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Let's open our Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 5...1 Timothy chapter 5. I mentioned to you last week as we began a look at verses 17 to 25 that this was a hard passage to preach because it really speaks about the role of the pastor and the elder and I just wanted you to know that I don't give this message in any sense as self-serving. My intent is not to gain anything, to receive anything. Your over-abundance of generosity to me is deeply appreciated already. But it is a difficult passage to preach from the standpoint that basically I'm here telling you how you ought to treat me and others like me who pastor and lead in the church of Christ. And I refresh you again by saying I hope you understand my heart in this is to teach you the Word of God and to have you continue in the loving way in which you have expressed your response to me and to our pastors and elders here. And also beyond the walls of this church, to give instruction to other churches and other people as to this same issue of how we treat those that God has placed in leadership in the church.
Now today's message and the focus of what we look at today in another sense is also equally difficult to preach because while part of the text calls for honoring the one who is over you in the Lord, part of the text calls also for exposing the sinning pastor or the sinning elder. And so it's a two-edged sword we look at in this text, and it equally brings a certain amount of anxiety to my own heart because what I'm in effect saying to you is that if I ever sin a sin and the category of sins is very large, if I ever continue in some sin, that I'm asking you to do to me exactly what this text says to be done, and that is public exposure. On the one hand, there is the call for honor to a faithful man. On the other hand, there is call for exposure to an unfaithful and sinning man. And so, both of them, in a sense, are difficult words and thoughts to be found in the mouth of the preacher himself, and yet very necessary.
Now as I mentioned to you last time, as we come to chapter 5 verses 17 to 25, we are reminded that Timothy is in Ephesus. And the Ephesian church has really declined greatly. It has found itself in behavioral inconsistency with the revealed Word of God. It has abandoned its great glorious and wonderful beginnings where Paul was the founding pastor. It has begun to sink into the morass of immorality and also false doctrine. That is primarily related to the decline in its leadership, for a people is always the product of leadership. And so in this particular epistle as Paul writes to Timothy, he is saying, "Timothy, I've left you Ephesus and these are the things you have to do. And one of them that is absolutely vital is to restore a biblical eldership. You've got to deal with leadership in that church and that is not an easy thing to do. You must attack at the most difficult point, the point of leadership."
Serious doctrinal problems, serious behavioral inconsistencies that plagued the church at Ephesus were related to a decline in the character and the teaching of their leadership. And even today, theological error, biblical misinterpretation, disregard for the high and narrow walls that bound biblical godly morality are directly the result of failure in leadership in the church of today. And whatever message Paul gave to Timothy for restoring a biblical pastorate or eldership then needs to be given today as well. Those godly men who lead and feed and protect and guide and set an example for the church are the key upon which humanly speaking that church develops. And Paul is very explicit in this passage. He calls for very specific attitudes toward the eldership, the pastorate.
Now as I said last week, the church's ability to reach the world, to be a channel of the grace of salvation, the church's ability to be a powerful pure Christ-revealing organism is directly related to the character and the content of its leadership. It's essential. This past week I had an occasion to preach down in Dallas. And as a follow up to that wonderful opportunity, I preached to thousands of pastors down there, a pastor was saved. He called me the next morning at 5:30 in the hotel and said, "You've got to help me, I'm lost." He was a pastor who was sitting in the section of pastors being honored for having the most baptisms, the most conversions, and the fastest growing church percentage wise. Saturday night he came to the conclusion that the real need of his life was salvation. He was going through the motions. I suppose we could say that restoring a biblical pastor would certainly begin with the pastor getting saved if he hasn't been. But assuming that, for the sake of the text, assuming that the man is a man who knows Christ, that's not where it ends. There are many other things that need to be considered in the matter of biblical pastoring and biblical eldership. And Paul lays out the proper attitudes that the congregation is to have toward those who lead them.
Number one, and we saw this last time, verses 17 and 18, Paul calls for honoring elders. He says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially the ones who work hard in preaching and teaching for the Scripture says, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages." Now Paul begins by saying the church is to honor the elder/pastor...elder being a term referring to spiritual maturity, pastor simply pointing out his ministry of feeding the flock. The same word, or a different word, rather, overseer referring to the same man means his leadership. So he is a mature godly man who feeds and leads the people, as you know.
Now if he does it well and if he works hard in preaching and teaching, he's worthy of double honor. After all, he says, "Doesn't Deuteronomy 25 teach us that an ox who treads out grain is to be rewarded by being allowed to eat? And doesn't the New Testament, Luke 10:7, tell us that a man who works is worthy of his pay? And if you feed an ox that crushes the grain, and you feed a servant that does his work, then the one who preaches and teaches the Word of God with excellence and great effort ought to be honored as well. And honor then implies not just respect but remuneration.
So, the first principle of a biblical eldership is you have a plurality of godly men who are honored by the congregation in terms of respect and in terms of needed remuneration. That's the basic thought of that first point in verses 17 and 18...honoring pastors, honoring elders is very basic and a man's respect and a man's remuneration is tied to the excellence of his work and the effort in the toil that he makes. That's what the text is saying. And so we begin then by honoring elders.
A second point comes in verse 19. Let's call this protecting elders, or protecting pastors. And it's certainly an extension of the idea of honoring them. Part of honoring your pastors and elders is this whole matter of protecting them, insuring their safe and proper treatment. After all, to put it in a proverbial sense, pastors are forever and always on the hot seat, right? And there are always people who would line up to falsely accuse a man of God. And they will be falsely accused for many reasons. Some people will resent their calling. There are people who just carry around a lot of resentment, it may be personal, it may be general. But because of that resentment they may desire and design to falsely accuse a man of God. Sometimes it's due to people rejecting their teaching. Someone doesn't like what someone teaches, they take a different view, they react negatively against it and perhaps in their anger, in their hostility they begin some kind of campaign to falsely accuse and discredit the man of God. Sometimes it's because people resist biblical authority. They resist biblical teaching and they strike out for revenge to one who has called them to accountability before God or who has brought them feelings and real feelings of guilt. Sometimes it's nothing more than envy and jealousy because a ministry is being blessed. Sometimes it's because a person, and maybe all the time in one way or another, it's because a person becomes a pawn of Satan and his emissaries to discredit and tear down what God wants to do.
So, one way or another, and perhaps often a combination of motives that we've talked about put together, might result in men being falsely accused. And it's a sacred trust to be in the ministry. And the effectiveness of that trust and the effectiveness of that ministry is largely dependent upon a man's integrity, upon his believability, upon his consistency, upon his purity and holiness and virtue of life. And if he can be attacked at that point and discredited, if he can be shredded so that people don't trust him anymore, the net effect may be to totally end his ministry.
I think about, for example, the most devastating things that came against Jesus were not physical things, but accusations that He spent all of His time with drunks, prostitutes, and wicked people. That was an attempt to accuse Him of those same things. They said He was a glutton and a wine-bibber and they said He was possessed with a demon. All of that in an effort to discredit Him falsely.
Now because this is a very real issue and because the enemy comes against any faithful servant of God, Paul gives Timothy instruction in verse 19 in this regard...let's look at it. Verse 19, "Against an elder, or pastor, do not receive an accusation, except when on the authority of or by the force of two or three witnesses." Now, first of all, please notice it says against an elder, that's what we're talking about here. When someone sets out to accuse an elder or a pastor, he says do not receive that. The word receive means to entertain, to consider in your mind. And what he is saying is just flatly reject it, don't even investigate an unsubstantiated accusation made against a pastor/elder. It ought to be ignored.
To put it simply, one of the best ways you can protect your pastors and elders is with a deaf ear to accusation. It's that simple. When a man is placed into spiritual leadership, he has to anticipate that hateful, jealous, sinful people will falsely accuse him to try to ruin his ministry. And people can and often will say anything and everything. This is standard behavior with reference to spiritual leaders. I went back in the Old Testament this week, just kind of tracking through some of the leaders of the Old Testament period and found that one after another of the great heroes of the faith in the Old Testament were beset by false accusation. It was standard fare. I think particularly of Joseph, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Nehemiah and many others as well. You come in to the New Testament, Christ was crucified under false accusation, Paul under false accusation, defending himself again and again and again in his epistles.
It is standard approach of the enemy to discredit. You see, men's ministries can be brought to a halt due to no fault of their own, but due to the fault of people who will listen to a false accusation. And so that discrediting of that man comes totally unrelated to reality in his own life. The word accusation, by the way, kategoria sounds like category, it comes from two words, agora which...it's the word for Agoura, down the road here, the town, it means a meeting place, a public place, a marketplace, and kate is against, so it is to say something against a person in a public meeting place. That is to bring a formal accusation. And when someone comes to bring a formal public accusation against an elder or a pastor, we are not to listen to that. We are not to entertain that. We are not to investigate that. Trapp, that Puritan writer who has so many good things to say, has a little statement that I think is just right to the point, he said this, "Truth has always a scratched face." Truth has always a scratched face...what does it mean? It means that people react against truth. And when a man is a truth teacher that does not mean that he is going to have an absolutely impeccable reputation among all people all the time because truth always has a scratched face. And the difficulty in ministry is being able to distinguish between...between gossip and false accusation and lies and reality. If Satan can't cause a man to fall into sin, if Satan can't cause a man to stumble into evil, then Satan may cause some who more willingly will stumble into evil to become a coterie of false accusers, the net effect of which is to discredit the man as if he himself had sinned. You understand that? And so the insulation of the man of God against that is a deaf congregation in the sense of hearing accusation. Very important.
Notice back in verse 19 again...against the elder or pastor you are not to entertain any kind of formal public accusation. The word "but" should be translated "except when," and the word "before" has the force of "by the authority of two or three witnesses." The only time you ever even entertain it doesn't mean it's true, but the only time you would ever even entertain it would be when it comes to you with a force of two or three confirming witnesses. In other words, it isn't one person who has some kind of act of aggression against man of God. I can only tell you personally because this is of such tremendous concern to me and because people can and do say anything and everything that if a person comes to me with some kind of accusation against a man of God, my first reaction is always to deny that. I will not accept that. I'm sorry, I cannot believe that, I cannot accept that. Until it would be confirmed significantly by two or three whose confidence I would trust and then properly investigated, a deaf ear is the best thing you can turn to someone who falsely accuses.
Now the intent of two or three witnesses is simply confirmation. It goes all the way back to Deuteronomy 19:15 where no accusation against a person is to be upheld apart from two or three confirming credible witnesses. Matthew chapter 18, you remember when we have an outline of how to discipline a fellow Christian, if you find one in sin you go to him, if he doesn't hear and repent then you take two or three witnesses in order that they might confirm that sin and confirm either his repentant or failure to repentant...to be repentant attitude. So two or three witnesses involved in an accusation situation is an old approach. It's simply the confirmation of viable witnesses. And so we are never to receive any accusation against a pastor, we're not even to entertain it or to investigate it or to look into it, we are to shun it, to shut it off, to end it unless it has been confirmed by two or three significant and credible witnesses.
Pastor/elders are never to be at the mercy of frivolous evil accusers. And they're not to be having to go around to their people justifying themselves to people who are eager or willing to believe such lies.
Now I'm not saying that we are to be beyond accusation, if accusation is legitimate. I am saying we are to be beyond successful accusation if accusation is illegitimate...if it is false. And the danger of this is tremendous. I personally believe in my own heart that one of the greatest benefits of this church to me is the fact that through the years you have been so protective of me and you have honored me so faithfully. In other words, I know...I know it and you know it, too...that I have been under attack and continue to be under attack and have been falsely accused and continue to be falsely accused rather regularly, almost weekly. But the one thing that sticks in people's craw is that people outside find it very hard for people inside to agree with that. And I think it's been your confidence and your prayers and your support that has been such a tremendous encouragement to me. And furthermore, I want you to know that this is something that any man who is in the ministry constantly prays about because you know you're tremendously vulnerable to false accusation. So I thank you for your goodness in that area and I thank God for His Holy Spirit putting a stop to things before they can get started.
But in spite of false accusation I want you to know the ministry is a joy. And being falsely accused puts you in good company because the Lord was falsely accused also. And as Hebrews 12 says, if I can put it in the first person, "I have not yet suffered unto blood," like He did. But in protecting leadership in the church, the first line of protection is a deaf ear to accusation. Don't even think about it.
And let me say a word to those who might accuse. You must be very careful when you accuse someone who is in the ministry. You must be very cautious to speak against a godly leader. Let me give you just a little insight into this matter of caution. Turn in your Bible to chapter 24 of 1 Samuel...1 Samuel chapter 24. The background of the story is that Saul is king but a rejected king, rejected by God, he'll never be a part of the kingly line, he'll never produce the Messiah from his loins. Saul is a rejected sinful king. The anointed king who is God's choice is a young man by the name of David. And, of course, Saul and David are adversaries in the very real sense...both really in a role of king, Saul the present but rejected king, David the future but anointed king. And Saul is very much hostile toward David and wants to take his life.
And in the midst of that hostility a very very interesting situation happens in 1 Samuel 24, verse 1, "It came to pass when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, it was told him, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi." So Saul wanted to go get David, eliminating his enemy. Took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel. This would be the finest of soldiers. "And went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the Wildgoats." Engedi is a desert place, jagged mountains. "And he came to the sheepcotes by the way where was a cave." Now here's Saul, he's going down toward Engedi, he's got three thousand crack soldiers with him to attack David. "He comes to a cave and Saul went in to cover his feet." Now that little phrase is an Old Testament euphemism for a visit to the men's room. Now I don't want to get too deeply into this discussion, but in those days what happened was you took your robe and just kind of threw it out as you crouched down. And that's what was known as covering your feet, and we'll leave it at that. And it says in verse 3, this is Saul, this is the king who goes into the cave to be indisposed for a few moments. "And David and his men were staying in the sides of the cave." So this men's room is occupied and it's occupied with David and his men.
Well, the men of David standing around the sides of the dark cave knowing the king is there in that incredibly vulnerable position, they could pounce on him and kill him in an instant. And the coup would be over and David would be king. They said to him, "Behold, the day of which the Lord said unto thee," this is it, "Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thy hand that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee." This is it, they said, this is unbelievable. Here he is, in incredible vulnerability and all alone. "Then David arose and cut off Saul's head." Is that what it says? "Cut off his skirt of his robe." He snipped off a little piece of the fringe of his robe. "It came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt." Now there you have a very conscientious guy. He's feel guilty because he cut his robe. His heart smote him because he cut off a piece of his robe. "And he said to his men, The Lord forbid..." You know what he did? He snuck up on this guy and he just cut his robe and then snuck back and Saul didn't even know it. "But he says, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord."
That's amazing sensitivity, isn't it? I mean, that's like saying don't even step on the pastor's toe. Incredible. But it symbolized something to David, in his heart there was a hostility toward Saul and he could have taken his life but he backed off, even cutting his robe, that small act of hostility seemed to him to be sinful because this was, after all, the man who was king because the Lord anointed the man, the Lord did make him king. "So David restrained his servants with these words." He wouldn't let them kill Saul. "And permitted them not to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, went his way." This is really amazing. "David followed him, went out of the cave and when he got a little ways away he said, Saul, my lord the king, and when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself."
Can you imagine that? He wanted...he had done a disservice to the king by cutting his robe, he wanted to do what was right, he wanted to bow in the presence of the king, so he waited till he got out of the cave, turned and bowed to him to show him the proper respect that was due to a man anointed by God to be the king of Israel. Incredible. "And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to men's words saying, Behold, David seeks your harm?" Why do you believe those lies? "Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord had delivered you today into my hand in the cave and some bade me to kill you but my eyes spared you and I said I will not put forth my hand against my lord for he is the Lord's anointed. Moreover my father...see the skirt of thy robe in thy hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it. The Lord judge between me and you and the Lord avenge me of you, but my hand shall not be on you."
Now this is an attitude that says, "I don't touch the Lord's anointed." You know what happened a little later in the story. Saul got in the middle of a losing battle and decided that he wanted to take his life. And so, he got the assistance of a an Amalekite to help him in his suicide and he leaned on his spear and died. In 2 Samuel chapter 1, notice this, David interviews this man that did that. And he says in verse 11, "David took hold of his clothes and tore them and likewise all the men who were with him and they mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel because they were fallen by the sword." So David is weeping even at the death of Saul. "And David said to him...this is the servant who had assisted Saul in taking his life...How were you not afraid to stretch forth your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?" How could you do that? "David called one of the young men, said, Go near, fall on him...that means attack him...he smote him so that he died. And David said to him, Your blood be on your head for your mouth has testified against you saying I have slain the Lord's anointed." While the guy is there and the blood is coming out of his body and he's dying, David says you're getting this because you touched the Lord's anointed. Even though Saul was a sinful man there was a tremendous sense of the sacredness of the Lord's anointed. Great seriousness must be considered in attacking any faithful servant of the Lord. So when you set out to falsely accuse God's servant, you're walking on treacherous ground..."Touch not Mine anointed," Psalm 105:15 says. Zechariah 2:8 basically refers to touching God's anointed being equal to sticking your finger in God's eye. It irritates it.
So, that is a perspective that helps us understand that we are not to falsely accuse. And when someone does falsely accuse, we are not to listen to that and be party to one who wants to touch the Lord's anointed. The parallel isn't exact because Saul was a sinful man who was rejected by God but still if David's spirit was a spirit of kindness toward a sinful rejected king, what should be the spirit of the church toward a faithful honored servant of God? To bring a false accusation is to put yourself in a very serious situation. Even a genuine sin on the part of Saul, a genuinely sinful life did not warrant someone taking that man's life. And so where you have righteousness you have protection doubly so.
Let's go back to 1 Timothy then. And we want to be cautious then before we would ever speak against the Lord's anointed. And secondly, we want to be very very reluctant to listen when someone does speak in such a way. So, the first point then is elders are to be honored and pastors ought to be honored. The second point, they are to be protected. And I want you to know, beloved, that the great burden in my heart, the great desire of my heart is to raise up a generation of godly men who are worthy to be honored and worthy to be protected. That's really the ultimate objective in the Master's Seminary, to produce those kinds of men who are worthy of honor and worthy of protection.
But now we come to the double-edged sword. What about the man who sins? What about the pastor/elder who sins? And the accusation is not false, it is true. It is in the mouth of two or three witnesses and when investigated found to be true. What about that? That takes us to point three, rebuking elders. And again this is a very strong word...an exceedingly strong word. What it basically says is there's absolutely no immunity for sin. Protection up to a point and the point is sin. When it gets to the point of sin, there's no protection. There is tremendous vulnerability. Notice verse 20, "Them that sin," and them refers to the elder in verse 19, the elders, the pastors, "the ones that sin," and it's a present participle, "the sinning ones," and let me say that the sins are not categorized here. We could say that the most devastating public sin is sin of immorality and there are myriad illustrations of that. But it could be a myriad of other sins as well. In fact, if you want to know the category of sins, all you have to do is go back to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and reverse everything. You could start out in verse 2 by saying he's not a one-woman man. He doesn't exercise self-control, a lack of self-control is a sin. He's not moderate. He is not good in his behavior. He's not committed to the love of strangers. He drinks too much. He's impatient. He's a fighter. He's covetous. He doesn't handle his home well.
It could be any of these things. What a man does with his children. what he does with his wife, what he does with his home, what he does with his money. How his reputation exists in every dimension of life is at stake in this matter, any kind of sin. And I want to make that clear because there's just no way that you could be partial for one sin as over against another. Anything that is a sin which that man continues to practice and continues to do is reason for him to be included in "them" that sin.
Now what do we do with them that sin? Here's the two-edged sword. "Rebuke before all." Would you please notice here that we don't have a lot of steps of discipline. It just says rebuke before all. When an accusation has been made, it's been confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses and investigated, if it indeed is proven to be true he is to be publicly rebuked. The word rebuke, elencho means to expose, to bring to open conviction, to correct, to reprove. And the idea is public, before all. There's no exegetical base for limiting the all to just the elders, the other elders. There's no contextual base for limiting it to just the elders. If it says all it means all. If it was intended to be kept from the congregation it would have said be sure the congregation doesn't find out. But when it says rebuke before all it means exactly that. And there is no either exegetical or contextual reason to limit the all in any way. It simply means one who is found to be sinning is to be exposed before everyone. There's no where to hide.
Once a pastor/elder's guilt is established, he is to be publicly exposed. The sin of one in that position is more serious and to be punished more severely because its implications are greater. If you're the model of spiritual life, if you're the model of godliness, if you're supposed to be the example and you do not live the example that pleases God, then the culpability is very severe. It's interesting to me that even in Leviticus chapter 4 when God was laying out the law for the sin offering, He made one offering for the mass of people and the sin offering, that was a female goat, and for the rulers, a male goat. Their sin was set apart by a unique sacrifice from everybody else's as a way of identifying the uniqueness of a sinning leader. And here there's not even a process involved. Once the sin is determined to be true, then a public exposure takes place. That's a very very strong thing. If I were to entertain sin in my life on a continual basis and to be judged to be truly sinning in whatever area of sin, then what should happen to me is that I should be publicly exposed for that sin. It should be a public rebuke before everyone. I would lose my right to serve as a pastor/elder and be removed from that service.
You say, "Well what if the man repents?" That's not the issue. At this particular point, nothing is saved because the credibility is forfeited. In other words, let's say a man was extorting money in the church and it was found out, 99.9 chances out of a hundred the man would instantly repent, say, "I'll never do it again," if he thought that would let him stay where he is and nobody would ever find out publicly. But that serves no good at all. If the man has been found to be in a pattern of sin, then he is disqualified by 1 Timothy chapter 3, he's no longer blameless so he's out of the ministry anyway and he is to be publicly rebuked for his sin because there has to be some explanation about why he's out. Understood? And when that isn't done, let me tell you, confusion reigns supreme. When you try to sneak some pastor or elder out the back door and not explain to the people why he's leaving, all you're going to do is create problem upon problem upon problem. One classic illustration of this, a church, a familiar and wonderful church that I know of had a man on their staff. They were moving him from one office to another and digging out some of the stuff in his closet they found a copy of every issue of Playboy magazine since the first one. The board met on this and felt it would be too devastating to the church and the man and his family if they said anything. So he quietly left town. The pastor suffered repercussions for years and years of people who despised the pastor for pushing this man out of the church with no good reason. And being under instructions never to tell anybody why the man left, he suffered all the slings and arrows of the hate of people who blamed him for something he couldn't talk about.
Furthermore, the man who was expelled from the church went somewhere else. And to this day has a high-profile ministry, I don't think anybody knows what went on.
What is gained by that? Absolutely nothing. What is lost by that is you put a man of dubious character in a continuing ministry because you're afraid to say the truth about the man because you're more concerned to protect the man than you are to protect the name of the Lord God whom he says he serves. It's a skewed perspective. And the two-edged sword of ministry is if you're faithful and you serve well and you give great effort and you do your best in the preaching and teaching, you're to be honored and protected and the other side of the sword is if you get into sin you are to be taken out of ministry and publicly exposed.
You say, "But that's...boy, that's pretty painful for the man." That's right. But it's also a pretty good restraint on the others. That's what it says. Look at verse 20, "You do this in order that others also may fear." Other elders...other elders, for that matter, other people in the congregation who could be also disciplined for their sin. But the other here is really directly tied to the elders. When an elder is publicly disgraced for his sin, a pastor is publicly disgraced for his sin, that's going to put a healthy fear in the heart of others. And you have to understand, people, that no one is perfect, not an elder, not a pastor, no matter how capable they are, is absolutely perfect and totally able to control every dimension of his life in absolute and utter godliness...independent of any other restraint. That's not so. We need the insulation of a high level of accountability and there needs to be a healthy fear of God. And if the church would ever get back to a biblical eldership, where it honored men who were worthy of honor and protected men who were worthy of protection and rebuked men who were worthy of rebuke, it would begin to insulate the ministry from people who filter in to it and hide in the ministry with all their sins. And the result of it is an emasculated ministry and a weak church. Somewhere along the line we have to decide whether we're going to protect the man or protect the God the man says he serves. For if we have a God who tolerates sin, then we have defamed the name of God.
Others is the word loipos...loipos really, and it means the rest. So what he's saying is those that sin are publicly exposed in order that the rest...the rest in what sense?...the rest among any class being discussed, and that has to relate this word to elders. The class being discussed is sinning elders. The rest of the sinning elders will fear. They will be in a healthy respectful concern over being disgraced publicly and losing their ministry. Obviously a public rebuke would affect them, and it would affect everybody, so it would extend to the whole congregation.
It's wonderful to serve the Lord out of love, but we also have a balance and fear, don't we? Proverbs 9:10 and it's repeated several times in Proverbs says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of...what?...of wisdom." Spiritual wisdom begins with fearing God. It begins with fearing the Lord. Peter says, 1 Peter 2:17, "Fear God." Christians in Revelation 19, I think it's verse 5 are said to be those that fear Him. We need that healthy fear. Acts 9:31, I think it is, says the whole church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria was walking in the fear of the Lord. And believers are to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, Hebrews 12:28. Paul wrote to the Ephesians and said, "We are to love each other, we are to minister to each other, we are to care for each other, we are to do all of the things that are implied or explicitly stated in Ephesians and all of in the fear of God." We are to purify ourselves, cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, effecting purification, 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, in the fear of God. We need a healthy fear.
I remember meeting a man who was having all kinds of personal problems, one of which was excessive drinking. And his wife said, "You know, somebody has got to expose him." He was pastoring a church. And she said, "Will you meet him?" I said I would be happy to. We set up an appointment for lunch and when I went to the place, he was sitting at the bar drinking. And I said to him, "You know, you're going to have to be exposed because this cannot be tolerated. You cannot be a drinker and a drunkard and all the other things that he was indulging in along with it, materialism." I said, "You can't do that and be in the ministry." And then he began to cry and he said, "Oh, I don't want to lose my ministry." That church exposed him. He settled into another situation and now he's back on top doing whatever he's doing. And he managed to find a place where people didn't have a standard so he can still minister.
But that shouldn't be. When there's a man that's disqualified, if the church of Jesus Christ was really behaving the way the Lord would have it behave, when he went out one door he couldn't find another door to go in. You say, "You mean there's no restoration?" I'm not talking about restoration, I'm talking about ministry as a pastor/elder. He ought to be loved. Hopefully he could stay in the same congregation, be loved, nurtured, restored to a place of usefulness to the Lord. But it's doubtful that he could ever be a pastor and an elder again, depending, of course, on the nature of the sin and its extent. But there needs to be an acknowledgement that the two-edged sword of ministry is, "Yes you have honor, and yes you have remuneration, and respect and protection, but when you fall into sin there is also the demand made that you be publicly exposed."
Boy, if the church did this, what a purification this would be. I mean, the world is so suspect of us anyway, aren't they? Sometimes we do it to ourselves. You know, when you see some guys out there who name the name of Christ and call themselves ministers of Christ who do what they do, is it any wonder the world is suspicious? Is it any wonder they want to falsely accuse the ones who don't deserve being accused because so many do deserve being accused? You know, it's hard for me to even fathom...the things that I heard this week, Oral Roberts particularly on the news saying, "If you don't send me eight million dollars, God's going to kill me." Now I've heard of fund raising technique...that is ludicrous. You know what basically is being done there is a man is putting the ultimate guilt trip on people by saying if you don't send me your money you will be the cause of my death. What kind of a trip is that to put on people? By the way, I read in a magazine the other day that he is scheduled to be the guest speaker at a big conference that's going to occur after his supposed deadline. So I don't even think he believes the whole thing. The whole thing is just so much showmanship. And it's disgusting when things like that are brought to bear upon well-meaning and trusting people to be told that they...that God is in a box, if we don't send our money to some man by a certain date, God is going to kill that man, is absolutely stupidity. But people buy into that.
And then what happens is the extrapolation of that is that we all get thrown in the same pot. And people question everybody's credibility. If the church ever got its act together and had a purged and purified eldership, can you imagine the impact of that? You say, "Well how do you do that?" Well you've just got to start where you are. And I don't mean to pick just that one thing out, but that's been all over the news so I'm not saying anything that everybody hasn't heard. I recently talked to a lady, she said, "You know, our pastor left." I said, "Oh, I'm shocked to hear that," he was a good friend. "Why?"
"Well, they found out that he had a relationship with a woman."
"Oh," I said, "I can't believe it. When was this?"
"Oh, it ended five years ago." And she said, "You know, it was five years ago, they shouldn't have put him out, it's been five years."
But, you see, that's a typical attitude. I don't care if it was five years ago. An ongoing relationship that just because it isn't found out, once you find it out doesn't mean...Oh, well, boy, you're pass the statute of limitations. See. It's over.
A friend called me from the midwest to tell me about a situation in the church where they had found their pastor in some sin, gross sin. He said, "What do we do?" I said, "You go next Sunday, make a public announcement for the whole church. Tell them what the sin was and tell them he's no longer the pastor and tell them to pray for him and call him to repentance. Tell the whole church." And he did and God's blessing that.
There has to be that double standard...I don't mean double in a negative way, I mean in a positive way...yes, honor for the one who deserves it, and rebuke publicly for the one who deserves that.
Now this takes courageous action. I mean, who is going to do this? You say, "This is...boy, I mean, I don't want to get into this. And, boy, what about the poor guy, he's such a nice guy and he's served the Lord and he's been in the church and what about his poor wife and what about his poor kids? We want to be sympathetic and we don't want to create a problem. Oh, we might get sued." You hear that one all the time. This is pretty common stuff. And so everybody just sort of backs away..."It would make a scandal in the church and people would wonder about the church, we don't want to, you know, create any problems, people might leave, you know, lots of folks liked him and they'd be offended if we did that." So we do nothing.
So just in case you're tempted to do nothing, verse 21 comes like a thunderbolt. "I charge you," he says to Timothy, knowing that Timothy is somewhat timid and a little bit intimidated since he is the Lone Ranger in the midst of the whole bunch of false leaders. He says, "I charge you, I thoroughly admonish you," is what that means, "I solemnly earnestly declare to you before God who is the judge of all the earth and Christ Jesus to whom all judgment is given and the elect angels who are the instruments and agents of judgment," boy, this is a heavy-duty group here. "I admonish you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels that you observe to keep," it means to keep, "these things without...watch this...without preference and without partiality." He says, "I'm telling you to do this and I'm telling you to do it because God is watching, Christ Jesus is watching and the holy angels are watching. And I call you to do this in front of God the eternal judge of the earth, in front of Christ to whom all judgment is given, in front of the elect angels, that is the holy angels, the unfallen angels, who are both spectators of the church and agents in judgment and I call you before the holiest of the holies of heaven to do this." Why? God is concerned with the purity of the church. Christ is concerned with the purity of the church. The holy angels are concerned with the purity of the church. The elect angels, those who were chosen to eternal glory and holiness, along with serving God are waiting to see your obedience. That's the issue. They're waiting to see your obedience.
Now who you going to please? You going to worry about the community? You going to worry about God? The church still tolerates false teaching. It tolerates sin. And one of the grossest sins is false teaching. And another one that very few people talk about is money problems in the church. The church can tolerate all this and so save its reputation among men and lose its reputation in heaven. It's to be done without prejudice...proskrimatos, without preferential treatment. In other words, you shouldn't say, "Well, you know, he's such a nice guy, everybody likes him." On the other hand, it shouldn't be done with partiality, that means, "I can't stand the guy, let's really dump it on him." It's done without trying to protect someone you prefer and without trying to expose someone you don't prefer. It's to be done with accuracy and integrity, unprejudice and impartial, but it's to be done and it's to be done because all of heaven is watching that it be done.
That's pretty strong stuff. I don't know...I don't know any way to say any stronger than the way Paul said it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that when you find a pastor who sins, all of the holy beings of heaven demand that you do a public exposure. That's hard.
You remember back in Matthew 18 when the discipline pattern was given there for how we confront each other with sin. It said, "Don't be afraid to do this," in effect, "because what's being done on earth has already been done in heaven, and where two or three of you are witnessing to that sin, there am I, says Christ, in your midst." So heaven is making the judgment that discipline needs to be done. Christ wants to enact that discipline. And that's why you ought to go ahead and do it in Matthew 18. Here he says you ought to go ahead and do it because all of holy heaven is waiting for you to do it. Are you going to protect the holiness of God or are you going to protect the reputation of a earthly organization?
So, in understanding the biblical eldership, we see that there's two sides...great privilege, great potential for honor, great accountability, great potential for dishonor. The honor is great. I'm telling you, folks, there's nothing like it. There is nothing to even come close to compare with the joy and the thrill of being in the service of Christ among loving, caring, respectful people, it is the greatest, the highest, the most sacred wonderful thrilling privilege imaginable. But on the other hand, the potential for dishonor is monumental because when a man has represented God and named his name and been honored and respected and falls into sin, the disgrace is great...it's great. And I really believe if churches would go back to this, we could insulate some men from sinning so easily because they think they can always get around it. We need to restore a biblical eldership and men who are worthy of double honor because of the excellence of their leadership, because of the tremendous diligence of their preaching and teaching and because their lives are holy. And were you to check in to any area of their life...their marriage, how they treat their children, how they raise their children, how they are with their community, how they take care of their money, if you were to look in any area of their life, their attitude, you would find godliness. That's the kind of men we need in the ministry. If we could ever get back to that, we would see the glory of God in the church. Instead churches tolerate sin and demagoguery and unbiblical leaders and ungodly people, sins and they just don't do anything about it. They treat moral failure with indifference rather than courage. Public rebuke is almost absolutely unheard of. And all we ever hear about is a sort of a hue and cry of let's be loving to people. Well let's be loving to God. Our society is in to prosperity, not purity, it's into comfort not confrontation. But the church has to be into purity and confrontation, if need be.
Now since it's so vital that we honor elders, protect elders, and rebuke elders, the one last point that Paul wants us to understand now is how to select them. And we'll do that next week. Let's bow in prayer.
Father, thank You again this morning for this hour of worship. Thank You for being here with us. We want to be the church that pleases You. We want You and the Lord Jesus Christ and the holy angels who are beholding Your grace in the church to see and praise You for what is going on here. We want to honor those that are over us in the Lord, esteem them highly for love's sake because of their work. We want to submit to them for they care for our souls as though that...as they that must give account and we want them to do it with joy and not with grief. We want to pattern our lives after them. Father, we want to respect them and support them and protect them from false accusation. But, Lord, also we want to protect Your holy name and the purity of Your church. And should there be, God, forbid, some discovery of sin, grant us the courage as we stand in full view of the trinity and the holy angels to do what You have asked us to do that others may fear and turn from sin because the price is so high. God, give us that kind of leadership in Your church across this world, then shall we know a real revival, not the lying false so-called revival that we see being created by perhaps even well-meaning people today, but a real revival in a pure church. And help us, Lord, to do all we can here to live that out.
We would pray, Lord, that we would never have cause to have to publicly expose a pastor here, an elder because we would have such a healthy fear and a healthy love for You that that would not happen. Thank You for the people who are this church, for all that You've done, even as we embark on a new year, we do so with great anticipation of the joy of what is ahead of us. And, Lord, for every spiritual need of every life this morning I pray, meet every need, every spiritual need, every physical need, whatever they might be. We pray for the Savior's sake. Amen.
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What's in it for me? Teachers weigh up Croke Park II
If passed, Croke Park II will have different implications for different teachers. Four teachers decide
Members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) have made their position clear on Croke Park II. They have voted against a package of measures that includes compulsory, unpaid supervision and substitution work as well as pay cuts for top earners. The two remaining teaching unions are still to cast their ballots, and what they see and hear at this year's teachers' conferences will likely feed into their decisions. The executive of the post-primary teaching union Asti has recommended a No vote. The executive of the INTO, which represents primary-school teachers and is the largest and therefore most influential of the three, has left it up to its members to decide.
It's a tough call for those at top table because Croke Park II is a more nuanced package than its predecessor and it affects teachers at different levels in different ways. There is a perception that this is the agreement that puts things right for new entrants to the profession, who got a very raw deal in Croke Park I, but hits the most senior people in the teaching profession the hardest. However, all teachers considering how to vote in next week's ballot have to look at Croke Park in the round and do their sums. Do they stand to lose an allowance for duties to board of management? Do they stand to lose thousands a year on lost supervision pay? How will a freeze in increments affect their long-term earning and pension entitlements? We spoke to four teachers at different levels who have done the sums and now must make their decision.
Fintan O'Mahony
Teaching for 20 years in a post-primary school in Carrick-on-Suir. Member of Asti.
Current pay level: €60,000
Salary drop since 2009: About €130 a week after tax.
What, for you, are the salary implications of Croke Park
At €60,000 I will go into the cuts bracket during the life of the deal if it's passed. That will mean a cut of between 5.5 and 6 per cent."
What changes would you expect
if CPII is passed?
I don't
do supervision and substitution (S&S) duties. I chose to spend my free periods preparing classes. Under CPII I would have to sign up for 49 hours of S&S for free each year. It's equivalent to a pay cut of about 3 per cent. I will have to take even more work home because I won't be able to do it during the working day. It will easily amount to two hours a night.
How will your increments be affected if CP
II is ratified?
I'm at point 20 and I've haven't had an incremental rise in pay for several years.
I'm due a pay rise in September, which will bring me over the €65,000 by €100. I will then be liable for a pay cut. From then on it looks like I won't get an incremental rise for six or seven years.
Do you stand to lose any allowances?
There is an ongoing review of allowances mentioned in CPII. That would include allowances for teaching through Irish and serving as secretary to the board of management. If those are cut, it won't affect me.
Would any changes to the redeployment panel arrangements affect you directly?
Any implications for your pension?
Yes. I could retire up to next August on my pre-cut salary. I won't be doing that, so my pension will be affected by all of the cuts we have talked about. My potential for retirement earning has gone down by about 20 per cent since 2009.
Can you see any potential problems for the
running of your school if CPII is passed?
The changes to S&S rules will leave less time for teaching and planning. Teachers are already finding it difficult to keep up unpaid extra
curricular work such as running sports and drama clubs or managing Green School programmes. If their free periods during the day are taken up with S&S work and they have to take more work home, there will be even less time left to lead extracurricular activities. I used to run the soccer team at school; it was a really successful team that won Munster cups. I've had to give it up. You have to have some sort of balance in your life. I have to get home at some stage.
ow you are going to vote?
I will vote N
o. I wrote all the pros and cons down on a sheet of paper, and there were more cons.
Carmel Hume
PROFILE Principal of a primary school in Dublin. Teaching for 25 years. Member of the INTO.
Current pay level: €80,000
Salary drop since 2009? 45 per cent since 2010.
What, for you, are the salary implications of Croke Park
II? If CPII
is ratified, my total salary will be cut again by 5.75 per cent; about €100 a week.
How will your increments be affected if CP
II is ratified?
I'm at the top of the pay scale so increment freezes won't affect me.
What changes would you expect
if CPII is passed?
In our school, nobody opted out of S&S so things will continue as normal, except that people will no longer be paid for the work. From a management point of view, there will be no substitution cover for teachers on sick leave for the first day. I'm concerned that will cause major problems. It's not like another job where
others can pick up the work. Most jobs don't involve the redistribution of 35 children.
What allowances do you stand to lose?
I have an allowance for being secretary to the board of management which is outside my job description. I have to attend meetings once a month, and if that allowance is removed I won't be paid for that time.
Would any changes to the redeployment panel arrangements affect you directly?
Any implications for your pension?
Huge implications. I'm not due to retire for
15 years but I face a €10,500 loss. I stand to lose about €68 a week if it is carried.
Can you see any potential problems for the
running of your school if CPII is passed?
Not directly
, apart from the issue with substitution. A lot of cuts that are going under the radar are making it harder and harder to maintain standards. However, the cuts to the salaries of teachers at the top of the pay scale, the middle management, will impact down the line. These are the people who are taking on the really good initiatives such as Green Schools and technology development. Middle management is being decimated and will probably never be replaced.
ow you are going to vote?
I'm torn.
CPII will offer improvements to new entrants and that's important. There's great intergenerational solidarity in teaching and that has always benefited the profession. Huge gains have been made; increments have been frozen, but will be paid. But for me, on a personal level, there are huge implications.
Marie Claire Tuite
PROFILE Newly awarded CID (contract of indefinite duration). Teaching in a south Dublin school. Member of Asti.
Current pay rate: €40,000
Salary dro
p since 2009? 6.5 on public sector pay cut and 7.5 pension levy.
What, for you, are the salary implications of Croke Park
I've just got a CID this year after seven
years. I've had an erratic salary and I have been dependent on pay for S&S cover. It is paid in May and I used to pay house and car insurance. It's been part of my salary. I'll have to find that money somewhere else.
How will your increments be affected if CP
II is ratified?
I would get two three-month pauses in payment.
What changes would you expect
if CPII is passed?
I always did the maximum hours S&S anyway, now I will do more
as I will have to be available for five class periods a week rather than three, and I won't be paid.
What allowances do you stand to lose?
Would any changes to the redeployment panel arrangements affect you directly? No
ny implications for your pension?
S&S payments would have contributed towards my pension, but won't now.
A freeze in increments will have implications, too.
Can you see any potential problems for the
running of your school if CPII is passed?
Schools are still trying to grapple with changes from CP
I: it was such a monumental shift. There was a positive attitude to coping with the crisis. No one in my staffroom wanted this to impact on extracurricular activity. People are exhausted. They're coming in early to do choir, debating or orchestra and staying late to do extra hours. I think the compulsory S&S hours will be hard on older staff.
ow are you going to vote?
I'm quite disillusioned with whole voting process. I understood that CP
I would stand until 2014. I am tending towards No.
Aoife Clifford
PROFILE Newly-qualified teacher, working as a substitute across several schools in Dublin. Member of the INTO.
Current pay rate? I'm not on a pay scale.
How much did your salary drop by since 2010?
I was at college when the decision was made to impose an 11 per cent pay cut for new entrants who qualified in 2011/12.
What, for you, are the salary implications of Croke Park
I work day-to-day and I'm never sure if I'm going to be able to pay the rent. If I got a permanent job as it stands, I would be paid 11 per cent less than someone who graduated the year ahead of me. If CPII is passed, there will be a slight increase over the life of my salary, compared to what was agreed in CPI. However, this will be almost nullified by abolition of S&S payments.
How will your increments be affected if CP
II is ratified?
I don't
get increments as I don't have a permanent job.
What changes would you expect in your working day if CP II is passed?
Schools will not be able to hire substitute teachers for the first day of certified sick leave. That's destroying a day's work for teachers like me. The cumulative effect for subs like me will be significant. I anticipate my work will decrease.
What allowances do you stand to lose?
None in CPII.
Would any changes to the redeployment panel arrangements affect you directly?
ny implications for your pension?
Any potential problems for the overall running of the school where you teach if CPII is passed?
Definitely. The S&S cut will mean there will be a class without a teacher for numerous days of the year. Children will be split up and put at the back of classes doing worksheets for the day.
How are you are going to vote?
I'm going to vote No because I can't see any positives to the CPII agreement. There is still a two-tier system that the Government has created between younger and older teachers.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The BlackBerry 10 launch event has already brought some amazing news. Now we're looking at the new BBM Video Chat featuring Screenshare technology. This brings BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger, to the next level and highlights the essence of BlackBerry 10 – real-time communication. Here at the event, Vivek made the first public BBM Video Chat live from New York City to London, England, meeting face-to-face with Andrew Bocking, SVP, Software Product Management at BlackBerry.
Imagine also being able to share your screen with friends and family as you walk them through a photo album – or with colleagues as you walk through a document or presentation – all while still staying on the call. Sounds amazing, doesn't it?
To see it in action for yourself, checkout this walkthrough with Vivek:
[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]
What do you think about BBM Video Chat featuring Screenshare? Who will be the first person you video chat with?


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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 11, 2014) – ETSU football head coach Carl Torbush and his staff released information regarding upcoming tryouts on Tuesday afternoon.
On Thursday, March 20, the ETSU coaching staff will hold a meeting for all on-campus students who are interested in trying out for the team. The meeting will take place in the third-floor forum inside the ETSU Culp Center at 6 p.m.
This meeting will inform students of the requirements which must be completed prior to being allowed to participate in on-field tryouts.
Below is a list of requirements students need to meet in order to attend the meeting on March 20.
1) Bring a letter of recommendation from their high school coach
2) Bring a physical highlight video or provide an online link to highlights
3) Be a full-time ETSU student (12 or more credit hours)
4) Must have a grade-point-average of 2.0 or higher (please bring unofficial transcript)
For additional information regarding this meeting or for those who have conflicts with this date, please e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.
For more information on Buccaneer football, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the football link.


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This July 4th the solar system is showing off some fireworks of its own.
Superficially resembling a skyrocket, Comet ISON is hurtling toward the Sun at a whopping 48,000 miles per hour.
Its swift motion is captured in this time-lapse movie made from a sequence of pictures taken May 8, 2013, by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. At the time the images were taken, the comet was 403 million miles from Earth, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
The movie shows a sequence of Hubble observations taken over a 43-minute span, compressed into just five seconds. The comet travels 34,000 miles in this brief video, or 7 percent of the distance between Earth and the Moon. The deep-space visitor streaks silently against the background stars.
Unlike a firework, the comet is not combusting, but in fact is pretty cold. Its skyrocket-looking tail is really a streamer of gas and dust bleeding off the icy nucleus, which is surrounded by a bright, star-like-looking coma. The pressure of the solar wind sweeps the material into a tail, like a breeze blowing a windsock.
As the comet warms while it moves closer to the Sun, its rate of sublimation will increase. The comet will get brighter and the tail will grow longer. The comet is predicted to reach naked-eye visibility in November.
The comet is named after the organization that discovered it, the Russia-based International Scientific Optical Network.
This false-color, visible-light image was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and G. Bacon (STScI)
Publication: July 2, 2013


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If the economic downturn has left you with extra time on your hands, why not use it to look for ways to strengthen your company? Follow the ten guidelines presented here to find new business opportunities and keep your company profitable.
By Mike Ukena
Times are tough. Business is slow, and the recession is taking longer to reverse than any of us ever expected. In some segments of our industry, there have been signs of optimism, but the improvements seem to have had no momentum and, in some markets, have sputtered out entirely.
It's times like this, when business is slow, that are perfect for making sure you are protecting your company for the future. When your market is down is the ideal time to plan how you can do things better and make sure that your business is still around to take advantage of the next boom.
Whenever the economy suffers a downturn, the screen-printing industry always gets shaken up. One effect is that many companies go out of business because of lost sales. At the same time, we see many new startups come into the in-dustry because of the low cost of entry. Due to poor planning and market research, many of them fail.
Economic downturns release a lot of talent into the labor pool and more importantly, the entrepreneurial market. People skilled in other disciplines who have been ousted from jobs due to downsizing or otherwise left unemployed decide that screen printing looks like a great way to start a business. Some of these people have a lot of solid business-management experience. Others have precious little business knowledge. A few can't even claim to have common sense.
Screen printing attracts these people for several reasons. From the outside it looks fun. It's relatively inexpensive to start a screen shop compared to most other business ventures—for a rather modest sum of money, you can be up and running. Few businesses (with the possible exception of lawn-care or pool-maintenance companies) have a lower cost of entry.
The segment of our industry that sees the biggest influx of these new businesses is, and always has been, the garment-printing segment. Infected with entrepreneurial spirit, the founders of these businesses decide, "Anybody can print T-shirts...I'll bet I can make a bunch of money doing that!" Little do they know that garment screen-printing companies fail almost as often as new restaurants.
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WASHINGTON, April 12 (UPI) -- U.S. immigration policy is "unfit for today's world," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in starting an advocacy group that seeks to change the U.S. economy.
"We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants. And it's a policy unfit for today's world," he said in a Washington Post op-ed announcing Fwd.us, a bipartisan political advocacy group also supported by more than two dozen prominent technology leaders, including Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer.
"My grandfathers were a mailman and a police officer," Zuckerberg wrote. "My parents are doctors. I started a company. None of this could have happened without a welcoming immigration policy, a great education system and the world's leading scientific community that created the Internet.
"Today's students should have the same opportunities," he said.
Fwd.us -- pronounced "Forward U.S." -- is run by former Zuckerberg Harvard University roommate Joe Green and will have offices in California's Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The Washington office will be led by campaign manager Rob Jesmer, a former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The technology leaders started Fwd.us -- which had more than 17,000 Facebook "Likes" early Friday and more than 2,300 Twitter followers -- because the United States has shifted to a "knowledge economy" based on ideas from an economy "primarily based on natural resources, industrial machines and manual labor," Zuckerberg, 28, said in his commentary.
Unlike 20th century resources, knowledge and ideas "are renewable and available to everyone."
In this new economy, "we need the most talented and hardest-working people. We need to train and attract the best," he said.
Fwd.us has three immediate priorities, he said: comprehensive immigration reform that provides a clear path to citizenship; education reform to press for higher standards in schools and a "much greater focus" on math and sciences; and increased investment to create "breakthrough discoveries in scientific research and assurance that the benefits of the inventions belong to the public and not just to the few."
"We will work with members of Congress from both parties, the administration and state and local officials," Zuckerberg said. "We will use online and offline advocacy tools to build support for policy changes, and we will strongly support those willing to take the tough stands necessary to promote these policies in Washington."
Fwd.us has raised $25 million and seeks to double that amount, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Its consultants and lobbyists on both sides of the political aisle are also expected to press other agenda items of the technology industry, the newspaper said.


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Area items of interest
Fifth winner drawn for UWay car chance
Mike Braswell with West Pharmaceutical Services is the fifth United Way donor whose name was selected for the Massey Motor Company car giveaway scheduled for Dec. 3.
Braswell's plant manager, Ken Morris, plant manager, congratulates his win.
A total of 10 weekly winners will draw Dec. 3 for the key that starts the 2011 Toyota Corolla.
Bridge club names winners
The Fairfield Duplicate Bridge Club played a regular game Oct. 16.
The winners were: Billy Bizzell and Pearl Schechter, first place; Jenny Holt and Eva Balknight, second; and Nancy Barwick/Tempie Pierce and Deloris Booker/Annie Bennings, third-place tie.
A regular game will be played at 9:50 a.m. Tuesday at Fairfield Center.
The club welcomes and encourages all bridge players. For more club information, call 252-523-6791.
Southern Bank names La Grange officer
LA GRANGE � Delphine Y. Hall, banking officer in Southern Bank�s La Grange office, has been named Business Development officer. She has been employed with Southern Bank for the past 17 years, where she has held the positions of teller, teller supervisor, Customer Service representative and Loan Officer assistant.
A native of Opp, Ala., Hall earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, management and organizational development from Mount Olive College.
She resides in Goldsboro and has three children � Kimberly Dawson of Opp, Ala.; Ryan Hall of Goldsboro; and Terrel Hall of Goldsboro. She attends New Hallelujah Worship Center in Goldsboro.
Nominations due for YP award
Applications for the 2012 Young Professional of the Year are being taken until 5 p.m. Nov. 7. The award, sponsored by the Allen Pearson Emergency Services Foundation, recognizes adults ages 21 to 39 who are involved in the community and work to make Kinston and Lenoir County a better place to live.
Young Professionals of Lenoir County, an extension of the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce, is a professional society open to men and women ages 21-39. The award winner will be announced at the Young Professionals annual gala on Nov. 30 at the Kinston Country Club. Nominations must be made through the application process. Nominees do not have to be a member of Young Professionals or the Chamber. Previous winners are Mayor BJ Murphy, 2011; Tonya Adams, 2010; and Becky Hines, 2009.
Applications are available at kinstonchamber.com or by calling the Chamber, 252-527-1131.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Supervisor Fired After 38 Years on the Job Because of Diabetes and Kidney Disease, Federal Agency Charges
DALLAS - DuPriest and Sons Holding, a Dallas silk-screening company, violated federal law by selecting a senior employee for layoff because of his diabetes and kidney disease, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.
The EEOC charged in its suit, Case No. 3:11-CV-02525-G in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, that supervisor Alfred Garza, a very experienced worker, was chosen for separation soon after he informed the employer that he would need dialysis According to the EEOC, after Garza informed the employer about developments in his medical condition in May 2009, a member of management told him that the company could "no longer afford" him, despite the fact that his conditions were subject to control and treatment that would allow him to continue his work
"Mr. Garza was honest with management when he returned to work after a brief hospital stay, and he was shocked when just over two weeks later he was told to collect his things," said Toby Wosk Costas, supervisory trial attorney for the Dallas District Office "Alfred had viewed his employer like family after having devoted himself to the job for almost four decades."
Removing a qualified employee from the workplace because of a disability violates the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) The anti-discrimination law was amended by Congress, broadening its reach and protections for persons who are disabled, have a record of disability or are regarded as disabled, effective Jan. 1, 2009 The EEOC investigated the case and then filed suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
The EEOC seeks injunctive relief, including the formulation of policies to prevent and correct disability discrimination The suit also seeks damages for Mr. Garza and punitive damages against DuPriest and Sons
"This printing company took its 'screening' business entirely too far when it decided to screen out a long-term and loyal employee simply because of an impaired bodily function," said Robert A. Canino, regional attorney for the EEOC's Dallas District Office "Thankfully, recent amendments to the ADA give us the law enforcement authority we need to promote change in these kinds of exclusionary attitudes."
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination Further information about the EEOC is available on its website at http://www.eeoc.gov


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Indiana deductions are used to reduce the amount of income Indiana will tax.
First, check the list below to see if you're eligible to claim any of the deductions. If you are, you'll claim them when you file your annual Indiana income tax return - Form IT-40, IT-40PNR, or IT-40RNR.
Important: Some deductions available for earlier tax years may not be listed below. If you need information for prior tax years; for tax year 2009 going forward, review the Schedule 2 deductions area in the IT-40 instruction booklet; for tax year 2008 or before, review the Schedule 1 deductions area in the IT-40 instruction booklet.
If you received a civil service pension (nonmilitary*) and are at least 62 years of age, then you may be eligible for up to a $2,000 deduction.
For more details, view Information Bulletin #6.
*See Military service deduction: Active, reserve and retirement pay for information about the taxability of military pension income.
To qualify for this deduction you must have:
If you meet these requirements, view Schedule IT-2440 and Information Bulletin #70 for more information.
Certain areas within Indiana have been designated as enterprise zones and airport development zones. These zones are established to encourage investment and job growth in distressed urban areas.
If you lived in and were an employee in one of these zones, and worked for a qualified employer in that zone, you may be eligible to claim a deduction. Your employer will provide you with a form IT-40QEC if you're eligible to claim this deduction.
If your employer provided the form IT-40QEC to you, your deduction will be one-half of the earned income shown on that form, or $7,500, whichever is less. Make sure to keep the IT-40QEC with your records as the Department may request it at a later date.
You might be able to take this deduction if you lived in Indiana and:
If you meet the above requirements, see the instructions for Schedule 2, line 11 in the individual income tax booklet to see if you're eligible to claim the deduction and to help you figure it.
*An eligible Christian Science facility must be listed with and certified by the Commission for Accreditation of Christian Science Nursing Organizations/Facilities, Inc.
Indiana has a Long Term Care Insurance Program, which is an innovative partnership between the State of Indiana and private long-term care insurance companies. The premiums paid for this policy are eligible for a deduction.
The Indiana Partnership policy will have the following box of information on the outline of coverage, the application, or on the front page of the policy:
This policy qualifies under the Indiana Long Term Care Program for Medicaid asset protection. This policy may provide benefits in excess of the asset protection provided in the Indiana Long Term Care Program.
Find out more about this program.
Claim the deduction on your form IT-40 Schedule 2, or IT-40PNR Schedule C.
If you installed new insulation, weather stripping, double pane windows, storm doors or storm windows in your Indiana home you may be eligible to take this deduction.
For more details, view Information Bulletin #43.
If you've included any interest from U.S. government obligations on your Indiana tax return, you're eligible for a deduction.
Examples of U.S. government obligations include U.S. Savings Bonds, U.S. Treasury Bills and U.S. Government Certificates. This interest is usually reported on federal Schedule B.
For more information about this deduction, view Information Bulletin #19.
Generally, "rewards" are fully taxable. However, your deduction is the lesser of the amount received, or $1,000:
Some winnings issued by the Hoosier Lottery Commission may be taxed by Indiana.
If you win any prize money from the Indiana Hoosier Lottery Commission, by winning:
You'll need to complete a worksheet to figure your deduction. Find the worksheet, and additional information, in the IT-40 instruction booklet or the IT-40PNR instruction booklet.
Important: Winnings from other state lotteries, Indiana pari-mutuel horse races or out-of-state tracks, Indiana or out-of-state riverboats, and other gambling winnings, are fully taxable in Indiana and should not be deducted from your taxable income.
You are eligible to take a deduction if the income you report on your income tax return includes active or reserve military pay.
Also, if you are retired from the military or are the surviving spouse of a person who was in the military, you may be able to take this deduction if:
This deduction is equal to the actual amount of military income received (i.e. military pay, retirement pay, and/or survivor's benefits) or $5,000, whichever is less. If both you and your spouse received military income, you may each claim the deduction for a maximum of $10,000.
Note: Military income earned while in a combat zone may be exempt (not taxed) on your federal income tax return. If that income is exempt on your federal income tax return, then it will also be exempt (not taxed) for Indiana income tax purposes. Since Indiana isn't taxing this income, your combat zone income is not eligible for a deduction.
Important: If you received both military pay and retirement pay or survivor's benefits during the tax year, the total deduction cannot be greater than $5,000 per qualifying person. For example, if you earned $6,000 in military pay the first half of the year and $1,500 in retirement pay the second half of the year, you can deduct only $5,000 of your income.
For more information about this deduction, view Information Bulletin #6 and #27.
There is a deduction for certain members of the reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps or the Merchant Marine, or a member of the Indiana Army National Guard or the Indiana Air National Guard.
A deduction is available for the income received as a result of service on involuntary orders during the period the above members were deployed or mobilized for full-time service, or during the period the above member's Indiana National Guard unit was federalized.
See instructions in the IT-40 Instruction booklet for more information.
The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (P.L. No. 111-97) was signed into law on Nov. 11, 2009. This law allows a military servicemember's spouse to keep a tax domicile throughout the marriage, under certain conditions, and applies to income earned after Dec. 31, 2008.
An Indiana nonresident military spouse may be eligible for a deduction if:
Earned income for purposes of this deduction includes:
To determine if you are eligible to claim this deduction complete Schedule IN-2058SP (Nonresident Military Spouse Earned Income Deduction).
This deduction is available for tax year 2009 and beyond, and may be claimed if you are filing Form IT-40PNR (for full-year and part-year Indiana nonresidents).
If you included 'recovered' itemized deductions as other income on your federal income tax return, then that amount should be deducted on your Indiana income tax return.
A recovered state tax refund should be reported on its own line called 'State tax refund reported on federal return' on the deduction schedule (IT-40 Schedule 2, or IT-40PNR Schedule C).
All other recovered itemized deductions should be reported on the line called 'Recovery of deductions' on the deduction schedule (IT-40 Schedule 2, or IT-40PNR Schedule C).
You may be able to deduct up to $3,000 of the rent paid on your Indiana home.
You may be able to take this deduction if:
Your "principal place of residence" is the place where you have your true, fixed, permanent home and where you intend to return after being absent.
Rent paid for summer homes or vacation homes is not deductible.
You cannot claim the renter's deduction if the rental property was exempt from Indiana property tax. Examples of this type of property are:
How much rent can I take off? You can deduct up to $3,000 or the amount of rent paid, whichever is less.
Example: Emily paid $4,800 in rent on her principal residence. She will claim a $3,000 renter's deduction.
Example: Bill paid $400 in rent at his first apartment, moved to another location and paid $3,300 for the remainder of the year. His deduction will be limited to $3,000 even though he paid $3,700 altogether.
For more information about this deduction, view Information Bulletin #38.
You may be eligible to take a deduction of up to $2,500 of the Indiana property taxes (residential real estate taxes) paid during the year on your principal place of residence.
Your "principal place of residence" is the place where you have your true, fixed home and where you intend to return after being absent.
Note: Property tax paid for summer homes or vacation homes is not deductible.
No double benefit allowed. If any portion of property taxes paid on your principal residence was deducted as an expense on federal Schedule C, C-EZ, E or F, then that amount cannot also be deducted. See the following example.
Example: Jean used one room of her home for her business. She deducted $200 Indiana property tax as an expense on her federal Schedule C. She paid a total of $1,200 Indiana property tax on her home. Jean's deduction will be $1,000 ($1,200 minus the $200 deduction on federal Schedule C).
How do I find out how much Indiana property tax I paid on my principal residence? Indiana counties annually send statements to homeowners showing how much property tax is due on their property. Add together the spring and fall installments if you paid both of them.
Sometimes mortgage companies pay the Indiana property tax from an escrow account. If your mortgage company pays it, they should send you a Form 1098 (or its equivalent) showing the amount of property tax paid.
If you can't locate the information, contact your local county treasurer's office or your mortgage company.
Indiana does not tax Social Security and railroad retirement benefits.
All Social Security benefits and/or railroad retirement benefits (issued by the Railroad Retirement Board) included in the income taxed on your federal income tax return should be deducted on your Indiana tax return.
For more information about this deduction, view Information Bulletin #26.
Indiana may tax a smaller amount of unemployment compensation than what is being taxed on your federal income tax return.
For more information about this deduction, view Information Bulletin # 60.


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MAHWAH, N.J. — Paul Ruggeri is the first to admit he crumbled under pressure at the Olympic Trials last summer.
But the U.S. national champion and former Team USA gymnast says his mistake taught him a very important lesson, and he's hoping that some of the athletes he works with at U.S. Gymnastics Development Center in Mahwah and Leonia will learn from it, too.
"I got comfortable," said Ruggeri , 28, the chief operating officer at USGDC.
"Instead of fighting and proving myself, I rested on my laurels and I was a little too cocky. That ended up ruining me in my final moment."
He fell on high bar both days during trials, and didn't give his best performance on floor or vault, he said.
"But," he continued, "in athletics that's how it is. You can't be perfect 100 percent of the time. You have to strive for optimum greatness."
As a teenager, being a professional gymnast seemed a bit far-fetched for Ruggeri. As he got older, it seemed less crazy, as it was the sport that provided him with many opportunities he may not have had otherwise.
The Upstate New York native won four individual titles and one team title in the NCAA, all while earning a bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois.
At 21, he made the men's U.S. gymnastics team, which brought him around the world.
"To be able to represent my school and go down in the history books for a large university was an incredible honor for me," said Ruggeri of Hoboken.
"I remember being young and wanting to study abroad. It was 'just gymnastics' that brought me around the world and really allowed me to have experiences most people never will."
The athlete learned a thing or two about hard work and discipline along the way.
"Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something," Ruggeri said.
"All it takes is hard work, dedication and a belief in yourself to make it happen."
Ruggeri says he regrets crumbling at the Olympic trials but figures his future wouldn't have changed much.
"Honestly I would be right here," he said. "This is an amazing opportunity for me to be a part of a company that appreciates me for my gymnastics career, my brain and my education.
"Probably Michele Ribeiro would have found a way to bring me here anyways."
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Bishop Paprocki Warns of 'Intrinsic Evils' in Democratic Platform (2573)
He said that voting for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are 'intrinsically evil and gravely sinful' makes a voter 'morally complicit' and places the eternal salvation of his or her soul in 'serious jeopardy.'
by CNA/EWTN NEWS 09/27/2012– Courtesy Diocese of
SPRINGFIELD — Drawing particular attention to the Democratic Party platform's support for "intrinsic evils" like abortion and same-sex "marriage," Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., has said that Catholics need to "think and pray very carefully" about their votes in the upcoming election.
"My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues," Bishop Paprocki said in his Sept. 23 column for the Catholic Times diocesan paper. "I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding 'political' and didn't say anything about the morality of these issues."
He said that voting for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are "intrinsically evil and gravely sinful" makes a voter "morally complicit" and places the eternal salvation of his or her soul in "serious jeopardy."
There are "many positive and beneficial planks" in the Democratic Party platform, the bishop said, but some promote "serious sins."
In 2008, he noted, the platform dropped its call for abortion to be "safe, legal and rare" in favor of the language "safe and legal." It now supports abortion "regardless of the ability to pay." He said this means either taxpayer funding for abortion, mandatory insurance coverage or coercion of hospitals to perform the procedures for free.
Bishop Paprocki added that the Democrats' national platform supports same-sex "marriage," deems "gay rights" to be "human rights" and calls for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman in federal law.
The bishop noted the existence of Republicans who support legalized abortion and others who support same-sex "marriage." He said they are "equally as wrong as their Democratic counterparts," but their positions do not have official party support.
Bishop Paprocki also examined the Republican Party platform and found that it has "nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin."
The platform's support for allowing courts the option of imposing the death penalty in capital murder cases is not inherently opposed to Church teaching. He cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church's teaching that the death penalty is permissible if it is the only possible way to defend human life.
Bishop Paprocki said that party's differences about the needs of the poor and the challenges of immigration are "prudential judgments about the most effective means of achieving morally desirable ends, not intrinsic evils."
He concluded his column with a prayer that God give Catholic voters the "wisdom and guidance to make the morally right choices."
Read Article Here


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Dr. Sherry Field, dean of the Arkansas Tech University College of Education and professor of curriculum and instruction, has been elected as one of the charter members in the new honorary Eleanor Roosevelt Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi.
Election into the lifetime honorary chapter is limited to 100 living members. Field will be formally inducted into the Eleanor Roosevelt Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi during the organization's 49th biennial convocation Oct. 24-26 in Dallas, Texas.
According to Faye Snodgrass, executive director of Kappa Delta Pi, the Eleanor Roosevelt Chapter was established to "recognize men and women who have made significant contributions of service to the society and exemplified its ideals of excellence and education."
Field has been a member of Kappa Delta Pi since 1989. She has served as chapter counselor for Kappa Delta Pi at three universities — the University of Colorado at Denver, the University of Georgia and the University of Texas at Austin. Field was vice president for Kappa Delta Pi International from 2002-04 and a charter recipient of the O.L. Davis Jr. Chapter Counselor of Distinction Award in 2009.
Field joined the Arkansas Tech faculty as professor of curriculum and instruction and dean of the College of Education on Sept. 1, 2012.
She previously served as associate dean for teacher education, student affairs and administration in the University of Texas at Austin College of Education.
Field holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Texas Tech University, a Master of Education degree from Stephen F. Austin University and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Texas at Austin.
A member of the University of Texas faculty from 2001-2012, Field was the Catherine Mae Parker Centennial Professor in Education on the Austin campus.
She has taught and served as an administrator in K-12 education in Arkansas and Texas. Her previous faculty appointments included stints at the University of Colorado-Denver and at the University of Georgia, where she earned a Glickman Fellowship in 2000.
Field is a former editor of Social Studies and the Young Learner and a former chair of the College and University Faculty Association Executive Board of the National Council for the Social Studies.


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international trading company | 136 West Main Street | Welland ON Canada L3C 5A2 | Tel. 905-788-3577
I have severe hearing problems - please contact me by e-mail
Searchable Data Base for visitors or business interested in
Ontario and Newfoundland-Labrador
Things to see and to do
Shopping, Investment
A visit to the Pillitteri Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the Lake
Contact Information:see web site
Tel. N/A
Description:Ontario is gaining a good reputation for wine. Without any doubts the Ice wine is one of the top products. We recommend to visit some wineries and do some testing before purchasing wine. We did this with our visitors from Germany. Join a wine tour. Ice wine is a good souvenir.
Contact Information:N/A
Tel. N/A
Description:Jordan and its surroundings are a very lovely part of the Niagara peninsula. Nestled between vineyards and fruit gardens it is one of my favorite destinations when we have visitors and I want to show them our area. The Location has a relative long history and all the old houses are nicely renovated. Many of them have been converted into small galleries, stores and boutiques. I was especially attracted by one which sells sculptures and other art work created by the Inuit and Iroquois.
Contact Information:N/A
Tel. N/A
Description:If you come from abroad you should not miss to learn something about the native people of North America. Please travel along the Grand River and visit Ohsweken which is the largest Location located in the reserve called "Six Nations". Go to the information center which is located directly on the road which guided you along the river and get some actual information. Visit our web site.
Three Oak Tourist Resort in Bruce Mines, Ontario, Canada
Contact Information:Point Pelee National Park, 407 Robson Street, Leamington, Ontario N8H 3V4, Canada
Tel. 519-322-2365
Hosts: N/A
Internet: http://http://www.itcwebdesigns.com/three_oak_tourist_resort_engl.html
Description:Three Oak Tourist Resort... that means 7 housekeeping cottages on a beautiful northern Ontario lake - Gordon Lake - just 45 minutes east of Sault Ste. Marie and the US border. If you are a nature lover and do not want to travel with a huge motor home or a trailer vacations at a cottage resort is the best and most cost efficient way for vacations in Canada. Attached souvenir shop which offers unique items - please click at the link in above web site.


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Find Your Perfect Home.
Kentwood Real Estate
Kentwood is located in Michigan. Kentwood, Michigan has a population of 51,357. Kentwood is less family-centric than the surrounding county with 27.98% of the households containing married families with children. The county average for households married with children is 33.22%.
The median household income in Kentwood, Michigan is $49,201. The median household income for the surrounding county is $52,716 compared to the national median of $53,482. The median age of people living in Kentwood is 33.9 years.
Kentwood Weather
The average high temperature in July is 82.8 degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 18.1 degrees. The average rainfall is approximately 37.2 inches per year, with inches of snow per year.
View Homes for Sale in Kentwood
Kentwood Map
Real Estate Near Kentwood
Nearby Cities
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We come to the end of the cemeteries I visited while in North Carolina in 2005. I went to 3 different counties - Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln - in search of my ancestors. It was a very strange experience for me. The first difference I noted was that the cemeteries in North Carolina are not regulated to a few acres outside of town. Just about everywhere you find a church, there is a cemetery right next to it. Cemeteries are located right next to the Bi-Lo Grocery stores and the Waffle Houses. Everywhere you look, you'll see cemeteries. I have to tell you that it really creeped me out when I first arrived.
Most cemeteries in California are located on the outskirts of town. My feeling is that it was done this way because having to look at a cemetery all the time is bad for business and new housing developments. "Out of sight, out of mind". It is too sad to have to look at a cemetery everyday. West Coast people only want "Happy Thoughts". Yes they deal with death, but they deal with it as quickly as possible and then try to forget about it. My father died in 1988. He is buried in Fresno, about 3 hours from where I live. I am ashamed to tell you that I have not been to visit his grave since the day we buried him.
I was very nervous about just driving right up to a headstone, get out of the car, take pictures - like I was a tourist on vacation. Where I come from, you just don't go walking around in a cemetery. Not unless you have been double-dog- dared on a cold and windy night by a bunch of juvenile delinquents. Or so I am told.
Unlike most West-Coasters, the East Coasters like to keep their dear ones close to them. Even if they've been dead for over 150 years. I notice that the people in North Carolina have a way different attitude towards death than most people I know in California. Death isn't a scary thing to them. The graves I saw in these 3 counties were all well cared for. Most had fresh flowers. It didn't seem to matter if the person had died 1 day ago or 100,000 days ago. Visiting kin at the cemetery is something you do.
After spending a couple of weeks in these counties I got over the creepiness by telling myself , "Self - you are a professional and you are here doing your job. Remember that job you love so much?" Slowly, without my even noticing right away, I was pulling a weed or two, bringing flowers with me in case I found an ancestor that day and felt myself connecting with these people who basically gave me life.
Each one that I shared with you was a pioneer in the tri-county area - John Teeter Beam and his son John Beam, Peter Hoyle and his son Michael Hoyle, Sebastian Bess and All arriving around 1740-1760 and there are descendants of all these men still living on the same land to this very day!
Friday, October 31, 2008
My Observations on Cemeteries in North Carolina
1 comments:
- Judith Richards Shubert said...
Wonderful account of your North Carolina visits. Enjoyed it very much. I just returned from visiting the Outer Banks and the Blue Ridge Parkway areas of North Carolina where I, too, saw a cemetery at every turn and a little country church to go with it!
- November 6, 2008 at 8:54 AM
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Browsing by Author "Cooper, Rachel"
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An investigation into the communication exchange between small business client and graphic designer. Cumming, Deborah (Robert Gordon University Gray's School of Art, 2007-08)Graphic designers encounter particular difficulties when undertaking work for small business clients. Identifying the core business values is an essential step to ensure that a successful design solution results. An ...


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In what appears to be a legal first, the High Court in London this week used Twitter to serve an injunction in a case involving conservative blogger Donal Blaney.
The court ordered an anonymous Twitter user to stop impersonating Blaney by tweeting under the same name as his blog, Blaney's Blarney.
The order was sent to the user's Twitter account with a link to the injunction. There was no immediate indication that the Twitter user had read the message.
According to a BBC story, Blaney sought the injunction rather than dealing with a "potentially lengthy process" of contacting Twitter and having the San Francisco company deal with the anonymous poster.
Twitter, which has set up a process to verify the accounts of celebrities and weed out impostors, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about this case.
Blaney is a principal at Griffin Law, which dubbed the injunction the "Blaney's Blarney Order."
"The Blaney's Blarney Order is a huge step forward in preventing anonymous abuse of the internet," Griffin Law barrister Matthew Richardson said on the firm's Web site. "People have to learn that they can no longer hide behind the cloak of anonymity the Internet provides and break the law with impunity."
– Posted by Benny Evangelista