much more powerful than hate letters and boycotts!

• Pray for REVIVAL in Hollywood!

Thank you so much. We’ll send you more ways to pray next month. And remember:

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” I Chronicles 7:14

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Get BURNed, CHICAGO

The Prayer Furnace of Chicago has teamed up with The Burn 24-7 to inaugurate Burn Chicago March 21st-22nd.

Twenty-four solid hours of worship/intercession led by teams from area churches. Sean Feucht of The Burn 24-7 will present the vision and model at 7:30 p.m., Friday. Come and join us as we proclaim God's worth together and cry out for our city and the nations.

For more details, see our website at http://theburn247.com/chicago.

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Friday, February 22, 2008

Serving Leads to Open Doors

Recently I received a call from the Lake County Health Department asking if "the Church" would be interested in helping teach abstinence in the public schools through a federal grant. The reason they called us is because they have noticed the church giving itself away over the past few years during ShareFest activities. Previous fear of the church is being replaced by trust.

Sincerely,

Bill Yaccino
Director, Catalyst

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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

12 Key Indicators of a Transformed City

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Get Missional

MISSION ON YOUR DOORSTEP 2008

Multi-Church Collaborative Cross-Cultural Ministry Conference

Friday, February 29^th 6:30-9pm AND Saturday, March 1^st 8:00-5pm @ Wheaton Bible Church

PURPOSE

To impart vision, skills, and knowledge for cross-cultural outreach to the foreign-born
To engage and equip church leaders for strengthening and leading cross-cultural missional outreach
To strengthen the multi-church movement focused on the foreign-born in DuPage County

OUTCOMES

For individuals to leave with tangible next steps in ministry to the foreign born
For church leaders to leave with inspiration, tools, and planning ideas to take back to their churches

AUDIENCE

Ø Cultural Americans seeking to cross cultures

Ø Church Leaders seeking to lead their churches in cross-cultural, missional outreach

Ø 300 people; 40-50 church leaders, pastors & lay

CONFERENCE TRACKS

1) Cross-Cultural

2) Community Development

3) Ethnic/Religious Group Specific

4) Church Leaders

For a list of key note/workshop speakers & session titles, as well as directions and registration information, please go to: www.wheatonbible.org/On_Your_Doorstep

See you there!
Damon
_______________________________________

Damon Schroeder
Facilitator – Cross-Cultural Mission Consortium of DuPage County
Chairperson – Mission Leadership Network
U.S. Partnership Director – World Relief
(630) 776-4962

Saturday, January 26, 2008

A Fellowship for Transformation

Starting Tuesday, January 22nd, we will be holding a weekly prayer & sharing meeting asking the Lord to bring Transformation to the Chicagoland area. The meeting will be held every Tuesday morning from 9:00 am to 11:00 am at Rolling Meadows Community Church, 2720 Kirchoff Rd. in Rolling Meadows. As you pull into the Church parking lot, use the southeast entrance and walk down the hallway to Room 111. Please come and of course spread the word. Let's continue to expect the Lord to have mercy on us and bring about His purposes throughout Chicagoland.

Hope to see you.

In His Joy,
Joe Manahan
jcmanahan@comcast.net

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Chicagoland Conference Addresses Outreach and Volunteers

Sr. Pastors Survey: What We Need The Most

Catalyst sent a survey to dozens of senior pastors asking them what they felt were the most pressing needs in their church.

The results showed that without exception, outreach/evangelism and volunteer recruitment/team building ranked as areas they wanted to see improve. Catalyst will intentionally and strategically address these areas of concern through learning communities offered during our "Bonfire" Gatherings.

Plan on bringing your whole team to our February 22 Gathering to attend the following Breakout Workshops:

1. Senior Pastors Huddle

Led by Pastor Scott Chapman, The Chapel

2. Engaging Spiritual Seekers in Life-Changing Conversations

Led by Garry Poole, Willow Creek Community Church

3. What Every Leader Needs to Know About Volunteers

Led by Dick Loizeaux, Church Health and Growth Consultant

4. Best Practices for Building a Prayer Focus in Your Church

Led by Debbie Stackhouse, Director of Renewal, Catalyst

5. 7 Keys to Email Marketing for Your Church

Led by Steve Robinson, Regional Director, Constant Contact

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Change the Public School Culture

.
Join the movement to spark Bible Clubs in public schools throughout Chicago.

This one day training will have two tracks- one for youth ministers and one for high school youth.

Being brought to you by: Urban Youth Network, Brothers & Sisters United for Christ, The Fusion, Exodus 20:13 and the Save Your Sex Movement.

Saturday, January 19th 9:30am-1:00pm.

Network with other youth and youth workers over lunch. Bring $5 for lunch or be one of the first 100 attendees to register and eat for free. Hosted at District Office of the Church of the Nazarene- 1111 N. Wells.

Print off the attached PDF to promote amongst your youth and networks of youth ministers.

Grace and Peace, Brian Dye
www.visionnehemiah.org
www.myspace.com/briandye
www.briandye.blog.com

Sent to us by
JP Paulus
Networking Chicago & beyond...
312-282-2809 = cell / 773-783-3970 = landline
jp (at) 1chicago.net

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

2008 Congress on Urban Ministry

SCUPE’s CityVoices

Plans Race Ahead for
2008 Congress on Urban Ministry

Make your plans now to attend SCUPE’s 2008 Congress on Urban Ministry – April 15-18, 2008 at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church. This biennial event will bring hundreds of urban leaders together around the purposes of creating redemptive communities and instilling prophetic imagination in their work.

Co-chairs of the Congress are Dr. John Kinney, Dean of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University and Dr. Mary Nelson, Founding Director of Bethel New Life in Chicago. John Kinney brings a prophetic presence as well as preaching expertise to the Congress. Mary Nelson brings her own brand of energy developed through years of community organizing and development.

Other plenary speakers for the Congress include:

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) in Los Angeles
Dr. Anthony Weston, Professor at Elon University in North Carolina, and author of “How to Re-imagine the World”
Dr. Grace Lee Boggs, Detroit activist, writer and speaker
Rev. Young Lee Hertig, Southern California Regional Director, Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC)
Dr. David Frenchak, President, Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE)

An added feature for the 2008 Congress will be the Community Transformation Research Summit, meeting in conjunction with the Congress on Urban Ministry. The Community Transformation Research Summit is spearheaded by a steering committee including Michael Mata of World Vision and Heidi Unruh of Evangelicals for Social Action. The purpose of the summit is to bring together urban practitioners and researchers to learn how to assess and improve the impact of Christian community ministries through participatory research. For further information on the Community Transformation Research Summit, contact Michael Mata(mmata@worldvision.org) or Marge Berman(mpbermann@earthlink.net) at World Vision, 3055 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1030, Los Angeles, CA 90010, Ph: (213)351-1320.

General registration for the Congress on Urban Ministry will begin in mid-January. You’ll be able to register both online at the SCUPE website (www.scupe.com) or through a printed registration brochure that will be sent to you next month.

For further information about SCUPE, or CityVoices newsletter, contact:
SCUPE’s CityVoices
200 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 502, Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 726-1200 phone / (312) 726-0425 fax
roger@scupe.com
Copyright 2007 SCUPE, Chicago, Illinois

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Lake County ~ 72 Congregations / 51 Senior Pastors

Nearly 400 of us gathered "around the bonfire" two weeks ago at our fourth annual Catalyst Forum at Trinity University in Deerfield. It was an incredible time to "warm our hands", cast vision for unity, and tell stories of God's goodness as we take steps together. [Listen to the Audio] 72 churches, 51 senior pastors, over 200 church staff, and dozens of local community leaders gathered with the common understanding that we can do so much more together than we can do individually. [Online Photo Album]

As we approach the close of 2007, I urge you to prayerfully consider how you and/or your church can actively partner with fellow "revolutionaries" in 2008. Strategically decide right now to be a part of one or more Catalyst initiatives - not merely as "add on" events to your churches calendar, but focused efforts that help you move with God as He moves us.

Here are several key ways to do that:

Attend your District Gathering this week
Bring your whole staff and leadership team to pray with and for the county at the January When We Pray Gathering in Lake Zurich. WWP is our corporate time of dependence on God.
Decide now to be a ShareFest 2008 church - email byaccino@catalystweb.org
Mark your calendar for February 15th when Pastor James Meeks from Salem Baptist Church in Chicago will be with us at our next Catalyst All-County "Bonfire" Gathering.

One additional request would be for you to prayerfully consider becoming financial partners with us. We long to become more helpful to churches in our community and your gift(s) will be used to brag on God's goodness through the Church of Northern Chicagoland!

Serving Together,

Bill Yaccino, Executive Director, Catalyst

www.catalystweb.org

Sunday, December 02, 2007

reStart ~ A New Strategy in Chicago Church Planting

...An amazing story of New Life Community, Pastor Mark Jobe and what their church has done to partner with dying churches in urban Chicago. I’m inspired and excited…..this needs to be what is happening in all of our city centers. Mark had this video produced because he gets contacted weekly by churches in Chicago who are calling to find out if he’ll come and share this vision with their deacons and elder boards. AMAZING!!!!

http://sundaytown.com/media/restart/

Kyle Thompson
www.SermonCinema.org
www.ResonateFilms.com

o.918.695.8055 / c.405.513.1178

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Take a Stand - Boycott "The Golden Compass"

Church of Scotland Rejects 'Golden Compass' Boycott Calls
The Church of Scotland is going against the tide of opposition to the soon-to-be-released movie “The Golden Compass“ by rejecting calls for its boycott and saying it is instead "looking forward to a major cinematic event this ...

Saturday, November 03, 2007

A Call to Pray for the Muslim World

A Call to Pray for the Muslim World
Saturday, November 10, 2007
9:00am - 12:00pm

Billy Graham Center
Barrows Auditorium
Wheaton College

"Join us as we pray for the one true God to reveal himself to Muslims in Chicago and around the world so that they may come to faith in Jesus Christ."

Questions? Contact the Billy Graham Center Muslim Ministries Department:
mikeurton@netzero.net or call 630-752-5279. Please RSVP by November 7.

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Monday, October 22, 2007

Prayer! AMERICA'S Strength & Shield !

Hear Today's Radio Message
Hymn Writers, Be Thou My Vision


Watch this video to capture the vision of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. Watch Video >>

Monday, October 15, 2007

Caring in Lake County

Loaves & Fishes will be at The Pointe in October and Fellowship of Faith in November. Willow Creek McHenry County will be sponsoring the mobile food truck distribution for December. There will also be an unadvertised coat drive during the October distribution, so please start gathering coats, hats, gloves, and other cold weather wear at your church, business, etc............and clean out those closets!! More details to follow soon about where to drop off all your donations.

DATE: Saturday, OCTOBER 27, 2007
TIME: 10 a.m. – 12 noon
LOCATION: The Pointe Outreach Center (next to Target in Crystal Lake)

DATE: Saturday, NOVEMBER 17, 2007
TIME: 10 a.m. – 12 noon
LOCATION: Fellowship of Faith Lutheran Church (north on Walkup; left at Mason Hill Road)

Chicago Youth - "Save Your Sex"

Dwayne invited you to "Save Your Sex Summit" on Sunday,
November 11 at 6:00pm.

Event: Save Your Sex Summit
"Featuring Josh McDowell and Tedashii"
What: Rally
Host: www.SaveYourSex.com
When: Sunday, November 11 at 6:00pm
Where: New Life Community Church -- Midway

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=4934667349

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Monday, October 01, 2007

One Church ~ Fan the Flame

2007 Forum Gathering

Catalyst of Lake County
DATE: Friday, November 16th

TIME: 8:30am-12:30pm

LOCATION: Trinity International University, Deerfield

MORE: [Click Here]

REGISTER: [Click Here]

There is no charge for this event. It is a gift to the leaders and volunteers in our community.

Building Relationships on Chicago’s Southwest Side

SCUPE’s CityVoices

A resource of the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education

Maranatha Assembly – Building Relationships on Chicago’s Southwest Side

(Rev. Larry Peak is a pastor of Maranatha Assembly of God located in the midst of Chicago’s southwest side Gage Park and Chicago Lawn communities. The old Lithuanian business district near 59^thand Kedzie has seen lots of changes in the past 20 years, becoming predominantly Mexican with lots of renovated and new housing. Founded in the mid-1980s, Maranatha’s future remains missions-focused.)

Q. - What are the changes that you see happening during the last five years in your Gage Park / Chicago Lawn community?

Economically, everything is going well. The last few years have seen a property boom around here with our proximity to Midway Airport. Home ownership has become increasingly Hispanic. Population has gone from 55 percent ethnic Anglo in the 1980s to nearly 80 percent Hispanic today (primarily Mexican).

Q. - Maranatha Assembly has a big outreach to homeless people. Where does that come from?

We just started that four years ago. The first Sunday of each month is a “friends and family Sunday.” We set up dining tables and a buffet line in the church. We eat first, have fellowship and then church follows. We’ll get more than 30 homeless people coming for those “friends and family Sundays.” Then we also offer a good meal for homeless people each Friday evening at the church.

Everything we do has to be community-oriented and relationship-oriented...We want to establish redemptive relationships with people that will point them to Christ.

Q. - How are you responding to the majority of Latino people in your community?

We just started a Spanish service at 6:00 pm on Sundays. We’ve had over 30 people the last three weeks. It’s not a separate church, it’s part of Maranatha Assembly. I preach in English, and someone translates my sermon into Spanish. We’ll do it that way until God raises somebody up from right within the congregation to preach and lead the entire service in Spanish.

Q. - Dream ahead. How do you envision the future for your church and community in the next five or ten years?

Our church has turned around in the five years I’ve been here. We’ve gone from 30 people then, to about 100 now on Sunday mornings. God established our church here in 1986 with a specific vision, and we’ve worked to rediscover that vision in recent years. I don’t believe God changes his vision, though there may be different methods on how to get to those goals. Everything we do has to be community-oriented and relationship-oriented. I don’t believe that old evangelism methods work anymore. You don’t go door-to-door anymore where people are resistant to that. We want to establish redemptive relationships with people that will point them to Christ.

Q. - As an Assemblies of God congregation, what gifts do you bring that enable you to really minister to this community?

Worship at our church is lively and exuberant, and that lends itself to a Hispanic culture. People enjoy our style. We believe in the gifts of the Spirit – signs and wonders. We hear people who respond to our message say, “This is what we’ve been looking for.” If we’re going to reach our community, it’s going to happen one-by-one – through relationships.

One of the incredible things God can do at Maranatha is to provide the mix of ethnic groups. Even though our church is about 70 percent Hispanic, about 20 percent of our people are African American and others are white. On Sundays, we’ve got a big mix of people who are getting used to worshipping together in a multicultural setting. This is happening as the result of building personal and spiritual relationships with two African American men. Right now there’s the potential for more African Americans coming to our church, even though our community is primarily Hispanic.

Contact: Pastor Larry Peak, Maranatha Assembly of God, 3542 W. 59^th Street, Chicago, IL 60629, (773) 505-8550, maranathaaog@yahoo.com

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