All this is brewing in the tiny, picturesque, quaint village of Kimmswick, on the Mississippi River just south of St. Louis. The town doesn't want a casino. They know their village would be forever ruined.
The property owners are fighting it. But the casino people are pressuring people in government. And people in government are pressuring the citizens of Kimmswick to surrender their private property. Their right of self determination. Their way of life. Their town's future forever.
It is de facto "taxation without representation." The Kimmswick citizens pay their taxes, keep the laws, and yet are forced to fight a David and Goliath battle to protect their community and their property.
Great Britain's violation of these very principles triggered America's War of Independence. The Founding Fathers did not tolerate such tyranny and oppression then, nor would they today.
If this government/gamblers partnership prevails, no Missourian is safe.
St. Louis area Christian leaders are having a time of bondingbased on John 17, wherein Jesus prayed that those who belonged to Him would be "one." Sponsored by Mission Metro St. Louis, the gatherings are at the Missouri Athletic Club (downtown by the Dome)-the next one on Tuesday, April 10. We pray, share, encourage, laugh, open up, become friends, and enjoy the Lord and each otherthe kind of ingredients that honor the Lord, that are good for us, and that are consistent with John 17. We begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude after lunch. To help us get a "count," call Paula at Cass Bank at 314 506-5505. Why not call a pastor (or another leader), perhaps one or more who are hurting, to come with you or meet you there. Preparing the April 19th flow are Michael Jones, Jim Nesbit, and George Stulac.
Many throughout the country are observing 40 days of special prayer for our nationwhich began Ash Wednesday (February 28) and will conclude on Easter, April 8. Would you join them?
Delightful Debbye Turner, former Miss America and wonderful Christian role model, was about to do her last "Show Me St. Louis" (Feb. 28) on Channel 5. CBS had signed her to do a weekly feature on network television. Her contract would not allow her to do any interviews with other media after the following Saturday.
But she very pleasantly agreed to come on my "Encounter" program on March 1, just before the "no other interview" deadline. We made arrangements to do it by phone (a wonderful aspect of radio). In giving me her private number, her humor popped out. She said: "Don't write it on any bathroom walls!" I responded: "Knowing you, it wouldn't do them any good if I did."
So we intend to talk about her testimony, the work of God that Jesus has done within. And about a quiet but important part of her life: her grandmother needed care. Debbye moved grandma into her home. They are living together now, and care for each other.
Having their ups and downs. Larry Collett (CEO of the Cass Bank Corporation and Chairman of the 1999 Billy Graham Crusade here) and Gary Bender (network television sportscaster, recent radio voice of the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears, and now the radio co-host of Dr. James Dobson's "Focus on the Family" heard weekdays on perhaps 2000 stations) together have walked to the top of Pike's Peak. Next they plan to walk to the bottom of Grand Canyon.
Denny Hettenhausen did a doubletake when she saw all the publicity about the two Mark Pearl children facing a very short life from a rare disease-if no bone marrow match were found.
Indeed the bone marrow testing drive sponsored by Mark's church, in terms of numbers, was remarkably successful. 3,800 people came. 2,700 hundred of them were eligible to be tested. And while the "odds" of a match were described as one in a million, six people emerged as possible matches and will be tested further.
The Pearls, Pastor Jerry Marshall, and the church were all delighted at the turnoutand the possible matches. And all 2,700 are being entered into a national registry of available doners.
And, as I write, Denny is sponsoring a prayer event for the Pearl children and for the financing to pay for another bone marrow drive toward the summer. She was blessed in a previous prayer effort, wherein 50 churches and ministries each prayed a day against a casino coming to Lemay. Now no casino is planned for Lemay.
How did Denny remember Mark Pearl? She grew up in a Jewish neighborhood. Mark was Jewish. On Jewish holy days, she might be the only child riding the school bus. Now years later she discovered that Mark was a father with two needy children and a part of an evangelical church since he, like a growing number of Jewish people, had come to receive Jesus as God's promised Messiah.
Big businessman (he must be six foot eight) Bud Blossfield thought he was a candidate for the world's best husband and fatheruntil he went to the Promise Keepers' million man "Stand in the Gap" event in Washington, D.C. Bud came home humbled and repentant toward his wife Joan (Director of 1st E Free Women's Ministries) and their daughter. One of his patterns was to bring home hours of office work, thus limiting his heart and his head attention to his family.
Repentance led to action. Three other couples who also wanted more quality in their marriages met with the Blossfields and worked through a Gary Smalley book. Over time the improvements were remarkable.
Fast forward: in wanting other marriages to also be enriched, the Blossfields are key in bringing in Gary Smalley and his sons to a "Marriage for a Lifetime" Seminar at First E Free Church on June 22 (evening) and 23. For info call 800-84 TODAY or go to www.smalleyonline.com. Ere you tarry, note that the last eight Smalley seminars have sold out, some weeks before the event.
Harold Hendrick is a minister
at large in the St. Louis area, Director of Public Affairs for
Christian radio station KSIV, and talk show host of "Encounter"
aired Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 3 p.m. on KSIV AM 1320.
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