Announcements
CONGRATULATIONS: to Josh and Kristen Duvall at the birth of their son, Logan Edward, born on Thursday, September 2, weighing 9lbs, 6oz., and 20 ¾ inches long. The proud Grandparents are Rob & Terri Ward and Josh & Kim Duvall.
THANK YOU: Thank you all so much for the prayers as I am going through cancer. It has made life so much easier for me and my family. Bill Peregoy
THANK YOU: Thank you so much Pastor Belcher and COD for your faithful prayers and support! We are grateful for the opportunity to have spent Sunday, September 5th with you all. Thank you for your generosity to us while we were there. It was a joy and encouragement and we are glad many of you got to meet baby Serenity! We will continue to pray for you as you labor for God’s glory. Gratefully, The Muldoons
THANK YOU: to Pastor Ray and Pastor Rick for your texts, calls, and praying on the phone with us. Thank you friends for all the texts, calls, cards and meals, they meant so much. We are so blessed with a wonderful church. Most of all thank you for all the prayers on our behalf. We are anxious to get back to church. Love in Christ, Lee & Joan Dillon
PHONE DIRECTORY: We will be printing a new phone directory. If you have any changes, please complete a form at the Welcome Desk by September 12 to ensure we have your correct information or you may email vmouring@opendoorchurch.org.
PRAYER REQUEST: If you have a prayer request or surgery date you would like in the bulletin, please call (410) 876-3838 ext. 304 or email cbowers@opendoorchurch.org. Please keep in mind we will need the first and last name for each request.
COLLEGE STUDENTS: We are updating our list of college students for school year 2021-2022. Please complete a form at the Welcome Desk with your “new” or “returning” student’s information so that we may add them to our “College Student of the Week” list for our Wednesday Prayer Bulletin.
From My Heart
Just a couple of hours south on I-81, is James Madison University. They instituted a new policy this summer in preparation for the upcoming school year. They trained their student employees, who welcome the incoming students, to recognize that people who identify as male, straight, cisgender (which means a person who identifies with the sex they were when they were born), or Christian, are oppressors that engage in the “systematic subjugation” of other social groups.
Did you catch that? Some “woke” educators at JMU want their student employees to confront new students coming on campus to identify those people who are “the problem in our society.” And those who are the problem, who have oppressed the women, the minorities, the LGBTQ+, and anyone else who is seen today as an oppressed group - are men, straight men, those who today identify with the sex they were born as, and Christians.
These student employees in charge of facilitating orientation for first-year students underwent extensive training videos and group instruction about social justice and inclusion. The training video defined an “oppressor group” as one that has the power to define reality for themselves and others, and in turn, the “target” groups “take-in and internalize the negative messages about them and end up cooperating with the oppressors (thinking and acting like them).”
This presentation defined privilege as the “unearned social power accorded by the formal and informal institutions of society to ALL members of a dominant group at the expense of targeted groups.” It also said members of both the oppressor and target groups are “socialized to play their roles as normal and correct.”
The JMU training materials listed the various races and nationalities they considered “privileged” or “agents” and those they characterized as “oppressed” or “targets.” The student employees were told to teach the incoming new students that the oppressors were those who identify as male, cisgender, hetero-sexual, heteroromantic, Christian, White, Western European, American, upper to middle class, thin, athletic-build, able-bodied, or ages 30-50. In other words - Christians are the bad guys in America! Unbelievable!
The oppressed groups, according to the presentation, are people who identify as Black, Asian, Latinos, non-Western Europeans, LGBTQ+, homoromantic, Muslim, Jewish, working class, overweight, or disabled, among others. This is not just happening at JMU but is happening all over America in our schools, the military, and in State and Federal agencies. Welcome to the “Socialist Woke Agenda.”
Pastor Norris