Daily Archives: September 4, 2013

Freedom House Church did not seem all that free this weekend.

Freedom House Church did not seem all that free this weekend.

Makeda Pennycooke, the churchs executive pastor of operations, sent an email to church volunteers asking that only white people greet worshippers at church services.The emailsaidthat leaders anticipated an increased number of visitors in the coming weeks, and that since first impressions matter, the church wants the best of the best on the front doors.

An outraged church member received the email and sent it to local news station WBTV. The controversy is complicated because Pennycooke is a black woman, while senior pastors Troy and Penny Maxwell are white. Nonetheless, the churchs request was hard to misinterpret.We are continuing to work to bring our racial demographic pendulum back to mid-line, Pennycooke wrote.We would rather have less greeters on the front door if it means that the few that we have will represent us the best.

Freedom House, a diverse church in north Charlotte, has already apologized for the incident. The email was sent by one of our longtime pastors in an attempt to emphasize that our greeting team reflect the racial diversity of our entire congregation, a church spokesperson wrote in astatement to WBTV. However, she admitted it was a mistake to over-emphasize any specific group and sent an apology email within 24 hours of the original email going out.

Freedom House has four services every weekend. Five values drive its mission, according to the churchwebsite: We are anequippingchurch (Ephesians 4:11-13); arelationally healthychurch (Matthew 18:19-20); anexcellentchurch (Daniel 6:3); aleadershipchurch; and agenerouschurch (Proverbs 11:24-25).

If anything, the incident serves as a reminder of another biblical passage, Apostle Pauls teaching that the Christian gospel breaks down all barriers between humans. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, he wrote in the New Testament book of Galatians. All of you are one in Christ Jesus.

UPDATE at 2:15pm: Here is the full statement and apology from Freedom House regarding the incident.

One of our longtime pastors, in keeping with our churchs desire to be inclusive and intentionally reach out to all races, noticed our front door greeting team was no longer reflecting the racial diversity of our entire congregation, and she wanted potential visitors to see people like themselves upon entering our church. However, she made an error in judgment in requesting all white greeters at the front door, going overboard in placing emphasis on any one race over another in trying to highlight diversity within the greeting team. She admits this was a grave lapse in judgment and is sincerely sorry for her actions. She immediately apologized and has asked our forgiveness. She and senior pastors have made themselves available to meet with any church members who want to discuss this situation with them, and have communicated their true heart in this matter to be a church welcoming and inclusive to all.Freedom Housebelieves in a diverse relationship within its membership, reflecting the larger community in which the church resides, doing life together as a church representative of everyone culturally, ethnically, economically, and generationally.

Link:
Church: White Greeters Only, Please

3 September 2013 Last updated at 03:27 ET

Plans to give singer Van Morrison the freedom of Belfast have moved a step closer.

A proposal to grant the honour to the 68-year-old passed without comment during a meeting of the city council.

Members are expected to approve the move during a specially-convened sitting later this month.

Speaking afterwards, the DUP's Gavin Robinson said the east Belfast musician had made an outstanding contribution to civic life.

He said: "Van Morrison has projected a positive image for the city of Belfast through difficult decades with outstanding musical creativity."

I can think of no better individual, who poetically paints a majestic vision of the area I live, love and have the privilege to represent, to receive the honour of freedom

Mr Robinson nominated Morrison for the accolade - the highest a council can bestow.

In his nomination letter, Mr Robinson said: "I can think of no better individual, who poetically paints a majestic vision of the area I live, love and have the privilege to represent, to receive the honour of freedom.

"From humble beginnings, living just behind 'the bright side of the road', Van has rightly achieved international acclaim."

The rest is here:
City freedom plans for Van Morrison

September 2, 2013 Sophie Langley

Australian food manufacturer Freedom Foods has announced an Operating EBDITA of $11.6 million for the 2013 financial year, an increase of 113 per cent on the previous year.

Freedom Foods said the results reflected increased sales and profitability in the Freedom Foods brand, consolidation of Pactum Australia for 12 months and a contribution from Specialty Seafood.

Operating Pre-tax Profit was $7.5 million for the year to 30 June 2013, reflecting a 117 per cent increase on the previous corresponding 12 month period.

The Company said the reported Net Profit of $13.7 million included non-operating after tax profit of $8 million from the sale of 40 million shares in dairy company A2 Corporation (A2C), employee share option expense of $246,000 (after tax), bad debts provision of $205,000 (after tax) and resolution of a long term employee claim of $140,000 (after tax). Freedom Foods said it would utilise future income tax benefits to reduce cash tax payable on the sale of the A2C shareholding.

Freedom Foods brand

The Freedom Foods business unit continued to build momentum, delivering overall sales growth of 29 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period.

The Company said it drove the Freedom branded portfolio with a focus on promotional price points, new product innovation and increased merchandising in major retailers and independent channels to improve distribution and stock weights. As a result, Freedom Foods sold 1 million cereal cases, equal to volume growth of 50 per cent and gross sales growth of 41 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period, according to the Company.

Freedom Foods said it continued to focus on leveraging its Cereal base into breakfast snack alternatives, as well as meeting demand for nut free snacks, with growth in volumes of 127 per cent, albeit from a small base.

According to the Company, dairy alternative beverage sales (soy, rice and almond) continued the trend from the 2012 financial year with volume growth of 14 per cent and sales growth of 24 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period. Freedom Foods said the growth reflected increased market share of Australias Own Organic and Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Milk brands.

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Freedom Foods sees continued growth

Our father, God, has also given us the invaluable gift of freedom. By the manner in which we are naturally made up, we are free; and by natural law, coming from God, no one should be able to take that freedom away from us.

It should come as no surprise that we all yearn for freedom. Especially when we are repressed, and our freedom is being violated, that yearning becomes even more intense, and we are prepared to put up with anything in order to regain and re-enjoy our freedom.

As we get on with our life's journey, much of what we do is to expand our options through the exercise of our very fundamental right to be free: free to choose between those options; and free to decide and act on the basis of the options we have chosen. Indeed, the pursuit of our personal mission should be marked by the use of the freedom with which we have been gifted.

We are free to be lazy or diligent in the use of our freedom, and in the tapping of the opportunities that are open to us - precisely opportunities broadened and widened by the life-long use of our reason. We can choose to let life pass idly by, with little effort on our part as well as with plenty of distractions and passing fancies. Or we can choose to focus all our attention and direct all our energies towards achieving our life's end, as articulated in our personal mission.

We are free to expand our options precisely by lifelong study and by the continuous use of our reason. The more we study and the more ably we equip ourselves with knowledge, skills, expertise, and proper attitudes, the more options open up to us at work and in service of others. The higher up we go, in part because of our training and diligent use of our time and of the opportunities within our reach, the more critical our work can be for the greater welfare of a greater number of people.

We are then free to choose among the many more options that become available to us, and among the many strategic initiatives we can pursue within those options we have chosen. Our personal mission statement guides us in making these critical choices: we pick those options that can more easily and speedily transform us; and we pick those initiatives that enable us to make the most progress, efficiently and effectively, towards putting flesh and substance to the options we have chosen.

Freedom to commit to use the talents and opportunities given to each of us; freedom to broaden and widen the options and opportunities to show our love for God in the work we do and in the service we render to others; and freedom to pick specific initiatives in exploiting those options: freedom, and more freedom, indeed, freedom everywhere!

The use of our freedom, however, is in service of our achieving our central aim in life, which is to be able to fulfil our personal mission. The exercise of our freedom is directed towards ensuring that at life's end we shall have transformed ourselves in line with what we articulated in our personal mission statement.

This is still another reminder that having a clear personal mission to which we commit our life of work and service to others provides a direction to all the decisions and actions we choose to take. Moreover, we are also reminded that freedom is ours to use: it has to be directed towards the accomplishment of our life's mission.

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Freedom, Responsibility (1)

By Sheila Cosgrove Baylis

09/03/2013 at 11:30 AM EDT

William H. Macy and his Shameless costars Justin Chatwin and Steve Howey took off on a 900-mile motorcycle ride from Los Angeles to Aspen in search of freedom, a quest that was inspired in part by Macy's wife, Felicity Huffman, who asked him to describe his love for his Harley Davidson.

"Felicity was saying one time, 'Well what is it? You don't like to ride in a car, how come the motorcycle, which is a lot more uncomfortable, how come that's so great?' " he told PEOPLE exclusively. "It's freedom, it's such freedom. And she said, 'Well there's the road, what do you mean by freedom?' So that was the kickoff point."

Macy, 63, exclusively released to PEOPLE the video of his adventure with his castmates, who helped him to search the open road last summer for a better understanding of the elusive concept of freedom. They hoped to define it for themselves and to learn what it meant to those whom they encountered along the way.

Macy explained that while they weren't able to pin down a definition, they found a deep connection with one another. "I'm afraid [freedom is] relative to each person and that's what we found out, but boy, there sure is a feeling that the three of us shared when you're on the road," he said.

"There's a fraternity, a confraternity, a tribe, if you will, of bikers," he said. "Truthfully, I don't spend that much time in the company of men. I mostly go to work and have my family. And so I find it so wonderful and refreshing and non-threatening too, because we all ... got something in common, which is the road, which is the bikes."

The trio rode their Harleys up to eight or nine hours a day, and Macy admitted that the long rides could be a pain in the you-know-where.

"As you're riding along you go over on your right cheek until that starts to hurt and then you'd go on your left cheek," he said, somewhat kiddingly.

Macy's love affair with Harleys began while he was filming Wild Hogs. "I just loved it and loved the guys that I rode with, John Travolta and all those guys, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence."

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William H. Macy and Shameless Costars Search for Freedom on Their Harleys