Clubs NSW employs chaplains to patrol pokies

A trial of Salvation army uniformed chaplains patrolling poker machine areas is to begin in the NSW Central Coast Mingara Recreation Club.

The memorandum of understanding between Clubs NSW and the Salvos allows for a chaplain to walk around gaming rooms up to four days a week, being paid $20,000 annually for 15-hours work each week, which includes counselling and home visits as required.

Other arrangements between clubs and churches worth up to $1 million include clubs in north western NSW paying a levy to Anglicare for its counselling services.

Salvation Army Major Paul Moulds, well known for his work with homeless youth through Oasis, said many porblem gamblers already poured out their hearts to Salvation Army officers during their relgular visitors to pubs and clubs.

Not every one is happy though with Independent Andrew Wilkie saying enlisting chaplains was no more than "tinkering around the edges" in addressing problem gambling.

Read more

Institution of marriage is linked to needs of children

The Committee for the Preservation for Marriage released this statement today. It contains some defences of 'no change' to marriage law and a list of influential clergy who have supported the statement on the importance of marriage:

In an extraordinary show of unity, more than fifty Australian national leaders of Christian Churches endorsed a document on the importance of marriage as a legal institution because it promotes and protects the identity of children and their internationally recognised right to know, have access to and be nurtured by both their mother and father.
The leaders note that the law has adapted in many ways to accommodate relationships other than marriage including making provisions for persons in de facto and same sex relationships to have access to the same services that are available to married couples. However marriage remains different and the legal recognition of marriage is needed for the purpose of securing that relationship and the children’s relationship within the family unit to both a mother and a father. Children have a right to the complementary experiences of mothering and fathering as far as possible.
They point out that marriage is found across all cultures and ages. Marriage pre-dates the State and does not require the State for its legitimacy. The pre-eminent reason for the State to be involved is to legally protect children and ensure that parents fulfil their obligation to care for and nurture them. Redefining marriage would seriously undermine it and the family unit.

52000 say 'I do' in support of current marriage law

A petition with 52,000 signatures supporting the retention of marriage as being between a man and a woman has been presented to Nationals Senator Ron Boswell and Labor Senator Helen Polley. Watch their media conference below.

How Jesus All About Life became successful

The Jesus All About Life promotional campaign has been recognised with the public relations company that managed it winning two awards.

Taurus Marketing received two awards for their successful campaign, developed on behalf of client the Bible Society NSW.

The campaign gained recognition from both the Public Relations Institute of Australia, and the Australian Marketing Institute, as well as being embraced by Churches throughout NSW.

Taurus CEO Sharon Williams said the win was a great achievement for the business, which took on the campaign with just three weeks notice and exceeded all expectations.

For an interesting account of how the campaign was developed and run, click here

Sudanese refugees sent to World Youth Day in Spain

While the nation focuses on asylum seekers being sent to Malysia, five Sudanese youth who came to Australia as refugees will be sent to Spain - to participate in the Catholic Chutch's World Youth Day Madrid, thanks to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The five will, among other things, bring the story of the struggle in Sudan to this world stage.
Read more.

Church offers to care for young asylum seekers

Dale Stephenson, senior pastor  of one Australia's biggest churches, Crossway, has offered to care for unaccompanied minors who otherwise will be sent to Malyasia under the Australian goverment's asylum seeker swap.

"It's one thing to say we shouldn't [send them to Malaysia], but ultimately that still leaves the children behind barbed wire on Christmas Island. So I thought maybe the government needs some encouragement from the community sector."

Read more in Eternity newspaper

No decision yet on High Court chaplaincy challenge

The High Court has reserved its decision on whether the National School Chaplaincy Program is legal.
Read more.

Meanwhile, Scripture Union Queensland chief executive Tim Mander visited Canberra last week to deliver statements of support before the High Court Challenge got underway.

So far the group has more than 30,000 statements of support for the chaplains, whose funding is threatened by the court challenge of Toowoomba father Ron Williams.

Christian teacher and mum wins MasterChef

Kate Bracks, a Christian teacher and mum from Orange, is this year's winning MasterChef contestant.
Kate, with husband Luke and her three children by her side, went into the final dessert round of the three part grand final cook-off with a slender three point lead. She extended this to give her victory over second place Michael Weldon.
Several Christian communities around NSW with which Kate has connections have been cheering her on including Orange Evangelical Church, Darling Point Anglican in Lilyfield and Greenacre Baptist Christian Community School were she taught some years ago.
Read more.

God is Able number one on iTunes chart

Debuting 11.5% higher than the last acclaimed Hillsong album, A Beautiful Exchange, God is Able spent all of last week at number one on the iTunes Christian and Gospel Album Chart.

The live worship album recorded in Sydney peaked at number seven on the Top Albums Chart, spending most of the past week inside the top 10.
God is Able also hit number one on several retail sales charts, including the overall Christian, praise and worship and Christian/Gospel mainstream charts, as well as landing at number35 on the Billboard Top 200 this week.
Read more.

What we can learn from a 100-year-old monk

"See, death didn't touch me. I told the Lord I want to serve you, love you, be a good Christian and help others be good Christians."
So says a Trappist Monk, Rev. Luke Kot, who has lived his life by the ancient motto, ora et labora -
pray and work.
Read more.

Believers in benevolent God worry less

New research showing that views of God impact mental health has led researchers to call for a great integration of people's spiritual beliefs with their treatment of health concerns. The research was conducted by the Harvard University affiliated McLean Hospital in the US.
Read more.

Grassroots Christian census email campaign

Christians are emailing their friends and family with a plea to tick "Christian" on the religion question on the Australian census to be conducted on Tuesday, August 9. The email looks like this:
IMPORTANT

AUSTRALIA WILL BE HAVING A CENSUS ON 9^TH AUGUST 2011.

DO NOT LEAVE THE “RELIGION” SECTION BLANK. BE SURE TO AT LEAST TICK CHRISTIAN (OR YOUR UPBRINGING FAITH). 1,000,000 MUSLIMS WILL TICK THEIR BOX. AND AN ESTIMATED 10,000,000 AUSTRALIANS WILL LEAVE IT BLANK THEN WONDER WHY A MOSQUE IS BUILT IN THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD!!
PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS
The campaign is partly in response to the Australian Atheist Foundation's campaing asking Australians to tick "no religion" and partly a concern that the Muslim faith might seem disproportionaly large.
Read the Australian Christian Lobby's views.

There's also a Facebook page devoted to the same issue

John Stott dead: tributes and soul-searching

One of the world's evangelical leading Bible teachers, Rev John Stott, died on July 27. According to the website of All Souls church, Langham Place, London, where Stott was Rector emeritus, he died at his retirement home at St Barnabas College. The site said, "He was surrounded by Frances Whitehead, and a number of good friends. They were reading the Scriptures and listening to Handel's Messiah when he peacefully went to be with his Lord and Saviour." Read more at Sydney Anglicans. Also, check out a discussion of Stott's life and teaching and the state of evangelical movement he has laft behind. John Stott and the Weary Evangelical | Christianity Today

Buggity prayer pastor on Australian radio

When Tennessee pastor Joe Nelms stepped up to the microphone to pray for  Nascar event, he planned to stir up the crowd with less than orthodox proud and get them thinking about coming to church.

After thanking God for his 'smokin' hot wife' and signing off with 'buggity, buggity, buggity, Amen' he has found himself and internet sensation with more than a million YouTube hits.
He has even been interviewed on Australian radio. Check out Neil Mitchell's interview on 3AW and at Utterance, hear the Singify version of the prayer.

Christian Kate in MasterChef grand final

MasterChef 2011 grand finalist Kate Bracks carries the prayerful support of Christians around NSW as she cooks for glory this Sunday. Read more at Utterance blog.

Bear Grylls live on stage in Oz

Bear Grylls 3 Aussie shows.

Dropping into a viper pit and eating sheep’s eyeballs are all part of a day's work for Bear Grylls, star of prime-time television hit, Man vs Wild.
One of the most watched shows on the planet, reaching viewers in more than 200 countries worldwide, Man vs Wild and its hero Bear Grylls will appear live on stage in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney for an evening of wild discovery and dangerous entertainment.
In the three Australian shows from September 2-4, Bear Grylls will share his experiences of survival in some of the world’s toughest environments with one of his greatest fans, comedian and broadcaster Merrick Watts (Adrian Barich in Perth).
"Be inspired as Bear relives some of the great escapes and sticky situations of his life as a soldier, mountaineer and serial adventurer.
"Learn about the intrepid crew behind Man vs Wild, and the mind-boggling logistics which go into every expedition."
Christians will be interested to see if Bear's faith is on display during the show.  In a previous visit to Australia, Bear promoted Christian teaching course, Alpha, and also spoke at Hillsong.
He appears in promotional videos for Alpha across the world, speaking about the difference the course made in his life.
Bear Grylls also released a an autobiography this year called Mud, Sweat and Tears.
Check out Bear Gryll's Alpha promo below.

Fielding's final fling hits plebiscite bill

Family First Senator Steve Fielding may have swept into office with Liberal preferences six years ago but that hasn't stopped him blocking the Coalition's carbon tax plebiscite bill - with just one week of his term left to run.
The Victorian senator, who loses his balance of power position when the Senate changes over on July 1, this week sided with the government to prevent debate on the plebiscite bill.
The opposition's senate leader Eric Abetz, speaking before the vote, said family budgets would be "destroyed" if Senator Fielding did not allow the public a say on the planned carbon tax.
"He will be complicit in every job lost. He will be complicit in supporting the Greens-Labor deal. He will be complicit in denying Australians a voice on the carbon tax," Senator Abetz said of Senator Fielding's intention to vote with Labor.
"He will be the author of his own political epitaph."

New way to search internet's top Bible verses

Now there's a website that can tell you which are the most popular Bible verses, books and chapters on the Internet.

Top Verses says that it has analysed thousands of pages of teaching material to determine the most frequently referenced Bible verses on the Internet.

This allows them to produce rankings but also is useful for people looking for a verse, but not sure what it is. A search on Top Verses will return the most popular or familiar verses first, based on usage on the Internet.

'When you use Top Verses to search the Bible for a word, our results start with familiar verses, rather than Genesis. Next time you are hunting for a reference, you will find it quicker at Top Verses.
Top Verses also lets you see the top verses for any book or chapter just by clicking on it,' their website says.

Currently, Top Verses has the following ranking of most popular Bible verses as referenced on the Internet:

1. John 3:16  2. John 1:1 3. John 14:6 4. Matthew 28:19 5. Romans 3:23 6. Ephesians 2:8  7. Genesis 1:1   8. Acts 1:8   9. 2 Timothy 3:16  10. Romans 10:9

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. (AMP)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJV)

IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Isa. 9:6.] (AMP)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (KJV)

Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (AMP)

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (KJV)

Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me. (AMP)

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (KJV)

Top Bible books on the Internet as rated by Top Verses include Ephesians, James, Titus, 1 John and 2 Peter while popular chapters include 2 Peter 1, Psalm 1, John 2, James 4 and Romans 12.

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth. (AMP)

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (KJV)

Letters to show Christian passion in fight against poverty

Micah Challenge is calling on supporters to write to the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, Wayne Swan, asking him to take action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and reduce global poverty.
The campaign is known as an Offering of Letters and occurs each year in the lead up to the Voices of Justice conference in Canberra.
"We ask that you return your completed Offering of Letters to the Micah Challenge office by September 1 so that we can deliver them to Parliament as part of Voices for Justice from September 17-20," the Micah Challenge website says.
"We will deliver the letters to MPs in lobbying meetings, asking them to pass your letters on to Mr Swan in order to double your advocacy efforts!
"You can make an Offering of Letters with your church, family, small group or school any time during June, July or August 2011.
"A personal, handwritten letter is an effective advocacy tool in letting our leaders know that Christians are passionate about the fight against global poverty."
For more details visit http://www.micahchallenge.org.au/offering-of-letters

'Dear Aussie Muslims, glad you want to talk about Jesus': billboard

AussieChristians.com.au is continuing the faith-by-billboard conversation by displaying on the M4 a billboard directed to Australian Muslims, in response to the Muslim billboard on Victoria Road.

The billboard went up on June 10 and says, "Dear Aussie Muslims, glad you want to talk about Jesus. Love to chat more, AussieChristians.com.au."

The AussieChristians website says that after lengthy discussion of how to respond to the MyPeace Muslim billboards, it was decided to stick with the language of billboards.

"For a start, we wanted everyone to know that we were talking to fellow Aussies. We like Muslims in Australia. If you’re a Muslim, please know this: unlike some of the things you’ve heard, Aussie Christians who read all the Prophets and the Gospel, are people who really want to accept you as a friend," the AussieChristians website says.

"More deeply, we’re glad you respect Jesus, or Issa as you call him. And we agree, that when the Law of Moses talks about the prophet greater than Moses, it’s got to be Jesus. There’s no doubt that Jesus will be central for those serious about knowing God.