Heartland Connection.com

Ottumwa, Iowa – March 9, 2010. The Bethel United Pentecostal Church in Ottumwa works hard helping those in need.

One service they provide is the Angel Food Ministries.

They became a host site for the national program two years ago.

Angel Food Ministries offers packages of food at discounted prices that can feed a family of four for a week.

The main package costs $30 and contains roughly $65 worth of food and additional deals are available.

Pastor W. Jay Allison says they know times are hard and this is just one program they offer.

“We had a lady in the church find it, she stumbled upon it and there was nobody in the area doing it. So we thought it would be a good outreach to our community as far as being able to help them,” said Allison

Allison said the Church opened a food pantry providing further assistance. The food pantry provides food free of charge.

Allison said food stamps are accepted with the Angel Food Ministry.

To see the program or participate in the program click here.

firstupcjax.com

Jacksonville, Fla. – March 3, 2010. In this harsh economic climate, one local church creatively addressed its fundraising needs by joining forces with the nation’s leading fireworks distributor to sell sparklers and non-aerial items. The First United Pentecostal Church of Jacksonville, now in its fifth year of fundraising with TNT Fireworks®, joined more than 5,000 organizations nationwide who use TNT’s fundraising program to support their charity’s mission, while also ensuring local residents have sparklers and non-aerial items to colorfully ignite Independence Day and New Year’s Eve celebrations.

First United Pentecostal Church of Jacksonville relies on every dollar raised from its sparkler sales campaign to aid the important youth ministry at the church. Without the support of its fundraising with TNT, First UPC would not be able to cover the costs of the church’s youth revivals, field trips and gatherings throughout the year, such as their trip to the North American Youth Congress in Nashville, Tenn.

“TNT is a reputable company and puts us at very little financial risk,” says Michael Guerra, youth minister at First UPC. “We make more money in 10 days than we do with fundraisers the entire year. It’s a win-win for both organizations. The fundraising offsets some of the expenses associated with our youth ministry programs.”

TNT has helped meet the needs of cash-strapped groups for several years by deploying a model fundraiser whereby non-profits operate TNT stands and tents across the country, raising more than $20 million annually. The fundraising relationship TNT develops with the non-profits benefits each party involved in different ways, but the end result is shared – by selling consumer sparklers, our country’s non-profit organizations, such as First UPC of Jacksonville, can continue meeting the critical needs of their community.

“From Jacksonville church ministry projects to international humanitarian relief efforts and after-school youth programs, our fundraising partners make enormous contributions to the communities they are a part of,” says Tommy Glasgow, president of TNT Fireworks East. “By participating with our company’s fundraising program, these groups have access to the resources needed to make profound differences in the lives of the citizens of their respective communities, while helping create sparkling memories for years to come.”

TNT provides fundraising opportunities with non-profit organizations, while imparting valuable lessons to those involved in the fundraising campaigns. TNT conducts much of the preliminary work involved in setting up the stand and tent at each location lessening the labor-intensive burden on the non-profits. An indispensible part of this process is TNT University – which is a required day of class- to educate each school, civic or church organization on everything their members need to know to run a successful fundraiser.

While participating with TNT to sell sparklers contributes significantly to its partners’ bottom lines and organizational success, the simple pleasure of helping Americans enjoy our country’s longstanding traditions also adds value to the fundraising experience.

“Our relationship with First UPC of Jacksonville is very instrumental in helping area residents enjoy sparklers on Independence Day and New Year’s Eve, while also giving back to the community at the same time,” said Glasgow. “We encourage non-profits to join with us to help make this year’s holiday enjoyable and profitable.”

For more information or to register an organization to participate in a 2010 TNT fundraiser, visit www.tntfireworks.com, or call (256) 764-6131.

PRWEB

The Rev. Trevor Kelley and his wife, Deana, started in 2006, with services in their living room as a United Pentecostal mission church. They eventually moved into a 20 foot-by-30 foot metal building, but the congregation outgrew that, as well.

“It’s a tight fit, and we are packed in like sardines at times,” said Deana Kelley.

The Rev. Kelley’s background in missions with the United Pentecostal Church International led him to seek help from its “Church in a Day” program, started in 1997 to help mission and small churches that are unable to build freestanding churches on their own. The program has built more than 112 churches nationwide, and the Grand Lake Apostolic Church was its second in Louisiana.

The denomination’s Home Mission Division pays for building materials, and labor is volunteer, said the Rev. Brian Montgomery of Winnfield, a residential builder who directs Church in a Day projects in Louisiana.

“So they are able to get into a nice facility that will sit about 100 people for a fraction of the cost,” he said.

Preparation began Feb. 4 in a steady downpour.

Feb. 5 and 6 were clear. By noon on Feb. 5, more than 300 volunteers had waded in mud to help raise the walls and put the roof on the new church.

Volunteers from Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia worked in shifts. Construction continued throughout Feb. 5 and into the next day.

Feb. 6 was filled with sheet-rock, painting, flooring and other finishing touches to prepare the building for its first service on Feb. 7.

“We just want to thank everyone for all the hard work and donations. This new building will help our church grow to the next level to help our congregation and community,” said the Rev. Kelley.

thetowntalk.com

newsandsentinel.com

St. Marys, West Virginia – February 1, 2010. An area pastor who traveled to Haiti on a mission of mercy last week says the trip was a success, but much more needs done for the earthquake-ravaged country.

Pastor Terry Lough of the North Pleasants Apostolic Tabernacle in St. Marys left for the Dominican Republic on Jan. 19 to buy supplies and take them by truck into the devastated town of Petit-Goave, located several hours from the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince.

It took nearly 16 hours for Lough and a small group of pastors and a driver to make their way across the border into Haiti, through the devastated Port-Au-Prince and to the village of Petit-Goave.

“It was difficult,” he said. “At the border, trucks were backed up for miles. As we went through Port-Au-Prince, the stench of the unrecovered bodies was almost unbearable.”

The pastors found and rented a 30-foot box truck and a driver to take them and supplies into Petit-Goave. The group purchased about 4,000 pounds of rice, 1,000 pounds of beans, cases of cooking oil, canned meats, crackers, flour, sugar, bottled water and other basic food necessities. Lough said they also managed to secure a diesel generator and diesel fuel, a gasoline-powered generator, a lighting system, tents and tarps for the homeless and a water filtration system.

Though the group was concerned their truck would be attacked as they traveled with such a large supply of food and water, “we never felt threatened one time,” he said. “It was quite amazing.”

When the truck finally arrived in the village, there was a sense of shock.

“It was almost disbelief,” Lough said. “They couldn’t believe we had gotten through.”

The 53-year-old Lough has been pastor of the Apostolic Tabernacle in St. Marys for about 18 years, and said his congregation has worked in the region around Petit-Goave for more than 25 years, with several churches established in the area. Lough himself has made several trips to Haiti over the years.

“Some of these people I’ve known since they were born,” he said. “I’ve known them for so long.”

Petit-Goave is a town about the size of New Martinsville, but has a population of about 15,000. Lough said it is unclear how many in Petit-Goave died in the earthquake, but in some circumstances people were fortunate to have survived. The village’s Apostolic church which was set to have morning services crumbled to the ground when the quake hit, but at the time was empty of people.

“The service was due to start 15 minutes after the earthquake struck. Fifteen minutes later and the church would have been full,” Lough said.

Petit-Goave’s Pastor Wilner Louissaint told Lough he was at a nearby building working on a computer when the quake struck, and when he looked out the window “he could see people in the street that were literally being thrown into the air.”

The remote community had received no outside support before Lough and his group arrived. Lough said he had heard reports of some supplies being dropped into the village via helicopter, but when he arrived “the people said they hadn’t seen or received anything.”

“As much as we were able to take, it was still very little,” Lough said. “You don’t know how much hope means until you have none, and we were able to bring them some.”

Lough said he plans to return to the village Feb. 15 with more supplies. He is working with pastors from around the country to organize relief and rebuilding efforts.

“We are going to do some more emergency relief, but our main focus is in rebuilding the churches that were destroyed,” he said. “I will be going down there to do a cost assessment on rebuilding those churches, and on the school which was damaged but not destroyed.”

Lough said the majority of financial aid for the trip came from Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ headquartered in Memphis, Tenn. The group also has received donations from Bethlehem Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, Miss., the Christian Life Center in Heath, Ohio, and medical supplies from Phillip’s Pharmacy of St. Marys.

Donations also have poured in from the congregation of North Pleasants Apostolic Tabernacle.

“Their giving has been sacrificial, to say the least,” Lough said, “and they’ve been praying a lot for their pastor.”

NewsandSentinel.com

The Telegram

Allston-Brighton, Mass., – January 21, 2010. Haitian communities in Boston are mourning the thousands killed in the earthquake that struck Haiti last week. The earthquake occurred near the capital, Port-au-Prince, where many have friends or relatives they have not heard from.

Those who attended Sunday’s weekly service at the United Pentecostal Church in Brighton prayed for the earthquake victims, some of whom are friends or relatives of the church members.

Luc Joseph of Winchester said his immediate family and friends are fine, but a relative and his mother’s friend passed away in Jacmel, located south of the epicenter where a hospital was destroyed.

“There might be a few more people missing. It’s still not good,” he said.

Joseph said he was able to speak briefly with his sister in Haiti, but connections are bad because telephone poles have been destroyed and people are unable to charge cellular phones.

“If you try to call right now, you most likely won’t get through,” he said.

Annie Boursiquot of Mattapan also has family in Jacmel, and has contacted her grandmother, who said her family has been accounted for, but their homes are ruined.

She said, “They’re all destroyed. It’s been pretty tough.”

While many of Haitian members’ families are still alive, their houses, businesses and roads are destroyed. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and its infrastructural problems were only made worse by the earthquake.
Isabelle Joseph of Dorchester said her family is OK, but her uncle’s business is demolished. Her family lives two hours away from Port-Au-Prince.

Joseph also was only able to speak briefly with her relatives.

“Communication is really bad. They were just able to say, ‘We’re OK. We’re fine,’” she said.

Another churchgoer, Stephanie Lamour of Winchester, said she has heard back from some of her relatives, but a few are still missing near the capital. Lamour said her relatives’ houses are all gone.

“A lot of people are living in the streets,” she said.

Dorose Desilus said she had not heard from her grandmother, but everyone else in her family has been found.

She said, “It took a while to locate them, but we finally did.”

When asked what her family was going to do next, Desilus said she didn’t know: “We don’t know what’s going on. There’s no plan.”

The United Pentecostal Church is collecting donations and supplies for the earthquake victims through the United Pentecostal Church International Organization.

Pastor Courtney Bennett said there are people on the site right now, arriving through the Dominican Republic and going over land to bring supplies to the victims.

“We’re taking up donations to send them food and water,” Bennett said. “We’re going to collect donations here at the church.”

Many other organizations and institutions are also raising money for the earthquake victims, including Boston College, which has many Haitian-American students, said spokesperson Jack Dunn. He said the school is offering counseling services to students returning from winter break.

BC is also trying to contact its 21 alumni and one graduate student in Haiti through the alumni association. Because there is limited phone and Internet service, Dunn said, “It’s been very difficult to get in contact.”

BC is holding prayer services for the victims and taking donations from Masses in January. They will also take collections from fans at an upcoming basketball game to be sent to Haiti through Catholic Relief Services and Jesuit Refugee Services, two organizations that have a longstanding connection in Haiti.

Boston University is also taking donations and holding events through the African-American Studies Program and the Haitian Cultural Association. They raised more than $700 for Partners in Health at the Haitian Cultural Festival.

Help the people of Haiti
There are many organizations working to provide relief to the people of Haiti. Among them are:
· World Vision: www.worldvision.org
· Church World Services: www.churchworldservice.org
· Catholic Relief Services: crs.org/
· Partners in Health: www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti
· Grassroots Internation: www.grassrootsinternational.org
· Combined Jewish Philanthropies: www.cjp.org
· Doctors without Borders: www.doctorswithoutborders.org
· Hands On Disaster Response: hodr.org

Allston-Brighton TAB

They need God’s protection and comfort at this time. A Strategic Management Assessment Response Team (SMART TEAM) made up of Rev. Ron Brian, Rev. Danny Wilkerson and Rev. Mark Hattabaugh are headed for the Dominican Republic, then to Haiti. They will meet there with Missionary Steve Shirley. Once they are on the ground in Haiti, they will assess the situation.

Many have called requesting how they can help. First and foremost you can help by interceding for our ministers and saints in Haiti and secondly you can help by making a donation to Compassion Services International at the following website: compassionservices.com. If you prefer, you can also send an offering to Compassion Services International, 8855 Dunn Rd, Hazelwood, Mo., 63042, designated for Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Let’s continue to pray for the church in Haiti and for the SMART team that will be going in to assess the situation on the ground.

The WNOP Team~ CAC Region

The flags speak to the spread of Pentecostalism throughout the world and, in particular, Latin nations. The Pentecostal faith, which holds that the miracles of the Bible are still happening today, is proliferating among Hispanics, many of whom are former Catholics.

“It’s a combination of immigration in which a lot of Latinos are already Pentecostal and the conversion taking place in the Catholic Church among those converting to Pentecostalism,” said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington.

Worldwide, Pentecostals represent one of the fastest-growing religious movements, fueled in part by the Hispanic brand of worship that is highly emotional, very intense and extremely personal, Lugo said.

“It’s really evangelism on steroids,” Lugo said. “This may well be the most dynamic religious movement in the world today in terms of growth and breadth and scope.”

Central Florida is in the middle of the boom in Hispanic Pentecostal growth because of the influx of Puerto Ricans and immigrants from countries such as Nicaragua, Honduras and the Caribbean, where Pentecostalism has flourished for decades.

That growth is evident at Iglesia Cristiana, which began 23 years ago with seven families and now has 200, said René Eugenio Báez, the pastor. The Pine Hills church has started congregations in Clermont, Winter Garden, Haines City, DeLand, New Orleans and El Paso, Texas. It also has sponsored Pentecostal churches in Nicaragua, Honduras and Puerto Rico.

Pentecostal churches are largely independent and unaffiliated. They lack the structure, tradition and rituals of religious denominations such as Catholics, Baptists and other Protestant churches.

In Báez’s church there is a schedule to the services — music, announcements, sermon, collection — but there are no prayers repeated every Sunday, the music is always different, and the service itself is dictated more by whim and instinct than established ritual.

“There isn’t any pattern. There isn’t a procedure. We don’t believe in that,” he said. “When you come to our church, you don’t know what is going to happen. The experience will always be different.”

Some of the Pentecostal growth has come at the expense of the Catholic Church. The majority of Hispanics in the U.S. are Catholic, but their numbers are expected to decline from 68percent in 2006 to 61percent by 2030, according to a study on how Latinos are transforming religion in the U.S. by the Pew Forum and the Pew Hispanic Center.

The study found that of those who converted to Pentecostalism, 43 percent had been Catholic.

Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando concedes the defections of Catholic Hispanics to Pentecostal churches but says many of those were Catholic more by culture than religious conviction. In some Latin American countries, where the influence of the church has waned, Hispanic Catholics are more open to seeking other religious experiences.

The challenge for the Catholic Church, Wenski said, is to give those cultural Catholics a meaningful religious experience as well. One way the church is doing that is to create small-group organizations of Hispanic Catholics that serve as cultural and religious support groups for immigrants and new arrivals.

“Here in Orlando, we are trying through these Hispanic groups and spiritual movements to evangelize the Hispanic so that his religion is not just one of culture, but conviction also,” Wenski said.

Daisy Rodriquez said she left the Catholic Church for the greater freedom of religious expression within the Pentecostal faith. Rodriquez, who joined Báez’s church four years ago, said she began experiencing faith healing and speaking in tongues while still a Catholic but felt ostracized by priests and other members of the church.

“I have beautiful experiences in the Catholic Church, but there were limits,” said Rodriquez, 68, who is from Puerto Rico. “In the Pentecostal Church, I feel more freedom to perform what the Lord wants me to do.”

The Orlando Sentinel

He founded and is Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Temple Apostolic Church in Cincinnati. He also is president of Emmanuel Community Outreach Center.

The Bishops Consecration Service for then Bishop-elect Andrew Whaley in October was a solemn and impressive worship service. Dr. Whaley was joined in the processional by his wife, First Lady Dr. Mattie Whaley, along with church ministers, deacons, visiting dignitaries, and Bishop Larry Dempsey, chief consecrator.

Bishop Norman Allen of Detroit, Mich., gave the invocation and other church leaders participated in the consecration service which concluded with the presentation of Bishop Whaley and First Lady Whaley who offered remarks before the processional began and the memorable event was concluded. A Bishop’s reception immediately followed the service.

Bishop Whaley is a member of the class of 1965 of Liberty High School, which was closed some years ago as consolidation with Williamson High School took place. He is the father of nine children.

He attended Grace Apostolic College in Cincinnati and holds a doctorate degree in Divinity.

Bishop Whaley has been described as “a man full of anointing power and boldness in the Lord, yet remains meek and humble before men and God. As pastor, husband, father, teacher and friend, all have found him to be a true man of God.”

He is a member of the W.W. Ministries of Williamson along with Elder Gordon Witcher.

Williamson Daily News