eMi Volunteers in Kchag Present Their Plan

The eMi group, oh yes. Now where should I begin?
These guys had planned to come here in September 2006, but the Israel-Lebanon-Hizballah war changed their plan.
I only got to meet them on their last Sunday, when part of the group attended the Armenian
Evangelical Emmanuel Church. They were 15 volunteers, of whom 4 came to our Church; John, Irwin, Stewart, and Daniel.
Most of them didn't know each other. As much as they were getting to know about kchag and the people who would use the camp, they were also getting to know each other.
I went up to Kchag (the Armenian Evangelical Christian Endeavor Summer Camp). The guys from our Chanitz were there and they have done a tremendous job guarding the camp. They went through some funny experiences, one of which leaked to us:
They were guarding late at night, when all of a sudden they heard footsteps and saw shadows.
All of them jumped on the infiltrator. When they got to see who the intruder was, they found out
that it was actually Mr. Manasseh, the janitor, who was out during the night to turn off one of the lights. Phhhew... that was close...
I'm sure they have other many other stories to tell...
Mrs. M. Bakalian, was also on 24/7 with the rest of the whole team. She was very happy that she was able to make everyone's stay a blessing. She organized the name tags of the team and she arranged their food, which was prepared by the Ladies Ministry Team of Armenian Evangelical Churches of Ashrafieh, Marash and Emmanuel .
There were many other volunteers I'm sure, who worked behind the screens, without whom this would not have been a successful opportunity.
So, on Sunday, we had lunch together in Kchag and after that the team leader Randy introduced their plan. They came up with a nice and satisfactory plan, on which they will still work and put some more enhancements.

Project Team

The 15 volunteers were:

Randy – eMi Team Leader
Jessy Larsen - Volunteer
Craig Hoffman – eMi Team Co-Leader
Susanne Hoffman – Volunteer
Gene Fagan – Architect
Stuart Godfrey - Architect
Dustin James – Civil Engineer
Irwin Kim – Mechanical Eng. Intern
Brett Tippey - Architect
John McKenzie – Civil/Transport. Eng.
Brad Hansen – Mechanical Engineer
Kendra Hansen – Civil Engineer
Jim Cathey – Electrical Engineer
Mary Ann Cathey - Volunteer
Daniel Buker – Structural Engineering




*Related Post: EMI Christian Group Arrived in Lebanon, Kchag (Քջակ)

Armenian Online Journals (Blogs)

Introduction to the Armenian blogs

In the article by the AGBU entitled: "ARMENIAN BLOGS HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY: IS ANYONE LISTENING?" the author writes about the Armenian blogs:

...a crop of Armenian blogs is emerging to suggest that the blogosphere (as the blog world is called) promises to make a growing impact in the future. From politics to personal stories, blogs are as varied as their authors. While some strive for professionalism and others flounder in navel-gazing, the energy derived from their diversity is what makes blogs some of the best sources of up-to-date information today.

Armenians writing in Armenia

Armenians writing outside Armenia

Non-Armenians writing about Armenia and Armenians

other

Dead blogs (no longer updated)

List from http://www.armeniapedia.org

Turkey after Arat Dink, Hrant Dink's Son

It seems that Turkey is not satisfied with Hrant Dink's death and denying the Armenian Genocide. They are after Arat Dink, Hrant Dink's son, who was murdered outside of Agos newspaper offices. Here's the news:

Agence France Presse -- English
June 14, 2007 Thursday 5:28 PM GMT

Prosecutors called Thursday for a prison sentence of up to three years for the son of a murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist for reproducing an interview his father gave confirming the Armenian genocide.

The public affairs ministry accuses Arat Dink, editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, and his colleague Serikis Seropyan, of "denigrating the Turkish national identity".

In a July 2006 edition of Agos, they reproduced an interview Hrant Dink gave to a news agency in which he declared that the massacre of Armenians committed between 1915 and 1917 in southeastern Anatolia constituted a genocide.

"Of course I say this is a genocide. Because the result itself identifies what it is and gives it a name. You can see that a people who have been living on these lands for 4,000 years have disappeared.

This is self-explanatory," Hrant Dink, then editor of Agos, had said.

At Thursday's hearing Dink accused judges of contributing to his father's death by making him a target thanks to their high-profile judicial proceedings.

"I think it is primitive, absurd and dangerous to consider as an insult to Turkish identity the recognition of a historic event as a genocide," he said, quoted by the Anatolia news agency.

Prosecutors said he should be sentenced to between six months and three years in jail.

Hrant Dink, 52, was himself branded a "traitor" by nationalists for urging open debate on the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire which he labelled as genocide.

He was last year given a six-month suspended sentence for insulting "Turkishness" and faced more charges before being shot dead in January outside the offices of Agos, where he was editor at the time.

The massacre remains a major bone of contention between Armenia and
Turkey and two countries and they have not established diplomatic
ties since Armenia broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Ogun Samast, 17, has confessed to shooting Dink. He and 18 other accomplices will be tried from the beginning of July over the murder, believed to have been committed with ultra-nationalist motives.

(Photolur photo)

Armenian Evangelical Links and Literature







  • Armenian Evangelical Literature


      Le Lumingnon

      Journal of the Armenian Evangelical Youth Fellowship - France

    Armenian Evangelical Churches, Unions, Schools, & Organizations

    The following is a listing of Armenian Protestant and Evangelical Churches, unions, camps, schools, and organizations which have a web presence. We also suggest contacting the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America and/or the Armenian Missionary Association of America (listed below) for a complete world-wide listing.

    Ararat Armenian Congregational Church

    4 Salem Street
    Salem, New Hampshire 03079
    Office: 603.898.7042

    Armenian Brotherhood Bible Church

    1536 East Washington Boulevard
    Pasadena, California 92707
    Office: 626.794.8717
    FAX: 626.797.8985

    Armenian Christian Fellowship of Orange County

    651 Sunflower Street
    Santa Ana, California 92707
    Office: 714.531.4514
    FAX: 714.839.4190

    Armenian Church of the Nazarine

    411 East Acacia Avenue
    Glendale, California 91205
    Office: 818.244.9920
    FAX: 818.244.0104

    Armenian Congregational Church of the Martyrs

    22 Ormond Street
    Worcester, Massachussetts 01609
    Office: 508.753.7650

    Armenian Evangelical Church of Greece

    30 Lamias Street 30
    Palea Kokkinia
    Piraeus 185 42
    Greece
    Office: (30-1) 491.3603
    FAX: (30-1) 490.7867

    Armenian Evangelical Church of Issy Les Moulineaux

    28, Avenue Bourgain
    92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
    Office: (33-1) 47-36-02-50
    FAX: (33-1) 46-44-64-04

    Armenian Evangelical Church of Montreal

    P.O. Box 411 - D'Youville Station
    Montreal, Quebec
    Canada H2P 2V6
    Office: 450.273.7437
    FAX: 450.978.3272

    Armenian Evangelical Church of New York

    152 East 34th Street
    New York, New York 10016
    Office: 212.685.3177
    FAX: 212.889.8338

    Armenian Evangelical College of Beirut

    Beirut, Lebanon

    Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Church

    Sunday School
    Youth
    Young Adults
    Beirut, Lebanon

    Armenian Evangelical Union of North America

    P.O. Box 25458
    Fresno, California 93729
    Office: 559.433.0746
    FAX: 559.433.1249

    Armenian Evangelical Youth Fellowship - FRANCE

    Ministry to youth in France. Links to Armenian Evangelical camps
    and conferences centers in France - La Fontanelle and La Source

    Armenian Martyrs' Congregational Church

    100 North Edmonds Avenue
    Havertown, Pennsylvania 19083
    Office: 610.446.3330
    FAX: 610.446.3963

    Armenian Missionary Association of America

    31 West Century Road
    Paramus, New Jersey 07652
    Office: 201.265.2607
    FAX: 201.265.6015

    Camp AREV / EJM Armenian Evangelical Conference Center

    P.O. Box 70423
    Pasadena, California 9117-7423
    Office: 626.0517
    FAX: 626.796.1615 Camp/Lodge address:
    1701 Darling Avenue
    Frazier Park, California 93225
    Camp Office: 661.245.2821
    Lodge: 661.245.0906

    First Armenian Church

    380 Concord Avenue
    Belmont, Massachussetts 02478
    Office: 617.484.4779
    FAX: 617.484.2210

    First Armenian Presbyterian Church

    430 South First Street
    Fresno, California 93702
    Office: (559) 237-6638
    FAX: (559) 237-9526
  • Haigazian University
    P.O. Box 11-1748
    Beirut, Lebanon
    Office: (961-1) 349.230/1
    FAX: (961-1) 350.926

    Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church


    3673 North First Street
    Fresno, California 93726
    Office: 559.229.2915
    FAX: 559.229.6431

    United Armenian Congregational Church


    3480 Cahuenga Boulevard West
    Los Angeles, California 90068
    Office: 323.851.5265
    FAX: 323.851.6726

    Armenian Cilicia Evangelical Church


    Sermons


    As more of our churches place their sermons online we will continue to add links to their pages.

    Ararat Armenian Congregational Church

    Pastor Steve Muncherian's Sermons

    United Armenian Congregational Church

    Armenian Evangelcal Church Arnouville (France)

    • Armenia Shocks Poland

    ARMENIAN NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

    It came as a shock to us and to all the Armenians, as we saw and heard that Armenia's soccer team won against Poland 1-0, with Hamlet Mkhitaryan scoring the only goal of the Group A match in Yerevan with a 70th-minute free kick. The Armenian team also had two chances to increase the score during the end of the game. This is history for Armenia!

    You can watch the game on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-neKT-jLULs

    Armenian youth may remain without Summer Camp?

    AMAA (Armenian Missionary Association of America) has launched an appeal to the churches and organizations affiliated with them. It seems that a bridge that combined the 2 sides had torn down and many kids and youth will not be able to participate and enjoy their summer and perhaps come to know about Christ, if this bridge is not rebuilt. Here is their appeal:

    "April showers bring May flowers. However showers in Armenia this year unfortunately brought much damage to our homeland. Heavy rain that fell in May of 2007 overflowed rivers, uprooted trees, caused rock slides, damaged roads and bridges. This nature’s fury unfortunately caused great damage to the AMAA Hankavan Sheen Shoghig Camp. The bridge over the brook leading to the entrance of the camp was completely destroyed. This was the only access to the camp. The Armenia Summer Camp Committee, all year long, worked hard to raise necessary funds to start the summer 2007 camp season in Armenia. They were anticipating 2000 children to attend camp Hankavan. No one, including the children, predicted this catastrophe. The construction of a new bridge is now a must and necessary to have access to the camp. The cost of building a new bridge is estimated to be $40,000. On behalf of the children in Armenia, we appeal to AMAA members, friends, concerned individuals, Armenian Evangelical Churches worldwide, and affiliate organizations to take up this new challenge and make a special offering in order not to deprive or disappoint our children in Armenia. The Summer Camp program in Armenia is so much appreciated that children who spend a week at camp refuse to return home. Unless we help, they will be forced to stay home all summer and miss this Godgiven opportunity. Please help us save the camp season for them. Together let us build this bridge. Gifts earmarked for this purpose can be mailed using the coupon attached, or through your credit cards calling (201) 265-2607."

    Genocide Denied

    By Nanor Balabanian

    "Armenian? What's that?!" I've heard this often ever since I've moved to the so-called "melting-pot" of the United States.

    I don't blame students for not knowing what an Armenian is. Most students have never even learned about what happened to the Armenians in 1915. They've been taught about the Holocaust, and the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan. But not about Armenia.

    Being the only full Armenian in a school of 1800 students makes me think about where all the Armenians have gone today. Wouldn't millions more Armenians be alive today if it were not for the genocide?

    Two months ago, President George W. Bush had to think hard whether he could use the word "genocide" for the 92-year-old Armenian Genocide Memorial Day. Of course he refused to say it and instead called it a "National day of remembrance of man's inhumanity to man."

    Since when is genocide a simple act of inhumanity? Why is it that we do not characterize the genocide in Darfur as a simple war?

    My great grandmother's survival stories often come to my mind as I read about my government's denial of the genocide. She never got the chance to live freely, speak out for her rights, or praise her own God without facing threats of persecution. America would probably have been a haven for her at the time. Yet, little did she know that
    the America she had dreamed about would not believe what had happened to her in 1915.

    Living today in a democratic "haven", I feel ashamed to see that my country, which strongly advocates for justice and righteousness, denies that the genocide ever occurred.

    April 24, 1915, was a mournful day for many Armenians. Because of their Christian religion, 200,000 Armenian intellectuals were purposely slaughtered by the Turks. Following that day, a mass deportation of Armenians occurred during which 1.5 million Armenians were brutally massacred because of their faith.

    To deny that such a horrific massacre ever happened is to erase a chunk of reality from our history. Imagine taking out World War II stories from our history books, or imagine never suggesting that the Holocaust happened. That's how Armenians feel today. Betrayed, killed, massacred, and still they do not receive the recognition they deserve neither by the Turkish officials nor by the American government.

    What are the consequences of denial? If we deny that a genocide once happened, we are very likely to do it again. Hitler once said, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" justifying himself that if he kills the Jews nobody will remember them, just as Armenians are not remembered. If the Armenian genocide had gotten the recognition it deserved, Hitler would not have likely killed all 6 million Jews. Denying the genocide today is in a way agreeing with Hitler as well because America to this day does not "speak ... of the annihilation of Armenians".

    Today, we fight to stop the 21st century's first genocide. Imagine one day that our children could be banned from learning about Darfur. The government will call it a "National day of remembrance of man's inhumanity to man" but refuse to call it a genocide because of political interests with the Sudanese government.

    If America chooses to delete history and deny historical events because of politics, then American politics is corrupt. It is a moral, and not political, duty of the United States to look at the historical evidence, listen to the plea of the Armenian people, and put an end to this 92-year-old lie that genocide never occurred. It is our responsibility as students to fight for what is right and true.

    I am an Armenian, and want to be heard. I have a right to be heard because my ancestors were massacred to do so. I want to take time and enjoy the rights I am given by the Constitution of this country, and fight for the truth that must be recognized.

    Maybe one day instead of hearing "Armenian? What's that?" I'd hear, "Armenian? A genocide survivor."

    This story originally appeared exclusively online on June 8, 2007.

    http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=5590
    IranMania News, Iran
    June 10 2007

    But this boy was very special...

    When Bart went out for the soccer team during his first year of high school, he had to compete for the goalie position with a senior who, up until Bart's arrival on the scene, seemed assured of the starting position. But Bart beat him out. Bart got the call to start the first game of the season... this long-time senior player, must have been terribly disappointed. A lesser person might have quit in bitterness at being replaced by a newcomer. A more typical boy might have borne a grudge against the one who took his place on the team. But this boy, whose name was Joel, was very special. He was a Christian and his relationship to Christ was very evident in his behavior. Instead of withdrawing from the team and turning against Bart, Joel became the teams' best cheerleader and my son's friend. Joel drove Bart to games, went to parties with him, and most importantly, asked him to be part of the youth group at his church.
    (Bart then gave his life to Christ because of Joel).

    Who Switched the Price Tags; Tony Campolo

    EMI Christian Group Arrived in Lebanon, Kchag (Քջակ)

    EMI group has already arrived safely to Lebanon and they are giving their time freely for Kchag's rebirth plans. In spite of Lebanon's difficult situation, they came here and they started working without being distracted.

    I was dumbfounded. It was actually bizarre to me, and to others I'm sure, as to why these engineers, architects and designers agreed to come to Lebanon and why they were working for free.

    Much of the answer to my questions I found in their faith.

    On the other hand, and from the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Church's Chanitz (youth), 6 young men wanted the EMI group's stay to be safer. For this reason, and on their own free will, they volunteered to guard the premises of Kchag every night. These young men were, H. Assilian, G. Torkomian, G. Sagherian, K. Aynilian, A. Karagoezian and A. Torkomian.

    History:
    Ogosdin Bedir had the vision of a Summer Camp for the kids and youth. He bought the land and kept it under the care of Armenian Evangelical Churches.