Pastor Sees Room on Mall for Slave Tribute
By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 8, 2003; Page B01

Something is missing from the Mall, says Herndon pastor Brett Fuller. When he walks its length, Fuller sees monuments to great presidents, marble parks depicting history-changing events and walls of black granite bringing comfort to relatives of war casualties. But there's not a single stone raised to celebrate African American accomplishments, he says.

Fuller, who is also chaplain of the Washington Redskins, is attempting to change that by lobbying Congress to authorize a monument in honor of those enslaved in this country. The idea has caught on with a bipartisan contingent in the House, which introduced H.R. 196, the National Slave Memorial Act.

"Where can I go in the nation's capital to find some kind of historical monument to give honor and dignity to the nation's slaves?" asked Fuller, who leads a multiracial congregation at Grace Covenant Church in Herndon. "They were the economic backbone of our country for about 250 years. . . . Somebody needs to say 'thank you' and that 'we recognize your contribution to our country.' "

Getting space in the nation's preeminent outdoor gallery, however, is not an easy task. It has been tried by the leaders of dozens of causes. Nearly all failed and had to build their monuments on less famous real estate in Washington.

What's more, last year the Interior Department declared the heart of the Mall, known as the Reserve, a "no-build zone" after a three-year study, said John Parsons, a regional National Park Service director. Officials were concerned it would end up chock-full of bronze and marble if too many memorials were built. Exceptions were made for projects authorized by Congress.

The Mall, Parsons said, "is a completed work of civic art and shouldn't be messed with." In its current form, the Slavery Memorial Act would place the monument inside the Reserve close to the Lincoln Memorial, superseding Interior Department policy. Parsons said he expected that his agency would oppose the bill if it specified a site inside the "no-build zone."

But Fuller and some of his congressional allies are optimistic that the memorial will still end up in the Reserve or just off its borders. They add that they appear to have growing support within the GOP.

The memorial's backers say they got a boost from Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.). During one of his many apologies in December after he made racially insensitive remarks at Strom Thurmond's birthday, Lott said: "I've been working with a number of African American leaders to try to get a suitable memorial on the Mall."

Fuller believes the controversy surrounding Lott, which led to his resignation as Senate Republican leader, gives the project momentum. "This is one of the first ways Republicans can show they are interested in African American issues," he said. "Given what happened with Lott, the sensitivity level towards race and America's conscience toward race has been heightened."

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the author of the bill, said his priority is to get the memorial built, even if he has to compromise on where it would go. But Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), the bill co-sponsor, said he would fight to get it on the Mall.

"I've often said, since the Trent Lott incident and the president's repudiation of what he said, that it is not about words," Cummings said. "You would think that, with a Republican as a lead sponsor and the Senate and the House being in control of the Republicans, that the ball is in their court to make it happen."

Aides for Lott said he is focusing on another race-related project: establishing an African American cultural museum in the District.
"He's come to the conclusion that . . . the museum is a preferable honor right now, and it's one that we are already moving forward with and he would like to keep on track. He's certainly not saying no" to the slavery memorial, said Susan Irby, Lott's spokeswoman.

Outside Congress, the bill is backed by several prominent athletes who know Fuller through his NFL work. They include Redskins greats Darrell Green and Art Monk as well as Mark Brunell, the quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars. George Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to Gambia and brother of "Roots" author Alex Haley, is also lobbying for the project.

Green said he envisions blacks and whites and other races finding healing in the shadows of the memorial. "As much as this will be a physical place, it will speak the unspoken words of redemption and forgiveness and . . . unity and togetherness," he said. "I pray that this wouldn't just be another little thing . . . that those in authority would fight to get it on the Mall."

Fuller said he expects the proposal to be contentious. But he points out that other controversial monuments, such as the memorial to Vietnam War veterans, endured similar debate. Just as that tribute provides solace to many, Fuller hopes a memorial to the nation's slaves will lead to racial reconciliation.

"The memorial is about one thing: what America did to Africans that were taken from Africa and how they now need to be remembered and honored," he said. "And hopefully, we can begin the process of going to the root problems of racial division in our history and heal them."


(Pastor Brett Fuller near the Reflecting Pool, with the Capitol and the Washington Monument in the distance. He is lobbying for the slave tribute Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)


[www.washingtonpost.com]

Bryan Schwartz to speak Monday at clergy appreciation event in Aberdeen
Arberdeen News
10/11/2002


As a middle linebacker, Bryan Schwartz followed highly planned defensive schemes set down by his coaches. Now he's just letting the Lord lead the way. The South Dakota native, who spent five years playing in the National Football League, moved his family to Austin, Texas, because "it really felt like the Lord wanted us to move to Austin" at this stage of his life, he said. He has faith that God will lead him and tell him when it's time to move on to the next step. Schwartz, who grew up 5 miles east of St. Lawrence, will be the featured speaker Monday night at the fifth annual Clergy Appreciation Banquet in Aberdeen. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the Ramkota Hotel. He is now senior associate pastor at Morning Star Christian Church in Austin. After graduating from Augustana, Schwartz played five years for the Jacksonville Jaguars, beginning in 1995. After his rookie year with the Jaguars, Schwartz and his wife, Diane, attended a Bible study at the home of Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell. "That night a man named Greg Ball was there, preaching the word of God," Schwartz said in a phone interview. "My wife and I both really gave our hearts to Christ that night, and really changed our lives completely." A church actually started as a result of that Bible study. "About five of us guys really turned our lives around and gave our lives to the Lord," Schwartz said. That group "just kept growing and growing," and now the Jacksonville church totals about 1,000 people. It was through Ball that the Schwartzes wound up in Austin. Ball is now the senior pastor at Morning Star Christian Church. Morning Star Christian Church, which has about 450 people, is a "fun, young church," which makes his job a blessing, Schwartz said. Looking back, Schwartz is satisfied with his NFL career. "I played five years at middle linebacker. The average career there is about three years." And when he was healthy, "I had a lot of success on the field," he said. "I got to start and play and lead the team in tackles and do a lot of great things. . . ." Unfortunately, he suffered some serious injuries, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament his second year and his medial collateral ligament his fourth season. "And you can always sit there and go, 'Why is this happening? What's going on?' But through it all, I didn't ask those kind of questions. I had those moments, but more importantly, I was focused on the bigger goal." He had envisioned playing about 10 years. "And it just showed me one thing, that my plans are really His plans." The 6-foot-4 Schwartz is still only 30 years old. He turns 31 on Dec. 5. Does he ever think about a comeback? "As healthy as I feel right now," he says, he is confident that he could still play. In the offseason after his fifth year, Schwartz tried out for other teams. "And that was a tough thing, when the doors didn't open back up," he says. But he got a clear signal while walking back into the locker room in San Francisco, after one of his last workouts. "I just had a great workout. But walking back in that locker room I really believed that that was the moment I realized that 'it's over.' I'm not going to get mystical, but I really at that point sensed God saying 'it's time to go on to the next chapter of your life.' "After that workout, I went back home, talked to Diane and said, 'You know what? I think it's time to close this chapter.' And I did. Within a week, I officially retired."


www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/living/42610

[www.zoominfo.com]

"A lot of people in Washington wish they could hobnob with President Bush the way Darrell Green has. Green was the first topic in one of Bush's speeches, presumably with Green in the audience. "The most compassionate thing Darrell Green has done is to retire. Particularly if you're a Dallas Cowboys fan." Green was pictured sitting in front of the First Couple on the White House lawn. Green is Chairman of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. Green's White House connection got him a speaking engagement at the prestigious National Press Club in Washington DC.

Green's youth center has received visits from Secretary Thompson and Secretary Paige. Green was pictured on the White House website seated next to Secretary Paige. Secretary Paige also attended a luncheon honoring Green. Green attended a State of the Union Address as a guest of Senator Frist. Green was invited to a congressional Republican retreat. Earlier, Virginia Governor Gilmore donated 20 computers and called on Green to expand his youth centers into Virginia. Meanwhile Green's name has been thrown around by Republicans for the Virginia state senate race.

Youth Today did a lengthy investigation into Green's center. They discovered that Green's center received $3,000,000 of Bush's faith based initiatives money, although it serves only 38 children. Green's center is in a poor part of Washington, DC; an area where social services have been cut, including an after school program that served 3000 children. In 2007, Green received a $50,000 Freddie Mac grant. Wonder how many youth centers there are in Washington, DC?

www.ProLife.com and www.SexLoveAndChoices.com quote Green's views on sex. AC Green is basketball's Iron Man. He's also the vice president of Champions and a long time disciple of Greg Ball. When AC Green launched Athletes for Abstinence, he recruited Darrell Green for a video entitled, "It's Not Worth It." When Joycelyn Elders, Clinton's Surgeon General, testified before a congressional committee about teenage pregnancy, guess who else testified? That's right, Darrell Green representing Athletes for Abstinence. When 10,000 teenagers turned out for a Project Reality rally in Chicago, guess what Green considered. That's right, hosting a Project Reality rally in Washington, DC.

A California pro life organization posted Tony Fetchel's testimony on their website. Who is Tony Fetchel? Well, he was an assistant pastor with Green's denomination - until he was caught in bed with the pastor's daughter. An assistant pastor preaching abstinence at a pro life conference while having a longstanding affair with the pastor's daughter!

The pastor was Phil Bonasso, cofounder of Green's denomination. Bonasso was also the denomination's financial officer. Bonasso has a lot of explaining to do, too. Namely what he did with so much money before he was run out of Los Angeles. Guess who AC Green's pastor was while AC Green played for the Lakers. That's right, Bonasso.

Another leader of Green's denomination, Paul Daniel, had two affairs, one before he merged his denomination with Green's and one after. Did denomination leaders cover up the first affair to ensure a successful merger? Former members who have been monitoring the denomination think so.

There are probably more Ted Haggard types in Green's denomination. Darrell Green and AC Green probably practice what they preach. But they need to preach it to the religious hypocrites they're associated with, not to horny teenagers they've never met.

Sure, Darrell Green, AC Green, and Mark Brunell are role models. The type of role models conservative politicians and high school principles want to be on stage with and be pictured with. But what type of role models are Greg Ball, Greg Feste, Rice Broocks, Phil Bonasso, Brett Fuller, Tony Fetchel, and Paul Daniel? And how much damage do these athletes do when they hail corrupt ministers as role models?"

Focus On Sex, Love and Choices
Speaker: Tony Fetchel
Right to Life League of Southern California
14th Annual Education Conference


"I grew up in Southern California. When I was in high school, abstinence was never presented as a choice. The philosophy was that "we were going to do it anyway" and so we were instructed in condom use and contraceptives.

Looking back, I know now that our teachers were not completely current on the information. No one told us that the AIDS virus, for example, is 450 times smaller than sperm, and sperm can penetrate the holes in a condom.....or the side effects of birth control pills....or the various sexually-transmitted diseases you could get even if you used a condom. It was like throwing a Charlie Brown blanket over an acre of confusion and ignorance which the typical teenager has about sex.

I started having sex at 17, and continued that same behavior when I got to college. One day in my freshman year, I learned that my old high school girlfriend had been pregnant several months previously with my baby and aborted it. So a baby had to die because of my irresponsibility. Unfortunately, that incident didn't stop me.

In 1992, I was 20 years old, playing college baseball and on the verge of signing a major league baseball contract. I was sleeping with five girls on campus. Each one thought she was my exclusive girlfriend, and I assumed each one was only sleeping with me! One afternoon, I learned one of the girls had herpes. You know, there is no cure for herpes. I became tremendously terrified.

I made a decision to be abstinent until marriage. I did not contract herpes, but I realized my life off the field was a fiasco. I started talking to a campus minister, and eventually became a Christian. After college graduation, I briefly played minor league baseball for the California Angels before becoming a full-time campus minister at age 24.

By then, I had also met my future wife Joadie. We had a completely chaste courtship and were married in 1996. And although our marriage is wonderful, I would have traded every sexual experience I had to have been a virgin with her on my wedding night.

I began volunteering as a Sex, Love and Choices speaker soon after. The message I share is that when you put on a condom, you're also putting a condom on your dreams, your desires, and your destiny. And if the condom breaks, so does your future. I only wish someone had the courage or the wisdom to tell me this when I was in high school."

VCM: STORMING THE CAMPUS FOR JESUS

“Here’s a quote you can have about them: dangerous weirdoes.” That’s what Paul Litterick, spokesperson for the Rationalists and Humanists, had to say about Victory Campus Ministries (VCM). Victory Campus Ministries are an AUSA-affiliated club on campus. One of its members is running for the position of AUSA student president in the upcoming elections. But who are they? That’s an interesting story.

VCM is an evangelical Christian group. They are linked to the American movement of the same name, effectively an offshoot of the U.S.-based Maranatha/Morning Star Church. The aim of VCM as a group is to infiltrate student campuses around the world. They start a club at any given university and fill out its members with the few fundamentalists that exist through statistical inevitability on any campus; once the club is formed, the on-campus missionary work begins. As the group begins to gather force, it nominates some of its members to run for student government, then pours in all its monetary and human resources into winning their members positions of power within university. Its tactics have been described as “aggressive” and “cult-like.”

The ultimate aims of this group, however, are not a guarded secret or part of some clandestine plot played out in the subtext. VCM’s website states the organisation’s ambitions and goals very clearly. Their mission statement contains four points, including, “Winning the next generation for Christ on the college campus, establishing young people in Christian fellowship and the local church, training today's students for victorious Christian living and influential leadership in tomorrow's world, and sending vibrant young men and women to impact their campus and ultimately the world for Jesus Christ.”

This quote is taken from the history page on their site:

It became clear that Every Nation Campus Ministries [later VCM] had received a divine mandate not only to win students to Christ, but also to release an army of missionaries onto university campuses, reaching the major university centers of the world.

The term “army of missionaries” is apt in this case. It is within the climate and discourse of universities that the great ideological war is perpetually fought: a battle to control the paradigms of the next generation. Win at the universities and, guaranteed, within fifteen years you will hold sway over a country: this is the way VCM views the world.

From 1989 to 1991, VCM were active at Auckland University. They were banned for the following 10 years. They were back preaching in 2000 with a large contingent of American missionaries. This year, it looks like they are brewing on the horizon (more about this later). First, it is important to learn about VCM’s broader history.




The Maranatha Chameleon

Over the years, VCM has gone through multiple mutations. The original banner for the movement was the Maranatha Church, incepted by a man named Robert Weiner, who based the teaching of the church on the pseudo-scriptural philosophies of an obscure 1940s movement called the New Order of the Latter Rain. The Maranatha movement came into being in the early seventies, popping up on various college campuses around the US, building its membership and expanding across the country, as well as internationally. The timeline of the church’s many mutations is a complicated one, involving myriad ministerial name changes and the dissolving and re-forming of numerous groups. For the sake of brevity, what follows here is a very contracted version of an otherwise labyrinthine saga. By the 1980s, Maranatha had ministries all over the world. However, the more it grew, the more media institutions began to pick up reports of the organisation’s cult-like tactics. The case of Dee Dee Tillman was one of the most documented incidents. In 1982, Tillman was a 19-year-old student attending college in Kansas. While there, she became involved with Maranatha Campus Ministries. After joining the group, her parents became concerned over changes in her behaviour and "kidnapped" her, taking her to a farmhouse in central Kansas to be “deprogrammed” by a psychologist. At the time, this case led to the introduction of a bill to the Kansas Senate that would give parents the right to steal their children back from fundamentalist groups and deprogram them.

While the Dee Dee Tilman case was the most widely reported, it was not an isolated incident in terms of Maranatha being labeled a cult. There are countless reports of people sucked in by the organisation. Kathy Myatt was a former member of the Maranatha Movement in the US. In an open letter, she depicts a lifestyle both repressive and restrictive: “Submission to the leadership was essential. . . Soon after joining Maranatha, I discovered I was to hear from God on every area of my life. No area was considered neutral in regard to God's will. If I wanted to visit relatives out of town, I was to submit that to my shepherdess, who would take it to the pastor for confirmation. If he agreed it was from God for me to visit, I was then permitted to do so. If not, it was out of the question.”

In 1989, the issue of Maranatha was prominent enough to warrant a mention in the Chronicle of Higher Education. An article clumsily titled “Some Colleges warn Students that Cult-like Methods are Being Used by Christian Fundamentalist Groups” identified the rise and rise of these groups across the US, where members were put under huge pressure to conform to doctrine. As the article itself stated, “cults deceive people when they try to recruit them and then trap them psychologically, making it extremely difficult for someone to leave... Any group that relies on such practices should be classified as a cult, regardless of its ideology or religious beliefs.”

During this period of relative media frenzy, Maranatha began changing the names of their ministries, dissolving churches at one end and then reincorporating them at the other under different names. However, the people involved in each ministry stayed exactly the same. This dissolution was virtually complete by 1990, the same time VCM first arrived at Auckland University (more on that shortly). Between about 1990 and 1997, former Maranatha ministries began re-converging under the banner of Morning Star International. By 2000, Morning Star International was fully established, although not without again being subjected to criticism over their aggressive conversion tactics. It was this same year that VCM reappeared at Auckland University, armed with money and American missionaries. Since then, Morning Star has continued to expand, including yet another re-re-branding exercise, changing their name to Every Nation Campus Ministries, claiming, just as it had done on the previous occasions, that the change was God’s will – not an attempt to obfuscate a history of negative press. Every Nation is still embroiled in scandal. The Kansas State Collegian reported in 2004 that a Maranatha-related group was suing the University of Minnesota after it refused to allow the group to form a ministry on campus. In the end, though, whatever this movement prefers to be called is irrelevant; it is still controlled by the same people that were integral in its creation, it still operates along the same set of principles: nothing has changed.

(For a more comprehensive guide to the movements and mutations the Maranatha, checkout: [www.geocities.com])



1989: VCM Hits Auckland University

In 1989, a VCM (then Maranatha) mission began at Auckland University under the tutelage of an American pastor named Bob Muni. A number of American missionaries were flown in to help with the efforts to convert, gain numbers and spread the love of Jesus into student government. A full report of their successes can be found at [stardust.blognz.com]. The report (written from the perspective of VCM) details the ministry’s campaign to rid student government of feminists and homosexuals with the power of love. In particular, it focuses on a girl named Fiona Stephens. The report states that “[a]s a militant feminist, Fiona had been instrumental in stirring up hostility to the Maranatha church in Auckland.” Fiona was, at the time, sitting in a prominent position on the student council and was, according to the report, “a leader of the homosexuals and lesbians” in student government. The report goes as far as to suggest that Fiona was in control of virtually all campus culture.

As with all stories like this, though, it finishes with Fiona recognising herself as a sinner, turning to the Way and the Light, and accepting the love of Jesus Christ. In Pastor Muni’s own words, “the radicals and homosexuals [were] wanting to talk about God because they saw us move in love.” (see sidebox on Love Bombing). The tactic was not to move in and condemn, but rather to embrace. He continued: “For the first time they [were] experiencing the fact that God loves them. As they embrace this reality, He will convict them of their sin and change them from the inside out.”

The report goes on to take testimony from other Maranatha students. It finishes by lauding its success in infiltrating student government and breaking the stronghold that homosexuals and communist radicals held on campus: “Last year there were no Christians in student government. In fact, 12 of the 13 positions were held by homosexual activists. The exciting turnaround included the election of another Christian, Moses F., and a corresponding decrease in the positions held by militant homosexuals.”

The following year, Maranatha/Morning Star International was banned from campus, after its cult tactics had come to light. 10 years go by.



Operation Campus Harvest: 2000

Ten years was enough time for the memories of 1989-90 to fade and disappear from student consciousness. A full turnover of those attending Auckland University had taken place. At the same time, Maranatha went through its own transformation, breaking up and then re-converging as Morning Star International and VCM.

A few weeks before the AUSA elections in 2000, they began arriving. A trickle at first, then a flood: 50 VCM missionaries flown in from the US. They were here to support a candidate named Sherid Thackwray in her bid to become AUSA president. Their official name for this operation: Operation Campus Harvest.

A VCM member on campus, Thackwray had served on AUSA before, and was thus in the perfect position to run from the inside. With the support of the international movement, VCM hoped to plant one of their own in a position of power and were prepared to thrust as much money and religion into the campaign as they could.

Reports of the time are surreal. Each day, the missionaries and their disciples would wander the campus, cornering students for hours at a time in the hope of selling them dually on the ideas of Christ and Thackwray. T-shirts were screen-printed in full colour and given out to supporters, with a zealous disregard for the campaign-spending cap of $200. In the Clubspace room up above the Quad, VCM held evangelical rallies where members felt themselves moved by the hand of the Holy Spirit; conversions were made, and people fainted under the power of the Lord, waking to find that whatever wounds they had were miraculously healed.

The missionaries even brought a religious strongman over with them – 120kg and bearing a startling resemblance to then-WWF superstar Big Show. By channeling the strength of Jesus Christ, he would tear phonebooks in half and bend steel frying pans as a way of demonstrating the supremacy and power of the Lord. With Strongman in tow, the missionaries would infiltrate the balconies above the Quad and sit around with the pot-heads and drug-munters, explaining to them the infinite love of Jesus. Arguably, their campaign was a success in this respect: every Wednesday, they booked the Quad and dragged out all the druggies they had converted and had them tell stories about the evils of marijuana, the wonders of the Lord and how students should vote Sherid Thackwray into office. They held rallies for God and Thackwray in Albert Park, gave speeches in lecture theatres extolling both Thackwray and their version of Christianity – recovering as many souls and votes as possible before Armageddon and the Resurrection.

All of this is recorded. Craccum 2000 details it as it happened, and there are enough students that remain from that era to have the memories still hanging in the collective student consciousness. One of the most fanatical moments recorded was of a VCM rally in Albert Park. Accounts taken from news articles at the time suggest that around 70 VCM supporters had gathered in the park to dance, sing and swoon for Sherid’s campaign. Paul Schischka, AUSA’s Environmental Affairs Officer in 1999, took part in this rally under the guise of a VCM supporter. He stood up on stage and professed his love for Jesus; as a result he received a free “Vote Sherid” screen-printed T-shirt. Once he had donned the shirt, however, he broke into drunken blasphemy and leapt clear of the crowd. Immediately, VCM demanded their shirt back. A chase ensued, with a large proportion of the VCM supports tailing Schischka out of the park, across the Quad and up into the Craccum Offices. Schischka barricaded himself behind the Craccum door while VCM’s strongman tried to channel the strength of Jesus and knock it down. From inside the offices, security was called, and the Christians were asked to leave. Quoting Craccum 2000: “AUSA custodians were subsequently instructed [by VCM] that any “Thackwray-President” T-shirts were to be considered stolen and returned.”

Despite the thousands spent on her campaign, the on-loan fundamentalists, the printed tees and the strength of Jesus, Thackwray lost by 299 to the incumbent’s 486. Craccum co-editor in 2000, Ben Thomas, had much to say at the time on the topic of VCM’s invasion of love: “For every man of God willing to pay young mothers to keep their babies, I’ll show you someone who wants to consign a generation of women to a hell of guilt and shame. Good PR is disguising bad beliefs, and maybe it takes Morning Star (VCM) to wake us all up from our moral slumber. Just not the way they thought.”

In the period following the presidential elections, once the results had been posted, the missionaries disappeared from campus. God’s will was supposed to have ensured that Thackwray would win the election. Dejected over the failure of the divine hand, the missionaries allegedly returned to their temporary religious HQ in Albany and waited quietly for their time in NZ to expire.



The Present: Campus Harvest Round Two

Why is any of the above relevant? To drag this piece all the way back to the beginning, a VCM member is again running for the position of president this year. While there is every chance that they are running independently and will not seek the aid of an army, it is wise to look at the historical evidence surrounding VCM. Their doctrine is not about student affairs or good governance, it is about encouraging a generation of Morning Star supporters into positions of power. Take the students first, change the paradigms at college, and subsequently affect the cultural and political landscape of the future. It is strategic, it is about membership and power; it is a spiritual corporation, not a belief system.

What few people understanding is that university and student politics are a microcosm of the wider world. Virtually every member of AUSA is or has been affiliated with a political party, be it Labour, the Greens, ACT or National. Later in life, many will go on to rank highly in these parties and help shape the New Zealand we live in. VCM represents the fringe element, the religious right, the insidious challenge melding politics, power and spirituality in a ceaseless fight for YOUR soul and YOUR vote. All parties, all student politicians, inevitably have an agenda, it’s merely up to you to decide whether you want that agenda represented. While it is probably abundantly clear that I am against any agenda that a group like VCM would want to set for the future, that is not the point of this article. This article is not about fundamentalist Christianity or its values as such; it is not about VCM as anti-gay, anti-Jew or anti-abortion. It is about fringe groups pushing for power, about raising peoples’ consciousness in that area and making sure that they know it’s happening, if and when it happens. The consequences of having VCM in control of campus would reverberate down the line, directly affecting the future of the country you live in. Or, at least, that’s what they hope.

[www.craccum.co.nz]

GOP COURTS EX REDSKIN FOR VIRGINIA SENATE SEAT

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 15, 2006; Page B01

Former Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell R. Green is being urged to run for the state Senate from Loudoun County next year by leading Northern Virginia Republicans who hope he can use his fame on the football field to oust newly elected Democrat Mark R. Herring.

Green, one of the most well-known Redskins from the team's recent golden era, lives in Loudoun and has been running a nonprofit foundation since he left the team three years ago.

As a rookie in 1983, he captured the nation's attention with a stunning come-from-behind tackle of Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett during a Monday Night Football game. Now, some Republicans hope he can help their party recover from a string of bruising losses to Democrats in the past several elections.

"That name is on many lips," said former senator William C. Mims (R), whose Loudoun seat Herring won after Mims left to work in the attorney general's office. "[Green] is a longtime Loudoun resident who has been active in the community. He is highly respected and has an outlook that's consistent with Republican principles."

Green was not home yesterday and could not be located for comment. A woman who answered the phone at his Ashburn home said he was out of town until Monday.

Mims and several other Republicans from Northern Virginia said there have been discussions with Green about the Loudoun seat, which will be up for election in 2007.

Green was seen making the rounds of Capitol Square in Richmond several weeks ago.

"I wanted everyone to meet him," said U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who was in Richmond on March 27 with his congressional colleagues for a regularly scheduled meeting with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).

After the meeting, Green tossed a football back and forth with U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) in front of Kaine's executive mansion.

Davis declined to discuss whether Green is being courted, saying only that his candidacy would "be a nice matchup. Darrell would be great if he wanted to run for anything except the 11th Congressional District," which is the seat Davis holds.

Charles Mann, a former Redskins defensive end and a friend of Green's, said he had not discussed the candidacy with him. But he said Green would be a "natural" in whatever office he chose to run for.

"He's a born leader. You have to have some kind of leadership mantle to do that," Mann said. He noted that Green would have nearly 100 percent name identification in the Loudoun district if he ran. "That and a cup of coffee would get you in the running. He would be conservative, absolutely, for whatever that's worth."

Green's pastor at Metro Morningstar in Sterling, Brett Fuller, called Green a "recognized, favored icon" and said he gets "many contacts about running for office -- district, or Virginia, nationally or locally. I have no ideas what his intentions are. Absolutely none."

A possible Green candidacy, which was first reported as a rumor on an Internet blog called Too Conservative, is part of a larger effort by the Republican Party to regain seats in Northern Virginia, where they lost several recent elections. Herring's win in a special election this year was especially painful, party officials said.

Afterward, the Republican Party of Virginia convened a Northern Virginia Strike Force to map a new strategy. The group has met three times and will issue an internal report to the party this summer.

"Darrell Green would make an excellent candidate, both in his own right and as part of the overall strategy here in Northern Virginia," said Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-Fairfax), who represents the neighboring district. "We are not just going to play defense."

Herring said he is not intimidated by the chance that Green might run against him.

"He's a very popular football player and a star on the football field," Herring said. "I'm confident that my positions are consistent with those of the majority of the citizens in the district. I believe I'll be reelected next year."

[www.washingtonpost.com]

"When Jesus saw similar multitudes, “He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” His response to this need? To send out laborers – to send us – into this harvest.

Among those He has sent in recent days is my friend, Darrell Green, the legendary twenty-year veteran of the Washington Redskins. From time to time, Darrell would go into the inner city of DC for charity events. He described what happened one day when he, like Jesus, “saw the multitude and was moved with compassion for them.”

“One Christmas we were distributing food and the Lord spoke to my heart. ‘You’re helping them today,’ I sensed Him say, ‘but they’re going to be needy tomorrow. What are you going to do for them then?’ I knew then that my efforts weren’t really hitting the mark.”

Darrell responded by establishing a learning center to teach and train young people and minister to their families. Fifteen years later, these Youth Life Learning Centers are popping up all over America. Their success has been so tremendous that leaders from many nations, including Nelson Mandela, are now asking for these centers to be established in their countries as well."

Rice Broocks
Every Nation in Our Generation
Chapter 4

TO: Bethel Church, Every Nation Churches, Inc., Victory Clubs of America, Inc., Steve Hollander, Rice Broocks, Jr.

FROM: Maria and Felicia Vega, Laurie Noyes and Jill Gustafson

...The Plaintiffs are persuaded that members of Bethel Church, its pastors and the Bethel Parties have sincere beliefs which can be a positive influence in the world. The Plaintiffs are also persuaded that the vast and overwhelming majority of the members of Bethel Church, its pastors and the Bethel Parties are good and decent people motivated by the spirit of Christ, who try to live Christ’s teachings, and who desire to help young people in need

...The Plaintiffs hold no ill will towards members of Bethel Church or the Bethel Parties in general. Further, the Plaintiffs absolve the Bethel Parties and their officers as well as members who are not currently parties to the litigation, of any fault or responsibility for any injuries suffered by the Plaintiffs in the course of their association with the Bethel Parties or their members. The Plaintiffs agree to dismiss their claims against the Bethel Parties with prejudice such that those claims may never be brought again, and release the Bethel Parties from any responsibility for damages or injuries suffered by the Plaintiffs arising from or related to the events which are, or could have been, the subject of the lawsuit.

[blogs.salon.com]

"Maybe they should change the name to "Under the Bridge Austin"...lol. Once everyone found out about "the letter" from Sue to Helen Ball disclosing the real nature of her relationship with her boss, everyone disappeared. They were meeting in a house owned by Sally & Benny _______ , former members of the Austin church. Once the news broke, they said bye bye to Greg Ball. He confessed to the leaders of his former Austin, church. Then told his new sheep that the former church and Ray McCollum were trying to ruin him. "

Leghorn

The problems were from the beginning. Bob Weiner came to Paducah to have a youth rally at his father-in-laws Methodist church. I was not there. They had a bunch of kids get saved, rededicate their lives to God. Bob and Rose were previously heading to Sweden to preach there. They kept the commitment and then came back through Paducah to check up on things with the kids. They saw that many of the kids were not doing that well in their faith so they decided to go back to California get their things and move to Paducah Ky to start a christian center and drug prevention center.

All well and noble. Then when they got back many of the pastors didn't like Bob and his ways. And they didn't want their kids coming to Maranatha. I believe this is where things went awry. Bob instead of trying to work with the pastors to try and help them with the kids (although he will say he did try to work with the pastors) he decides they are all lukewarm and disassociates himself with at least 75% of the pastors in town. Then it is us against the world and we are more on fire and so we must be right.

I believe from the birthing of Maranatha it was a ••••••• child that could never receive enough praise or acceptance. I think Bob was a very insecure and demanding person who should never been leader of a ministry. He was 25, Rose 23 and I was 21 when this started. But this lack of acceptance by the church is a holdover from his childhood I believe. So he goes about to use his gifting (and he does have a gift) to prove everybody and every church wrong and we as followers pick up the tab.

Maybe if he had stayed 10-15 years with Wesley Steelberg in Long Beach as an assistant pastor he might have turned out different. But he ran ahead of God and his timing and then reproduced himself in people like me who had started their 3rd church by the age of 27. Boys rushing out ahead of God and ahead of his timing.

Would things been different? I don't know. But they couldn't have been much worse. Marantha was a illegitimate offspring of a group of people who had a good vision, a good plan but not good people. They were maybe not inherently bad but no way were we ready to do what we tried and many of you paid the price.

People in EN are still paying the price. This is a little of what I see in retrospect.

flo1151