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HEADLINE NEWS
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"A Growing Presence on the Web"
(04-00) STAMFORD Waylen O. Bray
If you own a computer and have an internet account you are aware of the growing influence of the World Wide Web. If you don't, you still have seen news stories, movies and heard personal accounts of encounters on the web.
Regrettably, many of these stories present a negative image of the web. There are many evil influences on the internet. Sites devoted to
racism, sex, drug culture, violence are there in abundance. However, these same influences are in your face on TV, the movies, magazines and through direct mailings into your home.
When you encounter these things in other venues you simply change channels, walk out of the movie, or discard the magazine or mail item.
On the web you delete the e-mail or surf on to a better site that suits your personal preferences.
The good news is there are many positive spiritual sites on the internet. Our church site is one of them. If you want to know anything
about missions, prayer, Bible study, family values, money management, travel, landscaping, auto repair, crafts, (the list goes on as far as your imagination does) the internet is the fastest place to look. Right in
your own home you receive daily devotionals, Bible study materials, prayer lists or places to post your own prayer requests.
If you want to buy anything you can find it on the web. Auction sites, classified ads and direct sales are there for you. You can buy
craft items, a home or an automobile directly off the web. You can go to a site where you purchase your own airline tickets or book a room or buy a concert ticket. You can access a dictionary, an encyclopedia or a
book on how to prune a tree. In a recent search on www.northernlight.com, the words "prayer requests" brought back 80,373 sites. A search for "bible study" returned 234,019 sites. These were done
on only one of dozens of search engines available on the internet.
Our church site offers several things for the casual visitor. Up front is a picture of the church building with the address. Contact
information is right there, phone or e-mail. Buttons are available to see a summary of our beliefs, news items, events at the church, our prayer list, sermon outlines for over two years, ministry opportunities, our
missions ministries, the summer Bible camp and links to other helpful sites. Along with all this a person can click on "How to Become a Christian"; "Please Sign our Guestbook" or; "Special
Prayer Requests" (our newest page).
In a recent week our statistics show the home page was accessed 137 times and there were a total 563 page views. Most of these, 547, were
from the United States, 10 from the United Kingdom, three from Australia, two each from Canada and New Zealand, and one each from Singapore and Germany.
We have a list of all the search phrases used to find our site. Week after week, the most searched for phrase is "Petition
2493", the phony O'Hair FCC petition. We are very pleased that most weeks "How to Become a Christian" (in one form or another) is one of the top hits on our site. Every week there multiple hits to the
site looking a particular sermon or for sermons in general. We do an e-mail list for those who would like to receive the sermon outline of the week as well as the prayer list.
A visitor to our church last winter said, "I had no trouble finding you. I recognized the building from the photo on the web."
Many times we are contacted by someone moving to "Stamford" who is looking for a church. Most of those times when we reply we find the person is seeking information about Stamford, CT, not Stamford, NY.
Maybe we need to develop a list of Stamford, CT, churches to refer them to.
The possibilities on the internet are endless. If you are looking for internet access, you want to know more about how to search the web
or if you need advice on hardware, contact Pastor Bray. If you think your church could be a positive influence on the World Wide Web contact Pastor Bray's son, Waylen Bray, at www.scenicview.com or call him at
1-877-392-1880. He will advise you.
Senior Luncheon, Another Success
(09-99) STAMFORD Waylen O. Bray
The annual Senior Citizen's Luncheon came off in style at the Church on Lake Street. We were blessed with about 60 guests who consumed a
number of chicken pies, Jell-O salad and PIE (the real thing â€" apple, pumpkin, etc.).
We were also blessed with Jim & Sharon Wheeler of Oneonta, NY, who told a few jokes, sang hymns, gospel songs and a few popular
numbers of days gone by.
Jim brought a relevant message from the Bible to the group. He certainly had the attention of the crowd as he shared from the word. God
has certainly given him a gift to preach, sing and (now) dance.
Jim and Sharon are members of the Oneonta Assembly of God Church. For a number of years they have been involved in a ministry to nursing
homes, elderly residences as well as evangelistic preaching. They are available for any ministry opportunity you may have. They may be reached at: jswheels@dmcom.net or, 2 Hubbell Ave. Oneonta, NY 13820, ph. 607-432-7052.
The people of the church pitched in to decorate the auditorium, prepare the food, serve and be host and hostess. The youth actually
served the food, a job they have enjoyed since discovering they get first shot at the pies. (Maybe a little more supervision is in order) There was an abundance of food and, at least, 12 basketfuls went home with
people.
We certainly had fun and felt lifted up when we departed in the afternoon. The annual luncheon is our way of saying "Thank
You!" to the generation who passed on to us a free country. Many people today do not realize the price paid by those who are now departing. The older generation lived through the Great Depression and then took
up arms against tyranny in WW II. Without the sacrifice of our senior citizens we would live in a much poorer world with much restricted liberties. Again, we want to say, "May God bless each and every one of
you" .
Mission Trip to Honduras
(6/99)HONDURAS Waylen O. Bray
Pastor & Cherlyn Bray went with Westside Ministries to
Honduras, June 3-10. We want to report on the trip and encourage you to consider participating in future trips.
We were not sure what to expect on our trip and had lots of pleasant surprises. Cherlyn and I are both travelers and almost always
welcome new experiences. We arrived at the airport in Tegucigalpa and after a couple hours boarded an old school bus. Our driver backed out of the airport driveway into four lanes of traffic and across to a side
street and parked. We then saw the armed guards at Pizza Hut and Burger King. Every place of business which handles large amounts of money must have private security forces to be sure they will not be robbed.
After several delays we gathered our Honduran workers and drove to Valle de Angeles. It is a beautiful small city high in the mountains
about 22 km north of Tegucigalpa. The climate was excellent and the weather very good.
The results of Hurricane Mitch on the country will be obvious for years. The bridges are going back in and roads are being repaired with
a combination of hand and machine labor. Even where we were high in the mountains the road was washed away every few kilometers. It will soon be nine months since the disaster and the rainy season is beginning again
and there is a sense of fear of the future.
We settled into the local Seventh Day Adventist hospital for our living quarters and went to the Community Center to unpack our
equipment. We were in bed and tired enough to sleep soon after dark on the first day, June 3.
Cherlyn and I took blood pressures and weighed the incoming people. We then directed them to either the medical or dental waiting line.
We were greatly helped by two young men, Jose Eliceo and Henry Aguilar, both teenagers. They were our very capable translators. During the five days we operated the Medical Brigade we saw over 1800 people and was
very impressed with their patience and good humor.
We worshiped on Sunday morning with the local orphanage and the music was fantastic. The presence of the children was wonderful and tears
filled the eyes of more than one of us as we rejoiced with them. We went into Tegucigalpa to worship at Padre Neustra. Roger Blanchard, our leader, preached and 3 were saved. Several were delivered of various
serious spiritual afflictions.
The local people in Valle de Angeles received us with friendship and even love. There are so many images of people who came our way and
we saw them being helped. It fills the heart. One image that will never go away is of Ileisia Yamileth Garcia carrying her severely retarded and handicapped daughter to see if we could help. We soon discovered she
had six children, is pregnant and her husband had been killed a month before. She has no way of supporting her family. Our church has begun to provide for her family $40 per month and will be sending a big wheel
stroller to transport her child in. One item of interest: in examining the child, there were no pressure sores on her nor was there any dirt. This poor family is doing all they can to care for themselves. We can't
change everything in the world but we can change something. With God's help and direction we will.
Additional Notes from our trip can be found HERE.
CORE VALUES Grows and Serves
(1/99) STAMFORD Waylen O. Bray
In the spring of 1993 a group of area people were called together by Steven Herring, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, and Waylen Bray, pastor of the Baptist Church of Stamford.
The purpose of those early gatherings was to determine what could be done to establish an organization to help people
help themselves. Many ideas were considered. Projects that were proposed in the early days included a thrift store to process items that were otherwise going to be thrown away. A workshop that would have many uses.
It could be a place in which people could learn to sew and use sewing machines to do their own projects. A place where individuals could work on their own automobile was imagined. this would be a location where
people could have a hand up as well as extend a hand to others.
In May 1993 a site had been located in the former Harris Department Store building on the corner of River and Main
streets and a board of directors was called together.
Soon the work of operating the facility and reaching out to others began to take on a new meaning. A name was proposed by
Herring; CORE VALUES! The name is an acrostic which stands for Creative Opportunities to Restore Environments Various Abundant Lost Uses Enterprise Society.
The mission statement was: To build friendships on the basis of shared work. To help people who are living below the
poverty line to obtain basic resources at an affordable price. To rebuild the spiritual center of our community. And, To address the needs of the youth of our community.
The stated purpose was to maintain a network through which people can help each other by sharing and salvaging surplus
and wasted resources. The vision was to focus on a thrift-work shop which will draw resources from materials that were then thrown away or not being put to productive use.
CORE is a community based organization that represents Christian values which provide a healthy environment for
fellowship. While cooperating with the area churches, service organizations and businesses, CORE would become its own support agency.
One key person in the organization is Jean Tompkins who is manager of the Thrift Store. Jean works with the board of
directors and makes many of the day to day decisions essential to the efficient operation of the program. There are 60-70 volunteers currently working with CORE.
Though raising money was never the primary purpose of the organization $33,040 has been distributed, through July
1998. In addition, $10,000 has been set aside to provide ongoing scholarships for area high school graduates.
The CORE VALUES Thrift Store and Workshop is presently located at 112 Main St. in the Village. This property is part of
the ministry of CORE due to the generosity of the Robinson-Broadhurst Foundation which has been very helpful and encouraging, and Stamford National Bank.
Atheist Disappears but Keeps ``Popping Up" in FCC Hoax (12/98) STAMFORD Waylen O. Bray
All over the local area there are handbills being circulated to protest an alleged attempt by Madelyn Murray O'Hara, an atheist, ``to stop reading of the Gospel on the air-waves of America". A form is on the bottom to allow an individual to sign and send it to the FCC in Washington, D. C. to oppose this alleged effort.
There are so many things wrong with this it is hard to respond to it. First, the woman in question is named Madalyn
Murray O'Hair in every real source I have been able to find. Second, it refers to prayer being banned from the public schools fifteen years ago. The prayer ruling was June 10, 1963, so the document being circulated
is at least 20 years old. Third, a ``Petition 2493" is named. There really was an FCC petition 2493. Presented to the FCC in December 1974, the petition by California residents Jeremy Lansman and Lorenzo
Milam asked the FCC to temporarily freeze the awarding of TV and FM channels to religious and government institutions while it studied whether existing noncommercial stations were fulfilling their obligations to
broadcast truly educational programming. Their petition was denied nine months later.
In short this document is a HOAX! It is a hoax that seems to have a life of its own. Christianity Today reported that,
FCC spokesperson Maureen Peratino said that despite repeated efforts to kill the rumor, it remains alive and well. ``It holds steady," she said. ``We receive a couple million pieces of mail each year. Our
consumer assistance office handles anywhere from 200 to 300 phone calls a month on this."
O'Hair is currently missing and has been since August 1995. At that time she, her son Jon Garth Murray and his wife,
disappeared along with more than $600,000 in cash claimed by two atheist organizations.
The sad thing is that well meaning, but misinformed, people in a sincere effort to prevent the loss of an important right
to communicate the gospel make the Christian church look like a bunch of airheads. Is it any wonder it is so hard to convince people around us of the truth of the gospel when we `fall for' such obvious error.
The enemy attacks from any open direction. This is just one of the routes to make the church look like naive alarmists.
The Y2K problem is also being used by the enemy to make money for opportunistic church ` leaders'. When will we ever learn?
To read more on the controversy of Madalyn
Murray O'Hair see the web site of her son, now a Born Again Believer at http://www.wjmurray.com
Central American Relief Committee Formed
12/98 STAMFORD Waylen O. Bray
Recently a group of individuals have begun meeting, and acting, to make a difference in the great disaster in Central America.
Responding to the great need Joe and Trisha Graig-Toso, Susan Reynolds, Peg Vamosy, Angela Mattson and Waylen Bray have
organized a committee called Central America Relief Committee and set in motion a Christmas Card Campaign. Individuals and organizations are soliciting money which will be channeled through area churches. Each donor
is asked to sign a Christmas Card which will be forwarded to Central America and given to people there to remind them there are people in the USA who are praying and giving to help meet their needs.
The donations will be channeled directly to the Catholic Relief Services in Honduras or to Mercy Ships International in
Nicaragua where former Stamford resident Heather Wilkie is working.
In late October 1998, Hurricane Mitch hit Central America with brutal force, unleashing one of the worst natural disaster
in the region in centuries. In Honduras and Nicaragua alone, almost 9,000 people are confirmed dead, and thousands more are missing, as a result of flooding and mudslides. Neighboring El Salvador and Guatemala also
sustained loss of life and serious damage to infrastructure and agriculture.
Across the region, hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and belongings, and need immediate relief supplies
including food, water and medicine.
All the money donated will all go to organizations on the ground in Nicaragua or Honduras. There are no funds earmarked
for printing and mailing but God will provide through local people and organizations.
Needs will go on long-term in Central America and the local committee want to see continued involvement by the people of
our area in meeting those needs.
Other projects will be presented including work trips to specific building and cleanup operations in Central America
after the beginning of 1999.
For information contact: Trisha Graig-Tiso at (607)652-3384; Peg Vamosy at (607)652-4760 or Waylen Bray at (607)652-7978.
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