Graham improvement continues

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ANS) – Evangelist Billy Graham, 92, who is being treated for pneumonia at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., near his home in Montreat, continues to improve, his physicians and staff reported Friday.

He remains listed in “fair condition.”

Graham’s pulmonologist, Dr. Shaw C. Henderson, and his regular primary care physician, Dr. Lucian Rice, confirmed that he is responding well to antibiotic therapy.

Billy Graham

Both physicians have been working together to plan for his transition home and continuing recovery there, though no date has been set for his release.

Graham’s staff said that, following a comfortable night during which he slept well, he continues to be in good spirits. He met Friday afternoon with Dr. Ronald A. Paulus, president and CEO of Mission Health System and Mission Hospital, and Kathleen C. Guyette, MSN, RN, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer.

His staff added that during their 20-minute visit, Mr. Graham praised the “skill and loving care” of the nursing staff.

National Back To Church Sunday Set for Sept. 18

Texas Ranger Hamilton steps up to plate, encourages attendance

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

Vista, Calif. (ANS) – National Back To Church Sunday, a cross-denominational movement to reverse declining church attendance and encourage everyone to revisit congregational life, will be celebrated Sept. 18 across the country.

According to a news release, lending his voice to this year's event is Texas Rangers all-star Josh Hamilton, the 2010 American League Championship Series MVP who credits his comeback from drug addiction and suspension from the game to his faith and church.

“God's word tells us to spur one another on toward love and good deeds, and not give up meeting together," Hamilton said in the news release.

He added, "We are to walk through life with other believers. My family and I have found that church is a wonderful way to do this, so I encourage you to join thousands of Americans as they go back to church on National Back To Church Sunday."

Josh Hamilton

According to the news release, National Back To Church Sunday has become the single largest community outreach in the nation, with 10,000 churches expected to participate in 2011. This event reignites the power of personal invitation to empower church members to bring the community back to church.

This year's event will be held the second Sunday after Labor Day to accommodate more churches.

Since the initiative began in 2009, the news release said, National Back To Church Sunday has seen increased success with church members inviting more than 1.4 million family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers to special services last year. About 3,800 churches participated in 2010, reporting an average 26 percent increase in weekly attendance.

Outreach Inc. has partnered with Back to Church Sunday and is offering valuable tools in a 2011 church kit.

They include, an updated campaign planning guide, new suggested sermons, new promotional video, new graphics and widgets for church websites or social media, invitations and posters, a preparedness assessment, and suggested follow-up sermons and small group materials.

National Back To Church Sunday was launched in response to a 2008 study by LifeWay Research and the North American Mission Board of 15,000 adults that found that 67 percent of Americans say a personal invitation from a family member would be effective in getting them to visit a church. Sixty-three percent said an invitation from a friend or neighbor would probably get them to respond.

"We found that the effectiveness of the invitation was often tied to its form: the more personal, the more effective," said Philip Nation, ministry development director of LifeWay Research and National Back to Church Sunday spokesperson, speaking in a news release.

"We were encouraged by the response and feedback from churches that participated in National Back to Church Sunday last year," said Eric Abel, vice president of marketing for Outreach, Inc., speaking in a news release.

Churchgoers in tornado-ravaged towns across south pray for help from devastation of deadly storms

Special to The Pew

Parishioners in tornado-ravaged towns across the south prayed for help Sunday – many in the open air outside churches leveled by the deadly storms.

According to a story by Lukas Alpert for the New York Daily News, the devastating wave of twisters was indiscriminate in its destruction. It toppled churches at the heart of communities as well as thousands of homes throughout the region.

However, church leaders were determined to gather. "This service is our response to tragedy. It shows that we are not victims. We are victors. We are visible victors," said Pastor T.L. Lewis, who led a flock of 5,000 outside the remains of Bethel Baptist Church in Pratt City, Ala.

The New York Daily News said in Smithville, Miss., parishioners gathered under a tent in the parking lot outside the demolished Smithville Baptist Church.

Calling it "Resurrection Sunday," church leaders led prayers before a stain glass window of Jesus with outstretched arms - one of the only parts of the church to survive the storm.

The New York Daily News said in Greenville, Tenn., churchgoers looked up at the heavens through the torn-off roof of the Unity Chapel Church.

"One way or another, we're going to keep going forward," said Deacon Calvin Thomas, at the heavily damaged Victory Baptist Church in Rainsville, Ala.

The New York Daily News reported that at least 342 people were killed across seven states in Wednesday's vicious storm. Search operations continue through hundreds of communities.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, all visited the hard-hit region Sunday, the newspaper reported.

President Obama visited Alabama on Friday to take a look at the damage caused by the worst natural disaster in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 destroyed New Orleans.