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Southern Baptist congregations saw growth in baptisms, worship attendance and small group participation in 2023, while membership decline slowed compared to recent years, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by Lifeway Christian Resources.The 2023 ACP, a statistical census of Southern Baptist congregations that included responses from about 7 in 10 churches in the denomination, found that membership dropped for the 17th consecutive year, dipping below 13 million for the first time since the 1970s. However, the 1.8% decline was smaller than in previous years.Total baptisms grew by nearly 26% to more than 226,000, approaching pre-pandemic levels. Average weekly...

         Toward the end of his presidency, Calvin Coolidge said of his presumptive successor, Herbert Hoover (who he regularly derided as “Wonder Boy”), “That man has offered me unsolicited advice every day for six years, all of it bad.”          In the aftermath of the 2012 election, the conservative movement is swamped with unsolicited advice, much of it ranging from the bad to the bizarre, to the atrocious.          It comes from consultants whose reputation is built on running losing campaigns, domesticated conservative commentators for the mainstream media, pragmatists who are willing to jettison the principals they’ve never really believed...

FORT HUACHUCA — Even the stars were a little starstruck. It’s one thing to portray the military in Hollywood, as the cast of the blockbuster “Independence Day” did 20 years ago in a story that featured people of Earth banding together to topple alien invaders. Much of the cast has regrouped, with some new cast members, for “Independence Day: Resurgence,” the much anticipated sequel that hits theaters this Thursday. But to visit the troops on their turf and see what they do to defend the U.S. is quite another thing. Two stars from the new film, Jessie T. Usher and...

Just in case you forgot in the haze of Batman and Superman not being best friends, 20th Century Fox has released a new TV spot to remind you that Independence Day: Resurgence is coming this summer and with it, the second wave of alien invaders who nearly destroyed planet earth in the original film back in 1996. The new teaser leans heavily on the returning stars of the original film. There’s Bill Pullman’s former President Thomas Whitmore interfacing with the aliens. There’s Jeff Goldblum’s David Levinson being exactly as deadpan and snarky as you require. There’s even Brent Spiner, who...

A Monday piece in IO9 contained some revelations about the upcoming sequel to 1996’s “Independence Day,” which is entitled “Independence Day: Resurgence.” 20 years after the great alien invasion flattened many of Earth’s largest cities and killed untold millions of people, the world is still united in building up its defenses against a return engagement. These defenses apparently include a moon base.

I have noticed that there seems to be more and more posters on FR that have accounts from the 1990's or early 2000's, that are posting a lot more frequently. I can't be the only one that has noticed this. Maybe it was Ted Cruz, I don't know, but I'd like to know that I'm not alone here.

"Al-Qaeda unveils new magazine aimed at Western jihadis Advert for 'Resurgence' magazine uses words of Malcolm X in appeal to disaffected Muslims in US and Europe, as it turns focus away from Middle East" SNIPPET: "Al-Qaeda is starting an English language magazine as part of a fresh effort to recruit and inspire Western jihadis to launch attacks in their own countries, according to security analysts. A video posted on YouTube uses the words of Malcolm X to justify violent struggle, before announcing the name of the magazine, Resurgence." SNIPPET: "However, the new magazine appears to be the first English language...

The average annual labor force participation rate hit a 35-year-low of 63.2 percent in the United States in 2013, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The last time the average annual labor force participation rate was that low was in in 1978, when it was also 63.2 percent. Jimmy Carter was president then.

Mark Driscoll’s sermons are mostly too racy to post on GodTube, the evangelical Christian “family friendly” video-posting Web site. With titles like “Biblical Oral Sex” and “Pleasuring Your Spouse,” his clips do not stand a chance against the site’s content filters. No matter: YouTube is where Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, would rather be. Unsuspecting sinners who type in popular keywords may suddenly find themselves face to face with a husky-voiced preacher in a black skateboarder’s jacket and skull T-shirt. An “Under 17 Requires Adult Permission” warning flashes before the video cuts to evening services at...

If I wanted to turn thousands of African-Americans and Hispanics away from churches committed to the Reformation doctrines of grace I would create a public event where a couple of white Calvinist pastors publicly argue against a well-known and respected black pastor in Pentecostal circles. This is exactly what could happen on Jan. 25, as James MacDonald, along with his co-moderator Mark Driscoll, will host pastor T.D. Jakes for a public conversation in The Elephant Room. According to the website, “The Elephant Room features blunt conversations between seven influential pastors who take differing approaches to ministry.” MacDonald, a council member...

With Mitt Romney campaigning...his Mormon religion is coming under increasing scrutiny. SNIP Now Mark Driscoll, pastor of the high-profile Seattle-based Mars Hill Church, has added his voice to the fray -- agreeing that Christians should consider Mormons as members of a "cult" and not "brothers and sisters in a common faith." Writing on his website Tuesday, Driscoll goes on at length about the various definitions of a cult. He is careful to say that Mormonism has "outgrown" the popular culture and sociological definitions of a cult because of its enormous growth and general acceptance in the nation. But, Driscoll writes,...

For the first time in decades, the GOP wrestled control of the Governorship, the State Senate AND the State House away from the Democrats. Pretty amazing.

Excerpts from a special report to the recent 29th National Convention of the Communist Party USA, by Joelle Fishman. Joelle Fishman role in the Communist Party's Political Action Commission, which gives her responsibility for organizing Party support for "progressive" Democratic Party candidates at the state, congressional, senate and presidential level. She is also, incidentally, the daughter - in - law of late Soviet spy, Victor Perlo[caption id="attachment_611" align="aligncenter" width="322" caption="Joelle Fishman addresses CPUSA 29th Convention"][/caption] Fishman acknowledges that the Communist Party supported Barack Obama in 2008 - though certainly; not for the first time. The 2010 elections are at the...

ISLAMABAD – A week of terror strikes across Pakistan, capped by a stunning assault on army headquarters, show the Taliban have rebounded and appear determined to shake the nation's resolve as the military plans for an offensive against the group's stronghold on the Afghan border. The 22-hour attack on Pakistan's "Pentagon" in the city of Rawalpindi, which ended with 20 dead Sunday, was the third terror attack in a week to shake this nuclear-armed nation. It demonstrated the militants' renewed strength since their leader was killed by a U.S. missile strike in August and military operations against their bases. The...

At 60th birthday, Chinese in nostalgia of "red" arts www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-26 20:40:19 Print by Zuo Yuanfeng BEIJING, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- On a rainy Saturday night, Kong Mingzhe rushed home from a private theater. His red Chairman Mao T-shirt was all wet. Tired from hours of rehearsal for "Godot finally came", a modern sequel inspired by Irish dramatist Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", he turned on the DVD player. It was one episode of a period TV series about a Chinese double agent who collected information in the Kuomintang for the Communist Party of China (CPC). "I'm very curious about...

"A once-timid group of social outcasts is emerging from the shadows in Hollywood. If the past year is any indication, Tinseltown may have to get accustomed to the loud presence of a growing minority..." This is great! Maybe we'll see some more conservative movies like "AN AMerican Carol", and the culture will become more conservative, that is, if these actors speak clearly about conservatism. We all know how people, especially my age 13-20 are engrossed with Hollywood nonsense BS. Let's go Conservatism!!!!

GOP Resurgence Predicted Published On 9/30/2008 1:24:04 AM By ERIC P NEWCOMER Contributing Writer The Massachusetts Republican party is “alive and well” and “poised to take the governorship in two years,” said former Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Cellucci last night while speaking for a joint event held by the Harvard Republican Club and the Harvard Law Republicans. Cellucci, who is also the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, spoke for a little over an hour in Emerson Hall in an event attended by students from colleges throughout the Boston area. His remarks hit on the current presidential race, the state of...

The salmon looked like shadows gliding silently beneath the surface of a pool between the foaming rapids of rugged Butte Creek. Suddenly, with a splash, a big glittering fish leaped out of the water, then another and another. The spring-run chinook were jumping this past week in the remote, forested gorge outside Chico. "This is the last best run of wild salmon in California," said Allen Harthorn, 56, the executive director of Friends of Butte Creek, who has been fighting for more than a decade to save the historic - and once sacred - spring run of chinook in this...

Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll preached on the still popular and still controversial topic of emerging churches in his latest sermon. But it’s an issue he normally wouldn’t teach to his mainly twenty-something church crowd in Seattle. That’s because Mars Hill attendants don’t use the language “emerging church” as many Christian leaders label them. The issue of the emerging church, however, was raised when thousands of people, who regularly tune into Mars Hill sermons every week through the Internet, voted to make it the No. 2 most popular topic they wanted Driscoll to address in a sermon series titled “Religion...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda resurgence in Pakistan's tribal areas has raised deep concerns in the United States, which reportedly is pondering unilateral military strikes in a reflection of increasing impatience over Islamabad's counterterrorism strategy. US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen last week expressed "grave concern" over Al-Qaeda's use of the Pakistani tribal areas as safe havens, saying they posed a "significant" security threat to Afghanistan and Pakistan itself. Also from the vast tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, Osama bin laden's Al-Qaeda could be plotting and training a deadly attack on the United States, similar to the September 11, 2001...