An incredible opportunity is being presented to us (the Christian community of Greater Huntsville) in association with an international effort known as the "Global Day of Prayer" (GDOP) ...

The Global Day of Prayer Strategy is three-fold:

10 Days of Fervent Prayer – 1 Day of Global Prayer – 90 Days of Compassion and Outreach

10 Days of Fervent Prayer - Joining Together in One Accord!
The Global Day of Prayer will be preceded by ten days of 24 hour prayer after the example of the disciples who "continued with one accord in prayer" (Acts 1:14). During these ten days (between the ascension of Jesus and the descent of His Holy Spirit on Pentecost) believers will be joining together in prayer night and day, Friday 6 May through Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2005.

1 Day of Global Prayer - Pentecost Sunday ... the day the church was born ... the day the Great Commission was ignited!
From sunrise in the East to sunset in the West, Christians will fill stadiums across the globe for worship and prayer on Pentecost Sunday, May 15th 2005. The focus includes their cities/communities, their nation/continent, and the nations of the world. Over 200,000,000 Christians are expected to participate, including leadership from 6 continents and over 240 nations, with international broadcasts that will occur from at least one stadium from each time zone.

Dear Pastoral Leadership:

There are over 3,000 domestic relations cases filed each year here in Madison County, Alabama, including over 1,600 new divorce actions and approximately 700 Protection From Abuse (domestic violence) cases. I presently handle 75% of all of the domestic relations cases filed in our county. A truly sad statistic is that over 6,000 adults, and thousands of children, have their lives affected by a domestic relations case each year, just in Madison County alone. The statistics statewide are just as staggering.

It is far too easy in Alabama to get married, and is just as easy to get divorced. The most commonly used ground for divorce in Alabama is “incompatibility of temperament.” All that a party has to show in court to get a divorce on that ground is that they are not happy and that they can no longer live together happily as husband and wife. Unfortunately, even if the other spouse testifies that they still love their spouse, and that they will do whatever it takes to make their marriage work and keep the family together, the trial judge is still required to enter a divorce.

The Madison County Coalition for Healthy Marriages (www.MCCHM.org) was formed in December, 2004, in response to a high level of community concern for the high rate of divorce in Madison County and the associated costs to our children, families and society. The goals of the Coalition are to decrease the high rate of divorce through divorce intervention programs and increase the number of stable, healthy marriages through thorough premarital preparation. The Coalition hopes to accomplish this through public advocacy for healthy marriage, facilitating the development of affordable marriage programs, and acting as a clearinghouse of marriage resources and information.

In every place where a successful program has emerged that has had a significant impact in reversing the devastating trend of divorce, the foundation for that program has included a coalition of clergy from the community. On behalf of the Coalition, I would like to invite you to a brief lunch meeting with myself, Coalition Chair Debbie Preece, and a group of key clergy representing a diverse cross section of the congregations in our community to consider and discuss how we might join together to significantly impact and strengthen marriages and families throughout Madison County. The details of the meeting are as follows:

TUESDAY, May 23, 2006 at 11:30

First Baptist Church (Fellowship Hall)
600 Governors Dr SW
Huntsville, AL
Phone: (256) 428-9400
www.fbchsv.org

Lunch will be provided ($6). Please RSVP (for lunch) by Thursday May 18th by contacting HAPC (534-5358, hapchsv@yahoo.com) or Debbie Preece (337-8200, preeced@comcast.net). We are contacting every church in Madison County. I look forward to seeing you at the lunch meeting. If you have any questions about the meeting, or need any other information from me, please give me a call at 532-3636. If you have any doubt at all about the need to strengthen marriages and families in Madison County, one morning in my courtroom will dispel any doubts you may have. Please join us in that effort.

Very truly yours,

William K. Bell, Circuit Judge

The following pastors join me in supporting this community wide pastoral coalition:

Oscar Montgomery - Senior Pastor, Union Hill Primitive Baptist Church; Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship (GHIMF)
Tom Bell - Superintendent of Huntsville District, North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church
Don Cross - Senior Pastor, First United Methodist Church
Benjamin Jones - Senior Pastor, First Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Rob Peavy - Director Church and Community Development, Madison Baptist Association
Paul Lawler - Senior Pastor, Chase Valley United Methodist Church; Greater Huntsville Pastors Prayer Summit
Rusty Nelson - Senior Pastor, The Rock Family Worship Center
Paul Koch - Senior Pastor, First Christian Church
Endia Scruggs - Senior Pastor, Madkin's Chapel Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Garry Jordon - Senior Pastor, Jackson Way Baptist
Dan Barton - Senior Pastor, Madison Christian Church
Pam McDaniel - First Baptist Church
Homer McCall - Senior Pastor, St. John's AME Church
Warren Durnell - North Alabama Presbytery
Frank Broyles - Huntsville Association of Pastoral Care, Faith Presbyterian Church
Luther Kramer - The Key Counseling Center

CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY FOR GREATER HUNTSVILLE!
Marriage Savers - A Strategy for Area-Wide IMPACT

GDOP Area Pastors Luncheon

There will be a complimentary luncheon for area pastors Friday May 19th at Tai Pan Palace. This will be both informational and also highlight potential areas of involvement or interest, and include information on the 10 days of prayer, the 1 day stadium event, and the 90 days of compassion to bless the city.

If your are an area pastor, please join us for this strategic meeting with other pastors from throughout Greater Huntsville at 11:30am Friday, May 19th, at Tai Pan Palace. PLEASE RSVP for your complimentary lunch so we can ensure necessary seating by contacting Mission Huntsville (by email rsvp@MissionHuntsville.org or phone 1-877-878-5902).

GDOP Area Pastors Luncheon
Time/Date: 11:30am, Friday May 19th, 2006
Location: Tai Pan Palace, 2012 Memorial Pkwy SW, Huntsville, AL (at the corner of Governors and Mem Pkwy S)

Mini-Summits occur the 2nd Thursday of each month.

May Mini-Summit
Thursday May 11th

The Vision emphasizes that ALL of the body of Christ are ministers. The vision of our church is people; to build up people and equip them as ministers in their world. Programs don’t minister to hurting and broken people, people minister to people. This is based on the passage in

Ephesians 4:11-13:
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The Functions of the Church

SBC builds up and equips people using the pattern of the early church mentioned in Acts 2:42 which speaks of evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry. These are the five functions of the church.

Opportunities to Serve

Many ministries have been started as the body follows the vision of the church. It is encouraged that as Christians grow to maturity that they move from spectators to participants as they are led by the Holy Spirit. The list of church ministries [link] shows church ministries available in which to serve.