| Global Weekly Summary |
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September
17, 2004 Global
News This Week
Hurricane Ivan pounds Caribbean, Southeast USA In Grenada, where 90 percent of the country was affected, Nazarene pastor Phillip Easton reports that the Nazarene church and parsonage were completely destroyed. The District Superintendent of Jamaica East lost the roof and the contents of his home. Detailed information on how the 29 Nazarene churches in Jamaica, the 33 in Barbados, and the one in Aruba fared in the path of Ivan remains unavailable at this time due to continued power outages and lost means of communication. The Bahamas, which was affected by Hurricane Frances a week ago, lost three Nazarene churches. While no Nazarenes lost their lives, many lost their homes. They are expected to be without electricity for five weeks. Yet, according to a report from Bahamas District Superintendent Daniel Small, churches in the Bahamas have already donated $1,000 to Hurricane Frances relief efforts across the Caribbean. Immediate, urgent needs for hurricane victims in the Caribbean are potable water, medicines, canned food, batteries, and construction materials. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Inc., is putting together a shipment of Crisis Care Kits and other supplies to be sent to the Caribbean as soon as possible. World Mission Director Louie E. Bustle stated, “Your prayers for our brothers and sisters caught in Ivan’s path are greatly appreciated during this crisis. Many of them have had all of their belongings blown away and their homes and churches destroyed. Let’s do what we can to help those affected recover from this terrible catastrophe.” For information on how to give to the Caribbean relief fund, click on
the following link: http://www.nazcompassion.org/pressrelease.html or
contact at 877-626-4145 or www.ncm.org. One Pensacola Nazarene, speaking with NCN News minutes after the eye-wall of the storm passed over the Florida Panhandle city, described the experience: “I was scared for my life. I’ve never been that scared before. We were all huddled together in the center of the house and nobody talked. We felt the pressure drop and for about 45 minutes the winds just beat the house. The house was shaking violently and every time something crashed against it we jumped. We thought about moving to another room, but no sooner had we talked about it than we heard a loud crash. The big oak tree to the side of the house fell on the porch. It crushed it. There was another tree on the other side we were scared would fall, so we moved to the opposite side of the house from that tree. Eventually the winds died down a little and the worst was over. We looked outside and besides the tree on the porch, we had awnings off the roof in the yard, the fence was down, and there was debris everywhere.” When the sun finally came up on Thursday morning, residents like this Pensacola Nazarene saw houses ripped apart, massive flooding, trees blocking nearly every road, and were without power. Before the storm hit local officials were telling citizens to be prepared to be without power for at least three weeks. The clean-up effort in the wake of Ivan for the Gulf Coast, in addition to those in central Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee where flooding is now a major concern will be extraordinary. Nazarenes throughout Florida, especially those
in the central and southwest regions, continue to clean up after Hurricanes
Charley and Frances. Many
are still without power and utilities and life won’t return to
normal for some time. The Hurricane season isn’t over, however,
as Hurricane Jeanne is making its way through the Caribbean. Projected
paths have Jeanne threatening Florida’s east coast and the Carolinas. NDR turns its attention to Ivan “After the district leadership in North Florida, Alabama South, Georgia, East Tennessee, Mississippi was contacted, and in conjunction with NDR Regional Director Steve Creech, North Florida’s NDR District Director Leonard Adams appointed three volunteer On Site Disaster Directors to assist in the volunteer recovery response in their areas. Volunteers who would like to assist in recovery may make direct contact with On Site Directors to work out the details. Due to power outages and limited lodging, volunteers are encouraged to be self-supporting as much as possible. There is a call for generators and tarpaulins in some of the areas. For those driving to the affected areas, the Escambia Bay Bridge on Interstate-10 near Pensacola is temporarily closed as a portion of it was washed out by storm surge.” For
contact information for volunteers, as well as additional damage reports,
click on the following link: http://www.ncnnews.org/ndr_9_17_04.html. NOTE: NDR has provided new photos showing the status of Central Florida churches. To view the photos, see this week’s NCN News Photo Page.
Brower Latz featured on BBC Radio broadcast To read the September 5 transcript, click on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/sunday_worship/documents/20040905.shtml · The thoroughness of the college’s
framework for managing research students; Kent Brower, vice principal and chair of the Research Degrees Committee, noted the significance of the re-validation, as it affirms NTC’s continued development as a center for postgraduate research within the Church of the Nazarene. Students from 23 countries are presently involved in postgraduate study at NTC. Many of these will be key leaders in the Church around the world in the decades ahead. David McCullough serves as principal of NTC-Manchester.
Prolonged adulthood impacting religious attendance among youngest adults Less than half of people born from 1966 to 1975 are Protestant. The
growth of Catholicism and other religions because of immigration, and
the growing defection of Protestants to non-affiliation, has resulted
in Protestants losing majority status. Christian.com debuts as home on the Web for Christians The web site provides a place online where Christians can check E-mail, read daily news, and search the Web. By also providing Bible and Christian content, the site strives to link a Christian’s faith with their daily on-line activities. “Christians live in the real world, and need a good search engine, news, weather, and E-mail just like everyone else,” says Christian.com President Lee Raney. “But Christians also want Bible tools and articles to help them grow in their faith, and our site combines a Christian’s spiritual needs with their daily life.” Special features, such as web search, daily news, kids activities, Christian literature shopping, and local weather forecasts make www.Christian.com an alternative homepage to other popular homepage sites such as Yahoo. Christians can grow from articles and devotional material from nationally acclaimed Bible teachers and pastors. The Barna Group reports there are 80-85 million born again Christians in the United States. “Christians have interests on the Web that sites like Yahoo and MSN.com do not include at all,” Scott Swoboda, president of ChurchSites.com, said. “Christian.com is in a unique position to become a major niche portal for Christians.” Registration on Christian.com is free, and each registered member receives a free @Christian.com basic mail account similar to the free web-based E-mail services offered by Yahoo and Hotmail. Users can upgrade to premium mail to receive 500 MB of storage, more advanced spam filtering and virus protection, and language translation capabilities. Christian.com
is a service of Christian.com Media Group, Inc. The Dallas-based company
owns and operates other
Web sites
as part of the Christian Web
Network™. Mancelona, Michigan Church of the Nazarene to celebrate 75 years For more information, please contact Pastor Corne at P.O. Box 245, Mancelona,
MI 49659 or call 231-587-8255. USA/Canada NOTE: For an additional USA/Canada story (Oregon church sends two teams overseas), as well as pictures, see this week’s NCN News Photo Page. Regional
Resources:
Sister of General Superintendent passes away Church
of the Nazarene Ministry Links NMI
Prayer Mobilization Line: On-Line
Pastor's Calendar:
MVNU announces appointment of vice president for Adult and Graduate Studies Noting the shift in title to vice president, MVNU President E. LeBron Fairbanks said, “Adult and Graduate Studies are now properly aligned with the cabinet to effectively implement strategic initiatives. The vice president’s position will assist in increasing the breadth and depth of MVNU’s impact throughout the region.” Citing the innovative leadership Wells brings to this new position, Fairbanks continued, “It is important that we continue to think ‘outside the box’ to increasingly expand our influence and touch the lives of the broadest number of students possible.” In response, Wells said, “It is possible that within the next two years Adult and Graduate Studies may constitute over half of the MVNU student population. It currently represents 45 percent of the entire institutional enrollment, and over 30 percent of institutional revenue.” This significant appointment signals MVNU’s commitment to innovative response to the non-traditional business markets served by Adult and Graduate Studies. Serving MVNU since 1998, Wells began as an assistant professor and director of Academic Services, directly from Eastern Nazarene College where he served in a similar role with the Adult and Graduate programs. In 1999, Wells was appointed associate dean for Graduate and Adult Education, and had direct oversight of MVNU’s former Adult and Graduate Studies programs. In 2002, he was appointed associate vice president for Graduate and Adult Education and currently holds rank as professor of religion. Additionally, he provides leadership for all regional and satellite campus locations and MVNU’s Adult and Graduate Studies programs. During Wells’ tenure, Adult and Graduate Studies enrollment has grown by more than 93 percent, and has added the Associate of Arts in General Studies, the Master of Arts in Education, Professional Educator’s Licensure and the Master of Science in Management degrees. For more information on Adult and Graduate Studies at MVNU, call 1-800-839-2355. Nazarene
Global Educational Links:
NCN
News – September 10, 2004
To view the archived edition of the previous NCN News, click here.
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