This Month’s Updates:
religious liberty
Religious Freedom in Tennessee: Jan. 10
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David Shelley,
FACT’s Director of Church and Community Relations
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(January 10, 2010) – An important day for American believers is just around the corner: Religious Freedom Sunday, January 10, 2010. As a pastor, I want to commend all the church leaders reading this to consider using the Family Action Council of Tennessee’s church bulletin insert to inform your congregations about Religious Freedom Sunday, a special day for churches to remember the precious freedoms that all Americans enjoy under the U.S. Constitution expressly stated in the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution). The theme for Religious Freedom Sunday comes from the Bible verse quoted on the Liberty Bell—“proclaim liberty throughout the land” (Leviticus 25:10).
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elections
Election-Year Education
(January 1, 2010) – 2010 will be a key election year because the Tennessee General Assembly will set the legislative district boundaries for the next 10 years. So it is particularly important that we all know where the candidates for the state House and Senate stand on the issues. So we have already started developing a voter guide that we believe will be the most helpful we’ve ever seen anywhere. We can’t wait to get them into the hands of thousands of Tennesseans this fall.
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legislation
Training Up a New Generation
(January 1, 2010) – We also will be launching this spring a pilot program for high school seniors interested in government and law that we hope will be open statewide in 2011. It’s called Taking the Hill. We will “demonstrate” the program this year with select seniors from Chattanooga Christian School.
This is not another mock-legislature type experience. Rather, students will spend an intensive two days on the Hill during the legislative session, during which time they will receive instruction from a biblical worldview regarding the nature and function of government and law and how that fits within our specific American governmental framework of the “rule of law;” roundtable discussions with those who “do” government, from legislators to staffers to lobbyists to consultants; and breakout practicum sessions using real, current issues in which the instruction can be put in context.
While mock legislature efforts are valuable for teaching students how to maneuver through the process, FACT believes that knowing how to think about the process itself and how that process should be used—all in the context of a Biblical worldview—is the foundational element that is often missing. We believe it is past time that we train another generation that can “take the Hill” when the current generation of political leaders and shapers passes the torch.
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biblical worldview
Worldview Education across Tennessee
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The Truth Project helps to develop a Christian worldview in the community.
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(January 1, 2010) – 2010 also promises to be exciting because Dr. David Shelley will have a full year to work with churches and other organizations interested in hosting a training session for individuals and couples who want to be trained to use The Truth Project DVD series.
With this year’s Ministers’ Day on the Hill event and other responsibilities coming soon, now is the time to contact Dr. Shelley about having a training session in your community. We hope to do at least 10 training session this year, so make sure your community is among those 10 by contacting him now at david.shelley@FACTn.org.
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pastors
Ministers’ Day on the Hill: on the Horizon
(January 10, 2010) – Our fourth annual Ministers’ Day on the Hill event promises to be the most encouraging and insightful Day yet. While the date is not yet set in stone, it will be in mid-April. Keep your eyes open and check our Web site in March to learn more. And consider letting registration to Ministers’ Day be a tangible gift of appreciation to your minister this year.
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get involved
How You Can Make a Huge Difference
(January 10, 2010) – Often people ask us, “What can I do to help?” And many want to know if there is something they can do to help make a difference. They want to invest some time in ways that extend beyond the everyday of their existence and are of eternal value.
If you’ve ever asked yourself this question, the answer is, “Yes, there are some great ways you can help and make a difference.” When Nehemiah led the way in rebuilding the fallen walls of Jerusalem, each person did what he or she could do—they rebuilt the wall in front of their own house.
The point is that if everyone does what they can where they live, then enough of us doing that will change Tennessee for the good. And that means you can make a difference without having to come to our Nashville office. Here are just a few great ways you could be of help without having to “go” anywhere.
- Do you have an eye for discerning cultural and political happenings in our state from a Christian perspective? If so, you can help us stay better informed, thereby allowing us to keep everyone else better informed. How? By offering to check the online version of your local newspaper every day (or every edition every couple of days) and sending us a news tip, or a link to an article that relates to the culture war regarding families, marriage, human sexuality, life and religious liberty. Just keeping up with the major newspapers every day is a challenge, but we sure can’t read all the smaller local papers. If the ACLU threatens to sue your local school system or demands that your city council stop using Jesus’ name in their invocations, make sure we know about it. If we don’t, then others across the state won’t know either. And we need to know so we’ll all know what we need to do.
- Want to help us better focus our energy and resources in order to have the greatest effect? You can do some important demographic work for us as we seek to identify strategic areas of the state in which the most good can be done the soonest. If you’ve got a computer and some time, let us know at info@FACTn.org. You can be a big help.
- Want to see more people aware of what we’re doing and be better informed? What about being a “named” host on a community friend-raiser event to which we invite your friends and the friends of the other “hosts” in your community? And unlike political fund-raisers, you don’t have to “pay” to be a host. If you’re interested, send us an email to info@FACTn.org indicating your interest and what community you live in. We can’t go everywhere this year, but you just may be where we do need to go.
You may have other ideas for ways you can help us help you make a difference. Get in touch with us—together we can make a difference!
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News and Notes (January 2010) 
