$75,000 tax money Fundie "Silver Ring Thing" (got $700,000 in 03)

Sewickley is a very wealthy area of Pittsburgh area. I gotta find info on Reverend Guest.

<snip>

But the item that caught my eye brought it all home for me. It was a tantalizingly brief mention in a highlights box accompanying the Post-Gazette's main story: "$75,000 to help persuade teens in Sewickley to abstain from sex."

Wait, I said to myself, I am a resident of Sewickley. Am I to understand the teens of my town are having sex? The little jerks! And the federal government is using taxpayers' money to stop them? Hey, cold showers always worked for me, and the taxpayers didn't take a bath.

As it turns out, this faith-based initiative reaches further than Sewickley, which is a relief. Hitherto, my main local concern has been that the borough leaf picker-upper come down the alley behind my house. I do not welcome anything that might be a distraction from this important municipal function -- such as, say, the streets being clogged with Lolitas.

The $75,000 is going to a program called the Silver Ring Thing. Teens pledge to be chaste until they are married and wear a ring as a symbol of their commitment. The local program is affiliated with the Rev. John Guest and Christ Church at Grove Farm. Actually, the church is in the North Hills, but just as the Lord's house has many mansions, so does Sewickley, and I suppose it is not strictly necessary that they all have to be in the borough.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04335/418988.stm

I don't think they need the money.



Christ Church is located on the former Grove Farm in Ohio Township, just off the Mt. Nebo exit of I-79. The 46-acre campus contains a small lake, the church, the youth barn, and offices in the former farmhouse. Adjoining the church is a large athletic field and basketball court.

http://www.ccgf.org/fac.html

Christ Church receives grant for Silver Ring Thing
By Chuck Gibson, Staff writer, 4/23/2003

Abstinence education is spreading all over the country, and its origins are coming from one Sewickley-area church. Launched in 1995 in Yuma, Ariz., the Silver Ring Thing program eventually migrated to Christ Church at Grove Farm. Recently, the program received a $700,000 federal grant to help it go national.

In the next seven years, the program hopes to expand to 75 cities throughout the United States. Denny Pattyn, executive director of the John Guest Team, says the first steps will come this year.

"We want to dole it out to six cities this year. We're also building our national organization in order to do that," he said.

"We're very pleased to have received it. It's the largest grant of its kind in United States history."

Pittsburgh will be one of the cities in the initial launch, along with Boston and Columbia, S.C.

Denver, Oklahoma City, Knoxville and Minneapolis are also in the mix to launch the program.

http://www.silverringthing.com/staff-article-01.html

DR. JOHN GUEST, Pastor, Christ Church at Grove Farm, Sewickley, PA and Director of the John Guest Evangelistic Team. (John Bechtel said John's evangelistic efforts in Africa were as thorough and effective as any evangelistic ministry he has seen. He has conducted evangelistic campaigns in 14 nations.) John was born in Oxford, England, and studied at Trinity College, Bristol, England before coming to the United States in 1964. He has received honorary degrees from Geneva College and Grove City College. He and wife, Kathleen, have four children.


http://www.camp-of-the-woods.org/summer-season/COTW-Summer-Season-Chapel-Services-2003-Speakers.htm

Saturday, May 31, 2003

The family of a girl who police say was sexually assaulted by the Rev. David Valencia at Christ Church at Grove Farm feels betrayed not only by Valencia, but also by the church's senior pastor, the Rev. John Guest, and a failure of governance in the large, unaffiliated church in Ohio Township.

Guest told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Thursday that he was aware Valencia had viewed sexually explicit Web sites in his church office in summer 2001, but told no one for six months. According to police, the assaults also occurred in summer 2001.

"He looks like the bishop of Boston. I hold him at least partially responsible for what happened to my daughter," the father said. The Post-Gazette is not using his name because that would identify the victim of a sexual assault.

Guest declined to discuss the issues between him and the girl's family.

http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030531valenciareg4p4.asp

Wonder what Guest did in Africa.

You can listen on real player (I didn't)


http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:QofC7YZOy8sJ:www.wheaton.edu/wetn/chapelbestof.htm+%22+John+Guest%22%2BPA&hl=en

frustration and divorce in the fundie community.

I don't think it would be real pleasant to find out during the honeymoon that your partner was a sexual dork or an icecube.

unlike much of the other stuff people believe on the topic of sex. Fundies hate life. They hate everything joyous, fun and stimulating about life, and they hate everyone who partakes in them. They long for death and they only value that which can't be seen. Personally, I think it can't be seen BECAUSE IT DOESN'T EXIST, but that's just me...

If people are going to mess up everyone elses lives by staying alive while being fucked-up and denying undeniable things like sexual urges and personal tastes, they should be called to account for their folly.

So very much of a relationship is based on habits, tastes and "the nasty", that it's idiotic to pledge yourself to someone without taking some serious long test-drives, eh what?

The headlong exaltation of everything that's totally wrong seems to be only increasing in intensity. The wrath from the frustration caused by going against the grain will be taken out by the straight-laced virtuenuts, and it will be taken out on the rest of us.

too personal...i know people who got to this "church"

so fucking sad. i never heard about the sex abuse, as linked above.

all i can say is Sewickley is home to the money people in Pittsburgh and many, many rich corrupt criminals.

didn't know Guest was this bad, not surprised though.

wow...

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

By Alisha Hipwell

A Christian group based in Ohio Township is getting $400,000 in federal money to take its teen sexual abstinence program on the road.

Silver Ring Thing asks teens to take vows of chastity until marriage, with silver rings as a sign of the pledge. Denny Pattyn, the group's founder and executive director, said the group plans to use the grant to spread its road show to other cities.

Silver Ring Thing uses high-tech lighting, video and sound displays, along with comedy and skits, to preach its abstinence-only message. At the end, it asks teens to take a vow of chastity until marriage. Those who take the vow get Bibles and silver rings as a token of the pledge.

<snip>

This is the second time Silver Ring Thing has been given government funds -- in February the organization got $700,000 in federal money. Pattyn said previously the program got its funding from private sources.

In a press release announcing the grant, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn Hills, said "Funding for education programs which promote sexual abstinence will help Pennsylvania youth become better informed about healthy alternatives to sexual activity. I believe these important programs will also provide young people with the necessary tools to combat peer pressure, reducing the rate of STDs and teen pregnancy."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03344/249392.stm

John is the author of ten books. He co-founded Trinity Episcopal School of Ministry and was a participant in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism and a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals. He founded the Coalition for Christian Outreach, an evangelistic organization employing approximately 150 staff on college campuses. Also, he co-founded South American Missionary Society (1976), hosted a daily radio broadcast, "New Life In Christ," on WPIT-FM, Pittsburgh (1983-1990), and currently has a daily broadcast on WORD FM, 101.5 in Pittsburgh as well as several other cities. He is also a featured speaker at Promise Keepers Conferences within the U.S. John married Kathleen Heggar in 1967 and has four daughters: Carrie, Chelsea, Sarah and Susanna.

http://resources.christianity.com/ministries/christianitytoday/service/speakerInfo.jhtml?sid=1383

these "Silver Ring" sessions to speak to the teens.

I don't mind them teaching this, I just don't think my tax money should be going in to this cause I bet it's not well-spent. I bet a lot of it lines the pockets of these preachers.

Internationally, JGET has been conducting crusades in Africa, Cuba, Romania, Albania, and Ukraine since 1990.

http://www.ministrywatch.com/mw2.1/F_SumRpt.asp?EIN=251376083


Organization Details (click on heading for definitions.) help

Chairman: Stu and Nina Rodman
President/CEO: Dr. John Guest
Board Size: 10
Founder: Dr. John Guest
Year Founded: 1981


Some financial on page.

:kick:

should be given to a church to do so.

Absistinence is a responsible choice for teens. No diseases, no pregnancies, no sneaking around behind your parents backs to have sex in the back of cars. It is very unrealistic to expect that every kid will abstain, so it is necessary to teach them about safer sex. Comprehensive sex ed covers all of the choices and risks.