Burnt To A Crisp: 2013

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

High Point University Takes On Operation Christmas Child

By Jennifer Pascale

High Point University’s Elevation Church extension site takes on Operation Christmas Child this holiday season. With the help of its members and the community, they stuffed over 200 shoeboxes of gifts.

HIGH POINT, N.C.--Giving back to the community is an important aspect in most people’s lives, especially during the holiday season. High Point University is valued for various reasons, but their philanthropic efforts to help change the lives of others outweigh many. This year, an organization on campus reached out to many, in hopes that it would make a difference and put a smile on a face that hadn’t been there before.

Their Mission

The Elevation Church extension site at High Point University aids as a campus ministry. Their mission is to express life, love, and hope into the students and faculty members.

Allie Cook, a sophomore at High Point and a new member to Elevation Church says, “This church has given me a new perspective on the way I treat others and how I live my life. Being involved in a an organization like this has made me a better person.”

Held on Sundays at 11a.m., High Point students put on the worship experiences. Under the guidance of Dustin Stradley, a supervisor from the Charlotte Elevation Church, Haley Moore, the volunteer leader, Will Chambers, the site leader, Erin Foley, the administrative and inventory head, and Dillon Wingo, the production leader, make up the Elevation Church team.

Steven Furtick Leads the Way

This extension site is one of 18 for Elevation Church, which is based in Charlotte. This vision started in 2006, with only eight families, led by Steven Furtick, New York Times Best Selling author of “Greater” and “Sun Stand Still”. Furtick says, “Our church exists so that people far from God will be raised to life in Christ”. Since then, Elevation Church has been able to spread its wings.

In North Carolina, there are eight Elevation Church locations in the Charlotte area, one in Canada, and four college locations with another one in Raleigh on the way. This is only a small part compared to various extension sites all around the United States.

Moore says, “With all of these locations, we are still one church, under one vision and one Pastor.”

Operation Christmas Child
On Sunday, Nov. 17, Elevation Church partnered with Samaritan’s Purse, a non-denominational evangelical Christian organization, and stuffed over 200 shoeboxes filled with presents for an organization called Operation Christmas Child. This charity has given children in over 130 different countries Christmas gifts.

Not only did the members help out, but other students, staff, and people from the local community got involved too.

High Point University plans to make this another one of their many ways they give back to community each year.

To learn more about Elevation Church, visit http://elevationchurch.org/learn-more

External Links:

Sermons

The Code of Elevation Church: A Church Unique Snapshot

Youth Worker: Steven Furtick

The Christmas Season Magnifies the Giving Spirit at HPU

Multimedia Pictures from:

http://www.pbccs.org/occ

http://life979.com/event/operation-christmas-child/

Sources:
Haley Moore- (704) 770-1561
Allie Cook- (443) 834-5053
Steven Furtick and Elevation Church HQ- (704) 246-0800

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

President Obama thanks our Veterans

On Saturday, President Obama gave his daily weekend update lending a big thank you to our veterans serving our country and assured veterans jobs, homes, and a good education when they come back

Obama said, although Veteran’s Day is celebrated once a year, we must make this a part of our daily routine. We want to ensure that our veterans will not being coming back empty handed.

“Now that more of them are coming home, we need to serve them as well as they served us. That requires more than a simple “thank you” – especially from those of us who’ve been elected to serve”, said Obama.

He is making it his mission to help this economy grow and prosper. Obama will continue to call on Congress to pass the Veterans Jobs Corp and put our veterans back into the workforce.

“America’s businesses have worked with Michelle and Jill Biden’s Joining Forces campaign to help returning heroes find jobs in the private sector. They’ve already hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses, and they’ve committed to hiring over 400,000 more,” says Obama.

Obama says we have made great progress, but there is still more to accomplish. Veterans should come home with the opportunity to resume their life.

According to the United States Department of Labor, “The Veterans’ Employment and Training Service and the Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) Job Corps are partnering in a demonstration project that will provide Job Corps’ comprehensive array of career development services to eligible Veterans 20 to 24 years old to prepare them for successful careers.”

Obama promised, "As long as I'm your President, I will make it my mission to make sure that America has your back, not just on one day or one weekend, but 365 days a year.”

Thursday, October 31, 2013

AT&T WANTS TO LIFT BAN ON NEW CELL-PHONE TOWERS IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS OF WINSTON-SALEM

Story from YES! Weekly

By Jordan Green

AT&T WANTS TO LIFT BAN ON NEW CELL-PHONE TOWERS IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS OF WINSTON-SALEM

WINSTON-SALEM--- AT&T Mobility Corp. and American Towers LLC are requesting to lift a ban on new cell-phone transmission towers.

Telecom giant AT&T and American Towers LLC, is a company that builds cell-phone towers and leases space to service providers. They presented a plan to members of the Winston-Salem Neighborhood Alliance in August in hopes that the proposal will go through in the coming months.

Hopes for a successful proposal

The use of mobile phones has been increasing immensely while need for landlines have been dropping.

“The issue behind this ordinance is that over the past decade as people have been substituting land lines for exclusive use of mobile phones…” said Kirk Erickson, the lead planner for the text amendment in the planning department.

“The radius of coverage of each tower is lower than it used to be. Our current ordinance doesn’t allow towers in single-family areas except for the future-growth and rural areas of the county. They need to get these towers where their customers live and are using the phone service.”

The proposed amendment goes before the City/County Planning Board on Thursday. The nine-member planning board will recommend for or against adoption of the amendment, but Winston-Salem City Council will make the final decision.

AT&T creates a strategy

AT&T invested more than $250 million in its wireless and wire-line networks in North Carolina in the first six months of 2013, company spokesman Clifton Metcalf said.

The telecom company’s interest in improving infrastructure in Forsyth County tracks with a nationwide trend that has seen wireless use double from 2010-11 to 1.1 trillion megabytes of data in 2011-12 while 30 percent of Americans have dropped land-line service.

Metcalf added that more than 75 percent of 911 calls in Forsyth County are currently made using wireless devices.

Metcalf said the number of new towers or antennas needed by AT&T to adequately meet its customers’ needs is an “evolving” number, and the information is considered proprietary to the company.

He said the preference of AT&T is to have two or more companies place their antennas on the same tower to minimize intrusion into residential communities, adding that American Towers LLC would lease space to AT&T and other service providers.

Raising Apprehensions

“The existing ordinance requires that any new tower construction be built for co-location,” said Liz Hill, director of government affairs for American Towers LLC. “That’s in the existing law, and we didn’t change it. That’s a common business practice. We own the tower; we lease to other carriers. That’s the goal — to lease to as many providers as possible.”

Hill added that fire departments and emergency medical services can also lease tower space.

Metcalf added that wherever possible, AT&T tries to place antennas on water towers or bell towers, or in faux pine trees so that they blend into the landscape.

The proposed text amendment incentivizes shorter, concealed towers of 150 feet or less by subjecting them to a more streamlined approval process through a zoning review in residential neighborhoods. In contrast, the siting of taller towers would require a special use permit from the board of adjustment.

Unanswered Questions

The proposed amendment also adds language to require that concealed towers on vacant lots be set back to a distance equivalent to their height or a minimum of 100 feet.

“As staff we’ve already worked with the petitioner to try and reach a compromise point that we’re satisfied with so that the ordinance provides safeguards for the neighborhoods,” Ericson said. “There’s an opportunity to change the ordinance further if that’s what the appointed and elected officials want to do.”

Eric Bushnell, president of the Winston-Salem Neighborhood Alliance, said the organization’s membership will ask the Planning Board to remand the matter back to staff to get more input from the public.

“The cell-phone industry proposal raises two big questions which Winston-Salem Neighborhood Alliance members strongly believe should be answered by communitywide conversation,” Bushnell said in an e-mailed statement.

“Do Winston- Salem residents want cell towers in their residential neighborhoods, at all? If residents want cell towers in their neighborhoods, how would they decide where to put the towers?”

Image by Weather Blog: Winston-Salem

WANNA go?

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Planning Board meets on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the public meeting room on the 5th floor of the Bryce Stuart Municipal Building, located at 100 E. 1st St. in Winston-Salem.