• Pray that marijuana will not be legalized in NM.
• Pray for reduction of gambling in NM and help for those who are addicted.
• Pray for truth in education (abstinence, creation, marriage, human life).
• Pray for voter discernment on school bonds.
• Pray for churches to unify on the Community Marriage Policy.
• NM legislators and Gov Richardson during this 30 day session. Adopt a legislator for prayer.
• Wings Ministry in India, Mar 14-31
• Prayer Resources.

Community Calendar (check for updates, links, future events, and regular meetings) We want to be a blessing to our community and support each event by avoiding scheduling conflicts.

• Feb 4, 10a & 1p - Abstinence Education Action Info, Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid Hotel on Frontage Rd
• Feb 6-10 - TeenPact at the State Capitol, Wendy Thomson, 505-525-8689, teamthomson8@msn.com
• Feb 7 - School Bonds Election
• Feb 11 - Journal to Financial Freedom Seminar - Alamogordo
• Feb 14 - Valentines Day (Focus on the Family Resources)
• Feb 18-19 - Youth Leadership School, 888-1910, bobc32@hotmail.com
• Feb 20 - Presidents Day (Family Education Resources) (History of the Holiday)
• Feb 24-26 - Family Life Weekend-To-Remember Marriage Conference, Tamaya Resort in Bernalillo, additional information available at www.familylife.com/conferences/marriage.asp. If anyone has questions, they can contact me or my wife directly at 604-5688 (cell) or 792-0573 (home). - Bill Sturgill
• Mar 3 - 2nd Annual Spring for Wings Celebration Banquet, 291-6412

UNDERSTANDING - And of the children of Issachar, which were men
that had understanding of the time, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads
of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.
I Chron 12:32

• Contents:
  2006 Legislative Session
  Feb 7 Election - School Bonds
  Resource Highlight - Constitution & Government
  Marriage Savers Training
  Wings Goes to India
  St Valentine
  Friends of the Family
  Resources
  -
• 2006 Legislative Session
  Adopt a legislator for prayer. http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/legislatorsearch.asp BCNM provided a copy of the Bible (Holman Translation) to every legislator. Each Bible had the legislator's name inscribed on the cover.
  
  Several bills of concern this session. It's only 30 days and supposed to be focused on economic issues, but the Gov is promoting legalization of marijuana (again). Kevin Jackson and NM Family Council stopped the passage of medicinal marijuana in NM years ago. Liberals don't give up. We shouldn't either.
  
  SB 258 was given a do pass 7-3 (Senators Payne, Cravens and Rainaldi voted "no" at the SJC meeting on 1/27/06 after about a 3.5 hour hearing. There was a discussion at this meeting that medical marijuana use under this bill would be in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act since the US Supreme Court has held that there is no medical necessity exception to this Act for marijuana in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, et al. In our culture today compassion for a victim (terminally ill patient [but aren't we all terminally ill with sin?], pregnant unmarried woman, two people who love each other) wins over obedience to then existing law, such that the government changes the law in favor of compassion for victims regardless of the consequences for them and society. The government even labels laws as "compassionate" as in the case of SB 258. There are alternatives to using marijuana for pain control. Marijuana is Bad Medicine. Please contact your legislator before it's too late.
  
  Another bill that shouldn't be part of a 30-day session (none-the-less EVER included), is HJM 40. If this goes through, it will significantly damage abstinence education and promotion in our state and place our children at risk. This bill will aid in the dismantling of proven abstinence education programs in New Mexico. House Joint Memorial 40 introduced by Representative Miguel Garcia is in support of a policy decision enacted by Secretary of Health to limit abstinence education to only the sixth grade and teach comprehensive sex to all other grades. This comprehensive package actually promotes sexual activity, use of condoms, sexual experimentation, and downplays the risk of sexual transmitted diseases. HJM40 seems to be a precursor to the state to refuse Federal abstinence funds and replace those funds with state taxpayer funding which is outlined in proposed legislation HB193. HB193 proposes $1 million for comprehensive sex education in public schools. When comprehensive sex education programs are evaluated, less than 5% of the program addresses abstinence. In a recent poll conducted in New Mexico, over 70% of parents supported abstinence education. The Secretary of Health recently made the statement that she was not concerned what parents thought about her decision to restrict abstinence education.
  
  There will be an important meeting held this Saturday, February 4, 2006 at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid Hotel on West Frontage Road south of Paseo del Norte off of I-25. The meeting is for all concerned parents, students, teachers, churches, and others supporting abstinence education. The meeting will address the issues at hand, and the assault on abstinence in New Mexico by the ACLU and other organizations. The meeting will also provide tips and educational opportunities and address a call to action to defeat this proposed legislation.
  Please plan on attending this important meeting. [NMFC News Release, undated, 514-7835, nmfamilycouncil@msn.com]
  1. Contact your legislator, especially those on the House Education Committee.
  2. Call the Governor's office, 476-2200, and tell him that this is a bad bill.
  3. Distribute this email to all concerned parents, churches and friends.
  4. Plan on attending the information session this Saturday, February 4 at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid hotel on Frontage road. There will be a 10AM-11:45 session followed by a planning lunch and then an afternoon session (repeated) from 1-2:45 PM for those who cannot make the morning session. It is important for concerned citizens to show up. We will address the following issues at the Marriott: HJM 40 and what it will do, the ACLU's assault on abstinence and the family, what your child needs to know about sex and disease and what they will not get if HJM 40 is approved, and an action plan to help. Contact Best Choice Educational services at 275-6054 for additional information.
  
  H 27 EMINENT DOMAIN FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Socialists have an agenda. There is a national Socialist Party. There is a Student Socialist Organization at TVI (Karen Bradley, 255-2208). A goal of the socialist agenda is public ownership of all property. This bill RESTRICTS THE USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN WHEN USED TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Principle of Property.
  
  H 38 EDUCATION DEPT. SCIENCE & MATH DIVISION, $424,000. There is a debate raging over whether intelligent design qualifies as science. Secular humanists want to control EVERY aspect of education so ANY challenge to evolution is considered a threat. This newest effort to establish a science & math division in the Public Education Dept and appropriate $424,000 is an attempt to crush the intelligent design movement with additional propaganda. Resorting to "separation of church & state" is a smoke-screen to outlaw a worldview different than that supported by evolution.
  
  Gov Richardson addressed the BCNM Legislative Breakfast on Jan 27. He complimented BCNM with outstanding response for disaster relief. There will be a new Exec Dir for the Faith Based Initiatives Office at the State Capitol. The Gov strongly supports participation with the approximately 4,000 faith-based organizations in NM for ministry to the poor and needy. He also thinks talking about faith and values in our communities is important. (Wings is a local organization that ministers to families of prisoners. See article below.) The Gov honored 16 New Mexicans who died in Iraq. He commented on the debate over minimum wage. He said it was a question of human rights and not state policy. (Unfortunately, with inflation, raising the minimum wage only addresses symptoms of the problem.) He concluded with efforts to deal with problem gambling and reducing the expansion of gambling in NM.
  
  Dean Mathis also spoke at the BCNM Legislative Breakfast. He is a member of the BCNM Christian Life Committee and is pastor of Taylor Memorial Baptist Church in Hobbs NM. Pastor Mathis provided great Scriptural insight into the spiritual nature of politics. God's character of the Trinity can be seen in many aspects of nature and society. Only a fool would deny the existence of God (Ps 53:1). Yet that is what many leaders in our country are currently in the process of doing! They are rejecting prayer, Scripture, the Ten Commandments and promoting evolution, homosexuality, abortion. God is in politics as much as He is anywhere else. We are all human, we are all servants of God, and we will all give an account during judgment. Government's primary functions are to keep the peace and to secure righteousness. Every law is based on someone's value system (worldview). Mat 12:37 "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
  
  Too many bills, not enough analysts. If everyone does a little, no one must do a lot. There will be no political saviors who single-handedly rescue us from the liberal agenda. If you notice a bill with significant impact to NM, please provide the details and we'll spread the word. http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/BillFinder.asp
  -
• Feb 7 School Bonds Election
  
  Four Centuries of American Education by David Barton
  
  Public schools are currently a hostile mission field for Christian teachers and students. That has not always been the case. Rick Green from Wallbuilders spoke recently in Abq on American Christian History. Mandatory education is a basic principle and value in the United States. Unfortunately, this principle has gradually moved to mandatory education by the state if you cannot afford something better. Students are taught the worldview of the state which is currently hostile to Christianity. We send missionaries to preach the Gospel but we do not financially support organizations/governments that oppose Christianity any more than we we should support a system of education that opposes Christianity. It's interesting that mandatory education does not include mandatory taxes. We have the option to vote "No." School choice is the best option.
  
  Where is the accountability? How much of the money gets to students and teachers? Why not raise taxes to avoid paying interest and get more for the money? Why support a system that is opposed to free market competition (school choice)? Why support a system that promotes a Marxist, Secular Humanist worldview?
  
  Teachers in the classroom "will be ministers of another sort." Utilizing the classroom, they will "convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach." "A Religion for a New Age," The Humanist, John J. Dunphy
  
  "The separation of church and state and the separation of ideology and state are imperatives." Humanist Manifesto II
  
  "The basic task of communist education and overcoming the survivals of religiousness in our present condition is to prove to the pupils the complete contrast and complete irreconcilability between science, the real and correct reflection of the objectively existing world in the consciousness of people - and religion as a fantastic distorted and, consequently, harmful reflection of the world in the consciousness of the people." People's Education
  
  Revisionism: How to Identify It In Your Children's Textbooks by David Barton
  
  Vote "No" on Feb 7
  -
• Resource Highlight - Constitution & Government
  Focus on the Family Focus on Social Issues: Constitution & Government
  "A constitution is a compact of a people with their rulers; if the rulers break the compact, the people have a right and ought to remove them and do themselves justice; but in order to enable them to do this with the greater facility, those whom the people choose at stated periods, should have the power in the last resort to determine the sense of the compact; if they determine contrary to the understanding of the people, an appeal will lie to the people at the period when the rulers are to be elected, and they will have it in their power to remedy the evil; but when this power is lodged in the hands of men independent of the people, and of their representatives, and who are not, constitutionally, accountable for their opinions, no way is left to control them but with a high hand and an outstretched arm."
  -
• Marriage Savers Training
  Michael and Harriet McManus, Founders of the national organization "Marriage Savers" visited Abq Jan 19-21.
  
  A Community Marriage Policy was signed by pastors and lay representatives in the Abq area.
  
  Marriage Savers Training for pastors, spouses, and lay mentor couples was held at Grace Church in Abq. Participants were trained in marriage mentoring encompassing pre-marital, married, and troubled marriages.
  
  Abstinence until marriage was also highlighted and churches were encouraged to become involved with abstinence programs that can help delay sexual activity in our youth. NMFC has free materials and can schedule free training for youth and parent presentations at later times convenient to you individually. Imagine what a spark this program can have for our community. Reducing divorce and strengthening marriages is a win- win for all. Police, the courts, banks, schools, children, the local economy all benefit when marriages stay together.
  
  Kevin Jackson, www.nmfamilycouncil.org, 514-7835, nmfamilycouncil@msn.com
  
  [One of the two greatest social problems in the first century Roman empire was the high rate of divorce. The other was infanticide. Gerald Cowen, Who Rules the Church, 2003, p62]
  -
• Wings Goes to India
  Wings Ministry is Invited to India! March 14 – March 31, 2006
  
  Our Wings are definitely expanding! Six Wings Team members will travel to India at the invitation of the Rev. Glory Dhas and the Methodist Bishops in India. The six team members are Ann Edenfield Sweet, Rev. Doug Sweet, The Rev. Dr. Paul Collins, Cathy Pfefferle, Shelly Currier, and Rita Kane-Doerhoefer. This ecumenical outreach will take us to prisons, jails, leper hospitals, orphanages, tsunami orphanages and villages, large churches, small rural churches, and to the unchurched in all walks of life in India.
  
  The original invitation "to train over 1,000 pastors" about work with inmates and their family members has expanded greatly. One day the team will host training for Indian women only, focusing on the role of women in the church and family in the Tamil Methodist Church. Everywhere we will share God’s unconditional love through group singing, interactive Bible study, crafts and games, and sharing a meal/snack together. We will share the joy of Christian fellowship through the fun Wings Ministry model. Methodist Bishop Thomas of the Delhi (Lucknow Region) is arranging for visits to prisons, parties, & trainings in northern India too.
  
  Our 26 hour travel includes almost a 14-hour non-stop flight from Newark to Delhi. The next day we will fly to Bangalore. The major cities we will visit in southern India include Coimbatore, Salem, and Chennai (Madras). Rev. Glory Dhas MA, M.Phil, M. Div., D. Min and President of JMHA Motherland Missionary Movement, www.jmhammm.com, is coordinating our visit and arranging for more opportunities to visit even more jails, orphanages, churches and Christian villages.
  
  Please PRAY for the team and for all the people we meet.
  3/16 – Delhi – Visit to the Shadman Girls home, Butler Memorial Girls School and Shadman School
  3/18 – Wings Party with lepers, Welcome by tsunami orphan children
  3/19 – Attend two churches, Village outreach
  3/20 – Salem prison Wings Party, Party in rural hospital
  3/21 – Pastors’ seminar
  3/22 – Coimbatore central jail, Meeting with pastors
  3/23 – Coimbatore sub jail, Meeting in a church
  3/24 – Women leaders retreat in Tamil Methodist church
  3/25 – Pondy (old French colony) a tsunami affected region and Wings Party in jail
  3/26 – Visit to Chennai and preach at some churches and prisons
  3/27 – Wings Party in Chennai jails
  3/28 – Fly to Delhi – visit churches, prisons, jails, orphanages
  3/29 – Taj Mahal
  3/30 – Visit schools and prisons in Delhi region
  
  We would like to bring the following gifts to be distributed in all the places we visit:
  Stickers, Pins or patches from your city, state, etc., Cosmetics of any kind, lipstick, chap stick, etc., Vitamins, band aids, aspirin, Over-the-counter medicines, Coffees / Tea / Spices, Jewelry, hair accessories, earrings, Sewing kits, Seeds of any kind, & hearty vegetables & herbs, Pencils, pens, crayons, & markers, Bars of soap, Shampoo, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, Deodorant, Combs & hair brushes, Polaroid film, Candies & gum, DONATIONS for this trip are most welcome. Each team member’s cost is around $3,000. We will need money to cover cost of food and supplies needed for all the Wings Parties we will host. THANKS in advance for your prayers and support.
  
  Ann Edenfield Sweet
  Wings Ministry Executive Director/Founder
  2226 B Wyoming Blvd. NE #130
  Albuquerque, NM 87112
  1-505-291-6412, 1-505-379-9840 cell
  AnnEdenfield@WingsMinistry.org, www.WingsMinistry.org
  
  Our 2nd Annual Spring for Wings Celebration Banquet will be Friday, March 3. We need Table Sponsors - $100/Table including 10 Dinner Tickets, or individual dinner tickets for only $10 each. Our gourmet menu is listed below. We also will have a LIVE and SILENT Auction. Items of all kinds would be most appreciated. Ideas include: Time-shares, tickets to events, pottery, jewelry, arts and crafts, paintings, books, gift certificates, river rafting, etc. Youth from Wings for LIFE, a variety of churches, and other agencies will help serve the dinner. This FUN evening will help fund all the Wings Ministry programs. PLEASE join us for this fun dinner! If you can’t make it, but have items for the auction or a financial donation, please mail them to the address at the bottom of this email. All donations are tax deductible. Wings Ministry is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.
  
  Make your reservations now, as we can only seat 200 people. Call me at 1-505-291-6412. THANKS! Ann
  -
• St Valentine
  Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith in effectual, commended him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14.
  
  The 14th was also a designated a feast day (until 1969, when it was dropped from the Roman Catholic calendar) to honor two Christian saints (at least one named Saint Valentine) martyred by the Roman Emperor Claudius II Gothicus. There is a little bit of love stuff in this part, though -- the reason Saint Valentine was killed (beheaded, actually) was that he continued to marry young couples even though Claudius forbade it. Apparently Claudius thought that married soldiers weren't as good as single soldiers.
  
  http://www.lonekeep.com/lki_home/Valentine.htm
  -
• Friends of the Family is a group of key supporters who invest monthly in family ministry. Their commitment is key to the ongoing effectiveness of Focus on the Family and enables us to extend the ministry to many who cannot afford the resources and services they need. They also enable our radio programs, our efforts to defend family values, and our outreaches to special groups like teens, unwed mothers, and non-Christians. For more information, call 1-800-A-FAMILY.
  
  You can send tax-deductible donations to Foothills Fellowship for direct support of the Principles Community Impact Ministry in NM.
  -

RESOURCES
This section has been updated with a link to resource organizations. Anyone finding these organizations helpful, please consider mentioning the Principles Newsletter when contacting them. Thank you.

Focus on the Family Valentine's Day Resources

Family Education Presidents' Day Resources

Principles Newsletter Archives
Roster of NM Govt Officials

Resource Organizations

Principles Community Impact News (CINews) is edited by:
Mark Burton, Foothills Fellowship, 294-0016, Pager 971-2053
Many thanks to contributing authors and businesses.
Please forward events/articles/resources to principles@integrity.com.
Current distribution is about 2300 email addresses throughout NM.
If anyone you know would like to receive this newsletter directly
please have them send an email to principles@integrity.com. Many
links in the text are not reproduced when making paper copies.
It is also available on the web at www.rges.cc/news.htm and can
be accessed free of charge from any library internet service.
If you are reading this from outside NM, please locate and support
a Family Policy Council in your area.