by Bob Smietana
via Baptist Press
by Dave Bohon
via The New American
via TruNews
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FAITH & EDUCATION COALITION
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Join churches across our nation as we
celebrate
Education
!
D
edicate time to ask the Lord for
wisdom
on how to love the Lord with all our minds
(Luke 10:27
) and commit to
raising the standards
as we pray that every child receives quality education regardless of income, race, or zip code.
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Politics as a Blood Sport
We are living through the most poisonous political atmosphere most, if not all of us, can remember. After the Republican baseball practice shooting in Alexandria we are presented with a bittersweet opportunity to change course as a nation.
by Rev. Samuel Rodriguez via Univision News
It's a common expression of our time: politics is a blood sport. It's something that's been repeated so often in recent times from podiums and in news articles that many have come to take it as gospel truth. In fact, if you Google the expression, the query yields more than 235,000 results.
It's a figure of speech designed to express just how impassioned and rancorous the political process can become. Unfortunately, after last Wednesday's shooting in Alexandria, which seriously injured Rep. Steve Scalise along with four others, that expression has taken on a new and more awful meaning.
It's time for all of us to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, "What have we become as a nation?" It would be easy to shrug this off as the work of one deranged and unhinged assailant from Illinois. It would likewise be easy to let the lessons of Alexandria quickly fade into memory and get back to the work of vilifying and demonizing our opponents.
But this time, we mustn't allow that to happen.
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference,
Applauds Independent Peer Review of State Accountability Plans
"Not only does this review identify a set of best practices that will help states improve their plans, they have also drawn attention to a glaring hole in the state plans that have already been submitted to the U.S. Department of Education..."
-Rev. Samuel Rodriguez
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
- Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, issues the following statement in reaction to the Collaborative for Student Success' Check State Plans project released Tuesday, June 27, 2017:
"Today, the Collaborative for Student Success released what I believe, represents a landmark achievement in the discussion surrounding public education (K-12) accountability. While most agree districts and schools must and should serve all of its students well, these statements are seldom backed up with specific measures outlining what good accountability looks like, especially regarding educational equity for Hispanics, minorities and lower-income students.
"The Collaborative's Check State Plans project changes that. By working hand-in-hand with Bellwether Education Partners, their peer review of state accountability plans provides states across the country with a set of comprehensive feedback from education experts that will help to move our nation closer to ensuring all of America's students, regardless of race, income or ZIP code, have access to a high quality, public education.
"Not only does this review identify a set of best practices that will help states improve their plans, they have also drawn attention to a glaring hole in the state plans that have already been submitted to the U.S. Department of Education: none of the 17 plans that they reviewed adequately address how they will ensure a high-quality education for
all students. Effective accountability clearly impacts education equality, one of the most critical social justice issues of our time, and the Check State Plans projects underscores the fact that there is more work to do. I applaud the Collaborative for Student Success for their leadership in this important area."
Evangelicals Tell Trump Don't Deport Christians to Face Genocide in Iraq
As outcry over fate of 199 mostly Chaldeans continues, so do ICE arrests.
by Griffin Paul Jackson via Christianity Today
With the fate of 199 Iraqi nationals on hold while a Detroit court hears a lawsuit, a group of evangelical leaders has sent the Trump administration a simple message: Don't deport Christians into genocide.
"We write urgently and with grave concern that Christians will be removed from the United States to face potential persecution, and even death, in the Middle East," begins an open letter addressed to Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and signed by the seven leaders of the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT).
The letter calls on the Trump administration to "exercise the discretion available under the law to defer the deportation of Chaldeans who pose no threat to US public safety to Iraq." It also asks for the same considerations for Iraqis of other faiths.
6 Reasons to embrace Mobile Giving
It is not a secret that the mobile frenzy has taken over the world. It is not a trend, is not a fade, it is the modern day's lifestyle. Can you remember when people use to call their friends and relatives during holiday or special occasions? Not going to far, I remember when I use to by Father's Day cards. Today, we post, like, share, poke, snap, tweet, and even pin our emotions and feelings.
Giving, is as emotional as any other task in people's life. It is deeply connected to our heart. And yes, I agree church giving is a biblical mandate, but we will be fooling ourselves if we do not recognize the emotional attachment to it.
When we give to God, we feel: obedient, connected, part of the Kingdom, entitled to certain blessings, generous, richer, powerful and protected to name some of the emotions we feel. I am going to give you six reasons (there are so many more) why we need to embrace mobile giving in our churches.
The Power of Great Health
On April 2, 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon arrived with his men off the coast of Florida. They were allegedly looking for a legendary "fountain of youth."
There is actually no historical record that verifies that Ponce de Leon was indeed looking for the mysterious fountain although the Taino Indians of the Caribbean did claim that they knew of the existence of a magical fountain and river north of Cuba that had restorative powers and this report may have reached Ponce de Leon when he accompanied Christopher Columbus on a voyage in 1493. Some historians even think that Ponce de Leon may have been motivated to search for a fountain of youth because he had recently married a woman 35 years younger than himself. So maybe he had good reason for a search.
Ponce de Leon was not the first man to search for a source of rejuvenation. In the fourth century B.C, Alexander the Great, while busy conquering the known world, claimed to have discovered a mystical river with healing powers. Stories of various waters of youth have appeared in Japan, the Canary Islands, Polynesia and England. It seems that people are always searching for physical rejuvenation.
Article by Ron Ball. Ron Ball has spoken live to over 8 million people in 24 countries. He is the author of 12 books that have sold 2 million copies worldwide.
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The Red Heifer Paradox
by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance
both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them." -
Numbers 19:9-10
The
Torah portion for this week is Chukat, from Numbers 19:1-22:1, and the Haftorah from Judges 11:1-33.
When we were young, we used to tell the following riddle: "What's black and white and red all over?" While the person we posed the challenge to was trying to figure out how something could be white, black, and red at the same time, we would blurt out the answer: "A newspaper! It's black and white and
read all over!"
This week's reading provides us with another paradox: What's completely red, makes the pure impure, and the impure, pure? The answer: The red heifer.
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Have you ever believed that many lives will be reached for Christ through the melodies, lyrics and songs that the Lord has placed in your heart?
Great news!
The NHCLC Pure Flix Music Festival has extended the submission
deadline to
July 15th, 2017.
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Deadline September 30
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September 27-30, 2017
25 Tracks * 52 Pre-Conference Workshops * Over 175 Professional Workshops
200 Exhibitors and Sponsors * Poster Presentation Symposiums
2 Clinical Plenary Symposiums
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Plenary Speakers
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ServantU is not your normal summer camp!
ServantU will provide you with a collegiate experience that will develop your leadership skills to equip you for college in the future. Based on DBU's college model, ServantU will give students an opportunity to encounter academics, student life, servant leadership, and spiritual life on a Christ-centered campus.
We're intensely focused on feeding and educating 10,000 children in Nicaragua by 2017 and 50,000 by 2020.
EO Educational Opportunities Tours
Disfrute un viaje cristiano a la Tierra Santa con
o únase a nosotros en un crucero por las rutas del apóstol Pablo. Nuestros cruceros bíblicos le ofrecen oportunidades únicas para experimentar y disfrutar del aprendizaje cristiano a la vez que viaja, y quedará sorprendido al descubrir, ¡cómo la Biblia toma vida frente a sus ojos!
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