What does Connecticut believe?

Apparently we're not in Kansas any more:

It's not that people in the state aren't religious - 62 percent said religion was an "extremely important" or "very important" part of their lives.

But even the state's most devout residents draw a clear line between religion and politics: 51 percent of those who said religion was "extremely important" to them said religious leaders should stay clear of politics.

"One of the things that make Connecticut distinct is that even the most religious residents believe that religious leaders shouldn't get involved in politics," said Monika McDermott, research director of the center and an assistant professor of political science at UConn....

The survey provides further evidence of just how different Connecticut's political culture is from that of the bulk of the nation. A Newsweek poll of 1,004 Americans conducted in March found that only 32 percent of the respondents said religion has too much influence on public policy - and 31 percent believe it has too little influence. Only 17 percent of Connecticut respondents said religion has too little sway.

The results don't surprise David A. Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary. Though evangelical Christians are the dominant voice of religion in American politics these days, their views are sharply out of step in a socially liberal state such as Connecticut, he said.

"Here in the Northeast, we're blue states," he said. "The perception of religion in politics is that it's this conservative, reactionary evangelical Christian movement. ... That's not our religion."

I hadn't noticed! See more here at The Courant.

More on Connecticut's abortion clinics

Peter Wolfgang at FIC graciously quoted our story yesterday about Planned Parenthood and has done an admirable job digging further into the netherworld of Connecticut's abortion clinics and what happens after the "procedure" is over.

People seldom have the taste for a real examination of all the various businesses that surround the trade in abortion. This is understandable. But reflexive politics shouldn't keep the public and its representatives from looking again - and looking hard.

Read the rest of the FIC Blog story here.

Will States ever prosecute Planned Parenthood facilities for violations?

Disturbing and yet apparently all too common:

Police investigating a kidnapping and sexual abuse case in Connecticut have confirmed that a Planned Parenthood abortion business did an abortion on a 15 year-old girl who is the victim. The news is the latest in a string of cases across the country where abortions have been used to cover up cases of sexual abuse.

That sad saga continues, complete with the revelation, gruesome to me, that abortion centers apparently keep remains long enough to allow DNA testing, but another large question is whether statutory rape statutes are being taken seriously enough by officials and electorates. Does the value they assign on easy abortion on purely ideological grounds outweigh the State's interest in protecting teen (and pre-teen) girls from predation?

Will anyone draw the proper conclusions from the circumstances of the Gault case?

For more on the problem, read this story from the National Catholic Register.

"Under the Fire Of God" in New Haven

Carlos Annacondia

New Haven will be the scene of the annual Evangelical Parade on Saturday, September 8, with the theme Under the Fire of God. This is beyond a bilingual event - it's a multilingual event, with prayer being offered in 10 different languages! Pastor Jose Champagne of Holy Mount Church of God of Prophecy says:

This is completely a community and family event. This event commences with a March lead by the leaders and ministers of God in unity and it culminates with a Great Concentration in the Green Park of New Haven in front of the City Hall with a free concert and a powerful message from the Word of God.

The featured speaker is renowned evangelist Carlos Annacondia.

For more information, write: connecticutparacristo@hotmail.com.

Seven Great Resources for Connecticut Homeschoolers

Should you homeschool? Maybe this young lady's parents should have...
Hat Tip to Judy Aron

Even though it has taken off like a rocket in recent years, the very thought of homeschooling can still be very intimidating. And lack of information can breed paralysis, too. There are lots of questions. Am I capable of teaching my kids? How much will it cost? What are the legalities? Do homeschoolers sit around in calico dresses watching Anne of Green Gables? What are all the pros and cons?

If I were interested in homeschooling, where would I go for dependable information? Here's a list of some top resources for Connecticut homeschoolers and those wondering whether they should take the plunge:

• CT Homeschoolers Inclusive (Yahoo Group)
  

• CT Homeschool Network
  

• Homeschoolblogger.com
  

• HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association)
  

• HSLDA's analysis of Connecticut Homeschooling Law (PDF)
  

• TEACH (The Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers)
  

• Don't forget Judy Aron's great blog, Consent of the Governed!

Gay marriage hearings at the Connecticut Supreme Court

Listen here to the story, and continue to pray for the Supreme Court to exercise godly wisdom.

What do teenagers really want?

As we head back to school many are touting as good news the results of a recent MTV/AP poll showing what teens really think and want:

Religion and spirituality are an integral part of happiness for most American young people. 44 percent say that religion and spirituality are either a very important or the single most important thing in their lives, with more than one in ten reporting the latter. And those for whom religion and spirituality play a bigger role in life tend to be happier. 80 percent of those who say spirituality is the most important thing in life say they are happy with life in general, compared with 60 percent of those who say that spirituality is not an important part of life at all.

This is comforting, and Christian groups should take heed:

Bob Waliszewski, director of Focus on the Family's Plugged In magazine and Web site, said teens want sustenance for their souls.

“It’s no surprise to find out that kids are searching. Many of them consider themselves ‘spiritual’ – I say that in quotation marks. It doesn’t say that they are Christians or evangelicals. But they are wired by God to seek after a Creator.

“I think one of the things that this study could help lead to is more openness, especially on campus, for student-led groups exploring Christianity.”

Read more here from Citizen Link.

Our 500th post

To hit 500 posts is a big milestone for us, especially when so many blogs start every day - something like 175,000.

Most blogs have precisely the same number of posts before dying a lingering death on the Web: 1!

So thanks for your support! Continue to support the growth of the "Christian Web" and pray that God's people continue to find creative ways to reach people in this technological age.

Rally for Liberty in Hartford on September 12

From the Family Institute of Connecticut comes this notice:

On Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. FIC will hold a Rally for Liberty on the east grounds of the state capitol in Hartford. Please come to show your support for marriage protection and for self-government! Please also forward this message to every pro-family state resident you know and encourage them to do likewise!

We want to encourage the Supreme Court to do the right thing. The Court should not take it upon themselves to undemocratically impose a radical redefinition of marriage-our most precious social institution-on all of society. They should let the people decide!

Church Map update: map is fixed

Thanks for your patience. By the way, to submit a church, just drop us a line at info@prayct.org.

Map update

We're experiencing a problem with our Church Map not showing pointers, which we will try to get squared away as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience - we know it's the most popular page on our site and we'll try to have it fixed straightaway.

State Senate votes to investigate one of its own

From Capitol Watch:

The Senate unanimously voted today to create a bipartisan committee that will recommend if Sen. Louis C. DeLuca of Woodbury should face disciplinary action for conspiring with a trash hauler to threaten his granddaughter's husband.

DeLuca, a Republican who pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit a threat, was one of three senators who spoke during the brief, solemn debate. He left the chamber before the vote, barred by Senate rules from voting on a measure that directly affects him.

“The course of action that we take today is not easy, but it is necessary, and we do not embark upon it lightly,” said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn.

No indeed. Equal time from a leading Republican by way of Channel 8:

One of DeLuca's Republican colleagues, Senator David Capiello of Danbury, has called for his resignation for the good of the Senate.

"Frankly, I'm concerned about Senator DeLuca and his family and what he will be going through. This is not going to be a good time for anyone involved," said Capiello.

Senator Lieberman speaks before Christian Zionist organization

I'm not sure how this one got past me (especially because it was heavily blogged by the political left) but I have been mighty busy since returning from vacation...

CNN has an interesting profile of an Orthodox Jewish woman named Sondra Oster Baras who speaks to Evangelical groups to raise support for Israel - part of Christiane Amanpour's upcoming series called "God's Warriors." Noted there was Sen. Lieberman's support for Christians United for Israel. From the article:

A recent poll found that 59 percent of American evangelicals believe Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates 85 million evangelicals believe God tells them to support Israel -- more than six times the world's Jewish population.

One of the most successful Jewish fundraisers, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, raised $39 million last year from Christian Zionists to fund human services and humanitarian work in Israel and the settlements.

Christian Zionists often converge on Washington by the thousands to lobby members of Congress in support of Israel.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut, was among the speakers at last month's convention of Christians United for Israel.

"There are a lot more Christian Zionists in America than Jewish Zionists," the former Democratic vice presidential candidate told the group. "The support of Christian Zionists today is critical to Israel's security and strength and to America's security and strength."

I think this is becoming one of the key issues of the next several years. Are there many real Zionists left in American government? By that I mean are there any who are willing to publicly base their support for Israel on Zionism of any kind?

New church added to Connecticut Church Map

We've happy to announce that Huntington Chapel of Shelton has been added to the Connecticut Church Map!

Check out the map here.

More on Trinity Episcopal Church in Bristol

Thanks to the sharp-eyed anonymous reader who alerted us to the fact that the Episcopal Diocese lawsuit against Rev. Helmandollar and church vestry members was mentioned today in the Bristol Press. (Link unavailable.) Other folks are now picking it up as well:

Hartford Courant (an AP story which was also picked up by Channel 3 and some newspapers)

Channel 8

Channel 30

I'm sure we'll be hearing about this one for months to come. I'll be interested to see just how deeply the Connecticut courts want to enmesh themselves in matters of church governance. Oddly, there are actually sections of our State statutes (see Sect. 33-266) dealing with the polity of the Episcopal Church:

The manner of conducting the parish, the qualifications for membership of the parish and the manner of acquiring and terminating such membership, the number of the officers of the parish, their powers and duties and the manner of their appointment, the time of holding the annual meeting of the parish and the manner of notification thereof and the manner of calling special meetings of the parish shall be such as are provided and prescribed by the constitution, canons and regulations of said Protestant Episcopal Church in this state.

Here's my short list of questions:

• Will the State follow this statute, and is it even constitutional for Connecticut to have legislated in this manner?
• What if the Episcopal Church has severed itself from the Anglican Fellowship worldwide?
• What if Bishop Smith has acted improperly in taking this step?
• In other words, should a Connecticut Superior Court judge be deciding this or should the Episcopal or Anglican bishops?

Connecticut Episcopal Bishop reportedly sues priest, church members

In the latest chapter of this saga, the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut has reportedly brought a lawsuit against the Rev. Donald Helmandollar and ten other persons for trespass and other claims. Although I might have missed it, but I haven't seen this hit the media outlets yet. However, a PDF copy of a civil complaint brought in New Britain Superior Court has been posted on the Connecticut Six blog.

It's quite possible that the mainstream media is unaware of the suit because the suit papers have not been returned to the Court yet. Under Connecticut practice, a lawsuit papers are first served upon the defendants and only then are they filed in the Court. The lawsuit bears a return date of September 11 and would not technically be pending in the New Britain Superior Court until a couple of days after that. For this reason suit papers are sometimes served on people as a negotiating tactic in hopes the persons sued will wish to avoid going to Court altogether.

Stay tuned...

At last! Something left and right can agree on.

Holes in bridges: bad!

The best social program we ever had was the DAD

In the office of the DAD they had phones like this one

The DAD.

That's not an acronym. It's Dad. Your Pop. The Old Man. He was the best social program we ever had, back in the day when we had them - and only one, mind you, not two.

In an article entitled Urban Pathology And Distance, Don Pesci nails it:

If the root cause of urban pathologies is to be found, as some analysts have suggested, in partial family structures – single parent households abandoned by fathers, or those in which fathers never were present – then a solution to the pathologies must include a restoration of more adequate social structures.

What is the possibility that architects of social policy, including politicians and legislators, will in the future dedicate themselves to writing laws and policies that encourage the formation of traditional family structures, remembering that such legislation must include sanctions that discourage less successful forms?

To ask the question is to answer it. There are many powerful political interests arrayed against such a restoration, and politicians are not celebrated for an excess of courage in opposing powerful and politically well connected interests. Children in the cities are the victims of such timidity, not to say cowardice; and however much money is thrown their way, they will continue to be victimized by a system of sanctions and rewards that is blissfully unconcerned with families and convinced – despite clear evidence to the contrary – that it is possible for a village to raise a child in the absence of honorable, loving and working fathers.

Bingo. Read the whole thing here.

Photo by Bill Gantz. Some rights reserved.

More on Asian Christianity...

Can the Western press understand what vibrant Christianity looks like? The abduction and killing of South Korean missionaries by the Taliban has spurred many to explore the growth of the faith there.

To understand the phenomenon of Korean evangelism, he says, you need to go to where it all began. It is 4:30 on a frigid Monday morning in Seoul, but the parking lot is full and the church filled to its 9000-person capacity. In a city that also worships the work ethic, this is how tens of thousands of Koreans begin their work week. At the Onnuri church, it's a two-hour prayer service. Onnuri calls itself an evangelical Presbyterian church. It began 20 years ago and has seen massive growth.

Rev. Yongjo Ha of Onnuri Presbyterian Church explains more about mission:

When we were hopeless, the Western missionaries came, and they introduced us to the hope in Jesus Christ, so we have a very holy obligation to share this hope in Jesus Christ with those people who are still in their misery.

Read more in this week's Religion & Ethics News Weekly Report from PBS. Hat tip: Titus One Nine.

Horror of the Cheshire murders spotlights nationwide crime fears

Video courtesy of the Washington Post.

The horrors of the Cheshire murder continue to echo, with no less than the Washington Post riffing on what it all means:

The killings have stunned this state known for its staid insurance companies and old whalers in Mystic Seaport, sparking the broadest review of Connecticut's criminal justice system in modern history. But while rare in their scope and viciousness, the slayings, experts say, highlight a crime wave underway in small bedroom communities across America, where statistics are showing the biggest increase in violent criminal activity in years.

Not only was violent crime in suburban communities with populations between 25,000 and 49,999 up for the third year in a row in 2006, but it grew by 3.2 percent -- significantly faster than the nationwide increase of 1.3 percent, according to recently released FBI statistics. By comparison, during that same period, cities with more than 1 million people saw violent crime edge up by only 0.2 percent while rural areas saw a decrease of 5.3 percent. Only cities between 250,000 and 499,999 witnessed similar increases, with violent crime in those areas also surging by 3.2 percent.

It happens as fast-growing suburban regions find themselves coping with more drug-related and, in some cases, gang-related crimes that were once largely considered urban problems. Cheshire, a relatively affluent municipality of 29,000 between New Haven and Hartford, offers a micro-portrait of a town grappling with at least some of those ills.

Last month, Cheshire police recorded one of their largest drug seizures in years -- 22 bags of heroin found during a drunken-driving stop. Although smaller towns are more likely to witness broader fluctuations in crime than larger cities, this year Cheshire has had 28 burglaries, a 75 percent increase over the same period last year. Additionally, in February, the town witnessed a double murder (the perpetrator committed suicide) that brought its homicide toll for the year, including the Petit killings, to a record five, according to Cheshire police.

Read the rest here.

Abortionist repents, prays for an end to abortion in America

Dr. Patti Gibbink at the recent The Call rally in Nashville

From LifeSiteNews.com:

During "The Call" rally, former Planned Parenthood abortionist Dr. Patti Gibbink stood up and testified, confessing her sins and begging God to end abortion. She told the crowds, "Ten years ago, I did abortions for Planned Parenthood." Here she paused, overwhelmed with tears.

"Oh Lord, oh God, God most holy and just," she continued, quoting Psalm 51, "You hate hands that have shed innocent blood. God, I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight."

"God, I repent. I repent for myself and all abortionists all over. We have sacrificed innocent lives to the altars of Baal and Moloch. God, God….Forgive me Lord and other abortionists. God, hear our cry. Be merciful to us. Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of this nation."

She then cried out amidst thousands of cheers, "God end abortion and bring revival to America. God end abortion! It's time, it's time."

Others got up and gave their testimony, including one young woman, the daughter of a pastor, who had had an abortion when she was seventeen. She said, "I feared man, my boyfriend, more than I feared the Lord." Referring to her boyfriend, she said, "He set life and death before me, and I chose death."

That's what it comes down to.

What are you reading this summer?

Lots of people start off the summer planning to read a good book or two, so let me ask - have you read everything you wanted to this summer? Only a few weeks left to finish that book everybody in church is talking about or read that big spy thriller. You know the one.

This is what's been on my summer reading shelf, although I have to confess it's mostly work-related:

Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches, by Christian Schwarz

The Volunteer Revolution: Unleashing the Power of Everybody, by Bill Hybels

The Making of a Leader, by Frank Damazio

Authority in Prayer: Praying with Power and Purpose, by Dutch Sheets

What have you been reading this summer?

Young people are leaving churches in droves. What's the answer?

Spiritual damage is harder to see than weather damage

What is the answer to the American church's inability to retain young people? LifeWay research points us the pressing problem:

Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30 — both evangelical and mainline — who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23, according to the survey by LifeWay Research. And 34% of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means about one in four Protestant young people have left the church.

"This is sobering news that the church needs to change the way it does ministry," says Ed Stetzer, director of Nashville-based LifeWay Research, which is affiliated with the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"It seems the teen years are like a free trial on a product. By 18, when it's their choice whether to buy in to church life, many don't feel engaged and welcome," says associate director Scott McConnell.

The statistics are based on a survey of 1,023 Protestants ages 18 to 30 who said they had attended church at least twice a month for at least one year during high school. LifeWay did the survey in April and May. Margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Any clues as to what will hold them and, more importantly, help them continue to grow into solid disciples?

The survey found that those who stayed with or returned to church grew up with both parents committed to the church, pastors whose sermons were relevant and engaging, and church members who invested in their spiritual development.

"Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza. There's no life transformation taking place," Stetzer says. "People are looking for a faith that can change them and to be a part of changing the world."

Read the rest here from USA Today.

What can churches do?

Photo by "cottergarage." Some rights reserved.

Time profiles Billy Graham

Be sure to read the Time Magazine profile of the "Pastor in Chief," which explores the fascinating relationships Billy Graham has had with presidents going back to 1955.

One day [President Lyndon] Johnson took Graham on a walk around his Texas ranch, to a clearing in the trees near where his parents were buried. Johnson wanted to know if he would see them again in heaven. And then another question: Would Billy preach at his funeral? Johnson knew the world listens when a President dies. "Don't use any notes," he said, and no fancy eulogizing either. "I want you to look in those cameras and just tell 'em what Christianity is all about. Tell 'em how they can be sure they can go to heaven. I want you to preach the Gospel." And just one more thing. "Somewhere in there, you tell 'em a few things I did for this country."

Read the rest here.

Have you seen GodTube?

You've probably heard of YouTube, but have you heard of GodTube?

Here's a FoxTV interview with GodTube.com's CEO Chris Wyatt:

Updates to the Connecticut Church Map

A quick note to let you know that we've updated the Connecticut Church Map by adding an index. You can now search for churches by town, making the map much more useful for everyone. Check it out here!

Connecticut minister takes part in delegation to Iraq

From today's Bristol Press:

Back from Baghdad, missionary Kris Keating said he and others in a Christian prayer delegation spoke with the country's prime minister about religious liberty and discrimination against the Christian minority.

"It went really well," said Keating, the missionary minister at Hillside Community Church in Bristol.

Keating was one of a group of six who recently traveled to Iraq as official guests of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to discuss what Keating said is the "very real" persecution of Christians there.

"We were able to speak frankly about some substantive issues that Christians face in Iraq," said Keating, who traveled with the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Organization in Washington and a former Bristol pastor.

Read the rest here.

The rise of Asian Christianity

Section of the Great Wall of China

As the risk of generalizing, it will come as no great revelation to anyone who has spent much time with Asian Christians that they are people of prayer and passion for souls. So it's not surprising to see so much in the news lately about the rise of Asian Christianity, including its missionary thrust. Part of this is due of course to the hostage situation in Afghanistan, but this has really only spotlighted the trend in Korean and other Asian missions work for a wider audience.

This week's National Catholic Reporter featured a column called The uphill journey of Catholicism in China, which discussed the massive growth of Pentecostal and Charismatic groups in China, while noting the relative lack of success of Roman Catholics here.

Perhaps the most remarkable burst of religious energy is in China's Pentecostal Christian population. At the time of the Communist takeover in 1949, there were roughly 900,000 Protestants. Today, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, which puts out the much-consulted World Christian Database, says there are 111 million Christians in China, roughly 90 percent Protestant and mostly Pentecostal. That would make China the third-largest Christian country on earth, following only the United States and Brazil.

The Center projects that by 2050, there will be 218 million Christians in China, 16 percent of the population, enough to make China the world's second-largest Christian nation. According to the Center, there are 10,000 conversions in China every day.

Religious data is notoriously imprecise in an officially atheistic state, and not everyone accepts these eye-popping estimates. In the 2006 update of his book Jesus in Beijing, former Time Beijing bureau chief David Aikman put the number of Protestants at 70 million. Richard Madsen, a former Maryknoll missionary and author of China's Catholics, told me he would put the number still lower, at 40 million. That's in line with the CIA World Factbook, another widely consulted resource.

Various reasons are suggested for the relatively slow growth of Catholicism, but the writer, reporter John L. Allen, Jr., suggests the answer lies in the Pentecostals' expectation of the miraculous.

How would a "Christianized" China affect the region - and the world? Allen says,

By universal consensus, China is an emerging global superpower. Its economy grew at an average annual rate of 9.4 percent over the last 25 years, and today has a GDP of $11 trillion, making it the second-largest economy in the world after the United States. Foreign companies have poured more than $600 billion into China since 1978, far eclipsing what the United States spent rebuilding post-war Europe in the Marshall Plan. China now has a middle class of 200 million people, 80 million of whom are quite well-off. The country exports more in a single day than it did in all of 1978.

How things shake out religiously, therefore, is of tremendous strategic importance, even for people who don't feel any particular spiritual stake in the result. If Christianity ends up at around 20 percent of the population, for example, China could become an exponentially larger version of South Korea (where Christians are between 25-50 percent of the population, depending upon which count one accepts) -- a more democratic, rule-oriented, basically pro-Western society. On the other hand, if dynamic Muslim movements create an Islamic enclave in the western half of the country, with financial and ideological ties to fundamentalist Wahhabi forms of Islam in Saudi Arabia, at least that part of China could become a wealthier and more influential Afghanistan. If growing religious pluralism in China becomes fractious, it could mean that a well-armed and wealthy superpower is destabilized by internal conflict, posing risks to global peace and security.

Asia Times columnist Spengler discusses Allen's article in a piece entitled Christianity Finds a Fulcrum in Asia, exploring both the religious and geopolitical aspects:

Where traditional society remains entrenched in China's most backward regions, Islam also is expanding. At the edge of the Gobi Desert and on China's western border with Central Asia, Islam claims perhaps 30 million adherents. If Christianity is the liquidator of traditional society, I have argued in the past, Islam is its defender against the encroachments of leveling imperial expansion. But Islam in China remains the religion of the economic losers, whose geographic remoteness isolates them from the economic transformation on the coasts. Christianity, by contrast, has burgeoned among the new middle class in China's cities, where the greatest wealth and productivity are concentrated. Islam has a thousand-year presence in China and has grown by natural increase rather than conversion; evangelical Protestantism had almost no adherents in China a generation ago.

Read more here.

Photo by Michael Mooney, some rights reserved.

Christian Events in Connecticut This Week (August 6 - 12)

Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church

The following events are taking place in Connecticut this week. For more information, or to add an event to our Connecticut Christian Events Calendar, please visit our website here.

(Ed. note: sorry this information is being released late this week!)

Monday, August 6:
Litchfield County Regional Prayer Meeting (Torrington)

Wednesday, August 8:
Intercessory Prayer (Colchester)
Fairfield County Pastors' Fellowship Lunch (TBD)

Thurdsay, August 9 - Saturday, August 11:
Willow Creek Leadership Summit (via satellite in Bloomfield, Greenwich)

Thursday, August 9:
Prayer in the Park (Hartford)
Regional Prayer Meeting (New Haven)

Friday, August 10:
Men 4 Men Ministries Coffeehouse (Clinton)
"The View From The Top" Youth Leadership Development Summit (New Haven)

Saturday, August 11:
Statewide Intercessors Gathering (Kensington)
House of Grace Community Coffeehouse (Milford)

Miracles in Minneapolis

"As she's approaching the bridge, the Holy Spirit speaks to her to turn off of the freeway and take a different route home. She began to argue with herself. She said 'Pastor Rich I have never heard the voice of the Holy Spirit as loud as I did that day.'"

More on Minnesota miracles here from CBN. (Video interview with Pastor Rich Scherber of Minnesota Teen Challenge.)

Have you heard of other testimonies of God's grace in connection with this tragedy? Share them with us.

Photo by Joshua Nixon, some rights reserved.

What's new at Pray Connecticut?

Summer can be a bit lazy, but exciting things are still happening around here.

First, Pray Connecticut was featured in an interesting article in the August 4th edition of the Connecticut Post called "Cyber Church." Greater Bridgeport area pastors were interviewed for this article about the use of technology and the internet by the church. There's no version of this story on the Web yet as far as we know, but if you spot it let us know.

Thanks to Jamie Fleming at the Post for a fine story!


Second, we've been adding some new and useful things to the site lately:

1. We've added an "Email this" link to the bottom of each article. This will help you to share stories with people. If you enjoy our blog, tell a friend!

2. We also have added a Bookmark Button to the site and to each article. This will enable you to save articles to your bookmarks or to popular bookmark services like Google Bookmarks. You can also share at popular social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, Facebook, Digg, and StumbleUpon. The Bookmark Button looks like this:

3. You can also subscribe to receive our posts by RSS or via e-mail without even needing to return to the site. Look for the orange button in the left-hand column - it looks like this:

4. We've also started running a daily devotional from The Daily Spurgeon. Just look in the left-hand column and you'll find it.


Thanks for your continued support. If you have any upcoming events you'd like us to help you publicize, drop us a line at info@prayct.org.

God bless!
Nick

What about Connecticut's bridges?

In Connecticut of all places, we should not have bridges in a state of disrepair.

Overall, Connecticut's bridges, many of which are pounded by daily interstate traffic far beyond the loads expected when they were built, are rated below the national average, according to a regional policy watchdog group.

While about 26 percent of bridges around the country are rated as deficient, nearly a third of Connecticut's are, the group said.

"The bridge collapse in Minneapolis serves as a tragic reminder that we must invest our transportation dollars in our existing infrastructure, and take infrastructure maintenance very seriously. said Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which used 2005 statistics.

"Other countries invest much more in sustaining their roads, highways, bridges and transit systems — we should follow their lead," she said.

But compared to other states, Connecticut is in relatively good shape when it comes to bridges, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

The 2006 National Bridge Inventory, maintained by the FHA, listed 351 of 4,166 Connecticut bridges as being "structurally deficient" — 8.4 percent of the state's total. Eleven states have a lower percentage.

Typically, a structurally deficient bridge has weight restrictions, including a prohibition on heavy-truck traffic.

More in the Connecticut Post.