Religion offerings: 7-19
7/19/2014Baptism pools
A trinity of sorts comes to CedarCreek Church Sunday when it holds its third annual Mother of All Baptisms at its Perrysburg campus. The staff expects more than 500 people to be baptized, and they will have six outdoor swimming pools dedicated to that purpose—and free T-shirts for the newly dedicated Christians. The CedarCreek band will be in top form as it records a live CD during the New Community worship service in the auditorium. And the attendees will have a party on the grounds, with free food provided by the church and a variety of food vendors selling their specialties, a DJ spinning music, games and inflatables, then a fireworks show to close the event.
Baptism classes start at 3:30, Perrysburg campus pastor Tom Martin said, and will take place every half hour. Parking is available at the church, 29129 Lime City Rd., Perrysburg, and at the Penta Career Center, 9301 Buck Rd., Perrysburg, where the church will offer free shuttle service. Doors for the 6 p.m. New Community service open at 5:15. People may bring chairs and blankets to sit for the fireworks.
For more information, go to cedarcreek.tv/moab.
Hymn sings
A four-week ecumenical hymn sing series in Bowling Green begins Sunday at First United Methodist Church, 1526 E. Wooster St. On July 27, it moves to St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 315 S. College Dr., then on Aug. 3 it will be at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 150 S. Enterprise. The final Sunday, Aug. 10, First Presbyterian Church, 126 S. Church St., is host. All hymn sings are at 5 p.m., and light refreshments will be served afterward.
Australian in Wauseon
Ben Fitzgerald, an Australian evangelist and the founder of the Empowered Evangelists Network, will speak at a worship service at Oasis Christian Fellowship, 400 Enterprise Rd., Wauseon, Friday at 7 p.m. Mr. Fitzgerald currently serves as the neighborhood outreach pastor for Bethel Church in Redding, Calif. A love offering will be taken. For more information, call 419-335-9800.
Buying beds
The Rosary Care Center, the four-story, 76-bed nursing home on the motherhouse grounds of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, is buying beds, a vital sign monitor, and other equipment thanks to a grant of more than $20,500 the sisters received from SOAR!, Support Our Aging Religious. SOAR!, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization, gives money to help monks, brothers, nuns, and sisters. The Sylvania sisters have receieved 13 other SOAR! Grants since 1994. Rosary Care Center cares for women and men from other Toledo-area religious communities in addition to their Franciscan order, and it cares for family members of the religious as well.
Ramadan at White House
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has delivered measured remarks to Muslims attending the annual Ramadan iftar dinner at the White House.
Some attendees at Monday night’s event were angry about a magazine’s report that the National Security Agency and the FBI scanned the emails of five prominent Muslim-Americans under a secret surveillance program aimed at foreign terrorists and other national security threats.
The Obama administration has not confirmed the report in The Intercept. But the president said “no one should ever be targeted or disparaged because of their faith.”
He also said that Americans have the right to practice any faith or no faith and can change religions. Not mentioned was the fact that Muslims in other parts of the world can be charged with apostasy if they convert to another religion. The president also praised an attendee from the Ahmadi branch of Islam, which many Muslims consider heretical.
Amid new conflict in the Mideast, Obama said that while the deaths of Palestinian civilians are tragic, Israel has the right to defend itself against “inexcusable” rocket attacks. He added that “further escalation benefits no one.”