Collideoscope

Posted by: Denelle

Some of you may have met/seen/remember the Clark Family. Originally from Virginia father Freddy traveled as an evangelist and his entire family - 9 boys and 2 girls - travelled with him singing and ministering in music.

The entirely family is musically gifted and can play practically any instrument - fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, steel guitar, clarinet, sax, harmonic, dobro, etc. Several years ago the 6 oldest boys formed a band called The Clark Family Experience and had some moderate success.

Now three of the boys are back, billed as The Clark Brothers, and are in the the final six contestants on Fox's "The Next Great American Band." The boys, who were all home schooled and grew up on the road and normally attend Bro. Ron Becton's church, were selected as finalists from over 12,000 entries in the contest.




Below you can check out one of their recent performances. The show airs on Friday evenings at 8/7 (central). Similar to other live shows you are given a number following their performance to call in and vote for them. It's another great opportunity to support Apostolics in a venue that reaches millions.

Posted by: Denelle

In June 2006, 90&9 interviewed Pastor Harold Linder who's church - Heavenview Pentecostal Church in Winton-Salem, NC - had just suffered a devestating fire. On this weekend of Thanksgiving I just thought you all might be interested in seeing what this wonderful community of people has to be thankful for.

HEAVENVIEW PROGRESS!!!

Posted by: Josh

Posted by: Denelle

According to a recent article,

The chocolate enjoyed around the world today had its origins at least 3,100 years ago in Central America not as the sweet treat people now crave but as a celebratory beer-like beverage and status symbol.

Cacao (pronounced cah-COW) seeds were used to make ceremonial beverages consumed by elites of the Aztecs and other civilizations, while also being used as a form of currency.

So chocolate was served in liquid form in celebrations - weddings, births, etc. And anybody who's ever eaten a TON of chocolate can tell you that you can get quite the buzz from caffeine. What does this do to the age old tale that chocolate was in fact a gift from God??? Does this mean that we should forgo that winter hot chocolate? (please note my complete and total sarcasm here)

In some strange way I feel like this chocolate = beer thing restores a certain balance to the world given that beer was once essentially our equivalent of water.

Posted by: David Bunch

Disneyland will be re-vamping the "Small World" ride because the boats have been bottoming out, presumably due to larger patrons.

Heavier-than-anticipated loads have been causing the boats to come to a standstill in two different spots, allowing for an extra-long gander at the Canadian Mounties and the Scandinavian geese, said Al Lutz, whose website MiceAge first reported the refurbishment plans.

Perhaps in an effort to protect visitors' egos, the park insists that fat tourists aren't to blame.
The boats get stuck because "layers and layers" of fiberglass have built up where maintenance teams have patched and re-patched problem areas, said Disneyland Resort spokesman Bob Tucker.

Of course, this is a world of fantasy and the perfect place to forget about that diet for a few hours. So when somebody gets booted from the boat, Lutz said, Disneyland ride operators make sure the guests don't leave disappointed: They hand them a food ticket.

Posted by: David Bunch

Be sure to check out the information on the Pentecostal Writers Institute which is being held March 12-14, 2008.

Specifically designed for the Apostolic-Pentecostal writer. Hone your
writing skills while tapping into a network of writers and publishers
unavailable anywhere else.

Posted by: Josh

This was one of the funniest headlines I've ever seen, I just had to share: Scientists Find Oldest Living Animal, Then Kill It. See if you can catch the subtle Monty Python reference in the story.

Posted by: David Bunch

Here is website that claims to "bridge the gap between the church and youth culture"

It's sort of a Myspace for Apostolic youth. I have not perused every nook and cranny of the site, but one thing that caught my eye that I did like was the listing of districts at the bottom of the home page. Click on a district and you get information about youth ministries in that area.

One thing about the site that I question is whether or not you can stream audio on your page, like you can on Myspace. Also, it seems like there should be a catchier name out there than "United States Youth Community".

It will be interesting to see if the site catches on. I would think that it would be difficult to launch a new social networking site (it's a crowded market), but I applaud the idea and the effort.

Posted by: Denelle

Way back a million years ago or so (alright in reality it was about three or four years ago) NinetyandNine held their first ever Blog-Off. The winner got their very own blog on the mothership for a year. Eventually that blog transitioned into the Month In My Life blog and it's still going strong.

The esteemed winner of that first contest was Wendy Scoggins and she did a fabulous job blogging for us. However, since she left NinetyandNine Wendy hasn't been sitting at home just twiddling her thumbs. She's taken her writing talents, and along with a friend, has applied them to a new blog entitled GodDivas.

And GodDivas is getting all kinds of attention.

They were just nominated as finalists (along with nine other blogs) for the 2007 Weblog Award in the category of Best Religious Blog.

This is an awesome honor for two Apostolic young ladies! I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to check out their blog and to show your support by voting for them!

Posted by: Denelle

It's been a relatively quiet week in the world of Apostolic news. And I suppose I'm grateful because school has been really intense and I seem to be having trouble finding enough hours in a day to get everything done.

However, my sister is in town for an extended weekend visit so after today I'm refusing to think about school for the next five days. I'm playing hookie from class, not doing any reading and definitely not writing any papers. It's liberating. And I'm sure I'll regret it later.

Tonight we're going ice skating in Bryant Park and maybe to The Top of the Rock. Two things I've never done in New York!

I'm also going to make a shameless plug and tell you that you should be sure to check out this month's Month In My Life blogger. Having grown up with him I can ensure you that he is always interesting, thought provoking and has a great sense of humor.

Have a wonderful weekend!