| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
20 Aug 2004 01:39:52 AM |
| Object: |
Hallelujah time at Hooters! |
One way to get more people (especially the guys) interested in Babble
study.
"Where ya goin'?"
"Hooter's."
"Hooter's?"
"Yeah. Just to study the bible."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040819/news_1c19hooters.html
---
Group enjoys service at Hooters
Restaurant becomes unlikely site for youth Bible study
By Louise Chu
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 19, 2004
KENNESAW, Ga. Voices hush around the patio table as Rick Lamborn
poses his first discussion question during a Christian youth group
meeting at a popular restaurant.
The topic this night is consistent relationships, and Lamborn begins
by asking the college-age group, "How does inconsistency negatively
affect your relationships with others?"
As responses sprinkle in, a blonde in a tight white tank top and
orange hot pants quietly scoots up to the table. She joins the
discussion for a few minutes then has to scurry back to her boisterous
customers inside.
Interactions like these, which bring faith to the uninitiated, are one
of the reasons why Single Focus Atlanta has chosen to meet at a
Hooters restaurant every week for the past four years.
"We've seen a few of the waitresses become Christians. One of the
former managers here became a Christian. So it's worked. The whole
object, in reality, is that this is just to get inside the door," said
Lamborn, whose nondenominational group invites all those who are
curious to join their Hooters sessions.
Some Bible study members initially resisted holding meetings at the
restaurant known for its scantily clad waitresses.
"Somebody comes up to me and says, come to a Bible study at Hooters.
And my first reaction was . . . I can see McDonald's or another
restaurant, but why Hooters?," said 21-year-old Charles Bailer III.
But Bailer, who joined Single Focus two years ago, said he quickly
began to appreciate the casual, nonjudgmental atmosphere at the
meetings.
On a recent night, rock music blared from the restaurant's speakers,
as the group of about a dozen more than half of them women sipped
sodas, smoked cigarettes and snacked on chicken wings and burgers
while Lamborn read passages from the Bible and provoked a discussion
about how to weather social and spiritual turmoil.
Some took the opportunity for personal reflection, while others joked
around, but the topic never strayed too far from God.
Single Focus, which has about 90 members, also holds a more
traditional Bible study at a house each week, as well as mission trips
and ski retreats, but Lamborn said the Hooters gatherings provide an
option for people who wouldn't necessarily accept an invitation to a
church.
Lamborn left his job as a computer software technician two years ago
to take over as full-time executive director of the group after its
founder, Nelson Foster, who was a youth minister at several local
churches, died in a car accident. Lamborn attends a Methodist church
but is not a minister.
"We're about reaching the lost, and I think we're called to do that,"
he said. "Our attitude is to go where the un-churched and the
de-churched are."
Still, some say Single Focus' presence at a Hooters sends a mixed
message, since the overt sexuality of the restaurant doesn't fit with
Christian ethics.
Mike McNeil, spokesman for Atlanta-based Hooters of America, said the
company's restaurants aren't usually host to Christian meetings, but
"it's not our job to be judgmental of any group that comes in there.
Our job is to wait on them and provide food, fun and great service."
Despite Hooters' recent attempts to reposition itself as more family
friendly, it has been a frequent subject of protests. Social
conservatives say the restaurant corrupts young children and attracts
sexual predators, and feminists say it objectifies women.
"Everyone thinks it's hypocritical," said Victoria B. Pierce,
president of the National Organization for Women's Cobb County
chapter. "Why would any church group go there?"
Some criticism has also come from conservative Christians.
Terry Erickson, director of evangelism for InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship, a national campus ministry organization, questioned
whether a Hooters Bible study could be effective.
"The whole idea is wanting to go where people are at, but the question
is, can the place where you're meeting, can it enhance what you're
trying to accomplish or does it distract?" he said. "I think someone
who comes to Hooters is looking for something else."
Kristin Brooks, a 20-year-old Kennesaw State University student, said
she values the weekly sessions at Hooters for their "practical life
lessons" and opportunities for evangelism.
The Rev. Dennis Rogers, a Southern Baptist and member of Single Focus'
board of directors, added that the spirit of the group is to go where
conventional ministries do not.
Said Rogers: "It's something Jesus would've done, because he looked
past what people may think and looked at what people's needs are."
---
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
-The ability to change one's mind, ideas, and opinions when confronted with
new facts is the sign of the rational and intelligent. The inability to do
so is the hallmark of the dimwitted and the fanatic. This applies not only
to science and philosophy, but also to politics.-
.
|
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| User: "Elroy Willis" |
|
| Title: Re: Hallelujah time at Hooters! |
20 Aug 2004 05:50:29 AM |
|
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johac <jhachm@ixpresremove.com> wrote in alt.atheism
One way to get more people (especially the guys) interested in Babble
study.
"Where ya goin'?"
"Hooter's."
"Hooter's?"
"Yeah. Just to study the bible."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040819/news_1c19hooters.html
---
Group enjoys service at Hooters
Restaurant becomes unlikely site for youth Bible study
By Louise Chu
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 19, 2004
KENNESAW, Ga. Voices hush around the patio table as Rick Lamborn
poses his first discussion question during a Christian youth group
meeting at a popular restaurant.
[...]
Lamborn left his job as a computer software technician two years ago
to take over as full-time executive director of the group after its
founder, Nelson Foster, who was a youth minister at several local
churches, died in a car accident. Lamborn attends a Methodist church
but is not a minister.
I wonder if the car accident was on the way to or from Hooters?
<clickety click>
From:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1177659/posts
"His father died in a car accident two years ago on the way to a Bible
session at Hooters. But Foster's vision of open discussion and
spiritual exploration continues."
Well lookie there...
Sounds suspicious to me... I wonder if someone who was opposed
to the idea was involved in the accident? Hmm...
--
Elroy Willis
EAP Chief Editor and Newshound
http://www.eapnews.com
.
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| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Hallelujah time at Hooters! |
21 Aug 2004 01:57:55 AM |
|
|
In article <kikbi0hhcldlfrec818vsmvoe1h79evkbo@4ax.com>,
Elroy Willis <elo@airmail.net> wrote:
johac <jhachm@ixpresremove.com> wrote in alt.atheism
One way to get more people (especially the guys) interested in Babble
study.
"Where ya goin'?"
"Hooter's."
"Hooter's?"
"Yeah. Just to study the bible."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040819/news_1c19hooters.html
---
Group enjoys service at Hooters
Restaurant becomes unlikely site for youth Bible study
By Louise Chu
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 19, 2004
KENNESAW, Ga. Voices hush around the patio table as Rick Lamborn
poses his first discussion question during a Christian youth group
meeting at a popular restaurant.
[...]
Lamborn left his job as a computer software technician two years ago
to take over as full-time executive director of the group after its
founder, Nelson Foster, who was a youth minister at several local
churches, died in a car accident. Lamborn attends a Methodist church
but is not a minister.
I wonder if the car accident was on the way to or from Hooters?
<clickety click>
From:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1177659/posts
"His father died in a car accident two years ago on the way to a Bible
session at Hooters. But Foster's vision of open discussion and
spiritual exploration continues."
Well lookie there...
Sounds suspicious to me... I wonder if someone who was opposed
to the idea was involved in the accident? Hmm...
Hm. On the other hand he just could have been in a hurry to check out
the new blonde waitres..., er, I mean Bible student, that they just
hired.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
-The ability to change one's mind, ideas, and opinions when confronted with
new facts is the sign of the rational and intelligent. The inability to do
so is the hallmark of the dimwitted and the fanatic. This applies not only
to science and philosophy, but also to politics.-
.
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