IP
8B
RELIGIOrme Cliailotte
Thursday,February 1, 2007
ONLINE SOCIAL COMMUNITIES
African American pastors go
online to improve Net safety
Continued from page 5B
help create safe communi
ties online. As a result,
TechMission presented
suggestions to MySpace
last fall (http://www.safe-
families.org/docs/myspac
e.ppt), including tools to
help parents and communi
ty leaders contribute to
internet safety. Many of
these suggestions have
been implemented in
MySpace’s Parental Notifi
cation system.
“Social networking sites
are just like neighbor-
hoods-some are safe and
some aren’t said Andrew
Sears, executive director of
TechMission. "You will
have some neighborhoods
that are dominated, by
slumlords that don’t care
about safety. Other neigh
borhoods have community
associations where parents
watch out for each other’s
kids to increase safety.
MySpace is giving a strong
signal that they want to be
the safe neighborhood
online by providing par
ents with tools to be noti
fied of their children’s
safety. Some other social
networking sites have not
yet taken such a stance."
Churches use Super Bowl
Sunday to reach new souls
ms ASSOC/ATED PRESS
MIAMI—Football’s faith
ful will file into house par
ties and bars and, of
course. Dolphin Stadium
on Super Bowl Sunday to
observe their holiest of
holy days. But they’ll also
be turning out in force at
churches across the coun
try, which are tapping the
popularity of sports In
hopes of saving souls.
Organizers of such Super
Bowl events see them as a
departure from the formal
ity of organized religion—
the type of gatherings that
could make someone who
doesn’t typically attend
services feel more at home
in church.
“It's a way of reaching out
Into our community in a
very informal, low-key way
where we show people
we’re regular Joes like they '
are without the pressure of
church,” said Pastor Luis
Acosta of Pines Baptist
Church, a Southern Baptist
congregation north of
Miami in Pembroke Pines.
Pines Baptist has been
holding Super Bowl events
for a few years and expects
about 300 people, mostly
men, at its flag football
game and watch party this
year. The church drew
about 250 people at a foot
ball-themed block party
Jan. 13, which featured
NFL-themed games, former
Dolphins players signing
autographs and giveaways
including a plasma televi
sion.
Acosta said the church
doesn’t take a heavy-hand
ed approach to nonbeliev
ers who take part in such
events. There won't be so
much as a prayer at the
Super Bowl Sunday event. If
a guest enjoys himself, a
member might invite him
to a church social group
meeting, then maybe a
Bible study, then perhaps
an actual service.
“We just follow God’s
lead,” Acosta said.
Pastor Mike Pierce of the
non-denominational Poplar
Creek Church in the Chica
go suburb of Bartlett, Ill.,
takes a similar approach.
About 100 people will
watch the game on the big
screen in the sanctuary.
Like other church events—
a carnival, a play and a pig
roast—it’s meant to simply
create a friendly, fun envi
ronment, but not an overtly
religious one.
"We don’t turn everything
into a spiritual event,”
Pierce said. “Good, clean
fun is still spiritual.”
Many pastors agree, sim
ply trying to make their
churches welcoming envi
ronments for new guests.
CarroUwood Baptist Church
in Tampa has been holding
a Super Bowl gathering for
more than 15 years arid
attendees have become so
comfortable at the event
that some bring recliners
from home.
"I like it because it’s very
laid back,” said Robert
Smith, a 32-year-old Rock
ford. Ill., resident who has
attended Super Bowl par
ties at Dominion Christian
Center there. "There’s no
pressure.”
Churches are also aware
many people are unwilling
to do anything other than
watch the game on Super
Bowl Sunday.
“We can offer a good
event surrounding some
thing the culture uses or we
can just hold church and
no one’s going to come,”
said Jim Waters, an associ
ate pastor and minister to
students at First Baptist
Church in Milton in the
Florida Panhandle.
Like many other churches
holding Super Bowl events,
the Milton congregation
will screen “Power to Win,"
a video featuring Christian
NFL stars, during halftime.
Some churches are using
the Super Bowl as an oppor
tunity to reach the poor.
A number of Nashville
churches wilt host the
homeless, feeding them,
washing their clothes, let
ting them watch the game
on big-screen TVs and giv
ing them a bed to sleep in
on Super Bowl Sunday. And
at St. Joseph’s Catholic
Church in Libertyville, Ill.,
members will gather dona
tions for their Souper Bowl
of Caring, to help fund the
parish food pantry, another
one for the larger commu
nity, and a school under
construction for African
orphans.
William Baker, a retired
University of Maine profes
sor who has written two
books about sports and
religion, says the relation
ship between the two dates
back to ancient times, but
that in modern-day Ameri
ca it has been most promi
nently used by evangelical
Christians. He calls sports
part of the new "American
trinity” — along with reli
gion and patriotism—that
hold a high level of impor
tance for a huge chunk of
the population.
“Any visitor from Mars on
Super Sunday, whether he
watches television or goes
to the stadium in Miami,”
Baker said, "would say
these people believe,
maybe in God, but for sure
they believe in the Ameri
can flag and in the flyover
military display and in
patriotism, but most surely
they believe in sports.”
Baker said evangelicals
had long rejected sports—
for the gambling it often
fueled, for often being
played on the Sabbath and
for the general bacchanalia
it was associated with. But
they eventually realized its
immense reach.
"Sport becomes a kind of
fish hook to catch the
unbelievers,” he said.
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BLUMENTHAL presents
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 2006-2007
"A revelation for,
the ear and ;
eye alike" ,
Avw York Times
Southern Baptists oppose outreach with beer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — A new church
is attracting members with
unconventional methods
like pouring beer during the
ological discussions, but
Southern Baptists say the
outreach runs contrary to
what the ministry repre
sents.
A congregation of young
St. Louisans called The Jour
ney has grown from 3.0
members in 2002 to 1,300
members. The growth has
been fueled by energetic pro
grams, including Theology at
the Bottleworks, a gathering
at a suburban St. Louis
microbrew pub for discus
sions on serious and offbeat
topics linked to religion, the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
reported Sunday.
Conversations cover issues
from racism in St. Louis to
modem art controversies to
the debate about embryonic
stem cell research.
The Rev. Darrin Patrick,
The Journey’s founder and
pastor, said participants at
the pub are invited to Sun
day services.
But Southern Baptists, with
whom the church has a
working relationship, are
questioning the church’s
methods of attracting wor
shippers, specifically its use
of alcohol. That, they argue,
runs contrary to a church
teaching.
The, Journey defines itself
as an interdenominational
church, but it has ties to the
Missouri Baptist Convention.
That confederation of Baptist
churches is the state arm of
the largest Protestant
denomination in the coun
try, the Southern Baptist
Convention.
The Journey borrowed
$200,000 from the Baptist
organization to help buy and
renovate a former Catholic
church in St. Louis in 2005.
At last year’s annual meet
ing of the Southern Baptist
Convention, members over
whelmingly reaffirmed their
traditional stance on alcohol
by passing a resolution
opposing “the manufactur
ing, advertising, distributing,
and consuming of alcoholic
beverages.”
The Rev. Bill Edwards,
chairman of the Missouri
Baptist Convention's church
planting subcommittee, has
received a number of calls
from Missouri Baptists com
plaining about The Journey’s
Web site, with pages that
depict or refer to beer and
wine consumption.
Feb. 5 •
Belk lliearer
704.372.1000 • BlumenthalCenter.org
Group Soles: 704.379.1380 _
2007-2013
Transportation Improvement Program
Ttie draft 2007-2013 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is a capital projects program that describes the transportation projects to be imptemented over the next
seven years in the planning area of the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO).
The Program of Projects required by 49 USC 5307 is a subset of the Transportation Improvement Program and the public review and comment solicited for this
Transportation Improvement Program is intended to explbitly include and satisfy the public review and comment required under 49 USC 5307 (c) 1 -7 for the Urbanized
Area Formula Program.
MUMPO wants public feedback on the draft plan and iraites citizens to two pubic hearings.
Public hearings are scheduled tor:
Tuesday, February 6, 3 pm ■ 6 pm Thursday, February 8,3 pm - 6 pm
Charlotte-Mecklenburg (government Center City of Monroe
2nd Floor Conlerenc® Room 266 City Hall
600 E. 4tti Street 300 W. Crowell Street
Charlotte, NO 28202 Monroe, NC 28112
: - s. '
FTT®
P' - ’ ■■ s
1
.d' '^jr
IITAN PUNNING ORGANIZATION
The TIP and other background information is available on the MUMPO website at www.mumpo4)rg. Comments may be sent to the MUMPO
secretary electronically via the website. The email address is secietaryramumpo.org Please call 704-336-8643 if you have any questbns.