Conmergence

If you had the impression that women’s voices are more or less equally represented in media — that the gender byline and TV appearance gap has been fixed — you would be wrong. There is still fundamental male dominance in the public discourse, and that is unacceptable.

When women’s voices are missing, we all are deprived.

We are writing to ask you to help us improve this situation… and, by the way, it won’t be easy.

The OpEd project collects data on female bylines from the op-ed pages of the NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, as well as from content of online sites such as HuffPo, Slate and Salon. Oftentimes, the numbers are chilling:

• 95% male writers for week of April 12th for the Wall Street Journal;
• 95% male for week of March 15th for the NY Times;
• 81% male for week of April 26th for HuffPo;
• 91% male for April 16th for Salon

While these are among the worst weeks, it was an extremely rare week, over the past 3 months, when any of these media operations had more than 30% women’s bylines, and often much less.

There are several reasons for the gender byline gap. One issue is: Anonymous commenting aims hostility toward women. In addition, American Prospect editor Ann Friedman writes: "Men are socialized to be more aggressive and confident, which translates to pitching more articles and getting published more often. Men are more likely to be well connected. Men are more likely to tout their experience."

At AlterNet we’ve featured 1/3 female bylines for more than four years — it’s an editorial requirement. (We’re not aware of any other major media outlet that has a minimum requirement.) But that is still inadequate. We just surveyed our own content over the past month and the number of female bylines is only 35%. So we are not as cool as we thought.

Doing what we normally do every day isn’t enough. So, we’ve decided to dedicate additional resources and make a special effort — raise money for an editor whose primary job it is to assign women content, raise more money to pay for more women writers, and develop a wider system to distribute great female writers to social networking sites and other media.

This endeavor is one of our most ambitious to date.

Recently, a funder agreed with our goals and offered us $15,000 in seed money for this project… but with a hitch. Because one of the points we made was that Facebook was a more positive environment for female writers with no anonymous commenting, our funder wants us to raise matching money directly from our Facebook users. And that’s where you come in.

Will you help us? Go here: https://www.alternet.org/donate/Byline1FB

Any money contributed will go toward assigning and marketing strong journalistic content by women with an emphasis on hard issues of foreign affairs, politics, investigating the Tea Party, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Roxanne Cooper and Adele M. Stan

Associate Publisher and Washington, DC Bureau Chief

AlterNet

P.S. AlterNet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. 100% of your contribution to this effort is tax-deductible. https://www.alternet.org/donate/Byline1FB

A scholarship from big tobacco company led Leila to volunteer as a teacher in Ghana. Seeing her students ambition combined with the rise in global literacy and access to technology, Leila presents the concept of microwork as a way to overcome poverty and participate in the global tech economy.

Leila Chirayath Janah is the founder of Samasource, a social business that connects women, youth, and refugees living in poverty to microwork — small, computer-based tasks that build skills and generate life-changing income.

What is justice? How can we be more just people, and a more just church? These questions seem acute in our time, as American Christians have access to unprecedented wealth and power while so many of our brothers and sisters sometimes lack even daily bread. As this new series of podcasts tries to show, the Bible offers a profound and eminently workable approach to changing our own lives — our attitudes, behaviors, values, and desires — so as to become more just people. I hope you enjoy this series and welcome your comments or questions. Dr. Mark W. Hamilton Associate Professor of Old Testament and Associate Dean ACU Graduate School of Theology Abilene, TX 79699 Editor, The Transforming Word

Podcast here.

In some cultures and at some places of business and of friendship groups, it is a custom for the person who has a birthday to give gifts to others.

So here is my Birthday Gift to you on this day of my birth. It consists of two “packages.” I hope they will stimulate your reasoning mind (Romans 12:1-8; Colossians 2:6-8, etc.) and help you to ponder on issues of public morality, sometimes called “social justice” or “social sin and righteousness,” that ought to be among the concerns of every citizen of the USA. They especially should receive major attention by all Christians who are trying to know “the mind of Christ,” those who want to love the Lord with all their minds (Matthew 22:37-40), to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1), and to worship Him instead of Mammon (materialism or money, Luke 16:13) and the greed that is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

My gift consists of some of my observations about two current issues. They have arisen under the stimulus of seeing how our great nation that once was “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” to use Abraham Lincoln’s words, has become one that is “of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.” People of wealth control both political parties and most major institutions of society. Many of them have so shrewdly twisted biblical principles that their (recognized or unrecognized) greedy interests have won the support of many evangelical Christians as well as of many poor and middle class people.

Of course, I know that many people at every social and economic level have money-directed and materialistic values, while others at every level (like you! [editor: I need to do way better!]) do honestly try to live in accord with ethical and biblical values that put the well-being of people ahead of the acquisition and protection of property. The Bible includes the condemnation of unrighteous wealthy people (read examples in Isaiah, Amos, the other Hebrew prophets, and James 2:5-13) and the sinfulness of loving money (1 Timothy 6:10), but it also has instructions for the proper use of wealth (e.g., 1 Timothy 6:17-19).

Details of my first gift to you, GIFT 1: REFLECTIONS ON HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA, are elaborated below. To oversimplify, it reflects the Mammon Worship that is preventing the most genuinely major reforms of the health system of our nation (even though the changes under consideration will bring improvements). If members of Congress would no longer profit personally from our expensive system, we would win better health care at far lower costs. You and I are lavishly paying for huge costs classified as healthcare expenses that are mostly hidden but prevent any genuine overhaul of our extremely expensive and discriminatory circumstances related to health. To plead that “government must not come between me and healthcare” is equivalent to the foolish plea that “we want the profit-seeking insurance bureaucrats to continue to stand between us and healthcare instead.” Read some of the details below.

My second gift is passed along to you under the title of GIFT 2: MORAL ISSUES IN OUR NATIONAL ECONOMY. It clarifies significant aspects of the causes of our current worldwide economic depression, and it reflects the moral and mental lethargy of Christians who support maintaining or strengthening the very conditions that brought it about. I fear far too many of us concentrate so heavily upon the first part of Christ’s “Great Commission” that we overlook its last part, the command to teach his disciples to obey everything that He commanded (Matthew 28:20). That includes applying His teachings (all Scripture!) to life in our own society, which is so different from that of Israel and the ancient Roman Empire in which Jesus lived. Again, our woes have come from allowing “free enterprise capitalism” to overpower the governmental controls that are so necessary as long as people (yes, even Christians, 1 John 1:8-10) are sinners. Fortunately, despite the strong pressures of Mammon to eliminate the balance of powers (legislative, executive, judicial) that characterize our government under the Constitution, they still exist. An analogous or similar balance of powers also is needed more than ever in the economic and other institutions of society.

Christians need to focus upon each respective specific issue that calls for action instead of simply assuming that any one political gang is always correct on every issue. We must not give our highest loyalty unswervingly away to any person (president, governor, mayor, pastor, pope, or other) nor to any group (political party, profession, union, church, denomination, nation, etc.). There is only ONE, whom we should love (i.e., obey and serve) above all else. Only He deserves to receive our unmitigated loyalty and obedience. Of course, we who pledge loyalty to Him sometimes can disagree about the specific actions that obedience to Almighty God calls for because life is so complex, circumstances have so many entangled components, we observe but few of them, and we tend to apply or misapply different teachings from the Bible. We need to help one another to work together as members of the one Body of Christ in this world in which Satan masquerades as the servant of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), trying continuously to squeeze us into its mould (Romans 12:2, Philips) or pattern of conformity.

I hope many of you will share and discuss these observations with family members and friends. They are passed along as “grist for the grinding mill” of your astute minds, not at all “the final word” on their subjects, but as perspectives to place under the revealing “Light of the World” that ideally is reflected by all who are sincere believers in Jesus Christ and servants of Him as their Lord.

Happily, humbly, and gratefully your one-year-older friend, David

David O. Moberg
7120 W. Dove Ct.
Milwaukee, WI 53223-2766
Phone: 414-357-7247
Messages: 414-357-6672

GIFT 1: REFLECTIONS ON HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA:

For your information, I have publicly shared some questions again, this time about the healthcare reform bills that may soon be consolidated by the House and Senate and then made into law. If passed, there will be improvements for most ordinary people, but per capita healthcare costs will continue to soar far above those of most (possibly all) other industrial nations.

On Friday, Dec. 18, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published my letter copied below (with minor adaptations of the first paragraph) in its Letters to the Editor section entitled, “YOUR OPINIONS” under the label, “HEALTH CARE, Keep digging.” (The title I gave it referred to Recusals.)

The article to which its first paragraph refers is Lawmakers invest in what is at issue: Three own stock in medical firms by Diana Marrero on Dec. 13 (pp. 1B & 6B). She revealed that numerous Wisconsin legislators own health care stocks and similar investments. (The three most egregious examples she gave are Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner, Paul Ryan, and Tom Petri.) Marrero emphasized the possibility that personal financial gain could influence their votes on health care reform and, by implication, on other subjects. Similar circumstances apply to senators and representatives from every state of the USA.

My letter added to her perspective about health care reform legislation. It emphasizes that it will be impossible to get major reforms as long as nearly all of our legislators reap big benefits from the status quo.

The ethical principles that apply in scientific research, academic scholarship, legal representation, and many other professions demand that persons who would directly benefit from either changing or retaining the status quo must recuse themselves from policy decision-making, but Congress has made its own rules, so it exempts its members from the need for recusals whenever they are proposing, discussing, or voting upon potential legislation.

I am still sure that “If members of Congress no longer profited from our expensive system, we would win better health care at far lower costs.”

On this topic, there almost seems to be a coverup about many details related to healthcare in the USA. One reason is that the mass media themselves profit financially from keeping our current system. Significant reforms will reduce their income.

Someone, however, must have collected and reported information about the actual health care dollars that are spent (by health insurance companies, pharmaceutical corporations, hospitals and clinics, prosthetic device manufacturing and sales agencies, and other medical and health-related companies) for each of the following categories of expenditures, but why are they not shared with all of us in the regular news channels?

1. Individual and total contributions to the campaign funds of the members of Congress, the President, state legislators, governors, judges, and others who are elected to their offices.

2. Expenditures for federal, state, regional, and municipal lobbying related to health care issues.

3. Advertising in newspapers, magazines, TV, and other mass media that aims to make patients insist that their physicians prescribe specific medications, surgical procedures, prosthetic or other devices, etc.

4. The marketing expenses for promoting and selling private health insurance plans, including Medicare supplemental policies.

5. The total cost of excessive salaries (is that above $250,000 or $500,000 a year??), the special fringe benefits (country club memberships, lavish paid vacations, etc. that normal workers do not receive), and cash or stock bonuses received by the CEOs and top administrators of healthcare-related corporations.

6. The extra costs of repeatedly collecting the same information again and again, plus maintaining and updating those duplicate records, for each patient who uses the services of more than one physician, clinic, hospital, etc., as well as the expenses for transferring data from one agency to another, in contrast to the savings that would come from maintaining a single central data bank on each person. (Fears of abusing such information are linked more with worry over increased premiums or loss of insurance coverage under our current for-profit insurance system than with anything else.)

7. The profits “earned” by those who are executives of and investors in our private health and health-related industrial and commercial  companies. (Yes, that includes most of us who have investments in mutual funds.)

8. All the other expenditures from the health and health-related segment of the national economy that are aimed at influencing legislation and protection of the interests of the industry in contrast to those of consumers. (Some of this is labeled as disseminating information or education.)

Those are among the non-healthcare costs of current health care. They are tucked into its bookkeeping as if they are valid expenses for whatever aspect of healthcare they offer to their clients. Is my impression, that many or most of these costs will be retained or increased and not eliminated by the proposed health care reforms that were separately passed by the House and Senate, correct?

Both “conservatives” and “liberals” have strongly held opinions and fears of what could happen. Both spread lop-sided propaganda through their respective channels as if their views are the whole truth and nothing but the truth on the subject.

But what are the truly relevant facts related to the legislation under consideration in Congress? To me they seem to center around the Almighty Dollar. For the “upper crust” this means the fears of reduced income from their health-related investments, of losing current income tax privileges (under which billionaire Warren Buffett has publicly told that he pays a smaller percentage of his income than does his $60,000 a year secretary), and of carrying a larger share of taxation. For ”working class” people it means gaining improved access to healthcare services within their means to pay and without regard for pre-existing conditions, fine-print exclusions from coverage, lack or loss of employer-covered health insurance, etc. But only after there is a competitive public option plan and the eight issues I mention above have been addressed satisfactorily are we likely to see significant reductions in overall healthcare costs for the nation and for individuals.

(No reply to this memo is requested, unless you can provide a single source that has all the answers to all the issues I mention, using solid biblical ethics as the guide to values.)

Sincerely,
David O. Moberg

=========================================================
Letters to the Editor (sent Dec. 15, 2009; published Dec. 18)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

RECUSAL FROM INDIRECT HEALTH CARE COSTS

Congratulations on revealing how personal gain directly (even if unconsciously) influences votes in Congress (“Lawmakers invest in what is at issue,” by Diana Marrero, Dec. 13). But dig still deeper!

Most politicians have such strong vested interests in privileges from the status quo in Health Care that they ought to recuse themselves from voting on health care reform. They reap rich personal and politicalbenefits from insurance, pharmaceutical, medical device, financial, and other health care companies.

Even when “reformed,” health expenditures will continue escalating. Reasons include legislators’direct profits from investments in those companies, but also major donations by the companies to campaign funds and other benefits.

Citizens are the ultimate payers of the expanding non-medical expenses charged to health care. These include lobbying, advertising to make patients persuade physicians to prescribe expensive medications, duplicating medical records (how many times must we tell each provider the same things, each set fattening another file?), excessive profits and bonuses, and marketing costs of insurance (48 plans just for Medicare supplements in Wisconsin to enable “the annual choice best forus”).

If members of Congress no longer profited from our expensive system, we would win better health care at far lower costs.

David O. Moberg, Ph. D.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
==========================================================

GIFT 2: MORAL ISSUES IN OUR NATIONAL ECONOMY

[The author and source of this article are at the end. DOM]

Elizabeth Warren and Goliath

3. BONUS:
Did You Know?
“Repentance was an involved process in the early church. Sin was seen not as a personal matter but as something that destroyed the unity of the church. Penitents fasted and prayed for the forgiveness of their sins, appeared before the church to make public confession, and were barred from the Lord’s Supper until they gave evidence of a change of heart and were absolved. (The only exception was for people facing persecution. They were readmitted to the Lord’s Supper so they could receive strength.)” —John O. Gooch (Christian History Newsletter, Feb. 13, 2010)

Thank God, even the sins of which we are completely unaware and that that we think are righteous deed are forgiven by our Lord Jesus
Christ. — D.O.M.

What are Dialogue Circles?
Dialogue Circles are comprised of 8-12 diverse individuals who meet regularly for two hours a week for between 4 and 7 weeks to dialogue about critical issues. By having trained facilitators lead the groups, each individual is able to share their feelings, opinion, and thoughts in an OPEN and HONEST way in an environment free of being attacked, defensive, or critical. Each person has a voice in the dialogue and by listening to the diverse perspective of others, participants gain valuable insight that can lead to change or a better understanding of their own and others views.

Scarritt-Bennett Center has been home to Dialogue Circles since 1996.

Attendance Certificate
Participants who meet the attendance criteria receive a certificate upon completion of all the sessions. NOTE: you must commit to attend all sessions in each Dialogue Circle.

Time and location for ALL Dialogue Circles:
6:30 to 8:30 pm – Scarritt-Bennett Center, 1008 19th Ave. South, Nashville, TN, 37212.

Fees PAYABLE to Scarritt-Bennett Center (check or money order only, please): $25.00 for EACH Dialogue Circle (6 sessions). If needed, financial assistance is available.

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED: please complete the enclosed registration form, and submit with payment by the corresponding deadline.

Dates (please note varying weekdays for each series):

2010 Winter Series – Deadline to Register: 01/26/10
____ Immigration: Tuesdays, Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23, Mar. 2 & 9, 2010.
____ Race: Mondays, Feb. 1, 8, 15, 22, Mar. 1 & 8, 2010.

2010 Spring Series – Deadline to Register: 03/30/10
____ Immigration: Mondays, Apr. 5, 12, 19, 26, May 3 & 10, 2010.
____ Race: Tuesdays, Apr. 6, 13, 20, 27, May 4 & 11, 2010.

2010 Fall Series – Deadline to Register 09/13/10
____ Immigration: Mondays, Sep. 20, 27, Oct. 4, 11, 18 & 25, 2010.
____ Race: Tuesdays, Sep. 21, 28, Oct. 5, 12, 19 & 26, 2010.

To register and for more information, please contact Diana Holland, Dialogue Circle Coordinator, at dholland@scarrittbennett.org, or call 615-367-3878.

2010 Facilitator Training Guidelines and Application Form for DID Circles – DEADLINE TO APPLY: Jan. 15, 2010

Want to make a difference in your community? Tired of looking for a meaningful paid activity to do? If you answered yes, then check out our FREE facilitator training!

We recommend those interested apply as early as possible. Please review these 4 documents (doc, pdf):

> 2010_FacAppGUIDELINES_Final

> 2010_FacAppFORM_Final

> 2010_DID_RegistrationForm

> 2010_DID_Flyer

Top Houston Hospital Selects MedConcierge to Offer
Telemedicine to Corporations and Master Planned
Communities

September 8, 2009 (Sarasota, FL & Houston, TX) – St. Joseph Medical Center, the largest, Level 3 trauma hospital in downtown Houston, has selected MedConcierge to provide its advanced telemedicine solution to leading communities and corporations. Both parties will demonstrate the user experience and benefits of telemedicine during the upcoming 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo taking place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, September 27th through October 1st.

"We are very excited to demonstrate the MedConcierge at St. Joseph Medical Center service to local community developers and corporate executives at the upcoming Fiber to the Home Conference," states St. Joseph chief executive officer Phillip D. Robinson, "Telemedicine will clearly be at the center of healthcare delivery moving forward and leveraging the technological advantages of the MedConcierge service over fiber-optic communications will help us extend patient services, generate additional revenue and save costs."

"St. Joseph is a leader in the Houston area, and we are thrilled to play a role in helping them deliver health and wellness services to residents of FTTH communities in and around the Houston metropolitan area," says MedConcierge director Rob Scheschareg. "Telemedicine offers competitive and financial benefits in a cost-effective fashion that is critical in today's market environment. We look forward to meeting service providers and developers at the FTTH Conference & Expo who want to take advantage of the billions being spent by consumers and the government in the next 30 months on home-based telemedicine."

Substantial news coverage, increasing consumer interest and adoption, and the allocation of billions of dollars in Federal stimulus funds specifically for broadband and healthcare information technology have placed telemedicine at the forefront of applications that benefit from fiber to the home networks.

"Fiber to the home provides benefits to consumers and employers that truly improve the quality of life. From our own industry research to that of our members and market followers, it is becoming increasingly evident that consumers want the benefits of improved healthcare services and access to doctors that services like MedConcierge and healthcare providers like St. Joseph can provide," states Joe Savage, president of the FTTH Council. "Telemedicine is a prime example of the type of applications that will be on display at our upcoming conference demonstrating the power of fiber".

To showcase the user experience, benefits and implementation of telemedicine services, MedConcierge and St. Joseph Medical Center will be hosting a number of activities at the upcoming 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo.  These include:

Corporate VIP Demonstration & Reception, Tuesday, September 29th.  For more information call the Corporate Health Connection at St. Joseph Medical Center at (713) 756-8600. 

MedConcierge Booth in the Fiber Zone, located on the show floor during exhibit hours. 

Phillip D. Robinson, CEO, St. Joseph Medical Center will be discussing telemedicine over FTTH networks as part of the Closing Keynote presentation Wednesday, September 30th at 2:00 pm.

For information about these events, visit the conference website at http://www.ftthconference.com.

About St. Joseph Medical Center

St. Joseph Medical Center, downtown Houston's only general acute care hospital, partners with Houston physicians to provide comprehensive health care to all.  As Houston's first hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center provides services for outpatients as well as inpatients, with a full continuum of care in surgery, cancer care, emergency care, Women's services, cardiovascular services, wound care, rehab, sports medicine, Corporate Health Connection and more. For more information on St. Joseph Medical Center, please visit http://www.sjmctx.com or call 713.757.1000.

About MedConcierge, LLC

MedConcierge is the leading provider of telemedicine solutions for community developers and operators, broadband service providers, healthcare providers, and municipalities, that deliver personal, concierge healthcare services to consumers at home, at work and while traveling. Utilizing our award-winning, patent-pending technology, MedConcierge provides unparalleled private and secure access to certified doctors, specialists and content. MedConcierge offerings range from real-time, live videoconference consultations, on demand, 24/7 with leading doctors, specialists, psychiatrists and wellness experts, to educational content, health status monitoring and dynamic electronic medical records – all accessible from the comfort, privacy and convenience of homes and facilities. For more information, visit http://www.medconcierge.com.

Computer World/Network World – Former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina may be launching a run for the U.S. Senate.
Fiorina, a Republican, “filed for a tax identification number Tuesday and registered a campaign committee named ‘Carly for California,’” allowing her to raise money for a 2010 Senate run, according to the Associated Press. Fiorina would be attempting to win the seat of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California who became senator in 1992."

<ed.note>T'is a shame she decide not to use the Technotarian ticket and unify as many third parties as possible. We are apparently beyond the point in the development of the US political structure for a viable alternative party based on conservative (and transparent) fiscal and monetary policies along with compassionate, yet personal responsibility requiring (PRR) social policy. Given her global perspective and technology/telephony expetise she could have been an incredible boon to rural economic development based on individualized distance education and hybridized cloud and distributed computing.</ed.note>

UCP of Mid TN is seeking a full-time employee or contractor to help our agency meet our commitment to the population that we serve through a variety of aggressive fund-raising endeavors, two of which involve sports-related special events. While we are obviously looking for applicants who have the confidence and ability to raise funds and to develop sponsorships & special events, the successful candidate we are seeking is not necessarily the traditional non-profit development person. We are seeking applicants who have a combination of unique skills, reliable community based contacts and basic know-how. This is not a learn-as-you-go position. The individual selected for this position will have to hit the ground at top speed and deliver. At the same time, we are looking for someone who fits in well with our team of staff and dedicated board members. Go to the following link for more information and specific instructions about how to apply:

http://www.ucpnashville.org/Development/PositionAnnouncement.htm

To learn more about UCP of Mid TN please see http://ucpmidtn.wordpress.com

India has been placed in a special position in the world and is
becoming an economically rich country. This development is limited to a
select group of rich Hindu in the country. The Rich higher caste people
are receiving educations while the lower caste are being denied these
opportunities. There are many challenges borne by Christians and lower
cast people. Special quality education, health and common needs are
limited to select groups only. Education and Healthcare have become
thriving businesses. The more fortunate people sell education and
Healthcare for a cost that the Christians and lower caste citizens
cannot afford. Education is in the hands of Hindu higher cast people.
Many private or corporate schools have been established and they are
collecting large amounts of money to get quality teachers and are able
to provide a good education to those who are able to afford it. This is
a great problem for the Christians and Lower caste people because they
cannot afford this education.

Why we have Established a Christian School and Children Home:

1. Christian parents are uneducated and cannot teach their children.

2. They live in rural areas and are agricultural laborers.

3. Their incomes are very low and suffer from extreme poverty.

4. Education is financially unattainable.

5. Poor children contribute to feeding the family. The opportunity cost
of sending a child to school is more than a family can endure.

6. Christians and the poor are at the mercy of higher cast people for jobs and wages.

Most of the Christians are lower cast people in India. Because of
widespread poverty and illiteracy, the church cannot became self
supportive. Many missionaries are trying to do good works and
evangelizing India. Due to poverty churches who depend on foreign
support disappear daily. As Christians become educated they will become
healthier and wealthier people. So they will be able to support the
church through the contribution thereby causing the church to be self
supportive.

Challenges of establishing a Christian School and Children Home:

A school capable of this will not be established in a short time frame.
And it will not be possible to do it with a single man. This is going
to require the hard work, patience, time and dedication of many people
working together. There are few basic needs in order to start a
Christian School and children's home. A Christian school has been
started by Esudas thanks to the generosity of his supporters but it has
a long way to go in order to meet the goals set before it.

We are in need of 3 main things on a continual basis.

1. Physical Resources. There are physical needs like land, buildings,
furniture, play ground equipment and other items for teaching purposes.
Most of these things are in the hands of the Hindus now and cannot be
obtained by the lower caste people.

2. Human Resources. There is a need of staff fulfilling positions of
headmaster, superintendent, teachers, clerk, night watchman, janitor,
cook and other workers.

3. Financial need. We need to find supporters who will fund all of the
things we plan to achieve on an ongoing basis. Small, medium, and large
donations will be useful. We are able to purchase many things for very
little money; with a single cent we can purchase a slate pencil.

School and Home plan:

The School plan acts as an important role in the quality education. For
the quality education we need to have a good atmosphere and location.
If the atmosphere is good children will be attentive and studious.

1. Facilities will have an affect on children's health.

2. School plan needs to outline the running of the school in right manner.

3. Adequate facilities ensure efficient learning.

Different requirements of Christian School and Home plan:

1. Class Rooms: We have to construct the class rooms based on the
number of students. Correct size and ventilation are very important.
Thanks to the contributions of many, this process has only just begun.

2. Staff Room: We have to have staff room for the school to function at
a high level. The room will be useful as a break room and resource room
to prepare lessons. The teachers will keep their books, other valuable
things in that room.

3. Principal room: The principal will be there to organize the school
and to take care of the children. This room will serve as an office.

4. Front Office room: All of the administration things like record keeping. The Clerk and all other files will be in that room.

5. Toilets: We need to construct toilets on the basis of students.

6. Library room: A library is needed for the students to research for reports.

7. Rooms for Children home. We will need a room for boys and a room for girls and one room kitchen and dining hall.

It requires much hard work to see it come into existence. If we have all of these items then we will have reached our goal.

Who we Consider as Orphans

The groups we are trying to reach are the marginally poor, living
outside mainstream society, and illiterates. We are also trying to
reach those families that can afford to offer a meal once a day and
those who are able to send their children to school. If we can bring
these children into our fold and then train and nurture them in the
Gospel from childhood we will have reached three generations of
Christians.

The new school has started with a limited number of students, few
teachers, and little funds, so it will start small and will, Lord
willing, grow each year so that it will become a large school in the
future. We have started with basic school with three primary grades.
The grades include LKG, UKG and 1st Class or in the United States
kindergarten, first and second grade. We hope to add one class per year
and build a new classroom for each class each year based on funds
availability.

We have started this program at the bare minimum and as of now it is
operating from Esudas home. In the future we hope to add the other
rooms as the facility grows. Lord willing, it will contain a front room
which would serve as an office. Behind that there would be a
kitchen/dining hall for feeding the children. And along side of those
two rooms a classroom would serve as classroom/library. A possible
fourth room could be located above the first floor which would be an
open room to house boys, or it could be placed behind the
kitchen/dining hall. It is important to note, feeding students is a
custom in India. It would be equivalent to a school in America not
having a cafeteria. The school cannot exist without feeding the
children.

For now we have started this project in my house by constructing two
temporary rooms where he purchased some land by the side of his home.
This school has been made possible only by the generous contributions
of my' supporters. This school will not continue to exist without
support. It is beyond the financial capabilities of the lower caste
people to sustain this facility. I needs continual support in order to
maintain this work. If you would like to be a part of this work and
help the poor children of India in this area receive a basic education,
We need your praters.

Thank You for your interest.

www.churchofchristindia.com

*A summary list (of the Second Chronicles account) I found on a site I googled by a Paul J. Bucknell:

1) Sin against a neighbor (6:22-23)
2) Defeated before an enemy because of sin (6:24-25)
3) No rain because of sin (6:26-27)
4) Famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, grasshopper, enemies, whatever plague or sickness (6:28-31)
5) For God-fearing foreigner who pray (6:32-33)
6) Wage war against enemy (6:34-35)
7) When they sin and taken captive (6:36-39)