Providence Baptist Church-Hendersonville Calls Their Second Female Pastor

Thanks to Looking4God's tweet on Twitter for the heads up:

Religion Notes
Published: Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 8:58 p.m.

Lee called as pastor at Providence Baptist

Providence Baptist Church, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregation, voted unanimously May 3 to call Julie Merritt Lee as pastor. Lee, who will assume her pastoral duties following the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in July, is the church’s second woman pastor.

The Rev. Gail Coulter was assistant pastor at First Baptist Church in Asheville before becoming Providence’s first pastor in 2002. In addition to being the church’s pastor, Coulter also served a term as Cooperative Baptist Fellowship moderator before retiring from the pastorate in 2008.

Lee, a 2005 graduate of Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, currently works as a pastoral resident at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. Wilshire began its residency program in 2002 for the purpose of preparing future ministers for moderate Baptist churches.

Providence Baptist Church, 1201 Oakland St., Hendersonville, was featured in the lead article in this week’s Associated Baptist Press e-newsletter.

Brueggemann to be lecture series speaker

The Rev. Walter Brueggemann, the first speaker in the semi-annual Walter E. Ashley Memorial Lecture Series of 2009, will be featured at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, and 3 p.m. Sunday, June 7, at Hendersonville First Congregational United Church of Christ, Fifth Avenue West at White Pine Drive. A world-renowned Old Testament scholar and author, as well as a United Church of Christ minister, Brueggemann will be speaking on “The Psalms: Singing Trust and Telling Truth,” with each of the three lectures being a different aspect of that topic.

The June 6 topic at 10 a.m. is “Hard Road from Obedience to Praise.” The 2 p.m. topic is “Faith in the Depths.” The June 7 topic at 3 p.m. is “Faith as Gift and Impossibility.” The sermon’s title at the 11 a.m. service is “Being Present When the Will Is Read.”

Tickets to each lecture may be purchased in advance for $10 at the Main Street Visitor Center, Malaprops in Asheville, Highland Books in Brevard and at the church. If available at the door, tickets will be $20.

Scholarships available for conference
Montreat Conference Center has announced the availability of scholarship funds for “Faith and Environment: Embracing God’s Call to Be Green.” Scheduled for July 7-11, it is a new conference at Montreat.

Located on 4,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, 2,500 of which are protected wilderness, Montreat Conference Center is a picturesque setting for this national gathering of environmentalists and all who share a sense of responsibility for the well-being of creation. The program includes keynote lectures, worship and a variety of workshop on topics ranging from stream ecology to photography and facility greening to global hunger.

For more information about the conference, to register online and to apply for scholarships, visit www.montreat.org/current/2009-faith-and-environment.

Compiled by the Times-News staff.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.

Belated Congratulations to Rev. Lee, may she serve her congregation well!

Celtophobia/Discrimination Towards The Irish Still Alive Today

This article comes by way of The Independent an Irish newspaper:

'No Irish need apply' - Polish builders get their own back
By Brian McDonald

Friday January 02 2009

'NO Irish need apply' - the signs are already going up on building sites abroad in a throwback to the grim days of the the last century. But this time they are starting to appear in Poland as that country takes its revenge for the way in which some unscrupulous Irish contractors treated their countrymen during the years of the Celtic Tiger. Trade union official Michael Kilcoyne - also president of the Consumers Association of Ireland - said it had recently been brought to his attention that the 'No Irish' signs had appeared on a couple of Polish building sites where workers were being sought. Mr Kilcoyne said: "The reality is that our international reputation as employers has been sullied. Many foreign people who have worked here, especially during our boom years, have had bad experiences. "The evidence of this is in the number of cases taken before the Labour Relations Commission over the last year or two in respect of unpaid wages or holiday money that was not paid. "Ireland's name as a good place to work has been badly damaged by such contractors who held onto the money of their workers." Mr Kilcoyne, who is a SIPTU trade union official in the west, revealed that he had personally won 14 such cases in Galway, while he believed there were hundreds, if not thousands, of similar awards made countrywide against employers and in favour of non-national workers who had been short-changed.

- Brian McDonald

See also: Anti-Irish racism.

A Reconciliation on Gay Marriage

Here is a fairly recent article from the New York Times on same-sex marriage:

Op-Ed Contributor
A Reconciliation on Gay Marriage

By DAVID BLANKENHORN and JONATHAN RAUCH
Published: February 21, 2009

IN politics, as in marriage, moments come along when sensitive compromise can avert a major conflict down the road. The two of us believe that the issue of same-sex marriage has reached such a point now. We take very different positions on gay marriage. We have had heated debates on the subject. Nonetheless, we agree that the time is ripe for a deal that could give each side what it most needs in the short run, while moving the debate onto a healthier, calmer track in the years ahead.

It would work like this: Congress would bestow the status of federal civil unions on same-sex marriages and civil unions granted at the state level, thereby conferring upon them most or all of the federal benefits and rights of marriage. But there would be a condition: Washington would recognize only those unions licensed in states with robust religious-conscience exceptions, which provide that religious organizations need not recognize same-sex unions against their will. The federal government would also enact religious-conscience protections of its own. All of these changes would be enacted in the same bill. For those not immersed in the issue, our proposal may seem puzzling. For those deeply immersed, it may seem suspect. So allow us a few words by way of explanation.

Whatever our disagreements on the merits of gay marriage, we agree on two facts. First, most gay and lesbian Americans feel they need and deserve the perquisites and protections that accompany legal marriage. Second, many Americans of faith and many religious organizations have strong objections to same-sex unions. Neither of those realities is likely to change any time soon. Further sharpening the conflict is the potential interaction of same-sex marriage with antidiscrimination laws. The First Amendment may make it unlikely that a church, say, would ever be coerced by law into performing same-sex wedding rites in its sanctuary. But religious organizations are also involved in many activities outside the sanctuary. What if a church auxiliary or charity is told it must grant spousal benefits to a secretary who marries her same-sex partner or else face legal penalties for discrimination based on sexual orientation or marital status? What if a faith-based nonprofit is told it will lose its tax-exempt status if it refuses to allow a same-sex wedding on its property?

Cases of this sort are already arising in the courts, and religious organizations that oppose same-sex marriage are alarmed. Which brings us to what we think is another important fact: Our national conversation on this issue will be significantly less contentious if religious groups can be confident that they will not be forced to support or facilitate gay marriage. Gay couples have concerns of their own. Most, of course, want the right to marry, and nothing less. But federal recognition of same-sex marriage — leave aside what you think about the merits — is not likely in the near future. The federal Defense of Marriage Act forbids it. Barack Obama and most other Democratic presidential candidates opposed gay marriage. And most Americans continue to oppose it.

(Read More: Here).

See also: A Better Case for Gay Marriage and Faith and Theology: Twelve propositions on same-sex relationships and the church.

Inspirational News Stories

Search Ends for Missing NFL Players
AOL / Wire Services
posted: 21 MINUTES AGOcomments: 204filed under: National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA

(March 4) - The Coast Guard's three-day search for two NFL players and a third man sent adrift in chilly seas ended in futility, dashing hopes they might be found after rescuers plucked one survivor from the Gulf of Mexico.
Crews combed more than 24,000 miles of ocean before calling off their search Tuesday for Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley. The four friends had been missing since Saturday when their boat capsized during a fishing trip. On Monday, Crews did rescue Bleakley's former South Florida teammate, 24-year-old Nick Schuyler, who managed to stay with the 21-foot boat. Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close said if there were any other survivors, they would have been found.
"I think the families understood that we put in a tremendous effort," Close said. "Any search and rescue case we have to stop is disappointing."
Searchers spotted no signs of the men except for a cooler and a life jacket 16 miles southeast of the boat. Still, family members of Cooper — the son of Phoenix sportscaster Bruce Cooper — maintained hope at a Tuesday night prayer vigil in Mesa, Ariz., that he might turn up.
"Even if he goes on, he's with the Lord," said Cooper's grandmother, Zelma Davis. "But we have hope we're going to keep him."
Schuyler allegedly told investigators that Cooper and Smith took off their own life jackets in a "bizarre story," according to the St. Petersburg Times.
"We were told that Nick said the two NFL players took their life jackets off and drifted out to sea," said Robert Bleakley, father of William, 25, told the newspaper.
According to the Times, Schuyler said that two to four hours after the boat tipped over in rough waters, one of the two NFL players decided he'd had enough. A few hours later, the second one did the same thing.
Schuyler also said that Bleakley's son, who had stayed hanging on the capsized boat with Schuyler, told him he saw a light in the distance and decided to try and swim for it, the paper reported.
"I think he was delusional to think he could swim someplace," Robert Bleakley said.
Ray Sanchez, Cooper's cousin, told the Times that the Coast Guard told him the same thing, but he cautioned that Schulyer might not be recalling the incident clearly after such a traumatic experience.
"We're not 100 percent sure where his head was at," Sanchez told the St. Petersburg Times. "He'd been through a lot."
Bleakley's father said he thought Coast Guard rescuers did everything they could, adding he had lower expectations after only one survivor was found Monday.
"I think they were not to be found," Bleakley said.
Scott Miller, a friend of the college teammates, said Schuyler told him that a chopper shone a light directly above them the first night. Schuyler also told him he even saw lights beaming from ashore.
It was Bleakley who swam underneath to retrieve three life jackets he could find, along with a cushion, a groggy Schuyler told Miller from a Tampa hospital. Bleakley used the cushion and the other men wore the jackets, Miller said.
But the waves were powerful, and after Cooper and Smith were separated from the boat, the college teammates tried to hang on.
"He said basically that Will helped him keep going," Schuyler told Miller, who said he had known Bleakley since the sixth grade. "The waves were just so much. They never got a break."
Family and friends embraced and sobbed outside the Coast Guard station shortly before the announcement. They left without talking with reporters.
"I'm sure that I'll speak of Will like he's still with us for a long time," Bleakley said of his son. "He'll be an inspiration for me for a long time. He always has been. I told everybody, I call him my hero."
Lions running back Kevin Smith called Corey Smith "a good, quiet guy, who always put in an honest day's work."
Kevin Smith, a Florida native, said he has been fishing as far off the coast as the men were in boats smaller, the same size and larger than the watercraft that capsized.
"The No. 1 thing when you're out there is, you have to respect the water," he said. "I know those guys had safety vests. I'm trying not to even think about it. That's a tough way to go."
Quarterback Jon Kitna, a former teammate with the Lions the past three seasons, said you never expect something like this to happen to a guy you know.
"It's a reminder of how life is fragile," he said. "Corey was a great dude."
The four men left Clearwater Pass early Saturday in calm weather, but heavy winds picked up through the day and the seas strengthened, with waves of 7 feet and higher, peaking at 15 feet on Sunday. The Coast Guard said it did not receive a distress signal.
Close said some family members asked about continuing the search on their own, which he discouraged but said the Coast Guard wouldn't prevent. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission may be heading out Wednesday to recover the boat.
Schuyler told the Coast Guard the boat was anchored when it capsized.
The Coast Guard hadn't had more detailed conversations with Schuyler because of his physical condition, Close said. Schuyler was in fair condition and told hospital officials he didn't want to speak to the media.
Cooper, who is 26 and owns the boat, was selected in the third round of the 2004 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of Washington. He played 26 games for the Bucs in his first two pro seasons, then led a nomadic NFL existence.
Cooper and Smith, 29, became friends when they were teammates at Tampa Bay. Smith signed with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent in 2002, and spent last season with Detroit before becoming a free agent. The former North Carolina State standout recorded 42 tackles (28 solo), three sacks and 10 special teams tackles in 2008, his best NFL season.
Bleakley, a former tight end from Crystal River, Fla., was on the USF football team in 2004 and 2005. He had one reception for 13 yards in his career, which also included some time on special teams.
Stuart Schuyler said his son is an instructor at L.A. Fitness and had helped train Smith and Cooper.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Copyright 2009, Reuters
2009-03-04 07:42:50

Dying 9-Year-Old Girl 'Weds' Friend
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posted: 7 DAYS 18 HOURS AGOcomments: 260filed under: Health News, National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA

(Feb. 24) - Jayla Cooper's dying wish came true as she married her friend in a dream wedding in Texas.
Jayla, who's just 9 years old, likely has only weeks to live after having battled leukemia for the last two years, reports WFAA-TV. "We didn't expect to do this when she was 9 years old, but she has taught us all how to love each other and to be strong," said Lisa Cooper, Jayla's mother.
In the symbolic ceremony, put together in less than a week, Jayla wore a white dress and walked down the aisle on her father's arm. She "married" Jose Griggs, a young boy who's also facing illness. The two youngsters, who met in the hospital, vowed to be friends forever. "He's very cute, and I love him," Jayla said of her 7-year-old groom.

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2009-02-24 09:42:30

King Herod's Tomb Most Likely Found

King Herod The Great's Tomb At Herodium


For those of you who missed the special on National Geographic Channel, Herod's Lost Tomb which aired Tuesday, November 25, at 9 p.m. ET, it will air again on Sun Nov 30 at 2 P---so check your local times and listings. There's more on King Herod in the December issue of National Geographic magazine. Here's an online preview of the article:

King Herod Revealed
The Holy Land's visionary builder.
By Tom Mueller



Photograph by Michael Melford

 Eight miles south of Jerusalem, where the last stunted olive trees and stony cornfields fade into the naked badlands of the Judaean desert, a hill rises abruptly, a steep cone sliced off at the top like a small volcano. This is Herodium, one of the grand architectural creations of Herod the Great, King of Judaea, who raised a low knoll into a towering memorial of snowy stonework and surrounded it with pleasure palaces, splashing pools, and terraced gardens. An astute and generous ruler, a brilliant general, and one of the most imaginative and energetic builders of the ancient world, Herod guided his kingdom to new prosperity and power. Yet today he is best known as the sly and murderous monarch of Matthew's Gospel, who slaughtered every male infant in Bethlehem in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the newborn Jesus, the prophesied King of the Jews. During the Middle Ages he became an image of the Antichrist: Illuminated manuscripts and Gothic gargoyles show him tearing his beard in mad fury and brandishing his sword at the luckless infants, with Satan whispering in his ear. Herod is almost certainly innocent of this crime, of which there is no report apart from Matthew's account. But children he certainly slew, including three of his own sons, along with his wife, his mother-in-law, and numerous other members of his court. Throughout his life, he blended creativity and cruelty, harmony and chaos, in ways that challenge the modern imagination.

Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer has spent the past half century searching for the real Herod, as he is portrayed not in words but in stone. He has excavated many of Herod's major building sites throughout the Holy Land, exploring the palaces where the king lived, the fortresses where he fought, the landscapes where he felt most at home. Of Herod's many imaginative building projects, Herodium was the only one that bore his name, and was perhaps the closest to his heart. It was here, at the end of his daring and bloodstained career, that he was laid to rest in a noble mausoleum.

(Read more: here).

New Finds at King Herod's Tomb: 2,000-Year-Old Frescoes

Mati Milstein in Herodium, West Bank
for National Geographic News
November 19, 2008

Archaeologists exploring King Herod's tomb complex near Jerusalem have uncovered rare Roman paintings as well as two sarcophagi, or stone coffins, that could have contained the remains of Herod's sons In May 2007, veteran Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer solved one of Israel's great archaeological mysteries when he first uncovered the remains of Herod's first century-B.C. grave at the Herodium complex, located 9 miles (15 kilometers) south of Jerusalem.

(See related: "King Herod's Tomb Unearthed Near Jerusalem, Expert Says" [May 8, 2007].)

King Herod, appointed by the Romans to rule Judea between 37 and 4 B.C., is renowned for his monumental construction projects, including the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, the Caesarea complex, and the palace atop Masada.

Herod constructed Herodium as a massive and lavish administrative, residential, and burial center.

New Findings

Netzer revealed new discoveries at a Wednesday press conference in Jerusalem.

Recent excavations uncovered an elaborate theater dating slightly earlier than Herod's burial complex that had been demolished to enable construction of the artificial mountain that served as his tomb.

The walls of the theater's loggia—a balcony that served as a VIP room and viewing box—are decorated with well-preserved Roman paintings of windows and outdoor scenes. (See full article: here).

See also: Lost for Centuries, Herod's Tomb Comes to Light and Tomb of King Herod's wife unearthed, Israeli archaeologist says.



Bernat Armangue / Associated Press---
Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer walks at the fortress of Herodium in the West Bank, where archaeologists are excavating what they believe is the tomb of King Herod.

Pro Tongue And Cheek Article On CBF

Squandered Missions
JOURNAL EDITORIAL STAFF
Published: November 16, 2008

Those darned moderates. Just when the conservatives at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina must have thought they'd routed them all, the moderates came tiptoeing back last week. At the convention's annual meeting in Greensboro, the moderates mounted serious opposition to a motion to remove the progressive Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as a giving option for member churches, and tried to reinstate funding for the Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina, which has had the gall to assert more autonomy over its operations.

The moderates ultimately lost out, and more of the last holdouts will almost surely now leave the convention. But the convention is the real loser, because it could reach a lot more people through missions with the CBF and the Woman's Missionary Union. Yes, the convention does a lot of good missions work, but it could do so much more.

As it is now, churches that like CBF and the Woman's Missionary Union and are unhappy with the state convention may well support those groups instead of the convention.

Some conservatives in the convention probably voted to keep up the CBF option, realizing that they would lose moderate churches if they didn't. But, true to form, most of the conservatives in the convention left no room for compromise. After all, the CBF is willing to work with churches that put gay Christians into leadership positions. And the organization doesn't require a belief in biblical inerrancy. "If we don't take a stand, this is tolerance," Eric Page of Victory Baptist Church in Columbus said at the meeting, according to the News & Record of Greensboro.

Heaven forbid that a Christian organization would show tolerance.

Draw the line in the sand instead, even if that means losing the opportunity to maximize mission-work opportunities -- and even if it means declining attendance at the annual meetings of the convention. Attendance last week was down an estimated 1,000 delegates from the last couple of years.

"Don't ever forget a Baptist will only do one thing because you tell him to, and that's to stay home," Vic Ramsey of Moyock Baptist Church in Currituck County said at the meeting. "Looking at these seats, a lot of us have taken the hint. To be that broad convention, we need lots of people."

Nah. All they need is a relatively small group of committed conservatives, even if the convention has strayed from the key historical Baptist principles of autonomy of local churches and the right of all believers to interpret and follow Scriptures as they see fit, not as they're told to do. That's moderate talk, anyway.

After last week, more of the last remaining moderates will probably give up on the convention and give their money to other Baptist organizations. So be it. Why would the convention want to preach to the masses when it can preach to the choir?

See more on the SBC here: Is This the Future of the BSCNC? and here: MAINSTREAM BAPTIST: Second Wave or Last Gasp.

Increase In Homeless Families

Due to the Economic Situation, Wilmington and other areas of the country have seen a rise in homeless families.

Because of this situation, many cities are "vowing to improve aid to homeless families."

This is a detrimental problem for both churches and communities---so learn how to get involved here, here and/or here.

Our church does a part in our community by doing this and sending volunteers here.

FBC-Wilmington Celebrates It's 200th Anniversary

All month long, we have been celebrating our church's 200th Anniversary and this Sunday. Several of our former pastors' families were here to witness that event.
Also, Bill Saffo, our mayor was there to read the official proclamation.

Our associate pastor, Jim Everette's book on our church's history called Heritage of Hope: A History of First Baptist Church, Wilmington, North Carolina has finally been published and he was signing them for members. Copies will be available through our church and our bookstore at the Activity Center.

'Billy Graham: The Early Years'--- Battles with doubt

In other Billy Graham related news here is an article from the Chicago Tribune:


(Photo: Katherine Bomboy)
Actor Armie Hammer plays the young Billy Graham in the film “Billy: The Early Years,” which releases in more than 280 theaters across 15 states Oct. 10.

'Billy: The Early Years': Battles with doubt add credibility to Billy Graham's story
Rating: 2 stars (fair)
By Manya A. Brachear | Chicago Tribune reporter
October 10, 2008
The chasm between belief and doubt is not as wide as those of blind faith and skeptics would like to think. Doubt can, in fact, stir one's soul.

That is the crux of "Billy: The Early Years," a biography of one of the most influential figures of 20th Century Christianity: Rev. Billy Graham, the charismatic evangelist and spiritual adviser to nine American presidents.

"Billy: The Early Years" portrays Graham as a skeptical teenager coming of age on his father's dairy farm. He proclaims the two things he will never be are an undertaker or a preacher, adding that he'd much rather play baseball—until he suddenly answers an altar call at an outdoor tent revival and commits his life to following Christ.

The movie follows Graham through his brief and rocky stint at what is now Bob Jones University, his preparation as a preacher at Florida Bible Institute, his liberal arts education at Wheaton College and the Los Angeles revival that would launch his storied career.

Like any decent Hollywood flick, it spends considerable time on Graham's courtship of his wife, Ruth Bell Graham (Stefanie Butler), who enchanted him with her beauty, compassion and pitching arm.

The movie paints a glowing—if not slightly one-dimensional—portrait of Graham from the point of view of Charles Templeton, a fellow preacher who eventually disagreed with the literal interpretation of the Bible espoused by Graham and followed a more academic path. He eventually wrote the book "Farewell to God."

Martin Landau portrays Templeton as a tortured man on his deathbed, full of remorse and haunted by horrors of the life he has lived and that his loss of faith has left him unable to cope.

In contrast, Armie Hammer, the great-grandson of American tycoon Armand Hammer, portrays Graham as a golden boy full of youthful exuberance and passion for preaching the Gospel, who prays for his friend when they part ways.

It is Templeton's doubts that stir Graham's crisis of faith in 1949 before his first crusade in Los Angeles. And it is that compelling story line that is the movie's saving grace.

To watch Graham grapple with questions the Bible can't answer and come out even more devoted gives the audience a glimpse of his humanity. After all, aren't these the questions many of us confront whether we have faith or not?

Running time: 1:35. Opens Oct. 10.

MPAA rating: PG (for thematic material including some disturbing images, brief language and smoking).

Manya A. Brachear writes about religion for the Tribune.

This movie looks interesting about a personal influence of mine. However, an article from Newsweek says that Rev. Graham's family is divided over the film.

It should fair well with it's target audience though.

Billy Graham Is Hospitalized; No Bones Are Broken in Fall

Billy Graham Is Hospitalized; No Bones Are Broken in Fall

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 11, 2008

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The Rev. Billy Graham was hospitalized after tripping over one of his dogs and falling at his North Carolina home, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Mr. Graham, 89, suffered discomfort and bruising, but X-rays showed no broken bones, the spokeswoman, Merrell Gregory of Mission Hospital in Asheville, said in a news release. He fell late Friday at his home in Montreat while bending over to pet his golden retriever, Sam.

Mr. Graham was released from the hospital on Saturday.

Read more: Here.

FBC-Wilmington: Transforming Lives One Brick At A Time

Editorial: Transforming lives, brick by brick


Published: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 7:40 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 7:40 p.m.
Churches usually stress transformation as part of their mission, and Wilmington's First Baptist Church at Fifth Avenue and Market Street is doing just that. This time, however, the church has saved a building and is hosting community groups that help transform lives.

That bulk of red brick on Princess Street that once housed the New Hanover County jail is now the Jo Ann Carter Harrelson Center, an outreach arm of the church run under a separate foundation.

One of the biggest obstacles for outreach agencies is finding a home. Commercial real estate in Wilmington obviously is not cheap, and groups have been crammed into tight spaces not conducive to their work. Sometimes related agencies have been housed miles apart, making it even more difficult to serve a population that may have limited transportation.

A good example is Good Shepherd Ministries. Although it did great work for years out of a small and outdated space at Good Shepherd Church, the ministry did not meet its full potential until it moved into a consolidated space on Martin Street.

While Good Shepherd deals primarily with the homeless, the Harrelson Center will host a variety of groups, among them Phoenix Employment Ministry, Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity and Southeastern Sickle Cell Association.

After being a close neighbor to the jail for years, the good folks at First Baptist saw an opportunity for ministry when the jail moved to its new location, near the airport. A generous gift from the Harrelson family allowed the church to purchase the building from the county - for about a sixth of its listed value. The fruits of the project are beginning to be seen.

The symbolism of this particular building from a place of imprisonment to a place of empowerment is certainly compelling. But it also is a reminder of the many outreach groups that do such good work across the entire region.

Whether they be religious or secular, they all deserve a loud amen.