Religion Today Summaries – September 1, 2005
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world. In today's edition:
Sky Angel Offers Relief To Subscribers Affected By Hurricane Katrina
Dream Becomes A Reality For Global Christian Network
Prayer Event in Dallas Seeks to Tap Into 'Major Well of Revival'
Democratic Campaign for “Values Voters” May Be Backfiring
Sky Angel Offers Relief To Subscribers Affected By Hurricane Katrina
Religion News Service
The Sky Angel(r) nationwide direct-to-home satellite television service is offering relief to its subscribers who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. They will be able to put their accounts on hold without penalty until they're able to start receiving service again. In certain cases, credits may be provided. Sky Angel service reps are also available to assist customers in getting their service up and running again as quickly as possible. "It's too soon to tell just how many of our customers have been affected by the storm, but we are prepared to accommodate our subscribers residing in the hurricane-ravaged areas any way that we can to provide some relief and, as conditions permit, to restore programming as quickly as possible," said Sky Angel CEO Rob Johnson. "Our hearts and prayers go out to our customers and all those who have been impacted by this horrific event." Sky Angel is also encouraging its subscribers to make a financial donation to The Salvation Army or to a charity of their choice that is providing direct assistance for Hurricane Katrina relief. For information on ways to assist The Salvation Army in meeting the needs of the victims of Katrina, persons may call 1-800-SAL-ARMY or visit www.salvationarmyusa.org
Dream Becomes A Reality For Global Christian Network
Dan Wooding, Assist News Service
Some sixteen months ago, a group of Christian broadcasting visionaries from around the world including South Korea, Russia, Australia, England, Spain, Latin America, and the United States, met in Seoul, Korea, to explore the possibility of forming the Global Christian Network to spread the good news around the world by satellite television. On Wednesday, August 30 they gathered again, in Atlanta, Georgia, to celebrate not only the opening of its headquarters and studios but also the official launch of the Global Christian Network (GCN) with programming airing in the New York market via WEBR – Channel 17 and reaching over 300 cities and more than 14 million households across the United Sates via La Familia Cosmovision cable network. Néstor Colombo, Executive Director of GCN summarizes the vision of the organization in the following way, “The Global Christian Network is a Georgia-based, not-for-profit, charitable, religious, and educational organization incorporated on June 2, 2004,” he began. “Its purpose is to produce, distribute and broadcast high quality, international, Christian and family-value programming to local and regional affiliate stations and networks around the world, first in English and eventually in as many as five different languages. The vision of the network is to directly impact the cultural, social, and spiritual quality of life for viewing families and individuals with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Prayer Event in Dallas Seeks to Tap Into 'Major Well of Revival'
Charisma News Service
An upcoming 40-day prayer event is seeking to "redig" the revival wells of healing. Organizer Cindy Jacobs hopes the event will empower Christians to engage in healing and deliverance ministry. "With all of my heart I believe that we have entered into the time of the 'saints movement,' the time when every believer can lay hands on the sick and see them recover," Jacobs, who founded Dallas-based Generals International with her husband, Mike, told Charisma magazine. Jacobs' 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting is scheduled for Sept. 22 through Oct. 31 at the campus of Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, which was founded by healing evangelist Gordon Lindsay. Participants will pray, fast, worship and give to the poor. "Miracle services" will be held the last 10 nights -- from Oct. 22 to Oct. 31 -- and people will be able to bring in the sick to receive ministry. Jacobs said she believes the event will impact Christians around the globe. The late Ruth Ward Heflin identified Dallas as the next epicenter of revival. During a 1997 conference held at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Fla., Heflin said, "A much larger revival than this one will be coming out of Dallas." Jacobs considers hosting the event at Christ for the Nations an integral part of tapping into a "major well of revival." (www.charismanews.com)
Democratic Campaign for “Values Voters” May Be Backfiring
Agape Press
A new poll shows that efforts by the Democratic Party to attract more of America's religious voters is so far proving to be a failure. In the aftermath of the Democrats' 2004 election loss, party officials have been working to try to find some way to attract the bloc that has become known as the "values voters." But the new poll from the Pew Research Center finds that the campaign is not only not succeeding -- but it may even be backfiring. John Green is a senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Center. He notes that, according to the Center's research, "Last summer, about 40 percent of Americans said that they thought the Democratic Party was friendly towards religion, and in our most recent survey it had fallen to 29 percent."And Green says the recent poll also asked people how they felt about creationism being taught in public schools, and once again, the results were unexpected. "Much to our surprise," Green tells Associated Press, "a very large proportion of the population, about two thirds, said, 'Gee, let's teach both. Let's teach something of the creationist perspective but also something from the evolution perspective.'" The poll of 2,000 adults was carried out in the first few weeks of July.
Originally published September 01, 2005.
