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Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox, CC (July 28, 19...
2007-08-23 18:39:00
Terrance Stanley "Terry " Fox, CC (July 28, 1958 ? June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer treatment activist. He became famous for the Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research, running with one prosthetic leg. He is considered one of Canada's greatest heroes of the 20th century and is celebrated internationally every September as people participate in the Terry Fox Run, the world's largest one-day fund raiser for cancer research. Biography As a child, Fox was always an active sports fan, with diving being his favourite. Four things were evident about him; first, he loved sports of all kinds- Soccer, Rugby, baseball, and basketball. Second, he wasn't tall so he had to work harder than the bigger kids. Third, he was extremely competitive. And lastly he had a huge amount of determination. In junior high school, Fox loved basketball and wanted to play guard on the Mary Hill Cobras team. He was only 5 feet tall at the time a...

Jeanne Zelasko (born October 26, 1966 in Cinci...
2007-08-22 17:15:00
Jeanne Zelasko (born October 26, 1966 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a sports commentator for the FOX network. Primarily she covers Major League Baseball and from 2001-2006 NASCAR events. She became the pre-game host of FOX's MLB games in 2001 after the departure of Keith Olbermann. Zelasko covers pre-game for MLB 2K6 and MLB 2K7 alongside Steve Physioc. Her husband, Curt Sandoval, is a sports anchor and reporter for ABC-owned KABC-TV in Los Angeles and triathlete - having completed the Ironman in Hawaii. Early life While covering the 2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Detroit's Comerica Park, Zelasko angered many fans for her treatment of legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell. Many didn't like the way Zelasko abruptly--and in many fans' eyes, awkwardly--cut Harwell off just 17 seconds into a pre-game interview, as Harwell was detailing the accomplishments of famous Tiger Al Kaline.

Confessions is an autobiographical book by Jea...
2007-08-21 19:05:00
Confessions is an autobiographical book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In modern times, it is often published with the title The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in order to distinguish it from St. Augustine of Hippo's Confessions, the book from which Jean-Jacques Rousseau took the title for his own book. Covering the first fifty-three years of Rousseau's life, up to 1765, it was completed in 1770, but not published until 1782, four years after Rousseau's death. The Confessions is divided into two parts, each consisting of six books. Rousseau alludes to a planned third part, but this was never completed. Though the book is somewhat flawed as an autobiography ? particularly, Rousseau's dates are frequently off, and some events are out of order ? Rousseau provides an account of the experiences that shaped his influential philosophy. For instance, the parts of his own education he liked best are clearly present in his account of ideal education, Emile: Or, On Education. Rousseau's ...
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Peter Steele (born Peter Ratajczyk on January ...
2007-08-19 17:05:00
Peter Steel e (born Peter Ratajczyk on January 4, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is the lead singer, bassist, and composer for the gothic-doom band Type O Negative. He is a resident of Brooklyn, New York. Steele's bass voice sets much of the mood for Type O Negative's brooding melodies. Before joining Type O Negative, Steele played for heavy metal group Fallout, and the thrash metal band Carnivore. His bass playing is another cornerstone of the Type O sound. He uses heavy effects to alter his sound. Steele is almost as famous for his build as he is for his music. He stands approximately 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall, and is athletic built. He is often called Lurch by friends, as he also has an exceptionally deep voice (this would explain the severe tuning down apparent in many Type O Negative songs). In August 1995, Steele posed nude for Playgirl magazine. He later claimed regret for doing so after discovering that only 23% of Playgirl subscribers are female. Accor...
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Mehedin?i (IPA: [me.he.'din.?i]) is a county (...
2007-08-18 18:20:00
Mehedin?i (IPA: [me.he.'din.?i]) is a county (jude?) of Romania, in the historical provinces of Oltenia(mostly) and Banat(a little part in the west). Its capital city is Turnu Severin. Demographics This county has a total area of 4,933 km². In the North-West there are the Mehedin?i Mountains with heghts up to 1500 m, part of the Western end of the Southern Carpathians. The heights decrease towards the East, passing through the hills to a high plain - the Western end of the Romanian Plain. In the South the Danube flows, forming a wide valley, with channels and ponds. Other important river is the Motru River in the East side, an affluent of the Jiu River. Also, in the West side there is the Cerna River forming a passage between the Oltenia region and the Banat region. Geography Bulgaria in the South - Vidin Province. Serbia in the South-West - Bor District. Cara?-Severin County in the North-West. Gorj County in the North-East. Dolj County in the South-East. Neighbours...

Bobby Rush (born November 10, 1940) is an Amer...
2007-08-17 19:20:00
Bobby Rush (born November 10, 1940) is an American blues and R&B musician, composer and singer. He was born Emmit Ellis Jr. in Homer, Louisiana. His family relocated to Chicago in 1953, where he became part of the local blues scene. In the early 1980s he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he recorded a series of records for the LaJam label, Malaco's Waldoxy imprint, and more recently his own Deep Rush label. He is a purveyer of the soul blues sound. He sometimes also uses elements from rap and funk. 2004's "FolkFunk" was a return to a more rootsier sound, featuring guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart, and came out on his own Deep Rush label. He appears in the film "The Road To Memphis" which is part of the series The Blues, produced by Martin Scorsese. Discography 1979 Rush Hour (Philadelphia Intl) 1982 Sue (La Jam) 1984 Gotta Have Money (La Jam) 1985 What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander (La Jam) 1990 Man Can Give It But He Can't Take It (La Jam) 1991 I Ain...
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Envoy Says UN Role in Somalia Hinges on Political Talks
2007-08-14 09:03:00
The U.N. Security Council Monday discussed a proposal for the United Nations to increase its role in Soma lia . From VOA's New York bureau, Suzanne Presto reports the secretary-general's special envoy to Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, says U.N. peacekeepers could replace A.U. troops when the African Union's extended mandate, known as AMISOM, expires early next yearBut, Fall says, Somalia must make some headway toward peace in reconciliation talks before the U.N. will consider assuming responsibility for the mission. "In six months, if we get enough political progress, and if we complete AMISOM, then the door is always open for the U.N. peacekeeping in Somalia. But we need to push in the political dialogue to have some political progress," he said.Fall says the U.N.'s role in Somalia hinges on the outcome of political discussions set for later this week in Mogadishu. They are part of broader national reconciliation talks among representatives from Somalia's various clans. Insurge...
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Jobs Offers Developers Web 2.0 Apps For iPhone
2007-06-12 13:07:00
Applications built for the iPhone would run in a sandbox separate from the device's OS to keep hackers out. By Antone Gonsalves InformationWeek Jun 12, 2007 06:01 AM Apple says it plans to let developers build Web 2.0 applications for the iPhone, a move that slightly opens the door to a mostly closed environment. Steve Jobs made the announcement Monday towards the end of his opening keynote at the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Most of the speech was dedicated to new features in Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X that ships in October. In offering mobile developers a bit of hope for getting their applications on the iPhone, Jobs said the combo cell phone and digital music player, which ships June 29, would contain a full-featured version of Safari 3. The latest upgrade of Apple's Web browser was released in beta for PCs and Macs on Monday. As a result, developers could leverage the tools they currently use to build applications in Ajax, and run them through ...
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Christmas and Holiday Time!
2006-12-11 08:32:00
I was listening to a discussion on the radio on the topic of Chris t mas . As usual people were phoning in to the station to bemoan the commercialisation of Christmas and the over-spending that happens each year. There were those who felt that Christmas should be taken off the calendar to stop people getting into ridiculous amounts of debt while others felt offended by the removal of Christ from Christmas.One lady called in with a very interesting perspective - one which I had not considered and it certainly made me think!She reminded the listeners that there are many people worldwide, even in countries who do not celebrate Christmas, who rely on the Christmas spending spree. They are business people, workers in factories, people in the tourism industry, people whose livelihood depends on the tourist influx in some parts of the world and so on.What would happen to these people if the commercial aspect of Christmas was removed?Please understand I am also concerned about how commercial c...
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I'm back!
2006-11-13 08:09:00
Hi everyone!It seems like forever since I last posted and there is so much to share! It has been quite a ride since getting back into the office after my furlough. Some lessons learnt during my time off :1) God will still be in control whether I choose to work a 60-hour week or a 40-hour week!2) Ministry happens better when I put clear boundaries and balance into my life.3) My first ministry is to my family.4) There is joy in rest!!On getting back into the office I discovered that there had been a few hiccups in my absence. Our assistant children's pastor had at one point really taken strain. This was due to excessive demands made on her time by some of our volunteers and staff members. I realised that I needed to do more education around her role in our children's ministry both to our volunteers and fellow staff members!I also came back realising that our annus horribilis was not yet over and there were still greater mountains to climb. We are losing some incredible volunteers at...
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A Good Experience
2006-08-21 21:56:00
I promised to write a post while on my extended long leave so here we go! . . .While visiting the Simon's Town harbour and tourist area with the family this past week, I decided to take my 3 year old son on a trip around the harbour on a tourist boat. Upon arrival at the boat, we were told by the boat operator that he was waiting for a large group of tourists and so had to delay departure until they got there. We agreed to wait the 15 mins or so until the tourists arrived.After some time the boat operator approached us and said that either the tourists were not coming or they were very late. He then asked us to leave the boat we were in and move to another boat so that he could take us on our own little adventure into the harbour area.We had a great time and on returning to the quayside I asked the skipper what we owed him. His response was a simple one : "Nothing! At least the little guy got a trip in a boat!"How great to meet someone whose interest was not in making money but rat...
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One National Conversation
2006-08-11 19:42:05
Can you imagine an entire nation engaged in conversation around values? Can you imagine a secular national broadcaster being willing to broadcast on all its channels a series of faith-based films which act as a catalyst for that conversation? Can you imagine secular banking and commercial enterprises investing millions into this project so that as many people as possible are reached with a
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Caught in the middle - remember the kids
2006-08-11 19:42:05
Since the start of the current conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon, I have resisted blogging about it as there are hundreds of bloggers putting out excellent posts - many from the frontline of the conflict itself. Now, having spent most of the evening watching the news on Sky, BBC World and SABC News, I feel compelled to make a comment. As I watch families huddled in underground
More About: Kids , The Kids , Middle , Caught , The Kid

Time To Rest!
2006-08-11 19:42:05
Well my furlough has finally arrived! I am now away from the hustle and bustle of the office and ministry activities for 9 weeks! Can you see the smile? During this time I have set my sights on a couple of targets : 1) Reconnecting with family, myself and God 2) Rest ing! 3) Making a start on my book. 4) Setting up our part-time business at home. 5) Beginning to write a new blog on an entirely
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Christian Nice Guys?
2006-08-11 19:42:05
I started reading a book this past week with the intriguing title of No More Chris t ian Nice Guy. Written by Paul Coughlin it reasons that the church has "sanitized" the picture of Jesus to such a degree that when men are told to "be like Jesus" they withdraw into timidity and just try to be "nice guys" and not offend anyone! This leads to a society of men, purporting to live like Jesus, who are
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Time to aim lower!
2006-08-06 19:33:03
I discovered this video on the Children Matter site. It reminds us in a humorous, yet poignant, way why we commit our lives to reaching children with the gospel. Enjoy it!
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What's your theological worldview?
2006-06-27 12:18:00
I discovered a great quiz on QuizFarm - "What 's Your Theological World view?"As a born and bred Methodist, I was pleased to see my results! However, I was even more pleased to see that I was tied with the category of Emergent/Postmodern - seems to fit my profile quite well actually!Go ahead and see what you come out as - post your results in the comments and let's compare notes! Click on this link - "What's Your Theological Worldview?"My results : You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan.You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.Emergent/Postmodern86%Evangeli cal Holiness/Wesleyan86%Neo orthodox71%Charismatic/Pentecostal54%Roma n Catholic43%Classical ...
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Is bigger always better?
2006-06-26 09:05:00
My previous post, A Pixar Story, challenged the idea that bigger is always better. Take a look at this excellent article from Kurt Johnston in which he examines the trend to always be bigger and better - it makes for challenging and inspiring reading.Kurt's Thoughts
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A Pixar story
2006-06-19 09:40:00
John Lasseter, Executive Vice-President:Creative of Pixar Animation Studios, tells a story of when he took his family to see a movie together. His 6-year old son turned to him during a section of the film which was not that interesting and asked,"Dad? How many letters in my name?"John relates how he then realised that the movie had completely lost the attention of this young lad at whom the movie was aimed! He says that he then thought to himself, If ever a child anywhere in the world leans over to their daddy during one of my movies and asks, "How many letters in my name?" I'll quit! Fortune Magazine - May 29, 2006Many people will tell you that you need to compete with the likes of Pixar, Disney, Sony Playstation and the like. They will tell you doom and gloom stories of how difficult it is to keep the attention of children in this modern age. Your mind will begin to fill with ideas of how to utilise the latest technology to keep the attention of your children and you will begin t...
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Teachers are learners
2006-06-14 19:58:00
Wendy Kopp, founder and president of Teach for America, saysThe best teachers drive themselves to be continuous learners.An excellent article on this principle of life-long learning can be found at weLEAD Online MagazineIt saddens me when I speak to children's ministry leaders who tell me they are too busy to read or attend learning opportunities. Talk about missed chances to enhance their skill levels, develop new strategies and network with like-minded leaders! The Lord has given us abilities and gifts to use in ministry to children - our responsibility is to grow and develop these to their full potential!To this end I want to encourage you to send in a review of a book or other resource which has been of help to you in ministry - I will post these as they come in - let's share our ideas so that we may learn together.
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No atheists at penalty shoot-outs!
2006-06-08 08:00:00
On the eve of the first match of the 2006 soccer World Cup, the official Church of England website now boasts two prayers for the event. According to a report from London the church's website has seen a dramatic increase in hits since the prayers were posted - perhaps an indication of the confidence of the public in England's chances?!However, all is not lost should your team be losing at half-time - two Berlin churches will be holding 15 minute soccer-themed services during half-time to allow you to pray for your team's victory!What is going to happen to the faith of those seeking the Lord when they call on Him to give their team victory and the team loses? It would be foolish not to leverage a massive sporting encounter such as this for evangelical opportunities. However we need to be careful about how we do this!Are any of you doing something special with your kids over this soccer-mad season?There are some nice ideas from Youth for Christ in the United Kingdom here : http://k...
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It's a boy!
2006-06-07 14:07:00
A personal post this afternoon!At about 08h50 this morning (7 June) our family was joined by its newest member - Nathan Daniel Preston.What a wonderful gift from the Lord! As the father of one 3 year old boy already I know that we are in for fun! The miracle of new-life is always mind-blowing and this morning was no different - as I held this new-born infant in my arms just after he emerged from the womb, I was once more over-awed at the greatness and goodness of the God we serve.My prayer is now that my wife, Tracey, and I will be able to bring up Nathan and Joshua in a knowledge of the Lord and be the best possible parents we can be!Bathes, dressed, and ready for a feed!A proud dad!

Theology of navel-gazing
2006-06-06 11:11:00
A recent report from Rome shows that some Italian churches are resorting to signage to stop young women attending church in tops that bare their midriffs!It goes on to say that some churches have employed guards to keep "inappropriately" dressed people out of church.Am I the only one who finds this odd? Surely this flies in the face of the theology of accepting all who seek Christ? Does it really matter if a person is dressed in baggy pants and a torn t-shirt when they come into church?Yes I know I am stepping on the toes of those who feel that coming into church demands a certain level of respect in terms of being quiet and dressing smartly. I just find this particular approach off-putting to folks who simply come to experience God.As I look at the life of Jesus, I see Him walking with the outcasts, healing the lepers, dining with tax-collectors and generally upsetting the religious powers-that-be with his "I accept all" attitude. Surely we should not be afraid of tradition or reli...
More About: Theology , Ology , Theo

Children's ministry facilities - avoiding the pity-party!
2006-06-02 22:59:00
Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church, Perry Noble, writes in his blog :I will share one thing–we are going to be adding some more children’s space this summer. One of the biggest “problems� we have faced since moving into our new facilities is the number of kids that come every week…so we are going to do some creative things this summer to make more room. We decided a long time ago that kids would come first at NewSpring…and that adults WILL always sacrifice when it comes to reaching kids and youth; after all, the church is only one generation away from being extinct.(It always has bothered me when a church will spend more on an organ or stained glass windows that they will on their nursery!)Many children's ministers struggle with facility challenges and it is so refreshing to hear a Senior Pastor who "gets it"!What distresses me though is to hear children's pastor moan and complain about the facilities they don't have - a degenerative pity-party that becomes self-destru...
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What if your volunteers paid to serve in kids' ministry?
2006-05-29 16:10:00
"What would you do differently with your volunteers if you charged an admission fee for people to volunteer?"This is the subject of a very interesting and thought-provoking post on Multi-Site Kids . It certainly made me think!I only came across Tammy's site today and have read many of the posts already - this is a great blog - worth subscribing to!Multi-Site Kids
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A call to action...
2006-05-27 23:51:00
A recent report by UNICEF shows the following frightening statistics for Africa :1) Children under 15 account for 1 in 6 AIDS-related deaths.2) A child under 15 dies of an AIDS-related illness every minute. 3) A young person aged 15-24 contracts HIV every 15 seconds.This is a shocking state of affairs which needs urgent action. I am not going to begin to go into the politics of this mess because that needs a blog all of its own. However I am going to lay out some challenges to you and to myself : 1) Are we knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS? We cannot teach about the disease if our own understanding is limited.2) Are our children learning about this modern-day leprosy? We need a generation who are informed about this disease.3) Do our children's ministry volunteers have a good knowledge of the disease? They need to know - some children in your ministry may already be HIV-positive.4) Do our teams follow safety precautions when handling blood and other bodily fluid? Imagine the emotional, ...
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Enron juror gives some food for thought!
2006-05-27 22:01:00
A great reminder on child safety for those of us responsible for children in our ministries coming from Enron trial juror, Freddy Delgado (an elementary school principal) - "I can't say that I don't know what my teachers were doing in the classroom. I am still responsible if a child gets lost."Download PowerPoint slides with this quote.
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Cool idea!
2006-05-22 20:46:00
Google Labs is always a fun site to visit to see what the folks over at Google are playing with!Google Trends allows you to see international search trends and make comparisons with different search terms. I was interested to see that South Africa leads the way as the country with the highest number of searches for "children's ministry". Admittedly this site does say that it is still in the development stages but nonetheless this is an interesting statistic! I wonder why South Africa would lead the way in this? Perhaps this is because the need is so great that people are turning to the internet for advice and material.
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Fathers
2006-05-22 20:20:00
With our second child on the way in less than 3 week's time, I am increasingly aware of the incredibly important role fathers play in the lives of their children. I recently came across this father's organization based in South Africa - fathers.co.zaIt looks like a good organization to link into - some nice material for newsletters to parents!
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Does the church have the "get it" factor?
2006-05-19 23:15:00
My mind is racing with thoughts and ideas as the Cape Town conference with Sue Miller heads towards its conclusion. One of the challenges we face is coming alongside Senior Pastors and showing them why investing time and resources into their children's ministries is a very clever play indeed for the evangelistic potential and the growth of their church.I love what Rick Muchow, worship pastor at Saddleback Church , has to say in an answer to a question about children's worship on Pastors.com:"The worth of our children is so significant and powerful! They are the next generation of our church, but often we are so busy leading the adults who are asking to be led and funding the church, that we end up with our leftover energy going to the children. We as churches often train our younger ministers by putting them with the children. I wonder how our churches would grow if we asked our best leaders to focus on teaching the children first. It could radically change the church of the future...
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