Traffic at the Interlocken and Church Ranch Boulevard on-ramps to eastbound U.S. 36 will be realigned onto the newly constructed ramps this week, which will result in nightly closures Tuesday through Thursday, according to an email update on the U.S. 36 Express Lanes Project from the Colorado Department of transportation.

The Church Ranch on-ramps to eastbound U.S. 36 will be closed nightly from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.; the Interlocken on-ramps will be close from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Other detours and delays to expect this week include:

Today through Saturday:

Nightly single lane restrictions from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. on eastbound U.S. 36 between Sheridan and Federal boulevards for wall construction, barrier locations, grading and paving operations.

Nightly single lane restrictions from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. on westbound U.S. 36 between Sheridan and Federal boulevards for median barrier demolition, grading, paving and concrete hauling.

Nightly single lane restriction from 9:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. on eastbound U.S. 36 from the Uptown Avenue bridge to Sheridan Boulevard for dirt hauling and paving.

Eastbound U.S. 36 off-ramp to West Flatiron Crossing Drive closed nightly for median and storm drain work. Traffic will be detoured to Interlocken Loop. Closures will be from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. today through Thursday and from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Nightly single lane restrictions from 9:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. in both directions of U.S. 36 from 88th Street to Wadsworth Parkway for dirt and concrete hauling, paving, striping, temporary barrier placement, surveying and repairing potholes.

Nightly single lane restrictions from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. in both directions of U.S. 36 from the 88th Street bridge to Foothills Parkway for striping, repairing potholes, barrier installation and survey work.

Follow this link:
Church Ranch, Interlocken on-ramps to eastbound U.S. 36 closed nightly Tuesday through Thursday

PHOTO COURTESY KATHY PORR Pam Colvin Rainbow Child Care Center, a ministry of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of DeLand, recognizes Pam Colvin for 20 years of service with the center. Colvin retired Jan. 31 to assist her husband with his business. She has taken care of babies, 1-year-olds, and, most recently, 2-year-olds. Center Director Kathy Porr said, Pam has been the anchor at Rainbow for many years, and will be missed but not forgotten. The staff gave her a farewell party Jan. 27. At the party, the Rainbow Center board acknowledged her contributions with several gift cards, and each of the staff members gave her a gift with a cat motif, her favorite collectible.

PHOTO COURTESY LINDA BISHOP New digs In New Hope United Church of Christs new space at Good Samaritan Florida Lutheran Retirement Center in DeLand, the Rev. Karen Curtis-Weakley preaches on the Sermon on the Mount, You are the Light of the World You are the Salt of the Earth, and she uses a lighted salt block to show the metaphor.

By Margie Dykes BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Feb 17, 2014 - 9:04:54am

Annual fish fry

All are invited to the Friday, Feb. 28, annual Fish Fry at First United Methodist Church of DeLand. The event will be 5-7 p.m. in the Life Enrichment Center (LEC), and is sponsored by the United Methodist Men. A complete fish dinner with beans, tater tots, coleslaw, beverages, and an assortment of desserts will be served for $7 per person, with a family paying no more than $22. Children under age 6 eat for free. The proceeds will go toward scholarships.

On Sunday, Feb. 16, Pastor Owen Stricklin will continue his sermon series Christians Under Construction. The focus is on building a solid foundation of intentional spiritual growth. The message at all services Sunday will be Furnishing It With Love, based on 1 John 4:7-18.

Feb. 16, is also Undies Sunday. Those attending services that day are urged to contribute new underwear and socks, which will be given to Tuesday Mercy Hour guests after they shower. Other needed items for use during the hour are body washes, shampoos and conditioners, razors, shaving cream, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, hairbrushes and hair dryers.

The Wednesday Music Club of Central Florida will present Dr. Michael Rickman in a special piano concert at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 2, in the LEC parlor. A $10 donation will be taken at the door, with the proceeds funding the clubs Music Scholarship Awards.

All are welcome to attend the services and activities of the church. Call the church office for tickets and additional information at 386-734-5113.

Read the original post:
Spiritual Side: All invited to annual fish fry, Friday, Feb. 28

Wedged between railroad tracks and a freeway overpass, the Cathedral of the Holy Face of Christ the Savior has yet to find a congregation

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Christmas service at the Cathedral of the Holy Face of Christ the Savior in the Russian city of Sochi on Jan. 7, 2014

On Jan. 7, exactly a month before the Winter Games in Sochi began, Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped by the host citys new cathedral to attend Orthodox Christmas Mass. It seemed like a symbolic moment. In record time, Putins government had built an entire Olympic city, complete with stadiums, hotels, railroads and freeways, on a patch of swamp in Sochis suburbs. It was Putins little miracle, and what better place and time to celebrate than on Orthodox Christmas in Sochis new church? There were just a couple of problems.

The ornate Cathedral of the Holy Face of Christ the Savior, built mostly in the Byzantine style, was still under construction at the time. It had been consecrated only a few days earlier, before the altar had been assembled. And then there was the issue of its location. Wedged between railroad tracks and a freeway overpass, the church was nearly impossible for any locals to approach by foot without jumping fences and running across several lanes of traffic. So people had to be bussed in to stand behind Putin and his key Olympic managers during the Christmas Mass. With that, the cathedral served its first essential function a photo opportunity for Putin. But whom it will serve when the Olympics leave town is so far a bit of a mystery.

Theres an old Russian tradition that when you make a conquest of land, the first thing you do, before building a fort or a bathhouse, is build a church on top of it, says Vasily Gromov, an amateur historian and restorer of Orthodox churches in the region of Krasnodar, which includes Sochi. But this one doesnt make much sense.

On the second Sunday of the Olympics, Gromov, who is 76, came early to the evening Mass to voice some concerns to the priests. How could they put such a massive cathedral in a place where people cant get to it? I circled around for an hour before I figured out how to get here, says Gromov. There are fences and freeways everywhere, he says. Its like a maze! So he was not surprised to see the cathedral nearly deserted during the long evening service, with never more than a dozen parishioners at a time, most of them Olympic tourists. And whos going to come here when the Games are over? Gromov asks.

(MORE: Sochis Sixth Ring)

TIME put that question to the cathedrals abbot in January, a jolly old priest named Father Flavian, who is prone to bouts of giggling that make him place his hand over his mouth. He did not have any great answers. The church, he explained, was not really part of the original Olympic project; it was conceived as an afterthoughta year before the Games began, the holy icing on the Olympic cake. Its a miracle that we even built it in time, he said. We only had four months to cover the whole interior in frescoes, which is some kind of Olympic record! (Indeed, when two reporters visited on Jan. 17, workers on scaffolds were still painting the final touches.)

But with all the rush, few considered the placement of the church or its functionality. I know, its true, its really hard to get here, Father Flavian admitted. Were pretty much on an island. Then, as another fit of chuckles started coming on, he added, When I visit Moscow and the higher clergy asks me where Im from, I tell them I work out on the bogs.

That is technically true. Just like the stadiums hosting the Olympic Games, the church rests on marshlands in a suburb of Sochi called Adler, right on the Black Sea coast, and its lack of solid bedrock has bedeviled the organizers from the beginning. The ground was so moist and unstable that Olympic buildings had to be redesigned several times, contributing to the massive cost overruns that eventually brought the overall price tag to around $50 billion more than all the previous Winter Olympics combined.

Read the original:
Sochi Has a Big, Empty Church

(PRWEB) February 17, 2014

Building God's Way, a nationwide church architect and builder network that provides a broad range of solutions to Christian ministries, announced this week that it has partnered with Dennison & Associates to launch a new division of Building Gods Way called BGW Accounting. Dennison and Associates is a CPA firm that provides accounting services exclusively to Christian ministries throughout the United States.

This partnership will combine the church accounting experience, expertise and excellent reputation of Dennison & Associates, CPA, with the broad network of services offered to ministry-based organizations through the BGW program, including church design, engineering, construction, fundraising, growth coaching, worship technology and more. With a unique understanding of the local church and other faith-based organizations, BGW Accounting will be able to provide ministries with superior accounting services at a lower cost, resulting in more resources available for Kingdom growth.

Building Gods Way founder and President Dan Cook commented on the new partnership, Dennison & Associates aligns very well with our approach and our heart for helping ministries be the best stewards of their God-given resources. We have worked alongside this company for a number of years and have been impressed by their expertise and understanding of the church market. We are excited to partner with them to bring this expertise to more of our clients.

BGW Accounting will offer a wide variety of accounting services to churches and other Christian ministries, including annual audits, review and compilation, and bookkeeping services. For churches that are planning a construction project, BGW Accounting will provide a free analysis to help them better understand their funding capacity and prepare for the lending approval process. Other professional services include consultation in the areas of board governance, internal control assessment, 501(c) 3 registration, federal tax form 990 and federal/state payroll assistance.

Prior to forming Dennison & Associates, founder David Dennison served as the president of a church finance company that assisted ministries with their borrowing needs and personally originated over $175 million in church mortgage loans throughout the United States. This experience provided him with a unique understanding of the financial inner-workings of the local church.

I am honored to be able to serve the BGW network of Kingdom builders and ministry clients. BGW is truly one of the premier design/build firms dedicated to serving the local church. I look forward to joining with BGW to help churches be better stewards of the resources God has given them, said David Dennison.

David Dennison, CPA, MBA, MS is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. For more information about BGW Accounting, contact David Dennison at 719-264-9906 or ddennison(at)bgwservices(dot)com.

About Building Gods Way - BGW has become a recognized national leader in ministry design and construction through its extensive experience in working exclusively with churches, Christian schools and colleges. Since 1998, BGW has worked with more than 600 ministries nationwide and has developed an unparalleled network of kingdom building services that include church design, church building, Christian school and college architecture, church growth coaching, vision casting, capital fundraising, non-profit development, financial solutions, worship technology and more. For more information about BGW, call 800-552-7137 or visit the web site at http://www.bgwservices.com.

See more here:
Building God's Way Announces Launch of New Division to Provide Accounting Services Exclusively to Christian Ministries ...

RACINE The St. Davids Society of Racine & Vicinity will hold its 125th annual meeting and St. Davids Day observance on Sunday, March 2, at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 40 Ohio St.

The event will begin with special morning worship services at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. in recognition of Covenants Welsh heritage, dating back to the late 1800s when Welsh immigrants congregated at the Welsh Calvinist Methodist Church on Villa Street. The Old Welsh Church later became the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church of Racine before it merged with Providence Church of Racine to become Church of the Covenant Presbyterian Church with the construction of the new church on Ohio Street in 1962.

At 11 a.m., the St. Davids Society will host a Te Bach (Welsh for little tea) in the churchs gathering space.

Following the fellowship time, the group will convene the annual meeting in the church sanctuary at 11:30 a.m.

In addition to a short business meeting, highlights of the event include a Gymanfa Ganu (Welsh hymn sing) and performances by the 2014 winners of the St. Davids Society music scholarships, which encourage and reward the pursuit of excellence in music by local high school students.

All are welcome to the event; no Welsh ancestry is required.

A catered luncheon buffet will be served at 12:30 p.m. in the churchs Welsh Hall, for which reservations are required. Luncheon reservations are required by Feb. 21 by calling Sue Evans at (262) 633-7819.

Go here to see the original:
St. Davids Society to celebrate Welsh heritage March 2

The meetinghouse will be the primary worship space for about 1,000 of the 25,000 Mormons in the Philadelphia area, said Corinne Dougherty, director of public affairs for the church's Philadelphia region.

Tenants need not be Mormons to rent an apartment or townhouse in the development, officials said. They said the units would rent at market prices.

Wednesday's announcement is the next step in the church's commitment to invest in Philadelphia, City Council President Darrell L. Clarke said. Church officials said the development would complete their local building plans.

The total cost of the project is not yet known, church officials said.

The church will not receive city or state money for the project, Nutter said. He said the project would create an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 jobs.

The for-profit residential tower will be subject to city taxes, mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald said; the meetinghouse will be tax-exempt because of its religious nature. He said the project was also eligible for the city's 10-year tax abatement for new development.

Plans for the project still need approval from various city agencies, and no date has been set for groundbreaking. Construction is projected to last from 18 months to two years.

Nutter said the new buildings on what is now a parking lot would bring "more residents, worshipers, and retail activity to one of the most architecturally significant sections of our city," and would transform the skyline.

The nearly 360-foot tower - by comparison, the Comcast tower rises 975 feet - will also mark the latest step in the redevelopment of Vine Street, which already is home to the Central Branch of the Free Library and the planned transformation of the Family Court building into a luxury hotel. The new buildings will rise just a block from the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, across the Vine Street Expressway.

Other signs of change in the Benjamin Franklin Parkway area include the announcement Monday of a deal for the overhaul of John F. Kennedy Plaza, and a proposed casino in the former Inquirer Building on North Broad Street.

See the rest here:
Mormons to build 32-story tower near Center City

William Thornton, writing for AL.com (Feb. 6), reports, Forget American hustlers or Wall Street wolves-- if you want to take Alabamians' money illegally, the most common way is through churches.

That's what Joe Borg, the head of the Alabama Securities Commission for two decades, said today in a talk at the Gadsden Rotary Club. Religion is the most successful vehicle for fraud in the state--through what is known as affinity frauds--with Ponzi schemes and get-rich-quick investments preying on those who pray.

"Think about it, you've got a lot of people who are all part of the same community," Borg said. "God's supposed to be watching over your funds. And they think, Why would they take advantage of you?'"

Borg has seen and helped prosecute all kinds of phony investment scams and frauds during his time, so he has a lot of stories to tell.

Borg is not alone in his ability to tell stories about fraud and embezzlement by church volunteers and staff in this country. When I was editing Church Executive magazine I made it my personal campaign to draw attention to what can only be described as a kind of pandemic of crime in churchesand often congregations wont reveal the fraud or prosecute the offenders. Jesus wouldnt want us to turn over a believer to the police, might be the refrain among many churches.

You might be reluctant to believe that church embezzlement is that frequent. But just go to Google Alerts and put in the phrase church fraud, as I have, and you will get weekly reports of one or two or three culprits caught stealing small and large amounts from their congregations. At the magazine I would run short summaries of these prosecutions every other month under the headline, Why Churches Need Internal Controls.

Cases involving churches are hard to prosecute, Borg said to writer Thornton. "You ask for a witness and it's like you're attacking their faith," Borg said. "The really good schemes make faith in God equivalent to faith in the program."

Churches also allow scammers to get closer to a big target market--the elderly, writes Thornton. There is approximately $13 trillion in stocks, securities and other financial products held by Americans over 60.

And with no money coming in, uncertainty about Social Security or anxiety over potentially-catastrophic medical costs, fear can drive them to seek safe, easy investments, he says.

The sums can be a few thousands of dollars, or run into the millions of dollars, such as the scam in Indiana. Charles Wilson writes for the Associated Press in the past week: Thousands of devout investors who lost savings after a southern Indiana brokerage persuaded them they were helping to build churches will get the last of their share of the money that's being repaid by the end of the year, the official overseeing the payback said Monday, a case that has been going on since 2005.

Link:
Want to get fleeced?--go to church. Part 1

Dr, B. Wiley Stephens, for 24 years the senior pastor of Dunwoody United Methodist Church, announced from the pulpit Sunday that he will retire in June.

Stephens more than doubled the churchs membership, oversaw the construction of an 800-seat sanctuary and a large Fellowship Hall and led the church to become what most civic activists consider the most involved in Dunwoody.

As Dunwoody began its three-year drive to cityhood, DUMC was always available to the various volunteer groups and task forces. When the city began, the city council met there for months while searching for a home. The citys first mayor, Ken Wright, is a member of the church.

When he came here from Dalton, Stephens was no stranger to DeKalb County. Now celebrating 50 years in the ministry, he noted that 42 of those years were spent in DeKalb pulpits. In fact, Stephens daughter Kelly is named after Kellys Chapel Methodist Church in south DeKalb.

But Stephens greatest pride is not bricks and mortar, but the involvement of church members in mission work. The numbers are astonishing.

Weve built 23 Habitat Homes, he began as he ticked off a list of mission projects.

He listed Family Promise, the Community Action Council, Package of Hope, an orphanage in Zambia, a mission couple in Ghana and a sanctuary in Estonia.

Crier readers also will recognize several huge volunteer efforts that draw more than 1000 people the Great Day of Service and the Stop Hunger effort to package hundreds of thousands of meals for the poor over the years.

Those efforts are possible because of DUMCs growth. When Stephens and his wife, Linda, arrived, the church had 2200 members (defined as members over 12 years old). It now has 4600 members. It has a Counseling Center, it draws as many as a thousand people to AA meetings for alcohol and substance abuse. Its parking lot always seems full.

DUMC is also distinguished for its music ministry.

View post:
Dunwoody Methodist pastor retires, leaves as Dunwoody legend

Though the Rev. Robert H. Schuller was the face of the once-global "Hour of Power" television ministry, he was never alone. His wife, Arvella, was always behind the scenes, working to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Arvella Schuller, who served as a producer of the television show and was one of the main creative forces of the Crystal Cathedral, died Tuesday at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange after a brief illness. She was 84.

In a statement, her grandson, Bobby V. Schuller, said she died "peacefully of natural causes."

"She was definitely the power behind the hour," said Marc Riley, who started working with the Crystal Cathedral in 1994 as a musical assistant.

She was born Arvella DeHaan on July 29, 1929, and raised in Orange City, Iowa. She was an organ student at Hope College in Michigan when she met her future husband. The Schullers would marry in 1950 and move to Southern California in 1955 to start a drive-in Christian church in Garden Grove.

Arvella was the organist, and her husband preached from the roof of a snack bar.

As the church grew into a multimillion-dollar empire, including the construction of the 10,000-glass-paned Crystal Cathedral in 1980, Arvella took on multiple roles. She served as an executive producer and program director for the "Hour of Power" and helped develop numerous programs within the church, including the 24-hour crisis line.

More recently, the church had fallen into hard times and filed for bankruptcy. Arvella was a familiar fixture in the courtroom during the proceedings, which eventually ended with the sale of the Crystal Cathedral campus to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in 2011.

At one point, the audience for the television show started in 1970 was estimated at 20 million. The show is now broadcast from the congregation's new location at Shepherd's Grove church in Garden Grove, with the Schullers' grandson Bobby as pastor.

"She was a natural leader, a strong leader," Riley said. "When there was a decision to be made, she made it without hesitation."

See the article here:
Arvella Schuller dies at 84; wife of Crystal Cathedral founder Robert Schuller

As the congregation looked on, Anderson Chapel AME Church of Killeen broke ground on the future Marion J. and Alice W. Douse Community Center on a sunny, breezy Sunday afternoon.

Prior to the groundbreaking, the church held a rousing service, featuring song, dance and ministry of the word by Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie.

The bishop traveled from Dallas to join in celebrating the churchs 50th anniversary in conjunction with the groundbreaking ceremony.

William J. Campbell Jr., pastor of the Anderson Chapel AME Church, highlighted the contributions of the churchs founders during the service.

When I arrived at the church almost 12 years ago, we had six of the 10 original founders living, he said. Today, three remain, all of whom attended Sunday.

In the denominations 227 years of existence, it has developed more than 8,000 churches and 19 colleges and universities worldwide, Campbell said.

Locally, the church has chosen to honor the Douses with the naming of the community center. The center will be the 11th structure on the growing congregations campus, allowing the church and community to use the facility for a number of purposes, including public meetings.

The church raised more than $220,000 for the construction project, accounting for more than 18 percent of the projected cost. Campbell said construction should begin in the next few months.

McKenzie instructed the crowd to remember the hills and the valleys good times and the challenges, and to take it higher, to the next level, of each members faith, before leading the congregation to the groundbreaking site.

The congregation cheered as the church trustees and elders, wearing hard hats and holding shovels, turned the dirt marking the site of the future community center.

View original post here:
Church holds groundbreaking, celebrates 50th anniversary