By James V. Heidinger II,
President and Publisher
September 6, 2007, No. 2
Thank you for the encouraging responses about our new email newsletter, Good News Perspective, which is going out every two weeks to those who wish to receive it. My monthly letters for September focus on Perspective and invite subscribers and donors to send us their email addresses to add to our current list. If there are others you know who might wish to receive Perspective, have them send their name and email addresses to us at: perspective@goodnewsmag.org. Thanks much, Jim.
CONGRESS ON EVANGELISM SET FOR JANUARY 2-5, 2008. We would encourage United Methodists to put the date of January 2-5, 2008, on their calendars as this is when the CONGRESS ON EVANGELISM will be held in Savannah, Georgia. As most of us will recall, 2007 marked the 300th birthday of Charles Wesley, prolific hymn-writer and brother of John Wesley. Savannah is rich in early Methodist history. The meetings will be at the Savannah Convention Center and the hotel nearest the Center is the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort Hotel. You can go here for more information (http://congressonevangelism.com/lodging).
Major speakers announced thus far are Bishop James Swanson, Dr. Robert Tuttle, Dr. Bill Bouknight, and Dr. Evelyn Laycock. The morning Bible leader will be the Rev. Grace Imathiu. Workshops and additional information will be out soon. Last year’s Congress was outstanding and we encourage United Methodists to start the 2008 New Year off on a good, solid footing by attending the Congress. Appropriately, the theme is from Charles Wesley: “Spirit of Faith Come Down.”
MTV AND ASSOCIATED PRESS RELEASE MAJOR STUDY OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND HAPPINESS. MTV and the Associated Press recently (8-20-07) released the findings of an in-depth, seven-month study into happiness and young people: how happy they are, what makes them happy, and what they’re doing to ensure future happiness. Several findings got the attention of the evangelical world.
Most encouraging was that Parents and Family are seen as an overwhelmingly positive influence in the lives of most young people. About half of respondents (American young people aged 13-24) mention at least one of their parents as a hero. When asked “What one thing in life makes you most happy?” 46 percent of respondents say spending time with family, friends, and loved ones. Another positive trend was that religion and spirituality are an integral part of happiness for most American young people. Some 44 percent say that religion and spirituality are either a very important or the single most important thing in their lives (with one in ten saying the latter). For a more thorough look at poll results, see the articles on the Good News website (www.goodnewsmag.org).
GOOD NEWS’ BEYOND THE BADGE ALREADY IN SIXTH PRINTING SINCE BEING PUBLISHED IN JANUARY OF 2006! What an exciting reception it has had! This book by Good News board member, the Rev. Dr. Charles Ferrara, reflects an amazing understanding of the stresses and temptations that police officers face. And that is no surprise since the author is a retired Lieutenant from the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Chuck is an ordained United Methodist minister in the New York Annual Conference and for the past 15 years has served as a police chaplain. This summer, Chuck was a featured speaker at the International Conference on Police Chaplains in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
United Methodist churches have been buying multiple copies of Chuck’s book to give to local law enforcement officers in their communities. One large church in the Southeast Jurisdiction ordered 600 books to give to police officers in its area. It has been a great tool to build bridges with law enforcement personnel in the church’s community. It is written to help bring police officers to faith in Christ. For more information about Beyond the Badge, go to the Good News web site: www.goodnewsmag.org. And Chuck, thanks for “being faithful to the Heavenly vision.”
THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH MAY HAVE NEW HYMNAL BY 2013. It’s hard to believe that our current United Methodist Hymnal will soon be 20 years old. At its August 22-25 meeting, the General Board of Discipleship voted to ask the 2008 General Conference to form a hymnal creation committee next year to begin developing a new hymnal. This would be only the second hymnal since the merger of the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches in 1968.
Good News was much involved in providing input and feedback to the Hymnal Revision Committee that gave us our current 1989 hymnal. We believe that significant grass-roots involvement saved the church from some serious mistakes that might otherwise have been made. The new hymnal added scores of Charles Wesley hymns and gospel songs which had not been in the 1964 hymnal. We will be watching this process carefully once again. (See Good News website for complete article about a possible new hymnal.)
We would encourage you to participate in a hymnal survey being done currently by the church. You can share your ten most favorite hymns as well as the ten least favorite that you would like to see removed from the hymnal. Mark Tooley reminded us recently that the supplement to the hymnal which came out in 2000, entitled The Faith We Sing, had some problematic hymns included. They were approved because the supplement did not have to be approved by General Conference. Hymns such as “I Am Your Mother,” “Mother God,” and “Womb of Life” to just name several, have problems theologically. They would be good for your removal list. To participate in the hymnal survey, go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm =JqqQD9anWCmmPk9oc6QApg_3d_3d.
Click here to send your response plus the title of this article to us at Good News.