Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 29, 1994 TAG: 9401280098
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: staff and wire reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The minister is a former pastor of Southern Baptist congregations in Asheville, N.C. and Fort Worth, Texas. He has also been a visiting professor at several seminaries. Before his visit to Roanoke Sherman will be in Eastern Europe on a mission tour.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is made up of Baptist congregations who take a less conservative doctrinal position from the majority leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention. Over the past several years, the group has set up several agencies to carry on work in keeping with its convictions. Sherman's office is in Atlanta.
\ Va. churches make quake relief appeal\ \ Ministers in many Western Virginia churches are appealing for donations to be sent through their denominational relief agencies for those affected by the earthquake in California.
Congregations that are part of a mainstream denomination can send money, which will be distributed through leaders in churches in affected communities.
A report from United Methodist News Service said the Northridge congregation next to an apartment house that was destroyed had converted its building into a shelter and information center. The pastor, the Rev. David Richardson, refuted in his sermon on Jan. 23 the assertion of a TV evangelist that God caused the disaster to punish the Los Angeles community. Rather God may expect his church to help human beings through trouble, the pastor said.
\ 'Alternatives' develops new Lenten observance\ \ The Lenten season, which begins with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 16, can be more than 40 days of swearing off junk foods or soap operas. Preferably it offers a chance to experience the joy of simpler, more Christ-centered living, say developers of a new Easter-season devotional guide and calendar.
"Alternatives," a United Methodist-supported organization that was started to counter the commercialization of Christmas, has developed a Lenten calendar, "The Joy of Discipleship." It is available for $1.50 from Alternatives, P.O. Box 429. Ellenwood, Ga., 30049.
Instead of asking people to give up something pleasant, the calendar suggests such long-term activities as building a time of silence into one's work week, reducing the time spent watching TV and trying a new public-service program.
Alternatives also offers an eight-session study guide,"Learning the Cost of Discipleship." It is based on writings of the World War II-era German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Materials for the Lenten study cost $2.
\ Unitarians to host computer concert\ An evening of computer music is scheduled Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke, Grandin Road at Brandon Avenue Southwest. It will be presented by Bruce Mahin, assisted by Caryl Conger and the Radford University Digital Ensemble.
It will be presented by Bruce Mahin, assisted by Caryl Conger and the Radford University Digital Ensemble.
The program includes "time chants" and several other compositions written over the past two years. Call 342-8719 for more information.
\ Retreat to explore Celtic Christianity\ \ A spiritual retreat based on practices in Celtic Christianity will take place Feb. 11-12 at the Phoebe Needles Retreat Center in Franklin County. It will be led by Sister Cintra Pemberton of the Episcopal Order of St. Helena and is open to those of any religious background.
Cost is $55. Call 483-3381 for more information. The center is between Callaway and Ferrum and is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
\ Mormons to work against child abuse\ SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Mormon leaders have called on church members to work to eliminate the abuse and neglect being suffered by millions of the nation's children.
During a Children's Fireside program Sunday night attended by 6,000 in the Tabernacle on Temple Square, Gordon B. Hinckley said abuse and neglect of children result from "anger and abject selfishness and evil of the worst kind.
"Surely it is time to awaken within people everywhere an increased awareness of this terrible offense toward God, our eternal Father, that is given whenever a child suffers," added Hinckley, who is first counselor to church President Ezra Taft Benson.
The devotional also was beamed by the church's satellite system to thousands of viewers nationwide.
\ Congregation holds last rites for Neb. church\ MARQUETTE, Neb. (AP) - The congregation that attended Sunday's service at the United Methodist Church heard last rites, but not for a relative or loved one. It was the final service at the 77-year-old church, the only one in Marquette.
The population of Marquette, located 18 miles east of Grand Island, decreased from 303 to 211 between 1980 and 1990, U.S. Census figures show.
The decision to close the church came in November with a vote by its 59 members.
\ Graham asks Japanese to evangelize world\ NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. Billy Graham called on Japanese Christians to make the Gospel the nation's greatest export.
"The church here has the authority, it has the message and it has the resources to touch all of the Asian Rim with the Gospel," Graham said during a recent Mission '94 crusade in Tokyo.
"You have businessmen all over the world selling Japanese products," he continued. "You can do the same with the Gospel. Japanese ability, Japanese `know-how' can take this message to the world. There is no greater export than the Gospel of Christ."
\ Pope calls for code of ethics for television\\ VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II is urging the television industry to adopt a code of ethics.
In a written message Monday, the pontiff also said governments should enforce "reasonable ethical standards for programming that will foster the human and religious values on which family life is built, and will discourage whatever is harmful."
Television can enrich family life but also can harm it "by propagating degrading values and models of behavior, by broadcasting pornography and graphic depictions of brutal violence, the pope said.
by CNB