脱口秀大会

Church parking near stadiums scores big in win-win for congregations and sports fans_我的网站

越光宝盒

一 | CHESTER, Pa. -- The Eagles and the NFL might still be the sports favorites at Calvary Baptist Church, just outside Philadelphia. But many here are also rooting for a neighboring team which last year reached the championship game of Major League Soccer.Their new-found fandom is all about location — and revenue from parking. The Philadelphia Union plays at Subaru Park, a stadium beside the Delaware River just a few blocks from Calvary in the economically challenged city of Chester. Its poverty rate is among the highest in the metro area.As the Union continues to attract loyal fans and reach new heights, so have the blessings bestowed on this historic church where Martin Luther King Jr. attended as a seminarian.It has been crucial. Like many other Black Protestant churches, Calvary Baptist struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance fell, and along with it, funding. But the church has transformed its parking lot to accommodate game-day fundraisers, with volunteers from the congregation staffing the lots and selling spaces for $15 per vehicle.These days, the church raises up to $3,000 per game — about half of what goes into the collection plate on Sundays, said its pastor, Keith Dickens. The welcome influx of extra money is being used to pay for utilities, ministries and a new speaker system that will allow Calvary to reach a broader audience by broadcasting its services online.“It’s been a blessing,” said Dickens, who on a recent game day proudly sported a Philadelphia Union hat. "Not only just to generate funding, but also to meet and minister to new people.”Across the nation, houses of worship located near stadiums — from Boston’s Fenway Park to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field — have opened their parking lots to legions of fans.For churches offering parking near pro-soccer stadiums, their coffers recently received an assist from the world’s best active player, Lionel Messi who joined an MLS roster this year. All 250 parking spaces at the Calvary lot were full when Messi’s Inter Miami played the Union.Jeffrey Scholes, co-author of “Religion and Sports in American Culture,” said churches like Calvary show a growing willingness to use “secular entities like sport for religious purposes” including, “continuing a ministry, feeding the poor, keeping the lights on, things that ideally churches do."In the past, Scholes said clergy might have preferred the “old-fashioned way” of getting churchgoers to donate while shunning the sports-fan parking business as too “worldly."“There’s just much more openness to different kinds of nonreligious tactics to perform the necessary functions of a church or synagogue or mosque,” Scholes said. It also offers an opportunity to share with fans the history of congregations like Calvary, which was founded in 1879 by a group of formerly enslaved Africans seeking freedom to worship.On a recent game day, fans decked in the Union's navy, signal blue and gold colors pulled into parking spots in front of Calvary's colorful mural that pays homage to King. The civil rights leader worshipped at the church from 1948-1951, when he attended Chester’s Crozer Theological Seminary. Chester has a notable cultural and industrial history, but now has economic difficulties that make Calvary's new parking revenue all the more appreciated.“For us, if it gives back to a cause, it makes it all the better,” Abe Gitterman, age 37 and Jewish, said before he paid the parking fee. Next to him, his 6-and 7-year-old sons pointed to the mural and asked parking attendant and church member Lisa Lewis if this was the same man they had learned about in school. “Yes,” she replied, smiling. “It feels good,” she later said, “to tell them the history about the church.”It can also be fun. In Lubbock, Texas, Leslie Cranford, a parishioner at St. John’s United Methodist Church, said Texas Tech football fans have tailgated with RVs — taking up to four spots ($10 each) — in the church parking lot, near the Red Raiders' Jones AT&T Stadium. Sometimes, rival fans park at the church. “We tell them: we got to charge you extra!” Cranford said, laughing. She introduced the parking program at her congregation two decades ago. On a good season, they make up to $2,000 per game. “Dwindling attendance is a problem," Cranford said. "So, this helps us maintain our ministries.” In Boston, the Christian Science Church opened its parking garage to the public in 2014. That includes Red Sox fans who can park for $30 — a lower rate than closer to Fenway Park. Kevin Ness, manager of the Christian Science Committees on Publication, said the revenue helps cover the operating expenses of Christian Science Plaza, a popular tourist attraction which sits on top of the garage in the Fenway neighborhood. “This in turn allows the contributions from members to directly support the worldwide healing mission of the church,” he said. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bethany Church began its Packers parking program in 2010.“We thought it would be a great avenue for outreach, and a way to get funds to help support the growing ministries,” Bethany’s administrative assistant, Jill Connerym said via email. The church doesn’t have a set charge, and instead asks for donation, Connery said, adding that “many people are very generous.”Packers parking helps fund programs, including youth ministries, small group learning and building facility upgrades, Connery said. The church parking lot is often full on game days.“We are known for our hospitality,” she said. “We had a volunteer who began giving rides to Lambeau from our parking lot, free of charge to whoever didn’t want to walk the .5 miles to the stadium. So, now we are known for our shuttle service, and friendly volunteers.”Churches also have embraced other fans. Nashville First Church of the Nazarene offered their parking lots for three shows attended by thousands at nearby Nissan Stadium during the Nashville leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The parking program ($30 a spot) also is popular during Tennessee Titans games and has helped fund ministries in Nashville and missions in Haiti and Kenya.“Every one of these dollars comes right back in to help people,” said its senior pastor, Kevin Ulmet. “When people hear that, they love that, they say ‘we want to be a part of that.’ And that, to me, is the classic definition of win-win.”__Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.。今年，市精神文明建设办公室、市教育局、团市委、市妇联、市关工委开展了抚顺市“新时代好少年”学习宣传活动。10月13日，抚顺市2024年度“新时代好少年”先进事迹发布仪式在抚顺广播电视台演播大厅举行。我市86位同学入选2024年度抚顺市“新时代好少年”学习宣传活动先进事迹发布名单。　　这些入选的少年儿童积极培育和践行社会主义核心价值观，从小立志向、有梦想，爱学习、爱劳动、爱祖国，自立自强、创新创造，展现了新时代青少年乐观进取、向上向善的亮丽风采，为广大未成年人树立了学习榜样。　　从即日起，“今抚顺”开设“新时代好少年”专栏，大力宣传“新时代好少年”，引领全市广大少年儿童向榜样学习，让抚顺大地涌现出更多的少年英才。　　望花区海城小学五年级4班的学生王梓源不仅成绩优异，勤奋好学，还积极参加宣讲与公益活动。她走入学校、社区、电视台参加红色主题宣讲活动，并利用课余时间积极参与学雷锋志愿服务活动，是一名热心公益的好少年。

二 | 　　传承红色基因争做宣讲小先锋　　2021年10月，王梓源通过选拔成为海城小学“红领巾小讲师”的一员。她积极投身到学校少先队开展的各项红色宣讲活动中，先后参与了走进中国的传统节日、一年级队前教育、学校国防展廊介绍等20余场红色宣讲，受众人数达1500余人次。

三 | 　　2022年3月，她参与录制了区少工委学习宣传党的十九届六中全会精神主题宣讲，和全区的少年儿童分享自己的学习收获和体会。2022年6月，她入选抚顺市“小小文明代言人”，参与抚顺电视台宣传片拍摄，走进社区向居民宣传创城的重要性。2022年7月，她成为一名百姓宣讲员，通过快板表演，让理论宣讲“活起来”，深受居民欢迎。她被望花区少工委授予红领巾奖章“二星章”。

四 | 　　热心投身公益争做最美志愿者　　作为“雷锋城”中的新时代少年，王梓源从小就立志做一名像雷锋叔叔那样的人。

五 | 她于2019年6月7日加入“抚顺青益杨社会工作服务中心”公益组织。

六 | 她积极参与学雷锋志愿服务活动。2019年6月，在慰问抚顺开发区消防队活动中，她与其他志愿者一同为消防员包粽子、表演节目，共庆端午佳节。2019年8月，她跟随志愿者团队听雷锋生前战友乔安山讲雷锋生前的故事，听全国道德模范唐革军讲为人民服务的意义。从那时起，她在心里种下了一颗为人民服务的种子。

七 | 王梓源相继参加了西露天矿植树活动、清理环境卫生，慰问敬老院的老人、慰问贫困儿童等活动。2023年12月，她还将自己的100元零用钱捐给甘肃临夏地震区。她累计志愿服务时长600小时，获得多项荣誉。　　在新时代的征程中，王梓源用自己的方式书写着属于自己的故事，用自己的热情和行动感染着身边的每一个人，用自己的行动诠释了新时代好少年的精神风貌与品质。