Newspaper Page Text
♦ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2006
6B
Graham charity to send out 8M shoebox gifts this season
By TIM WHITMIRE
Associated Press Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Color
is what Oxana Prohorova
remembers from the shoe
box she opened a decade ago
in Belarus.
She no longer has any of
the toys and trinkets from
that gift box sent to her by
Operation Christmas Child,
but she still remembers the
colors that brightened the
drab world of her childhood.
“It has touched my heart
and it was a blessing to
me,” Prohorova told proj
ect volunteers Wednesday at
a warehouse in southwest
Charlotte.
Those volunteers will help
assemble about 1.6 million
of the 8 million shoeboxes
that Operation Christmas
Child intends to deliver to
nearly 90 countries this holi
day season. The warehouse
is one of several around the
country operated by evan
gelist Franklin Graham’s
Hollywood’s 'Nativity Story’ is a Christmas
gift for audiences desiring reverential films
By RICHARD N.
OSTLING
For The Associated Press
Was the box office for
Mel Gibson’s “The Passion
of the Christ,” that 2004
show-biz shocker,' a fluke?
Or did it reveal a massive
and neglected audience for
reverential fare?
We’ll learn more from the
box-office receipts for “The
Nativity Story,” New Line
Cinema’s holiday gift that
brings elegant Christmas
card scenes of Jesus’ birth
to life on screen.
Christians will presum
ably flock to “Nativity,”
even though the same Time
Warner unit bears respon
sibility for those “Texas
Chainsaw Massacre” mov
ies. Home video and inevi
Church Briefs
Lost child memorial
service
A Memorial Service will be held at St.
Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Perry
at 5 p.m., Saturday for all parents in the
area who have lost a child. Clergy from
many churches will participate. The ser
vice is sponsored by the Perry Ministerial
Association.
Music for Christmas
The Adult Choir of Perry Presbyterian
Church with String Quartet, will present
“A Choral Celebration of Christmas” in the
church sanctuary at 7 p.m., Saturday. The
program includes choral anthems for the
POWELL
From page jB
have a field day uncover
ing the skeletons in his
closet. Newt Gingrich is an
adept politician, but disen
franchised himself by over
stepping his bounds while
in power. Mitt Romney lacks
name recognition and depth
of experience.
In summary, no one on
the horizon is appealing. A
national “voter sentiment”
poll was taken to measure
candidate likeability on a
scale of zero to 100. The
three highest scores were
Giuliani-64, Obama-59, and
McCain-58, all woefully low.
Most potential candidates
received “likeability scores”
less than 50. This indicates
the general public is dis
enchanted and awaits the
DOBSON
From page jB
Above all, we must do what
is required to pacify the
combat zones in junior and
senior high schools.
We will not solve our per
vasive problems, however,
with the present genera
tion of secondary school stu
dents.
Our best hope for the
future is to start over with
the youngsters just coming
into elementary school. We
can rewrite the rules with
these wide-eyed kids. Let’s
Samaritan’s Purse relief
organization, which started
the project 13 years ago to
bring Christmas gifts to chil
dren in Bosnia.
Now 22 and a senior at
the University of South
Carolina, Wednesday was
the first time Prohorova
had ever seen where the
shoeboxes are checked and
prepared for shipment after
being assembled by families
from around the region and
collected at churches and
other institutions.
She was in tears as she
addressed volunteers.
“You guys don’t know how
much it means to get a shoe
box,” she said. “Everything
in the shoebox means so
much to us.”
Franklin Graham, son
of Billy Graham and his
father’s successor as head
of the Charlotte-based
Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association, also spoke to
workers.
“The most important
table TV repeats in future
Decembers will enhance pro
ceeds.
Director Catherine
Hardwicke (“Thirteen,”
“Lords of Dogtown”) says
she sought “epic intimacy”
to evoke “another time
and beautiful landscape.”
Strikingly austere vistas in
Morocco and Italy represent
the first-century Holy Land.
The 10-nation cast boasts
Oscar nominees Shohreh
Aghdashloo (“House of Sand
and Fog”) as Elizabeth,
mother of John the Baptist;
and the magnetic Keisha
Castle-Hughes (“Whale
Rider”) in the primary role
of her cousin Mary.
(As it happens, Castle-
Hughes, 16, is now pregnant
out of wedlock.)
Oddly, Jesus’ ministry and
Christmas season, as well as familiar con
gregational carols.
Perry Presbyterian Church is located at
1111 Second Street in Perry. Phone is 987-
1403.
Walk Through Bethlem
The annual “Walk through Bethlehem”
will be held at Shirley Hills Baptist Church
from 4-10 p.m., Dec. 15, 16 and 17. The re
enactment in costume, with live animals, of
life in the village of Bethlehem at the time of
Jesus’ birth event attracts thousands each
year. Free.
Send information on church events to
cperkins@evansnewspapers.com or call
Charlotte Perkins at 987-1823, Ext. 234.
arrival of a refreshing new
candidate in the race for the
presidency
Sen. Sam Nunn could
be that candidate. He is
eminently qualified to be
president. If he announced
his candidacy, Nunn would
have an excellent chance of
becoming the 44th President
of the United States. He
served in the U. S. Senate
with distinction for 24 years
where he was chairman of
the powerful Armed Services
Committee.
He was a leader in the
Senate and an advisor to
several Presidents. No one
looked after his constituents
better than Nunn. Based
on his proven leadership,
his expertise on national
defense, his Nobel Prize
caliber accomplishments
in reducing nuclear stock
piles under Salt 11, and his
redesign the primary grades
to include a greater measure
of discipline.
I’m not talking merely
about more difficult assign
ments and additional home
work. I’m recommending
more structure and control
in the classroom.
As the first official voice
of the school, the primary
teacher is in a position to
construct positive attitudi
nal foundations on which
future educators can
build. Conversely, she can
fill her young pupils with
contempt and disrespect. A
child’s teachers during the
ingredient we stress to put
into the box is prayer ... to
pray for the child who will
get this hox,” said Graham,
dressed in his trademark
black leather motorcycle
jacket and baseball cap.
Some 40,000 volunteers,
some from as far away as
Ohio, Pennsylvania and
Missouri, are expected to
pass through the Charlotte
warehouse this season. They
review the contents of shoe
boxes, removing inappropri
ate items such as perish
able food, military-type toys,
liquids or medications and
chocolate - which can melt
in transit - and filling any
empty spots. Shoeboxes are
then stacked on pallets and
wrapped in plastic for ship
ment overseas. The things
that are taken out are given
to local churches and chari
table groups.
“You come here, you just
feel the love,” said Tim
Single of Massillon, Ohio,
who helped organize two
crucifixion have provided
ample movie material while
his birth is largely ignored,
apart from cheapos for the
church-basement market.
Perhaps that’s because this,
possibly the most famous
story ever told, lacks sus
pense.
The movie’s historical
consultant, the Rev. William
Fulco of Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles,
endorses mild “higher criti
cism” of the Bible in a pub
licity handout that will rile
fundamentalists.
The accounts in the
Gospels of Matthew and
Luke “are not completely
compatible,” Fulco says.
Since “very little was known
of the events,” he explains,
“the stories were developed
using what is called midrash,
current Nuclear Defense
Initiative to reduce the glob
al threat of nuclear, biologi
cal and chemical weapons,
he is the best candidate to
lead this country forward
into a period of uncertain
ty when war rages in the
middle East and terrorists
seek to destroy our country.
He is a man of honesty and
integrity, whose character
is beyond reproach. Exodus
32:1-6 describes the conse
quences when leadership
declines. Effective leadership
is essential to survivability
of this nation. Senator Nunn
can provide that leadership.
Those wishing to give my
new book, “ Echoes from
the Valley," or “ Pride of the
Panthers ” as a Christmas
gift, please call me at
478-825-8119 or email at
billypow(a)aol.com. EFTV is
S2O and POTP is $25.
first six years will largely
determine the nature of his
attitude toward authority
and the educational climate
in junior and senior high
school (and beyond).
Dr. Dobson is founder and
chairman of the board of
the nonprofit organization
Focus on the Family, P.O.
Box 444, Colorado Springs,
CO. 80903; or www.family.
org. Questions and answers
are excerpted from “The
Complete Marriage and
Family Home Reference
Guide” and “Bringing Up
Boys,” both published by
Tyndale House.
LOCAL
busloads of volunteers from
The Chapel, an Akron,
Ohio-based church, who are
working for a week at the
Charlotte warehouse. “It’s
work, but you go away with
Christ. It’s like coming here
to get a spiritual drink of
water.”
For Prohorova, receiving a
shoebox was a sign of love.
About a fifth of Belarus
was evacuated due to fallout
from the Chernobyl nuclear
reactor explosion in neigh
boring Ukraine in 1986,
when both countries were
part of the Soviet Union.
She later visited the United
States on a student exchange
and in 2001 was granted
asylum for religious reasons
and allowed to live with a
family in the Charlotte sub
urb of Rock Hill, S.C.
After she graduates from
college in May, Prohorova
said, she hopes to perform
church mission work in
Africa.
On Wednesday, though,
a sometimes creative recon
struction of events based
on what is actually known,
elaborated from clues” in
prior writings.
Screenwriter Mike Rich
(“Finding Forrester,”
“The Rookie”) is devoutly
Christian. Since he turned
the minimal scriptures
into 94 minutes, how does
“Nativity” compare with the
Bible?
Rich follows a largely lit
eral replication of Matthew
and Luke. Unlike some of
Gibson’s “Passion” embroi
dery, the elaborations emerge
naturally from the biblical
and cultural background.
Subscribe today
Call 987-1823
/ Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas Krissmas
ATTN FIRST CHRISTMAS
IS MUST BE RECEIVED BY I
006, BY END OF BUSINESS DAY. (
she showed off the shoebox
she packed for this year’s
Operation Christmas Child.
It included colorful hair
accessories, a plastic watch,
candy, a toothbrush and
toothpaste and - most
important - a letter telling
her story and a photograph.
She still remembers how
jealous everyone was of the
Grrrreat Deals
ft yen have w mpUiinn
0fe «es t< veil and it*s under ldW ps
t o us If. *c. iall cur Con >Puter p ()rh
classified dent. + well
111,1 it r > days jBM |
limit 1 pmmUWH per week
, rami nm in 1 Hnei .
Item PD 195
1/4 ct. 399.95
I 2 ct. 799.95
j'lct. 1895.00
1 I Get. 3300.00
2 ct. 4695.00
Item ERII6
1 ct. 1499.95
DAVID OVERTON JEWELERS
kjos DOWNTOWN CARROLL ST,
PERRY, GA31069
*478-987-1392
||p photo* unit be available far (ndcup at eta Perry ojjtce after January 2, 2007,
or inebtde a self-addressed, stamped envelopeJbr photo return.
11l The Houston Dads Journal is not lusble Jbr lost or damaged photos /math
“wsT
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
girl in her class who received
a watch in her shoebox _ and
of the people whose boxes
came with letters inside.
“Everyone wanted to write
back to the families,” she
recalled.
“To open a box and see that
somebody cared so much for
you in a foreign country, it
means so much.”
MOISSANITE
Created B\
CHARLES & COLVARD*
Journey Diamond Jewelry Collection
with KVer\ Step. Love Grows
4 1 2 s<>
A