Supernatural encounters? Please share!

Call them ghosts, spirits, angels or demons, it seems like everyone has a story of some sort of encounter with the supernatural.

At the weekend's conference, author Christine Wicker told a story about her father. As a child, one of his neighborhood children died mysteriously and was buried on a hill near his home. One day while playing outside, he saw some figures wearing what he thought were choir robes around the grave. When he asked his mother about them, she said no one was there.

On a spookier level, we also heard from Guillermo Fuentes of San Antonio Paranormal Investigations. He had all kinds of stories about lights turning on and off, mysterious balls of light and objects moving for no apparent reason.

So that got me thinking - what are your supernatural experiences? Please e-mail me at dhaag@gannett.com with your story and your name (I promise you aren't the only one) and I'll work them into a story for later in the month.

Megachurch vocabulary

Megachurches make up only one half of 1 percent of all churches, but they have a huge influence on the culture and ministerial approach of modern churches. So I was intrigued by some new vocabulary I heard over the weekend in a panel about megachurches. We heard from a minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio (where prominent author Max Lucado is pastor) and Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas. And here are some of their words:

Inspotainment - inspirational entertainment. Friendship West is building a huge complex where they can host movies, theater and activities for family.

Communicator - formerly known as a preacher.

Pastor of Assimilation - that staff member in charge of making sure new members find a place in the church beyond their favorite pew.

By the way, the commonly accepted definition of a megachurch is a Protestant church that attracts more than 2,000 people to Sunday services. There's more to it than that, but that's a pretty good start.

Bishop watch from a very good source

One of the highlights of the RNA conference was a panel featuring Rocco Palmo, author of the Whispers in the Loggia blog. I've referred to him before, but Palmo is a 20-something from Philadelphia who has somehow managed to befriend of all kinds of higher ups in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. They tell him all sorts of news and he tells the rest of us.

Professional religion journalists approached him with a little awe and fascination and a slight undertone of jealousy. As Michael Paulson, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter from the Boston Globe, put it: "Rocco, who are you?" After the panel, I introduced myself, especially since I talked to Palmo around the time Shreveport Bishop William Friend retired. Palmo was a very gracious young man, who does love his church.

I also had a few seconds to pick his brain about recent bishop appointments. The good news is he said the time between retirements and appointments is getting shorter. As well, Palmo said the Papal Nuncio, Pietro Sambi (who is sort of the gatekeeper in the process - he sends the nominations to Rome so the Pope can pick a new bishop) is adamant about getting bishops who are pastors as well as administrators. In other words, he doesn't want guys who spent six months in a church and the rest of their careers locked up in the diocesan offices.

The bad news is we probably still have to wait for an appointment in Little Rock before Shreveport becomes a priority.

Back and refreshed

I admit I was feeling pretty burnt out before I left for San Antonio last week. But I'm back! I had a chance to reconnect with colleagues, take stock of our industry, and remind myself why I do what I do. And I've got several good story ideas, which y'all will see trickling out over the next few months. My blogs for this week will also probably reflect what I heard...

The weekend reminded me of the importance of retreats whether for your spiritual, personal or professional life. Modern society moves so fast and we're under constant pressure to move forward. Too often, we forget to step off the path and remind ourselves where we're going.

How do you handle burnt out?

Eschatology, ghosts and forgiveness

No one could ever say the Religion Newswriters are single-minded. We've talked about a little bit of everything in today's sessions. Some of them will make great stories for when I return. Others will make good blog items. And still others are just short observations that I share now.

* Many people believe in or claim to have experiences with ghosts or the paranormal. But many of those same people are church goers with beliefs in heaven and hell. How are the two things reconciled?

* In a panel on the end times, Darrell Bock of the Dallas Theological Seminary argued that the strange images in the book of Revelation is not the first century author trying to make sense of 21st century life. Instead he said the book uses standard images and symbols of the time. Of course, Jesus could return at any time so we should be ready. More on the eschatology panel later - fascinating stuff....

* A counselor who specializes in forgiveness said forgiveness can only be achieved after someone has grieved - it is rarely an automatic response. It comes from a place where we realize we no longer want to be part of the hurt.

* And I'm coming home with a stack of books. All of them look fascinating if you're interested: "Mormon America" by Dick and Joan Ostling; "Faith in the Halls of Power" by Michael Lindsay; "Jesus Freaks" by Don Lattin and "Not in Kansas Anymore" by Christine Wicker

Opening thoughts

Thursday was a truncated daty of sessions and a great welcome speech fromt he archbishop of San Antonio. He reminded us that the story of faith is the story of America. He also said what we do as religion reporters is needed in today's materialistic world. He said something along the lines of "you remind people that there is more to life than buying things."

I know I needed that reminder of why what I do is important, so it was good to hear.


I'm about to head down to hear from a professor at Rice University and then we have a session later on ghosts and spiritualism -- fun stuff. I'll report back as I can.

Upcoming stuff

If you read any other religion reporter blogs, they'll probably look strikingly similar over the next few days. We will all be meeting in San Antonio for the annual Religion Newswriters Association Convention.

I can't wait. It's a great time to catch up with other folks int he industry and get some great story ideas. This year's agenda includes discussions of eschatology, growing Hispanic churches and some preview of next years election.

As things strike me, I'll try to post. And I'm sure I'll return with some great ideas for the paper.

Take that Goliath!

Christian toy company One2Believe is releasing a series of Bible hero toys that will be carried by Wal-Marts around the country (including the one on Airline Drive in Bossier and on Bert Kouns in Shreveport).

The toys range from talking dolls that tell their own stories, small figurine sets like David and Goliath, and bigger action figure dolls "that boys will love to play with." The press release touts them as a way to teach children their faith and hopefully turn them into faithful teenagers.

They look pretty cool. I admit I wonder if its a bit too familiar. But I suppose I'd rather have my kids playing with Samson and Esther than figurines instead of some of those terrible things that pass for cartoons these days.

I can almost guarantee I'll see some of them on the auction block at the upcoming Religion Newswriters Association conference next month. We're always looking for quirky religion based items for the silent auction.