H.B. London, Jr.

Vice President,

Ministry Outreach/Pastoral Ministries

H.B. London, Jr. is vice president of Ministry Outreach/Pastoral Ministries for Focus on the Family. A fourth generation minister, Rev. London was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a graduate of Pasadena College (now Point Loma Nazarene University) and was ordained on May 24, 1962. On June 10, 1990, Point Loma Nazarene University conferred on H.B. the Doctor of Divinity degree.

Rev. London pastored for 31 years. He hosted a daily radio program, “Lifeline to Truth,” for 14 years in Salem, Oregon, and for six years in the Los Angeles area. He also had a weekly television program, “A New Way to Live,” in Portland, Oregon.

After serving three decades in pastoral ministry, H.B. accepted the invitation to become assistant to the president for Focus on the Family. His assignment as vice president of Ministry Outreach/Pastoral Ministries is to serve as liaison to pastors and churches – a kind of “pastor to pastors.” Since joining forces with Focus, H.B. has directed the development of ministries to pastors and their spouses, and given oversight to ministries affecting physicians, youth culture, the inner city, missionaries, chaplains and basketball camps for the children of single parents in many cities throughout the U.S. and Canada.

He communicates with thousands of pastors and church leaders each week through “The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing” (a fax network) and produces a bimonthly Pastor to Pastor cassette and newsletter.

He has co-authored with Neil B. Wiseman the books, Pastors at Risk (Victor Books), The Heart of a Great Pastor (Regal Books), Married to a Pastor’s Wife (Victor Books), Your Pastor is an Endangered Species (Victor Books), It Takes a Church Within a Village (Thomas Nelson), They Call Me Pastor (Regal Books), Becoming Your Favorite Church (Regal Books) and Pastors at Greater Risk (Regal Books). Two other books by H.B. that have received wide distribution are: Refresh, Renew, Revive (Focus on the Family Book Publishing) and The Minister’s Little Devotional Book (Honor Books). His newest book, co-authored with Neil Wiseman, For Kid’s Sake-Winning the Tug-of-War for Future Generations, was released in January of 2004 by Regal Books.

Focus on the Family’s founding president, Dr. James C. Dobson, has always felt that the church represents the first line of defense for the family. He believes that the pastor and his family must remain strong if we are to successfully resist the downward moral trends which threaten the very foundation of our nation. Dr. Dobson has asked H.B. to represent Focus on the Family in standing behind the pastors of America. As first cousins who grew up more or less as brothers, it is a dream come true for them to have an opportunity to serve God in a joined ministry.

Rev. London’s ministry continues to be people-centered. “When you find a need, you fill it,” he says. He operates by the slogan: “God loves you as though you were the only one in all the world to love — and that makes you a very important person.”

H.B. and his wife, Beverley, have two married sons and four grandchildren.

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/press/focusvoices/A000000029.cfm

Well I was doing some research about the person who was the guest speaker at the convention I just got back from, and saw this. I will use this to make up for my missed post yesterday, and I'll share some things from my convention with you on the next post that will be for today.

Gingrich Tells Dobson He’s

‘Sought God’s Forgiveness’

Former House speaker admits moral failings, discusses threat of radical Islam

DENVER —  Colorado is considering letting prison inmates work on private farms after farmers complained that an illegal-immigration crackdown has left them short-handed, officials said.

Two vegetable farmers told prison officials and lawmakers that they need five to 20 workers and will pay up to $9.60 an hour _ more than they've paid migrant workers in the past _ but can't find anyone to do the work.

The Pueblo Country farmers, Joe Pisciotta and Phil Prutch, said immigrant workers are afraid to come to Colorado because of its tougher immigrant laws passed last summer. Among other things, the laws require people receiving state and federal benefits to prove they are legal U.S. residents.

"They've just given up and gone to other states that don't have these new laws. They just don't want to deal with it," Pisciotta said.

The Corrections Department program would probably start in Pueblo County, operating under the prison industries division, which already trains and employs about 1,200 inmates, department Executive Director Ari Zavaras said.

"Depending on how well it works, we'll see where it will go," Zavaras said this week.

He said the program fits his and Gov. Bill Ritter's new emphasis on reducing recidivism. Under current growth estimates, prison construction will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years.

Colorado's prison industries system already has internal agricultural jobs including growing flowers, raising bees and cultivating wine grapes. Inmates also manufacture items ranging from furniture to plastic bags.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Mar01/0,4670,PrisonerFarmers,00.html

Although it’s a sound concept in terms of fundraising techniques, Planned Parenthood’s latest scheme to profit off the backs of young, impressionable women by sacrificing their children to the god of convenience reminds us once again that it’s not so much about a woman’s sacred “right to choose” as it is about the abortion industry’s unholy “rite to schmooze.”

In a recent press release, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) announced that it would be “giving customers the power to make a difference with every [cell phone] call they make.” Tragically, however, when Planned Parenthood talks about making a difference, we know it’s the difference between life and death.

In what it bills as “a unique wireless [cell phone] program that enables consumers to choose where their mobile phone dollars go without sacrificing quality service,” the abortion Goliath – already enjoying an annual budget of nearly one billion dollars – boasts that the plan “will provide an impressive 10% of revenues generated directly to PPFA, transforming a simple phone call into a personal act of support.”

The abortion provider innocuously calls the fundraising effort “Planned Parenthood Wireless.” The cheerful tone of the press release is uncanny. Read between the lines, and it shamelessly chirps: “you make a call, we kill a baby.” And in light of the many acts of abortion violence Planned Parenthood commits each year, “Dialing for Death” is a more fitting banner.

But the latest 411 on Planned Parenthood’s money lust only underscores the fact that the organization already benefits tremendously from a government mandated, taxpayer boondoggle.

Addressing Planned Parenthood’s new venture into telecommunications, Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America, said, “Planned Parenthood constantly demands more tax dollars, even though they already make money from charging for their services, corporate grants, aggressive mailings, fundraisers and other revenue streams. This newest marketing ploy provides evidence that Planned Parenthood is capable of making lots of money, and taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize Planned Parenthood and their hefty salaries,” said Wright.

But somehow, Planned Parenthood’s latest fundraising ploy just seems to smack of tasteless arrogance. It’s not that the concept is illegitimate, but rather that the dark nature of the organization employing the concept makes it creepy and unseemly.

And the fact that “Planned Parenthood Wireless” offers a “family plan” drips with morbid irony. In view of the group’s twisted interpretation of “family” and the millions of lives it snuffs out each year (fueled by that phantom “right” to unfettered abortion on demand), this plan will apparently have no need for roll over minutes, and every dropped-call will amount to a precious life spared.

This is an encouraging article to me from a "Do the RIGHT Thing" prospective. It's not that I rejoice over the loss of sales (although that helps take the reward away), but it's the comments in the article on why this is happening that encourages me! This partial story is from Fox News.com and the link to the entire article is at the bottom.

Sales of Rap Albums Take
 
Stunning Nosedive

Thursday, March 01, 2007

JUPITER, Fla. – Four months later, the flush hasn't left David Eckstein's cheeks.

The winter was good to him, despite having to lug the World Series Most Valuable Player trophy to all those professional wrestling promos. In wrestling, we're thinking, it's always better to be taller than the guy on the trophy.

We missed it, but apparently the Fightin' Ecksteins (David and older brother Rick, the St. Louis Cardinals' Triple-A hitting coach) threw down with the Totally Irritatin' Pierzynskis (A.J., along with Jeff Torborg's son, Dale – don't ask) in some kind of steel-cage match.

Along a somewhat separate theme, Eckstein re-released his children's book, called "Have Heart," with a new chapter about how, if you work hard and play the right way, you not only might win a World Series someday, but you might win two.

He also caught up with some of his old Los Angeles Angels pals – John Lackey, Darin Erstad and ex- and current middle-infield mate Adam Kennedy – to watch the Ohio State-Michigan football game, where everybody got to hear Erstad's stories about being a punter again. You know, presumably.

"It was a whirlwind," Eckstein, the Cardinals' shortstop, said this week, still sweating from an early-morning workout. "The biggest thing we did was the children's book that hopefully will inspire young kids to go out there, and if they dream something they can accomplish it with hard work. The other thing I've been trying to do some good with is organ donation, to please sign up to be an organ donor. Those are the two biggest things that, because of what happened, might have gotten a little more publicity."

And to think how some NFL players are spending their offseason.

Genetics have not been altogether good to the Eckstein family, of course. Two of David's sisters, one of his brothers and his father have required kidney transplants. Now doctors think two of David's nephews – Kenny is 6 and David is 8 – might also need transplants.

"They're not sure about a timetable," he said. "We're hoping they'll be like my father and need it later on in life. But, we think the younger one, Kenny, might be a little quicker."

Kenny, David said, could be mistaken for a 2- or 3-year-old.

"They've been tested," he said. "They definitely have the protein in the urine and all that, the signs that they're going to need it. Kenny's a little more advanced than David."

It seems an unending cycle for the Ecksteins, who thus far have concluded David and Rick should save their kidneys for their own children, should that be necessary.

"I have not been tested yet for my nephews," David said. "I fully see myself some day, somewhere along the way, to have to give up a kidney. The biggest concern in my family, I would definitely love to have kids one day and they want to make sure my kids are OK. That was one of the biggest points with my father with Rick and myself, to see what our family looks like before we start giving them up."

So it is that David Eckstein, at 5-foot-7, takes on so many comers – kidney disease, organ donation, children who need a push, stereotypes of pro athletes, and A.J. Pierzynski's pile driver. And then he plays a full baseball season plus a month, bats .364 and drives in four runs in the World Series, and allows a nation's baseball fans to fall in love without fear of betrayal.

Six years ago he showed up in Angels camp with a glove and a crooked cap, no one sure his arm would last that afternoon, much less nearly 900 big-league games. Now he's a career .283 hitter, a career pest, a career inspiration, a career gamer.

His brother, Rick, crossed his ankles and propped himself against a red fungo bat on the main field here, watching players run home to second, then second to home. The brothers share an engaging personality, a knack for compassion, and an addiction to the game.

"He definitely hasn't changed as a person because of it," Rick said of David's MVP honor. "The greatest thing about that award is you win the World Series. It means you won a championship. That's what he suits up for."

Indeed, it would not have been surprising if Eckstein had blushed on that stage at Busch Stadium.

"In baseball," Rick said, "we get so caught up in the five tools. Sometimes we overlook heart and hustle and how those affect other players. David's a talented player. He has talent. But, he also has a knack for bringing out the best in others. That has value."

The 2006 championship ring will go alongside the 2002 championship ring, David said, to his father, Whitey, who will store it in a safe deposit box. Then it'll be time to start over, to prove again that he is big enough, strong enough, and talented enough to do this. He's been called an overachiever, which, of course, is impossible, but David doesn't mind.

"I have to be full-go," he said. "I have to make sure that is my focus so I don't let off at all. I'm not good enough to let off. … I like to think that maybe I give people hope. I think it's kind of funny because I hear it all the time, 'If you can make it to the majors, I can make it.' "

They mean it as a compliment.

"Right," he said, laughing. "This is a wonderful game. The best thing about it is anybody can play it. There's roles for all different types of guys on the club. If that inspires some guys to go out there and play harder at a younger age and try to achieve it, that's something special."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AsAs5LytgHzkm7KrZySr3345nYcB?slug=ti-mlb_07_eckstein022707&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Parental Rights Under Attack in Massachusetts

Judge shoots down lawsuit brought by outraged parents.

That's how Ralph Waldo Emerson described that moment in 1776 when the Minute Men fired the opening salvos of the American Revolution on the village green in Lexington, Mass.

It's also how parental-rights advocates describe what happened last week when a federal judge in Boston shot down a lawsuit by some parents who objected to what Lexington schools were teaching their young children about homosexuality.

Last Friday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark Wolf told David Parker and Rob and Robin Wirthlin that they had no legal right to challenge the schools -- at all. 

"It's so absurd, you can hardly even discuss it," said Brian Camenker, executive director of the Boston-based group MassResistance. "The judge said that the schools have a right and an obligation to teach about same-sex relationships, even in the elementary schools -- and that parents' rights end at the schoolhouse door."

The judge also indicated that if parents don't like what the schools teach, they are free to put their kids in a private school or to home school their kids.

"That's pretty offensive," Camenker said. "You can imagine a federal judge, during the civil-rights era when blacks wanted to vote or be seated in restaurants, saying, 'Your options are to either start your own restaurant or elect a city council that allows that.' "

Parker had objected to a book bag that his son brought home from kindergarten that included a book on "diversity" called ''Who's in a Family?" It portrays same-sex couples as just a different type of family.

The Wirthlins objected to a book their second grader was forced to read called "King & King," in which one prince kisses another prince.

Both families wanted to be alerted when homosexually themed material was to be taught.

In his 38-page decision, Wolf said parents "have a fundamental right to raise their children . . . (But) the Constitution does not permit them to prescribe what those children will be taught."

The judge said diversity is "a hallmark of our nation" which trumps everything else.

"It is reasonable," he wrote, "for . . . educators to find that teaching young children to understand and respect differences in sexual orientation will contribute to an academic environment in which students who are gay, lesbian, or the children of same-sex parents will be comfortable and, therefore, better able to learn."

Glen Lavy, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, isn't surprised at the decision. Courts increasingly view parents as nuisances whom public schools can ignore.

"I think what the Massachusetts judge said was consistent with what the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said last year -- basically, that 'the right of parents to direct the education of children stops at the schoolhouse door,' " Lavy said.

In the 9th Circuit case, the court told parents they couldn't challenge a California school district that had elementary students complete a questionnaire about their sexual thoughts and activity.

"The questions assumed that the kids were all having sexual experiences," Lavy said. "The 9th Circuit told the parents who sued the school -- 'It's basically none of your business. The school can do whatever it wants.' "

The overarching message is a dismal one for parents, Lavy added.

"If you put your child in public education, you have no ability to determine what that child is going to be taught, regarding morals or anything else," he said. "We got to this point by having a legal system where judges do not feel constrained by law, do not feel constrained by history; do not feel that what the Founding Fathers intended to create in our legal system has any bearing on what they do today."

Even if the parents in Lexington and California appeal, Lavy said, they're not likely to prevail.

"I don't know that we have support even in the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning that kind of decision," he added. "We need people to be involved politically, to elect politicians who are going to pass good laws, and who will appoint judges who do not believe that they are mini-monarchs."

link to article - http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004008.cfm