By filing papers with the county, couples will state they want their partner to have hospital and prison visitation rights and to be notified in the event of an emergency. Partners also will be given authority to make funeral arrangements and have a voice in educational decisions.

The measure received final approval Thursday (May 17) on a 6-1 vote. Councilwoman Joie Alexander dissented, saying the rights already can be granted through powers of attorney.

It will cost a couple $50 to enter their names in the partnership registry. They will receive a laminated ID card.

While similar to the registry already in effect in Orlando, Volusia’s registry is the first countywide domestic partner registry in Central Florida.

Joe Saunders, an Equality Florida organizer, hailed the enactment.

“This is such an important step in our fight for equality and we’re proud to have worked with some of the most dynamic leaders in Volusia County,” Saunders said in a statement.

“From the onset we found a friend and ally in Councilmember Josh Wagner, who introduced the ordinance. Special thanks to Larry Glinzman and the ACLU for their important work in this fight.”

Saunders noted the grassroots civil rights movement for GLBT people is gathering momentum.

“Just two days ago, the City of Gulfport became the first city in Pinellas County to pass a Domestic Partnership Registry…” Saunders said.  “Next week alone, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Orange County will all be voting on their own Domestic Partnership Registeries – and Jacksonville will move toward securing protections for the LGBT community in employment, housing and public accommodations.”

– Compiled by Tom Brown

WORD UP – May 16, 2012

Weekly Newsletter No. 164

New Church Family ICCC, 815-B Beville Road, Daytona Beach

Rev Beau McDaniels Senior Pastor

Rev Susan McDaniels Associate Pastor

www.newchurchfamily.org    Tel. 386-527-5952

We do not keep our traditions for the sake of the past but for their power to create a future.

THIS SUNDAY  — Worship & Holy Communion at 10 a.m. at New Church  Family, Rev. Susan McDaniels preaching.

Technical Note – Word Up is still alive & well & publishing every week. If you don’t receive a copy by late Wed. or Thursday each week, be sure to contact Rev. Susan (susanbmcdaniels@yahoo.com) or Tom (brownt218@yahoo.com) . We’ll be glad to do a re-send. We have discovered some people on Road Runner are having trouble getting delivery, and we are trying to figure out how to fix that. We

We do post each week’s issue on www.gaydaytona.com , usually on Wednesday, so that is another way of catching up.

 SCRIPTURE FOR SUNDAY

Acts 1:15–17, 21–26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9–13; John 17:6–19

Prayer Requests…

n  Thanksgiving for our mothers and people who substituted for our mothers

n  Rev. Beau gives Thanksgiving for President Obama’s statement endorsing same-gender marriage

n  Thanksgiving for the progress we are making in purchasing a building.

n  Russ asks travel protection as he begins his RV journey from California to Florida.

n  Healing for Lois who is now in Halifax Hospital, France Wing, room 1421, dealing  with intestinal blockage, it is serious.  Call or visit if you can, she needs company and prayers

n  Thanksgiving Linda N. was well enough to attend our service

n  Healing for Stephanie, suffering  pain in her left wrist. She may require tendon surgery.

n  Prayers for Judy L, Gayle tells us she is in the hospital with a hernia that  has wrapped around some of her organs, we don’t know any more than that for now.

SUNDAY SERMON RECAP – (May 13)  — MARY & MOTHERHOOD — It’s not surprising we are preoccupied with Jesus,  the center of our faith. But sometimes, especially in Protestant churches, we neglect the wonderful service and sacrifice given by his mother Mary. Whether or not we believe in the miracle of the Virgin birth, there’s no denying the teenager took on great risk when she received the angel’s prophecy that she would become pregnant before being properly married to Joseph. If Joseph had chosen to reject her as a slut, she probably would have been stoned to death. Consider, also, the later waves of turmoil she endured – the flight into Egypt to keep the child safe, the hints that Jesus as a young lad might have been rebellious (for example, staying on in the Temple after his parents started traveling back to Nazareth), the notoriety and ridicule that Jesus received from his Nazarene neighbors when he “came out” into wandering ministry instead of settling down with a wife and being a carpenter (and staying in daily touch with his mother.) And then finally, the worst thing that can happen to any mother – seeing her son tortured and crucified.

     Mary also witnessed the Resurrection, and we can only hope that    was a comfort for her that made it all worthwhile.  But in her old age, Jesus was gone, and only John the beloved disciple remained in his place. Of course, she had other children, and grandchildren, too, as a solace. But for a Jewish mother, the eldest son is always special.    May we honor her for her life of sacrifice.

CHURCH & COMMMUNITY CALENDAR….

MAY 16,  Wed., 5:30 p.m.  – AMENDMENT 8 FORUM — The Flagler County chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church & State will host Rev. Steve Baines, the organization’s national religious outreach director.  The meeting aims to help people understand Florida’s proposed Amendment 8, which would allow state funds, including school vouchers, to be used at religious facilities. Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy. N.W. Palm Coast.   Details: 386-446-6061.

MAY 16-24 – CINEMATIQUE: “The Perfect Family” Kathleen Turner stars in this comedy film about a Catholic mother about to be awarded a motherhood prize – but she has to present her zany, nonconformist family at a ceremony. Her brood includes a lesbian daughter about to marry her life partner, an unhappily married son carrying on an affair with a manicurist, and a stressed out alcoholic husband. Afternoon and evening shows most dates. Details: Cinematique.org, 242 S. Beach St. downtown Daytona Beach. $5-$11.

MAY 16-17 – CINEMATIQUE “Monsieur Lazhar,” a drama about an Algerian immigrant teacher who helps a Montreal grade school class cope with the death of their previous teacher. Final dates. In French with subtitles. Tickets $5-11. Details: Cinematique.org. 242 S. Beach St., downtown Daytona Beach.

MAY 16-28 – Orlando Fringe Theater Festival –  Dozens of offbeat plays, musicals and comedy shows, some with a gay theme, will be staged at theaters in Loch Haven Park, Orlando. Admission to most plays runs $8-$11 each. Schedule details: OrlandoFringe.org. Among the shows: “Little House of Horrors,” “Joan Crawford’s House Party,”  “Gay Bar Star: Return from the Big House,” “My Three Moms,” “I Married a Nun,” “Celebrity Squares” “GGG:Dominatrix for Dummies,” “Cannibal: The Musical” and “9-11 We Will Never Forget.”  A separate program at the Menello Museum offers “Kids’ Fringe,” – shows and games suitable for kids.

MAY 17, Thurs., 11:30 a.m. – A Domestic Partnership Registry ordinance is scheduled to receive its final vote at the Volusia County Council meeting. Members of Volusia Equality and Equality Florida are encouraging supporters to wear red clothing to the meeting. The registry is a way for both gay and hetero unmarried couples to register their desire for their partners to have hospital and prison visitation rights, and decision-making powers for funeral arrangements. The Council meets at the County Administration Building, Indiana Avenue, DeLand.

MAY 17, THURS. 6:30-8:30 p.m – AUTHOR JANIS KEARNEY, personal diarist to President Bill Clinton, will speak and sign copies of her book. New Smyrna Beach Library, 1001 S. Dixie Freeway. Free.

MAY 18 FRI.  8:30 a.m. – TGIF COFFEE BREAK – NCF people and their friends gather for social chitchat at Panera Bread, Dunlawton Ave (near Target) Port Orange.  Note: We have moved up the time a bit so 2 of our coffee-mates can attend a 9:30 class in Tai-Chi at the Port Orange Adult Rec Center. 

MAY 19, SAT. 9-11 a.m. – RAPTORS BIRD TOUR – Staff of Lyonia Environmental Center will lead a free guided tour of raptors flying around  Lake Ashby Park. Bring cameras. Meet at the park at 4150 Boy Scout Camp Road, New Smyrna Beach.

MAY 19-20, Orlando Gay Chorus concerts in Orlando.  Under the direction of Artistic Director and Conductor Jim Brown, the chorus will sing songs such as Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror,” Eric Clapton’s “Change The World,” Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Selections from “Hairspray,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Wicked” as well as other popular selections will be sung by OGC. The chorus’ small ensembles also will perform.  Assistant Artistic Director Jedediah C. Daiger will direct “For Good” from “Wicked.” Principal accompanist will be Sue Glerum and choreographer will be Bob Smith-Trent.  Debbie Drobney will interpret as ASL Coordinator. Plaza Theater, North Bumby Ave., Orlando.  Most tickets are $25 and up;  student price $15. Details: OrlandoGayChorus.org .  (Thank you to Mike and Dean for the information).

MAY 19, SAT., 7:30 p.m. – SOUSA Concert presented by Southern Winds Symphonic Concert Band at Stetson University’s Elizabeth Hall. Free, donations accepted.

MAY 20, SUN. 10 A.m. – NEW CHURCH FAMILY Worship & Holy Communion.

MAY 20, SUN. 11:30 a.m. – ONE DAYTONA Meeting,  New Church Family. Topic: GLBT Scholarship, summer plans, Volusia Pride update

MAY 22, 2 p.m.  – VETERANS BENEFITS FORUM to be held at The Cloisters, Howry Avenue, DeLand.  RSVP to info@thecloisters.com. Free.

MAY 24, THURS.,  4 p.m  – VOLUSIA PRIDE planning meeting, Rokko’s Frozen Yogurt Shop function room, Beach and Bay streets, downtown Daytona Beach.  Anyone is welcome.

MAY 27. SUNDAY, 10 a.m.   –  The McDaniels will be in Toccoa, Georgia, attending an ICCC Retreat.  A male guest clergy will be our visiting preacher for Sunday service.

MAY 27, noon-6 p.m.  – SPACE COAST PRIDE – Wickham Pavilion, 3701 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, Fl.  Entertainment, food, kids’ zone.  (At the rear of Brevard Community College and the Maxwell King Center) Sponsored by the Living Room of Brevard Inc.

JUNE 4, MON., 6:30 p.m. – New Church Family board meeting. Topics: Real estate, Convo travel fund, church name.

JUNE  6, 6:30 p.m. – BIBLE STUDY – “Homosexuality & the Old Testament – Rev. Beau will summarize the latest scholarly research about what the Old Testament says about same-gender sex & love. (They are not necessarily the same thing.) A follow-up session on June 13 will examine “Homosexuality & the New Testament.”       

JUNE  13, WED., 10 a.m. – LIVING WITH ALZHEIMERS  Workshop for family caregivers —  The Alzheimer’s Association talks about the early and middle stages of the disease.  Hear from those directly affected and learn what you need to know, what you need to plan and what you can do at each point along the way. Free. City Island Library, Daytona Beach. Register at 800-272-3900.

VIP GAY BIRTH DATES

May 11 – Rev. Mychal Judge, the NY FD chaplain who died at 68 doing rescue work in the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center, was born on this date in 1933. Openly gay, he was among the first Catholic priests to conduct funerals for men who died of AIDS.

MAY 14 –Magnus Hirshfeld –A German physician and pioneer sex researcher, Hirshfeld was born on this date in 1868 and died in 1935. He developed a theory that homosexuals represented a third “intermediate” gender, which he called “Uranian,” a blend of male and female.  He said the phenomenon was perfectly natural and there was nothing immoral or diseased about such a nature. In the 1890s, he campaigned against Paragraph 175, the German law that criminalized homosexuality. When the Nazis came to power, they burned his research library, but Hirshfeld found refuge in France. 

EQUALITY WATCH — Florida Together, a grassroots GLBT political coalition, is urging people to make sure they are registered to vote in the upcoming elections. (FL. Primary is Aug. 14).  Here is their link to the Rock the Vote campaign:

https://register.rockthevote.com/registrants/new?partner=12397

URBAN  LEGEND WATCH  — REPORT: NO PROSELYTIZING AT  WALTER REED – The Walter Reed Medical Center last year issued rules against bringing Bibles, religious tracts, crosses or other religious items to patients. TRUE BUT OUTDATED. Snopes says a Congressional outcry against the rules issued in September 2011 temporarily shelved the regulations. The hospital, which recently relocated to a new building in Bethesda, Md., said it would rewrite them, but a new version has  not yet been issued.  A hospital spokesman said the  rules were intended to protect patients against intrusions by visitors from religious groups that were not connected with the patient’s own religious affiliation.

,THOUGHTS FROM REV SUSAN………IMHO (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION)

Most churches are guilty of selling Christianity as a pain-free existence. We might not come out and say it, but the message oftentimes is, ‘Accept Christ and all your problems will disappear.’  Believers later find themselves disillusioned when after following Christ and finding that life is difficult. Some throw in the proverbial towel and try to walk away from anything and everything that smacks of God. Others get stuck in the process and become bitter yet they’re still present in body. And yet, there are those who embrace, with varying amounts of struggle, the process of becoming conformed to Christ’s death (Philippians 3:10).

In much the same way that the sacrificial animals of the Old Testament days did not go willingly to the altar, most of us go kicking and screaming to the altar of the death of our own flesh. We smell death in the air and we RESIST.

Paul challenged us in Phil. 3 that in order to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, we also must know the fellowship of his sufferings and be conformed to his death. Wow, we think, “Did I really sign-up for that? I didn’t see that in the fine print. Is there an opt-out?”

This fellowship of his suffering and conformity to his death is the process of brokenness. The taming of the human soul.

An unbroken person is unable to live in the mysteries of God. Unwilling to accept the difficult challenges. Endlessly stuck in the questioning process (which is good and acceptable in its right place but must eventually be laid on the altar, too.)

Psalm 51:7 says “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.”

Personally, I find it hard to give this sacrifice to God, yet it seems to be something God’s uses.

Since much of my life is spent in helping others, I sometimes hear comments from folks about something that they specifically felt was helpful to them. I half-smiled last week as a woman in my congregation said, “I figured that as much as you’d been through, you could understand me.”  I got it. I understood what she was saying. I was not separated from her by any façade of perfection. She saw me as totally human, approachable. While my brokenness (in its limitedness) is not the pathway I would have ever chosen in my life to make me more qualified to care for folks, in reality that is exactly what it has done.

I suppose I should just lie down on the altar instead of going kicking and screaming, huh?

Hebrews 4:15 tells us that we have a High Priest, Christ, who is touched by the feelings of our weaknesses, being tempted in every point just as we are, yet he did not sin. Verse 16 further invites us to come boldly to Christ’s throne of grace so that we can get mercy and grace to help us in our times of need. Christ is approachable because he understands. 

Brokenness, when embraced for the beauty which can come from its ashes, can enable us to enter into the mysteries of Christ in a way that we “know him” and touch the world around us in significant tangible ways.

Hugs, Blessings, Shalom, Peace and Amen

OUR CLASSIFIEDS

HELP WANTED – Mental Health Therapist sought by Children’s Advocacy Center of Volusia and Flagler Counties to treat victims of child abuse. Requires Master’s degree in the mental health field and at least one year of clinical counseling experience. Details:  Terri Karol at 386.238.3830.

HELP WANTED — Choices Programs Organization seeks  Targeted Case Managers in the juvenile justice and child dependency fields. Bachelor’s degree in human services, plus at least 2 years experience in child development or education.  Salary: $32,000-$39,000. Send resume to kelly.thomas@choicesprograms.org

RESPITE SERVICES OFFERED – The Council on Aging is offering respite care for caregivers responsible for elderly people in early-stage dementia.  Call the Council at (386) 253-4700, EXT. 204 for more information.

HELP WANTED: Physical and occupational therapists sought by an unidentified agency for home visits, assisted living faciltiies and adult daycare centers. Details: 386-801-7095 or 386-801-2859.

FURNISHED APARTMENT FOR RENT.: 

   Beachside in Daytona Beach. near Seabreeze: 1 BR,l Bth, Completely remodeled.   Above garage,includes(water.cable,electric,gas & pest contr.) Very private. pool, off street park, gated estate. $750/mo Call Jim at 386-290-0423

From Guild President Jim Camp: HELP WANTED:  Business Guild seeks someone to update and keep the  GAYDAYTONA website current. We need a data entry person to make necessary changes, delete old information and add updates. Possible compensation in the range of $100 a month. This is a flat-fee  stipend for service.  Send resume to DBGG, PO Box 263148, Daytona Beach 32116-3148 OR e-mail JACROLLS@AOL.COM

SOME USEFUL LINKS & FRIENDLY PLACES:

OUR CHURCH’s Web site: www.newchurchfamily.org

*OUR CHURCH FACEBOOK PAGES – New Church Family of Daytona Beach, and The Porch of Daytona (youth outreach)

*GLBT AA Group Meetings at the Lambda Center, 320 Harvey Ave., Daytona Beach,  on Fridays at 6pm

DAYTONA  area general gay news: www.gaydaytona.com   Operated by the Daytona Beach Business Guild.) (Back issues of Word Up can be found at this site.)

VOLUSIA PRIDE 2012  – The target date is Nov. 10 in downtown Daytona.  Organizing information, Lisa-Marie Mueller, volusiapride2012@yahoo.com.  A new web site, www.volusiapride.org is now under construction by Kristen Colasanti.

*International Christian Community Churches,  our denomination: www.intlccc.org

*ICCC’s social networking web site: www.internationalchristiancommunity.ning.com

ICCC and its Emmaus Institute also have Facebook pages

Jim Geary’s AIDS ministry — His confidential HIV support group meets Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at New Church Family. Call him at 386-235-6420 or 441-7562 for permission to attend.) –  www.delicatecourage.com

Outreach Community Care Network: Provides HIV and AIDS testing, counseling, support, information and referrals. outreachinc.org or 386-255-5569. Contact person: Joaquin.

OneDaytona – Nonprofit coalition working for GLBT solidarity & Pride. Contact Rev. Susan or Tom for details.

LOVE WELCOMES ALL http://lovewelcomesall.ning.com/ — Interfaith group in the Carolinas.

*Equality Florida for gay-rights updates: www.eqfl.org

*Youth Counseling web site for GLBT coming-out issues, bullying and depression: www.thetrevorproject.org   Their suicide prevention hotline is 866-4-U-TREVOR

SUICIDE Hotline – 1-800-539-4228 (Act Corp. psychiatric stabilization for Volusia County)

GENERAL GAY CHRISTIAN NEWS & VIEWS, including an international gay-affirming church directory, an international e-mail forum, dating service  and non-pornographic chat, hosted by Mary Pearson in Ontario. www.christiangays.com. Most Sundays at 8 p.m., their chat room usually has a pastor-led “Hot Topic” discussion that connects a GLBT issue with the Bible and other Christian teachings.

PFLAG New Smyrna Beach/Volusia meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month (no meetings during June, July and August), 7 PM at United Church of Christ, 203 Washington St, New Smyrna Beach.  We can be found on Facebook, our email address is pflagnewsmyrnabeach@live.com, or contact Kathy at 386.299.0698.

 ”JUST US” for professional women 35+  meeting on a monthly basis @ local restaurants – contact dee1023@yahoo.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he not only backs marriage equality but also that the Senate might vote on a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act before the election.

Reid, D-Utah, followed Vice President Biden and President Obama  in supporting same-sex marriage with the announcement of his own more nuanced position. Reid said that although he personally believes marriage remains between a man and a woman, the government shouldn’t interfere with same-sex couples who want to marry.

“My personal belief is that marriage is between a man and a woman. But in a civil society, I believe that people should be able to marry whomever they want, and it’s no business of mine if two men or two women want to get married,” he said. “The idea that allowing two loving, committed people to marry would have any impact on my life, or on my family’s life, always struck me as absurd.”

Reid, who is a Mormon, takes a different interpretation of his religious beliefs than Mitt Romney, who has decided the best course is an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex couples from marrying. But Reid doesn’t see Romney’s view advancing.

“In talking with my children and grandchildren, it has become clear to me they take marriage equality as a given,” he said. “I have no doubt that their view will carry the future.”

The Salt Lake Tribune points out that Reid nodded yes when asked Thursday whether he would vote to legalize same-sex marriage in his home state of Nevada, and that Reid had previously voted for a constitutional ban there.

Reid, who voted in favor of DOMA in 1996, said on Thursday that if a bill to repeal the legislation gets to the floor of the Senate, “we’ll be happy to take a look at it,” according to Politico. He called the repeal “an important piece of legislation,” but he also predicted Republicans would try to stop repeal from getting a vote.

DOMA protects states where same-sex marriage isn’t legal from having to recognize marriages of those residents wed in states where it is legal. So a couple married in New York are no longer considered married if they move to neighboring New Jersey, for example.

DOMA also bars the federal government from recognizing any same-sex couple married in any state, which has a cascade of tax code effects. Reid backed the president on his belief that the states should be free to decide on marriage.

“I handled a fair amount of domestic relations work when I was a practicing lawyer, and it was all governed by state law,” he said. ” I believe that is the proper place for this issue to be decided as well.”

Among the presentations  are: “LGBT Suicide Prevention” by Katy Lacefield, a University of Centerl Florida grad student;  “Bullying and Suicide Prevention” by Mitch Pietras, a Daytona State counselor; “How to set up a Care Ministry for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare” by Allison Bonilla, Awareness Counseling Center, Orange City; and “Counseling Evangelicals: Bridging the Gap,” by Russell Holloway, Salty Ministries.

The Thursday morning keynote address “Active Minds,” will be given by Rutgers student Bryan Adams.  Hailing from a small New Jersey town, Bryan Adams set his sights on the Army after high school and served a year-long deployment as a sniper in Tikrit, Iraq.  In 2004, he was shot in the left leg and left hand during an ambush and was awarded a Purple Heart.  Bryan was 21 when he returned from the war. He struggled to reintegrate back into society and was eventually diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.  Currently, Bryan is a senior at Rutgers  studying business. Bryan’s story sheds light on what it’s like to be a veteran and a college student. His story leaves audiences captivated and hopeful.

The Friday morning keynote is by Andrea Brinn Sawyer, representing the Wounded Warrior Project.

A similar conference last year drew more than 200 participants from more than 100 schools, colleges, churches and agencies.

To register online, click the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MatterLifeDeath2012

An ordinance to create a Volusia County Domestic Partnership Registry will come up for a final vote on May 17th and it’s critical that we let the County Council know that we’re standing with them!

Wear red to the public hearing at 11:30am.

On April 17th the County Council voted unanimously to move forward toward the creation of a Domestic Partnership Registry. It was a proud moment to see standing room only in the chamber, filled with community members wearing red to show their support for a Domestic Partnership Registry.

Let’s do it again! Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 17th.

Volusia County Council Final Domestic Partnership Registry Hearing
May 17th @ 11:30am
Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center
123 W, Indiana Ave,

WORD UP – May 9, 2012

Weekly Newsletter No. 163

New Church Family ICCC, 815-B Beville Road, Daytona Beach

Rev Beau McDaniels Senior Pastor

Rev Susan McDaniels Associate Pastor

www.newchurchfamily.org    Tel. 386-527-5952

We do not keep our traditions for the sake of the past but for their power to create a future.

THIS SUNDAY –  MAY 13 — 10 a.m. – New Church Family Worship & Holy Communion. Rev “Beau” McDaniels preaching.

SCRIPTURE FOR SUNDAY

Acts 10:44–48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1–6; John 15:9–17

PRAYER  REQUESTS;

Russ asks prayers for travel safety as he prepares his RV for a return trip from California.

Healing for Lois who has been having stomach problems for several days

Healing for Jay as he prepares for surgery on his neck vertebrae

Healing for 84 year old Katie in the hospital,

Healing for Rick in body, mind and spirit,

Healing for Linda N.

Comfort for Aurelia and her son Al, may she go in peace.                                                   

SUNDAY SERMON RECAP –

“The True Vine”   Based on John 15:1-8

   Jesus used pictures and ideas which were part of the religious heritage of the Jews in this passage. Over and over again, in the Hebrew Scriptures, Israel is pictured as the vine or the vineyard of God.  The vine had actually become the symbol of the nation of Israel. One of the glories of the Temple in Jerusalem -before it was destroyed – was the great golden vine upon the front of the Holy Place. Many people had counted it an honor to give gold to mold a new bunch of grapes or even a new grape on to that vine.  The vine was part and parcel of Jewish imagery – the very symbol of Israel.

   Jesus calls himself the true vine. The point of the  specific word is:  true, real, genuine.  It is a curious fact that the symbol of the vine is not used in the Old Testament apart from the idea of degeneration; usually depicting the people of Israel as running wild.  Jesus said: “It is I who am the true vine.”  He was sharing the fact that being a Jew will not save you. The only thing that can save you is to have an intimate living relationship with God. Faith is the way to God’s Salvation

   When Jesus drew his picture of the vine he knew what he was talking about. Grape vines were grown all over Palestine as they still are. It is a plant which needs a great deal of attention to produce the best grapes. Where ever it grows — careful preparation of the soil is essential. It grows luxuriantly and drastic pruning is necessary to keep it bearing it’s wonderful fruit.  The grape vine bears two kinds of branches,  one that bears fruit and one that does not, The branches that do not bear fruit are drastically pruned back. That keeps them from draining away the plant’s strength. The vine can not produce as good a crop without drastic pruning‑‑and Jesus knew that.

   The wood of the vine is not really good for anything.  It is too soft for any purpose.  When — as it was laid down by the law — the people must bring offerings of wood to the Temple for the altar fires the wood of the vines would not be accepted.  The only thing that could be done with the wood pruned from a vine was to make a bonfire of it and destroy it. It’s ashes would be used to enrich the soil for other plants to bear fruit.  This is the picture Jesus is drawing in this passage

   Jesus says that his followers are like that. Some of them are lovely fruit‑bearing branches of himself; others are useless because they bear no fruit. Who was Jesus thinking of when he spoke of the fruitless branches?  He was thinking of Christians whose Christianity consisted of profession without practice, words without deeds, useless branches — all leaves and no fruit.  He was thinking of Christians who became unfaithful; people who heard the message and accepted it and then fell away becoming lost to the God they had once pledged themselves to serve.

   One thing we must remember: it is one of the first principles of the New Testament that uselessness invites disaster.  Finally, we must note that here there are two things laid down about a good disciple:  First, they enrich their own lives through contact with Jesus.  He makes them fruitful branches.  Second, they bring glory to God.  God is glorified, when we bear much fruit and show ourselves to be disciples of Jesus.  The greatest glory of the Christian life is that by our life and conduct we can bring glory to our loving God!

CHURCH & COMMUNITY CALENDAR

MAY 9,  WED, 7:30 pm.  – SPIRITUAL MATTERS FILM SERIES: “The Scent Of Green Papaya,” a Vietnamese film about 10-year-old Mui, a girl who’s trained to be a house servant in 1950’s Vietnam. As Mui grows up in pre-war Saigon, she finds quiet love with a family friend and discovers the world around her. She marvels at every new sight, sound and scent she experiences while going about her workday life. Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona State College, free.

 MAY  10  6-9.   — POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS TRAINING  for social workers and others dealing with veterans.  Sponsored by Natl  Assn of Social Workers, Volusia-Flagler unit.   UCF Daytona campus, Building 150 Auditorium, Daytona Beach. $10 for NASW members (bring membership card), $30

MAY  10, 11 a.m.-noon.  – DISABILITIES WORKSHOP on summer safety.  Presented by disAbility Solutions at 119 S. Palmetto, Daytona Beach.  RSVP to 386-255-1812 or email info@dsil.org

MAY 10-12 – FLAGLER COLLEGE LECTURES ON SPANISH COLONIAL HISTORY – These free lectures, by leading historians, kick off the La Florida year-long celebration of the  500th anniversary of the Spanish arrival in Florida. For program details, check out www.culturallylaflorida.org. On Sunday morning, May 13, to wrap things up, there will be a Mass and choral concert at Nombre de Dios Mission.  If you like St. Augustine and history, this is an excellent time for a day trip to the Ancient City. (Also, it coincides with St. Augustine Pride on May 12).

MAY 11, FRI., 9 .m. – TGIF COFFEE BREAK for NCF members and friends, Panera Bread, Port Orange.  Relax for an hour and catch up on chitchat. Open to anyone.

MAY 12, SAT., 8 p.m.  – DISCO SKATE Fundraiser to benefit Volusia Pride,  Skate City, Nova Road, Port Orange.  Includes a costume contest and raffle. Admission $10.

MAY 12, SAT. noon-6 p.m. ST. AUGUSTINE PRIDE FESTIVAL,  Francis Field, 29 W. Castillo Drive, St. Augustine. Live entertainment, food, vendors, etc. Details: www.ancientcitypride.org.  Free.

MAY 15, Tues., 5:30-7 p.m.  – CLASS FOR MENTORS OF FOSTER TEENS – Community Partnership for Children seeks adult volunteers to be mentors for teenage kids in foster care (similar to Big Brother, Big Sister programs). 3 levels of commitment are offered  – occasional special events; once a week meetings for at least 12 weeks, or open-ended mentoring for an indefinite period. Requires background check. CPC office, 160 N. Beach Street, Daytona Beach To register, please contact Susan Hiltz at (386) 547-2293 or via email at Susan.Hiltz@cbcvf.org.

MAY 15, 5:30  p.m. – HIV SUPPORT GROUP meets at New Church Family

MAY 16, Wed., 5:30 p.m.  – AMENDMENT 8 FORUM – The Flagler County chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State will host national Religious Outreach Director Rev. Steve Baines. The meeting aims to help people understand Florida’s proposed Amendment 8, which would allow state funds, including school vouchers, to be used at religious facilities. Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy. N.W. Palm Coast.   Details –  386-446-6061. Free.

MAY 20, SUN. 11:30 p.m. – ONE DAYTONA Meeting  at New Church Family

LOOKING AHEAD…

May 22, Tues., 2 p.m.  – Veterans Benefits Workshop – Volusia County Veterans’ Services Senior Counselor Jeff Bumb will discuss veterans’ benefits and services, such as medical services, pensions, home loans and survivor benefits. Lankford Funeral Home director Cheryl Lankford will explain burial and memorial benefits for veterans, including reimbursements and no-cost and national cemetery burials. The event takes place at The Cloisters, Howry Ave., DeLand. RSVP by May 18 to (386) 822-6900 or e-mail info@thecloisters.com. Free.

MAY 27, noon-6 p.m.  – SPACE COAST PRIDE – Wickham Pavilion, 3701 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, Fl.  Entertainment, food, kids’ zone.  (At the rear of Brevard Community College and the Maxwell King Center) Sponsored by the Living Room of Brevard Inc.

MAY 28, SUN. 10 a.m. – We will have a special guest preacher while Revs. Beau and Susan attend an ICCC retreat and take a few days of vacation.

MAY 29-JUNE 4 – GAY DAYS at Disney . Details: www.gaydays.com. The host hotel is the Doubletree Inn near Sea World.

JUNE 6, WED., 6:30 p.m. – HOMOSEXUALITY & THE BIBLE – Start of a 2 part Bible study led by Rev. Beau, focusing on the Old Testament. Part 2 will be held June 13, examining the New Testament.  The free sessions are open to anyone; you don’t have to be  a church member  (or gay) to attend.

JUNE 7-8 – TRAINING CONFERENCE ON YOUTH SUICIDE — Sponsored by Daytona State College, to be held at News-Journal Center.  Presentations will  include sessions on LGBT youth and  veterans’ stress, plus a panel discussion by youth who have experienced suicidal feelings.  The conference is free, and open to social workers, faith groups,  police and others.  Among the presentations  are: “LGBT Suicide Prevention” by Katy Lacefield, a UCF grad student;  “Bullying and Suicide Prevention” by Mitch Pietras, a Daytona State counselor; “How to set up a Care Ministry for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare” by Allison Bonilla, Awareness Counseling Center, Orange City; and “Counseling Evangelicals: Bridging the Gap,” by Russell Holloway, Salty Ministries. The Thursday morning keynote address “Active Minds,” will be given by Rutgers student Bryan Adams.  Hailing from a small New Jersey town, Bryan Adams set his sights on the Army after high school and served a year-long deployment as a sniper in Tikrit, Iraq.  In 2004, he was shot in the left leg and left hand during an ambush and was awarded a Purple Heart.  Bryan was 21 when he returned from the war. He struggled to reintegrate back into society and was eventually diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.  Currently, Bryan is a senior at Rutgers  studying business. Bryan’s story sheds light on what it’s like to be a veteran and a college student. His story leaves audiences captivated and hopeful.

JUNE 14-JULY 5 – GLBT ART EXHIBITION in conjunction with St. Pete Pride — Graphi-ko Gallery, Galerias Bohemia and Sebastian Thomas Gallery, all in the Central Arts District in the 600 Block of Central Ave., downtown St Petersburg,  are showcasing the talents of the Florida LGBT community.  The show is open to artists who identify as LGB or T, and who live and work in Florida. All work must be for sale.  A “Meet the Artist”  Reception is June 28 6-10 p.m. Deadline for submission of Jpeg photo files of work you want to be considered for the exhibition is May 23. Email: Graphi-ko@hotmail.com for additional information.

NEWS FROM THE NCF BOARD       

 We spent a good chunk of Monday’s meeting discussing  the inspection reports on the 3520 W. ISB building. Overall, the reports were favorable – no evidence of termites, and  cracks on the western wall were deemed to be minor.  We are checking into a past A-C drainage problem to make sure it doesn’t recur.  Wiring on one circuit breaker may need to be changed.  Cracking in the rear parking lot is a problem we may address later on. In the meantime, we are discussing ways to keep trash trucks from causing further damage.

    In other  action, the board voted to give Volusia Pride a $100 sponsorship from our Benevolence Fund.  Bible study will begin Wednesday June 6 at 6:30 p.m. with a session on “Homosexuality & the Bible.”

NAME  THAT CHURCH  – Rev. Susan, Betty and Bill are heading up a committee that will consider whether we need to rename our church, and, if so, how to go about it.  If you have ideas about how the church’s identity and character should be reflected in  a name, speak to the committee.  In the meantime, you might want to re-read the explanation of our current name that we have posted on our section of the GayDaytona web site:

“Why the unusual name? The New Church Family name started as just a temporary corporate name for legal paperwork. After considering more than a dozen other names, (actually about 40)  the congregation decided they liked the New Church Family label the best. The “New” signifies we are a brand-new work, striving to take our Christian ministry to a higher and better level. “Church” signifies that, indeed, we are a church, not just a discussion group, social club or advocacy organization. We offer all the sacraments and spiritual support of a Christian church, and we are led by an ordained minister with nearly 40 years of pastoral experience. “Family” stands for the type of love and acceptance we endeavor to offer to all who come through our doors. You may look different and think differently from me, but you are still “family.” We may even disagree at times, but we are “family.” And for the gay, lesbian and transgender community, “family” has a special meaning of acceptance and safety to be the person God made you to be. We realize our unorthodox name may puzzle some. Bottom line: We are ardently Christian, and radically inclusive, with both gay and “straight” people working together to exemplify God’s love for humanity.”

OLD GLORY -- As we approach the Memorial Day and July 4th national holidays, an anonymous angel has give our church a beautiful American flag and flag standard.

FOOTNOTE FROM THE TREASURER -- Thank you to everyone for your generous support of our church during the month of April. Four of our five Sunday collections during the month exceeded our budget target of $525 per week, and we actually finished the month with a tiny surplus — about $40 or so.  Let’s do our best to stay on track for the rest of the year.

THOUGHTS FROM REV SUSAN………IMHO (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION)

Hugs, Blessings, Shalom, Peace and Amen

OUR CLASSIFIEDS

HELP WANTED – Mental Health Therapist sought by Children’s Advocacy Center of Volusia and Flagler Counties to treat victims of child abuse. Requires Master’s degree in the mental health field and at least one year of clinical counseling experience. Details:  Terri Karol at 386.238.3830.

HELP WANTED — Choices Programs Organization seeks  Targeted Case Managers in the juvenile justice and child dependency fields. Bachelor’s degree in human services, plus at least 2 years experience in child development or education.  Salary: $32,000-$39,000. Send resume to kelly.thomas@choicesprograms.org

RESPITE SERVICES OFFERED – The Council on Aging is offering respite care for caregivers responsible for elderly people in early-stage dementia.  Call the Council at (386) 253-4700, EXT. 204 for more information.

HELP WANTED: Physical and occupational therapists sought by an unidentified agency for home visits, assisted living faciltiies and adult daycare centers. Details: 386-801-7095 or 386-801-2859.

FURNISHED APARTMENT FOR RENT.: 

   Beachside in Daytona Beach. near Seabreeze: 1 BR,l Bth, Completely remodeled.   Above garage,includes(water.cable,electric,gas & pest contr.) Very private. pool, off street park, gated estate. $750/mo Call Jim at 386-290-0423

From Guild President Jim Camp: HELP WANTED:  Business Guild seeks someone to update and keep the  GAYDAYTONA website current. We need a data entry person to make necessary changes, delete old information and add updates. Possible compensation in the range of $100 a month. This is a flat-fee  stipend for service.  Send resume to DBGG, PO Box 263148, Daytona Beach 32116-3148 OR e-mail JACROLLS@AOL.COM

SOME USEFUL LINKS & FRIENDLY PLACES:

OUR CHURCH’s Web site: www.newchurchfamily.org

*OUR CHURCH FACEBOOK PAGES – New Church Family of Daytona Beach, and The Porch of Daytona (youth outreach)

*GLBT AA Group Meetings at the Lambda Center, 320 Harvey Ave., Daytona Beach,  on Fridays at 6pm

DAYTONA  area general gay news: www.gaydaytona.com   Operated by the Daytona Beach Business Guild.) (Back issues of Word Up can be found at this site.)

VOLUSIA PRIDE 2012  – The target date is Nov. 10 in downtown Daytona.  Organizing information, Lisa-Marie Mueller, volusiapride2012@yahoo.com.  A new web site, www.volusiapride.org is now under construction by Kristen Colasanti.

*International Christian Community Churches,  our denomination: www.intlccc.org

*ICCC’s social networking web site: www.internationalchristiancommunity.ning.com

ICCC and its Emmaus Institute also have Facebook pages

Jim Geary’s AIDS ministry — His confidential HIV support group meets Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at New Church Family. Call him at 386-235-6420 or 441-7562 for permission to attend.) –  www.delicatecourage.com

Outreach Community Care Network: Provides HIV and AIDS testing, counseling, support, information and referrals. outreachinc.org or 386-255-5569. Contact person: Joaquin.

OneDaytona – Nonprofit coalition working for GLBT solidarity & Pride. Contact Rev. Susan or Tom for details.

LOVE WELCOMES ALL http://lovewelcomesall.ning.com/ — Interfaith group in the Carolinas.

*Equality Florida for gay-rights updates: www.eqfl.org

*Youth Counseling web site for GLBT coming-out issues, bullying and depression: www.thetrevorproject.org   Their suicide prevention hotline is 866-4-U-TREVOR

SUICIDE Hotline – 1-800-539-4228 (Act Corp. psychiatric stabilization for Volusia County)

GENERAL GAY CHRISTIAN NEWS & VIEWS, including an international gay-affirming church directory, an international e-mail forum, dating service  and non-pornographic chat, hosted by Mary Pearson in Ontario. www.christiangays.com. Most Sundays at 8 p.m., their chat room usually has a pastor-led “Hot Topic” discussion that connects a GLBT issue with the Bible and other Christian teachings.

PFLAG New Smyrna Beach/Volusia meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month (no meetings during June, July and August), 7 PM at United Church of Christ, 203 Washington St, New Smyrna Beach.  We can be found on Facebook, our email address is pflagnewsmyrnabeach@live.com, or contact Kathy at 386.299.0698.

 ”JUST US” for professional women 35+  meeting on a monthly basis @ local restaurants – contact dee1023@yahoo.

President Obama announced today (May 9) that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding opposition amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president.

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts, in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday (May 10). Excerpts of the interview will air tonight on ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer.”

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept.

The announcement completes a turnabout for the president, who has opposed gay marriage throughout his career in national politics. In 1996, as a state Senate candidate, he indicated support for gay marriage in a questionnaire, but Obama aides later disavowed it and said it did not reflect the candidate’s position.

In 2004, as a candidate for the US Senate, he cited his own religion in framing his views: “I’m a Christian. I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.”

He maintained that position through his 2008 presidential campaign, and through his term as president, until today.

As president in 2010, Obama told ABC’s Jake Tapper that his feelings about gay marriage were “constantly evolving. I struggle with this.”

Condensed from the Raleigh News & Observer

North Carolina has become the 31st state to add an amendment on marriage to its constitution, with voters banning same-sex marriage and barring legal recognition of unmarried couples by state and local governments.

North Carolina is the last state in the South to add such an amendment. (Florida did so in the 2008 election), and supporters hoped for a resounding victory. Incomplete returns show the amendment approved by 61 percent and opposed by 39 percent.

In an interview with Oui, the late porn mag, in April 1975, the soon-to-be-late Gore Vidal was asked: “Why do you despise the heterosexual dictatorship?” Because it is a dictatorship, Vidal replied: “To hear two American men congratulating each other on being heterosexual is one of the most chilling experiences—and unique to the United States. You don’t hear two Italians sitting around complimenting each other because they actually like to go to bed with women. The American is hysterical about his manhood.” Why is that, Oui asked. “A lot of it,” Vidal replied, “is bullshit from the old frontier, where the only way you could judge a man was if he could knock somebody down—and of course the heterosexual male’s obsession with cock is far beyond that of any fag.”

It’s fun to see that what was once the domain of porn magazine interviews does on occasion descend to the somewhat lower form of journalism known as the Sunday chat show, as it did on Sunday when the Vidalesquely eponymous Dick Gregory played Oui to Joe Biden, the nation’s occasional vice president who, on Sunday, bared his pair on national television and sent the Obama White House scrambling. Biden, you see, had declared himself “absolutely comfortable” with gay marriage.

Obama is not absolutely comfortable with gay marriage. Obama, supreme hypocrite that he can be on some issues, still thinks Plessy v. Ferguson has validity when it comes to gays: they can have their civil unions, but they can’t marry. The bigotry rests on two untenable assumptions, if the Constitution is of any concern: gays are second class citizens; and government may define marriage from a religious, as opposed to civil, perspective (the entire crock about marriage being “between a man and a woman” takes its legitimacy from religious writings, not law). It’s almost a given that Obama will, or would, in a second term, make a turn for gay marriage, but one of the reasons his second term looks unlikely is precisely because of the kind of spineless stunts he’s been pulling on ay marriage: he’s a president of calculated half-measures, not a president of altar-worthy convictions.

The administration immediately described Biden’s comments as off-the-cuff, though they didn’t at all appear to be off the cuff in the Gregory interview: Gregory set up the subject carefully, narrowed it precisely, and asked Biden directly–as directly as he’d asked him about his certain place on the Obama-Biden ticket for 2012 moments earlier, as certainly as Gregory had asked him to describe what would be wrong with a Mitt Romney economy before that. The administration didn’t scramble to unscramble Biden’s comments when he said the rich need another tax cut “like they need another hole in their head.”

I’m reminded of a different exchange, in December 1952, at the United States Supreme Court, when Paul Wilson, the Kansas assistant attorney general, appeared before the court to defend school segregation in his state. He told the court that separate but equal was the law of the land, unless 21 states and the District of Columbia “have been wrong for 75 years.” That’s the very same argument Islamists and their Christian equivalent brandish today in the face of gay-rights arguments: could the Bible have been wrong for two millenniums, or the Koran wrong for a millennium and a half? The natural-law answer, as opposed to the scriptural cop-out, being a resounding yes, echoed in the Supreme Court’s own answer as it re-interpreted the 14th Amendment in 1952, in a squirm out of the bleak box it had built for itself and the nation under Plessy v. Ferguson. Here’s that exchange:

JUSTICE BURTON: Don’t you recognize it as possible that within 75 years the social and economic conditions and the personal relations of the nation ,ay have changed so that what may have been a valid interpretation of them 75 years ago would not be a valid interpretation of them constitutionally today?

WILSON: We recognize that as a possibility. We do not believe that [the] record discloses any such change.

JUSTICE BURTON: But that might be a difference between saying that these courts of appeal and state supreme courts have been wrong for 75 years?

WILSON: Yes, sir. We concede that this court can overrule the [...] Plessy doctrine, but nevertheless until [it is] overruled [it is] the best guide we have.

At that point Felix Frankfurter, one of the squirliest justices in the court’s history, tried to sound like Solomon and ended up sounding like an Obama in training wheels, slicing hair in four instead of owning up to 75 years of idiocy and moving on (as the Warren decision finally did a year later): “As I understood my brother Burton’s question or as I got the implication of his question, it was not that the court would have to overrule those (separate but equal) cases; the court would simply have to recognize that laws are kinetic, and some new tings have happened, not deeming those decisions wrong, but bringing into play new situations toward a new decision.”

And you thought Bill Clinton, that beefy heterosexual, was being imaginative with his definition of is.

The parallels with the early 1950s were all over that Meet the Press interview on Sunday. Moments before going into the gay marriage business, Gregory had also asked Biden: “What’s more important to this administration? Standing up for freedom in China or maintaining a very delicate relationship with this emerging power?” Biden’s answer: “Standing up for freedom.” That had been FDR’s answer to fascism in the 1940s and Truman’s and Eisenhower’s answer to communism in the 1950s, even as blacks were being terrorized, lynched, murdered, and reminded at every turn that they were second class citizens. Let’s stand up for freedom for 1.3 billion Chinese today, just as long as 30 million gay Americans are still asked to bend over and take legalized discrimination up their Vidalias.

WASHINGTON — During a Sunday morning  (May 6) appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Vice President Joe Biden said he’s “comfortable” with full marriage equality and supports equal rights for same-sex couples — an unequivocal evolution for the Obama administration’s No. 2.

When asked by host David Gregory about his views on the issue, Biden responded, “I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”

Biden declined to speculate on whether President Obama will formally support marriage equality in his second term, should he be reelected.

Though the vice president’s Sunday remarks are his most progressive on the issue, in December 2010 he had also spoke of marriage equality’s growing inevitability in the United States.

“I think there is an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage,” Biden said then in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America. During that appearance, as with Sunday’s Meet the Press interview, he did not indicate an official policy change in the administration.

The full exchange from Sunday morning’s MTP broadcast:

David Gregory: You raise social policy. I’m curious. You know, the president has said that his views on gay marriage, on same-sex marriage have evolved. But he’s opposed to it. You’re opposed to it. Have your views evolved?

Vice President Biden: Look, I just think — the good news is that as more and more Americans become to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition. Who do you love? Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love? And that’s what people are finding out is what all marriages, at their root, are about. Whether they’re marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals.

Is that what you believe now? Are you—

That’s what I believe.

And you’re comfortable with same-sex marriage now?

I— look, I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.

In a second term, will this administration come out behind same-sex marriage, the institution of marriage?

Well, I— I can’t speak to that. I—I don’t know the answer to that. But I can tell you—

It sounds like you’d like to see it happen. If that’s what the president would get—

Well, the president continues to fight, whether it’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell or whether it is making sure, across the board, that you cannot discriminate. Look— look the executive orders he’s put in place. Any hospital that gets federal funding, which is almost all of them, they can’t deny a partner from being able to have access to their partner who’s ill or making the call on whether or not they— you know— it’s just— this is evolving.

And by the way, my measure, David, and I take a look at when things really begin to change, is when the social culture changes. I think Will and Grace probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far. And I think— people fear that which is different. Now they’re beginning to understand….

———-0————–

From SFGate.com (San Francisco Chronicle)

The White House and President Obama’s re-election campaign advisers insisted Monday (May 7)  that there was no difference between Obama’s position on same-sex marriage and Vice President Joe Biden’s, despite Obama’s refusal to endorse legal marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

Biden caused a stir on Sunday when he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that he is “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex couples marrying. On Monday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan also said in a television interview that he supports same-sex marriage.

Obama campaign czar David Axelrod attempted to argue, first on Twitter Sunday and again in a conference call with reporters Monday, that there was nothing new in anything Biden said. Axelrod said Biden and Obama are “precisely” the same on same-sex marriage.

But the official Obama position on same-sex marriage is that he remains opposed, although that position is “evolving.”

“Any reasonable person watching the broadcast would have concluded that the vice president came out for marriage equality,” said Fred Sainz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, a large lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lobbying group. “Unfortunately the campaign chose to walk it back a few steps.”

The issue came up as North Carolina prepares to vote Tuesday (May on Amendment 1, a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The Obama administration came out publicly against the amendment in March.

Gay rights activists urged the White House to stop trying to parse words.

“Vice President Biden could not have made a more clear and powerful statement for marriage equality than he did on Meet the Press, and any attempt to … suggest there is no daylight between the positions of the president and the vice president is difficult for me to see,” said Winnie Stachelberg, a longtime gay rights activist now at the liberal Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday denied any change in Obama’s position, citing the “evolving” comment. At the same time, Carney touted what he called the administration’s “unsurpassed record supporting LGBT rights.”

WORD UP – May 2, 2012

Weekly Newsletter No. 162

New Church Family ICCC, 815-B Beville Road, Daytona Beach

Rev Beau McDaniels Senior Pastor

Rev Susan McDaniels Associate Pastor

www.newchurchfamily.org    Tel. 386-527-5952

We do not keep our traditions for the sake of the past but for their power to create a future.

THIS SUNDAY –  MAY 6 — 10 a.m. – New Church Family Worship & Holy Communion.

Potluck lunch at 11:30 a.m. (Michelle reminds us this weekend is the Cinco de Maio celebration. If you have a talent for Mexican cooking, you might want to try an ethnic dish. But plain “American” fare is fine also.)  Reminder – Benevolence Fund collection.

SCRIPTURE for Sunday…

Acts 8:26–40; Psalm 22:25–31; 1 John 4:7–21; John 15:1–8

SUNDAY SERMON RECAP –

The Good Shepherd from John 10:11-18

This passage draws the contrast between the good and the bad, the faithful and the unfaithful shepherd(s). The shepherd was absolutely responsible for the sheep. If anything happened to a sheep, s/he had to produce some kind of proof that it was not the shepherd’s fault. The law laid it down: “If an animal is torn by beasts, let the shepherd or hireling bring it as evidence” (Exo.22:13). The idea is that the shepherd must bring home proof that the sheep had died, Proof that the shepherd or hireling had been unable to prevent the death. To the shepherd it was a natural thing to risk life and limb in defense of the flock. The true shepherd never hesitated to risk, and even to lay down, his life for his sheep

But, on the other hand, there was the unfaithful shepherd(s). The difference was this: Real shepherds were usually born or called to the task. They were sent out with the flock as soon as they were old enough to go; the sheep became his or her friends and companions; It became second nature for them to think of the sheep before they thought of themselves

A false shepherd came into the job – not as a calling – but as a means of making money. For those shepherds – it was simply and solely for the pay. They might even be a person who had taken to the hills because the town did not want them there. These folks had no sense of the responsibility of the task – after all – they were only a hireling.

In that day, wolves were a major threat to a flock. Jesus said to his disciples that he was sending them out as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt.10:16); Paul warned the elders of Ephesus that grievous wolves would come, not sparing the flock (Ac.20:29). If wolves attacked, most of the hirelings forgot everything in order to save their own lives and ran away.

Jesus’ point is that many folks work only for the rewards or thinks mostly about money, rather than those who work for love of the vocation or calling. Jesus was the good shepherd -who so loved his sheep that for their safety he would risk, and one day give, his life for us – the sheep of his pasture.

Jesus said: “But I have other sheep which are not of this fold. These too I must bring in, and they will hear my voice; and they will become one flock, and there will be one shepherd.” One of the hardest things in the world to unlearn is exclusiveness. Once a people, or a group of people, get the idea that they are specially privileged, it is very difficult for them to accept that the privileges which they believed belonged to them, and to them only, are in fact open to all. Here, Jesus is saying that there will come a day – when all people will be sitting at God’s table together! We may be very surprised at who is sitting next to us and they may be just as surprised that we are sitting next to them!

Jesus’ ultimate objective is the gathering of the whole world into God’s love. There are three great truths in this passage: first, It is only through God’s love and mercy that the world can become one people.

The only thing which can cross the barriers and wipe out the distinctions is our acknowledgment of ONE God that is the same God for all and that sharing God’s love makes us Brothers and Sisters in God’s realm here and in the life to come.

Second, there is, In the King James Version, a mistranslation of the passage that states: “There shall be one fold and one shepherd.” It actual or correct translation in today’s English Language would be: “They shall become one flock and there shall be one shepherd.”

Unity comes from the fact, that not all the sheep are forced into one fold: they all hear, answer and obey; it is not an ecclesiastical unity that God is encouraging us to become; it is a unity of loyalty to God. The fact that there is one flock does not mean that there can be only one Church, one method of worship, one form of ecclesiastical administration. Yet it does mean that all the different churches are united by a common loyalty to God.

Last, but certainly not least, the third point this passage brings us is the knowledge that when Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd,” it was very personal. It was personal to Jesus then, and it is personal to each and every one of us today. Only through the Gifts of the Spirit, which each believer is given, can the work of Christ be done. Other sheep can not be gathered in unless someone goes out and brings them in. Here is set before us the tremendous missionary task of the Church. We must not think of this mission only in terms of what used to be called “Foreign Missions”, we know someone in the here and now who is outside of God’s love. It is our mission as individuals and the Church to help those lost sheep find their way home to God’s flock and our Good Shepherd, Jesus, the Christ . . . . . Amen.

PRAYER  REQUESTS

n  Jerry asks healing for Jack H., about to start dialysis

n  Prayers that Mike C’s grandson is not diagnosed as being blind

n  Travel mercies for Karen and Kamille as they return to Alaska

n  Healing for Terry’s Mom and Aunt, for Sylvia getting a pacemaker

n  Comfort for Aurelia, continuing a struggle with terminal illness

n  Healing for Linda N., having chronic weakness in her legs. For Catherine and her son Mike, for Ellen, unable to work since January, for Pat’s brother-in-law.

n  Healing for an online friend Levi, a young man in Orlando. He is getting ready to start a lifeguard job at Disney but developed pneumonia a few days ago.

n   We all gives thanks for the stewardship of the pastor and past boards. We wouldn’t be able to buy a building if they hadn’t protected and invested  our Building Fund over the past 5 years.                                                                                                                                                               ;

CHURCH & COMMUNITY CALENDAR

MAY 3, 1:30 p.m. FILM: “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Duex ou Trois Choses Que Je Sais D’Elle)”.  Part of the French New Wave film series at Southeast Museum of Photography. Directed by Jean Luc Godard, this 1967 film  is an engrossing meditation on the modern consumer lifestyle. Juliette is a housewife who turns to prostitution so she can buy the newest dresses. Free.

MAY 4, dusk  — Cinematique under the Stars: “Water for Elephants” shown in Riverfront Park, downtown Daytona Beach. Free. Bring blanket or lawn chair. Free

May 4, 1:30 p.m. — Screening of “Little Sparrows,” an Australian film.  We meet three sisters. Nina is widowed with two young children. Anna is an aspiring actress unhappily married to a filmmaker. Christine is a med student who has yet to fully come to terms with her sexuality. When their mother Susan’s breast cancer returns, the family is faced with the reality of their last Christmas together. Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona State College. Free.

MAY 7, MON., 9-5 – WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON LGBT AGING, hosted by the University of Miami Center on Aging,  U-Miami Research Bldg, 14^th St. NW, Miami.  Features speakers from Health & Human Services and HUD., plus workshops and a panel discussion.

MAY 7, MON., 6:30 p.m. – NCF Board of Directors monthly meeting (postponed from April 30)

MAY 8 5:30 p.m. – HIV SUPPORT GROUP meets at New Church Family.

MAY 9,  WED, 7:30 pm.  – SPIRITUAL MATTERS FILM SERIES: “The Scent Of Green Papaya,” a Vietnamese film about 10-year-old Mui, a girl who’s trained to be a house servant in 1950’s Vietnam. As Mui grows up in pre-war Saigon, she finds quiet love with a family friend and discovers the world around her. She marvels at every new sight, sound and scent she experiences while going about her workday life. Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona State College, free.

 MAY  10  6-9.   — POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS TRAINING 

Veteran’s CEU Event from NASW-UCF

NASW-FL Volusia/Flagler Unit presents: Evidence-Based Practices for Returning PTSD Diagnosed Veterans: Social Work Research Implications

Presenters:
Michael S. Bermes, MSW, CAP, ICADC
Meghan Budvarson, MSW
LaTasha Douglas, BSW Candidate
Christine A. Rysdek, BSW Candidate

Thursday, 5/10/12 @ 6:00p.m.- 9:00p.m.- 3 CE Event @ UCF Daytona Beach Campus! Building 150 in the Auditorium, 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach.

Registration is $10 for NASW members (bring membership card), $30 for non-members. Students are free with a VALID student ID.

To register, please contact NASW-FL at 1-800-352-6279

**Please register ahead, even students, to assist us in providing appropriate space for event.

MAY  10, 11 a.m.-noon.  – DISABILITIES WORKSHOP on summer safety.  Presented by disAbility Solutions at 119 S. Palmetto, Daytona Beach.  RSVP to 386-255-1812 or email info@dsil.org

MAY 10-12 – FLAGLER COLLEGE LECTURES ON SPANISH COLONIAL HISTORY – These free lectures, by leading historians, kick off the La Florida year-long celebration of the  500^th anniversary of the Spanish arrival in Florida. For program details, check out www.culturallylaflorida.org. On Sunday morning, May 13, to wrap things up, there will be a Mass and choral concert at Nombre de Dios Mission.  If you like St. Augustine and history, this is an excellent time for a day trip to the Ancient City. (Also, it coincides with St. Augustine Pride on May 12).

MAY 12, SAT., 8 p.m.  – DISCO SKATE Fundraiser to benefit Volusia Pride,  Skate City, Nova Road, Port Orange.  Includes a costume contest and raffle. Admission $10.

MAY 12, SAT. noon-6 p.m. ST. AUGUSTINE PRIDE FESTIVAL,  Francis Field, 29 W. Castillo Drive, St. Augustine. Live entertainment, food, vendors, etc. Details: www.ancientcitypride.org.  Free.

MAY 15, Tues., 5:30-7 p.m.  – CLASS FOR MENTORS OF FOSTER TEENS – Community Partnership for Children seeks adult volunteers to be mentors for teenage kids in foster care (similar to Big Brother, Big Sister programs). 3 levels of commitment are offered  – occasional special events; once a week meetings for at least 12 weeks, or open-ended mentoring for an indefinite period. Requires background check. CPC office, 160 N. Beach Street, Daytona Beach To register, please contact Susan Hiltz at (386) 547-2293 or via email at Susan.Hiltz@cbcvf.org.

MAY 16, Wed., 5:30 p.m.  – The Flagler County chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State will host national Religious Outreach Director Rev. Steve Baines. The meeting aims to help people understand Florida’s proposed Amendment 8, which would allow state funds, including school vouchers, to be used at religious facilities. Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy. N.W. Palm Coast.   Details –  386-446-6061. Free.

-

LOOKING AHEAD…

May 22, Tues., 2 p.m.  – Veterans Benefits Workshop – Volusia County Veterans’ Services Senior Counselor Jeff Bumb will discuss veterans’ benefits and services, such as medical services, pensions, home loans and survivor benefits. Lankford Funeral Home director Cheryl Lankford will explain burial and memorial benefits for veterans, including reimbursements and no-cost and national cemetery burials. The event takes place at The Cloisters, Howry Ave., DeLand. RSVP by May 18 to (386) 822-6900 or e-mail info@thecloisters.com. Free.

MAY 27, noon-6 p.m.  – SPACE COAST PRIDE – Wickham Pavilion, 3701 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, Fl.  Entertainment, food, kids’ zone.  (At the rear of Brevard Community College and the Maxwell King Center) Sponsored by the Living Room of Brevard Inc.

MAY 29-JUNE 4 – GAY DAYS at Disney . Details: www.gaydays.com. The host hotel is the Doubletree Inn near Sea World.

JUNE 7-8 – TRAINING CONFERENCE ON YOUTH SUICIDE — Sponsored by Daytona State College, to be held at News-Journal Center.  Presentations will  include sessions on LGBT youth and  veterans’ stress, plus a panel discussion by youth who have experienced suicidal feelings.  The conference is free, and open to social workers, faith groups,  police and others.  Among the presentations  are: “LGBT Suicide Prevention” by Katy Lacefield, a UCF grad student;  “Bullying and Suicide Prevention” by Mitch Pietras, a Daytona State counselor; “How to set up a Care Ministry for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare” by Allison Bonilla, Awareness Counseling Center, Orange City; and “Counseling Evangelicals: Bridging the Gap,” by Russell Holloway, Salty Ministries. The Thursday morning keynote address “Active Minds,” will be given by Rutgers student Bryan Adams.  Hailing from a small New Jersey town, Bryan Adams set his sights on the United States Army after high school. He served a year-long deployment as a sniper in Tikrit, Iraq.  In 2004, he was shot in the left leg and left hand during an ambush and was awarded a Purple Heart.  Bryan was 21 when he returned from the war. He struggled to reintegrate back into society and was eventually diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.  Currently, Bryan is a senior at Rutgers  studying business. Bryan’s story sheds light on what it’s like to be a veteran and a college student. His story leaves audiences captivated and hopeful.

BOARD UPDATE – A brief Congregational Meeting held before service on April 29 ratified our pending purchase of the Builders Association headquarters at 3520 W. ISB Blvd, Daytona Beach. Approximately 13 members cast votes in favor, and at least 5 absentees sent word to record their votes supporting the purchase.  Tom and Bill joined realtor Sue Turnbull on Monday to meet with attorney Kirk Bauer, and later with Rob Walsh, Palmer Panton and Scott Ashley of the Volusia County Planning Dept. Paperwork was started on our request for a zoning amendment. The proposed amendment actually will be filed in the name of the Builders group (at their request) and we’re trying to get it heard at the June meeting of the Planning and Land Use Review Commission.  Our attorney will be on hand for the commission hearing to field questions from the panel. Meanwhile, a building inspector and a termite inspector are schedule to visit the building 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, May 7. If you’d like a briefing on their findings, be at the building in the 1:30-2 p.m.  time period. A written report will be submitted later.

WHAT’s IN A NAME?  — Bill has suggested this may be a good time to consider changing our church’s  name as we get ready to move into a new building and alter its entrance sign.  Mike and Rev. Susan also are interested in this idea. What do you think? Speak to a board member about it.

VIVA OUR VOLUNTEERS — Thank you to board members and others who are helping us to research all details of our pending property purchase. CHURCH SUPPLIES UPDATE — Our photocopy paper supply is running low. If you spot a good sale, we could use a pack or two.

THOUGHTS FROM REV SUSAN………IMHO (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION)

Have you ever been to a place or an event where people shared stories about their lives? I have been fortunate to have been at  more than a few. Themes of thankfulness were the topic. My eyes filled with tears several times as men and women shared gratefulness to those who had deeply influenced their lives

When I left each event, my mind was drawn to a thought: “Whose life has most deeply influenced me? Who are the people who have changed the course of my life in positive directions?” I briefly thought over who would make my list of the top people.

I thought first of my spouse, rev Beau, who has also been my pastor for most of our last 16 years. Her love for the Bible has often brought truths to me that have changed me. So many times we sat with coffee and Bibles in hand and searched the riches of God together. She has been my cheerleader in my pursuits to take on new challenges and has consistently believed in me.

My mind then jumped to an image of a grade school teacher who I loved so much for her beautiful smile. Thanks, Mrs. Sinclair. You touched my heart with your warmth and love and your encouragement as I was a really fat child and suffered much ridicule at the hands of my classmates. She would hug me and tell me that God loved me for exactly who I was, and that as I got taller I would surely get thinner.  That might not have been the whole truth, but it helped me through 6^th grade.

Ah, and then there was the Rabbi who influenced me in my early teens, Rabbi Plaut,  who led me to search the scriptures, meditate on them, and memorize them as if my life depended upon it, and many times it has. These were the years before my bat mitzvah…In the last 16 years,  I’ve drawn from the riches of those spiritual disciplines over and over and over.

Mary Ellen Racel touched me deeply on my journey to know that my life was no accident and that the plans God had for me were from the foundation of the world and all I had to do was the “right thing” and all would be well in my life.

Like searching a database, I scanned my thoughts for other top positive influencers.

My Uncle Morris passed through my thoughts. Although he is no longer a living part, he was always an affirming voice in my life.

I thought of my kids and how raising them has changed me.

I find I am blessed. God has crossed my path with positive influencers.

I also am aware that I have had a role of influence in many lives. From teaching to leading to ministering to the day to day walking out life with my church family and friends, I am so grateful that I have touched lives. 

What about you today? Whose influence has molded and shaped your life? Whose life are you molding and shaping? God is asking,

Hugs, Blessings, Shalom, Peace and Amen

OUR CLASSIFIEDS

FURNISHED APARTMENT FOR RENT.: 

   Beachside in Daytona Beach. near Seabreeze: 1 BR,l Bth, Completely remodeled.   Above garage,includes(water.cable,electric,gas & pest contr.) Very private. pool, off street park, gated estate. $750/mo Call Jim at 386-290-0423

From Guild President Jim Camp: HELP WANTED:  Business Guild seeks someone to update and keep the  GAYDAYTONA website current. We need a data entry person to make necessary changes, delete old information and add updates. Possible compensation in the range of $100 a month. This is a flat-fee  stipend for service.  Send resume to DBGG, PO Box 263148, Daytona Beach 32116-3148 OR e-mail JACROLLS@AOL.COM

HELP WANTED: Neighborhood Center of West Volusia seeks part-time caseworker manager to handle  new cases. Must have at least AA degree, experience in social services, computer skills in Word and Excel, plus organization skills. Must live in West Volusia.  E-mail resume to ncceo@bellsouth.net or fax to 386-822-9005.

HELP WANTED:  Mid-Florida Children’s Service , a Brooksville agency which contracts with school systems, seeks a disabilities services specialist.  Job location not specified. Details: Sherry Meikrantz at 352-796-1485 x 214.

HELP WANTED: Executive assistant to CEO of Children’s Advocacy Center. BA preferred and/or experience in communications, public relations, business or marketing or related field. E-mail resume to tkarol@childrensadvocacy.org no later than May 4.

HELP WANTED—Head Start in DeLand seeks “male involvement coordinator,” encouraging fathers and boyfriends to take a greater interest in their pre-school kids’ education.  Pay; $27,000 a year. Requires AA degree and 3 years experience in children’s programs. Contact Sherry Meikrantz at 352-796-1485 x214.

HELP WANTED: Lead Parent Educator needed by Healthy Start, a home-visiting program to prevent child abuse. Requirements: BA, Master’s preferred in human services or social services field. At least 1 year of experience working with families and 1 year of supervisory experience. Salary & Benefits: $24,000 to start. E-mail resume to clarissa.tate@healthystartfv.org.

HELP WANTED: Early parenting supervisor sought by House Next Door, DeLand.  BA required with 5 years supervisory experience working in community-based programs.  Excellent communication, computer and writing skills, flexible, able to multi-task.  Bi-lingual a plus. Mail resume to: The House Next Door, Attn:  Personnel, 804 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL  32720, Email:  dbraun@thehnd.com, FAX:  386-734-0252

SOME USEFUL LINKS & FRIENDLY PLACES:

OUR CHURCH’s Web site: www.newchurchfamily.org

*OUR CHURCH FACEBOOK PAGES – New Church Family of Daytona Beach, and The Porch of Daytona (youth outreach)

*GLBT AA Group Meetings at the Lambda Center, 320 Harvey Ave., Daytona Beach,  on Fridays at 6pm

DAYTONA  area general gay news: www.gaydaytona.com   Operated by the Daytona Beach Business Guild.) (Back issues of Word Up can be found at this site.)

VOLUSIA PRIDE 2012  – The target date is Nov. 10 in downtown Daytona.  Organizing information, Lisa-Marie Mueller, volusiapride2012@yahoo.com.  A new web site, www.volusiapride.org is now under construction by Kristen Colasanti.

*International Christian Community Churches,  our denomination: www.intlccc.org

*ICCC’s social networking web site: www.internationalchristiancommunity.ning.com

ICCC and its Emmaus Institute also have Facebook pages

Jim Geary’s AIDS ministry — His confidential HIV support group meets Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at New Church Family. Call him at 386-235-6420 or 441-7562 for permission to attend.) –  www.delicatecourage.com

Outreach Community Care Network: Provides HIV and AIDS testing, counseling, support, information and referrals. outreachinc.org or 386-255-5569. Contact person: Joaquin.

OneDaytona – Nonprofit coalition working for GLBT solidarity & Pride. Contact Rev. Susan or Tom for details.

LOVE WELCOMES ALL http://lovewelcomesall.ning.com/ — Interfaith group in the Carolinas.

*Equality Florida for gay-rights updates: www.eqfl.org

*Youth Counseling web site for GLBT coming-out issues, bullying and depression: www.thetrevorproject.org   Their suicide prevention hotline is 866-4-U-TREVOR

SUICIDE Hotline – 1-800-539-4228 (Act Corp. psychiatric stabilization for Volusia County)

GENERAL GAY CHRISTIAN NEWS & VIEWS, including an international gay-affirming church directory, an international e-mail forum, dating service  and non-pornographic chat, hosted by Mary Pearson in Ontario. www.christiangays.com. Most Sundays at 8 p.m., their chat room usually has a pastor-led “Hot Topic” discussion that connects a GLBT issue with the Bible and other Christian teachings.

PFLAG New Smyrna Beach/Volusia meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month (no meetings during June, July and August), 7 PM at United Church of Christ, 203 Washington St, New Smyrna Beach.  We can be found on Facebook, our email address is pflagnewsmyrnabeach@live.com, or contact Kathy at 386.299.0698.

OWLS — Lesbian group of women over 50:   owls-group-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

 ”JUST US” for professional women 35+  meeting on a monthly basis @ local restaurants – contact dee1023@yahoo.

]]> http://www.gaydaytona.com/?feed=rss2&p=1298 0 http://www.gaydaytona.com/?p=1291 http://www.gaydaytona.com/?p=1291#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 11:28:05 +0000 Tom http://www.gaydaytona.com/?p=1291 ...Read the Rest]]> Editor’s Note: We reported earlier about the local ordinance recently adopted in St. Petersburg, Russia, which outlaws “gay propaganda,” supposedly to protect children. This report comes from ComingOutSPB.ru in St. Petersburg.

Seventeen LGBT activists of St. Petersburg (Russia) were arrested for carrying rainbow flags as part of the May 1^st civil rights and freedom march on Nevsky prospect, the city’s main avenue.

This year’s May 1^st march was a peaceful demonstration, permitted by the city administration. LGBT activists were marching as part of a larger “democratic” column, consisting of various democratic and civil society groups of St. Petersburg.  Five minutes into the march, police requested removal of rainbow flags. When activists refused, they were forcefully detained and are now facing charges of “propaganda of homosexuality” and non-compliance with the police. One activist was detained for holding a sign stating “homophobia is illegal.”

Seventeen activists are still being held by the police. Among those detained are Igor Kochetkov, chairman of the Russian LGBT Network, Mikhail Belodedov of Coming Out, Sergey Kondrashov, lawyer and straight ally, and Elena Popova, director of St. Petersburg organization “Soldier’s mothers,” defending rights of draftees.

Reminder:

On March 30 , a “homosexual propaganda” law went into effect in St. Petersburg, imposing administrative fines on the so-called “propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism, and pedophilia” to minors. On April 7^th activists were arrested for holding signs  reading “no to silencing of hate crimes against gays and lesbians” and “our family friend is a lesbian, her family is socially equal to ours” and charged with propaganda and non-compliance with police. One activist was found guilty of non-compliance, but the propaganda charge was ignored by the court. As of today, there have been no convictions by the court under this law in St. Petersburg.

When asked, Russian authorities stated numerous times that the “propaganda law” was intended only to protect minors and not for limiting LGBT human rights activity.

UPDATE (May 11) —

An Internet pen pal who lives in St. Petersburg sent us this news item:

“A St. Petersburg court handed down the city’s first conviction under its notorious anti-gay law by fining a gay activist for the “promotion of sodomy to minors” last Friday. The ruling attracted criticism from both international and Russian human rights organizations.

“Magistrate judge Maya Yakovleva ordered Moscow LGBT rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev to pay a 5,000-ruble ($165) fine for holding a poster with the words “Homosexuality is not a perversion; field hockey and ballet on ice are” during a one-man demo near City Hall on April 12.

“The phrase is an abridged quote from famed Soviet actress Faina Ranevskaya (1896-1984) taken from the book “Faina Ranevskaya. Stories. Jokes. Aphorisms,” published in Moscow and available in libraries and bookstores across Russia.

WASHINGTON — Ten months into his term as Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney was abruptly confronted with an emotionally charged issue: The state’s highest court ruled that gays had the legal right to marry, thrusting the state into the forefront of the same-sex marriage debate.

Romney, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, faced one of the biggest challenges of his four years in office. His response would alienate constituencies on both sides and contribute to criticisms that he shifted positions for political gain, a charge renewed in his two bids for the White House. At minimum, Romney’s handling of the gay marriage ruling — laid out in interviews with key players and state documents — provides a window into his decision-making style and political tactics.

Romney had vowed while running in Massachusetts to defend and expand the rights of gays and lesbians, although he opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions. When the court ruled, he initially promised to follow its decision, while also seeking a state constitutional amendment to overturn it.

But soon he devoted his attention to trying to block the ruling. Among his moves: resurrecting a 90-year-old state law, aimed in part at preventing interracial marriage, to keep same-sex couples from flocking to Massachusetts for weddings.

The battle served to boost his national profile and conservative credentials in the years leading to his first presidential run in 2008.

To supporters, he emerged as a steadfast defender of traditional marriage. But critics and some onetime allies believe that Romney’s national ambitions — and a resulting need to tack to the right — eventually drove the way he dealt with Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health.

“He needed issues that would help him pivot,” said Rich Tafel, who founded the national gay rights group Log Cabin Republicans and advised Romney how to secure the state chapter’s endorsement in his unsuccessful 1994 Senate bid.

Tafel watched with dismay as Romney used his opposition to the Goodridge ruling to appeal to conservative groups around the country. “I think he truly does oppose gay marriage, but the speed with which he jumped on and rode that issue struck me as political,” he said.

Aides to Romney reject that judgment, saying that as governor he was motivated solely by his belief that marriage should remain between a man and a woman, and that the court was overstepping its bounds.

“His position remained constant from the very day that the decision was issued,” said senior advisor Peter Flaherty, who was Romney’s deputy chief of staff and helped craft the administration’s response. “To say that it had to do with anything other than his performing his duties as governor of Massachusetts in compliance with the law and consistent with his executive role is baseless.”

When it comes to gay marriage, Flaherty added, “I have never seen a change in tone, a change in approach, a change in purpose.”

Romney sought office twice in Massachusetts — challenging Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1994 and running for governor in 2002. Both times, he paired his opposition to gay marriage and civil unions with strong support for other gay rights. During the race against Kennedy, he told the Log Cabin Republicans that he would “provide more effective leadership than my opponent.” He promised to co-sponsor a federal nondiscrimination act and support efforts to allow gays and lesbians to serve “openly and honestly” in the military.

“If we are to achieve the goals we share, we must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern,” he wrote in an October 1994 letter. “My opponent cannot do this. I can and will.”

In his 2002 campaign for governor, Romney declined to back a proposed state constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage because, he said, it would also have outlawed domestic partnership benefits. At one point, after his Democratic opponent said she would sign a bill legalizing gay marriage, Romney promised to make domestic partner benefits a “hallmark of my leadership as governor,” the Boston Globe reported at the time.

Then came the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling in November 2003 that same-sex couples had a constitutional right to marry. In its 4-3 decision, the court gave the Legislature 180 days “to take such action as it may deem appropriate.”

Opponents of same-sex marriage — citing a quirk in the state’s colonial-era Constitution that gave the governor authority over matters related to marriage — argued that the court’s decision was not binding and urged Romney to ignore it.

But Romney did not want to trigger a constitutional crisis — seeking, his advisor Flaherty said, to be “respectful of the law and respectful of people at the same time.” Initially, he struck a balanced tone with his two-track move to find a legislative solution that would satisfy the court while corralling support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

“We certainly have to follow the law, and the Supreme Court has laid down what we must do,” he said on NBC’s“Today” show the day after the ruling. “But in my view, the right action is to follow two courses at the same time.”

But the governor quickly dropped all talk about complying with the ruling. Behind the scenes, Romney advisors worked to come up with ways to head it off, according to those involved. They consulted conservative constitutional experts such as historian Matthew Spalding, who works closely with former Reagan Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III at the Heritage Foundation.

It was soon clear that Romney could not push a gay marriage ban through the state’s liberal-leaning Legislature. So he helped persuade Republicans to support a compromise amendment that barred same-sex marriage but legalized civil unions.

It was a purely tactical move: The Supreme Judicial Court had already said that civil unions would not satisfy its ruling. But the Romney administration hoped to use the amendment — which required additional approval by the Legislature in 2005 and voters in 2006 — to persuade the court to postpone the start of gay marriages.

The maneuver failed when then-Atty. Gen. Thomas Reilly, a Democrat, declined to ask the court for a stay. Romney ultimately abandoned his support for the compromise measure, calling it “muddied,” and endorsed a separate citizens’ petition for an amendment to ban gay marriage. Still, some conservative activists criticized Romney for opening the door to civil unions.

“He was everywhere on this issue,” said C.J. Doyle, executive director of Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, a group that worked to pass the marriage ban.

As the court’s deadline neared, Romney tried another tactic: he seized upon a 1913 law that barred out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if the marriage would not be recognized in their home state.

The measure was originally drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws — a state-backed group of judges, lawyers and scholars who write model legislation — amid national anxiety about interracial marriage, then illegal in about half the country. The African American heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson had recently made headlines by marrying a white socialite from Brooklyn. Soon afterward, a federal amendment to ban miscegenation was introduced in Congress.

That same year, Massachusetts — which had legalized interracial marriage in 1843 — passed the conference’s Uniform Marriage Evasion Act, a law crafted in part to keep people from skirting their home state bans on interracial marriage, said Joanna Grossman, a professor at Hofstra Law School who studies marriage regulations.

In 2003, the statute was still on the books, but had been largely forgotten until it was mentioned in a footnote in the Goodridge decision. Romney aides said there was little debate internally about the merits of using it to blunt the ruling’s effects.

“We didn’t think we were stretching the bounds of legal reasoning to apply it in this case — it was stated in the very decision that legalized gay marriage,” Flaherty said.

In late April 2004, less than a month before gay marriages were set to begin, Romney announced that the state would begin checking the residency of all couples seeking marriage licenses.

“Massachusetts should not become the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage,” he told the New York Times, a line he has repeated frequently on the campaign trail this year as he touts his efforts to stop gay marriage. “We do not intend to export our marriage confusion to the entire nation.”

The administration sent town clerks a thick document detailing the marriage laws in 55 states and territories. Romney warned that those who accepted marriage applications that violated other states’ laws would be subject to “appropriate enforcement action,” which under Massachusetts law could include fines or jail time. (Some town clerks defied Romney, but none were punished.)

David J. Rushford, the Worcester town clerk, continued to grant licenses to out-of-state couples. He said Romney used “the power of an executive office to twist the spirit of the law and to intimidate those people whose job it is to carry out the law.”

Four years later, Romney’s Democratic successor, Gov. Deval Patrick, signed a bill repealing the 1913 statute, which he called discriminatory.

Allies believe Romney’s ultimately unsuccessful efforts to stop gay marriages in Massachusetts were driven in part by a personal conviction shaped by his faith as a devout Mormon.

“It’s not just a political issue — he stands for something he believes in, his wife believes in,” said Kris Mineau, head of the conservative Massachusetts Family Institute, a group that worked closely with Romney on the citizens’ amendment to ban gay marriage. (The measure failed in the Legislature after Romney left office.)

But the issue also gave Romney a national perch. For the first time, he began calling for a federal marriage amendment and testified before the Senate about the need to “protect our societal definition of marriage.” His staff started conferring regularly with advisors in the White House and Romney became one ofPresident George W. Bush‘s main surrogates against his 2004 Democratic opponent, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.

A year later, as he prepared for his first White House bid, Romney touted his opposition to gay marriage when he addressed conservative audiences.

“From Day One, I’ve opposed the move for same-sex marriage and its equivalent, civil unions,” he told South Carolina Republicans in 2005. Calling the ruling “a blow against the family,” he said that some gay couples “are actually having children born to them.”

Romney backed up his rhetoric with money, donating $10,000 from his political action committee to a 2006 campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage in South Carolina. The same year, he directed tens of thousands of dollars from his personal family foundation to several conservative groups, including $10,000 to the Massachusetts Family Institute. Mineau said the funds helped defray the $500,000 the group spent on its petition drive for the constitutional amendment.

Romney did not return to his campaign promises of expanding protections for gays and lesbians.

“He didn’t care about his constituents and their rights,” said Julie Goodridge, one of the lead plaintiffs in the original court case, who sued after her partner was barred from her hospital room while she underwent emergency surgery. “He cared about his future as a presidential candidate.”

It’s a kick-off event as Pride organizers attempt to raise at least $1,000 in start-up funds to pay for permits, insurance, security patrols, toilet rentals and various other festival expenses. Organizers plan to hold the event in downtown Daytona’s Riverfront Park on Nov. 10.

Whether you skate or not, people are invited to come in costume  to the fundraiser  and get in the roller-derby spirit.  The event will include  a prize for best costume, and a raffle, according to Lisa-Marie Mueller, Pride chairperson.So far, about 60 people have signed up to participate.

The fundraiser will be held at Skate City on Nova Road in South Daytona. Admission is $10. Proceeds will be split between the rink and the Pride committee.

The committee also is recruiting sponsors for the festival. Sponsorship fees range from $50 for a “Jellyfish” sponsorship and $75 to be a “Flamingo” to $500 to become a Festival Partner.

People who plan to be vendors at the festival can help out by booking their exhibit spots early. Non-profit vendors will be charged $25 for each 10-by-10 space while for-profit vendors will be charged $50 per space.

More information is available by e-mailing volusiapride2012@yahoo.com.

– Submitted by Tom Brown

The annual Camp Pride Summer Leadership Program for LGBT and ally student leaders is quickly approaching! We’re extending the early-bird registration from May 1 to May 30! Get on board today for this one-of-a-kind social justice leadership development program! The training program runs July 17-22, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Leaders of the camp will include:

– YouTube Sensation and Iowa activist Zach Wahls, keynote speaker

– NBC Fashion Star Kara Laricks

– Nationally- acclaimed trans, spoken-word icon Kit Yan, our official Artist-in-Residence

– National Center for Transgender Equality’s Mara Keisling

– Kristin Russo of EveryoneIsGay.com

What young people are saying about the camp:
“Campus Pride provides a safe, open space for new student leaders and for more experienced leaders alike. It is an extraordinary way to learn the basics of campus organizing as well as new strategies to create change.”
–21 year-old, gay male
“Campus Pride rocks! When I first searched the website, I was amazed that everything I needed as a LGBT student leader was there. I go back often to find what’s new and improved…”
–18 year-old, bisexual female
“I no longer feel alone. Campus Pride helped me meet others who share the same issues, challenges and frustrations as a leader. I feel more empowered, now than ever.”
–19 year-old, bisexual female
“I have been to almost a dozen LGBT conferences and events over the years. Never did I feel more welcome and included as a trans-identified, gender queer person than in the dialogue shared and tools provided during this program. Thank you.”
–22 year-old, M toF transgender

Early-bird registration runs through May 30, 2012 ($815 before May 30; $945 afterward)! The first-priority deadline for scholarship applications has already passed, but applications are still being accepted. Don’ t wait! Register or apply for scholarships today, and spread the word! Forward this email on to your friends and peers at your school or alma mater or those involved with your campus’ LGBTQA student organization. Or, take a moment to talk to your peers on campus about your past Camp Pride experiences and encourage them to register for Camp today at www.campuspride. org/camppride/ !
For more information on Camp Pride visit:   www.CampusPride.org/CampPride/

P.S. CAMP PRIDE FEATURED ON LOGO TV!
Camp Pride will be featured in the world television premiere of the new documentary, “Legalize Gay: The Civil Rights Movement of a Generation,” on May 5, 2012, 8 p.m.
Learn more about the movie and see a trailer at:
www.legalizegaymovie.com

When she encounters citizens who don’t understand why communities need domestic partner registries, Orlando city commissioner Patty Sheehan tells the story of her friend Henry, who hated the idea of a his body being buried in the ground. Henry expressed to his partner his desire to be cremated, but his communication about his wishes stopped there. When Henry died, his partner did not have any legal rights to end-of-life decisions, so Henry was buried. In addition to mourning the loss of his love, Henry’s partner also had to attend a funeral that he knew, intimately, was against Henry’s wishes. It made an already gut-wrenching situation even more difficult.

Burial decisions are just one of the rights automatically granted to heterosexual married partners. While same-sex marriage remains illegal in the state of Florida, a growing number of gay couples now have access to domestic partner registries. Through registration, same-sex couples become entitled to a subset of the rights granted by heterosexual marriage. In Orlando, registered couples receive the following protections: hospital visitation, rights to health care decisions, correctional facility visitation, rights to funeral/burial decisions, guardianship and the right for both domestic partners to participate in the education of their children. That is the standard set of protections provided by most domestic partner registries that currently exist in the state of Florida.

Attorney Mary Meeks, Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance (OACO) committee member, said the registries she’s been fighting for provide the most crucial rights and benefits that are legally available at the local level.

“We believe it significantly improves he quality of people’s lives to be able to be involved in the most important life and death decisions in your partner’s and children’s’ lives, even though you have no legal connection to your family,” Meeks says.

Some who have opposed registries have said they’re redundant, which Meeks says is a myth.

“A lot of people still seem to think that through legal documents, we can create the equivalent of those rights [provided by domestic partner registries] and that’s simply a very dangerous misconception that is not true,” she says. “In your own family, you shouldn’t have to hire a lawyer and spend thousands of dollars to create a stack of legal documents that may not be correct. You’d have to carry with you in every moment in your life and which can be disregarded.”

Surge from the South
Florida’s first domestic partner registry was established in Key West in 1998. Over the next few years, several South Florida cities and counties followed suit, including Broward County, Miami Beach, Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach and all of Monroe County. The domestic partner registry trend didn’t kick off in Central Florida until December 2011, when the Orlando City Council approved a registry. Since then, registries have spread like wildfire across the region, with full approval in Tampa and pending registry ordinances in Clearwater, Gulfport, St. Petersburg and Volusia County.

“The bigger message is that community leaders, elected officials and commissions, are stepping up to do this and see a trend in Florida,” said Joe Saunders, Equality Florida Field Director. “This is the right thing to do and this is the smart thing to do.”

Sheehan said she’s “very proud” to see an ordinance she fought for catching on in other communities.

“I think what happens is when you do something like a domestic partner registry and there’s all the positive publicity and support from community, it’s easier for other communities to hop on board,” she said.

Gay rights = political powerhouse
For perhaps the first time in history, there is evidence of real political clout to be gained by supporting gay rights issues…and consequences.

Sheehan pointed out that all three Orlando commissioners who voted against proposed non-discrimination ordinances in 2002—Mayor Glenda Hood, Commissioner Vicki Vargo and Commissioner Don Ammerman—did not get re-elected.

Beyond personal politics, advocates argue that domestic partner registries don’t just benefit the registered couple—they benefit communities at large.

“Every time we do something for equality, it makes the city look good,” said St. Petersburg City Councilman Steve Kornell. ““It says, ‘Come here, your employees will be welcome.’”

Tampa City Councilwoman Yvonne “Yolie” Capin said the registry “reinforces our diversity,” and Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern said the fact that the registry has not been controversial is proof that the community realizes “it’s the right thing to do.”

Saunders added that the benefits extend beyond a community’s reputation, as domestic partner registries can translate into real dollars.

“It’s an advantage for economic development,” he said. “These registries give [corporations] more incentive and a competitive advantage to move in. Those that don’t create registries will fall behind.”

Finally, some recognition!
While LGBT advocates mainly cite the business side of domestic partner registries, outlining why the benefits themselves are important, it’s clear that there’s a deeper, symbolic motivation in the fight for the right to be registered with a same sex partner. On the first day the City of Orlando registered domestic partners, the atmosphere was decidedly matrimonial, with a wedding cake in the lobby, hired photographers, modest flower bouquets and a live harpist commissioned for the occasion. Those symbols hinted that for many couples, the registry is a way to declare an emotional, romantic commitment in a state where same-sex marriage remains illegal.

“Symbolically, it’s hugely important because for first time in Florida, it recognizes domestic partner families as families,” Meeks said. “That’s a hugely important thing that has never happened for [gay couples] before.”

A domestic partner registry is subjacent to marriage and it does not represent equality. However, while same-sex couples are legally barred from obtaining marriage certificates, a laminated domestic partner registry card may be the best way for gay couples to declare that they are committed, devoted and in love.

Dec. 12, 2011 Orlando City Commission unanimously approves domestic partnership registry.

Feb. 21, 2012 Mayor Jacobs presents domestic partnership registry plan to Orange County commissioners, who do not hold a formal vote but decide to move forward.

April 5, 2012 Tampa City Council approves domestic partnership registry in final vote. On the same day, St. Petersburg City Councilman Steve Kornell introduces a domestic partnership registry to council.

April 16, 2012 Clearwater City Council requests domestic partnership registry ordinance.

April 19, 2012 Gulfport City Council considers domestic partner registry, requests ordinance from staff. Volusia Council decides to move forward on domestic partner registry.

WORD UP – April 25, 2012

Weekly Newsletter No. 161

New Church Family ICCC, 815-B Beville Road, Daytona Beach

Rev Beau McDaniels Senior Pastor

Rev Susan McDaniels Associate Pastor

www.newchurchfamily.org    Tel. 386-527-5952

THIS SUNDAY – APRIL 29 – 10 a.m. Worship & Holy Communion, 11:30 a.m. Special Congregational Meeting, formal recorded vote on authorizing the Board to complete a building purchase. 

   (NOTE: At last Sunday’s forum, 19 people indicated support of the purchase. Two absentees sent word they were opposed.  Another absentee notified the board she was changing her vote from no to yes.  We urge church members who have not yet seen the property at 3250 W. International Speedway Blvd. to  tour the building Wednesday April 25 at 10 a.m. If you cannot attend Sunday’s Congregational Meeting, please notify Rev. Beau or Betty, our clerk, beforehand if you wish to have a vote recorded.)

Scripture for Sunday –

Acts 4:5–12, Psalm 23, 1 John 3:16–24, John 10:11–18

SUNDAY SERMON RECAP – April 22 – TOUCH ME – The tomb was empty, but the disciples still were frightened and confused, huddling behind locked doors in the Upper Room in Jerusalem.  Who knew when Roman soldiers would round them up for arrest? But then Jesus appears to most of  them and gives them courage. And a few days later, he reappears, speaking personally  to doubting Thomas. He could have reprimanded Thomas, telling him “You don’t have enough faith. Get lost.” Instead, he invites Thomas to feel his body, to understand he is not just a ghost or a hallucination. And later on, he makes a similar appearance to disciples who had gone back to their fishing trade, asking them  for a bite to eat.   Many of us still struggle with the miracle of a physical resurrection. Faith would be so much easier if a scarred Jesus would come into our church one Sunday and give each one of us a comforting hug. But, wait, who are those people who do give us hugs every Sunday?  As Shawn Thomas sings in his favorite song, “I see the Christ in you.”

PRAYER  REQUESTS

n  Jerry asks healing for John H., about to start dialysis

n  Thanksgiving that the infant who fell 3 stories suffered only minor injury.

n  Thanksgiving for the special gospel music that Dean sang for our service last Sunday.

n  Healing for Rick as he recovers from hernia surgery

n  Healing for a person being tested for possible prostate cancer

n  Comfort for Aurelia, continuing a struggle with terminal illness

n  Healing for Linda N., having chronic weakness in her legs

n  Rev. Beau gives thanks that a heart monitor that she had to wear for 3 weeks confirmed her heart is strong and she doesn’t need a pacemaker. Strength for her as she returns to rehab excercises.

n  Healing for an online friend Levi, a young man in Orlando. He is getting ready to start a lifeguard job at Disney but developed pneumonia a few days ago.

n  Tom gives thanks for the stewardship of the pastor and past boards. We wouldn’t be able to buy a building if they hadn’t protected and invested  our Building Fund over the past 5 years.                                                                                                                                                               ;

CHURCH & COMMUNITY CALENDAR

APRIL 25, WED., 2 p.m.  – RETIREMENT PLANNING TALK – By David Hollard, Ormond Beach certified financial planner.  Port Orange Library, free.

APRIL 26, THURS. 2 p.m. – ENERGY EFFICIENCY TIPS by representatives of FPL. Ways to curtail electricity usage. Port Orange Library, free.

APRIL 25, 7:30 p.m. – FILM: “The White Balloon,” an Iranian film about a girl who convinces her parents to give her their last bit of money to buy a goldfish for a New Year’s celebration. Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona State campus. Free.

APRIL 27, FRI., 2 p.m. – SMART COUPONING – Retired nurse Mary Edwards gives pointers on super-couponing to cut grocery bills.  Port Orange Library. Free.

APRIL  27, FRI., 9 a.m. – TGIF Coffee Break – Folks from New Church Family gather  for an hour just for general chitchat. Anyone is welcome. Take time to stop and smell the coffee aroma! Panera Bread, Port Orange (next door to Target).

APRIL 27-28 – BREAKING SHAME Conference – A two-day healing session to help women and men use faith for recovery from rape, molestation and beatings.  Starts 7 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday. Host is Renee Baugh, a Jacksonville architect and church leader. Details: www.breakingshame.com  Free, with love offerings. El Caribe Conference Center, US A1A, Daytona Beach.

APRIL 27-28 – – CHRISTIANS IN ACTION – A  Business Expo that brings together businesses, entrepreneurs and ministries to network, discuss sales strategies and promote their goods and services. Host: AT&T Phone Store, Volusia Mall.

APRIL 27, FRI. , 7:30 p.m. – GAY FILM IN GAINESVILLE –  “Kickoff – What happens when the best  team in the Sunday Soccer league comes up against a gay team and finds they’ve finally met their match? A funny, sexy, high-energy and extremely gay British comedy.  Part of the Gay Movie Night film series held the last Friday of the month at the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida. Free, but a $2 donation is requested to cover the cost of snacks. http://gainesvillepride.org/gaymovienig

APRIL 28 , SAT., 1 p.m.-1 a.m. – DELANDAPALOOZA music festival with 150 performers of diverse music genres, including rock, jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, metal, and Christian rock. Twenty five stages. Held rain or shine in downtown Deland. Tickets $10 in advance available at Atlantic Sounds, downtown Daytona or Steve’s Music, DeLand. $15 at the gate.

. APRIL 28, SAT.,  6 p.m. social hour, 7 p.m. program – RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FORUM, co-sponsored by ACLU of VOLUSIA/FLAGLER Religious Freedom Task Force  and Mosaic Unitarian Congregation in Orange City. ,Directions: www.mosaicuuc.org. Details: Davie Griffin at daviegriffin@gmail.com  or Cary Ragsdale at cary.ragsdale@gmail.com

APRIL 28, SAT., 7  p.m.  – JUST US dinner for women professionals, 35+, held at 27 Fathoms, S. Williamson Blvd., Port Orange.

APRIL 29, SUN, 10 a.m. – New Church Family worship and Communion, followed by a short special congregational meeting at 11:30 a.m.

APRIL 30, Mon. 6:30 p.m. – New Church Family Board of Directors monthly meeting. Topics: Building purchase and due-diligence work; continued discussion of church goals (music & congregational care)

APRIL 30 – 7 p.m. –  Rehearsals start for the Inspirare Women’s Choir concert on  May 24 . Sponsored by  Stetson’s Community School of the Arts, the choir is open to all women and auditions are not required. Monday-evening rehearsals will be held in Presser Hall, room 352, from 7-9 p.m. Further information, contact Dr. Ann Small at asmall@stetson.edu, or call Stetson’s School of Music at (386) 822-8950.

MAY 3, 1:30 p.m. FILM: “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Duex ou Trois Choses Que Je Sais D’Elle)”.  Part of the French New Wave film series at Southeast Museum of Photography. Directed by Jean Luc Godard, this 1967 film  is an engrossing meditation on the modern consumer lifestyle. Juliette is a housewife who turns to prostitution so she can buy the newest dresses. Free.

MAY  10, Thurs. , 6-9 p.m.   — POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS TRAINING  for social workers and others dealing with veterans.  Sponsored by Natl  Assn of Social Workers, Volusia-Flagler unit.   UCF Daytona campus, Building 150 Auditorium, Daytona Beach. $10 for NASW members (bring membership card), $30 for non-members. Students are free with a VALID student ID.  To register,  1-800-352-6279

MAY 15, Tues., 5:30-7 p.m.  – CLASS FOR MENTORS OF FOSTER TEENS – Community Partnership for Children seeks adult volunteers to be mentors for teenage kids in foster care (similar to Big Brother, Big Sister programs). 3 levels of commitment are offered  – occasional special events; once a week meetings for at least 12 weeks, or open-ended mentoring for an indefinite period. Requires background check. CPC office, 160 N. Beach Street, Daytona Beach To register, please contact Susan Hiltz at (386) 547-2293 or via email at Susan.Hiltz@cbcvf.org.

LOOKING AHEAD:

JUNE 7-8  – YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION CONFERENCE at News-Journal Center, sponsored by Daytona State College for teachers, social workers, agencies and faith organizations. Includes workshops on bullying, LGBT youth, church ministry, grieving process,  post-traumatic syndrome experienced by veterans., and a panel of students discussing suicidal stress.  Free.

BOARD UPDATE – It’s been a hectic week for the board as we researched and inspected the U.S. 92 building and decided to bid for it. Thank you to Betty and Mike for making 2 trips to DeLand to sign two sets of bid documents at the Realtor’s office.  We are doing our best to make sure the entire membership is kept informed of what is going on. If you have questions, please contact any board member. Tom will be happy to e-mail anyone in our congregation the real estate documents that have been flying around. We are now in a “due diligence period,” which means  we have 45 days to get inspections and a lawyer’s review completed and make sure this building meets our needs. In the coming week, we expect to get a professional building inspection and a termite check performed. Thank you to Kitty and Linda for visiting the building and alerting us to cracks in the stucco on the building’s western wall. Tom and Jay examined and photographed the cracks Monday, and we have alerted our inspector Watt Ramsey.  We don’t think they are a serious problem, but we await Watt’s expert opinion. If there is any doubt, we will bring in an engineer.  Meanwhile, we have contacted the Volusia County planning department to start our application for a zoning amendment. Tom and Sue will meet with the planners Monday at 3:30 at the County Administration Building, Room 200, in DeLand. Any church member is welcome to attend.

     As we get ready to return to “homeowner” status, Betty and Bill have prepared a list of  tasks that will need doing in our new property.  Please look over the list and think about what you can do to make our  church more dynamic in its new  setting. And if you feel moved to make a special gift to support our purchase, the best way to do it is to earmark it for our Building Fund, so that every dollar gets used specifically for that goal.

     In case you’re wondering about our timetable, our purchase agreement calls for a closing on or before Aug. 31. We hope it will be sooner, but it depends on how quickly county officials take care of our zoning request. It has to go through two public hearings, one by the Planning & Land Use Commission and a second by the full County Council. Most likely we will still be at Beville through August or  September.  

     Let us give thanks and praise to God for the progress we’re making in our real estate search. It’s been a long journey .

FACTOIDS ABOUT OUR SENIORS …

To observe May as Older Americans Month, the Census Bureau this week issued some interesting stats about the 65-and-older segment. We now have 40 million Americans in this age group, up 5 million from the 2000 Census. They make up 13 percent of the population.  Hitting 65 no longer always means retirement… 16 percent are working at least some of the time, and more than half of the senior workers hold down full-time jobs.  That may help explain why the senior segment is holding its own,  income-wise. The median  income of senior households was $31,408 in 2010, up 5.5  percent over a 3-year period. It was the only age bracket to enjoy income growth as the Great Recession took hold.  However, seniors trail the income levels of Americans as a whole. Nationally, U.S. households have a median income of just under $50,000.  Men continue to lose out to women when it comes to longevity – for every 100 women over 65, there are only 90 men. In the 85+ category, there are only 58 men per 100 women.

THOUGHTS FROM REV SUSAN………IMHO (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION)

We are made for love, both God’s love and the love of others; yet, we all at times, find ourselves feeling empty, feeling unloved.

There is no more powerful force than unconditional love. It has the power to transform the heart of the most hardened criminal and the hardest part of my heart and your heart for none of us are that different from each other. Our hearts all need healing, and we all long for the unconditional love of another.

If we all need this kind of love so desperately, why don’t we just freely give it to one another? It would seem such an easy answer to the problems of this world. Let’s just love. Love well. Love deeply. Love unconditionally.

Yet many of us are caught in our own stories, seeking to be filled ourselves, too busy, too self-absorbed or too wounded or too defensive or a myriad of other things which keep us stuck, unable to move beyond our own insecurities and needs to offer others what they need and what we so desperately long for ourselves.

Meaningful relationships require that we move into the more true places of each other’s hearts. When we experience being vulnerable with another person or a small group of people and are rewarded by love and acceptance, our hearts dance with joy. We know, “I was made for this kind of love.” Yet it’s so much work, relationally, to keep the walls down from around our hearts.

We’ve all been hurt. We are born into a fallen-state of being and can’t make it through this life without experiencing pain and some measure of being failed by those we love. Conversely, we all fail others. We all fail to love well, at times.

God’s gift of love came to us through Christ who both loved and is now loving us well. He unconditionally loves us.

What does this unconditional love mean?

Romans 5:8 offers this glimpse into unconditional love. “But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

When we had done nothing for God, when we were still a sinner and had not opened our hearts to receive God’s love, God gave Christ for us.

Isn’t that our hearts cry, “Who will love me for me, not what I’ve done or what I will become?”

This kind of love transforms us. A love that gives all in order to know us, free us, heal us, and fill us.

Our hearts all cry, “Who will love me for me?” yet we are often unwilling to allow others to really know who we are. Many times, we are unwilling to take the risk to share the deepest parts of our hearts with another. Maybe we tried that before and got our hearts broken. We learned our lesson well and responded by building a fortress around our hearts to protect ourselves. While that fortress may keep us from being hurt, it also isolates us from being loved and from truly loving others.

My hope and my prayer today is that we all will experience deeper levels of unconditional love in our relationships, that we will choose to love well in spite of the risk of being hurt, and that most of all, we will choose the unconditional love of Christ which has the power to change and heal us.

Hugs, Blessings, Shalom, Peace and Amen

OUR CLASSIFIEDS

FURNISHED APARTMENT FOR RENT.: 

   Beachside in Daytona Beach. near Seabreeze: 1 BR,l Bth, Completely remodeled.   Above garage,includes(water.cable,electric,gas & pest contr.) Very private. pool, off street park, gated estate. $750/mo Call Jim at 386-290-0423

From Guild President Jim Camp: HELP WANTED:  Business Guild seeks someone to update and keep the  GAYDAYTONA website current. We need a data entry person to make necessary changes, delete old information and add updates. Possible compensation in the range of $100 a month. This is a flat-fee  stipend for service.  Send resume to DBGG, PO Box 263148, Daytona Beach 32116-3148 OR e-mail JACROLLS@AOL.COM

HELP WANTED: Neighborhood Center of West Volusia seeks part-time caseworker manager to handle  new cases. Must have at least AA degree, experience in social services, computer skills in Word and Excel, plus organization skills. Must live in West Volusia.  E-mail resume to ncceo@bellsouth.net or fax to 386-822-9005.

HELP WANTED:  Mid-Florida Children’s Service , a Brooksville agency which contracts with school systems, seeks a disabilities services specialist.  Job location not specified. Details: Sherry Meikrantz at 352-796-1485 x 214.

HELP WANTED: Executive assistant to CEO of Children’s Advocacy Center. BA preferred and/or experience in communications, public relations, business or marketing or related field. E-mail resume to tkarol@childrensadvocacy.org no later than May 4.

HELP WANTED—Head Start in DeLand seeks “male involvement coordinator,” encouraging fathers and boyfriends to take a greater interest in their pre-school kids’ education.  Pay; $27,000 a year. Requires AA degree and 3 years experience in children’s programs. Contact Sherry Meikrantz at 352-796-1485 x214.

HELP WANTED: Lead Parent Educator needed by Healthy Start, a home-visiting program to prevent child abuse. Requirements: BA, Master’s preferred in human services or social services field. At least 1 year of experience working with families and 1 year of supervisory experience. Salary & Benefits: $24,000 to start. E-mail resume to clarissa.tate@healthystartfv.org.

HELP WANTED: Early parenting supervisor sought by House Next Door, DeLand.  BA required with 5 years supervisory experience working in community-based programs.  Excellent communication, computer and writing skills, flexible, able to multi-task.  Bi-lingual a plus. Mail resume to: The House Next Door, Attn:  Personnel, 804 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, FL  32720, Email:  dbraun@thehnd.com, FAX:  386-734-0252

SOME USEFUL LINKS & FRIENDLY PLACES:

OUR CHURCH’s Web site: www.newchurchfamily.org

*OUR CHURCH FACEBOOK PAGES – New Church Family of Daytona Beach, and The Porch of Daytona (youth outreach)

*GLBT AA Group Meetings at the Lambda Center, 320 Harvey Ave., Daytona Beach,  on Fridays at 6pm

DAYTONA  area general gay news: www.gaydaytona.com   Operated by the Daytona Beach Business Guild.) (Back issues of Word Up can be found at this site.)

VOLUSIA PRIDE 2012  – The target date is Nov. 10 in downtown Daytona.  Organizing information, Lisa-Marie Mueller, volusiapride2012@yahoo.com.  A new web site, www.volusiapride.org is now under construction by Kristen Colasanti.

*International Christian Community Churches,  our denomination: www.intlccc.org

*ICCC’s social networking web site: www.internationalchristiancommunity.ning.com

ICCC and its Emmaus Institute also have Facebook pages

Jim Geary’s AIDS ministry — His confidential HIV support group meets Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at New Church Family. Call him at 386-235-6420 or 441-7562 for permission to attend.) –  www.delicatecourage.com

Outreach Community Care Network: Provides HIV and AIDS testing, counseling, support, information and referrals. outreachinc.org or 386-255-5569. Contact person: Joaquin.

OneDaytona – Nonprofit coalition working for GLBT solidarity & Pride. Contact Rev. Susan or Tom for details.

LOVE WELCOMES ALL http://lovewelcomesall.ning.com/ — Interfaith group in the Carolinas.

*Equality Florida for gay-rights updates: www.eqfl.org

*Youth Counseling web site for GLBT coming-out issues, bullying and depression: www.thetrevorproject.org   Their suicide prevention hotline is 866-4-U-TREVOR

SUICIDE Hotline – 1-800-539-4228 (Act Corp. psychiatric stabilization for Volusia County)

GENERAL GAY CHRISTIAN NEWS & VIEWS, including an international gay-affirming church directory, an international e-mail forum, dating service  and non-pornographic chat, hosted by Mary Pearson in Ontario. www.christiangays.com. Most Sundays at 8 p.m., their chat room usually has a pastor-led “Hot Topic” discussion that connects a GLBT issue with the Bible and other Christian teachings.

PFLAG New Smyrna Beach/Volusia meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month (no meetings during June, July and August), 7 PM at United Church of Christ, 203 Washington St, New Smyrna Beach.  We can be found on Facebook, our email address is pflagnewsmyrnabeach@live.com, or contact Kathy at 386.299.0698.

OWLS — Lesbian group of women over 50:   owls-group-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

 ”JUST US” for professional women 35+  meeting on a monthly basis @ local restaurants – contact dee1023@yahoo.

The 12-member editorial staff of the influential gay lifestyle magazine Out has  been dismissed  with one month’s severance, Capital reported Friday (April 20.)

However, editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin said he planned to rehire some of the staff as freelancers for a new company, Grand Editorial.

  Grand Editorial, based in New York, will continue to publish Out but also will take on other projects, such as publishing  magazines for corporate clients.  Hicklin told Capital there will be no reduction in the frequency of the magazine or other major changes to the content.

“This was not a cost-cutting measure,” he asserted.

Both Out and its sister magazine, The Advocate, have grown noticeably slimmer over the past year as advertising has declined. The Advocate, formerly a biweekly, has cut back to monthly publication.

Hicklin said he doesn’t have any outside investors and that revenue at this point will be project-based, a prospect that has been met with gentle skepticism from some Out staffers. Its parent company, Here Media, has had problems paying freelancers and vendors over the past several years.

Hicklin has headed Out for the past six years. Previously he ran BlackBook, a fashion and arts magazine, and served as executive editor for Gear, a men’s title.

Volusia County  is moving forward with a domestic partners’ registry that would give unmarried couples, straight and gay people alike, a simple card acknowledging their relationships and making certain rights more accessible.

The measure would cover about 11,000 straight and gay same-gender households.

“It’s just the right thing to do, and we’re just taking the high road and making sure that we are treating all citizens equally and fairly,” Vice Chair Joyce Cusack said of the proposal, which will face an up or down vote after the county’s attorneys put a final draft in writing.

The county has been considering a registry for some time, but the proposal given preliminary approval on April 19 was a more comprehensive proposal than originally drafted. Six of the council’s seven members were in favor of extending every right that a similar effort in Orlando has addressed.

Those rights are:

- Visitation in both health care and correctional facilities

- The power to make decisions about a partner’s medical treatment

- Notification from authorities after accidents or other emergencies

- The power to make funeral and burial decisions

- The right to participate in a dependent child’s education (assuming a biological parent who still has parental rights doesn’t object).

All of those will be included in the ordinance that comes before the council soon. (An earlier version left out the education and medical decision-making.)

Several people attended Thursday’s meeting to voice support of the registry and celebrated it afterward.

Florida defined marriage as between a man and a woman through a state constitutional amendment approved in a 2008 referendum. Since then, though, several cities or counties have enacted some form of domestic partnership recognition.

“Unfortunately, Florida has the reputation for intolerance,” said George Griffin of the Volusia-Flagler chapter of the ACLU. “And yet there are communities, there are counties, there are cities, who are taking very progressive steps to say, ‘That’s not who we are.’ ”

Volusia also recently enacted a human rights ordinance that protects gay and transgender people from discrimination by giving them a clear avenue to file civil suits in court.

Councilman Josh Wagner, who supported the registry when he first campaigned for office, called the registry “an issue of fairness” and something that would welcome more people to the area.

“We are going to be part of something that is even bigger than us, and I think that’s important to remember,” Wagner said.

Councilwoman Joie Alexander didn’t support the measure, arguing the rights it addressed already exist for unmarried couples if they have the right paperwork — legal wills, power of attorney documents and so on.

The most recent Census estimated about 1,100 same-sex households in Volusia, along with 9,725 unmarried-partner households.

Supporters of the ordinance pointed out many more older residents –some of them only living here part time — are in committed relationships but don’t marry because they’d lose certain benefits.

If the registry ordinance passes, it will cost $50 to become part of it. The names on it will be listed publicly on a county-maintained website that’s updated monthly.