The Faith Connection

Walking (and building) by Faith

 

The congregation at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill has big plans.   Make that BIG plans.

"We believe that this is St. Paul's season," says the Rev. Thomas O. Nixon, St. Paul's pastor.

Rev. Thomas O. Nixon  next to an artist's conception of one of  St.Paul Village's buildings

This past Friday, the church held a kick-off banquet for a major multi-stage project in the Rogers Road area on the north side of town.  Church leaders envision a sprawling complex on 23 acres, featuring mixed-use affordable housing, a day care, athletic fields, senior citizen assisted living, a multicultural center, and more.  The centerpiece will be a new worship sanctuary and fellowship hall for the church.  It will all be designed to be environmentally sensitive, preserving areas of natural beauty.

"One of the desires of this vision was to provide a holistic ministry for the congregation," says Rev. Nixon.  "That we not only meet the spiritual needs but the mental, educational, and economic needs, and to deal with every age group of the congregation.  We have a very diverse age group in our congregation."

The church purchased the land for St. Paul AME Village several years ago.  Rev. Nixon told me that they hope to break ground on the first phase, which will feature the new sanctuary, fellowship hall and day care, by the end of the year.  The cost estimate for that is 3 to 4 million dollars.  Church leaders plan to spread the entire project out over ten years. 

But wait a minute.  Isn't there something called an economic downturn going on right now?

"I don't preach or believe that the God that we serve is in an economic crisis," says Nixon.  "I tell people, the one person you never see in the unemployment line or worrying about the economy is the drug dealer.  So, the money is here.  The challenge is, do we come out of the comfort of our stained glass windows and sanctuary to go re-direct those funds into Kingdom building?"

It's a huge undertaking.  But when your church is 147 years old -- having started during slavery days -- St. Paul's members know what it is to "walk by faith." 

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Update:  I reported in my last post about plans to make the faith-based movie Secrets in the Snow in Raleigh if enough seed money could be raised.  Well, guess what:  they reached their goal.  And co-producer  Brittany Goodwin emailed supporters that "every amount over the goal will go towards our final goal to cover costs of editing, marketing, etc."   Filming should take place next month.

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North Carolina’s most famous religious figure releases his newest book –- his 30^th -- this week.  The Rev. Billy Graham turns 93 next month, and appropriately enough, the book is about aging.  You can read an excerpt from Nearing Home:  Life, Faith and Finishing Well  at this link.

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They say music is the universal language.  And I can think of no greater example than the Heritage Mass Choir.  This group from South Korea loves African-American gospel music.  I can't understand what they're saying -- but I can understand what they're saying!  Check 'em out here.

A "Virtual" Church Experience, and more

 

Many churches “stream” their worship services live over the internet or make them available for viewing and downloading later.  But Durham’s fast-growing newhope church has taken all that a step further.

“We like to consider it an actual third campus,” says newhope Director of Marketing Emily Barahona, referring to the church’s new iCampus.

Each Sunday when the church is open for its regular “worship celebrations,” the iCampus is open as well.  People log on and can see the complete service, including the sermon, music, and announcements.  But they also have the opportunity to submit prayer requests online, give their tithes and offerings, and to chat with other online worshipers.

“There's always a newhope host who is (online) to lead the chat,” says Barahona.   “Sometimes people speak to each other -- not just to the host.  We encourage that.  We kind of think of it as our virtual community, because people get to fellowship and worship together in that environment.”

And even the most sacred of Christian rituals, Holy Communion, is shared via the internet.  “We encourage them to take juice or wine and bread when we do have Communion (while they’re viewing) online. So it really is their church experience, even though it's at the computer.”

The 9-year-old newhope has its main campus in Durham, with a second campus in Garner.  Named last year one of the ten fastest growing churches in the nation, the Fayetteville Road church is known for its contemporary music and casual atmosphere.  Newhope started its iCampus last October, averaging about 70 online viewers each Sunday and a smaller audience during the church’s Thursday night service.  “iCampers,” as they’re called, can use Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to keep up with church happenings -- and each other -- during the week.

“The congregation loves it,” Barahona told me.  “Our initial purpose was just as a gift to our members and our regular attenders so that they can continue to worship with us even if they're traveling or sick at home.”  But she says the iCampus also allows curious non-members to see what newhope is like before they actually visit in person.

Which begs the question:  if all this can be done so easily online, might it discourage folks from actually going to the church in the first place?

“We actually address that on our website,” Barahona says.  “The iCampus is by no means to replace worshipping at newhope.  It’s better for them to be in the community surrounded by people who are also going through the same thing that they are, so we do encourage people to come to the church.  But it does serve a purpose when you can't make it, or to reach people who have never experienced newhope.

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Four Triangle churches are teaming up for a “Great Day of Service” on Saturday, April 16^th.  University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, Duke Memorial UMC in Durham, Lystra Baptist in Chapel Hill, and the LDS Church on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Chapel Hill will do various projects in Orange, Durham, and Chatham Counties that day.  Nearly four dozen locations are on the list for work projects.

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Pope Benedict the XVI is the star of a new manga-style comic book.  Habemus Papam! (“We have a Pope!”) is being produced in advance of the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day in August, and tells the life story of German-born pontiff.  More about the comic book at this link.

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Non-theists have begun a billboard campaign in North Carolina.  News Anchor Frances Scott reported the story for Eyewitness News.

 

Saving lives -- for 12 bucks

 

The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina has a simple but daring goal for the year 2011:  to save the lives of 120,000 people on the other side of the globe – most of them children. 

"It's incredibly exciting," says Bishop Michael Curry, "and it's just one example of what I like to say to folks:   we can't do everything but we can do something.  And this is something we can do.

The "it" he's referring to is a campaign to raise funds for the organization NetsForLife ®, which purchases and supplies specially treated mosquito nets to communities in sub-Saharan Africa.  Each $12 net can "house" up to three people at night, protecting them from the deadly mosquito-borne disease malaria.

According to NetsForLife ®, there are 250 million cases of malaria infection each year, with 90 percent of all malaria deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.  Bishop Curry has travelled extensively in that region and told me he’s seen the impact first-hand. 

"In sub-Saharan Africa the spread of malaria is epidemic,” he says.  “And as malaria increases, it is de-stabilizing to economies.  It just makes life miserable and extremely difficult in some already difficult circumstances." 

So, next year the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, in partnership with Episcopal Relief and Development, will launch a campaign in support of NetsforLife ®.   The goal is to purchase 40,000 mosquito nets -- one for each confirmed Episcopalian in the Diocese.

"The nice thing about this particular program,” says Curry, “is that the nets aren't just delivered.  They're actually taken to the particular location and the people in the communities are trained on how to use the nets and how to keep them.  They can last up to five years if handled properly.  And then there is follow up a couple of years down the road where a worker goes back to the community to see how they're doing and if any nets need to be replaced." 

Bishop Curry says the churches are getting excited about the new campaign, with at least one parish already close to meeting its goal of 350 nets.

"I've seen what these nets can do,” he says.  “They really can, really do save lives."

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One of our area’s most beloved Catholic leaders is celebrating a milestone.  Monsignor John Wall was ordained to the priesthood on December 18, 1960, and tonight Msgr. Wall’s five decades of ministry will be celebrated at the Cary parish where he served for many years.  The Golden Anniversary Celebration honoring Msgr. Wall will take place at St. Michael the Archangel.  Mass begins at 6:00, with a party to follow. 

Msgr. Wall is Pastor Emeritus as St. Michael’s, and the Campus Minister at the Newman Catholic Student Center at UNC.  He’s been called a pioneer in the field of youth and young adult ministry for the Raleigh Catholic Diocese.

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The Triangle Jewish Chorale's Fall/Chanukah concert will take place this Sunday afternoon at Durham’s Beth El Synagogue.  The group will perform songs of American Jewish composers, including Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copeland.  There’s no admission fee for the 3:00 concert, but donations will be accepted. 

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A Christmas tradition in Durham returns next weekend (December 17 – 19) at Hillside High School.  Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity is a joyous celebration of the Christmas story with live music and dance, along with elaborate staging.  Tickets are on sale now.  

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The makers of the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, are making a strong push for pastors to use the film as a teaching tool.  They’ve set up a website with study guides, sermon outlines and more.  Voyage is the third movie based on the children’s book series by famed Christian author C. S. Lewis.  The film opens nationally today.

 

Playing Devil's Advocate

 

Actor Max McLean has no sympathy for the devil.  But he admits the devil’s lieutenant he portrays on stage does have a certain charm about him. 

 “Theatrically for it to work, the audience has to like him at some level,” McLean says.

The award-winning actor portrays the demon Screwtape in a stage adaptation of the C. S. Lewis  novel, The Screwtape Letters.  The play comes to Raleigh Memorial Auditorium for two performances November 6^th after sold out shows in Chicago, Houston, and other cities.

 
McLean on stage as Screwtape 

 

“I was converted to Christianity in my twenties,” McLean told me in a phone interview from his New York home, “and after reading the New Testament somebody gave me a copy of The Screwtape Letters and I said, ‘Oh, I know this guy!’  So it was in my consciousness from very early on.”

The book, published in 1942, is written in the form of letters from Screwtape to Wormwood, a young and inexperienced tempter who’s trying to lead an unsuspecting human toward damnation. 

“I didn’t see it as theatrical literature,” McLean says of his first experience with the book.  “I saw it as a rather brilliant meditation on the banality of evil – how it works in our lives and how it just diminishes us.”

McLean says when playwright Jeff Fiske saw him in a one-man show in New Jersey, Fiske suggested he might make a good Screwtape.  “And I go, ‘Whoa, is this a compliment?’”  

Fiske and McLean won the rights to do the adaptation, and they were off.  The play’s been in performance at New York’s Westside Theatre since April, after undergoing several revisions.

“We have done three separate productions of it,” he told me.  “Each one learning, building on the previous one.  The one that we’re doing in New York is the one we’re bringing to Raleigh.” 

But was he concerned about making the demonic Screwtape a little too…likable?

“Yes.  And the approach that we take – and I think it’s the right one – is that he’s really good at his job.  We’re always, as humans, impressed by talent.  And how he goes about his work, his commitment to it -- he definitely wants to ruin your life and he has all the tricks of the trade.  One of the tricks of the trade is his charm.”

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One of Raleigh's oldest churches dedicates its newest structure this Sunday.  Rush Metropolitan AME Zion Church, 554 E. Cabarrus Street, holds a dedication service for its new sanctuary Sunday afternoon at 4, with a reception afterwards.  The church was first organized in 1822. 

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Before there was Twilight or True Blood there was Nosferatu, said by some to be the creepiest of all vampire movies.  The 1922 silent movie classic will be screened Halloween night at -- of all places -- Duke Chapel.  Internationally renowned British organist David Briggs will provide the music for the screening, playing the Chapel's newly restored Aeolian organ.  The program starts at 5 PM.  On a more traditional note, Duke Chapel celebrates All Hallows Eve later that night with the Choral Vespers Ensemble leading a candlelight worship service at 10:30.

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It's Homecoming season, and at North Carolina Central University in Durham that means lots of celebrating.  One of the most joyous events of NCCU's Homecoming is the annual concert of the school's Worship and Praise Choir, which is celebrating its 23rd anniversary this year.  The Sunday concert is free and open to the public, 4 PM at the B. N. Duke Auditorium.

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Hard times at the Crystal Cathedral.  As ABC's Nightline reported this week, "America's original mega-church" now faces a mountain of crippling debt. 

Anniversaries, concerts... and 24-hour preachin'

 

Congregants of Durham's Judea Reform have 50 reasons to cheer right now.  Plus 30 reasons.  Judea kicks off a year-long celebration this weekend marking the temple’s 50th anniversary, along with the 30th anniversary of Rabbi John Friedman as its leader. 

 “(Judea’s) main impact has been in providing an attractive place for Reform Jews, or those who want to try Reform Judaism,” says Dr. Friedman.  “We’ve had, over the years, five of our students go on to be rabbis.  We have a very rich educational program and social justice program.  And our worship services are very popular.”   

Things kick off tomorrow night at 7 with a "History Wall" dedication featuring photos from the five decades of Judea's history.  A congregational open house takes place Sunday morning. 

Friedman says the temple has come a long way in fifty years.  “When the temple was founded in 1961 there were less than 20 families, and it was founded in the basement of someone’s home.” 

Now there are more than 600 families.  One of Judea’s former rabbis, Eric Yoffie, has gone on to become president of the liberal Reform Judaism movement.  Rabbi Yoffie is scheduled to return to Judea in April to speak as part of the anniversary celebration.   

And Dr. Friedman himself has developed a national reputation.  I asked him if he could go back three decades and give himself advice knowing what he knows now, what would it be?

“I’ll tell you one thing for sure,” he says.  “I wouldn’t have answered the many calls I had to go and interview in other congregations.  Because I never found anything I liked as much as living in Durham.  This is nearly a Shangri-La kind of place for a rabbi, especially one who enjoys the intellectual climate that Durham and Chapel Hill provide.”

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The faithful from Raleigh's Edenton Street United Methodist Church will fan out tomorrow to do good.  The church's second annual Great Day of Service will send families and individuals off "as the hands and feet of Christ to those in need."   Church leaders have put more than two dozen projects and service options on the agenda this year, ranging from nursing home visits to serving the homeless at Moore Square.  The day will begin with breakfast at the church and a short worship service.

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Hundreds of women from across the country will gather at Shaw University tomorrow as the Divinity School hosts its 27th Annual Women's Conference.  It's a day-long event opening with a morning worship service and closing with an evening banquet.  The keynoter is the Rev. Debra Haggins O'Bryant, the first female chaplain of Hampton University.

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Methodist men are called to "Share the Game, Share your Faith" tomorrow at the Duke vs. Army football game.  "Duke Day" is a community outreach that features a pre-game worship event at Duke Chapel, a tailgate lunch, and the game.  This video clip explains how it's to work.

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Are you a foodie?  You can enjoy foods from 14 different countries tomorrow at St. Ann Catholic Church in Clayton.  Admission to the church's International Food Festival is free.  It runs from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

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If you build it, they will come.  But first people have to vote for it.  The South Durham Little League is hoping to renovate the back field at Hope Valley Baptist Church.  They've raised $30,000 for the ball field so far, but they need another $20,000.  The Little League and the church are hoping for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project, but that requires folks voting early and often.  Here's the link if you want to vote or find out more details.

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That rumble you hear from Ft. Bragg this weekend may not be a training exercise.  They're expecting 10,000 to come out Saturday to Rock the Fort, a Christian rock concert sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  It'll be on the Main Post Parade Field from noon until 8:30 p.m.

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Finally, the North Carolina minister who preached for 24 hours straight -- more or less.  Steven Furtick of Charlotte's gigantic Elevation Church (5,000 members) held a 24-hour internet preach-a-thon this week to launch the release of his first book, Sun Stand Still.

Growing churches, faith & sports, and more

  

 “I know it sounds like a pastor-like thing to say,” Benji Kelley tells me, “but this is really a God thing.” 

Something definitely is going on at newhope church in Durham, ranked in the newest issue of Outreach Magazine as the tenth fastest-growing church in America.  newhope moved into its new Southpoint-area location just over a year ago and has seen its attendance skyrocket, now averaging about 2,000 people a week.  Very impressive for a church that’s been around only about 8 years.

“We have this saying around here:  ‘where reverence meets relevance,’” says Dr. Kelley, newhope’s pastor.  “We want to stay faithful to the Bible and we want to stay faithful as Believers, but we want to be very relevant to the culture where we connect with people in the 21^st century.”

The magazine recognition comes just as newhope prepares to open the first of several planned satellite campuses.  Services at newhope church Garner begin Sunday in what used to be the New Life Church building on Benson Road. 

“We’ve got about 50 of those (New Life) folks that are fired up and ready to become newhope,” says Kelley, “and we’ve got about 30 to 40 of our folks from newhope that are going over to Garner to insert some new DNA into that church and new energy.   It looks and feels just like this (Durham) campus feels.  And we’re hoping and praying that God will do there in this new chapter what He’s been doing here.”

 newhope church Garner has its first services this Sunday at 9 and 10:45 a.m.

 

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United Church of Chapel Hill begins its new ministry year with what has become a tradition at the church:  for the next three Sundays the church will feature what it calls "sacred conversations on race." 

 

 First up this Sunday:  Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton, key figures in a North Carolina misidentification case that made national headlines.  Thompson, who is white, wrongly believed that Cotton, a black man, was the man who had raped her.  Cotton was convicted and served more than ten years of his sentence before DNA evidence cleared him and conclusively implicated another convict. 

 

 Thompson and Cotton will talk about their story of injustice and forgiveness, and the book they've co-authored about it, at United Church this Sunday morning.

 

 

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NC Catholics magazine takes a look at how faith guides several big names involved in local collegiate athletics.  The September issue cover story features interviews with NC State Football Coach Tom O'Brien and UNC Men's Lacrosse Coach Joseph Breschi, along with three major figures at Duke:  Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Football Coach David Cutcliffe, and Athletic Director Kevin White. 

 

 

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Covenant Presbyterian Church in Wendell is welcoming a new pastor.  The Rev. Dr. Claude Wilson-Staton comes from Lincolnton and will start Monday, with his first Sunday in the pulpit on September 26th.   

 

 

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I'm constantly fascinated by how our local faith groups use various media to get the word out about things they’re doing.  Check out this creative video promo from First Church of Fayetteville on a new sermon series they're starting Sunday.

 

 

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Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest is celebrating its acquisition of papers and letters from one of the 20th century's most influential theologians, Dr. Francis Schaeffer.  More about the collection here.

 

 

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Finally, here are a couple of faith-based stories from Eyewitness News you might've missed: 

 

 

Folks are still talking about Jon Camp's report on how a Johnston County girl's religious faith has gotten her suspended from school.  The student is a member of the Church of Body Modification.

 

And Jennifer Kovaleski reported on how a Chatham County church's vandalism troubles have also brought out the good side of human nature.