In Sermon Illustrations: "Sermon Opener"

Missions Receive Highest Support From Pastors Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Missions receive highest support from pastors of Baptist churches (22%) and theologically liberal congregations (23%). The least support for missions was expressed among pastors under the age of 40 (10% listed missions) according ...read more

Tags: What Is Evangelism?

Orwellian In Sutter, Ca, A Close-Knit Farming ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Orwellian In Sutter, CA, a close-knit farming town northwest of Sacramento local school 7th & 8th graders are required to wear identification cards around their necks with their picture, name and grade and a RFID wireless transmitter that beams their ID number to a teacher’s handheld computer when ...read more

Tags: Children

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Is Giving ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving nearly $11 million to public libraries in 37 states and DC to buy computers, software and faster Internet connections. 14 million Americans use the Internet at public libraries, including a disproportionately high number of blacks, Indians and ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Online Banking: 53 Million People, Or 44% Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Online Banking: 53 million people, or 44% of internet users and 25% of all adults, say they now use online banking. This is a 47% increase over the number of Americans who were performing online banking in late ‘02. Of all the major internet activities tracked by the Project since its inaugural ...read more

Tags: Money

Canadian Revival: Three Polls Conducted Since '00 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Canadian Revival: Three polls conducted since ’00 by Focus on the Family, Time Canada and the Vanier Institute of the Family show weekly church attendance going up in Canada for the first time in a generation. 25% of Canadians are now attending a weekly religious service vs. 20% a few years ago. ...read more

Tags: What Is Evangelism?

License To Kill: British Scientist , Ian Wilmut, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

License To Kill: British scientist , Ian Wilmut, famous for cloning Dolly the sheep in ’96, has been granted a cloning license by British regulators to clone human embryos and extract stem cells for medical research. Though he calls this “therapeutic cloning” and claims it does not result in a ...read more

Gambling Online: This Year More Than 2,000 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Gambling Online: This year more than 2,000 gambling Web sites will take in nearly $10 billion. That’s up 40% from ‘04 making gambling one of the Internet’s largest moneymakers, even though ...read more

Tags: Addiction

Wary Workers Believe They're Monitored In The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Wary Workers believe they’re monitored in the workplace to assure productivity and because employers don’t trust them, finds a Society for Human Resource management survey. HR professionals, however, say employee monitoring assures the integrity of business critical systems and safeguards ...read more

Tags: Workplace

Coupons: Manufacturers Offered More Than $250 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Coupons: Manufacturers offered more than $250 billion in coupons in ’03 at a cost of $7 billion, notes the Promotion Marketing Assoc. This saved consumers $3 billion. 46% of ...read more

Tags: Money

Evangelicals: Barna Research Group Reports That ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Evangelicals: Barna Research Group reports that about 72 million of the 235 million Christians in the U.S., or 30.6%, say they are born-again. Some 14 million of that group, or 19.4%, consider ...read more

Tags: Christian Values

Soft Time: James Kate, Professor Of Communication ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Soft Time: James Kate, Professor of Communication at Rutgers University, has concluded the cell phone has changed the way we think of time. Researchers now speak of the U.S. as living in “soft time.” This term describes the thinking of a cell phone user who calls at 8:20 to say he’ll be late for ...read more

Tags: Communication General

Data Inundation: 57% Of Respondents To A Recent ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Data Inundation: 57% of respondents to a recent Teradata survey said that the amount of data they were handling was doubling or tripling every year and has been doing ...read more

Tags: Workplace

According To The Parents Television Council. Mtv ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

According to the Parents Television Council. MTV has roughly three times as many sexual incidents throughout the day as ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox do at 10 ...read more

Tags: Television And Movies

The Bible Contains 377 References To Praise And ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

The Bible contains 377 references to praise and 375 references to prayer. (Foster Letter ...read more

Tags: Prayer Adoration

04 Was Mercedes Benz Usa's Best Sales Year Ever ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

’04 was Mercedes Benz USA’s best sales year ever with sales of 221,610 cars sold, and December was the best month of its 40 year history. ...read more

Tags: Finding Fulfillment

20% Of Americans 45 Or Older Who Are Somewhat ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

20% of Americans 45 or older who are somewhat religious cite prayer as their most satisfying spiritual or religious experience. ...read more

Tags: Prayer Adoration

35% Of Americans Have Divorced; Among Born-Again ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

35% of Americans have divorced; among born-again Christians 34% divorced after they became Christians. (Foster ...read more

Tags: Divorce

There Are 6,913 Languages In The World, But Only ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

There are 6,913 languages in the world, but only 2,300 have as much as one book of the Bible translated and available. ...read more

Tags: Bible Influence

Wal-Mart Rang Up More Than $288 Billion In Sales ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Wal-Mart rang up more than $288 billion in sales last year. Compare that to #2 Target with $46.84 billion. (Foster ...read more

Tags: Money

U.s. Sales Of Homes And Condominiums Totaled An ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

U.S. sales of homes and condominiums totaled an estimated $2.17 trillion in ’04. (Foster Letter ...read more

Tags: Finding Fulfillment