HUNDREDS OF YOUNG ADULTS WILL GATHER TO ' MOVE THE NATIONS ' NEXT WEEK

Last summer, approximately 150 people gathered for Move the Nations – Hawaii's first ever district-wide young adult convention. This year, Move the Nations ’09 will be held on the mainland at Monterey Bay Christian Center in Seaside, California, August 21-22, and event coordinators are expecting record number attendance.

The convention has been expanded to include three districts and will be streamed live over the Internet to young adults around the world. Churches from the Arizona Latin District, Northern Pacific Latin American District and Northern California and Nevada District have confirmed they are sending attendees and/or are watching the event live.

Danny dj and Martha Morales, Move the Nations founders and organizers, lead Lifehouse, Monterey Bay Christian Center’s young adult ministry group. Danny Morales says they are expecting 300 young adults onsite for the convention, but are anticipating a greater impact even beyond the individuals who will physically attend the conference. Move the Nations will be both advertised and broadcast over the Internet via Facebook, YouTube, Livestream Network, AGTV and the Assemblies of God national Young Adult Ministries Web site.

“Martha and I are looking forward to a demonstrable move of the Holy Spirit at this year’s convention that will not only move young adult attendees onsite, but also move young adults viewing throughout the world,” Danny Morales says. “Through the integrated medium of our live stream channel and social networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook, we hope to connect young adults in a common and thoroughly Pentecostal gathering place.”

The Moraleses have noted the power that new technologies have in spreading video and pop culture news around the world, and are hoping to use these same technologies to share the love of Christ through the Play it Forward campaign. They have set a goal of live streaming the Move the Nations event to young adults on every continent, including Antarctica.

As Danny Morales is active United States Navy, they have already “played it forward” to many deployed individuals around the world. The Moraleses hope other young adults will take up the message and “play it forward” by embedding the live stream on their own social sites and blogs.

The Move the Nations event is free and the Moraleses invite young adults ages 18-35 who are in the California area to just show up and attend August 21-22.

Christian comedian Dennis Gaxiola, formerly of the Latin Kings of Comedy, will share his comedy ministry Saturday, August 22. Also included in Saturday’s program will be a panel discussion, “The Young Adult Commission for a PostModern 2.0 World,” which will feature top young adult leaders, including Ryan Moore, Young Adult Ministries coordinator for the Assemblies of God. The discussion will be open live over the Internet, August 22 at 2:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time.

As at last year’s event, Dr. Roger Ovalle, assistant superintendent of the Northern Pacific Latin American District, will be the guest speaker. The Moraleses hope that Move the Nations inspires young adults in the local church to rise up and “do awesome things for God and their peers.”

For more information on Move the Nations ‘09, visit the event Web site or connect on Facebook. Additional information on the Play it Forward campaign is available at http://mbccag.com/mtnlive.

CHRISTIAN FOOTBALL HOST DAN WALKER WON'T WORK ON SUNDAY

ONE of the new faces of the BBC's football coverage refuses to work on a Sunday because he is a devout Christian. Dan Walker insists on observing the Lord's Day even though there are top-flight matches almost every Sunday this season.
Here 32-year-old Dan - who fronts magazine show Football Focus this Saturday at 12.15pm on BBC1 - explains why he WON'T be covering those games.
WHEN I first told the producers on a major radio station I wouldn't work on a Sunday they told me I'd never get anywhere in broadcasting.
They thought the fact that I said on my CV that I wouldn't work on a Sunday was some kind of joke.
When I explained I was a Christian, and why I felt the way I did, one of them just sat with his mouth open for about ten seconds.
It was a great job and they fully expected me to give up everything to work for them, but I wouldn't - I didn't get the job.
I take my faith quite seriously and not working on a Sunday is part of that. I don't even watch football on a Sunday. Obviously as a professional I keep abreast of the scores but I spend Sunday at church and with my family.
An old boss of mine, John Pickford, told me if I wanted to stick to those principles I wasn't just going to have to be good, I was going to have to be the best.
For anyone I've ever worked for as a sports presenter I've always said I'd do as good a job if not better than anyone they'd ever employ.
But I did always think the Football Focus job was one I'd never get because of my insistence, because it's so high-profile.
To be given it means even more for me because I've made my stand but still been handed this opportunity. I've grown up watching Football Focus, so now to be presenting the show really is a dream come true.
Sport has always been a big part of my life. When I was 12, and about 2ft taller than all the other kids, I was asked to play for quite a few teams.
The problem was all their games were on a Sunday.
I had only recently become a Christian and this was the first time I was confronted with the issue of how I should be spending my Sundays.
I firmly believe God was using that experience, even at an early age, to prepare me for situations in the future when I would need much stronger convictions.
People often say it must be really hard to be a Christian and to do the work I do - I disagree.
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I think my job puts me in the same situations everyone else faces.
The only difference is that people who work in the media are usually paid to have opinions so you can get involved in some heated debates.
Because of my stance I have been shouted at, insulted, stabbed in the back, laughed at and ignored. But I have also worked with and met some great characters and been given plenty of opportunities to talk to people about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many people - even Christians - have asked me why I feel so strongly about the Lord's Day.
For me it seems quite obvious. God, our creator, has given it to us for our own good. Some will argue that Jesus Christ's coming means we are no longer obligated to keep it special but I fundamentally disagree.
There are still ten commandments and it is more important than ever to guard the fourth one - remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

MUSLIM TEENAGER FLEES HOME, SAYING HER MUSLIM FATHER WILL KILL HER

An Ohio teenager who secretly converted from Islam to Christianity has fled to Florida because she claims her father threatened her with an "honor killing" for abandoning her Muslim upbringing.
The girl's father has gone to Florida where she sought refuge with a church that she found online. Although the father insists he is not a menace to his daughter, a Florida court has placed the 17-year-old girl in foster care until her claims can be investigated.
Fathima Rifqa Bary, who goes by Rifqa, left home in New Albany, Ohio, last month and hopped on a bus to Orlando to meet with husband and wife pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz, who she met through a Facebook prayer group for the couple's non-denominational Global Revolution Church.
"When she came to our house, she told us her parents would not report her missing," Blake Lorenz told ABCNews.com.
But they did report their daughter missing and the disappearance reached local news stations and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Lorenz said Rifqa, a native of Sri Lanka, had secretly converted from Islam to Christianity four years ago, but her religion was only discovered recently. Rifqa had snuck out to an area church where, according to Lorenz, she had an "incredible encounter with Jesus."
Lorenz said Rifqa was so moved she posted about it on her Facebook page, writings that would later be seen by her friends from her family's mosque and reported to her father, Mohamed Bary.
"That's when he threatened to kill her for the first time," Lorenz said, adding that he didn't know on how many other occasions that threat had been made.
The battle finally came to a head about a month ago, he said, when her mother found a Christian book in the house while Bary was out of town. Rifqa's mother, he said, threatened to tell her father.
"She did say she was dead to her" if she didn't renounce her Christian faith, Lorenz said.
Rifqa confirmed to ABC's Orlando affiliate WFTV that she believed her father would kill her.
"They have to kill me because I'm a Christian. It's an honor [killing]. If they love me more than God, then they have to kill me," she explained.
Terrifed and fearing she would be the victim of an honor killing, she got on a bus and borrowed a cell phone to contact Beverly Lorenz who she had been communicating with after finding the Lorenzes' church on Facebook.
Keeping Rifqa Safe
The pastors' first move was to call an attorney, several of them, actually.
"No one really knew what to do," Lorenz said, pointing out that Rifqa was not only a minor, but that she had crossed state lines and she wasn't even a U.S. citizen.
Blake Lorenz said Rifqa arrived late at night after a two-day trip. The next morning, the couple called police for advice, but did not tell them Rifqa's name. They did report Rifqa's presence two weeks later, he said, when the couple realized the teen's parents had reported her missing.
Lorenz said he fears Rifqa is "definitely not safe." He pointed to other suspected honor killings in Muslim families, including two Texas sisters who were murdered by their Muslim father Jan. 1, 2008, in what some believed to be religion-fueled rage over the girls' Western ways.
Rifqa's father is now in Florida trying to bring his daughter home. A woman who answered the phone at the Bary home in Ohio said she was a relative, but declined to answer any questions.
Bary told WFTV that there was no truth to his daughter's claims.
Lorenz said he called the abuse hotline Friday. Elizabeth Arenas, a public information officer for the Florida Department of Children and Families, said Rifqa is now in foster care, she said, while Florida officials work with Ohio child services to investigate the teen's claims.
"We just want to be sure she's going to be safe," Arenas said.
Rifqa, her father, Lorenz and Florida DCF officials appeared in court Monday where a judge ordered her to remain in state custody for now. Rifqa is being represented by a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal group that takes on conservative Christian causes.

"When she saw her dad yesterday, she was scared to death," Blake Lorenz said. "She literally believes she's going to be killed."
As for Bary, he said, "I don't want to make him out to be a monster, because I'm sure he's not."
Arenas, who said Bary has been cooperative with Florida DCF officials, said the state had recommended the teen be placed in Ohio state custody. But a judge Monday granted emergency jurisdiction to the Florida DCF, meaning Rifqa will remain in the state's care at least until the next hearing, scheduled for Aug. 21.
Her parents were also given supervised visitation rights, but only at the discretion of their daughter. Arenas said she was unsure if Rifqa had met with her parents since the hearing.
"I don't want to see my father," she told WFTV.

RANDOLPH PASTORS ACCUSED OF FRAUD: MAY HAVE USED CHURCH CREDIT CARDS FOR $7K WORTH PERSONAL ITEMS

RANDOLPH -- Three Randolph pastors the state has accused of bilking their church of about $2 million may have used church credit cards for personal items totaling more than $7,000 from stores like Fortunoff, Pottery Barn and Target, according to a fiscal monitor's report released today.
The monitor also found Randolph Christian Church paid pastor Eric Simons advances totaling more than $43,000 for his income taxes between 2007 and 2009, according to the report.
Simons and his wife, senior pastor Marianne Simons, submitted expenses with little documentation, some without receipts, and were reimbursed by the church, according to the report.
In April, Simons was reimbursed more than $1,400 by the church for a $600 Kenmore washer from Sears and more than $700 worth of items from Costco, according to the report.
The findings come as part of a series of reports conducted by fiscal monitor Donald Conway, a certified public accountant at the Princeton-based Mercadien Group, who has been examining the pastors' finances and investments, including $1.6 million mansion in Randolph, a $450,000 schooner that associate pastor Philip DuPlessis lives on with his family in Jersey City and life-coaching classes.
The state Department of Consumer Affairs accused the religious leaders April 1 of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of church funds for their own personal use.
"It appears that RCC funds have been used to pay for personal expenses of Simons and DuPlessis," Conway said.
The mansion, which the pastors had said is being used as a parsonage, has been listed with Weichert Realtors for $1.6 million, and the Simonses will continue living in the home until it is sold, state officials and Conway said. The mansion has been shown three times, but no offers have been made.
The furnishings in the mansion are owned by the church, also known as Church Alive. Conway said those items also must also be sold to reimburse the church.
Simons and DuPlessis also used $22,000 in church funds to enter a business venture with a Nevada law firm, which Conway believes should be paid back to the church, the report showed.
"I do not see how RCC has benefited from the services," he said.
Conway also determined Marianne Simons must return the 2005 Honda Odyssey she drives. The car was bought with church funds, the report showed. It also said she has to reimburse the church for the use of her cell phone.
To cut expenditures, the church board is eliminating the congregation's outreach program, advertising and promotion ventures, its dance and children's ministry, some administrative expenses and miscellaneous support, according to the report.
In addition, the board is challenging Conway's suggested $55,100 salary for Simons, insisting their pastor should receive a base salary of $85,400 plus benefits, the report showed.
Conway said that suggested salary does not reflect the current financial state of the church. In 2000, the church brought in nearly $400,000 in contributions. The projected 2009 contribution income is significantly lower at $72,024, according to the report.
The pastors are conducting worship services every Sunday in the Bible Church International building on Route 10. Randolph Christian Church last year sold the building to Bible Church International for $5 million.
The Simonses did not return calls for comment today. A cell phone number for DuPlessis rang but was not answered.
Former congregants and state officials have said the church members thought they were donating money toward a building fund.
"It just outrages me," Maria Palumbo, a former congregant who lives in Jefferson, said today. "That money could have helped so many people in need, and he used it for his own selfish personal pleasure."
But current church members are standing by their pastor.
"I am not happy that all of this is going on. But it has brought us all closer together," church member Paul Bouscaren of Budd Lake said. "The first thing we need to do as a church is get things squared away so we don't need a fiscal monitor anymore.