The Bulletin Board:(Please SCROLL DOWN this page to find the article titled on this post in LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS. Thank you.)
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
AN INSPIRING PLACE TO GIVE THANKS FOR..."How Travis Crockett Leaned on God and Helping Hands to Lift Himself From Poverty and Mean Streets" - Kelsey Harkness / November 24, 2014 / http://dailysignal.com/2014/11/24/how-travis-crockett-leaned-on-god-and-helping-hands-to-lift-himself-from-poverty-and-mean-streets/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokvK3AZKXonjHpfsX56eguXa%2B3lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4CRcVrI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D [NOTE: Please go to the noted weblink to view video clips related to this story.]
When he was 5 years old, Travis Crockett saw his mother’s close friend shot dead on the street. “Why are you crying?” his mom asked, as he wiped away tears. “You don’t even know this person.”
“He killed him over 10 dollars,” Travis told her.
Violence, gangs and drugs were unavoidable. Travis’s father was largely absent from his life. His mother lacked the means to support him and his brother.Although Travis never intended to go down a destructive path, growing up in the Chicago projects, he thought he had little choice.“I had no way out,” he recalls in an interview with The Daily Signal. By eighth grade, Travis was smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol and selling drugs. He was kicked out of school for fighting members of rival gangs.When he didn’t return to school for months, it was clear he was in trouble.“All I could do is fit in,” Travis recalls, “so I could have a life and not sit in the house the whole time.” He was barely 15. That’s when a neighborhood ministry worker, Sarah James, unofficially adopted the Crockett family.“Auntie Sarah” made it possible for a cousin to travel across the country to a place called Jubilee Leadership Academy. She asked Travis if he wanted to go too. “I just burst into tears,” Travis says, recalling his response: “Yeah, I want to go to Jubilee. I always wanted to go to Jubilee.”
Travis’s story, sketched out in the accompanying video from The Daily Signal, is one reason that World magazine selected Jubilee Leadership Academy from among five finalists to receive its 2014 Hope Award for Effective Compassion.Jubilee Executive Director Rick Griffin and his wife, Leann, accepted the award and a check for $25,000 from World’s Warren Cole Smith and Jamie Dean at a Nov. 20 luncheon in Washington, D.C. The ceremony took place during The Heritage Foundation’s annual Antipoverty Forum bringing together politicians and policymakers, government and nonprofit officials and faith leaders to advance conservative solutions to poverty and human need.
Founded in 1995, Jubilee Leadership Academy is an all-boys Christian boarding school just outside Prescott, Wash., a small town two hours southwest of Spokane.Jubilee is situated on 400 acres donated by philanthropists Ralph and Cheryl Broetje, owners of Broetje Orchards, one of the largest privately owned apple orchards in the U.S. Their vision for Jubilee was to plant seeds of hope in the lives of troubled boys.Through counseling, a fully accredited academic program and a range of vocational and athletic activities, Jubilee’s staff of 45 offers struggling boys ages 13 to 18 a way out of poverty, drugs and violence. “It’s that chance for a comeback, that leveling of the playing field,” says Griffin, one of Jubilee’s five founders as well as the school’s executive director. “It’s a place where all their debts before won’t be counted against them.”
Indeed, the academy’s name comes from the Bible’s Old Testament. It recounts that every 50th year the Israelites would celebrate the year of Jubilee, when God desired to mark release from indebtedness and bondage. Prisoners, captives and slaves were released, debts were forgiven and property was returned to original owners.In other words, it was an opportunity to begin again.
Griffin, in an interview with The Daily Signal before learning the Hope Award would go to Jubilee, says he hopes to raise enough money to renovate the academy’s dorm, construct a new one and build a gym.The academy, while not much to look at, provides what he describes as a Christ-centered community where troubled youth can make that new beginning.
“I always knew [God] was there,” Travis recalls of growing up in Chicago:"Through the ages 5 to 11, I stayed in a church every single Sunday. But I still had this anger issue and it affected me one day. God—he never let go. He brought me to this place in the middle of nowhere so I could find Him again.
Although some boys pay their own way through the program, Jubilee offers scholarships to those who can’t afford it.“It is really important to our mission that we offer the program to anyone who desires to change their life,” says Griffin, 50, a native of Wyoming.The average stay at Jubilee Leadership Academy is just over a year. Travis is about four months shy of two years.
At first resistant, Travis, now 16, has grown to appreciate the program and the staff. He has taken on a leadership role. “He is now choosing to serve others that are starting out, as a mentor for other young men,” Griffin says:"Travis knows what they’re going through and he can walk them through that. He’s choosing now to give out of his skill set instead of just advancing for himself."
If it weren’t for Jubilee, Travis says, he still would be on the streets.“I would probably be in Chicago with my friends—or my so-called friends—gang-banging and stuff like that.” Now, he hopes to return to the projects for a different reason: to help other kids in need, as part of a ministry:"I just want to share my testimony of what I’ve been through and the things that I have seen, and I just want to help them not to go down that same path that I did." In the meantime, Travis has big dreams of graduating high school, attending Eastern Washington University and making it to the NBA.“But I have to get taller, of course,” he jokes.
Griffin, who overcame his own difficult circumstances to earn a master’s degree in education from the University of Phoenix, hopes to continue helping to give direction to troubled adolescents and teens.
“Every dollar that comes in means one more dollar we get to give to an individual who doesn’t have one,” Griffin says. “Our hope is that we could build another dorm to help more kids who are struggling.”
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
11/21 Special Petition Effort for Pastor Seed/ signatures needed in next few days....
President Obama is "desperate" to make a nuclear deal with Iran.
To leave American Pastor Saeed to rot in an Iranian jail for his Christian faith would be an absolute travesty. We have just a few days to demand President Obama act before the nuclear deadline.We can't trust Iran as it torments Pastor Saeed. His life - his freedom - is at stake.
We must send a powerful message to President Obama - a sense of urgency to bring Pastor Saeed home.We've mobilized our international resources. We're aggressively working with Members of Congress to make it crystal clear: no deal without Pastor Saeed. We're fully committed in the fight to bring Pastor Saeed home, but now we need to hear from you. Already, nearly 100,000 have made their voices heard. Join them. Be heard today. Save Saeed. Sign Our Petition: No Deals without Pastor Saeed. http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign
"American Christian Couple [in Qatar]Faces Death Sentence after Daughter Dies" - By Charlene Aaron, CBN News, November 21, 2014; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/November/Christian-Couple-Faces-Death-Sentence-after-Daughter-Dies/
NOW THAT THE ELECTION IS OVER:1) Let's be praying that God showed us grace in giving us representatives who will sincerely work to DO NO HARM to us and future generations. Let's also be praying that should He have chosen to give us those who WILL do us harm, that He extends mercy to us now and for the years ahead. His will is now done as far as the results we have. Now it's up to us to be diligent to hold those elected accountable!, and 2) Let's be praying that the present lame-duck session in Congress will not be allowed to pass legislation that will do harm to our country as they can easily do. (See post #1051 - 'Return of the Zombie).
11/21 Special Petition Effort for Pastor Seed/ signatures needed in next few days....
President Obama is "desperate" to make a nuclear deal with Iran.
To leave American Pastor Saeed to rot in an Iranian jail for his Christian faith would be an absolute travesty. We have just a few days to demand President Obama act before the nuclear deadline.We can't trust Iran as it torments Pastor Saeed. His life - his freedom - is at stake.
We must send a powerful message to President Obama - a sense of urgency to bring Pastor Saeed home.We've mobilized our international resources. We're aggressively working with Members of Congress to make it crystal clear: no deal without Pastor Saeed. We're fully committed in the fight to bring Pastor Saeed home, but now we need to hear from you. Already, nearly 100,000 have made their voices heard. Join them. Be heard today. Save Saeed. Sign Our Petition: No Deals without Pastor Saeed. http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign
"American Christian Couple [in Qatar]Faces Death Sentence after Daughter Dies" - By Charlene Aaron, CBN News, November 21, 2014; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/November/Christian-Couple-Faces-Death-Sentence-after-Daughter-Dies/
NOW THAT THE ELECTION IS OVER:1) Let's be praying that God showed us grace in giving us representatives who will sincerely work to DO NO HARM to us and future generations. Let's also be praying that should He have chosen to give us those who WILL do us harm, that He extends mercy to us now and for the years ahead. His will is now done as far as the results we have. Now it's up to us to be diligent to hold those elected accountable!, and 2) Let's be praying that the present lame-duck session in Congress will not be allowed to pass legislation that will do harm to our country as they can easily do. (See post #1051 - 'Return of the Zombie).
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Save Christian Mom Asia Bibi from Execution - A Christian mom has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for her faith. Asia Bibi was falsely accused of “blasphemy” – speaking against the prophet Muhammad. Now this wife and mother of five will hang for her Christian faith.She would be the first woman executed under Pakistan’s Shariah blasphemy law.This is the ultimate human rights violation. We’re mobilizing our international affiliate – the European Centre for Law and Justice – and its partner in Pakistan to stop this atrocity. Add your name to our letter to the government of Pakistan demanding Asia Bibi’s freedom.Go to http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution; please add your signature to mine and over 35,000 others AND pray for Asia Bibi.
U.S. Supreme Court has Reconvened: Let's be praying WHENEVER the Court is in session as their decisions can have impact on GENERATIONS to come. The fact that they may have an opportunity this session to actually vote on same-sex "marriage" where it has the same impact on this country that Roe v. Wade did should be motivating enough!
WORLD-WDE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Friday, Sept. 26th - Two Year Anniversary of Pastor Saeed Abedini's Imprisonment in Iran! - [NOTE TODAY'S POST!]
We need to continue to pray for Pastor Saeed - that his health will improve and that he will be re-united with his wife and two young children who live in the United States. [If you have not yet, please sign the petition for his clemency- http://beheardproject.com/saeed#sign]
PRAY ALSO : - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.\
- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him
- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ
- For leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
"Not Everyone Happy with Religious Ambassador Pick," Caitlin Burke,July 29, 2014;
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2014/July/Obama-Taps-Rabbi-for-Religious-Freedom-Ambassador/ "..An estimated 76 percent of the world's population live in countries where religious freedom is restricted. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States must take a strong stand against those violations. "Around the world repressive governments and extremists groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against, so we have to be equally clear about what we must stand for," Kerry said. "We stand for greater freedom, for greater tolerance, greater respect, for rights of freedom of expression and freedom of conscience," he said A key development in the 2013 report is the large number of displaced members of religious communities, including entire Christian communities in Syria and Iraq that have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution."
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
Of course, let's CONTINUE PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE EBOLA CRISIS IN WEST AFRICA AND THE HEALING OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INFECTED.
PRAY FOR THE CRISIS HAPPENING NOW IN IRAQ (see post #907) Pray that allied forces will be able to drive the group ISIS back (see post #964)
/PRAYER ALERT- UKRAINE: As the Lord leads, please pray:
*For God to suppress President Putin’s ambitions to "restore" the Soviet empire.
*For the people of Ukrainen [esp. for the church 'to be THE church'] as they wait to see if the Russian troops will advance.
*About President Obama and to use wisdom in crafting our foreign policy, and wisdom for his advisers.
Continue to Pray for EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
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AN INSPIRING PLACE TO GIVE THANKS FOR..."How Travis Crockett Leaned on God and Helping Hands to Lift Himself From Poverty and Mean Streets" - Kelsey Harkness / November 24, 2014 / http://dailysignal.com/2014/11/24/how-travis-crockett-leaned-on-god-and-helping-hands-to-lift-himself-from-poverty-and-mean-streets/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokvK3AZKXonjHpfsX56eguXa%2B3lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4CRcVrI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D [NOTE: Please go to the noted weblink to view video clips related to this story.]
When he was 5 years old, Travis Crockett saw his mother’s close friend shot dead on the street. “Why are you crying?” his mom asked, as he wiped away tears. “You don’t even know this person.”
“He killed him over 10 dollars,” Travis told her.
Violence, gangs and drugs were unavoidable. Travis’s father was largely absent from his life. His mother lacked the means to support him and his brother.Although Travis never intended to go down a destructive path, growing up in the Chicago projects, he thought he had little choice.“I had no way out,” he recalls in an interview with The Daily Signal. By eighth grade, Travis was smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol and selling drugs. He was kicked out of school for fighting members of rival gangs.When he didn’t return to school for months, it was clear he was in trouble.“All I could do is fit in,” Travis recalls, “so I could have a life and not sit in the house the whole time.” He was barely 15. That’s when a neighborhood ministry worker, Sarah James, unofficially adopted the Crockett family.“Auntie Sarah” made it possible for a cousin to travel across the country to a place called Jubilee Leadership Academy. She asked Travis if he wanted to go too. “I just burst into tears,” Travis says, recalling his response: “Yeah, I want to go to Jubilee. I always wanted to go to Jubilee.”
Travis’s story, sketched out in the accompanying video from The Daily Signal, is one reason that World magazine selected Jubilee Leadership Academy from among five finalists to receive its 2014 Hope Award for Effective Compassion.Jubilee Executive Director Rick Griffin and his wife, Leann, accepted the award and a check for $25,000 from World’s Warren Cole Smith and Jamie Dean at a Nov. 20 luncheon in Washington, D.C. The ceremony took place during The Heritage Foundation’s annual Antipoverty Forum bringing together politicians and policymakers, government and nonprofit officials and faith leaders to advance conservative solutions to poverty and human need.
Founded in 1995, Jubilee Leadership Academy is an all-boys Christian boarding school just outside Prescott, Wash., a small town two hours southwest of Spokane.Jubilee is situated on 400 acres donated by philanthropists Ralph and Cheryl Broetje, owners of Broetje Orchards, one of the largest privately owned apple orchards in the U.S. Their vision for Jubilee was to plant seeds of hope in the lives of troubled boys.Through counseling, a fully accredited academic program and a range of vocational and athletic activities, Jubilee’s staff of 45 offers struggling boys ages 13 to 18 a way out of poverty, drugs and violence. “It’s that chance for a comeback, that leveling of the playing field,” says Griffin, one of Jubilee’s five founders as well as the school’s executive director. “It’s a place where all their debts before won’t be counted against them.”
Indeed, the academy’s name comes from the Bible’s Old Testament. It recounts that every 50th year the Israelites would celebrate the year of Jubilee, when God desired to mark release from indebtedness and bondage. Prisoners, captives and slaves were released, debts were forgiven and property was returned to original owners.In other words, it was an opportunity to begin again.
Griffin, in an interview with The Daily Signal before learning the Hope Award would go to Jubilee, says he hopes to raise enough money to renovate the academy’s dorm, construct a new one and build a gym.The academy, while not much to look at, provides what he describes as a Christ-centered community where troubled youth can make that new beginning.
“I always knew [God] was there,” Travis recalls of growing up in Chicago:"Through the ages 5 to 11, I stayed in a church every single Sunday. But I still had this anger issue and it affected me one day. God—he never let go. He brought me to this place in the middle of nowhere so I could find Him again.
Although some boys pay their own way through the program, Jubilee offers scholarships to those who can’t afford it.“It is really important to our mission that we offer the program to anyone who desires to change their life,” says Griffin, 50, a native of Wyoming.The average stay at Jubilee Leadership Academy is just over a year. Travis is about four months shy of two years.
At first resistant, Travis, now 16, has grown to appreciate the program and the staff. He has taken on a leadership role. “He is now choosing to serve others that are starting out, as a mentor for other young men,” Griffin says:"Travis knows what they’re going through and he can walk them through that. He’s choosing now to give out of his skill set instead of just advancing for himself."
If it weren’t for Jubilee, Travis says, he still would be on the streets.“I would probably be in Chicago with my friends—or my so-called friends—gang-banging and stuff like that.” Now, he hopes to return to the projects for a different reason: to help other kids in need, as part of a ministry:"I just want to share my testimony of what I’ve been through and the things that I have seen, and I just want to help them not to go down that same path that I did." In the meantime, Travis has big dreams of graduating high school, attending Eastern Washington University and making it to the NBA.“But I have to get taller, of course,” he jokes.
Griffin, who overcame his own difficult circumstances to earn a master’s degree in education from the University of Phoenix, hopes to continue helping to give direction to troubled adolescents and teens.
“Every dollar that comes in means one more dollar we get to give to an individual who doesn’t have one,” Griffin says. “Our hope is that we could build another dorm to help more kids who are struggling.”
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
"How the War on Poverty Has Hurt American Marriage Rates" - Robert Rector / Nov. 18, 2014/ http://dailysignal.com/2014/11/18/war-poverty-hurt-american-marriage-rates/
Is There a Link Between Childhood Homelessness and Single Parenthood?" - Leslie Ford / Nov. 19, 2014/ http://dailysignal.com/2014/11/19/link-childhood-homelessness-single-parenthood/
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