CAU invites adults and children to be a part of our Water Baptism Service on Sunday, April 29th. If you have any questions about baptism or would like to know how you can be involved, please call the church office at 864-244-2621.

Courtney Olson was a junior in high school when, at the beginning of 2010, she sensed God speaking to her about setting a Speed the Light (STL) goal of $10,000. She had no idea how she was going to raise the money, so she prayerfully brainstormed about creative ways to reach her goal. The one-month t-shirt concept was born. Courtney decided to have a special STL t-shirt made and wear it for one month straight. Thirty of her friends joined her effort. They collected donations daily or asked for one donation for the entire thirty-day period. In 2010, she raised $3,000.

Though she did not reach $10,000, she decided to go for the same amount in 2011. However, she implemented some changes to her strategy. She asked her youth leaders if there was a STL project that was associated with ministry to those involved in human trafficking. The team chose to focus on Project Rescue, a ministry to women and children in sexual slavery that focuses on providing physical, emotional, and spiritual rescue, as well as, holistic restoration. STL provides vehicles used by Project Rescue.

Courtney recruited 178 friends (both high school and college, saved and unsaved) to participate in wearing a STL t-shirt for a month. Each participant was required to pay $20 for the cost of the shirt, but an anonymous donor committed to pay back the $20 if students raised $100 or more. Before the group even started asking for donations, she had already matched her previous year’s STL total!

Students were divided into smaller groups so Courtney did not have to manage the entire group on her own. They met weekly at Centennial High School and Emmanuel Christian Center in Spring Lake Park, MN, to collect money and engage participants in the heart behind the project. Each student had the opportunity to hear and learn of God’s love for people and His desire for the lost to return to Him. At one of the meetings Courtney even presented the Gospel story, knowing that not all of the participants had made decisions to follow Christ.

Through her efforts many students came to know the love of God, and $16,957 was raised for STL in just one month. Even more incredible, because of her heart and passion for missions, in two years (but technically two months) she raised almost $20,000! Courtney is impacting the world and is an encouragement to everyone she meets. When students participate in STL, they too have the opportunity to see God do the miraculous.

Currently, the Assemblies of God is ranked ninth overall in size in the United States, with 3,030,944 adherents. As the AG continues its growth, there were slight declines in the two largest church bodies (Catholic Church, .44 percent drop; Southern Baptist Convention, .15 percent drop). Other churches felt more significant losses (No. 7 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 5.9 percent drop; No. 10 Presbyterian Church, 3.42 percent drop; No. 14 The Episcopal Church, 2.71 percent drop).

“The direction of membership (growth or decline) remains very stable,” wrote Dr. Eileen Lindner, the yearbook’s editor. “Most churches which have been increasing in membership in recent years have continued to grow and likewise, those churches which have been declining in membership in recent years have continued to decline.”

The report found that of the churches reporting, total church membership was down 1.15 percent, while contributions to churches overall dropped by a total of $1.2 billion.

Of the top 25 churches, only six of those reporting saw growth of any kind. However, Pentecostal churches seemed to be maintaining or growing.

“Although seeing our growth is encouraging, I believe this is just the start of even greater things to come for the Assemblies of God,” states Dr. George O. Wood, AG general superintendent. “The Holy Spirit is moving in America and people are hungry to experience the truth of the gospel in their lives. When people experience true relationship with Jesus Christ, it is life changing!”

For the full National Council of Churches new release and the listing of top 25 churches, see http://www.ncccusa.org/news/120209yearbook2012.html.

–Dan Van Veen

More than 10,000 students, parents and leaders are expected to attend the event, headquartered in the brand new KFC Yum! Center.

“If you’ve never been to a National Fine Arts Festival you’re missing out on one of the largest and most spiritually energizing events for students, leaders and parents of teens,” says National Fine Arts Director Rod Whitlock.

Fine Arts is a discipleship tool of the National Youth Ministries of the Assemblies of God (AG) designed to help students discover, develop and deploy their ministry gifts. During the national festival, Fine Arts students will present in more than 61 categories in eight divisions. In addition Kappa Tau, the college-aged division of Fine Arts, offers participation in 35 categories in seven divisions. Fine Arts Rules can be found at http://www.faf.ag.org/rules.cfm. Kappa Tau Rules and evaluation criteria can be found at http://www.faf.ag.org/kappatau.

According to Whitlock, although competitive elements are present, providing a competition venue is not the primary mission of Fine Arts Festival. “Through Fine Arts, students are given the opportunity to have their skills evaluated by qualified ministers, industry professionals and educators. These professionals encourage excellence, offer ideas for improvement and inspire students to use their gifts in the local church, community and around the world in ministry or secular vocation. Scores are not as important as lessons learned, experience gained, and skills developed,” Whitlock explains.

Each day of Fine Arts presentations and AIM outreach will be capped with dynamic evening National Youth Convention speakers and worship with Worth Dying For. Convention speakers include evangelist Tim Ross, pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. and Student Missions Director Chet Caudill.

Fine Arts students must qualify through their local district festival in order to present at nationals. Kappa Tau students aren’t required to advance from a district festival, however if the district offers Kappa Tau participation is highly encouraged.

Students who do not qualify for National Fine Arts may still register to participate in the National Youth Convention and/or AIM Outreach.

For more information and to register, visit http://louisville12.ag.org.  Follow @AG_FAF on Twitter for more information and updates.

–Amber Weigand-Buckley

“It is exciting to see students, youth groups, and churches
consistently passionate about taking the good news of Jesus to the
ends of the earth,” Caudill says.

A banquet was held February 2, 2012, in Branson, Missouri, to
recognize the top giving churches and districts to STL in 2011.

“STL giving in 2011 represented an increase of over a half million
dollars, or 6.2 percent, over 2010,” says Chet Caudill, Speed the
Light director. “Our top five churches last year all eclipsed
$100,000 in giving ‹ the first time this has ever happened. In
addition, 27 districts from across the nation increased in STL
giving, and seven of these had record years.”

Listed below are the top 20 giving churches and top 10 giving
districts to STL for 2011.

2011 Top 20 Giving Churches to Speed the Light:

1. James River Assembly of God in Ozark, Missouri (Southern Missouri
District): $162,235.00

2. Calvary Christian Center in Yuba City, California (Northern
California/Nevada District): $116,091.88

3. Fountain of Life Center in Burlington, New Jersey (New Jersey
District): $110,239.15

4. First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas (Arkansas
District): $108,535.87

5. River Valley Church in Apple Valley, Minnesota (Minnesota
District): $106,028.57

6. First Assembly of God in Fort Myers, Florida (Peninsular Florida
District): $83,797.18

7. First Assembly of God in Dothan, Alabama (Alabama District):
$75,000.00

8. First Assembly of God in Gainesville, Florida (Peninsular Florida
District): $68,232.50

9. Cedar Valley Church in Bloomington, Minnesota (Minnesota
District): $67,799.77

10. Sunset Christian Center in Rocklin, California (North
California/Nevada District): $58,080.80

11. River of Life Assembly of God in Cold Spring, Minnesota
(Minnesota District): $58,003.00

12. Emmanuel Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Minnesota
District): $57,958.41

13. Mount Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan (Michigan District):
$55,153.00

14. Bethlehem Church in Richmond Hill, New York (New York District):
$52,193.42

15. First Assembly of God in Van Buren, Arkansas (Arkansas
District): $46,902.12

16. First Assembly of God in Montgomery, Alabama (Alabama District):
$46,567.07

17. First Assembly of God in Griffin, Georgia (Georgia District):
$44,406.33

18. Berean Assembly of God in Pleasant Hill, Iowa (Iowa District):
$44,351.84

19. Faith Assembly of God in Orlando, Florida (Peninsular Florida
District): $40,595.74

20. Crossroads Fellowship in Humble, Texas (South Texas District):
$39,475.15

2011 top 10 giving districts to Speed the Light:
1. Arkansas District: $660,181.95
2. Alabama District: $562,148.51
3. Minnesota District: $551,256.17
4. Peninsular Florida District: $483,311.04
5. North Texas District: $405,687.86
6. Southern Missouri District: $347,353.51
7. New Jersey District: $312,106.34
8. South Texas District: $299,795.41
9. Northern-California/Nevada District: $294,416.63
10. Pennsylvania/Delaware District: $283,323.19

For more information about Speed the Light, see http://stl.ag.org.

–Becca Dickson

Although some churches and other houses of worship are exempt from the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines (under the2010 health care reform law), church-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social services are not.

In a letter to President Obama sent by NAE President Leith Anderson and signed by Wood and nearly 60 additional religious leaders in December, Anderson stated that despite the media’s focus on the Catholic Church’s objection to the ruling, the Catholic community was not standing alone on this matter ‹ organizations and leaders of others faiths are also deeply troubled by the mandate and limited exemption.

Anderson wrote, “It is not only Catholics who object to the narrow exemption that protects only seminaries and a few churches, but not churches with a social outreach and other faith-based organizations that serve the poor and needy broadly providing help that goes beyond worship and prayer.”

Expounding on the NAE’s objections, Anderson explained that in addition to affiliated religious-based organizations that serve the poor and needy (currently not exempt from the ruling), there are numerous other ministries that are not affiliated to one denomination or house of worship. “Rather, they are, and are considered in Federal law to be, religious organizations because of their religious mission, their faith-shaped internal operations and their presentation of themselves to the community as religious organizations,” Anderson wrote.

“We join with the many other religious leaders, including the Roman Catholics, in our strong objection to this attempt by the federal government to discriminate against persons of faith and religious communities,” states Dr. George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. “I strongly encourage our AG constituency to contact their congressional representatives in voicing their objection to this ruling.”

Last Sunday, Catholic churches across the country reportedly read letters to their congregations, asking them to contact their congressional representatives to object to the controversial ruling, with a goal of 6 million contacts taking place.

Wood says is he also concerned that if the federal government is successful in mandating this action, what may be next is a regulation that imposes a requirement on Assemblies of God (and all religious) colleges and universities that if they choose to decline admittance to students on the basis of gender orientation, they will lose federal grants and student loans.

“Additionally, this intrusion by the federal government into religious rights granted under the First Amendment could have enormous negative implications for non-profit organizations that function with religious beliefs and values,” Wood says.

In concluding the letter to President Obama, Anderson wrote: “We believe that the Federal government is obligated by the First Amendment to accommodate the religious convictions of faith-based organizations of all kinds, Catholic and non-Catholic. We respectfully ask that your administration, should it maintain the current contraceptives mandate, devise an exemption for religious employers that accurately defines such employers and exempts them from being required to offer to their employees (and students, if they are among America¹s many religious colleges and universities) health services to which they have deep religious objections.”

To read the entire NAE letter to President Obama, see http://s2.ag.org/letter.