ORU Lawsuit Moves Forward

A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Oral Roberts University of wrongfully terminating two professors who uncovered alleged wrongdoing by the school's former president.

Attorneys for former ORU president Richard Roberts and the school argued that professors Tim and Paulita Brooker failed to support their claims in the court filings.

In denying motions to dismiss the suit, Tulsa County Judge Rebecca Nightingale also tossed out some of the professors' allegations, including breach of contract claims. The judge also threw out libel claims against the defendants, but kept the professors' allegations of slander and defamation.

Roberts resigned as president in November amid accusations he used university funds to bankroll a lavish lifestyle at a time when the school faced more than 50 million dollars in debt. He has denied wrongdoing.

[ONENEWSNOW]

Church Resources - National Volunteer Week

A resource-packed Web site recently launched a campaign to equip churches for national volunteer month in April and for volunteer week later this month.

The site, http://www.christianvolunteering.org/, offers a searchable directory of nearly 3,000 volunteer opportunities in 1,800 organizations aimed at equipping churches to volunteer in their communities.

ChristianVolunteering.org’s partners include big-name Christian ministries such as the Salvation Army, World Vision, Gospel Communications, the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, Campus Crusade’s Here’s Life Inner City, Christian Community Development Association, and the Urban Youth Worker’s Institute.

“The purpose of this campaign is to get more volunteers from churches serving out in the community with the goal placing over 1 million volunteers in the next ten years,” the Web site explained.

The campaign highlighted the discrepancy between faith-based volunteer activities within church walls and volunteer work in the community.

According to the United States Department of Labor, faith-based volunteers are the largest pool of volunteers, representing over 34.8 percent of volunteers. The value of the time donated by faith-based volunteers is $51.8 billion each year in the United States alone, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Department of Labor.

But very little of this volunteering occurs outside the church. Only 7 to 15 percent of volunteering through churches help the larger community, according to Lester Salamon of the Institute for Policy Studies of Johns Hopkins University.

In response, the Web site provides resources to encourage churches to launch a community volunteer program.

Pastors can find ideas for sermons on service and justice in the sermon outline directory. They can also have their church small groups conduct Bible studies on the importance of service and justice, and then have the small groups use the Web site to find local volunteer opportunities.

The site provides the following toolkit:

• Directory of over 40 sermon outlines, bible studies and small group materials on the importance of service and Christian social justice
• Group volunteer opportunity search for churches and small groups that want to volunteer together
• Church volunteer toolkit and Wiki encyclopedia on church volunteering
• Webcast presentations to train volunteers and volunteer coordinators
• Multimedia directory of thousands of sermons, workshops, videos and MP3s on justice topics
• Short term missions directory with opportunities across the world

National Volunteer Month is April and National Volunteer Week is April 27 to May 3.

A Merry Heart ...

Have you ever been to the Comedy Barn?

Seminary Professor Receives Award

The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship (TFFPS) has conferred its "Award of Excellence" for the best article of 2008. TFFPS co-founder and president, Robert W. Graves, announced the award during the 2008 Conference of the Society for Pentecostal Studies convening at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Professor Kenneth J. Archer, of the Church of God Theological Seminary, received the award for his article "A Pentecostal Way of Doing Theology: Method and Manner" (International Journal of Systematic Theology, July 2007). The article emphasizes the necessity of doing Pentecostal theology by means of an integrative methodology and in a narrative manner that flows out of Pentecostal identity. Archer argues that "Pentecostal theology must move beyond the impasse created by subsuming its identity under the rubric of 'Evangelical' in order for it to articulate a vibrant, fully orbed, mature Pentecostal theology."

Graves also announced that the Foundation conferred a $1,000 research grant to Professor Archer to pursue his project "Worshipful Witness: A Pentecostal Theology of the Five-Fold Gospel," a book-length elaboration of the award-winning article. "Worshipful Witness," according to Archer, will provide a formative Pentecostal theology for the training of ministers, the (re)shaping of Pentecostal communal identity, and the critical engaging of contemporary Pentecostal theology. The eventual monograph will enter into serious dialogue with current and diverse academic works as well as engage academic Pentecostal publications.

The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship was formed in 2005 with the singular goal of advancing biblical scholarship within the global Pentecostal family. "In supporting the convergence of the flame of Spirit and the flame of knowledge," commented Graves, "we hope to help advance today's move of the Holy Spirit throughout the world."

More information about the foundation is available at its Web site: www.tffps.org.

Elderly Witness

If she can do this, what can you do?

Health Stewardship

The Scripture is clear about the responsibilities of stewardship. Much has been given to us for which we are accountable. Health stewardship is an issue for all Christians, and especially the clergy.

Are you taking time to improve your health/fitness? Pastor, are you setting the example? How fit are you? ASk yourslef these questions:

• Can I walk a mile in fifteen minutes or less?
• Can I carry a couple of grocery bags from the supermarket to the car without difficulty?
• Can I climb one flight of stairs and not be out of breath?
• Is my blood pressure below 130/80? (Some more aggressive doctors—including mine—believe that number should be even lower . . . like 120/80).
• Is my resting pulse rate seventy beats per minute or lower?

Notable Pastors

Do you like to keep up with other pastors or see what other churches are doing?

The following is a list of pastors I have known personally or keep track of. Their ministries are blessed and notable. If you would like to check in on them to see what God is doing in their ministry ...

Celebration Church (Stovall Weems) - Jacksonville, FL
Champions Centre (Kevin Gerald) - Tacoma, WA
Church of the Highlands (Chris Hodges) - Birmingham, AL
Commonground Church (Tom Dillingham) - Tulsa, OK
Crossings Community Church (Marty Grubbs) - Oklahoma City, OK Elevation Church (Steven Furtick) - Indian Trail, NC
Genesis Church (Brian Hunter) - Tallahassee, FL
Granger Community Church (Mark Beeson) - Granger, IN
Healing Place Church (Dino Rizzo) - Baton Rouge, LA
Journey Church (Clark Mitchell) - Norman, OK
Lake Hills Church (Mac Richard) - Austin, TX
Leadership & Church Consultant (Sam Chand)
National Community Church (Mark Batterson) - Washington, DC
New Hope Christian Fellowship (Wayne Cordeiro) - Honolulu, HI
New Life Church (Rick Bezet) - Conway, AR
NewChurch (Monty Priest) - Oklahoma City, OK
NewSong Church (Dave Gibbons) - Irvine, CA
North Coast Church (Larry Osborne) - Vista, CA
NorthChurch.tv (Rodney Fouts) - Oklahoma City, OK
NorthwayChurch.tv (Buddy Cremeans) - Malta, NY
Seacoast Church (Greg Surratt) - Mt. Pleasant, SC
The Church at South Las Vegas (Benny Perez) - Las Vegas, NV
VictoryChurch.tv (Mark Crow) - Oklahoma City, OK

Muslims Now Outnumber Catholics

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.

"For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

"It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.

Spokesmen for the Vatican and the United Nations did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.

[Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.]

End of Sabbatical

Recently, Perry Noble listed a bunch of questions that he is wrestling with. They are very similar to the questions I have pondered during my sabbatical.

#1 - Is there anything in my life that I need to stop doing?
#2 - Is there anything in my life that I should start doing?
#4 - How can I be more efficient in the way I use my time?
#5 - How can I be a better husband?
#6 - How can I be a better father?
#7 - How can I best assist people in taking their next step with Jesus Christ?

What do you think? What question have you been asking yourself or wrestling with lately?

Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar Say "No" to Probe

Two television ministries are still refusing to comply fully with a U.S. Senate committee’s probe into their financial records.

Televangelists Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar failed to provide the requested information by the March 31 deadline, according to a written release from Sen. Charles Grassley, R.-Iowa, the minority leader on the Finance Committee. Sen. Max Baucus, D.-Mont., the committee’s chairman, and Grassley had asked Copeland and Dollar, plus fellow televangelist Eddie Long, to submit the documentation they are seeking by the end of March.Long and three other televangelists have either complied, have begun doing so or have committed to fulfill the request, the written release from Grassley said.

SOURCE

Grady R. Kent's Son Dies

The Rev. Cecil Grady Kent, a resident of Augusta, Ga., departed this life on Saturday, March 29, 2008, in Augusta.

He grew up in Cleveland, TN and was a resident of Bradley County for many years prior to traveling and serving in various ministerial capacities in numerous states.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Bishop Grady R. Kent and Eunice Moate Kent; three sisters: Mary Lois Kent, Betty Pharr and Dorothy Webb; and two brothers: Melvin Ray Kent and Clarence Daniel Kent.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Kent; two sons: Cecil James Kent of Augusta and Jeffrey Turner of Woodstock, Ga.; one daughter, Shawn M. Hall of Dallas, Ga.; grandchildren: Matthew and Brian Vernon, Lindsey Turner and Thomas Hall; two brothers: Alvy David Kent of Rossville, Ga., and James M. Kent of Cleveland; and several nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, 2008, and a memorial service celebrating his life and 50 years of ministry will immediately follow at United Christian Church on Peerless Road.

A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, April 4, 2008, at Fort Hill Cemetery.

Frank Howard Funeral Arrangements

Funeral arrangements for Brother Howard will be as follows:

Friday, April 4, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM - Viewing, Peerless Road Church of God of Prophecy

Saturday, April 5, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - Lie in State, Peerless Road Church of God of Prophecy

Saturday, April 5, 11:00 AM - Funeral Service, Peerless Road Church of God of Prophecy with Interment following at Sunset Memorial Gardens

All functions will be held at:

Peerless Road Church of God of Prophecy (click here for directions)
3301 Peerless Road NW
Cleveland, Tennessee

Contributions in memory of Brother Howard may be made to:

International Children's Ministries of the Church of God of Prophecy
PO Box 2910
Cleveland, TN 37320-2910

Peerless Road Church Building Fund
3301 Peerless Road NW
Cleveland, TN 37312

An online condolence book is available should you wish to send a greeting or message in tribute to Brother Frank E. Howard. The online condolence book may be accessed by visiting http://webapps.cogopmedia.com/memorial/Frank_Howard.html . Tributes will be compiled and presented to the family.

Tribute to Deacon Frank Howard

Deacon Frank Howard escaped the prison bars of his body this morning, and took his One-Way Flight to Heaven! Brother Howard was a true original. He was one of the kindest, and most gracious men I ever knew.

His wife, Elva Howard, was the Director of Women's Ministries for the Church of God of Prophecy for more than thirty years, and a powerful, powerful preacher/minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, the "stability" and "rock" in their home was her husband, and she gladly acknowledged his wonderful, wonderful leadership.

Frank Howard was a true spiritual GIANT -- a man who stood tall in life, yet lived and served with humility that is beyond description.

He was a faithful deacon in the Peerless Road Church for many, many years. My father served with him as a deacon at the Wildwood Avenue/Peerless Road church. Frank Howard was his mentor.

Frank Howard was a true prayer warrior. This gentle saint of God knew how to "bombard" Heaven with his prayers, and how to believe God for the answers to all he petitioned.

He knew how to live in the humility and kindness that seems all but forgotten in contemporary society.

His wonderful wife Elva, his precious children Kathy Creasy and Randy Howard, are his great legacy to this world who desperately needs "heroes worthy emulating." Frank Howard was such a hero.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." And this one was precious to God.

COGOP General Overseer's Father Passes Away

Brother Frank Howard (Elva Howard’s husband, and General Overseer R. E. Howard's father) passed away this morning (around 9:15 a.m.).

The family is gathered together this morning to make notifications and arrangements.

We will post this information as soon as it is known.

Please keep the family in your prayers.

What's In Your Trunk?

Keep the necessary survival items.

According to BePrepared.com, the essential items you need when stranded in a mechanical 911 are water, food and warmth.

You may be able to make it without food for a few days, but your body will dehydrate without water. Water is also good for washing wounds, sanitation and for an overheating vehicle.

Since food spoils in extreme hot or cold temperatures, Calorie Food Bars are the best thing to store in your car. These bars leave you feeling full and provide you the necessary energy.

What if you’re marooned in the winter cold? According to BePrepared.com, to stay warm you may need 6 to 20 hour warm packs or emergency blankets. Place the warm packs in your gloves, shoes and pockets. Emergency blankets are made of a reflective material can reproduce up to 80% of your body heat.

Create Your Own Emergency Car Kit.

Here’s a tool kit you can put together containing items prescribed in the March/April issue of Westways Magazine: pliers, an adjustable wrench, a utility knife, Phillips and flat-head screwdrivers, work gloves, a quart of engine oil, antifreeze, a weatherproof flashlight, a Swiss Army knife, wire cutters, bottle opener, an ice scraper, duct tape to make a temporary patch on a leaky water hose and a dry fire extinguisher.

Familiarize yourself with these items before you run into a mechanical emergency.

Have a supply of flares or triangles. The downside of using flares is that they only burn for a short time and can create a fire hazard where there’s a spillage of fuel.


Reflective triangles last forever and are easy to see by oncoming cars especially at night. Be sure you purchase the ones with sides at least 17 inches long and reflective strips that are two inches wide.

Always keep a flashlight with fully charged batteries in your emergency car kit.

Keep jumper cables stashed in the trunk. Don’t skimp on jumper cables. The longer the cables, the less you need to position the cars together.

If you don’t know how to do a jump-start properly, you can do serious damage to your car’s electronics and yourself.

Take care of yourself as well. A cell phone is a must. Store a list of emergency contacts (ICE) in your cell phone.

Packed away in your trunk, you should also carry a first-aid kit containing bandages and dressings, instant ice and heat compresses, scissors, waterproof tape, pain relieving medicine such as Tylenol or Advil, antiseptic wipes, wound ointment and a set of instructions on basic first aid.

Invest in an up-to-date Thomas Guide to help you navigate when you’re totally lost.

Having a roadside emergency kit for mechanical breakdowns and unusual weather conditions can make the difference between getting back on the road or being stuck.