Yes We Did: LifeWay Launches National "I Matter" Movement

/24-7/ -- LifeWay Christian Resources announces the launch of their national "I Matter" movement, which intends to initiate a positive dialogue about the worth in all of God's people. "This is really more than an ad campaign," says Dawn Cornelius, Marketing Strategist for International and Ethnic Markets. "It's a movement based on God's Word that says every person has value, worth, and a purpose."

The initial Web campaign for women will eventually launch into multiple phases for men and families through various touch points. African-American churches are the target audience, but the campaign will be inclusive to everyone who wants to join the conversation about being empowered to live for Christ.

Cornelius explains, "We are introducing the 'I Matter' campaign to the Black community with a 'no stone left unturned' marketing effort. We want the entire community to become engaged in this movement around why people matter. We launched this campaign to celebrate the uniqueness and worth of every person, and it will intentionally foster positive images that celebrate and empower people of many races and backgrounds so that everyone understands the intrinsic worth, purpose, and value that they have in God."

With no specific time constraints, the movement will be a sustained, disciplined marketing effort driven by people sharing their stories and ideas with others on the Web, in conferences, and through their own communities. Along the way, LifeWay will offer guidance to those searching for products, resources, and events to support them in their various roles of ministry to others. People are invited to submit stories online and to create videos that will become part of the national campaign.

Key campaign components will include:
• A dedicated "I Matter" Web site
• A multi-city road show as part of exhibits starting in June 2009
• Videos celebrating why people matter
• An outlet for others to voice why they matter
• Suggested resources to support and equip
• A credo to enable women, men, and families to begin their own conversations in their communities

Cornelius sums up the importance: "This comes at a time when so many people are talking about the importance of Blacks in this country and the amazing struggles that we have overcome as a people. We have so much to celebrate. We have so much to thank God for, but we have so much to share in common with all people because of our identity in Christ."

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Making Time for Prayer and Religious Dialogue Top New Year's Resolution Lists

/PRNewswire/ -- The year 2009 will mark a significant return to personal prayer and religious dialogue, according to Dr. Aliza Lavie, a political science professor at Bar-Ilan University and currently a Research Associate at The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.

Lavie's fields of research include gender, public communications and multiculturalism, and she scoured historical archives and private collections to uncover the forgotten manuscripts and human stories that she presents in A Jewish Woman's Prayer Book, published by Spiegel & Grau/Random House earlier this month.

"What I have discovered in the past few weeks is most remarkable. Throughout the diverse communities and movements that I have visited in the United States - religious cultural and political organizations, student groups, mid-life professionals, the aged - in every place there is interest in the power of prayer and in the development of religious dialogue."

Dr. Lavie notes that her contacts and observations extend far beyond the Jewish community and include Christians, Muslims and people who choose not to categorize their faith.

Prayer as a mosaic of communication and knowledge that is continually growing in real time.

"At Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York, at the JCC in Milwaukee, and at an event in Buffalo, I met women who recognized some of the prayers from a particular 19th-century Czech book of prayers which I had included in A Jewish Woman's Prayer Book. I have not encountered Jewish Czech women in Israel or Europe who remembered those prayers. For other parts of the Jewish nation, this knowledge and this connection was burnt in Auschwitz."

Confessing to prayer

Lavie notes that people who say they haven't read the Bible and never prayed before now "confess" to more than introspection and meditation: they report thinking about and talking to their Creator. "They keep journals, they talk to God while they're driving, they open their mouths and ask for help. Perhaps even more surprising, people report having conversations with others about God."

"They are not new for people," Lavie says of the prayers in her book. "Even though people haven't actually heard or read them before, they've had them in the back of their memory. They have them in their blood."

Making time for diet, exercise, more family time and prayer

"Of course I hear many people saying they hope this year they'll stick to their diet; Others are resolving to refrain from texting in the car and promising to keep to the minutes in their cell phone plans. Maybe it's because people associate me with prayer and so this is what they tell me, but I also hear people saying they plan to keep in touch with God this year. And when they say something like 'please, God' about those other resolutions it sounds like their diet, exercise and cell phone resolve might stick."

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Writer's Workshop November 18 in Fayette County

The Legacy Equipping Center is happy to announce a Writer's Workshop open to the community on Tuesday, November 18 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Suggested donation fee: $25

Is there a writer within that wants to come out? Have you ever thought about keeping a journal? Is God speaking to you through your writing? Do you have ideas for articles or books but do not know how to begin? Has God given you a yearning to express your faith and spread the Gospel through the written word? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this class is for you!!

Dr. Penny Saurino, Asst. Professor at the University of West Georgia and co-founder and Tech Liason of the Cherokee Rose Writing Project will be joining Tammy Melton, author of Loving God With All Five Senses in teaching this course.

The Legacy Equipping Center is located at 1952 Hwy 54 W, Suite 100, Fayetteville, (2 1/2 blocks east of Publix in Peachtree City).

To RSVP or for more info call 404-643-9042.

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Christ Our Shepherd to Observe God and Country Weekend July 5-6

Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church will observe God and Country Weekend July 5-6. Readers at the services will be active duty military personnel Bill Carter, Irene Glaeser and Bruce Ladman, and retired service people Crystal Balthrop, Mavis Compagno and Randy Gaddo.

Guest preacher will be Commander Patrick McLaughlin, a navy chaplain who has just returned from his second tour in Iraq. Earlier in his career he was chaplain at Presidential Retreat Camp David. His book, “No Atheists in Foxholes: Prayers and Reflections from the Front,” is newly published. Chaplain McLaughlin will talk about his experiences during Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. in the sanctuary. Services are at 7:00 Saturday evening and at 8:30 and 11:00 (two services at this hour) Sunday morning.

Lovelink Mission Continues in El Salvador

What do you say when you are looking at over 350 prison hardened gang members?  Sam Hawkins, founder of Lovelink, says the first thing that pops into his heart. "I love you, and you, and you."  Such was the scene at one of El Salvador's prisons last fall.

Hawkins answered the call with other missionaries to start a new prison ministry in the Central American country.

Hawkins said, "I'm always looking for more challenges to serve the Lord.  It broke my heart to see these boys, some as young as 16 who are in prison because they joined a gang. They wanted to belong to a family."

The day of Hawkins first visit to the prison, which houses the meanest gangs in El Salvador, was also the day a prison lock down occurred. The prison officials had received word of a riot that was planned inside the prison. The prison directors did not want the missionaries to enter.

After Hawkins and the other missionaries finally received permission to continue and had passed through several checkpoints, the last guard, who had fear etched onto his face. said, "I won't be responsible."

The missionaries, accompanied by ex-gang members who have since given 
their lives to God, entered the block where more than 350 gang members waited for them. Hawkins recalled the massive intensity of the hostility he felt. He recounted that he "walked with the authority and in the Spirit of the Lord."

"I love you," he said as he looked into the prisoners' lonely eyes. These men all know the power of the law and of judgement. They watched and listened as Hawkins continued, "I love you. Who is this white haired man standing in front of you? I have white hair. I'll be your grandfather, your family."

Hawkins and the other missionaries had to then explain how it was they could love these men through Christ.

The prisoners who have found forgiveness and the Lord are mighty worshippers. They raise their tatoo filled hands, sing songs and praise God as the tears course down their faces. They understand judgement. They understand forgiveness.

Hawkins continues to cross the line in faith and find what he knows. God will always provide for him when he does.

The First Presbyterian Church in Peachtree City is sponsoring a mission trip to Lovelink in El Salvador in February.