Compared to the Tea Party, Gov. Whitman was a Democrat,” said the Rev. Dr. DeForest Soaries Jr. when I interviewed him Monday about the federal budget debate for UrbanFaith.com. Soaries was New Jersey Secretary of State under Christine Todd Whitman and a two-time political appointee of George W. Bush. He is pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, and said he weaves instruction on financial responsibility and economic opportunity into every sermon he preaches. He is also author of dfree: Breaking Free from Financial Slavery. The book and First Baptist's personal finance …
While there are plenty of places to celebrate a special anniversary right here at the Jersey Shore, for one as monumental as the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, a trip into New York City to see On Eagles' Wings at the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA) is just the thing. The exhibit features a number of historic manuscripts, including a 1611 first folio edition of the bible and a 1440 New Testament. It also includes a collection of breathtaking paintings (my photos don't do them justice) that contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura created to illustrate a Crossway Books commemorative …
Family Radio founder Harold Camping's widely publicized prediction that Jesus will rapture his church on Saturday, May 21 is foolish and irresponsible, said local clergy on Tuesday. But it serves as a reminder that people should live as if this day could be the last, they said. "I've already received an email today, as fate would have it, saying 'What do I do about that? Should I be frightened about that?" said David Cotton, parish associate at First Presbyterian Church of Manasquan and manager of Pastoral Care at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. "As a Christian, I completely believe …
Two weeks ago, when I covered an Islamophobia discussion at Lacey Township High School for Lacey Patch, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Osama bin Laden seemed like a distant memory. In the past week, terrorism, bias, and inter-religious dialogue have dominated the news. There was, for example, welcome news from the Pew Research Center that favorable attitudes toward bin Laden among global Muslims have sharply declined since 2001. Engy Abdelkader was the featured speaker at the Lacey event. She is a Muslim American attorney from Monmouth County who began wearing a hijab after Sept. 11, 2001, in…
There are times when I am tempted to despise some of my co-religionists, like Sunday night when spontaneous celebrations broke out across the country after the president's announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Followers on my Twitter feed and friends on Facebook (mostly those who aren't natives of New York or New Jersey) began expressing their concern that Americans were celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden. The longer it went on, the more irritated I became. On Monday, when the scolding didn't stop, I began unfollowing people on Twitter. Proverbs 24:17 was one of the most …
I have a confession. Lent was a bust. Instead of having my priorities adjusted by the bodily disciplines of a 40-day fast, I succumbed to the demands of my schedule and felt like it was an accomplishment if I managed to abstain from meat on Fridays. I failed to do even that on Good Friday. My spiritual reading didn't go much better. The Lenten devotional booklet I picked up at All Saints Episcopal Church in Bay Head on Ash Wednesday sat mostly neglected on a shelf. I did read a book late in the season that reminded me it isn't only work that orders my days. It's chickens who must be tended …
The idea of a vocation retreat sounds like a contradiction in terms, but at Laity Lodge in the hill country outside San Antonio, Texas, these concepts are as intertwined as the branches of a gnarly old oak. I was there last weekend in my role as leadership editor of TheHighCalling.org to listen as highly accomplished business and nonprofit leaders grappled with the challenges of living out their vocational callings. I've offered here some words that probably should be explained, beginning with vocation, retreat and calling. We often think of vocation in terms of our jobs, but Laity …
What do a Congressman, a documentary about Nazi filmmakers, and a 10-time Emmy Award winning director have in common? A discussion about propaganda and human rights, of course! Evil Through the Eye of the Lens, an event held at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Monmouth County in Deal Monday night, combined a 100-minute subtitled documentary about Nazi filmmaker Veit Harlan, a talk on the difference between propaganda and art by acclaimed filmmaker David Grubin, and humanitarian awards for United States Congressman Christopher Smith and executive director of the New Jersey Commission on…
I married into a musical family. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have been playing in bands at local clubs for some 30 years. So when they began telling me about a 12-year-old guitar prodigy from Point Pleasant that they'd been working with, I didn't think much of it, until I heard them all play together Friday night at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park. It was a launch party for Little Jimmy and The Midnight Son's first CD. Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux sings backup vocals on the CD, and two members of her band played Friday night. "I've been into the Grateful Dead all my life…
It was a standing room only crowd for the Jersey Shore Roller Girls season opener at Convention Hall in Asbury Park Saturday night. The Anchor Assassins scored a decisive win (163-134) over Murder Beach Militia. It was redemption after losing to the team by five points in the 2010 championship bout. Hot Rod Hussy, also known as Allison Salenetri, skates with the Right Coast Rollers, but served as bench manager for the Militia Saturday. Before the teams faced off on their brand new sport court, she gave me the run-down. "Murder Beach Militia have been a pretty solid, consistent, and stable …
Monday, March 28 will mark the third anniversary of my son Gabriel's death by suicide. Instead of wallowing in the grief that continues to haunt my life, I've decided to walk it off this year. Not literally, of course, because one doesn't shake this kind of loss, but in real ways that do me and others good I am walking off the stigma and ignorance that suicide inspires. Right now I'm in training. Come June, I'll join thousands of other suicide survivors to walk 18 miles from dusk until dawn at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's annual Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk. As …
Regional Perinatal Consortium of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (RPCMOC) health educator Amy Goldberg mailed 600 fliers to local religious organizations offering her program on pregnancy related emotional wellness. One person responded. That person was Rachel McKibben, director of youth and family ministries at Trinity Episcopal Church in Red Bank. For McKibben, the flier didn't just represent another ministry opportunity; it was a highly personal invitation to do something about an issue that has shaped her own life. McKibben is one of a tiny percentage of women who have experienced Postpartum…
Because my spiritual heritage is mostly "low-church" evangelical, I've needed a refresher course on Lent every year since I was confirmed as an Anglican in 2007. This year is no different. I know Lent is supposed to be a season of penance as I prepare to remember the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, but I don't recall much more than that. Christianity Today co-managing editor Ted Olsen had a similar problem in 2004, so he did some research and wrote about the history of Lent for Christian History magazine. Olsen traced the season's origin back to church father Irenaus of Lyons (c.…
Long before MTV popularized a negative caricature of the Jersey Shore with its Seaside Heights reality show, a fourth-grade teacher from Belford was worried about what kind of community his three young children would grow up in. Robert Talmage took that worry and turned it into a lament that he e-mailed to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). He really didn't expect a response. "I was more opining than I was anything else," Talmage said with a laugh. "It's just funny how one thing led to the next. They actually got back to me." It was the summer of 2007 when BGEA Development …
