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Thursday, July 31, 2008 Visit BlackChristianNews.com | Christian | African-American | National | World 

TOP STORIES BCNN1.com is updated hourly. So, check back throughout the day for important stories that impact all Christians. If you have not subscribed to the DailyLine please do so today at BCNN1.com. (If you are not receiving the BCN DailyLine every day it is because you have not subscribed at BCNN1.com. Click here to subscribe free.


U.S. House Apologizes for Slavery, 'Jim Crow' Laws
The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws. "Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.
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Pastor and Evangelist Suspected of Killing Wife & Mother of 8, and Hiding Body in Freezer for 3 Years
Police believe a body found in a small-time evangelist's home freezer is his wife and a mother of eight, and arrested him on a murder charge as he preached at a south Alabama church. Anthony Hopkins, 37, was being held in the Mobile County jail Wednesday awaiting a bond hearing and appointment of an attorney. Police said no one reported 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins missing, even though she hadn't been heard from in three years. The body was discovered covered in a freezer in a utility room during a police search of the home in Mobile after a relative of the preacher contacted police.
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Is America Headed Toward a Faith-Based Election?
Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee captured the Iowa caucuses early this month. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon, has been forced to publicly defend his religion. Pundits compare Illinois Senator Barack Obama's speeches to soulful church sermons. All along the 2008 campaign trail, religion is much in the news, but is that fascination with the religion of political candidates a new thing? And what does it mean for the rest of the campaign?
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The Book, The Faith of Barack Obama, by Stephen Mansfield hits Stores in two Days, Friday, August 1st. The regular price is $19.99. Order your copy today for only $17.99 on BlackCBC.com.

(VIDEO) Obama Catches Heat over Ludacris' Song titled 'Obama is Here'. Song Disparages Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Jesse Jackson and America
Barack Obama's presidential campaign said Wednesday that a new rhyme by supporter and rapper Ludacris is "outrageously offensive" to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican Sen. John McCain and President Bush. The song brags about an Obama presidency being destiny. It uses an expletive to describe Clinton, calls Bush "mentally handicapped" and says McCain doesn't belong in "any chair unless he's paralyzed."
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Letters to Young Black Men: Celebrating 52 Weeks (1 Year) on the Amazon.com Bestsellers List (African-American Category); now You Can Also Buy Letters to Young Black Men on Kindle for $6.99 and be Reading it Within One Minute
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Professionals Find Jobs Back in Rural Hometowns
Software engineer Keith Brown was conducting a meeting by teleconference at home when he had to call an abrupt halt. Dido, one of the family's two dogs, had just brought in a dead opossum. Welcome to the professional life in this slice of rural southwest Virginia. Like many before him, the 42-year-old Brown left this region of rolling hills and verdant valleys after high school because he saw no future outside farming and mining. "I only left because there were no opportunities," he said.
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The Master of My Fate, by Joseph C. Phillips
Prior to the recent Supreme Court decision rolling back the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, the punishment for possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine was a minimum 5 year prison sentence. "Simple possession of any quantity of any other substance by a first-time offender-including powder cocaine- was a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of one year in prison."
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(Video) New McCain Ad Targets Obama's Celebrity Status: Clip Shows Pictures of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton to Drive Home Point
John McCain is putting Barack Obama, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in the same category - or at least the same ad. In an unusual campaign spot released today (see video below), Team McCain dubbed Obama "the biggest celebrity in the world" and cast him alongside fleeting images of Spears and Hilton. The ad sashays quickly from the two vapid paparazzi magnets - complete with sounds a flashbulbs popping - to question Obama's experience and his positions on taxes and energy.
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Barack Obama Hits Back: Ad Says McCain Taking the Low Road
Responding to a harsh personal attack from John McCain, Barack Obama released a television ad late Wednesday evening accusing the the Arizona Republican's campaign of dirty, superficial politics. The spot, titled "The Low Road," witnesses the Illinois Democrat playing his trump card: tying McCain to George W. Bush, both in politics and in policy. "He's practicing the politics of the past: John McCain," reads the ad. "His attacks on Barack Obama: not true, false, baloney, the low road, baseless. John McCain same old politics same failed policies."
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Rebel With a Cause: Bobby Jindal's Spiritual Journey
In 1988, 16-year-old Piyush Jindal totaled his father's new car a few weeks before graduating from Baton Rouge High School. Piyush -- who then and now prefers the nickname "Bobby" he adopted from "The Brady Brunch" sitcom -- had to assess more than fender damage with his parents. "Which God do you have to thank for your safety?" Mr. Jindal, now governor of Louisiana, remembers his mother, Raj, a practicing Hindu, inquiring after he escaped from the wreck. For the child of Punjabi immigrants who had announced his Christian beliefs the previous summer, the question was difficult.
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Due to Conflict with Evangelicals, Grassley won't be GOP Delegate
Evangelical Christians in Iowa, dominant in the state's Republican Party, have denied Sen. Charles E. Grassley his request for a place on the state's delegation to this summer's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Mr. Grassley may attend the party's Sept. 1-4 nominating convention in St. Paul, but not as a voting delegate. With a majority of nine out of 17 members on the Iowa Republican central committee, religious conservatives made Iowa Christian Alliance President Steve Scheffler chairman of Iowa's 40-member delegation in a vote immediately after their state party convention July 12.
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'More Comfortable with McCain': Why Evangelical Leader Dobson is Warming to the GOP Candidate
Dr. James Dobson, founder of the influential conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, once said he would not vote for Senator John McCain "under any circumstances." McCain, he has said, is too liberal the issues Dobson cares most about, such as embryonic stem cell research and gay marriage. Now Dobson appears to be changing his mind. "I never thought I would hear myself saying this," he announced on his radio broadcast on Monday. "While I am not endorsing Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might." While Dobson was not available for comment, Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family Action, the group's lobbying organization, was. He spoke with Lisa Miller.
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Let Sandra Steen Show You how to Uncover the 'Joy-Robbers', Discover the 'Joy-Builders', and Live Your Best Life in her book Who Stole My Joy?
It was Abraham Lincoln who said, "You're only as happy as you make up your mind to be." But many of us are losing our joy and happiness because we are allowing circumstances and the pressures of life to snuff out our happiness. Author, Sandra Steen, realizes that life is too short and too precious not to be enjoyed, and so, through her book, Who Stole My Joy? she shows you how to get and keep "joy unspeakable." Just imagine yourself excited about life and full of joy all the time.
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Catholic Schools Popular with Muslims
The good scores that students of Catholic schools posted in the secondary school examinations this year back claims by parents and guardians of students who are not Catholics that the schools offer some of the best-quality education in Bangladesh. Pratibeshi, the national Bangla-language weekly published by the Catholic bishops' Christian Communications Centre, conducted a survey in 20 Catholic-run schools in Dhaka diocese on the results of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam. All students throughout the country take this exam when they finish 10th grade.
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All About Them (The latest film from Michael and Christine Swanson tells the story of their own frustrations in finding theatrical distribution for their faith-based movies.)
Moviemaking is a family affair for Michael and Christine Swanson. He produces, while she, a former student of Spike Lee's, writes and directs. This month they released their second feature film since creating their company, Faith Filmworks, in 1999. Their first film, All About You, was produced in 2001 and toured the African-American festival circuit for a few years before finally coming out on DVD in 2004. In the interim, they tried to get theatrical distribution for their film, but in those days before the big-screen arrival of Tyler Perry, studios tended to insist that there wasn't much of a market for values-based, PG-rated films aimed at black moviegoers.
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Mother cleared of child-spanking charge
An Idaho mother charged for child injury – for spanking – has allegedly been cleared. Melissa Farrell was at a 4th of July parade in Coeur d'Alene when she spanked her 21-month-old child in front of witnesses. "And the reason she spanked her daughter [is] she wanted to keep her from running out in the street where she could of gotten run over by a truck," says Bryan Fischer of Idaho Values Alliance.
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Oxymoron: WIC refers women for abortions
A federal agency is referring poor women to Planned Parenthood. Women, Infants, and Children, often referred to as WIC, is a federally funded poverty program. On its website is a link to Planned Parenthood, which commits a fourth of this nation's abortions. Jim Sedlak is with American Life League (ALL). "It's time for all government agencies to stop sending people to Planned Parenthood and recommending Planned Parenthood," Sedlak urges. "It is time that the American taxpayer spoke up and told their members of Congress that Planned Parenthood does not deserve to be recognized by the government or anybody else."
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New book tackles porn addiction
A new book details the path of human destruction left by the $100-billion-per-year pornography industry. Michael Leahy authored the book Porn Nation, which is based in part on his personal experience. He was first exposed to porn at age 11, and that started what he calls a "30-year relationship with the material." "...[T]hat would escalate into a full-blown addiction the last five of those years that eventually cost me a marriage of 15 years, my family of two boys, a business partnership with my brother, countless relationships, [and] a lot of money," Leahy details.
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Judge orders university to recognize Christian fraternity
A federal appeals court has ordered University of Florida officials to recognize a Christian fraternity. Judges from the 11th U.S. Circuit in Atlanta have issued an injunction ordering the action while a discrimination lawsuit filed by Beta Upsilon Chi against the school moves forward. The fraternity hasn't been allowed to join the off-campus system of fraternities and sororities because the rules bar religious discrimination.
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Second Coming Watch/World: More Jews in Israel are Believing in Jesus Christ
“In Israel, a resurgence in the number of Jews who believe in Jesus is getting a lot of attention. Many leaders say it's the strongest growth since the time of Jesus and that the Messianic movement could be on the brink of a great revival.” So said Wendy Griffith, CBN News Senior Reporter, in a story for The 700 Club. “This is the first time where we've seen Israeli society in general being so open to consider who Yeshua is,” Messianic leader Asher Intrater told her. “This is a real miracle, and there's beginning to be grace and favor with us in the land.”
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The Black Christian Conference/Convention Season Has Begun! Runs from June 1st through November. All major conventions and conferences are listed here at BCNN1.com
Hampton Ministers’ Conference; 9th Annual First Lady Conference; all 4 National Baptist Conventions; AME Convention; COGIC Convention; Independent Baptist Conference; COEBA Conference; Full Gospel Baptist Church Conference; Reaching Creatures Conference; E.K. Bailey Expository Preaching Conference; FBFA Conference; Tony Evans' Conference; T.D. Jakes' Conference, and more.


ENTIRE VIDEO--NEW! Sermon of the Week
You Can't Hear From There, from Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer. Click for Video of Sermon.

On "Being Saved" in Black America
While growing up in a very religious and church-going family, I often heard the phrase "Being Saved." Now to me and my peers, "Being Saved" was a rather spooky and mystical thing, and only the real holy folk could be such — whatever it was.
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What to Do After you Enter Through the Door
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Black Christian News/BCBC National Bestsellers List
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Black Christian News/BCBC National Independent Publishers Bestsellers List
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NEW! May-August 2008 Black Christian Book Marketing Catalog
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Be Encouraged and Be an Encouragement

Be an encouragement by sending a "holla" to the following people! Also be an encouragement by buying their books, sermon tapes, or music from their website or some other outlet today.

Christian Author of the Week: Deborah Slappey Pitts

Deborah Slappey Pitts is the author of I Feel Okay, a heart-wrenching account of love, loss and inspiration listed in Booking Matters as a national bestseller. In this sequel, Shadow Living…Paintings of Grief, Pitts chronicles her painful journey through despair after her husband succumbs to the silent killer disease, primary amyloidosis. A native of Americus, Georgia, Pitts is a graduate of Georgia Southwestern University in Americus and Albany State University in Albany, Georgia. Pitts travels the country as an inspirational and motivational speaker educating others about the devastating effects of amyloidosis diseases and the psychological and physiological effects of grief. Pitts has two sons, Clyde Daryl and Alex Keith, and resides in Columbus, Georgia, with her second husband, Marshall Pitts.  E-mail address: innisfree54@yahoo.com
. Visit her online at: www.DSlappeyPitts.com.

Pastor of the Week: Dr. Phillip M. Davis, Pastor of Nations Ford Community Church of Charlotte, NC
Phillip M. Davis is the current and founding pastor of Nations Ford Community Church of Charlotte, NC and the Nations Ford Community Church at Rock Hill in Rock Hill, SC. A graduate of Xavier University of Cincinnati, Ohio, and of The Carolina University of Theology, Dr. Davis has served in leadership capacities with the North American Mission Board, SBC, and the Columbia International University, and is the founder of the Queen City Bible College of Charlotte, NC.  Dr. Davis is the presiding Bishop of the Community Church Network, founded to encourage and equip church planters and church leaders. Dr. Davis has been married to his wife, Cynthia, for more than 32 years and they have been in ministry together for over 27 years and are the proud parents of three grown children and two grandchildren. Dr. Davis is also the author of Father Force: Changing the World One Life at a Time. Father Force is available wherever fine books are sold. E-mail address: rcarter@nationsford.org. Website: www.nationsford.org.
(If you want to submit information about your pastor to be reviewed for possible inclusion in this section, please send that information to:  churchnews@blackchristiannews.com.)


Music Minister of the Week: Rev. Timothy Wright, Jr.
Reverend Timothy Wright is no stranger to gospel music- in fact; he has become an anchor for gospel choirs across the country. His music is considered "Sunday Morning Ready" with a diverse array of traditional and contemporary gospel music. He is also the pastor and founder of the Grace Tabernacle Christian Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Rev. Wright first developed his talents at the St. John's Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God in Brooklyn, N.Y. In his spare time, he wrote poetry and began to play the piano at age 12. This would soon lead to him composing for the church's choir. A pivotal moment is his budding career came in 1969 when he began playing the piano for the late Bishop F.D. Washington at the Washington Temple C.O.G.I.C. in Brooklyn, N.Y.. Through that association, he was selected as organist for the Rev. Isaac Douglas and the N.Y. community choir. With the exception of one, all the selections on Douglas' classic best-selling 1971 album, "Let's Go Higher", were written by Rev. Wright . This album was a landmark recording in the early development of contemporary choir sound. In 1976, he founded the Timothy Wright Concert Choir. Some of the choir's award winning and best selling releases includes, Who's On The Lord's Side and Do You Know The Light. He has also recorded with choirs across the county. Of these recordings, his most memorable hits include: Troubles Don't Last Always, Master Can You Use Me and Yes I'm A Believer. In addition to this, he also recorded a Stellar Award winning project with Myrna Summers, entitled We're Gonna Make It. In fact, one of his projects, Come Thou Almighty King, which has garned national recognition, was recorded with a 500 voice choir, made up of New York's best gospel artists. Without question, Timothy Wright proves once again that he is the "Godfather" of gospel music.  Get Rev. Wright's latest CD "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" and please continue to pray for the entire Wright family and the Grace Tabernacle church family. Website: www.myspace.com/reverendtimothywright.

Christian Bookstore of the Week: Greater Mount Calvary Bookstore, Washington, DC
616 Rhode Island Avenue, NE; Washington, DC 20002; Ph: 202-832-4130; Fax: 202-529-6582; E-mail: gmchcbookstore@gmchc.org. Website: www.gmcbookstore.com.

Black Bookstore of the Week: Hue-Man Bookstore, New York, NY
2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd; New York, NY 10027; Phone: 212-665-7400; Fax: 212-665-1071; E-mail: info@hueman-bookstore.com. Website: www.huemanbookstore.com.


Inspirations

The Word of God for this Week
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”  — Matthew 16:25

The Encouraging Word for this Week
"Have you counted the cost if your soul should be lost
Tho' you gain the whole world for your own?
Even now it may be that the line you have crossed
Have you counted, have you counted the cost?" 
—A.J. Hodge

The Prayer Motivator for this Week
MOTIVATING VERSE: “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving." —Colossians 4:2

PRAYER QUOTE: "Prayer does not equip us for greater work.  Prayer is the greater work!" --Oswald Chambers


The Soul-Winning Motivator for this Week
"And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." -2 Timothy 2:2


SOUL-WINNING QUOTE: "We will never get men truly saved until they realize that they are truly lost." -- D.L. Moody


Black Christian History
Reverend William W. Colley - an African American Baptist missionary to Africa; founder of the Colored Baptist Missions in Africa. He served in West Africa in 1875 as an assistant to W.J. David, a white missionary from Mississippi. In 1880, Colley was instrumental in the formation of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, an African American organization which sponsored and sent Black missionaries to Africa; in 1883 he returned to Africa under their direction. This organization merged with two others in 1895 to form the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc, the first national organization for African American Baptists. Colley traveled widely, lecturing to gain support for the African missions. At one of his lectures, a notice read "Eight years in the Wilds of Africa, where he learned to eat snail soup and monkey stews...The colored Baptists have supported 13 missionaries in Africa during the last ten years, by whom hundreds of heathen have been led to Christ."

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"P R A Y!  T H I N K!  DO!"
                                      --Daniel Whyte III