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JOHNSON CITY CHURCH GETS INNOVATIVE
IN FULFILLING THE GREAT COMMISSION


From the Baptist Press - July 12, 2006

Though the night life on one historic downtown block here may be dominated by two bars, the offerings have a new addition, The Assembly.

Patrons of The Assembly can’t order alcohol. They can enjoy free coffee, espresso and other drinks, free food once a month, an internet bar, and live music many nights until 2 a.m.
The Assembly is a new Baptist church which has been open about a year.

People come and go during the day and night to hang out, converse, and surf the web. Some homeless people come to check e-mail or pick up personal items stored at The Assembly.
People also come to hear concerts, watch movies on movie night, and attend one of The Assembly’s ministries or services.

The church is still finding its way, explained Charlie Scalf, founding pastor.
“God built this church,” he said. “We did nothing. We did our best to stay out of the way.”
By moving to this area, a lot of things changed for Scalf, 31, his wife, Angela, and their ministry. He was leading a group of young people gathering in a suburban shopping center space to worship. The Assembly had been meeting for about two years and had outgrown the space with about 70 people.

Not everyone attending the Assembly joined the downtown congregation but it is drawing new and different people, Scalf described. One unexpected positive experience is that he has reconnected with some people he knew in the music scene here, he said.

Scalf sings and plays the guitar, bass guitar, piano, and drums. He was a member of a rock band before he became a Christian.

By moving downtown, the church also took a risk financially. The Assembly is being backed by Heritage Baptist Church, Johnson City; other churches; Holston Baptist Association, Johnson City; and the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

But Scalf felt God telling him and the church to move downtown to “the gut of the city, the armpit of the town.” Church leaders and backers agreed.

Scalf has responded to God’s call at other times in his life.

He has “grabbed the mike” at punk rock shows to preach because “God told me to do it.”
He started inviting folks to his house to talk about music and the Christian faith. When the house was filled, Scalf’s father let him use an empty space in a shopping center he owned. Seating was about 20 used couches. The ministry morphed into the Assembly.

To help with the move downtown, Scalf and Angela sold their home and invested part of the money in the church site. They are living with her parents. They hope to renovate the top floor of the space into an apartment where they would live.

Scalf is a bivocational pastor. He has operated a recording studio for nine years. He’s still into music and is glad a lot of Christian bands are performing, even in the “hard-core scene.” He performs some in the praise band of The Assembly when visiting bands aren’t playing. He also writes and records his own music. He gives most of his CDs away.

The Assembly draws about 100 to its Friday night concerts, and about 40 to its Sunday evening worship. On Sunday morning the church has prayer service. No other program, even music, is a part of the service. The church’s prayer ministry also involves a box for prayer requests and posting area above the box for answered prayer.

Scalf is especially proud of the ministry, the Fight Club, a 12-step Bible-based program for addicts which meets on Wednesday nights. Scalf was addicted to drugs and lost a best friend who was 19 years old from an overdose of heroin. About 20 people attend the Fight Club, including a former comedian from Las Vegas. Three participants have made professions of faith as a result of the ministry.

The church’s small groups enjoy an intimacy, explained Scalf. Maybe people who attend are transparent because they quickly learn addicts and homeless people are with them. “We’re all messed up and it’s OK. There’s a reason we have a Savior,” said Scalf.

Christy Bailey, a member, said she is glad to be involved in The Assembly because of the many people she has seen it reach and the lives she has seen changed.
So many churches practice exclusivism, she said.

Bailey, a public school teacher, said she has learned young people want a place to gather and most homeless people “are just lovely, lovely people.” She has seen them turn their lives around. “You know it had to have been God,” she said.

Chinese persecute house churches

UPI report, July 21 -

The China Aid Association has learned that one house church in Hubei province was raided Friday and more than 20 Christians were arrested.

Eyewitnesses and family members of the victims reported to CAA that the raid and arrests happened around 1 p.m., local time, Friday, when 43 Christians were having their fellowship meeting at a reception family in Shen Fan village, Chen Dian Town, Anlu city, Hubei province.

Six policemen from the local police station in Chen Dian township searched the house, confiscated the Christian books and took 20 of the service participants to the Chen Dian police station.

Some Christians were released a few hours laster, including the wife of the reception family. Others were taken to the Public Security Bureau in An Lu City. They were given of 10-15 days of detention by the police.

CAA also learned that on July 19, a house church at Guo village, Lang Town, Zhu Ma Dian City, Henan province was raided while having a Christian worship service by the PSB of Zhu Ma Dian city. More than 60 house church Christians were interrogated for several hours and then released later that day.

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New York high court declines to legalize 'gay marriage;' ruling a win for conservatives

July 5, 2006, By Michael Foust, Baptist Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (BP)--Handing homosexual activist groups a significant defeat, New York's highest court upheld the state's marriage laws, ruling that "gay marriage" is an issue for the legislature, and not the courts, to decide.

"We hold that the New York Constitution does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex," Associate Judge Robert S. Smith wrote for the court. "Whether such marriages should be recognized is a question to be addressed by the legislature."

The ruling by the Court of Appeals was handed down barely a month after it heard oral arguments in late May. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of 44 same-sex couples by Lambda Legal, a homosexual legal group, and the American Civil Liberties Union.